Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / April 28, 1938, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Africo AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH. AND NO. 17. MORE ADEQUATE CHURCH BUILDINGS By Rev. A. S. Meachem (A paper read at the 24th Annual Workers' Conference, held at Johnson C. Smith University, March 7th to 11th.) PART II In view of these facts the question arises, How do these changes affect the Church and in what way are they related to an adequate church building program? Before going into that I will deviate a second time to show another relation ship to the facts previously stated, and that is, a change in the forms of government in the world and their re-actions to ward the Church of God. There was a time when we could speak of governments in two forms: Monarchies (restricted and absolute) and Democracies or Republican. But today new names have arisen on the gov ernmental horizon and we see the Nazi, Communistic, Fascist, and Democratic, particularly our own American Democracy. The Nazi form is truly a To talitarian form. The Fuhrer of today is just another Kaiser of yesterday. Every institution must bow to the will of the Fuhrer and that includes the Church of God. The Nazi God is not the God who hung upon Calvary and died for all man kind, but he is supposed to be, according to Nazi principles, the apotheosis of the soul of the German people. Religious per secution and punishment is im posed upon those who strive to worship God and do not do so according to the dictates of the Nazi regime or Fuhrer Hitler. Religion to the Communist is not only unnecessary, but is a hinderance and must be de stroyed. Faith in science, gen ius and the ability of the hu man mind to master the secrets of the natural or material world" is to the Communist a religion that supplants faith in God and a hope for eternal life. Instead of an omnipotent God, Fascism proclaims a Totalitarian state, an Omnipotent state, supreme above religion, God and the ideals of Christianity. In our own democracy i Church and State are political ly separated. Religion among the American people is suffering from a division among its churches and the division makes it difficult to evolve an educa tional program that will give the necessary support to our religious structure. The youth of today is becoming material istic in his views, which will in a short time threaten the moral and religious fabric of the na tion. The Supreme Court in vades the realm of human con science and implies that under certain conditions man must obey men rather than God. Nothing is more strikingly brought out in this connection than the recent fight in the halls of Congress to allow Lynch Law and its punishment to re main in the hands of the very people who have for 70 years or more violated the. laws of of God and man in the name of racial supremacy. How can we be expected to look on in pla cid contentment at such practices and conditions when we know that such things are wrong and in direct opposition to the greatest of all Com mandments, “Love thy neigh bor as thyself,” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” With a picture of these condi tions before us and an appre hensive view of world condi tions as they affect the daily life of mankind, let us see how these conditions might be helped by a more adequate building program. That these are serious and portentous times in the life of humanity cannot be denied nor evaded. The next few years will be of supreme importance in the spir itual, social, economic and po litical life of mankind. There is a need for clear, clean think ing in the light of godly truths and ideals. With anarchy and worldly power running wild over the world today, there is no hope that a better world can ever be realized without Christ jand His love. Personalities are evolving with all these changes and if there are to be leaders it is obvious that for safe and constructive building Christ must be their guiding star. In building adequately for the fu ture Church we must not over look the fact that these per sonalities must find in the Church right leadership and teaching that will cause them to idealize and if possible im prove upon the characteristics that sent the leaders of former years into the van of the Christian army. The leaders of former years were men and women of intelligence, dignity and sobriety. They were clear eyed, level-headed, straight forward, self-respecting men and women—who exemplified the immortal principle in “Bob by” Burns’ famous poem: "The rank is but the guinea stamp, ... A man’s a man for a’ that.” The church building should be of such proportions that it can adequately take care of the personal spiritual needs of the future Christian leaders. How often we want to get away from the companionship of others and indulge in quiet meditation and prayer. What is more help ful than to be able to go to some church building and com mune with the Master and per haps receive personal help from the minister? Again we might want Christian fellowship in groups, and again we find it in the church if the church has built adequately to support it. The women want their group meetings and can find expres sion in their weekly meetings. Children can be directed