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.

It was not until the 1870 GSS convention that significant progress was made in establishing a structure within which to manage the mission efforts, domestic or foreign. On the recommendation of the standing Committee on Home Missions, it was decided to establish a Central Committee on Missions. This committee, comprising three persons, would seek out new mission fields; determine how many money could be raised to be put towards this work; locate persons willing to serve as missionaries; and raise funds for mission work through special appeals and circular letters. The board was located in Winchester, Virginia and its first members were the Rev. T.W. Dosch, the Rev. G. A. Long, and Mr. William B. Baker.

Even though a governing board for mission work was created, it still encountered the problem of having no support and no funds with which to do its work. At the 1872 GSS convention, Pastor Dosch responded to an inquiry that since they had received no funds from the church to undertake their responsibilities, the board decided it was unnecessary to enter into correspondence pertaining to establishing mission fields since it was an impossible to begin that kind of work with no funds to establish a mission and no funds to pay a missionary. Even though no concerted efforts were being made to begin in earnest mission work, either foreign or domestic, the standing committee at each convention continued to press for the cause of missions. At the convention the following year, the Committee on Missions recommended that a Central Board of Missions, sometimes still referred to as a "central committee" be constituted at each general convention and comprise three members, at least two of whom would be ordained ministers. This central board, sometimes still referred to as a central committee, would operate would be under the control of the General Synod, but would have its own discretion in managing the work of the board.

Throughout the mid 1870s, efforts to begin work were met with either a lack of financial support or the support of district synods. Reports made at conventions continued to relate that there was no work to report on since the board had no funds to use for mission work. At the 1874 convention, the Central Committee on Mission reported that it had no success and no money with which to do its work. It also noted that district synods did not cooperate with the committee or even recognize its existence. The Central Committee recommended that it be disbanded and responsibility for mission work be given to the individual district synods. The standing Committee on Missions rejected this idea and asked the convention to make a serious effort at supporting mission work.

In terms of foreign mission work, by 1880 it was recognized that the church was not in a position to establish its own foreign mission fields. Instead, the mission board recommended that any funds allocated for foreign mission work be used to support one of the mission fields administered by a northern Lutheran church body.

Over the next several years, changes occurred for both home and foreign mission work. In 1884, the name of the board changed to Board of Missions and Church Extension. The board found its footing in supporting and establishing home mission work, particularly its Richmond, Virginia, mission and it also was able to send out its first missionary to a foreign mission field when it sent the Rev. William Paley Schwartz to India where he served from 1885-1887. The church would later establish a mission field in Japan that experienced great successes.

At the 1908 convention of the now titled United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South (USS), the standing committee for mission work recommended that because of increasing demands on both home and foreign missions, the Board of Missions be divided into two boards: the Board of Foreign Missions and the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension. These two boards continued in existence until 1918 when the USS merged with the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America and the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America to become the United Lutheran Church in America.

From the description of Minutes 1884-1907 [microform] (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Library). WorldCat record id: 212835634