LUMBER RIVER CONFERENCE keMmmKLmny (IVMh 1 MriM of wUchM ?boat the 1?bsr Elvar Qa him rft?H*w MUfc WHYDOWEHAVE SO MANY CHUECHES? If you redly want to know the answers to a lot-' of questions, or if you please, want to further your educati on, just stop talking awhile and listen, you wfll be sur prised at the answers. One will not only hear the answer to a lot of mystic questions, they will learn something about the causes of the questions. A sinner man out on the street can tell exactly why he thinks there are so many churches. Just the other day a man on the street telling people that every "little crowd" wants to have a church to run, they all believe in "mv church." Could we go a step further and say "my conference?" When die writer of this article was much younger, the Christian feeling was. tender, loving care as it should always remain. But, one most remember at times this is a cruel world we live ih. We have had two churches in the Hopewell Community for all of my life, oh, within about one-half mile of each other. Some years ago the thought came about that the Christian strength of a united church would be stronger and with more power in the community to ao God's work. However, there were enough older people at the time to control and train the youth to stay within tradition, not neces sarily malice and hate, but to keep other people from "run ning our church." There is an old verbal saying about the "blind leading the blind." We have about accepted this way at tile relative to who is running whom. You have noticed perhaps thai God has been tell oat of this running business and as long as He Is. # as we grow in numbers, we may neeo u?? unru cnuitn in ?years to come to make sore the "church runners will have a church to run." On some occasions, one will speak on the difference at "control" and "development" at ooe's life. Development la a real necessity for a person to grow in Christ-like living. There fore. at all times we should strive for unity, to be large and powerful in the Lord as a large bay tree stands by the river of water at life. We need numbers, strength, money (tithes, another paper) and the Will of God unHed on Earth as we will be in Heaven. Psychologists claim that some people never grow up to be adults. Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who are mentally sick. Doctors claim that this type of sickness must be treated as other diseases are treated. Sometimes the rea son for churches splitting up could very well be ? caae of their member* sot be leg capable of growing into adult Hfe. not knowing, cause* one to be afraid. Trained electrici an* are not afraid of electricity became they know bow to act and perform with h. Many of us are afraid of electricity and we better be until we know how to deal with It. People who only know the power of running a church on Earth, would be afraid of large numbers and resources that would tend to control their plsv bouse or destroy it. There are a lot of interest ing history revolving around the origin and development of the LEC in Robeson Connty and the history as it is related now may never be told if we wait too long to have the information first hand. Going back to our subject of why there are so many churches in Robeson County? The Sunday afternoon while Old Main in Pembroke was burning, we observed the fire sitting in our automobile parked on a side of the street just in front of the building. We recognized "Chuck" Griffin. Associate Dean of Students of Pembroke State university on top of the building helping direct the firs departments doing their fob. "Chuck" was a good worker for PSU, and is now deceased, a real Christian am who made these re marks. "Pembroke for a town of its size has more church buildings than any other towfc 1 know." ..."I must have counted at least a dozen or fifteen church steeples from the top of Old Mam. inu within itself carries an impor tant message about people and their religion. Biologists use to term "Mitosis" when ever a cell develops to certain stages, tne cell divines into halves to form more cells, h would be an interesting task and a good piece of research to find out just how many churches there are, and their history in Robeson County. There was also an academic Dean of PSU, Dean Moore who lived in the community about this same time. He was originally from West Virginia and the Pennsylvania area, made this remark, "the Pern brake area ie the oust hypo critical area that Pre avur lived ia." He clateed that he had looked around for a church that would fit hia need* aad waa not able to flad one. That brings oa aa interesting thought, do' we build cborahea to lit people's needs, or Is it for needs we build aV^hitfCh? Anyway, Dean Mooae ia deoeaaed also and let's hope that he finally found his church in Jesus 1 Christ. For us to further develop this subject of why have so many churches, we must study and know something about the people, their religi ous family background, their emotions and their economic living standards. What are the fundamental bask princi ples of educational experien ces in their homes? If you please, what kind of religious experiences do we have ex pressed in these homes, rural or urban, educated or non educated? How Ions has it. bc..? since a lot ot tnese people looked on the inside of a church building since they were there at a family fune-_ m*f i?