to the church for weekly meetings of a varied order, so directed as to build the young mind up and to direct it into right channels of Christian leadership, Such ac tivities as choir rehearsal, out door and indoor recreation, and group meetings of all sorts help to keep the personal touch of the Master alive in the minds of the future leaders of the Church. There can be no church with-* out a membership, which we all recognize as being true, and to my mind the church that suc ceeds in its building program should first interest itself to such an extent in itself that it will encourage the members to build comfortable family homes. There is no doubt in the minds of any of us that where there is a community of slip shod homes and un-kempt build ings, you will find a ramshackle cnurcn Dunaing. i come irom a section of the country where good homes for the members of our group are few and far-be tween. They are built to meet the bare necessities of life. You will find very few churches that are anything but the four 'walls and the roof and some | times hardly that. That this I condition obtains is not due' to the economic condition of the people, for most of them own homes and land, have jobs and are in shape to do better, but the leadership and training has been lacking, or, shall I say, the vision has not yet been seen. If you will pardon a person al reference, I will say that in a little less than two years I have initiated plans whereby the membership has built two new church buildings: the church with a study for the pas tor and a seven-room manse. Twelve other buildings have been added to the community or repaired, and we have in mind the construction of a community center for the com munity as a whole. The re sult 'of this effort is that the community has become commu nity conscious and is looking forward to greater improve ments in the near future. To show you the self-satis fied air of the community, this particular place had gone with out adequate buildings for more than a quarter of a century. Why? Because they had the attitude that “This is good enough;” “We don’t need any thing better,” or “We are not able to build; let’s patch upf ’ This condition would not have obtained if the people had had com|ortable homes, but where there is no home pride there is no church pride. It is obvious, then, that to foster ■an adequate building program we must arouse home pride in qur membership and foster some program in the family that will later "be felt in the mem ber’s activity in the church and community. Let the people read progressive literature and have the church building so built that a library may be put in where old and young may come at certain times to gajn inspiration from good books de voted to Christian home ahd family life. The building should be arranged so that group meet ings could be held simultan eously and yet not interfere with each other. Again, we believe that from a social standpoint the church must not stand aloof. There are people in the rurals thfct are in no position to evaluate their position in the economic life of the world. They need help and guidance, and as the church is probably the only community center, the social and economic problems of the community can easily be stu died, solved and interwoven into the church program if we have the necessary buildings whereby these activities may be maintained. Not only in the rural community but in any center all forms of social prob lems may be met and solved. Finally, having met local sib uations and solved them is i| not clear, then, that vre should foster in the minds oflthe peo ple the importance - ol flfofcing upon the world as a great Chris tian community and that it is essential in the Christian edu cation of men and women to challenge them with the need of building a World Christian community, and the responsi bility engendered in that task? We should acquaint the people, if possible, with world situa tions, economic, racial, and po litical, and how they affect the Christian world; for, after all, the Christian aim is to go into the world and win souls for Christ. In conclusion, let me say that an adequate building program must recognize the existing conditions locally and how they affect the religious and eco nomic life of the community. Then the financial and mechan ical parts of the problem can be met along those lines, for no two situations are alike. Build, then, with the fixed pur pose of meeting the needs of today and tomorrow. The world of today should be moulded to appreciate the finest that there is in the ma jor categorijes of human life; Health, Knowledge, Beauty, Government, Wealth, Morality and Religion, with Jesus Christ in the forefront. For in build ing adequately we must realize that the world is measuring the church by what it has to offer, which should be not a new way of life but life itself. Not preaching about Christ but preaching Christ Himself. Not building for man* alone, but building for Christ and man and passing Christ on to our peo ple. Shall we let these times and conditions turn us aside from the opportunities of growth that they present? The Church of today may be walking, but if we build adequately tomor row it will fly. The martyred Christ will one day see His Church prospering