The West German Conference
By Guy Dail
In Hagen, Westphalia, we have just finished the midwinter session of the West German Conference, January 6-10. This city contains about eighty thousand inhabitants. It is located in the extreme southwestern part of the territory of the West German field. The conference was held here because there seemed to be a good outside interest, developed by the conference president and a number of young workers. The delegation from the various churches in the east, north, and west was not so large as we might have wished; but still about one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty of our own people were present; and, best of all, God was in our midst: union was shown in the transaction of all the business that came up for consideration. The workers manifested a good spirit. The lay members were enthusiastic. The subjects treated upon in the meetings for the brethren were present truth. They were presented in the demonstration of the Spirit. That which created the greatest interest was the German East African Mission, but nothing was dealt with in a stiff, lifeless manner. The education of more workers; the enlargement of our school facilities at Friedensau, and the provision of money for this purpose, through the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons” and the flow of means into the Material fund; the necessity of absolute faithfulness in our relationship to God and his work; the need of liberality and unselfishness in our efforts to carry to the world this last message of warning in our generation; and the value of our temperance and gospel literature, were presented in the demonstration of people clearly. The evening audiences were about twice as large as the regular daily sessions, there being one hundred or one hundred and fifty interested listeners not of our faith each night. The hall was large and comfortable. It was well filled. The Bible, and the Bible alone, as the only guide for our religious life; the nearness of Christ’s second coming; unbelief as a sign of the end; the inheritance of Abraham and his children; the three angels’ messages, and the other prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, created much interest among the hearers. Elder Erzenberger spoke on “Our Relation to Christ,” Elder H. F. Schuberth on “The Prophetic Books for Our Days,” Elder Conradi on “A Christian’s Glance into the Near Future” and “The Sick Man of the East,” Elder Luepke on “What Wish the Adventists—A Clear Answer to a Timely Topic,” and Elder G. Schubert on the text, “Who will be able to abide the day of his coming?” Health talks by Dr. Hoenes were well attended. The city has been, and continues to be, stirred. Opposition is manifested. This opposition comes from the world; it also comes from those who were formerly our brethren, but have fallen away from the faith. The weapons of both classes are practically the same,—they find fault with the tithing system, the Sabbath, and the spirit of prophecy; they seek to scatter lies and misrepresentations. Some are very bold in speaking against the truth. Satan, the accuser of the brethren, finds many allies in his evil work. False doctrines, forged writings, deceit,—these are methods which are in vogue against the cause of God now, as in former days, “to seduce, if it were possible, the very elect.” Still it remains true, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.” . . . Men perish “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” In Hagen itself we now have a church of twenty-four members. Nine were baptized at this meeting. Every living thing manifests growth. The West German Conference is a living thing, for it grows. The believers in Lübeck, Neumünster, Osnabrück, Halberstadt, Hagen, and Königslutter were received into the West German sisterhood of churches and companies. The tithe of this field in 1902, before the Rhenish Conference had been cut off, was $10,000; its membership, 1,093; for the year ending Dec. 31, 1903, it had more than made up for the loss of the Rhenish Conference, as its membership was 1,111 and its tithe about $11,000; its First-day offerings were $312, instead of $162; its annual offerings, $588, whereas for 1902 the annual offerings were only $440; the Sabbath-school gifts lacked thirty-six dollars of being as large as for 1902. These figures are given for the encouragement of others; they tell those who hear, that God is working. Some money was raised at the time of the meeting,—one hundred and twenty-five dollars for the Material fund on “Christ’s Object Lessons;” twenty-five dollars First-day offerings, for the German East African Mission; ten dollars Sabbath-school donations, and fifteen dollars to the conference poor fund. Nothing seemed to take such a firm hold of our brethren as the newly established mission in East Africa. Sunday morning a letter recently received from Brother Ehlers was read in the meeting. It was a missionary letter written by a man who is a missionary about his first experiences in attempting missionary work among the heathen of German East Africa. It had an effect. It touched people’s hearts; it reached their pocket-books; we believe its power will be felt in the West German Conference every first day of the week during the year; for the First-day offerings here, also, were dedicated to the work in Africa. After having paid two tithes to the German Union, this conference voted seven hundred and fifty dollars of their one thousand seven hundred dollars surplus tithe to this mission. The need of more workers is apparent. A field so large as this, with nineteen million people, can not be said to be properly supplied when it has only twenty-six workers,—three ministers, three licentiates, and twenty Bible workers. This field is the best supplied of any in the German Union. It contains within its territory two union institutions—the Hamburg house and the Friedensau plant. God is certainly with his work in the West German Conference, and we hope that the year 1904 will see still greater revelations of his power. To this end let all friends of the spread of the message remember this field in their prayers.