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8. SWEDES IN U.S.A. THE AUGUSTANA SYNOD. 409
Congregations 1,092
Churches 9^5
Value of Property 8,077,862 dollars.
Annual Contributions (1908) 1,607,201 dollars.
There are also ten colleges or collegiate institutions.
These are remarkable figures for fifty years of work.35
The synod is associated with the
"
Lutheran General
Council," but it is quite independent in its internal man
agement. Indeed, the congregations affiliated to itself are
much more independent, and the whole polity is much
more congregational, than is the case in Sweden. This
appears clearly in the jubilee publication, from which the
above figures are taken (pp. 50 foil.), and in the Proposed
Constitution of Evangelical-Lutheran Congregations,
which we also obtained at Rock Island. Nothing is said
in this Constitution about ordination, but it is clear from
the Kyrko Handbok, accepted in 1895, that the Augustana
Synod has the same corrected form of ordination to the
priesthood as the National Church of Sweden has had
since 1894. The ordainers are the president of the synod
and other priests, but, in other respects, the form is clearly
valid and sufficient. The confession of faith is also
practically the same as that of the Mother Church.
The Augustana has adopted the office of deacons from
the Presbyterians and Congregationalists, but, in the sense
of a lay office, elective every three years. They form the
board of administration of a congregation, together with
the pastor and the trustees.
There are three questions which are of some consequence
to the present policy of the Augustana Synod the lan
guage question, the question of membership of secret
societies, and the question of the episcopate.
(i) On the language question there is a very interesting
paper by the Rev. Julius Lincoln, pastor of an important
35
The Augustana Synod, 1860-1910, p. 203. We received
copies of this interesting book by the kindness of President
Andreen.
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