in His name. Let us not be afraid to wrestle with the powerful forces that confront us, and make his king dom an Everlasting Kingdom, building safely, surely, steadi ly, strongly, adequately for the lowly Nazarene and his weak er earthly brother. For “In Christ there is no East and West, In Him no North and South; But one great fellowship of love, Throughout the whole wide world.” POPULAR ELECTION IN AMERICA AND IN GERMANY By Dr. Kelly Miller Adolph Hitler claims that his regime represents the most genuine Democracy on the face of the earthy In three success ive elections he has submitted his policies to the arbitrament of the popular vote, by which they had been given approval as has been given to any admin istration since the foundation of our democratic government. It is not fair to claim that Hit ler overrides the majority by might and leaves them no choice but to support himself and program. When he first began to run for office he was defeated again and again, and only gained the upper hand aft er repeated failure and fresh starts. Adolph Hitler, like other fa natics of history, has hypno tized the German people with a charm and spell under which they are constrained to do his bidding and uphold his decrees. They love to do his will more passionately than did the He brews of old The Lord. Nazism, notwithstanding the unanimous popular approval, cannot claim to represent true Democracy until the people have recovered from the delirium and frenzy of defeat and despair, and suf ficiently regained their sobrie ty; as to contemplate the Hitler regime in the light of calm and sober deliberation. In the meantime we might pause to consider a comparison of methods and results of pop ular election as conducted by Democracy in America and Dic tatorship in Germany. After our politicians have exhausted every device known to. political Shg&iulty to arouse the popu lace to the importance and ne cessity of registering their wills at the polls, scarcely sixty per cent of our eligible voters ever register and vote. On the oth er hand, Hitler’s appeal to pa triotic duty brings to the polls almost one hundred percent of the eligible German electorate. Seventy million Germans under a dictatorship cast a larger popular vote than a hundred and twenty-six million Ameri cans under a Democracy. Mill ions of the American electorate are self-disfranchised through indifference and neglect; there are no shirkers in Germany. Frequently in America each political party threatens the nation with dire calamity un less it is continued or restored to power. A distinguished President of the United States once indulged in the direful pre diction that grass would be growing in the middle of the streets of our most popular cities, should the electorate chose his adversary instead of himself, to guide the helm of state. The persuasion or threat of Hitler, the Dictator, is more effective than that of the Dem ocratic leaders. There is no charge of cor ruption in the German elections, only that the will of the peo ple was overborne by the com pulsion of a powerfully sur charged personality. On the other hand, twenty million dol lars was spent in the last elec tion to influence, purchase or corrupt the American electorate, if we are to believe the charges which our rival political parties hurl air the head of each other. In Germany there is but one party. In America the con tending rivals accuse each oth er of every form of corruption and sin. Germany ruthlessfly elimi nates Jews who constitute one per cent of the nation from the franchise without apology or shame. Theoretically Amer ican political procedure operates without regard to race, creed or color. And yet we manage by evasion or denial of law to disfranchise a greater propor tion of the American electorate on account'of race and color than Hitler does on account of race and creed. Comparisons are odious. The German ket tle and the American pot may indulge in the duel of mutual recrimination without edifica tion of either. Whatever charge you may hurl at the head "of Hitler on account of ruthless ness towards the Jews is easily off-set by the retort, you lynch Negroes in America. The basis of true Democracy is contained in the doctrine laid down in the Declaration of In dependence—“That all Govern ments derive their just powers from the consent of the gov erned.” This consent is arriv ed at through popular election, in which all of the people, not some of the people, must parti cipate on equal terms. Both America and Germany have far to go before they reach this ideal of Democracy. MCCLELLAND PRESBYTERIAL _ I By Reporter On Friday morning, April 8, the McClelland Presbyterial opened its Spring meeting, with the Woman’s Missionary Socie ty of Salem Presbyterian church, Anderson, S. C., as hostess. Although the weath er was very unfavorable, a large group of loyal women wended their way to Thompson Centennial M. E. church, where the day sessions were to be held. The theme of the meeting was, “Church Women Ready for Creative Work.” The theme song was, “Take My Life and Let lt Be.T The worship serv ice, consisting of songs, pray ers, Scripture reading and talks, was conducted by Mrs. M. W. Cunningham. It was very im pressive and all present seemed to have felt the spirit