In the West German Union by L. R. Conradi

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 27, 1915

In the West German Union

By L. R. Conradi

L. R. CONRADI

From January 28 until February 14, the seven conferences in the West German Union had their annual meetings. The union audit was held at the same time. Our arrangement was similar to that in the East German Union. Conferences were held in Hess, and in the Lower Rhenish and Central German fields. In the other conferences there were only general meetings. Throughout the West German Union the meetings were well attended, and a good spirit prevailed in all our deliberations. The evening lectures were held in crowded halls.

Our first meeting was in Frankfort-on-the-Main, with the Hessian Conference. Elder J. G. Oblaender, the union president, lives here. Last year there were 106 additions, bringing the membership up to 578; the increase was the fruit of the efforts of eight workers. The tithe showed an increase of 140 marks, and the donations an increase of 2,000 marks. In Frankfort proper there are two churches, with 222 members. At Wiesbaden there is a church with 120 members, and at Kassel a church of 98 members.

The evening after the Sabbath I proceeded to Dortmund, where Brother Wentland could have the meetings only in their own local hall. This was crowded to the utmost. The largest church in this field is at Hamm, with 91 members; while at Dortmund there is a church of 84. There were 115 additions in this field last year, and eight workers were employed. The membership now has increased to 662. The tithe showed an increase of 1,365 marks, and the offerings a decrease of 1,803 marks. As in some of the mines our people were offered the Sabbath free, quite a number of our brethren with large families moved to this field.

The next two days I spent in Cologne, where our meeting was held in the hall occupied by one of the local churches. There are three churches in Cologne, with 190 members. Ninety-seven were baptized during the year, and the conference now has 447 members. The tithe showed an increase of 843 marks, and the offerings of 917 marks.

The strongest conference in the West German Union, the Lower Rhenish, had its regular session at Essen, February 4-6. This conference is the cradle of the advent message in Germany, and one of its most promising fields. While quite a number of members have been gained, — 156 by fourteen workers, — yet the net gain was only 21, bringing up the membership to 1,131; but there were about seventy who immigrated to South America.

From Cologne I went to Erfurt, where the Central German Conference had its annual session during the next three days. This conference takes in the province of Saxony and all the Thuringian principalities, and since New Year's, Magdeburg is again within its borders. The population is about 7,000,000. Last year 165 were added to the church, increasing the membership to 1,020; and with Magdeburg, it is now 1,125. A division of this field had been decided upon, but in view of the present situation it was waived for the time being. Here the tithe increased last year 5,800 marks; the offerings, 149. Brother L. Mathe, who had formerly been president, has now taken the Lower Rhenish Conference, and Brother W. Prillwitz the Central German. Erfurt is one of the old cities of the Reformation, and the evening meetings were well attended. There are two churches in this city, with 144 members.

The next two days I spent in Hanover-Linden, in the North German Conference. We have here two churches, with 140 members. Thirteen workers gathered in 138 souls last year, increasing the membership to 790. The tithe and offerings showed an increase of 2,370 marks.

Our closing session of the West German Union was held with the union district, at Hamburg, the entire union committee being present, including Brother Klingbeil, of Belgium, and Brother Wibbens, of Holland. The union district, composed of Hamburg-Altona and all the country north to the Danish border, had, with eleven workers, 112 additions. The tithe showed a decrease of 23,850 marks, and the offerings of 2,802 marks. There are now in Hamburg-Altona four churches, with 586 members.

Brother Klingbeil reported many wonderful experiences of how the Lord has been caring for the work in Belgium during this trying time. We have seven workers in this field, and twenty-two members were added, raising the membership to 161. There was a decrease of 2,155 marks in the tithe and 510 marks in the offerings. There are three churches in Brussels, with 92 members. There are 25 members in Antwerp, and 12 in Liege.

In Holland ten workers reaped a harvest of 71 souls, increasing the membership to 348. The tithe and offerings increased 2,875 marks. The largest church is at The Hague, with 79 members.

The West German Union as a whole had employed an average of 96 workers, yielding a harvest of 982, or about one

hundred less than the year previous. The net gain was 531, bringing the membership of the union to 6,047, or after receiving Magdeburg, to 6,152. The tithe decreased from 352,000 marks to 325,000, the offerings from 90,650 marks to 88,600, making a total decrease of about 29,000 marks. The West German Union is in many ways the richest field on the Continent, and we are sure if all the people work together for the salvation of souls, we shall see still greater advancement.

All the conferences this year, after paying the first tithe to the union and the second tithe and the offerings to the missions, had a surplus, varying in the different conferences from 700 to 16,000 marks. The union, after giving 26,000 marks to help Belgium and Holland, still had a surplus of about 13,000 marks to turn over to the European Division for mission purposes.

In the West German Union there were 219 canvassers employed, against 229 the year previous. Their sales amounted to 224,000 marks, against 230,000 marks last year. But in Hamburg-Altona there was 17,000 marks' worth more of publications sold in 1914 than in 1913. I greatly enjoyed attending all these local conferences.