The German Union Conference
By L. R. Conradi
WHILE there have been many things which we would have been glad to see improved, yet, since our last report, six months ago, the cause in the German Union Conference has been making steady progress. The most prominent feature of our work during that time was the German Union Conference held at Friedensau, July 18–28, to which each of the local fields sent its representatives. This was the largest meeting we ever had, about seven hundred being in attendance. At that time, two new fields were organized, by dividing the Austro-Hungarian and Balkan States Mission into three more natural divisions. Until recently, that field, with its sixty million people, had had but one ordained minister, Elder J. F. Huenergardt. About a year ago Elder J. P. Lorenz entered Prague. The work is now so arranged that Elder Huenergardt remains in charge of Hungary, with about twenty-two million inhabitants; Elder Lorenz takes charge of the Austrian Mission, with about twenty-five million people; and Elder G. Perk, who had formerly labored in Saxony, but was compelled to leave because he had baptized in that country, has been called to the directorship of the Balkan States Mission,—Rumania, Servia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro. Brother Perk’s knowledge of the Russian will assist him greatly in mastering the Bulgarian and Servian languages. Thus there are now eleven distinct fields in the German Union Conference, and we plan to organize the Rhine Province (which now belongs to the West German Conference) into a separate field this winter. It contains nearly six million people. Thus we expect to have four conferences in Germany, one in Russia, and one in German-Switzerland, by the beginning of the new year, so there will be six conferences and six mission fields in the German union. The West German Conference
The strongest of our fields to-day is the West German Conference. As Elder H. F. Schuberth has been chosen vice-president of the union, and given special charge of the work in Holland, Elder J. Pieper, formerly president of the East German Conference, has taken his place. Its largest churches are at Hamburg, with two hundred members; Friedensau, where we have one hundred and eleven members; and Hannover, with a church of eighty-eight members. A few small companies have been raised up in the province of Sleswick-Holstein; and in Hildesheim, a company of thirteen has accepted the message. The church at Brunswick had fourteen additions, and our teacher at Friedensau was instrumental in bringing out a company of twelve near Burg, making our total addition in the West German Conference one hundred and thirteen, bringing its present membership up to ten hundred and sixty. We are holding lectures in Frankfort, Altona, Erfurt, Cassel, Rendsburg, and Dortmund. Elder G. Schubert has begun work in Cologne, the leading city of the Rhine Province, with a population of three hundred and seventy-three thousand. His hall holds two hundred, and he reports that the attendance is so large that many cannot find a seat. We also have quite a number of canvassers in that city. We now have two general agents employed in the West German Conference, and the canvassing work is receiving more and more attention. The tithe for the half year was five thousand dollars. The headquarters of this conference are now in Berlin. Our chief efforts here have been put forth in Dresden, the capital of Saxony, and in the mountain districts bordering upon Bohemia, at Oberschlema, where a church of sixty-one members has recently been raised up. Elder Oblaender has been blessed in his labors at Breslau, the leading city of Silesia, where thirteen have been added, so that our church there numbers forty. In Eastern Prussia twelve were brought in at one place, and we have also secured a Polish laborer. Elder E. Frauchiger, formerly director of the South German Mission, has now been chosen president of this conference, and has settled in Berlin, where he recently received about twenty new members. As this conference has lost two of its ordained ministers,—one being spared for the Balkan States, and the other for Hungary,—they are much in need of additional help. Eastern and Western Prussia, with three million people and three hundred Sabbath keepers, ought soon to be organized into a separate conference, as this field is too large for the securing of a proper representation at the general meetings. We have had our worst experiences in Saxony, where the law does not permit us to baptize any one who has not first left the state church—a thing which is not allowed until one becomes of age; so a minister who baptizes a minor is liable to a heavy fine. In Dresden the pastors pressed things so far that Elder Perk, who is a Russian, was compelled by the police to leave the country; and now we have secured a native of Saxony to take his place. In this field we are developing three good leaders for the canvassing work, which is picking up right along. This conference now has a membership of ten hundred and two, and its tithe the last half year was three thousand nine hundred dollars. This mission is the third field in