*? * you'stedy ?j* took al people u eoetol ketops. *re naturally fit into our envtoommate with Imo StoMoSlJ1 P??r would not feel m comfartabte worshipping in on economic ally rich educated audience in a city church. Let's be leaMs tto. most people attemttng church, dress in the* finest clothes, drive the best flamfly automobile, while a lot of us cammt afford all of these things. Then, the minister, may Lord have mercy upon him. trying to deliver a message that will hold the attention of the young child ren. seed, and the elaers of the church. The children are restless not knowing what is going on. the middle aged are observing the children on one hand and on the other hand, we elders 'aking a mid-day nap. The circumstances and situations of religious practices ??M very well cause considerations for people involving them selves with new or other churches. As mentioned earlier in this report about educators'from other states making an evalu ation of people's religion h. this area c*imoi w , short length of time the religious and educational heck ground of the people of Robeson County. We have had to deal with three or four races of peoole. religious, educauoiuu, social and ecu nomically. These assessments are not always easy to make in light of religious freedom this country claimed so strong in our founder's names. If a group of people learn to love worshipping together in a particular setting of their ow?*. we c"n?t take the position of judging their suc cess and aspirations. The growing number of churches the sinner man on the street claims as his pri mary reasons for not attend ing church somewhere is not a valid excuse. We must be teal careful at our observations with the help of the Lord that anything in these Conference reports say may not be construed to enhance any sinner's position. The obser vations observed by the re marks made by the sinner man on the street with little known formal education along with statements made by two top educators in a university setting is in contrast with how social being evaluate various circumstances at religious practices. If this subject could be researched fully taking on many aspects of people and their religion, there probably will be less recommendations at the end of this paper on how to avoid having so many church buildings than any at the subjects attempted. Real-* ly, what are some of the main reasons why churches split up? One reason why they should not split up is because their present building gener ally is not over crowded. If any of you know of any over crowdednesa, we could very well use one hundred or more members of Hopewell Chur ch, one mile from Elrod, hjC. Another problem tnat seems to stand tall, particu larly among our Indian people' in Robeson County is the emphasis placed on names. For example, family names, church and school names, and for the most part our Indian names. While none of us had anything to do with out parental selection, if we were ? bote, we inherited the situati- < onof family names, religion, schooling and the name dTffie race just as other people did. When 1 was bora, I automati cally was characterised as a member of the Lowry family, the Lowry family were church school tf if hen fflkrai eta, Methodist, Indian, and technically confhaed with the Yea, there are a lot of why we have so many char* aa la Bobaaaa County. Pram 1900, tfaa data of the origin oT tfaa lath* Elver Coadacaaea. ap to tha aad of World War ? la 19*. I ftetohed hlgh schooMa HOE Wdl iM|K.hr M|l?t 19C2 that I was a Methodist, j dow by all official record., 1 ?fa a Holiness Methodist | whatever that is. I ssanme fhc , Umber Rhrer Conference is | pad DjsdpHae of the HoMatim t Methodist Church. We are I ' acquainted with our fiotfness I church in Pembroke and 5 i sh> m m -^11 ? ? .L., Ml ^ a a ^ otner tioimess enure net in me area. We also know seme of their strong beliefs, not to nee tobacco in any form, fhe women do not use facial ? makeup. After having their J soul saved, usually at revival ! services, one returns to hi? ? master for final sanctificatibu, etc. Each church usually is a member of a religious de? nomination that has a religi ous doctrine controlled and operated by a constitution or a set of by-laws. As it is pres ently stated, one could very well be confused since (here are two churches in the area. Holiness, and Holiness Meth ... odist Church. If a Methodist church is.a good, (foes holiness make it better? Or is it somewimi like a ueao oird shot after he died, does it make him more dead? Possi bly, the term Holiness Meth odist means consecrated. Spiritually perfect or pure, untainted by evil or sip. It could be construed to mean a part of the doctrine of Pente costal Holiness Church. So, what difference does it occur to you about all of this? Just to point out how we have a lot of religious and political campaign rhetoric that has little wfeee, and Greenville. Pern bocte State University sounds restricted to the area while the University of North Caro lina at Pembroke gives a broader connotation as the other universities,?We seem toeafeby name to have our minds restricted to Lumber River and to the town it Pembroke. This also applies ? oar religious restncuon 01 our minds not leaving the bounds of Robeson County. By virtue of our country umaia the peropativo o? any graup of people to build a church whaver and when imEmr k - NOW! 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