The =Home Mission= Boards, with an annual appropriation of $2,352,125.00 try to gather the unchurched Lutherans of America into the Church and aim also to bring the Gospel to the unchurched neighbors of every race and color within the United States and Canada. The work of =Charity= is pushed in many ways by Boards, Committees, Societies and Institutions. Of institutions there are 73 =Orphans’ Homes=, with 597 employees, caring for 4,700 children; 69 =Homes for the Aged=, with 387 employees and 2,499 inmates; 106 =Hospitals= and Homes for =Defectives=, with 3,884 employees and 236,228 patients. There are 11 =Deaconess Homes=. The 31 =Home Finding Societies=, with 100 employees, placed 473 children in homes during 1927. There are also many other activities, congregational, synodical and intersynodical. One of the chief intersynodical agencies is the =National Lutheran Council=, organized in 1918 to meet emergencies requiring common action. This Agency has expended several million dollars during the decennium in relief and reconstruction work in the countries afflicted by the World War; also in rescuing the foreign mission fields affected by the War. The Lutheran Church in America emphasizes the importance of Biblical teaching and preaching and strict obedience to the Word of God by its members. The Norwegian Lutheran Church of America was organized on June 9, 1917, by the union of the Hauge Synod, the Norwegian Synod and the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. 9. Missions. Bible Societies After the Reformation, Christianity has been proclaimed in far distant lands by missionaries. Hans Egede, a clergyman in Vaagen, Nordland, Norway, resigned his charge to go and preach the Gospel in Greenland. None had gone there with the Word of God since the Black Death in the fourteenth century. In 1842 the Norwegian Mission Society was organized. Schreuder went as its first missionary to southern Africa. He labored mostly among the Zulus, among whom he died in 1882. Many followed his example and went out to heathen nations to bear witness of Christ. The society later on began missionary work in the island of Madagascar, where it has established many large Christian congregations.