German Union Conference Council by L. R. CONRADI

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 18, 1907

German Union Conference Council

By L. R. CONRADI

L. R. CONRADI

IMMEDIATELY after the last sermon in Stettin, our brethren repaired to Berlin, where we had the first session of the German Union Committee at 10 A. M., Monday, Jan. 28, 1907.

The East German Conference kindly invited the committee to have its council in Berlin, and at the same time have some of our ministers address the local church. As we have four hundred and twenty members in this city, we naturally had larger meetings than in any of the other annual conferences.

We found ourselves very busy with the work before us. As our assembly room was in the same building where we lodged, we could keep steadily at work from eight o'clock in the morning until late in the evening, with two hours recess for dinner.

When the annual report for 1906 was handed in, we had every reason to be grateful to God for the way he had blessed us. Sixteen hundred and eighty-two had been baptized, and three hundred and eighty-one had been added by vote, raising our membership in the union from seven thousand at the beginning of 1906 to eight thousand three hundred and twelve at the close, showing a net gain of one thousand three hundred and twelve. About eighty died during the year, some moved away, and a number apostatized, especially in Russia. Our tithe shows a still better increase — $54,033.52 for 1905, and $79,105.20 for 1906, or a net increase of over $25,000. The tithe in the German Union averages $9.53 a member. It is true that, during the last year, a number have paid tithe on their capital, but the Lord has truly been good to his people, by bestowing all these blessings upon them. The other offerings increased from $10,000 in 1905 to $13,000 in 1906.

If we consider the work in the various countries of the union, we find that Germany has, in many ways, taken the lead during 1906. It now has 4,934 members, and there were 1,216 additions during the year in the German empire. We have here seven conferences — the East, the West, the North, the South, the Prussian, the Rhenish, and the Silesian Conferences, with the German Union District. All these conferences pay a regular second tithe. Their tithe during the year amounted to $42,740, or about $12.70 a member. Including their second tithe, they gave to missions $23,000 during 1906 in Germany proper, besides raising $10,000 for the Old People's Home.

In membership Russia follows Germany. It has one conference and four mission fields, with a membership of 2,181. They report 541 additions, but lost quite a number because of their unwillingness to adopt the tithing system. The Russian tithe was about $8,100, or not quite four dollars a member. One remarkable feature in the Russian field is that the Asiatic Russian Mission, which started last year with a membership of fifty-eight, has during the last three months of 1906 risen to one hundred and fifty-eight, largely on account of the removal of about eighty of our members from European Russia to Siberia. This state of affairs has made it necessary for us to adopt a new arrangement, which was proposed at the German Union Council in Berlin. Heretofore, one part of the Asiatic District has been south of the Caucasus, reaching to the Persian border, while the other part was in Siberia, and thus unhandy to work. Therefore, it was unanimously decided by the union committee (knowing they would have the co-operation of the brethren in Russia) that the East Russian Conference be so changed in territory as to include both the north and the south portion of the Caucasus district, with Tiflis and Baku and Erewan, making it a compact field, to be known as the Caucasian Conference, with a membership of about eight hundred. The Volga District, which borders on Siberia, will hereafter be united with Siberia, and will be known as the East Russian Mission, having at present a membership of about four hundred. Elder H. K. Loebsack will be in charge, and we expect that he will visit Siberia, and organize our membership there, as far as this is practicable. Thus the Lord is constantly opening up Siberia and the Transcaucasus, and lights are being kindled throughout those dark regions.

Remarkable, indeed, for the work in Russia, is the following decree, signed by Minister Stolipin, in favor of our people. There is little question but that this favorable decree is, in the hands of God, due to the address of thanks which we presented to his majesty the czar, and which he so kindly acknowledged. The edict is in the form of a circular letter, sent to the various governors in Russia. Freely translated, it reads as follows: —

“Ministry of the Interior Department of Foreign Confessions. “6th of November, 1906 Number 5532. “To the Honorable Governors: — “By the order of the Imperial Council, of March 27, 1879, which has been confirmed by his Majesty, the sect of the Baptists was allowed to confess their faith without any hindrance, and also to conduct their services in the halls set apart by them for this purpose, and announced as such to the governor. Further, the civil administration is charged to keep records with regard to their marriages, births, and deaths. There was also an order of the Senate, Nov. 12, 1879, in which seven different forms of these records were described, as well as the manner in which the extracts from them should be certified.

“The present Senate declares through an edict of March 14, 1906, No. 2783, that the teachings of the Adventists are similar to the Baptists, and that they can be looked upon as a branch of the latter. As according to paragraph 1106 of the Department of Foreign Confessions the Baptists have perfect liberty to exercise their faith, we have no definite reason to refuse this to the Adventists.”

“In order to avoid all uncertainties in the religious affairs of the Adventists (who number about three thousand in Russia), I deem it necessary to tell you that all the rules which apply to the Baptists, also apply to the sect of the Adventists, and that the keeping of the record of the books, and extracts therefrom, is to be turned over to the civil administration.”

“At the same time we would inform the Lutheran General Consistory that all their pastors be notified to be ready to hand over all documentary extracts concerning the Adventists that might be within their territory to the nearest civil authorities, who henceforth shall be charged with the keeping of the records of their books. “Ministry of the Interior, (Signed) “P. STOLIPIN.”

We surely have every reason to be grateful that God has so wonderfully wrought for this people, insignificant as our numbers are in the midst of the one hundred and thirty-five millions of the Russian empire, so that a special edict has been issued granting us full liberty to exercise our faith and to circulate our publications in the Russian and German languages. God is gracious indeed, and to him alone be the praise. If we look back over the twenty-one years since our work first started in Russia, we have every reason to praise his holy name for what he has done for us.

At the present time we are carrying on work in Russia in the Russian, the German, the Esthonian, the Lettonian, and the Armenian languages. We are also beginning among the Bohemians and Jews.

The next field in membership, is German Switzerland. Five years ago, this conference had about two million people, and one hundred and eighty-five members. At that time it was separated from French Switzerland. Two and a half years ago, nearly fifty of the members of the German-Swiss Conference moved from Basel to Gland, when the institutions were transferred to that place. As long as the French and the German parts of Switzerland were together, there was always more or less trouble about locating the camp-meetings so as to suit both the French and German brethren, and there was also the difficulty of having the two different languages at the meetings. The best evidence of the wisdom of forming the division is the growth

that has attended the work since that time. During the last year alone, ninety-four additions were reported, and their membership is now four hundred and thirty-six. It is very evident that buildings alone, good as they may be, do not always make a field grow. The tithe of German Switzerland last year was $4,100. They were able to pay all their workers, and had sufficient left over to buy a second tent for their summer meetings. This small conference turned over about $1,300 to the Old People's Home. Although the Basel House has been sold, yet our people are still able to occupy the depository and chapel room they formerly had, at the nominal rent of three hundred dollars per annum — cheaper than we could let them have it while the building was our own.

(To be concluded)