The Lutherans of New York Part 11

To accomplish such a task, however, an orderly system must be adopted.

When our Lord fed the five thousand, He first commanded them to sit down by companies. "And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties."

These 400,000 souls may first of all be grouped in families. Let us say 90,000 families. These are scattered all over the greater city, most of them in close proximity to some one of our 150 churches. To each church may be given an average a.s.signment of 600 families.

The average number of communicants in each of our churches is nearly 400. Some churches have less, others more. To an average company of 400 communicants is committed the task of evangelizing 600 families, not aliens or strangers, but members of our own household of faith, people who in many eases will heartily welcome the invitation. Some of these 400 potential evangelists will beg to be excused. Let us make a selective draft of 300 to do the work. The task required of each member of this army is to visit two families.

Whatever else may be said of such a computation it certainly does not present an insuperable task. It can be done in one year, in one month, in one week, in one day.

Without presuming to insist upon a particular method of solving this problem, is it not inc.u.mbent upon the Lutheran churches of New York to face it with the determination to accomplish an extraordinary work if need be in an extraordinary manner? "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force."

Seventy years ago a great company of Christian men met in the old Luther town of Wittenberg to consider the needs of the Fatherland. It was the year of the Revolution. It was a time of political confusion and of desperate spiritual need. It was then that Wichern, in an address of impa.s.sioned eloquence, pointed the way toward the mobilization of all Christians in a campaign of spiritual service.

He was directed to prepare the program. It appeared in 1849 under the t.i.tle "Die Innere Mission."

It was a clarion call to personal service and it met with an immediate and remarkable response. The movement marked an epoch in the history of the church.

Because the Inner Mission lends itself in a peculiar way to works of charity it is often regarded as synonymous with the care of the helpless and afflicted. In this use of the term we lose sight of the larger meaning and scope of the work which has made it one of the great religious forces of the nineteenth century. It should therefore be more accurately described as that movement of the nineteenth century which, recognizing the alienation of mult.i.tudes within the church from the Christian faith and life appeals [sic] to all disciples of Christ by all means to carry the Gospel to men of all cla.s.ses who have strayed away and to gather them into the communion and confession of the church.

It is a mission within the church and hence bears the name of Inner Mission.

Such a call comes to us at a time when we are confronted with a problem which almost staggers the imagination and when we are offered an opportunity such as no other Protestant church enjoys.

The Problem of Statistics

The word statistics, according to the Century Dictionary, refers not merely to a collection of numbers, but it comprehends also "all those topics of inquiry which interest the statesman." The dignity thus given to the subject is enhanced by a secondary definition which calls it "the science of human society, so far as deduced from enumerations."

No branch of human activity can be studied in our day without the use of statistics. Statesmen and sociologists make a careful study of figures before they attempt to formulate laws or policies.

For church statistics we are chiefly dependent upon the tables of the Synodical Minutes. The original source of our information is the pastor's report of his particular congregation. Unfortunately the value of these tables is greatly impaired by the absence of a common standard of membership.

The New York Ministerium has no column for "communicant" members. There is a column for "contributing" members, but these do not necessarily mean communicants. Among the records of Ministerial Acts, such as marriages and funerals, there is also a column for "Kommuniziert." But even if the Holy Communion were to be cla.s.sed among Ministerial Acts, it sometimes happens that others besides members partake of the communion.

The term "Kommuniziert" therefore does not convey definite information on the subject of communicant membership. For example, a congregation with 160 "contributing members" reports 770 "Kommuniziert." It is hardly conceivable that out of 770 communicant members only 160 are contributing members and that 610 communicants are non-contributors.

Otherwise there would seem to be room for improvement in another direction besides statistics.

The New York Ministerium also has no column for "souls," that is, for all baptized persons, including children, connected with the congregation. There are also many blanks, and many figures that look like "round numbers." For thirty years I have tried in vain to comprehend its statistics. _Hinc illae lacrymae_.

The Missouri Synod has three membership rubrics: souls, communicant members, voting members. When however, a congregation of 900 communicants reports only 80 voting members, one wonders whether some of the 820 non-voters ought not be admitted to the right of suffrage. The congregational system favors democracy. It should be remembered also that the laws of the State define the right to vote at a church election.

