Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / Jan. 2, 1930, 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
' MAKE YOU FREE”—John ssssaaBssasmm ►AY, JANUARY 2, 1930 [poqisv. PROGRAM OF WORKERS' CONFERENCE DIVISION OF MISSIONS FOR COLORED PEOPLE, THE BOARD OF NATIONAL MISSIONS IN THE U. S. A. To be Held in the University Church at Johnson G Smith University, Charlotte, N. C., February 4th-7th, 1930 Tuesday Afternoon, February 4, 1930 Rev. J. M. Gaston, D- D., Pre siding. 2:30 P. M. Devotional. Rev- M. J- Crocker, D. D., Scotia Seminary, Concord, N. C. (The Book of Acts will be studied in all the devotional periods of the Conference.) 2:46 P. M. Training Young , Men for the Gospel Ministry. Dr. Yorke Jones, Charlotte, N- C. 3:15 P. M. Discussion. 3:80 P. M. Church Survey. Rev. George W. Long, D- D., Coulter Academy, Cheraw, S. C. 4:00 P. M. Discussion. 4:16 P. M- Putting the Men of the Church to Work Rev- C. J. Baker, D. D., At lanta, Ga. 4:46 P- M. Discussion. 6:00 P. M. Recess. 7:30 P. M- Memorial Service for Mrs. Johnson C. Smith Invocation, Rev. J. H. Hays wood, D. D. Hymn No. 505, “How Firm a Foundation.” Scripture Lesson. Rev. Z. ,A. Dockery, p. D. Prayer, (Rev. L. J. Melton, D. D Address, Rev. H. L. McCro rey, D. D.,.representing the fac ulty. ".Nearer, My •' God to Thee ” ro- Address, Mr. A. S. Powe, re presenting students Address, Rev. W. L. Metz, D- D., representing University Alumni. Hymn No. 508, “Lead, Kind ly Light” Address. Rev. J. M. Gaston, D. D., representing the Board. Quintette, “Were Ybu There When They Crucified My Lord.” Benediction, Rev. P. W- Rus sell, D. D. Wednesday, February 5th, 1930. 9:00 A. M. Devotional. Rev.- A- H. Prince, Charlotte, N. C. 9:15 A. M- The Minister at Work. Rev. A. A- Hector, Richmond, Va. ’ 9:45 A. M. Discussion. 10:00 A. M. Sunday School Missions. Mr. John M. Somerndike, New York, N. Y 10:30 A. M. Discussion. 10:45 A. M. Young People in the Church. Rev. A- H- George, Knoxville, Tenn. 11:15 A. M. Discussion. 11:30 A. M. What the Pente costal Season Means to Us. Mrs- A- B. Snively, Field Re presentative. 12:00 Noon. Discussion. 12:15 P. M. Recess. 2:00 P. M. Devotional. . Rev- C. W. Francis, Ander son, S C. 2:15 P- M. The Relation of the School and Church to the Com munity. Rev. S, T. Redd, D. D-, Butler School, Savannah, Ga. 2:45 P. M. Discussion. .3:00 P- M- The Making of a Worthy American Citizen. Rev. W. L. Metz, D. D., Edis to Island, S. C. 3:80 F- M- Discussion. 3:45 P. M. Problems in Mod em Education. Rev J. A. Savage, D. D., Al bion Academy, Franklinton, N C 4:15 P. M. Discussion. 4:30 P. M. Religious Educa tion in the Church and School. Mrs W. J- Harris, Birming ham, Ala. . . 5:00 P. M. Discussion. 5:15 P. M. Recess. 7:30 P- M. Popular Meeting. Under the Auspices of the Women of the Conference. Mrs. G. C. Shaw, Mary Potter School, Oxford, N. C., Presid ing. Thursday, February 6th, 1930 9:00 A. M. Devotional Rev. H. Wilson, Concord, N. C. 9:15 A. M. The Boy Problem Rev. J- G. Porter, Harbison Agricultural College, Irmo, S. C. 9:45 A. M- Discussion. 10:00 A. M. The Training of Girls for Their Life Work. Mrs- M. J Crocker, Scotia Seminary, Concord, N. C. 10:30 A- M. Discussion. 10:45 A. M. Some Qualifica tions of a Good Teacher. Rev. H- M. Hosack, Barber Memorial College, Anniston, Ala. 11:15 Discussion. 11:30 A. M- The Service to be Rendered by a Church School in City Life. Rev. J. B. Barber, Newton Memorial & Industrial Insti tute, Chattanooga, Tenn 12:00 Noon- Discussion. 12:15 P. M- Recess. Afternoon Sessions Consideration of the Work of Evangelism—Division of Evan gelism. Rev. W. F. Klein^ D. D., Presid ing.- ' '' ' 7:30 P. M* Evangelistic Ser vices. Conducted toy Rev. S. D. Thom, D. D., Evaiigelist, Atlan tic Synod, and Rev. I. H- Rus sell, D. D., Evangelist, Catawba Synod. Friday, February 7th, 1930 Personal interviews will be granted to the workers by Mrs. Agnes B- Snively and Rev. J. M. Gaston, D. D., at the Carne gie Library, beginning Friday, at 9:00 A. M-, and continuing as long as necessary. Every minister is urged to bring from his church as many delegates as possible to attend these meetings. We are especi allly anxious to have the elders present. It is expected that the mem bers of the Conference will at tend all sessions. Write to Rev. L. B. West, Johnson C- Smith University, Charlotte, N. C., advising him as to the time of your arrival:, and your place of entertain ment will be assigned to you. It is earnestly hoped tb* .s local churches will pa., the traveling expenses of their ministers to the Conference. The information and inspira tion derived from the Confer ence should a good deal more than justify the local church in paying the expenses of their pastor. It will be impossible for the Division of Missions for Colored People to pay the trav eling expenses of those attend ing the Conference. Entertain ment for all delegates will be furnished free, however. WHITE PASTOR TAKES OVER NEGRO WORK New Orleans. La., Dec.