Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / Dec. 5, 1929, edition 1 / Page 1
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tISSKALineNOW THSTOWFH, AMD ftftTfl VOL. LL By Cletand B. McAfee, Moderator of the £eneral Assembly In Hie Presbyterian Magazine , 3 , Out of the first Bethlehem rift, by various stages, the Christian Church came into be ing. Its members came into it around Him who is the gift pf God. And the Church is called each year to make new gifts for Him. Juat now think of a handful of gifts which we may make, gifts in the field of the Spirit. Let us give to Christ a newr bora zeal for his world purpose. Our zeal sometimes sags. “Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord?” The missionary enter prise lags in our own day. In recent years ideas have develop ed which have cut the nerve of many advocates and left them drooping and uninspired. No one imagines a change in Christ's desire to be known to all the world and to win disci ples in all nations. It is only our zeal that has flagged. The visit of a Presbyterian elder, Pre mier J. Ramsay MacDonald, has given new courage to any who feared that nations would not sit down in candor and face their peaceful possibilities. (Now we know that all we lack to make the world as devoted to peace as it has been to war is the spir it of the first Christmas gift. Let us give to Christ a new born patience with each other. We sometimes fall out with ether believers and count it loyalty to Him, one group con demning another in his name! It is true that we tax the pa tience of each other sorely. But -~7?how with the best of us! If he can endure us with all our faults and failures, who are we to set ourselves against those who profess His name, because at some points that seem vital to us they are not like ourselves? One might thrnk that we sup posed we were what we ought to be and could sit in judgment on those who differ from us— whereas it might commend some of his followers to Christ that they are unlike us! Let us give to Christ a new born attention to childhood. This is the children’s season, of course, but the Church must go far deeper than the inci dental gifts. It' must make child hood central in its program. There is fresh hope in the new church buildings now rising all over the land, with their en larged provision for religious education and child-life. A faith born in the coming of a little child demands this logic. Let< each church at this season ask if it has caught step with the modem movement magnifying the child, developing a really constructive program through which children may come into fine maturity. Let' us give to Christ a new borp devotion to the ><*,a^«aal life. We are terribly crowded with sub-spiritual possessions and opportunities. Loss of spir itual assurance has given us gloomy books; re-assertion of it has given us bright and in spiriting books. We have never been quite so widely disturbed in social life. Partly it is the outcome of loss of spiritual as sets; partly it is the cause of that loss. For its corrective we offer the world a spiritual life which draws on wider and wor * thier sources of power. We our selves must recover bur lost spiritual joy. Let us give to Christ a new born appreciation of our gospel. What a marvel the1 Christmas gift, was! It is more incredible as opr knowledge widens. Some thjnk we must abandon its widest interpretation because of the. greatness of God. His incarnation cannot be. Over against this denial we need a new era of exultation, conquer 7- .' i lug.--by the^very. jey*ef uonr re ligion: all. .the more . that so j much of joy has gone out!of the world in its rush for passr ing things. Our gospel is amaz ing beyond words. Let us enter again into its meaning. “DOCTORS OF DIVINITY” (Ftom The Presbyterian Stand ard.) There is a certain charm! in these cabalistic symbols, espe cially to non-possessors, while to those who have experienced their emptiness, they are lake “Dead Sea fruits that tempt the eye* but turn to ashes on the lips.