Germany proper. For some reason the work here has not grown so rapidly as in the northern portions. However, in Carlsruhe, the capital of the grand duchy of Baden, the work has been strengthened through the labors of Brother Frauchiger, twelve having been baptized during the six months, so that the church there now numbers fifty. Elder Weber labored with success in Upper Württemberg, and lately in Bavaria at Nuremberg, where eleven were baptized. We now have a company of twenty-three at Nuremberg. In Bavaria we have also16had trouble about baptizing, and some of our ministers there have had to change their fields of labor on this account, as the police threatened to send them off. The total increase in this field was forty-three, the present membership being two hundred and fifty-six, paying a tithe of one thousand dollars the past half year. Elder Weber is the director, and we expect that by the beginning of 1903 we shall have an organized conference. Elder Baumann, formerly of the West German Conference, is now laboring here, and it is proposed that Elder Kraft, who is expected from Iowa, begin work here, among these fourteen million people. Farther to the south lies the German-Swiss Conference. During the summer Elder J. T. Boettcher, assisted by Brother Voth, held a series of tent meetings in the city of Winterthur. About twelve tents were pitched there, in which they conducted a summer school for the canvassers and workers, in connection with the public effort. As the result of this meeting, twelve have taken their stand, and the interest is being followed up by meetings in a hall. Elder Erzenberger has settled in Bern, the capital city of the Swiss republic, and he, too, reports encouragingly of the work, eight having accepted the message at that place. The church in that city now numbers twenty-two. We have not yet received the last quarter’s report from Switzerland; but the prospects for the future growth of this conference are good. During the last six months their tithe was eleven hundred and ninety dollars, and they have received thirty-five members, making the present church membership two hundred and sixty-six. The sanitarium at Basel has had from six to twelve patients; but their yearly income was not quite so large as that of last year, the sanitarium itself sustaining a loss of about three thousand dollars; however, the health food department, the sales of which are constantly increasing, has had a gain of two thousand dollars, so that the net loss for the year was only one thousand dollars, and this is more than covered by the health food sales of former years. The field which has suffered most severely and had the worst experience, is Holland. The first quarter of this year seemed very promising for the work there; but on my way to the meeting in London, I learned that there had arisen some troubles in Holland concerning our position on the sanctuary, that vital question of the third angel’s message. The brethren had read a book by an English writer in which he spiritualizes away the sanctuary as simply the temple of God in man, and teaches that Christ finished the entire work of atonement upon the cross, and presents the idea that the sanctuary in heaven is only a myth. This question had puzzled all our Holland ministers, and they had meetings about it, and formulated their objections to the truth as held by Seventh-day Adventists, before they let us know a word about the matter. As this became known, it naturally had quite an influence on the whole field. If we take into consideration the fact that the Holland work had but recently been entered upon, and the people were naturally much attached to their ministers (as they were the only ones able to speak to them in their own language), we can see that they would be strongly influenced by the movement. And to make matters worse, there were national feelings against some of the laborers who had come there from abroad. Five of the brethren went over to the European General Conference in London, and they were labored with faithfully by Brethren Daniells, Waggoner, Olsen, and others, and after that meeting I spent Sabbath with them in their leading church at Rotterdam, and gave them four days’ opportunity to bring up all the points at issue. As Elder Schuberth remarked, the truth never looked brighter than when it was put to such a severe test. We asked the ministers what position they would take. They asked for more time. The fact is, as their former knowledge of the truth became darkness to them, they saw plainly that they must forsake all the light which we as a people have on the prophecies. When I remarked that the test of their position would be their success, one of their ministers frankly said: “While we have the Sabbath left, yet the strength which the prophetic word gave to the message is gone.” When the time allowed for the reconsideration of their position had expired, two of their ministers who had been prominent leaders in the movement, stood aside, and the party formed a local committee of lay members, to manage their work. Elder H. F. Schuberth, who was asked to take special oversight of this field, remained three weeks, and, accompanied