LUTHERANS. 



469 



Kurtz's Almanac (Baltimore, Md.) makes 

 estimates for all the synods, and gives to the 

 General Synod 23 district synods, 812 minis- 

 ters, 1,204 churches, and 116,299 members; 

 to the General Council, 10 synods, 574 minis- 

 ters, 1,091 churches, and 154,517 members; 

 to the General Synod, South, 5 synods, 98 min- 

 isters, 167 churches, and 13,277 members; to 

 the Synodical Conference, 6 synod?, 1,071 min- 

 isters, 1,781 churches, and 264,955 members; 

 and counts 12 independent synods, having 350 

 ministers, 761 churches, and 56,292 members ; 

 making the total for the whole Church 56 syn- 

 ods, 2,905 ministers, 5,004 churches, and 605,- 

 840 communicants. Some of the estimates of 

 this work have, however, been shown to be so 

 plainly erroneous as to impair the value of the 

 whole calculation. 



Brobst's LutheritcTie Kalender (Allentown, 

 Penn.) also fills up the tables, and gives to tho 

 General Council, including the German Iowa 

 and the Norwegian-Danish Augustana Synod, 

 12 synods, 724 ministers, 1,896 congregations, 

 and 201,174 communicants ; to the Synodical 

 Conference, 7 synods, 1,079 ministers, 1,798 

 congregations, and 279,954 communicants ; to 

 the General Synod, North, 23 synods, 794 min- 

 isters, 1,206 congregations, and 116,484 com- 

 municants; to the General Synod, South, 5 

 synods, 96 ministers, 188 congregations, and 



14, 667 communicants; and counts 11 indepen- 

 dent synods, with 221 ministers, 548 congre- 

 gations, and 43,253 communicants ; making the 

 total for the whole Church 2,914 ministers, 

 5,136 congregations, and 655,529 communi- 

 cants. These figures indicate an apparent in- 

 crease, from 1876, of 133 ministers, 162 congre- 

 gations, and 26,325 communicants. 



The 16 theological seminaries returned a to- 

 tal of 41 professors, and 12 of them report a 

 total of 455 students. Four seminaries, with 

 11 professors, and having 62 students in two 

 of the seminaries, were attached to the Gen- 

 eral Council; five seminaries, with 11 profess- 

 ors and 82 students, to the General Synod; 

 three seminaries, with 11 professors and 196 

 students, to the Synodical Conference ; one 

 seminary, with one professor and 13 students, 

 to the General Synod, South. Three semina- 

 ries, with 7 professors, were connected with 

 independent synods, of which Augsburg Sem- 

 inary, Minneapolis, Minn., of the Norwegian- 

 Danish Conference, had 103 students. Thir- 

 teen out of eighteen colleges returned a total 

 of 1,724 students. Five of the colleges were 

 connected with the General Council, 4 with 

 the General Synod, 4 with the Synodical Con- 

 ference, 2 with the General Synod, South, 1 

 with Grabau's Buffalo Synod, 1 with the North 

 Carolina Synod, and 1 with the Synod of Iowa. 

 The Lutheran Almanac gives lists of 22 acad- 

 emies, 7 seminaries for young women, and 74 

 periodicals, of which 24 are in the English 

 language, 31 German, 9 Norwegian, 7 Swedish, 

 and 3 Danish. 



The 28th Convention of the General Synod 

 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Uni- 

 ted States met at Carthage, 111., May 30th. 

 More than 175 delegates and clerical visitors 

 were in attendance. The Rev. J. G. Butler, 

 D. D., of Washington, D. C., was chosen pres- 

 ident. The boards and committees in charge 

 of the missionary and benevolent enterprises 

 of the Synod presented reports, of which the 

 following are summaries : 



Foreign Mitsions. The contributions during 

 the past two years had been larger than dur- 

 ing any previous similar period ; nevertheless, 

 the work had labored under embarrassment 

 occasioned by a deficit in the treasury result- 

 ing from erection of new buildings at Mnhlen* 

 berg station, in Africa. Its indebtedness 

 amounted, in February, 1877, to $7,000, for the 

 liquidation of which an appeal had been made 

 for contributions of $50 each. The Children's 

 Foreign Missionary Society, organized in 1878, 

 had been a very efficient auxiliary, and num- 

 bered about 16,000 contributors, who had so 

 far given $9,498. The Iowa Synod had begun 

 the organization of the women of the church 

 for the advancement of the missionary enter- 

 prise, and it was hoped that the plan would be 

 generally adopted. In the India Mission, 1,268 

 communicants were reported, with 111 villages 

 in which native Christians reside ; 38 schools or 

 prayer-houses; 1 chapel high-school, with 51 



