Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-06-08
FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING
OF THE NORWEGIAN
LUTHERAN FREE CHURCH
Proceedings Of the Church Meeting
Nov IN Progress at Seminary Hall.

5..5ss - Wv Nv IL = AOS4Soo
The annual convention of the Luth-
eran Free church opened at Seminary
hall on Wednesday, June 5, 1901.
Rev. Anders Holland delivered the
opening sermon, taking for his text
the 10th psalm. Rev. E. E. Gynild
welcomed the delegates to Willmar
and then declared the meeting duly
opened for business. The sessions
were fixed as follows: In the fore
noon, prayer meeting from to e:45;
regular session from 10 to l2. In the
afternoon, from 2 to 5. '.s2*t s-
On motion the chair appointed as
committee on credentials the follow
ing: Rev. Berntsen, Rev. H. .Ost-
cullen and Mr.. L. Kolsrud. # s .s;s
The afternoon session opened with
pray er, led by Rev. NJ. B. Sveen.
/ Rev. E. p. Gynild, president of the
Free church. read his annual report
He began with these words from the
bible: mot by might, and not by
power, but by my spirit, says the Lord
Of hosts To be successful in it's
mission a church must get power from
above. This power is given by the
holy ghost to the poor in spirit. a
church needs revival, but this revival
must not be the work of man. The
servants OF the lord must be willing
tools in the hands of the spirit, and
preach the law and the gospel clearly
and without foreign admixtures. +.
The president laid special stress on
the mission work. Next after the up
building of the congregation the mis-
sions should have a place. This is
the direct order of the Savior to his
disciples when bidding them farewell.
eco out and make all people my dis
ciples." That this command did not
apply only to the twelve disciples, but
to all disciples Of Christ in all ages,
is evident from the words that follow:
"Lo, I am with you to the end Of the
world !. = Therefore, as long as there
10 q congregation in the world it 10
It's sacred calling and duty TO do mis-
sionary work. Where there is no
sense of this duty it is an evidence OF
failing or extinguished spiritual life.
In order to be successful in this mis-
sion work q church needs to feel the
responsibility for some particular mis-
sion. The Free church has found its
field of work in Madagascar. For the,
work there we are responsible. If we
are able to do anything more we can
give q helping hand to our neighbors
in other fields. All members of the
church ought to be given an oppor-
\ tunity to take part in this work. The
children should be gathered occe q
month to do something for missions.
In all congregations the women haye
some organization for mission work.
But there should be some work in.
which the entire congrega gation had .
part. There should be regular days.
J. for taking offerings for this purpose.
Thanksgiving Day would be an ap-;
propriate day for this, as We could
then show our thankfulness to the.
Lord by offerings for his work. The
copgrega gations need to kr ow about the
work being done, and for that reason
the board Of missions has established
Z q paper, s Gasseren, = which is de-:
voted to the work in Madagascar.
All members of the church ought to.
take il. ::ss Is:
At Augsburg Seminary the work
] hss gone on ia its regular way +
the Free church is to work and grow
this school must fourjsh. It is there.
fore a matter Of life that every congre-s
CATION does all il il s power to fable.
Augsburg Seminary to do It's work
powerfully with the same spirit in
which the work has been done in the
past years.
The contrib tions for the other
branches of The work have been par
italy good The. home mission has
Jared quite we'll due mainly to the:
faithful work Of the c.,mmittee. The.
sdeaeoness home and the hildren's
home have also been supplied with ittlhls
what they needed The two ranches
sssof the work which have been behind
are the Seminary and the foreign mis-
sSsions. This is probably not due TO-
failing interest, but g the failure Of
crops ID large portions Of =theVest
During the past year, as formerly, :'1Ir q
1seyeral persons have raveled among
the cengregati ons, preaching the word 3
sof God hon properly conc dpcted
this is 8 work that brings great bles-|
I sings. It iss q work pecially TOR lsy-:
men. But these Wishing workers
should Be careful not to interfere with. &
the Internal Fairs of the copgrega-s
] Stions. That &, = work that belong to5
the resident ministers. 81.
The report of Prot {. Sven Ofedal,E
& idents sof the board of trnstee ofI
! lugs bur bur Semi 81 y g 81. readl md
laccepted ,he port showed tfhat
hAd lbeen = Hing on in the ~
"a