by Brother Wintzen as interpreter, visited each company in the country, while I returned to Germany. We now have three workers there, and forty-seven of the two hundred and forty Sabbath keepers have thus far fully decided to remain with us, and others are on the point of a favorable decision. Elder Klingbeil’s family remained faithful, and he himself is again becoming more and more settled. Quite a number of the other party have already ceased observing the Sabbath, and many others have stopped paying tithe. Naturally enough one main issue was the spirit of prophecy. While one would think our Holland paper would lose by this experience, yet, strange to say, its circulation is increasing right along. We are by no means discouraged at the outlook. These things will test one’s faith, but the strength of truth will appear the more plainly, as all such movements will finally come to naught. It is a glorious thing to say that the truth sanctifies us, but we must remember that it is only pure doctrine that has this sanctifying power. There is nothing more important in the work of God than that common-sense equilibrium, where the reception of undefiled doctrines brings about a true life. Elder Lorenz has continued his meetings in Prague. He has been able to receive fifteen new members, and now we have a company of twenty in the ancient home of Huss. Their tithe for the past two quarters was seventy-five dollars. The “Away-from-Rome” movement is causing considerable stir, and matters have reached almost a fever heat in Bohemia, where a leading prelate of the country has been caught in his efforts to get away with a large sum of money belonging to one of the banks, which he is said to have been secretly robbing for years. As this man was a great favorite of the “church” and of the pope, the incident has caused not a little stir. He has been safely lodged behind the bars. Brother Lorentz is assisted by Brother Simon, a native Bohemian, who is thus obtaining a good experience for the work to be done in his own tongue. Of late we have sent one of our German brethren to labor in the large and beautiful city of Vienna. En route, he had an interesting visit near Brunn in Moravia, where a family has fully decided in favor of the truth. He also visited a teacher in the mountains in Austria, who had become interested through our publications. Thus far we have been able to secure no rights for the carrying forward of our canvassing work in this field. It now has three laborers, but what are three workers in twenty-five million people? Elder Huenergardt has been visiting the churches, and he reports quite encouragingly. A promising young man, a Hungarian, who has had some experience as a minister and editor, has recently united with us in Budapest through the missionary efforts of one of our members there, and Brother Huenergardt is now employing him as an assistant in the work. This gives us a good native laborer in the Hungarian language. A good Rumanian worker is also developing. One of our Rumanian brethren, who has spent several years in Friedensau, returned to Hungary after the German Union Conference, and was called into the military service; but from the beginning he told the officers that he could not serve on the Sabbath. They threatened him in every way, and imprisoned him for a month, but as he remained true to God and held fast to his promises, he was finally set free, and even given permission to go out canvassing. We are indeed thankful to the Master for this victory in behalf of the truth. Elder Mathe and his wife, formerly of Eastern Prussia, have recently entered Pressburg, Hungary, a city of about sixty-two thousand inhabitants, where the German language is still in the ascendency. He will give his time to the millions of Germans in Hungary; but still our force is small in this large country. Thus far we have church members among the Hungarians, Germans, Rumanians, and Servians. Our field farthest to the south in this part of Europe is the newly organized Balkan Mission, which is now under the directorship of Elder G. Perk, formerly of Dresden. He has his headquarters in Bucharest, the capital of Rumania, a city of three hundred thousand inhabitants. We have had a German worker there, who has developed some interest among the Germans in that city, and a small company is being gathered out. Brother Perk has recently visited two German churches near the Black Sea, as well as Rustchuk, Bulgaria, and Varna, where we have some Sabbath keepers. The Balkan Mission has suffered greatly because it had no local superintendent, but we hope now that greater prosperity will attend the work here, and that additional laborers will be developed. Five have been baptized in this field, and it now has eighty-four members, and its tithe for the six months was one hundred dollars. In addition to17Elder Perk, we have three Bible workers,—two Germans and one Bulgarian,—and we hope soon to secure a Rumanian worker and another Bulgarian. A young man from Bulgaria, who has been a mechanic in the navy, has lately come to Friedensau at his own expense, desiring to become educated for the work. The Macedonian difficulties