years ago, with its two churches, and even twenty-five years ago with
four churches, English was a forlorn hope. The advance began in the last
decade of the 19th century when twelve English churches were organized.
In 1900 there were seventeeen English churches on the roll. Since then
32 have been added, five in Bronx, fifteen in Brooklyn, eleven in
Queens, one in Richmond. Besides these forty-nine churches in which the
English language is used exclusively, almost all of the so-called
foreign churches use English to a greater or less extent as the needs of
the people may require.

But there was a deeper reason for the growth of our church. Ever since
the Luther Centennial of 1883 the young people of our churches had begun
to understand not only the denominational significance of their church
but also something of its inner characteristics and life. In various
groups, in Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn, they got together and
organized English congregations in which an intelligent Lutheran
consciousness prevailed.

The Home Mission and Church Exension Boards of the General Synod
recognized the importance of the moment in the metropolis of America and
gave their effective aid. In Brooklyn and Queens the work received large
support from Charles A. Schieren and the Missionary Society with which
he co-operated. Sixteen churches were established through the aid of
this Society. Schieren was a native of Germany but he early saw the
importance of reaching the people in the language which they could best
understand. As a citizen he was public spirited and progressive. From
1894 to 1895 he was mayor of Brooklyn.

The pastors of these incipient congregations were men of vision who had
been attracted to the work in New York by its difficulty and its