— (By The Associated Negro Press). Dr. U. D- Mooney, white pastor of the Napoleon Avenue Pres byterian church, has announced his resignation. He is to become the' director of the Christoph Social and Community Center to be established in behalf of the Negro people of New Or leans- His resignation will take effect February, 1930. Dr.* Mooney has for a period (Continued on page 3) . . > ■ Negroes have investl money in churches have in any oilier entel the world. . M When churches Wjk PROPERLY, the pel more out of them than ] out of any other enter) the world. The ministers are til welfare group for wh| ries and upkeep Negro! to feel responsible. | Up to the last decade! gro took the church ana ligious obligations mol ously. He felt it his bound* to build churches and the ministry. In returnf investment in property their fidelity to the catj race has millions of don up in churches that aj up four fifths of the yi down, going to pieces, 01 ing still while the leacj wasting time and mone| ing, masquerading, half ing, or preaching spurge trines, in the name p Christian reMgion. A H small number are doinj thing like their duty in ing the people up and ou mire and the clay and ea ing their going* The colossal waste || management that hi a| in NegroChurch be tolerated nor sujip laiiy uuicr xzxivxzi yi. lax; ui pivico Ision. 0, religion! religion!! what awful and enormous waste is indulged in, in thy name. People put their money into churches/for the dissemination of the truth, the regeneration of mankind, the edification of the mind and soul, the creation of a new earth wherein dwell eth righteousness. But from nine-tenths of our churches the people are not getting anything that approaches the spiritual and moral returns that they should get on their tremendous investments. The Bible asks ‘Will a man rolb God?” Yes, any church that gets a dollar’s worth of sacrifice and gives back a dime's worth of results, is robbing God and man. That is just what every church that is shut up four-fifths of the time, run down, neglected, and allows poor preaching, and questionable living on the part of leader, represents—a dime for your dollar—in some cases, even the dime has a hole in it. Thousands of our churches are not' only locked up but are left dirty and “topsy turvy” from Sunday to Saturday and are only brushed up on Satur day. This condition is due al most wholly to lazy, standard less visionless, selfish leaders. Able-bodied men who claim that they are called of God, sit around all the week and allow their church yards to grow up *n weeds or become as bare of grass as the palms of : their hands are of hair, the fences to fall down, the window lights to drop out and these men have the temerity to come to church on Sunday and preach about how industrious Paul, the tent making preacher, was. No. don’t put it on the sexton. Tf he is hired to keep the church clean he should be fir^d if he doesn’t do it. He is not hired to keen the church to suit himself. Coming down to fine points the trustees and stewards are not responsible for setting up standards of physical excell ence- The officers and members are responsible for providing the meals and cooperating in every way possible but it is the minister’s job to get results or get out. Negro churches are not liv ing up to their trust nor op portunity. The masses have built, bought and supported the churches. In return the church es lock the people out doors all me weeK ana noia tnem up on Monday- “Feed my sheep” has come to mean fleece my sheep. We criticise the people* for go ing to the dogs. Thefe is no-' where else for millions of them to go. The churches for which they have paid are locked up. The dogs keep open house with something doing every minute in the day, three hundred and sixty-five days in the year. The churches could heat them at the game if the children of light were wiser than the children of the world. The dogs are after, the game. They stay open to catch it. The churches get their game on Sunday and turn the people over to the dogs for sis: days. Many church leaders take six days to get ready to give one poor performance