DISTRICT TABLE 6.-NUMBER AND MEMBERSHIP OF CHURCHES, VALUE OF EDIFICES, DEBT, EXPENDITURES, AND SUNDAY SCHOOLS, BY DISTRICTS, 1926: EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN JOINT SYNOD OF WISCONSIN AND OTHER STATES European stock of Lutherans that was most numerous during the earlier years of western settlement was the German. Even among them there was no united effort for a single organization; different groups formed separate smaller bodies according to their narrower racial origins and according to their particular historical antecedents. Those who came to America to escape certain religious disabilities were likely to form a closed Lutheran group after they got here, especially if they came as colonizing groups. Others came who were not primarily interested in religious liberty but were rather searching for economic independence. To them the formation of organized churches was not so urgent a matter at first, though the bulk of the immigrant church members of the early decades were of this type. To many the name Lutheran came naturally, and they would so designate themselves, though they were not always clear as to the confessional significance of the term and were likely to be satisfied with any form of Protestant Christianity that did not offend their habits and customs too much. Lutheran missionaries being rare, many of the early settlers of Lutheran antecedents found their way into Methodist and Reformed churches before Lutheran churches could be organized. In Wisconsin several Lutheran elements were at work in the forties, notably the Buffalo and the Missouri Synods. It was not until 1846 that, upon appeal from a farmer near Milwaukee, the Langenberg Missionary Society sent one of its "gospel heralds" to Wisconsin. This pioneer, Weinmann, kept in touch with other Langenberger men who had been sent to the eastern United States by the same society, and he inspired John Muehlhaeuser, pastor of a German church in Rochester, N. Y., where he had been for 10 years, to come to Wisconsin. There was much work in gathering the ever-increasing numbers of German immigrants that were collecting in the fast-growing cities and settling on farms. In May, 1850, five pastors of this particular group were representing 18 congregations and were ready to organize a synod. The first organization and the direct precursor of the present Joint Synod of Wisconsin denominated itself "The First German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin." The youthful but ambitious body depended on German missionary societies for men to do its work for more than 10 years; then the founders realized that little could be accomplished unless pastors were trained in America. In 1863 Churches reporting Num ber of scholars a college and theological seminary were established at Watertown, Wis., and by 1870 the pastoral membership of the synod had grown to 52. For 20 years more until about 1890—there was a small stream of pastors trained by the missionary societies of Germany that reinforced the more numerous pastorate trained in America. But as immigration ceased, in the nineties, the synod was able to keep up with the demands made upon it from its own resources of men. The first missionary wave had covered southeastern Wisconsin and the larger cities of the State; after 1870 the rural communities were searched and organized into congregations, though the work of the Wisconsin Synod never, at this time, went beyond the limits of the State, especially since the neighboring State of Minnesota had begun a synodical existence of its own in 1860 and had cultivated friendly relations with Wisconsin, taking many Wisconsin men into its service, This community of interests and the relationship of the personnel of the two synods led to an organic union of the two in 1892. This union, to which the Synod of Michigan also adhered, bears the name of Joint Synod and has endured ever since, subject to some minor rearrangements of internal administration. In the years that followed the establishment of its own theological seminary a number of highly trained university men from Germany were found, who placed the academic standard of the synodical schools on a high plane. Since then virtually all pastors of the synod have full college training, besides three years' work in theology. Beginning in 1881 work was done among the German Lutherans of Nebraska, which field continues to enjoy a healthy, normal growth. In the nineties the far Northwest was chosen as a field for work, and though progress there is slower there is a noticeable advance in the territory comprising the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Being in its origin purely German, the Joint Synod of Wisconsin confined its work until about 1900 to those speaking the German tongue. From the beginning it had fostered parish schools where, usually, German was taught. As the second and third generations of parishioners grew up the American-trained pastorate introduced the use of the English language more and more, with the result that to-day there are some congregations that use only English, while many more have reached the point where congregational work is done fully as much in English as in German; services are conducted in both languages as the particular needs of the congregation require. Confirmations in the German language have all but disappeared. The trend is unmistakable toward the adoption of English throughout. Since the language question was not the real reason for the existence of the parish school, the recent change in languages does not affect the principle of maintaining parish schools wherever possible. This school system is intended to lead through Lutheran academies, a number of which are being maintained, to Lutheran colleges and seminaries. Parish school teachers are being trained in a teachers' college maintained since 1892 in New Ulm, Minn. DOCTRINE The doctrinal standard of the Joint Synod of Wisconsin is in no way different from the standard to which Lutherans the world over charge their pastors. If anything characterizes the Joint Synod in distinction from other Lutheran bodics, it is in its staunch and firm adherence to the confessional declarations laid down in the Book of Concord of 1580. Within the body a liberalist-fundamentalist controversy is not well possible, because any deviation from that standard of teaching and preaching would constitute a defection from the synod. ORGANIZATION In 1872 the then Wisconsin Synod joined with the much larger Missouri Synod and several other bodies in forming the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference, which perhaps is acknowledged to stand at the extreme right in strict observance of Lutheran doctrine. This union still holds, though there has been a shift in the membership. The Wisconsin Synod in 1892, together with the Synods of Minnesota and Michigan, formed the Joint Synod of Wisconsin. In 1917 a reorganization within the limits of the Joint Synod resulted in the breaking up of the original territorial distribution of the three constituent synods into eight units, called districts. The eight districts are Southeastern Wisconsin, North Wisconsin, West Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakota-Montana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Pacific Northwest. Each district has its own officers and meets in the even years, while the Joint Synod meets in the odd years. At the district meetings pastors, professors, and parish school teachers meet in their full strength; the congregations are represented by elected lay delegates. At the Joint Synod meeting all elements of the synod are represented by delegates appointed and certified to by the conferences, which are the smaller neighborhood groups into which the districts are subdivided. The synod is not strictly a governing body, for it has only advisory and supervisory powers; the congregation is autonomous. But since the Joint Synod holds all the common property certain financial matters are decided in the usual parliamentary fashion. Of the organized congregations only 488 have voting membership in the synod, though official membership in the synod body is optional. Voting members of the individual congregations are usually limited by rule to males over 21 years of age. Many congregations have a way of counting separately women members who have been regularly received. WORK The faculties of the synodical colleges and seminaries are composed of 35 professors. The parish schools are taught by 259 teachers, of which number 122 are men. Besides upholding the synodical institutions for the complete training of pastors and teachers, the synod maintains and supports in part about 100 pastors whose work is in the new fields for inner missions scattered throughout the territory covered by the synod. There is also an extensive mission among the Apaches in Arizona, begun in 1893. As a member of the Synodical Conference the Joint Synod cooperates with the other synods of that body in the colored missions of the South. SLOVAK EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA STATISTICS TABLE 1.-SUMMARY OF STATISTICS FOR CHURCHES IN URBAN AND RURAL TERRITORY, 1926: SLOVAK EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1 Urban territory includes all cities and other incorporated places which had 2,500 inhabitants or more in 1920, the date of the last Federal census; rural territory comprises the remainder of the country. Per cent not shown where base is less than 100. Based on membership with age classification reported. 748 TABLE 2.-NUMBER AND MEMBERSHIP OF CHURCHES IN URBAN AND RURAL TERRITORY, AND TOTAL MEMBERSHIP BY SEX, BY STATES, 1926: SLOVAK EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TABLE 3.-NUMBER AND MEMBERSHIP OF CHURCHES, AND MEMBERSHIP BY AGE, BY STATES, 1926: SLOVAK EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA [Separate presentation is limited to States having 3 or more churches] |