Three New Conferences in the German Empire
By Louis Richard Conradi
As early as 1860 some Baptists in western Prussia began to keep the Sabbath, simply from reading the Scriptures. In the beginning of the seventies, Elders J. N. Andrews and J. Erzberger visited these Sabbath-keepers, and Elder Erzberger began a course of lectures in the city of Solingen. Sixteen adults took their stand, and on Jan. 8, 1876, our first baptism in Germany took place, eighteen being baptized at that time. But for some reason, the work in Germany was not followed up, the Sabbath-keepers were left to themselves, and not until 1889 was the work definitely started in the German empire, the city of Hamburg being chosen as the new center. In 1898 the first conference was organized; in 1902, the work in Germany having made rapid progress, the union conference was organized. In January, 1908, the Russian Union was set off; in 1909 the German Union was divided into the East and West German Unions. At that time there were ten self-supporting conference organizations in the two unions. In 1909 and 1910 four more organizations were formed. However, this winter the work throughout the German empire has advanced rapidly, and men have been developed, so that we could organize three new conferences, bringing the total up to seventeen, among 65,000,000 people. These three conferences are well distributed over the different portions of Germany. The Wurtemberg Conference was organized in the south, the Hessian Conference in the west, and the Warthe Conference in the east of Germany. The South German Conference met from January 3 to 7 in the city of Heidelberg, about 300 of the 900 members of this conference being in attendance. An excellent spirit prevailed throughout the meeting. The South German Conference once embraced all of southern Germany, with about 13,500,000 people; but in 1910 all of Bavaria, except the palatinate on the west of the Rhine, with about 6,000,000 people, was set off as a conference. This time the kingdom of Wurtemberg, including the principality of Hohenzollern with about 2,500,000 inhabitants, was separated, under the name of the Wurtemberg Conference. This new conference has 350 members; its strongest churches are at Stuttgart, with about 110 members; at Ulm, with about 50; and at Heilbronn, with about 35. Elder E. Gugel was unanimously chosen president of the new conference. The South German Conference in future includes the grand duchy of Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, the Bavarian palatinate, and the provinces of Starkenburg and Rhenish Hesse, of the grand duchy of Hesse, with nearly 600 members. The good spirit of this meeting showed itself in the fact that when we spoke of raising the free-will offerings to ten cents a member, not less than $1,200 was pledged and given to raise this amount during 1912. One minister was ordained at this meeting. Elder D. P. Gaede was again chosen president of the South German Conference; but he and his father are both willing to return by July to their native land to strengthen the weak force of workers in the great Russian empire. The next great change took place at Kassel, where the West German Conference met from January 17 to 21. The West German Conference has already been divided several times, but in order to avoid confusion in names between the West German Conference and the union, it was decided to drop this name entirely as a conference term. In its stead the remaining portion of it will be called the Westphalian Conference, while the new conference organized at this time was called the Hessian. Westphalia, with the few small principalities that are attached to it, has about 4,000,000 people, and the membership remaining is about 400; while the Hessian Conference takes in the province of Hesse-Nassau, Ober-Hessen of the grand duchy of Hesse, and some other small territories, with a total population of about 3,000,000. This field has also nearly 400 members. The largest church in the Hessian Conference is at Frankfort, with 160 members; then Kassel, with 63. Here our meeting was also very well attended, and an excellent spirit prevailed. Three ministers were ordained, and $700 was given toward the ten-cent-a-week fund. For the present, Elder J. G. Oblaender, who is located in the Hessian Conference, will take charge of this field. The third organization took place in the East German Union, at Kottbus, a city south of Berlin, from January 24 to 28. The writer assisted only the first two days, until the conference was organized; the remainder of the week he attended the North German Conference at Bremerhaven. Quite a number of minor changes took place to round off the territories of our different conferences, part of these being due to the formation of the new unions. Thus, the Vistula Conference released the province of Posen, with about 2,000,000 people, and the Oder Conference released the government district of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, with 1,500,000 inhabitants, to form this new conference, called the Warthe Conference, after its principal river. It will have about 350 members. Elder C. Bruck has been elected president. A goodly number of our people came to this meeting, and about $400 was pledged toward the ten-cent-a-week fund. While Elders H. F. Schuberth and G. Dail—and at two of the meetings Elder J. T. Boettcher also—assisted in the six meetings in the eastern union, Elders Oblaender and Erzberger and I, with other workers, attended the six meetings in the west. At all these twelve conferences the presence of the Spirit of God was manifest, perfect harmony in all our deliberations existed, and there was a manifest liberality in supporting our missions. Though all these conferences already give twenty-five per cent of their tithe, yet they unanimously voted to turn over all their surplus to the European Division of the General Conference. Including the district meeting of the West German Union, not less than $5,000 was raised for the ten-cent-a-week fund in that one union; and after the union had settled with its workers, and given its five missions a little financial help for 1912, they were able to turn over $7,000 as surplus money to the European Division for its missions. At nearly all these meetings we rented good halls in the centers of the cities, and had a fair outside attendance. Quite a number took their stand, and a few ministers were ordained, and new workers installed. The following is our situation in the German empire for the year 1912: There are now seventeen self-supporting organizations, and for some time there have been no mission fields in this territory. In these seventeen organizations, there are now about 10,600 members, so that Germany ranges next to the United States in its number of adherents to the Seventh-day Adventist faith. All these organizations turn over twenty-five per cent of their tithe, besides their surplus, to the European Division of the General Conference. Though earning considerably less than our brethren in the States, the members are fast coming up to the ten-cent-a-week standard, and their average tithe is steadily increasing, fluctuating in the various conferences from seven dollars to fifteen dollars a year. As we review the growth of the work during the last twenty-three years in the German empire, in spite of all its difficulties, we can indeed say that the Lord is once more doing a mighty work in the land of the Reformation, not only in stirring up this empire itself, but in making it the second strongest factor in the world in carrying the truth to regions beyond. May the good work grow still faster to the honor and glory of God.