*’ They have become So preva lent that the distinction lies! in not possessing them, ahd they are like skill in spelling, no great credit that you can spell,' but rather conspicuous When you cannot. • The strength of this attrac tion was shown a • few years ago, whan in response ]to an offer to confer the degree* of “D. D.” upon any minister send ing $25X)Qin cash, in one week the school received more ithan $1,200. i Jims is a remarxaole vSiiow ing when ,you remember how scarce is cash with theaverage preacher as a<elass. c It speaks > volumes for the charm of this title. Not only are we surprised that such rap .amount ofcash could be raised at call, but we are the more surprised M this-craving for an honorary title should be able to over-ride the voice of conscience land persuade men to flaunt a lie i in the face of the Church. It is eviden, then, that there is a strong temptation to strut in borrowed plumes and to im agine that the possession of a degree will add to their mental ability, or advance them in the eyes of the Church, however limited their ability may be. If it were possible, it would be better to abolish such artifi cial honors, which in too many cases are undeserved, and do away with this invidious dis tinction between brethren, es-' pecially in the Presbyterian Church which believes in the parity of the ministry. As one who has staggered, under this fictitious honor for, many years, the writer can testify that it is a liability rather than an asset, and that too often the wearer of it feels as if he were an ass strutting a lion’s skin. When we meet one bearipg “this blushing honor thick up on him,” we are reminded of the remark of Cicero, in de scribing the decay of religibn in old Rome, that one sooth sayer could not look another in the face without laughter; But whatever be our personal views, with which many witt probably not agree, it is safe to say that $25.00 is a high price for what is too often an empty honor, not. to. say a false one. ,.. TJREEKS’ COWBt ENCE The Annual Workers' Confer ence of the Division of t Mis sions for Colored People of the Board of National "Missions, Presbyteriari' Church. U. S. A., will be held at Johnson C. Smith University, February 4 to 6, 1930. r ’ JOHN M. 6ASTON, Secretary of the Division. We all need laughter to make life easy and.labor to make it worthy. PREACHERS ARE NOT CALLED ID HD By Miss Nannie H. Burroughs (Associated Negro Press) Preachers, as a class, are j about as human as men hi j many other character building professions. Some of them get as much pay; many of thenvf get more presents; all of tndh£ get more dissecting and analyz ing. The best ones never get what they deserve and the crooked ones get away with too much. The fraternity as a whole, gets more confidences and bury; more secrets than the members i of other International Orders : of the Helpers of Men. Ministers occupy a more re sponsible position than any dthrl1 er class of men. They shoulii, therefore, be cleaner in char- r acter, more unselfish in pur pose, qualified in training, pro gressive in ideals, social-mind; ed in spirit, devout in heart, not lazy. Modern standards and condi tions require that' ministers > fill their minds before they open their mouths. The blind canned lead the blind, and those who a have sight are not going to let j the blind lead than. Ministers of today have superhuman tasks to perform and-they must not only be called of God and then trained in theology, but they must have special training in executive and administrative church work. Their first duty, however, is flifey fti know how to plan, adapt, man age, direct and develop a pro gram of Christian service. They must be city preachers and, at the same time, gospel farmers. They must plow the field, plant the seed- and cultivate the crop. It requires intelligence, techni cal training, consecration, in dustry, love, sanctified common sense and vision to do it. The minister stands in a large place of opportunity and obligation, and no ordinary man can stand there. Character is the first qualification; without that 'the-minister is a menace. IWe have thousands of men who say that God called them to preach. Well, we will have t'O take their word for it since it is God’s business to do the call ring,:' but o since* > the churches must have * prepared Mien, it might be their business to call the “called” to prepare. The early ministers among Negroes had the spirit which was a fine substitute for their educational lack. They <were marvelous men. Some of them are still going on gloriously, but we have a large army of young gospel hoboes who lack every thing except hing power. In stead of going to school they make a tree-line for the pulpit and wade around misrepresent ing- the Lord. They should not be allowed to try to preach un til'they are prepared. > The day has come when min isters who are trained in He brew. Greek, and Theology should take courses in' modern church management. Not many churches are able to employ as sistant pastors. Many churches do not need assistant pastors, but all churches meed good exec utives—not men who want to run everything themselves— but men who know how to par eel out the work, place respon sibility, and get results. In this day when laymen are intelli gent, It is > only fair and sensi ble to letthem help carry on the work of the church. It devel