The Winter Conferences in Germany by Ludwig Richard Conradi

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 5, 1910

The Winter Conferences in Germany

By Ludwig Richard Conradi

L. R. CONRADI

From January 25 until February 6 there were four conferences in different parts of Germany, two being held simultaneously. The writer attended the East German Conference, from January 25 to 28. This conference was held in Frankfort-on-the-Oder, the chief city of the eastern part of the province of Brandenburg. There was a fair representation of the 42 churches, by 89 delegates. During the last year 323 members were received, while the net gain was 178 members. Seven new churches, with 172 members, were received, two of these being churches in the city of Berlin. There were, altogether, 24 workers in the field. Elder G. W. Schubert was elected president of the East German Conference. The tithe showed an increase of $2,000, amounting to $15,000 for 1909; $1,000 was subscribed for the Friedensau school, $240 was given for the mission fields, and $125 for the educational fund. One minister was ordained.

Sabbath and Sunday I spent in the Rhenish conference, at Elberfeld. There were 103 delegates present. Last year 261 members were received, and three new churches. This was the largest of all our conferences. There were about 500 present on the Sabbath; and as this is the cradle of our work in Germany, it was inspiring to some of the aged pioneers to see such a large congregation. About $800 was given for the school at Friedensau; $350 for mission fields, and $120 for the educational fund. One minister was ordained. Elder J. G. Oblander was chosen president of this conference.

February 2-4 I attended the North German conference, in Bremen. A large hall in the central part of the city had been secured, and it was well filled. From the 28 churches, 53 delegates were present. During the past year the membership has been increased by 103, bringing it up to 621 members. Two new churches were added, one of these in Mecklenburg. It was interesting to hear the report of our worker in that field.

Although the whole of Mecklenburg is entirely Lutheran, yet there reigns such intolerance that a minister of any other denomination is not allowed to preach or to perform any church functions. He can not give out a text or read Scripture, but only give a lecture. Yet in spite of all this difficulty, two good churches, with about fifty members, have been raised up in that field, and we were happy to ordain the good brother who had done the work. The tithe in this field last year was especially good, and the brethren were glad that they could give a part of it, some five hundred dollars in all, to needy mission fields. They also gave another five hundred dollars for Friedensau. Elder C. Sinz was unanimously chosen president for the coming year.

Sabbath and Sunday I spent with the Middle German conference, in Halle. Sixty-seven delegates were present, and six new churches were received. The present membership is 574. Elder L. Mathe was chosen conference president. The tithe last year was $8,000, and they gave about $750 to needy mission fields, besides paying the two tithes to the union conference. About $500 was given to Friedensau. There was a good outside attendance in the evening services.

From here all our German union committees, both eastern and western, hastened to Friedensau, where from March 8 to 10, we finished our auditing for the old German Union Conference, and fully brought about the separation between the East and West German unions.

Though our brethren dealt liberally with their workers in the different mission fields, yet when their audit was finished, they were ready to give $2,400 to the General Conference, to help in the expenses for 1910, and they voted another $3,500 to the educational fund. As these two unions each have a population of about 70,000,000 people, and large provinces are just about to be entered, every one present felt that special attention must be given to developing all the promising young people who could be secured as workers for the great, needy field. While Germany proper, with its 64,000,000 people, has now 8,000 members, and the work is fairly established and well organized, if one considers the population of these fields, the present membership is really only but a handful.

Hitherto, Hungary, with 613 members, had been a conference, but it was rather weak financially. Its tithe last year was not quite $3,000. But the main financial strength, and the strength of membership, lie in the eastern portion of that field, so it was decided at this meeting to have two general meetings in Hungary this year, and have an East Hungarian Conference, which will be in itself self-supporting, and a West Hungarian Mission field. Austria, on the other hand, is now divided into three separate mission fields—the Austrian proper, with 148 members; the Galician, or Polish portion, with 46 members; and the Adriatic, or Slovenian portion, with 25. While we are thankful that in Austria-Hungary we have now over 800 members, yet when we remember that it has a population of over 50,000,000, we realize that the work has only been begun. There are many indications of God's providence in preparing the way for us in that large field. Openings present themselves now for the canvassing work, and also to hold meetings, while a few years ago it seemed almost impossible to do either.

As we reviewed the report of the German union conferences during 1909, and found that 2,014 members had been received, also that the tithe had been increased by nearly $23,000, and the offerings by over $4,000, we felt truly thankful. Yet, on the other hand, we were by no means satisfied. Not less than 869 members had to be dropped, by death, apostasy, or removal; and a resolution was passed to consider carefully the bearings of this. The membership of the old German Union Conference at the time of the division at the beginning of 1910 was 9,774, and its tithe $115,000. This will give each new union conference nearly 5,000 members. The two unions will even then be the two strongest unions, both in tithe and in membership, in Europe. Henceforth, these unions will have their gatherings every two years; the West German will begin in July this year. The East German meeting will be held next year. The closing meetings were held separately by each union committee. Thus the two unions are now fully launched. Each has a good, solid membership and financial backing, and is well manned; and we have every reason to believe that the year 1910 will witness a still greater growth in both these fields.

We were glad that there were also such good reports from our union institutions. The school has about 200 students

and serves as an educational center for three union conferences (the East and West German and the Russian), with a population of 300,000,000 people. It closed its annual record with a small gain. The new building came none too soon. For the farm, which has been added to Friedensau at the very favorable price of $8,000, we were able to pay cash from the donations which have come in during the summer and winter meetings. Our sanitarium has a fair patronage, and there are about 50 nurses now in training. The Old People's Home has 26 inmates. Not only is the building paid for,—amounting to about $22,000,—but we have in legacies $75,000. There was about $2,000 help needed for the inmates, besides the interest of the legacies, and this was fully met by donations and the interest from our union and conference funds.

Hamburg.