The Synod of New York has three membership rubrics: Communicants, Confirmed, Baptized. The first includes all members who actually commune within a year. The second adds to the communicants all others who are ent.i.tled to commune even if they neglect the privilege. The third adds to the preceding cla.s.s baptized children and all other baptized persons in any way related to the congregation, provided they have not been formally excommunicated.

The Swedish Augustana Synod has three rubrics: Communicants, Children, Total. "Communicants" may or may not be enrolled members of the congregation. This cla.s.sification therefore is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive and may account in part, for the discrepancy between the number of Lutheran Swedes in New York and the number enrolled in the Swedish Lutheran Churches.

None of the synodical reports take note of "families." Pastors seldom speak of their membership in terms of families. In the book of Jeremiah (31, 1) we are told: "At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the G.o.d of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people." The captions of the five parts of Luther's Small Catechism proceed upon the a.s.sumption of the family as a unit. It is true we are living in an age of disrupted families, but it would seem that some recognition of the family should be made in the statistical tables of the Christian Church, especially when in the families with which we have to do, most of the individuals are baptized members of the church and have not been formally excommunicated. Until, therefore, we agree upon a common standard, our figures will be the despair of the statisticians. A reformation must come. Without it, we shall not be able to formulate needed policies of church extension.

In view of the complicated character of our membership it will not be an easy task to reconstruct our statistical methods. But it is evident that our missionary and evangelistic work will be greatly furthered when we have exact information in regard to our parochial material. Our figures should include every soul, man, woman and child, in any way related to our congregations, cla.s.sified in such a way as to show clearly in what relation they stand to the church. A church that does not count its members as carefully as a bank counts its dollars is in danger of bankruptcy.

Church bookkeeping ought to be taught in the Theological Seminary. But if the pastor himself is not a good bookkeeper, almost every congregation has young men or young women who are experts in this art, who could render good service to the church by keeping its membership rolls.

Complete records are especially necessary in our great city with its constant removals and changes of population. The individual is like the proverbial needle in the haystack, unless we adopt a method of accounting not only for each family but for each individual down to the latest-born child.*

*In order that I may not be as one that beateth the air, I venture to suggest a method of laying the foundation of records that has been helpful in my own work. I send to each family a "Family Register" blank with s.p.a.ces for the name, birthday and place of birth of each member of the family. The information thus obtained is transferred to a card catalogue in which the additional relation of each individual to the church and its work is noted. In this way, or by means of a loose-leaf record book, available and up-to-date information can easily be kept.

When important records, such as synodical minutes, are printed, several copies at least should be printed on durable paper and deposited in public libraries where they may be consulted by the historian. Ordinary paper is perishable. Within a few years it will crumble to dust. The records might as well be written on sand so far as their value for future historians is concerned.

Congregational histories, pamphlets or bound volumes, jubilee volumes and similar contributions to local church history should be sent to the publlic libraries of the city and of the denominational schools.

In search of recent information the author consulted the card index of the New York Public Library. He found only nine cards relating to Lutheran churches. And yet we wonder why our church is not better known in this city.

EPILOGUE

One seldom finds an epilogue in a book nowadays. Its purpose in the drama was to explain to the audience the meaning of the play. It does not speak well for a writer if the people miss the point of his essay.

But it is just like a preacher to say something "in conclusion" to secure, if possible, the hesitating a.s.sent of some hearer.

We have reached the 20th century. We are looking back upon 270 years of history on Manhattun Island. What we have done and what we have left undone is recorded in the stereotyped pages of an unchanging past. Our successes and our failures are the chapters from which we may learn lessons for the future. The gates of that future are open to us now.

Where Arensius and Falckner ministered to a feeble flock under inconceivable difficulties, there is built the greatest, certainly the largest, city of the world. From all the races and tongues of the earth men are gathering here to solve the problems of their lives. From Lutheran lands fifty myriads have already come and are living within our walls. Consciously or otherwise they appeal to us, their brethren in the faith, for that religious fellowship for which every man sometimes longs. If we do not respond, who shall interpret for them the religious life and questions of the new world?

From these Lutheran lands, from Scandinavia to the Balkan peninsula, from the Rhine to the Ural Mountains, other myriads will come in the long years that will follow the war. New history is sure to be written for Europe and America. What shall be our contribution to its unwritten pages?

In solving the problems that confront us we shall at the same time help to solve the problems of our city and of our country. The simple faith and the catholic principles of our church should secure far us a wide field of useful and effective service.