ops them and enriches the ; church. If the preachers would giver the laymen more definite work todothe preachers would not have so much trouble. Lay men have to have some work do or they certainly wiH ark on the preacher. Of course, it is not' the lay ait's business to run the lurch, but it is his business to *dp. Don’t forget—while we Mre talking about training— that the deacons and trustees seed training as well as the teachers. Dumb deacons have gpne out of style, and trustees who cannot read and under itand cannot be trusted, i. Our churches are too loosely,* argatized and that is why so jnany members are running Hid. If the ministers were practical executives this condi tion would not prevail. Many §f our preachers Hke to be the ghole shew in their churches., they do everything from rhis ipg the collection to raiding Sand. This is the kind of usur pation that will result in bad and' the reason ihanagement' Shy churches run down on the Sinister or run Ithe minister ■Own. , r 'Hie fact of the matter is that when it comes to the work. Epiat is done by the pastor, the average church gets a great tal more than it pays for. Ms, of course, is partly1 the 'eacher’s fault. •In too many rf-jQur churches the preacher is he-' lawyer, doctor, real estate abler, teacher, editor, social worker, taxi-driver, architect, guilder,. banker, special adviser,; politician, and preach^*—thir teen in one. He is consulted about everything. A jack of all trades in tUiBftf)ulptt> ife * usually* a *‘jackleg.” Every preacher should be in terested in Community Welfare lNQt.no man can fill thirteen po sitions without running into SQine kind of bad luck' iohao pel and directs the church pro gram, in which all deacons, trus tees and members share with him, in a large way, all the oth er work of the church. This leaves him a little time to stu dy, visit shut-ins, conduct mar riages, bury the dead, direct the general work of the church and create the atmosphere in which all members are happy to work. The right kind of pastor knows how to make the people work while he steers the ship. ST. JAMES CHURCH GREENSBORO By Mrs. E. B. Meares Several weeks have passed and we have not had anything to say. We have been busy, however, and our work in all departments is going on quite nicety. Services every Sundav have been well attended and very interesting. During the week of Novem ber 11 the Ladies Aid and Lu cy Laney Circle held their an nual bazaar which was quite a scccess. A neat sum was real ized from the sales of the week. The Earnest Workers Sunday School class won in the mem bership contest rally and was gipn a big dinner at the home of v_ N». Lottie Morrow. The Up and Doing class was guest, also all Sunday school officers. The Junior choir, under the leadership of Mrs. Sarah Bar ber, is really coming out. They will soon take the place of the regular choir. We are very hap py that these young people' have taken an interest in their church and hope they will con tinue. A very pleasant surprise it wias to have Rev. Dr. B. R. Smith pay us a visit last week. Dr. Smith, a former pastor of St. James, is now President of Mary Allen (Seminary, Crock ett, Texas. He stopped by on his way to Petersburg, Va.} to visit his mother. While here he held .the baptismal service of the infant son of Prof, and Mrs. T. B. Jones, on Wednesday (Continued on page 3) lets AN EDITORIAL (From The Pittsburgh Courier) The old American custom of trying to “keep up with the Jonses” continues without abatement amongalmost all shmses of oUr citisenry. Negroes PspeeaUy Show themselves to be good Americans in this regard. Moat of nc are living on futures when we ought to oe spending M -ge and saving up for a rainy day. We must .all have radios,, automobiles, overstaffed furniture, electric Appliances and toe latest styles in hats, shoes dresses and suits, even though we: commit ouredved!'to heavy installment payment for the next two years. We must all strut off to conventions or on vacations whether we can afford it or not juat to show neighbors who are as bad off as we are that we are better than they are. We feel it neces sary to “throw” occasional par ties that eat up a week’s wag es. , We ought to call a halt on that sort of thing. We just can not afford it. The salary of the average Negro, even in the highest class, does not warrant the expenditures made for show arid we are not fooling each are. We re just making fooli out of ourselves. Let us consider what th< American white^ollar or so' called' brain worker fnmiallj Jetst for his labor on an aver For ’ ?rs, from $870 to around $1,600; clergymen, $786; bank eilers, $1,800; department store clerks, $520 to $1,800. The overwhelming