Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1916-06-22
LARGE CROWDS
AT CONVENTION
National Convention of Danish Luth-
eran Church i'm Session at Har-
Ian Largely Attended

From Wednesday to Sunday the
United Danish Evangelical Lutheran
church of America held it's Goth an
nual convention at Harlan, when
proved to be a success in every re-
spect. Harlan is a beautiful town,
and certainly deserves the many COM
mendable utterances of her Scandi-
navian guests last week.
A more appropriate place for hold
ing convention could not have been
selected, especially by this Danish
church body, because Harlan lies in
the largest settlement OF Danes in
America, and its Danish Lutheran
congregation is lone of nine located
in this settlement and belongs or adj
heres to that same Synod
Rev. James C. Petersen is the
young and able minister of the Har-
Ian congregation which is only two
years old. He now has lis voteable
members and $4,000 church edi-
face.
Tuesday evening the guests began
to arrive in large numbers, both by
rail and by automobile. The steady
flow continued until Sunday noon,
when no less than 1000 to 5000 peo-
pie had gathered. The numerous
guests were met by committee
headed by Mayor Hansen and taken
to the church basement. where lodg-
ing cards and meal tickets were dis
tributed. The lodging was free of
charge, but a fee of $3.50 was levied
for board for the entire period, or
meals were served at 35c in regular
convention style in large hall near
the center of town.
The business sessions and most of
the meetings were held in chautauqua
style in a large tent erected on the
school grounds two blocks north of
the square. Wednesday morning at
1890 o'clock the opening service was
held and the Introductory sermon
was delivered by Rev. M. N. Ander-
sen, of Neenah, Wis. In the afternoon
lat $3.50 O'Clock the first session COM
menced and the reports from the Off
GERS of the Synod were read and ac-
cepted. Rev. ]. p. Naarup, of Wau-
paca, Wis, and Prof. l.. A. Laursen,
of Blair, Nebr., were elected assistant
chairmen and Rev. G. Olsen, of
Hartland, Wis, was selected assistant
secretary. These gentlemen were to
assist the President of the Synod Rev.
G. b. ChristianSen of this city and
the secretary, Rev. A. s. Nielsen, of
Brush, Colo, in conducting the bust
ness sessions.
The roll of all voteable members
was called and the final roll call
showed SO ministers and 81 deegates
coming from nearly every state in the
Union. A nominating committee was
elected to select and nominate can
didates for the various temporary
and permanent Offices.
The Danish Evangelical Lutheran
Church of America is composed of
about 100 congregations, located in
various states of the union, mostly
in the north, extending across the
country from the Atlantic to the Pa
cific. Some of these congregations
are strong in numbers and wealth,
as for instance those in this locality.
There are also good many strong
congregations in Wisconsin, Minneso-
ia. other parts of Iowa, the Dakotas,
Nebraska, and the Pacific coast.
Likewise, number of congregations
are not so strong, being missions
rather. Wherever there are Danish
Lutherans, an effort Is made to look
after their spiritual welfare. Three
or four congregations are located in
Canada.
At the afternoon meeting of We'd
lnesday an address of welcome, in
which he presented to the convention
the keys of the city of Harlan, was
made by Mayor Albert Hansen. Mr..
Hansen, happily, is a member of the
Harlan Lutheran church and was thus
ahla m addrasa tho ennVpntiOn most
lfelicitously in its own language and in
the spirit of its own religion. A fit
ting response was made by a repre-
sentative of the association.
Thursday morning after short
devotional service, the sessions again
commenced and reports from the
officers of the Synod's various in
situations were read. These showed
much activity and progress during
the past year. The main school and