In the Central European Union
By L. R. CONRADI
This union is composed of the southern part of Germany, where there are three conferences, Austria (excepting Galicia) and German Switzerland. We had but one regular conference session, that at Karlsruhe, in the South German field. General meetings were held at Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and Munich. In the last named, the general meeting was held in connection with the union conference committee session. We also had an audit at Basel. I spent February 16-27 in this field. Our first meeting was at Basel. Cars running direct from Hamburg go only as far as the last station on the German border, and from there one must cross by team and tram, after having been examined carefully on both sides of the frontier. There were nine workers engaged in the German-Swiss field last year, yielding a harvest of ninety believers, thus increasing the membership to 771. Although there is no institution at present at Basel, we have a good church of 145 members there. Switzerland is feeling the effects of the war. For quite a while the whole army has been mobilized, and still the larger part of the army is under arms, guarding the border. As Switzerland is more or less dependent on the tourists, and as it is not a strong agricultural country, the influence of the war is felt in many ways. The tithe and the offerings have decreased. Elder J. Erzberger attended this meeting, although he is having considerable trouble with his eyesight. He is doing what he can in visiting the churches. Our publishing house has a depository here, and I was pleased to speak one evening in one of the public halls to a large congregation. February 18-20 we had our conference at Karlsruhe, in our own local hall. The meeting was well attended. The South German Conference includes Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, and two provinces of Hesse. With twelve workers, the gain was eighty-seven members, increasing their membership to 726. The strongest church in this field is at the old university city of Heidelberg. It has eighty members. The church at old Worms has twenty-five members. Only a few members could come to the meeting from Alsace-Lorraine. One church was entirely cut off. Sabbath, the Lord came very near to us. Elder Schubert had spent a previous Sabbath at Stuttgart. One of our churches in that city has a nice, well-located hall. The Wurtemberg Conference has developed into a very promising field. Altogether there were seven workers. As the result of their labor, there was a gain of 134, raising the membership to 643. Last year the tithe increased, but the offerings decreased slightly. From here we went to Nuremberg, where, in connection with the general meeting, we had the audits of the Bavarian Conference. It is not many years since we obtained liberty in Bavaria. The union president is in charge of this conference. With eleven workers last year, this conference showed the best gain, 176, raising its membership to 786, so that Bavaria is now the strongest field in the union. At Nuremberg we have two churches, with 229 members; also two at Munich, with 232 members; and at Augsburg, a city renowned since the time of the Reformation, we have a church of eighty-four. We had an old hall at Nuremberg. At our evening meetings there were over six hundred in attendance. The tithe in Bavaria decreased, but the offerings increased slightly. Our people at Nuremberg much appreciated this general meeting, which gave the people there and in the northern part of the field the advantages of such a gathering. We spent the last three days at Munich in the union audit, and also held general meetings with our people. At this audit the whole union committee, except Brother Erzberger, were present. Elder J. Muth, the president of the Moravian-Silesian Conference, had a very encouraging report from that field. With seven workers they were able to receive eighty-five members. Their tithe showed an increase, and there was also a slight increase in their offerings. Elder Muth, in spite of some serious difficulties, was of good courage in his work. The Bohemian field also shows an excellent record. With nine workers, they have 116 additions, bringing up their membership to 300. The most of this work has been carried on in the German-speaking part of Bohemia. Last year difficulties were not lacking in this field. Austria proper, represented by Brother J. Wolfgarten, with fifteen workers, yielded a harvest of 110 souls, thus increasing its membership to 334. Austria, including Galicia, yielded a harvest of 346 souls last year, bringing up its membership to 1,140. Not many years ago we had here but a small constituency, and yet in spite of great difficulties, the work has steadily advanced, not only in membership, but also in finance. We can do very little in the canvassing work, and still the word preached seems to have a mighty effect in the spread of the message. As the Austrian Mission field is quite large, it had been decided to divide it from the beginning of the new year into three fields, the Austrian, Hither-Austrian, and the Adriatic, making seven fields in Austria, one of which is a conference. All the conferences in this union closed their accounts with a surplus of from 600 to 11,800 marks. The two Austrian fields had a deficit of 12,000 marks to cover. All the conferences of the Central European Union this year paid their first tithe to the union, the five per cent and the second tithe to the division, and after all their accounts were settled and some money voted to general funds, the union turned over for the mission fields 5,000 marks. This is surely a good record for a comparatively new union. There were 109 canvassers active in this union, against 126 last year, and their sales amounted to 177,000 marks, against 207,000 the previous year, or 30,000 marks less. Throughout the union during the year, seventy workers gained 798 souls. There was comparatively a small loss, forty-one members died, and the net gain was 631, which increased the membership to 4,004. As for the finances, this was the only union of the three where the tithe increased and the offerings had but a slight decrease. This speaks well for the financial development of the union, and also for the growth in membership. We believe there are bright days ahead for the Central European field. Though the 40,000,000 in this union are the greater part Catholics, yet when it comes to the growth in membership and in the spirit of sacrifice among the givers, this union has already outstripped several of its competitors, where the population is almost entirely Protestant. There is no institution whatever in this union, but many lively stones are being added to a spiritual temple which will never perish.