majority of what are called white-collar workers do not "Average more ihan $2,000 a year, even includ ing the very highly paid profes sional workers. Associate pro fessors in the largest colleges get but $4;000 after fourteen years’ service, while full pro fessors average but $7,000 an nually after twenty-five years’ service. The majority of inde pendent storekeepers do a total iaily business of less than $101 Inly 543,000 people in the Unit ad States have incomes in ex ?ess of $5,000, and we^are re ferring to all of ?he*people: white, bla^k, yellow, red and brown. The average income for mid dle-class Negroes is much low n- than that for whites of the same class. Indeed, the aver age income of the middle class Negro is on a par with that of he white mechanic class: printers, painters, chauffeurs md the like. Even in the most orosperous parts of the North It probably averages less than ?1,600 a year. There are many Negroes who earn more than $1,600 but they are by no means is plentiful as autumn leaves in Vallotnbrosa. On the contra ry it would probably be very difficult to muster more than ?5,000 Negroes who average more than $1,600 a year. Not JiitJ-tima ui mat uumucr cam over $2,000 a year. The black men and Women who average over $3,000 annally could be easily accommodated at once on the Majestic or the Leviathan, and our $5,000 people are scarcer yet’. According to the United States Department of Labor an income of over $2,000 annually is needed to support a family of five according to the American standard of living and without any luxuries. iJ. ' This being the ease, why should so many of us pretend that we are better off than we are? And try to live up to our pretensions? We are not fool - (Continued on page 3) H *L.^ y »Mo* ****!» WWiy iriHBlCi — word has been preached to us with piwer by oar pas tor and visitifeg ministers, strengthening and comforting those who believe. Revs. 0. E. Sanders and A. H. Prince, of Charlotte, were in our midst Sunday, November 10th. Rev Sanders preached at the morning service, his subject being “The Gate Beautiful.” He made an impression upon his hearers as he explained his subject, using , illustrations which caused them to see so clearly the truth he wished to impress upon their minds. Rev. Prince spoke a few words of encouragement at the close cf the service. The congregation was pleased to have them in their midst. The various schools of the city being in session, we have each Sunday visitors from the following named schools to wor ship With SSt Shaw University, D. D. and B. Institute, High School and Graded Schools. Miss Bowrthy Lane,' Superin tendent of the Sabbath school, Isfcors zealously to bring the work up to the required stand ard. The Tuxis Club his been re function was a Halloween ^ Par ty which was a success. On Suit lay, November 17th, they nade their first appearance be fore the public in the form of a worship service and an inspi rational service. This program was arranged by Mrs. Cozart and carried out by the girls, the President, Miss Helen Bai ley, presiding. The inspirational address was made by Miss Helen Hunter, cf Boston, Massv Miss ‘Hunter studied in the School of Reli gion in Boston and is now an instructor in the Bishop Tut tle Training School for Social Service Workers. The -address was vo me point ana inspiring to all Members of the congregation who are teaching out of the city are Elder Anderson James, Mesdames Odessa Roberts and Edith Easterling Those teach* *ng in the city are Mrs. Marie Gorham, Misses Lucille McRae and Dorothy Lane. Young people who have en tered the various schools are as follows: Misses Margaret Lightner, Mary Potter School; Lillian Ancrum, Lydia Pope and Gladys Hill, St. Augustine College; Messrs. Nicholas Lightner, Johnson C. Smith University, and Charles Wil liams, Shaw University. Mr. Charles Williams, who served as organist auring tne winter, is again at his post of duty. Miss Ancrum, organist of the Sunday school, was organ ist for the church during his absence. Prof. Mask, of the D. D. and B. Institute, has been ill and confineq'|^ j^i8 room for several days. He fa a regular attendant at church and a supporter of our church work. He has the sympathy of all the church members. The amount of money raised in our fall rally was $232. Club No 1, Mrs Burroughs, captain, went over the top. The pastor and congregation were delighted to have Profes sor and Mrs. R. W. Boulware, and Mrs. Butler, instructors in Harbison College, Irmo, S. C., (Continued on page 4)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
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Dec. 5, 1929, edition 1
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