of the di vine leader. The opening remarks by the President made everybody catch the vision of the theme, and her message lingered on throughout the day. Enrollment of delegates was very encouraging despite the unfavorable weather. Minutes of last meeting were read and approved. The following named ladies were appointed on the Auditing Committee: Mesdames Young, Butler and Cunningham. “If I Be His Disciple, I Will Serve,” introduced the District Leaders. Their reports were encouraging, especially districts two and three. They brought up their full quotas. District one was unable to report on ac count of illness among the workers but promised a full re port next year. The morning session closed with prayer at eleven fifty-five to join the men in their noon day devotions at Salem Presby terian church. The afternoon session was held in the home of Mrs. Eloise Williams. The warm glow of the fire-light added much to the meeting. The worship serv ice, consisting of Bible verses, songs, prayers, a wonderful message and Scripture reading, was conducted by Mrs. A. H. Reasoner and was enjoyed by all present. ‘If I Be His Disciple I Will Be Ready With Reports” intro duced the local societies’ re ports. Thirteen societies re ported and all showed progress. The goal of missionary societies in the Presbyterial is twenty and we are looking forward to reaching that goal in a few more meetings. The “Prepared Heart” intro duced the secretaries of Spiri tual Life Groups, Stewardship and Membership. The “Pre pared Mind” introduced the secretaries of Missionary Edu cation, Literature and Pro gram Building. The “Prepared Hand” introduced the secreta ries of Overseas and National Missions Sewing, the Treasurer ahd the Corresponding Secreta ry. All reports were encourag ^ I ing, yet we lack a little punctu ality in sending in the reports to the proper persons. The Secretary of Young Peo pel made an appeal to the wom en to encourage the young peo ple on their respective fields. The Synodical delegate car ried the Presbyterial to Alba ny, Ga., where the Synodical was held, with her splendid re port, and all of us felt that we were there. Mesdames R. W. Boulware and M. V. Marion also commented on the Synodical. The following officers were chosen: Mrs. Janie Ellis, Box 83, Due West, S. C., Correspond ing Secretary; Mrs. Dorothye Jenkins, 100 Goodwin St., Green ville, S. C., 2nd Vice-President; Mrs. M. B. Cunningham, Rte. 1, Greer, S. C., 3rd Vice-Presi dent. Mrs. A. P. Butler closed the afternon session with prayer. The evening program was held at Salem Presbyterian church at 8 o’clock. The fol lowing program was rendered: Worship Service—Miss Lois ■DrOOK. Chorus by Church Choir— The Song of Wonderful Love. President’s Address —• Mrs. B. F. McDowell. Messages from Foreign Fields —Miss Eva Dillard. Quartette by local talent— “He’ll Understand, Some Day.” * A Playlet—“A Blessing Cen ter”—Local talent. Solo-“Somebody Did A Golden Deed”— Rev. E. L. Mc Adams. , Address — “Witnessing His ' Name”—Dr. L. B. West. Solo—“Who Shall Roll the Stone Away?” — Mr. C. L. Brown. Offering. The program as a whole was very excellent. All participants need to feel that they played their parts and a worthwhile evening was spent very profit ably. Miss Brooks used as her worship service message, “Be ye also ready.” It was very in spirational. The* President’s message was in poster form, and using the theme “Church Women Ready for Creative Work,” she pictured the pio neers of McClelland Presbyteri al who through faith, patience, courage and prayer started this wonderful work, and we who are following should be candles and let our lights shine. : Messages from the Foreign Fields by Miss Dillard were very impressive and uplifting. The local quartette composed of Miss Katherine Jackson, Messrs. Walter Thompson, Sammye Sherard and Marvin Groves held the audience spell bound with their sweet voices. This was their “debut” and we are sure that our only regret was, “they didn’t give us enough.” The playlet, “A Blessing Cen ter,” was a challenge to the so cieties “to win new members” and their societies would grow. Rev. E. L. McAdams always delights his audience with Ms voice whether his song is a hymn or classic. Dr. West needs no comment, because all who know him, know that a wonder ful message, filled with infor mation and inspiration, was given and we were challenged to witness for Christ in all of our walks of life. Mr. C. L. Brown, a student of Reed St. High School, ren dered a lovely vision of the tomb in his solo, “Who Shall Roll the Stone Away?” The hospitality of Salem’s congregation and their friends was shown as usual in the won derful dinner that was given at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pat rick Burriss. They spared no pains in making us comfort able and all the delegates ex pressed themselves as desiring to return soon to Anderson. GOT SOMETHING OUT OP IT A little boy attended church service for the first time. On the way home he said to his father: “Daddy, wasn’t that nice of . the man to pass money around to us on a plate? I got seventy-six cents; what did you get?”—The Christian Recorder.
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 28, 1938, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75