General Synod of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Board of Missions and Church Extension

Establishment of home and foreign mission work in the young Evangelical Lutheran General Synod in North America, commonly referred to as the General Synod South (GSS), proved a difficult undertaking when considering that the whole of the south was barely into the Reconstruction Period. While the 1866 GSS convention included a report from the Committee on Foreign Missions, that report stated "o︣n account of the peculiar circumstances surrounding this Synodical body, nothing has been done in the matter of the appointment of missionaries or the establishment of missionary fields of labor. " Another committee appointed to report on domestic missions gave a report that comprised the observations and personal experiences of those persons serving on the committee and it gave its recommendation as to the areas in which the GSS should focus its efforts at domestic mission work. The committee presented resolutions to the GSS that, among others, recommended establishing the office of general superintendent to visit the fields of GSS territory; that the church take steps to secure the services abroad of German pastors to come and serve German congregations in GSS territory, and to make efforts for the spiritual promotion of the freedmen.

By its convention the next year, the GSS was exploring domestic mission possibilities. A committee was appointed to report on how the GSS could begin its domestic missionary operations. This committee reported that such a task should not be done hastily and as the committee had no funds with which to study the issue and make recommendations. Instead, it recommended that a committee be appointed to draft a constitution for it missionary society, referred to as the General Synod Missionary Society, to be adopted at the next GSS convention The Committee on Foreign Missions did not give a report.

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