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hundred thousand Lutherans. If for no other reason, because of its
magnitude and because of its appeal to our denominational
responsibility, it is a problem worth solving. But it is a challenge to
our Christianity and it should stimulate us to an intense study of its
possible solution.
Ministers can contribute much toward its solution. It is true our hands
are full and more than full with the ordinary care of our flocks. But
our office constantly brings us into association with this large outer
fringe of our congregations at times when their hearts are responsive to
anything that we may have to say. We meet them at weddings and at
funerals. We baptize their children and we bury their dead. Once in a
while some of them even come to church. In spite of all their wanderings
and intellectual idiosyncrasies they still claim to be Christians. And
whatever their own attitude toward Christianity may be, there are few
who do not desire to have their children brought up in the Christian
faith. We have before us an open door.
The churches can do more than they are doing now to win these lapsed
Lutherans. Some people are kept out of church through no fault of their
own. For example, the rented pew system, still in vogue in some
congregations, is an effective means of barring out visitors. Few care
to force themselves into the precincts of a private club even if it
bears the name of a church.
A pecuniary method of effecting friendly relations is not without its
merits. In this city of frequent removals there are many families who
have lost all connection with the congregation to which they claim to
belong. An opportunity to contribute to the church of their new
neighborhood might be for them a secondary means of grace. They become
as it were proselytes of the gate. Having taken the first step, many may
again enter into full communion with the church.
A Lutheran church, however, does not forget the warning of the prophet:
"They have healed the hurt of my daughter slightly." The evangel
Notka biograficzna
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Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (September 29, 1864December 31, 1936) was an essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher from Spain.
John Middleton Murry (August 6, 1889 March 12, 1957) was an English writer. A prominent critic, Murry is best remembered for his association with Katherine Mansfield, whom he married, as her second husband, in 1918. Following her death, he edited her work. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, along with the writer Joyce Cary, a lifelong friend.
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