p. 2 | General Meetings in Europe by L. R. CONRADI

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · May 20, 1915

General Meetings in Europe

By L. R. CONRADI

L. R. CONRADI

THE most of our conferences on the Continent hold their annual meeting in the winter. During the last few years, I have generally spent the winter in Africa, and managed to come home only in time for the union conference committee meetings; but this winter, for the first time in some years, I arranged to visit every one of the eighteen meetings in Germany and two in Switzerland. In order to make this possible, we held as many as three meetings a week, while otherwise we generally had only one. In the larger fields we held a regular annual conference with a properly chosen delegation; in the smaller fields we had but general meetings, and did the main business of the conference through a large committee of representative brethren, who attended to the auditing, the issuing of credentials and licenses, and the election of conference officers, and also to the formulation of resolutions. The resolutions were then discussed in the public services. Short though the meetings were, they were a new experience to us, showing how much business can be attended to in a short time, and still make it possible to hold good, spiritual meetings. All these meetings were well attended, and our people appreciated them. Considerable expense was thus saved, also much time of the workers, and good results were obtained.

January 6-24 I attended the seven meetings in the East German Union. The first one was held in Chemnitz, Saxony. Saxony is one of the most thickly settled countries of Europe. It is about the size of Connecticut, and has a population of nearly five million. With seventeen gospel workers, 274 souls were gained last year, so that this conference now numbers 1,303 members. There are two churches in Dresden, with 220 members; two in Leipzig, with 203; in Chemnitz we have a church of 170 members. All the churches were well represented by delegates, who took a deep interest not only in the business of the conference, but also in the Bible studies and religious services. At the evening lectures the hall was packed. A good meeting was held Sabbath forenoon, and in the afternoon Brethren Hennig and Dwehus were ordained to the gospel ministry, after which the young people's society gave an interesting review of the origin and progress of our work throughout the world. The tithe and offerings amounted to 81,000 marks, against 93,000 the previous year. Our canvassers met with many obstacles the past year, and yet their work is onward.

After the close of the Sabbath we went as far as Dresden to attend to some affairs of the conference, and then on Sunday morning went to Goerlitz, in Silesia. Here we were to have only a general meeting, but to our great surprise the people had come in from all the different churches, and they all seemed hungry for the word of life. This province, with over five million people, has now 1,044 members. Last year 172 were added. In Breslau there are two churches, with 204 members; at Goerlitz we have a church of fifty-seven; the other churches range from this number downward. It had already been decided to divide the province into two conferences, and each conference would have been about the size of New Jersey and have had the same population; but in view of the war and the scarcity of workers, it was decided to wait another year for the division.

The next two days we spent in Guben, in the Warta Conference. God has blessed our efforts in this field, the seven workers gaining 117 souls. This conference now has 641 members. The tithe and offerings were over 43,000 marks, or a gain of more than 500 marks over last year.

The next Sabbath we spent in Stettin, Oder Conference. Here we also had merely a general meeting. There were twelve laborers at work, and 152 members were added. This field had 665 members at the close of the year. While the tithe went down about 8,000 marks, to 31,560, the offerings, which amounted to 7,856 marks, showed a slight increase. The strongest church in this conference is in Stettin, with 165 members. At Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg, we have a church of seventy members.

Sunday we went to Danzig, in the Weichsel Conference. Here we had only a general meeting. At Danzig we have a church of eighty-six members, and I was pleased to find a well-located hall, with every seat filled. We have in this field eight workers, who last year gained eighty-five souls, the present church membership being 565. The tithe increased 1,600 marks, while the offerings decreased about 486 marks.

On the eighteenth we reached Konigsberg, in the East Prussian Conference, at midnight. As Konigsberg is quite close to the border, we could see many evidences of the nearness of the great struggle. No other conference has suffered from the war so terribly as the East Prussian. Of the forty-nine churches in this conference, twenty-one are situated within the war zone. These churches have a membership of 478. A few of our members have been taken captive, many have had all their possessions destroyed, and others have had to leave everything behind and flee for their lives. But our nine workers who are left of the fourteen, have baptized 119 persons, bringing up the membership to 1,203. Here was the only place we could not have our full conference committee together—only three of its members being present. At Konigsberg we have a church of 120 members. One of our brethren who owns a house here has fitted up a good meeting hall, and it was well filled the evening I spoke.

The next three days we spent in Berlin, where we had a meeting of the East German Union District, and at its close a session of the union committee, and the audit of the union. In Greater Berlin we now have fifteen churches, with about 1,000 members. Several suitable halls have been rented, in which we conduct public lectures. Although the rents are quite high in a large city like this, yet there are many advantages over expensive chapels. By shifting our halls we can use them for public lectures, and at the same time for our regular Sabbath services. As the presidents of the various conferences were at the meeting, we managed to have evening lectures throughout the city. For the meetings of the union district we had secured a hall in the center of the city, which would seat about 1,000 by crowding considerably. On the Sabbath the hall was packed. Last year the district had 204 accessions, but its net gain was only twenty-four. The reason for this is that Friedensau belongs to the district, and instead of having 225 students in the school, who would be counted as members while here, we had only 100. The tithe decreased more than in any other field, from 134,000 marks to 86,000 marks; and the offerings from 38,850 to 24,000.

Since New Year's the union district has given back to the Middle German Conference, in the West German Union, the city of Magdeburg, where we have two churches, with 105 members.

The East German Union works Galicia as a mission field, and has divided it into two parts. While the West Galician Mission remains stationary, with only twelve members, thirty-four members were baptized in the East Galician Mission. Both fields had ninety members at the close of the year. They would undoubtedly have had more than one hundred members had it not been for the war. The director of the East Galician Mission is located at Czernowitz, the capital of Bukowina. He remained there during the Russian occupation, surrounded by many difficulties and dangers. Another of our workers is in the fortress of Przemysl, and we do not know the whereabouts of one of the workers. In Berlin Brother Hambrook was ordained to the ministry, and several church elders and deacons were also ordained.

With an average of ninety workers, the East German Union last year gained 1,158 members, or a net gain of 677, the membership at the end of the year being 7,177. The finances have decreased more in this field than in any other, from 500,000 marks to 400,000. In this union there were 181 canvassers during 1914, against

192 the previous year, and the sales were 185,800 marks, against 218,200. But in the union district we had 11,000 marks more in 1914 than in 1913. The East German Union is still the strongest union we have in Europe, and the Lord has blessed the labors of Elder H. F. Schuberth and his coworkers in the upbuilding of the cause. All the conferences were able to give their first tithe to the union, the five per cent and the second tithe to the division for missions, and to turn over a surplus for the regions beyond. We were pleased to notice the unity in our business transactions, and the confidence our brethren showed everywhere in our work and workers. I enjoyed the privilege of becoming once more acquainted with so many of our people, older and younger members, and with the workers. May the Lord continue to bless the East German Union in these troublous times, that it may keep abreast of all others, as it has done thus far, and become a still stronger factor in God's cause.