Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Santal Committee of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

As with other Lutheran churches in the United States founded by immigrants, once congregations of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church (DELC) began to increase in number and strength, they showed a renewed interest in foreign mission endeavors. Always present within the DELC was an interest in foreign missions. Some pastors had been trained as missionaries and others served in foreign mission fields. Early on in the DELC's history the church attempted to generate a collective interest in supporting foreign mission work through articles that appeared in the church paper Kirkelig Samler and listings of gifts received for foreign missions. Many articles written about foreign mission work referenced efforts regarding the Santal Mission established in northern India in 1867 by the Hans Peter Børresen, a Dane and Lars Ole Skrefsrud, a Norwegian.

The Santal Mission itself was supported by Danish immigrants in the United States. Danes in America directly supported mission efforts headquartered in Denmark. It was not uncommon among ethnic groups in the United States at that time to send financial support to established mission organizations in their country of origin. Even though founding missionary L.O. Skrefsrud visited Danish congregations in the United States in 1894-1895 to increase interest and support among the Danes for the Santal Mission, gifts increased but those increases were sent to the Santal Committee in Denmark.

To generate interest in the Santal Mission among Danish Lutherans living in America, two persons were involved at the beginning, Jens Dixon, lay preacher in the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church and Rev. Lorentz Henningsen, pastor in the DELC. Pastor Heningsen served as distributor of Santal Posten, the Danish publication for the Santal Mission and was author of several articles supporting and promoting foreign mission work that appeared in the Kirkelig Samler. At its 1911 meeting, the American Santal Committee, a committee comprising Lutheran churches from the United States working cooperatively in Santal mission work, elected Pastor Heningsen as a member.

Though the DELC increased its support of foreign mission causes, it wished it could have a mission endeavor of its own. But the church realized it would be impractical for a church the size of the DELC to take on a mission field of its own because if the work succeeded, it would outgrow the ability of the church to administer it. Another DELC pastor interested in the Santal Mission, the Rev. J.C. Aaberg, authored a series of articles advocating the church officially align itself with the Santal Mission. If the DELC joined in support of the cooperative Santal Mission, it could send financial assistance as well as missionaries. Rev. Aaberg's proposal was considered at the annual synodical convention in 1913 held in Grayling, Michigan. Delegates voted unanimously to affiliate the DELC with the Santal Mission, support its work and to do so, elected a committee comprised of three members. The first members were the Rev. Adam Dan, president, Rev. J.C. Aaberg, secretary, and Mrs. Karoline Kjolhede, treasurer.

Work of the committee, known as Den Danske Kirke Santalkomite (DKS) or the "Santal Committee of the Danish Lutheran Church," involved gathering funds for support of the Santal work and generating further mission interest in DELC congregations. Rev. Aaberg traveled a great deal and gave lectures about the mission. The treasurer, Karoline Kjolhede, wrote many articles for church publications and would speak about the Santal work at meetings. In the first year of the committee's existence, mission contributions increased from a few hundred dollars to between two and three thousand dollars and a several years later to approximately five thousand dollars.

One area in which the DELC still looked to make inroads was sending its own missionary to the Santal field. By 1915 it still had not sent a missionary. In 1916 Miss Dagmar Miller wrote to Danske Kirke Santalkomite and offered to work in the Santal field as a DELC missionary. She received her training as a teacher, but when the committee discussed the offer of Miss Miller, it was determined there wasn't a need for a teacher, but for a nurse. After learning this, Miss Miller decided to train as a nurse by enrolling in the nurses' training course at the Norwegian Deaconess Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, completing her schooling in 1919. It was at this same time the DELC officially joined the work of the Santal Mission, making it the first Lutheran church body in the United States to establish the Santal Mission as one of its mission fields. Miss Miller left for India on October 9, 1920, and arrived on the field December 1920.

Rev. Adam Dan resigned as president of the DKS in 1924 and Rev. Aaberg succeeded him. In 1925 the DELC recommended that Erling Ostergaard, a medical student at the University of Minnesota who offered his service as a missionary, be sent to the Santal field. The American Santal Committee, decided to send him to India in 1927. As DKS involvement increased, it found itself working much more closely with the American Santal Committee, than when first created when it worked as an auxiliary committee raising funds and sending them directly to the church in India.

In 1949 Rev. Aaberg resigned from the Santal Committee of the Danish Lutheran Church, to which it was then referred. His replacement was the Rev. O. F. Lund. Even though the DELC was the second highest contributor among Lutheran synods to the Santal Mission, it did not have the same number of representatives on the American Santal Committee as the majority of other synods. This changed in 1950 when the committee gave the DELC an opportunity to run a member for a vacancy not used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC). The DELC member won the election and from that point on the DELC had three members representing it on the American committee. Also in 1950 the Santal Committee of the DELC elected Mrs. Ernest D. Nielsen as chairperson and the Rev. Harald Ibsen, as secretary. The committee itself comprised five members including the secretary, chairman and treasurer. It attempted to meet annually and had no central headquarters. Consequently, it conducted most of its business via correspondence.

Due to a decrease in stewardship for the Santal Mission within American Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), formerly Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, in 1957 the committee asked the synod board to consider placing the Santal Committee of the AELC in the synodical budget. With the decline in giving, the committee was not meeting its obligation to the American Santal Committee and it believed it could do so if placed in the budget of the AELC. The synodical board agreed to this request and the committee was placed into the synodical budget. The operations of the committee remained the same, the exceptions being that the committee expanded to six members and a committee treasurer was no longer needed as the contributions were sent to the synodical treasurer instead.

The Santal Committee of the AELC remained in existence until the merger of the AELC, Suomi Synod, United Lutheran Church in America, and Augustana Lutheran Church that created the Lutheran Church in America (LCA). From that point on, the LCA assumed representation on the American Santal Committee for its predecessor bodies.

From the description of Correspondence and Financial Records, 1913-1942 1913-1932 (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library). WorldCat record id: 229459433