Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1915-12-31

three Protestant churches which have
i become free of debt during the year
Broadway Presbyterian, Memorial
Christian and Second Baptist.
/ Church Conventions Held.
On Wednesday morning, Aug IS, the
sessions Of the Central Illinois District
Of the Lutheran Missouri Synod opened
in lmmanueis Lutheran church. The
4 general president Of the synod, Rev
/ F. Pfotenhauer Of Chicago, preached
I the opening sermon. with The pastor
I OF Immanuei's church al the altar The
! morning sessions Of this synod were
all entirely devoted to the discussion
Of the fourth article Of the Augsburg
Confession, which deals with the doe
trine Of Justification by faith The af-
/ ternoon sessions were spent in the
( interests Of missions. and other i'm
/ portaut business matters. An eloquent
! sermon delivered during the session Of
i Friday evening. April 20, on why the
Lutheran Church Maintains Parochial
Schools will not soon be forgotten
. by those who heard 1t.
/ The greatest church organization
+ that has ever assembled in our city.
I opened its 35th biennial convention in
the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran
( Zion church on Friday morning, Sept
( 10. ! refer to the general council Of the
Lutheran church in North America,
{ representing at the close of the con-
vention 10 syn0ds, extending into 40
states or more of the union, and six
/ provinces in Canada. with 2,544 con-
/ gregations, .655 pastors and total
COMMUNICATE membership OF more
than half a million people. Dr.. l., A.
! Abrahamson, editor Of "Augustana,"
1 gave the address of welcome, in which
he said You are now assembled on
historic ground. Here more than so
I years ago our humble forefathers built
affairs to worship their God The found
ers Of our church were wise build
ers. They knew that afchurch could
not long exist without its own educa-
ttonal institutions. and therefore they
laid the foundations for that compre-
hensive educational system which has
its center here's
The main events connected with the
sessions Of this general council were:
The biennial meeting of the Wo-
mems Missionary society Of the coun-
Gil.
The unanimous vote to accede to the
petition OF the Augustana synod and
appoint a constitutional revision com
mittee to bring in report at the 1917
meeting in Philadelphia;
The cordial decision of the general
council to take part in the worldwide
movement to celebrate in 1917 the
400th anniversary of the beginning Of
the Lutheran reformation in Germany;
The resolution heartily favoring the
reading Of the bible in all schools
both public and private and deploring
any efforts TO have the practice dis
continued;
The reception given by Augustana
college in the Denkmann Memorial Ii
brary to all the delegates and friends
/ present at the council;
The adding Of the Old German sy-
nod Of Texas and the United SYNOD Of
the south to the general council, max
/ ing / ) synods in all now organized in
the council;
The announcement by the general
council publication board that the new
English church book viii be issued
shortly. TO be called The Common Ser
vice Book and Hymnal;
/ The step taken looking towards a
federation Of all the Lutheran church
] es in American and the world
/ Much consideration was given at the
meetings Of this general council to
/ their mission work in the United
States and Canada, and their foreign
work in India, China and Porto Rico.
/ The general council has property
valued at S50000,000,
Brief Review of Year.
( This story would be quite fncom-
plete without some reference being
made to the Swedish Baptist church.
Very few Of us know that the first
Swedish Baptist church ever organized
: anywhere is located in Rock Island
Even before any of the Baptist church
es were formed in Sweden, the local
church was doing its work. 1t is the
mother of many churches-whole col
onies at times have moved away. TAX
ing with them the spirit of the mother
church and organizing a rev church
in the new home center. The work in
this mother church is being ably
managed by Rev r, A. Carlson, who
! serves as pastor in Davenport also
/ During the year the congregation Of
the First Methodist church has com
pleted and dedicated an annex foI
Sunday schocs and social purposes al
a cost of $4,000 Besides shoulderine
this debt this church has given al.
together for causes outside Of Rock Is
land $2431 The Sunday school class
es. the young people, and some of the
children, as well as the whole congre-
cation. are thoroughly organized fol
aggressive work. Ninety-two have uni.
ted with this church since the pastor.