still make it hard for us to reach Macedonia, where we have some Sabbath keepers. The work is onward here, especially in Volhynia, among the German country people near the German border. Elder Gaede, who is director of this mission, attended the London meeting, and then remained in Germany until after the Friedensau gathering. The strongest churches are in Volhynia, where there are seventy members; then there is a church of thirty-two members in St. Petersburg; one numbering forty-nine at Riga; a company of thirty-three Sabbath keepers at Reval. The work has lately obtained a foothold in Kief, the holy city of the Russians. Thirty-four were added to our numbers in this mission during the last six months, and their membership is now two hundred and seventy-nine, paying a semiannual tithe of about three hundred and fifty dollars. Elder Gaede is their only ordained minister, and they have five Bible workers, among whom are laborers in the German, Russian, Esthonian, and Lettish languages. At present this seems the most promising field in Russia. Brother Wildgrube accompanied Elder Gaede to the London meeting, and they, with two Bible workers (Brethren Voss and Sprohge), were present at the Friedensau Conference. This field will have a deficit of about one thousand dollars this year, which will be met by funds from the German union treasury. Southern Russian Conference
This conference is still suffering from the sickness of its president, Elder H. J. Loebsack. In Friedensau we appointed a temporary vice-president to serve until the time of their general meeting, at which they chose H. K. Loebsack for the vice-presidency. Their main increase of late has been in Bessarabia, where they received sixteen new members. Although they have baptized fifty-four during the last two quarters, yet their net increase is but one, and their present membership is eight hundred and twenty-two, who have paid about six hundred and forty dollars tithe during that time. Although this conference has but four laborers, it will run behind about one thousand dollars. In this, the native field, which has a membership of about two hundred, not very much has been accomplished during the summer months, still we hear from many interested persons. Some native helpers are now being educated in Friedensau, and we believe that this winter will witness quite a growth in the field. They need a more thorough organization. We hear of entire companies that are accepting the Sabbath, but they should be visited, and instructed, and brought into line. Especially does the tithing system seem to be a hard question for them to grasp, and we have considerable difficulty over this matter. Certainly, this is the hardest field we have, and it takes much of the grace of God to labor successfully here. The summary for the German Union Conference for the year ending June 30, 1902, shows a tithe of $25,401, and offerings and gifts amounting to over $4,100. Our membership is now 4,150, and we have 77 ministers and other gospel workers, and 150 churches, and about 200 colporteurs. The business of our publishing house in Hamburg is constantly increasing, and our annual statement for the year ending July 1, 1902, shows the best year we have ever had. This house is under the charge of the Union Conference Committee, and so its profits are not used simply to build up some one enterprise, but they are at the disposition of the Union Conference Committee, to be expended wherever it seems that the interests of the cause at large can best be served. This year the gain was more than seven thousand dollars, thirty-five hundred dollars of which was given toward the new school building in Friedensau. Last year the office bore the expense connected with sending out “Christ’s Object Lessons,” and it is doing the same this year. Five hundred dollars of our gain was devoted to the sick fund for our office employees, and the larger part of the amount still remaining, to increasing our stock capital, as we desired to enlarge our stock. They also set aside quite a sum for the purpose of developing the canvassing work, and holding canvassers’ institutes. The general agents in the field are supported by the Hamburg house. We have revised “His Glorious Appearing,” and thus far one hundred and fifty thousand copies have been sold. Our canvassers are also taking hold of the circulation of our larger books, with good success. As our Sunday work has caused us some trouble, we have found it necessary to arrange to work eleven hours a day five days of the week, and five hours on Sunday. During church time on the first day of the week we have our worship and missionary meeting for the employees, and in the afternoon they are free to do missionary work in the city. Thus we comply with the law, and at the same time sacrifice no principle. As the veranda in front of the house needed repairs, and it was of no use to us simply as a veranda, we have built upon the old foundation a neat brick storeroom, in which we shall sell our books and health foods. This improvement was also very necessary, as our treasurer and bookkeepers were much annoyed by those who came to the office to trade. The Herold has a