p. 13 | The Work in Europe During 1906 by L. R. CONRADI

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 16, 1907

The Work in Europe During 1906

By L. R. CONRADI

L. R. CONRADI

As we have closed up our accounts for 1906 throughout the European field, we have every reason to be grateful to God for his protecting care. Never before since the opening of the work in Europe have we had an increase either in our membership or in our means that equals the growth of the past year, so that 1906 stands out as our banner year in every way.

Not less than 2,781 new members were added during the year (which nearly comes up to the apostolic 3,000), bringing our membership up to 13,768.

If we view the increase of our finances, we see that the tithe sprung from $101,000 in 1905 to $132,000 in 1906, a growth of about $31,000 in the twelve months; our Sabbath-school offerings to missions rose from $7,689 to $9,485; our First-day offerings from $3,075 to $5,095; and our annual offerings from $6,350 to $6,802: thus the total income from these sources was $153,525 last year, against $118,421 in 1905, a net increase of $35,000.

As to increase in the number of organizations, we would say that we organized two new conferences in the German Union, and have perfected an arrangement making Siberia an organized mission field from Jan. 1, 1907; and the Northlands Mission also starts out as a separate field from the beginning of 1907, in the Scandinavian Union. Thus we add four new organizations. At the same time, we were able in 1906 to have our first baptisms in Portugal, while the British Union established a new mission in British East Africa, on Victoria Nyanza, and the German Union has added another station and two out-stations in German East Africa during the year, increasing its working force in that field to eight persons.

So far as our working force is concerned,

we find that our ordained ministers increased from 74 to 79; licentiates, from 62 to 67; and Bible workers from 133 to 150, while our other workers increased from 62 to 67 on the conference pay-roll, bringing the total up from 284 to 330. Our canvassers increased from 402 to 406, the latter not including our periodical canvassers.

Last year we held four union camp-meetings, and twenty-four local meetings, nearly all of which I attended, besides my trip to the United States, Constantinople, and Asia Minor.

The Lord has signally blessed our institutions, and nearly all of them have shown quite an encouraging gain, and in the few cases where there were slight losses, we were able to make the loss good in some way.

One important step was the securing of suitable property for the British Union institutions, which we succeeded in doing by the purchase of a nice property near London, at Watford, where, everything considered, the property at last secured is the best located and adapted to our needs. Now the four leading union fields of Europe are well provided with suitable properties for their institutions, and if the proper care be taken in their management, there is no question but, by the blessing of the Lord, they will prove a great help to the cause of God in our extensive and important territory.

In the Levant we were just about opening the Constantinople Treatment Rooms when Dr. A. W. George was taken ill, near the end of the year. While the year 1906 records only the death of Sister Wakeham, among our gospel workers, yet the beginning of 1907 has taken from us three devoted workers—Dr. George, Sister Ehlers (one of our German East African workers), and Brother Kueller, an aged pioneer in the work in Germany. If we remember that our workers are so many in number, and that they are scattered over three continents and in all kinds of climates, we surely have reason to thank God for his prospering hand and protecting care over his servants in the past.

As to help from the States, we find, in closing up our audits, that the British Union calls for $2,076.95, the Scandinavian Union for $700, the Latin Union for $7,458.20, and the Levant Union for $4,765.52 from American appropriations, or, in all, $15,000.67. The money to Scandinavia is for the last payment on the Frydenstrand property, and hereafter that union will expect no appropriations from America. On the other hand, the General European Conference, which receives a tithe of the union receipts, was not only able to carry its own officers, and bear its other expenses, but also was able again to vote nine hundred dollars to help the British East African Mission. We surely feel very grateful to the brethren in the States for the $15,000 they granted us to support the work, and if they see that Europe has been able to raise $154,000, and that with the $169,000 it has thus spent we have been able to gain nearly 3,000 new souls for the truth, we believe that all will say that God's blessing has been with their means in a marked degree in developing the European field and the adjoining parts of Asia and Africa.

As we review the many meetings held, and the visits we have made to our institutions during the past year, and recall the unity that has characterized all our councils, we must indeed exclaim that this is God's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes, especially in view of the fact that there are now about thirty nationalities represented in our various conferences and missions.

As the brethren in Europe are pressing into the heart of Africa and Asia, we feel certain that the brethren in the States will also in the future remember us not only with their gifts, but also in their prayers, that soon the glad day may come when the whole earth shall be lighted with the glory of this last message, and when we shall all together reap the everlasting rewards.

Hamburg, Germany.