circulation of about twenty-six thousand twice a month. We are now preparing an extra number, of which we shall print fifty thousand. The gain on the paper last year was four hundred dollars. The house is getting out a second edition—fourteen thousand copies—of the book of Daniel, and the new book on Revelation is nearly ready for the market. Of the former work we have already sold about eight thousand copies. We are also getting out “His Glorious Appearing” in Rumanian and Hungarian, and some books in Polish have been published. We are constantly enlarging the stock of books in the various languages. While we print our papers and tracts in Hamburg, our books are printed in Leipsic, where the supreme court of the German empire is located, a city of about four hundred thousand inhabitants, in which we now have a church of thirty-two members. Since the camp meeting we have been carrying on a more vigorous campaign in behalf of “Christ’s Object Lessons.” Thus far, three thousand copies have been sold, and we hope to dispose of the remaining two thousand copies of the first edition before Christmas. Lest our stock of this book become exhausted, we are printing ten thousand copies more, which will be bound as our second and third editions. Toward the material fund of the second edition, our paper dealer has contributed sixty dollars, our printer twelve dollars, and there are good prospects that our binder will give us sixty dollars—as each of these gentlemen did when we got out the first edition. Our newest book is the one on Revelation. The little spare time I have had at my disposal has been diligently employed in the production of this work. It will be nicely illustrated, and will contain about five hundred and forty pages. As the book of Daniel has had such a wide circulation, there have been many calls for the book on Revelation. I was able to secure three prominent photographs from the paintings in the Vatican at Rome,—showing the humiliation of the two German emperors, and the bloody slaughter of St. Bartholomew, as pictured by Roman artists,—and these fine cuts will appear in the book, as well as some original drawings, and some illustrations of the Waldensian Valleys, representing the church in the wilderness. This institution has had quite a prosperous season, although the weather has been unfavorable for sanitarium work all over Europe. Our health principles are becoming more widely known, and new patients are coming in. We are now installing an electric-light plant and electric-light baths, which will prove new attractions to the place. We are adding a much-needed veranda on the front of the building, and this will connect the main building with the new cottage which we are erecting for first-class patients. Our new school dormitory has gone right up, and will be ready for occupancy during the month. This will supply much-needed room for the accommodation of the students. During the winter season, when the work at the sanitarium is light, we find plenty for our nurses to do in the large cities. None need be idle. Six have passed the state examination as trained nurses, and others are preparing for it. Two of our nurses have lately been taken for the military service in Magdeburg; and when they were asked to take the oath, they refused, if this should be interpreted to mean that they were to serve upon the Sabbath. The officers have been very kind to them, granting them respite until the matter may be decided by the higher authorities. I have received a letter from the commander of the regiment, asking us for explanations as to our position. While we see some degree of prosperity throughout the German union and in our various institutions, yet we remember that “all is not gold that glitters.” As hundreds are coming into the truth, and there is such a dearth of workers, the churches need much more careful instruction than we may be able to give. Our ministers are devoting considerable time to the work in new fields, and we lack old, experienced help18among the churches. I have been so busy with general and editorial work that it has not been my privilege personally to visit the churches as much as I have desired. Perhaps it may not be out of place in closing, to express our thanks and appreciation for the visit of our leading brethren from America, the past summer. Where there are but a few struggling workers scattered over such a wide extent of territory, it gives us new courage and faith to have our brethren from America come in and assure us of their personal interest and help. We also appreciate the appeal Sister White wrote to our German brethren in America in behalf of the circulation of “Christ’s Object Lessons.” Thus far we have received thirty-five hundred dollars from this fund in America; but it was our expectation that, while we would sell about fifteen thousand copies of this work here, our brethren across the waters would sell at least ten thousand. We trust we shall not be disappointed in this, as our work in Friedensau needs the money. We can but express our gratitude to God for his help thus far, and we look into the future with the full assurance that he will be with us in days to come.