on Sun day. The dogs have a perpet ual performance—with variety. In this day of competition bus iness and professional men stay on their jobs and keep their specific business going the en tire week. Many of our preach ers lock up the churches and spend their t%e resting or en gaging in Worldly business. The churches stand in the com munity locked up, run down, and looking lonesome. A run' down church does not mean anything on earth but a njn down, lazy leader. Mighty ftfain' talk, but ye shall know the tr*ath,--*-eveir if it does hurt the; Talking abtfut' the high cost of living, what about the high cost of religion? Here are mil lions of dollars put into build ings that are locked up and the people who made the sacrifice and paid for. them have to go to other places for edification and wholesome diversion six days of the week Churches brag about their numbers. Numbers are noth ing. Quality and not quantity counts with God. Only a hand ful of people are actually en gaged in Christian service* The churches are not developing leaders in proportion to the outlay in equipment and the op portunity for encouraging the right use of talent. The churches should be kept open and the people properly organized, trained and put to work. That is the only w|ay they can develop. The Bible is clear bn this point. The spirit ual and general gifts jof the people are many and they are for moral use. The Bible defi nitely commands the church to put everybody to work, to stimulate and utilize the diver sity of gifts- Read the 12th chapter of First Corinthians. Churches under intelligent leadership can be run very much like a school and be made service stations. The Bi ble teachers would come to teach God’s word, the doctors to teach health and to heal the people. The lawyers to give ad vice, the nurse to instruct mothers, the musician to teach music, etc., until all who have gifts are given a chance to exercise them all, and idle churches and idle members are put to work. The massses would be lifted up and their in vestment' in churches would pay in this world and in the world to come. While the ministers are ask ing the people “Why stand ye here idle,” the people are be ginning to ask the churches and the ministers who hold the keys, the same pertinent ques tion. Here they are—idle mem bers, idle ministers, idle churches, and the people going to the dogs because the dogs keep open house. \ ensesn, in The Ne What is wrong in Haiti? 4md what are we going to do about it? ■ • . .r, :l: ■ Last week’s cry for help from the American High Commis sioner in Haiti to the State De partment which resulted in a million rounds of ammunition and additional marines being despatched was an admission of failure of our fourteen years of military ' directed administra tion. It is the signal for a dras tic change in policy if we are to retire in 1906, as provided in our treaty with Haiti, with any degree of dignity. • Very few Americans have even the faintest idea of the difficulties which will confront the commission to be appointed by President Hoover to study the situation in this little re public of 2,250,000 French speaking Negroes, and to plan for n definite policy in its re lations with the United States. Must Get Unbiased Testimony The commission will , h|ve the bewildering job of getting un biased testimony, from Haitians and Americans jn the balance; it should there fore seek out also the opinions of Americans who have left Haiti permanently, and now have no further axe to grind. The task of finding Americans equipped to study the Haitian problem is in itself difficult. Such a commissiy ^onffitfst ap praise a type to him. He muata/jilsorj conver sant ' with FrericrPoteture, for the educated 10 percept Of the Haitians, who form the ruling class and must inevitably tafefc over the reins of Government in 1936, are French in training and ideals. It is with this small group of aristocratic and articulate Hai tians that many disinterested Americans are in sympathy, arid to whom they have joined themselves in demanding a change of policy. A consensus cf opinion of such Americans and Haitians if submitted to the commission would be some what as follows: \\the Haitians demand restor ation of suffrage and right to | elect their legislative bodies and a President by donstitu tional means- The more con servative realize that this can not be done immediately but they all concur in demanding an end to a dictatorship maintained by the armed forces of the United States. They want a civilian rather than a military High Commissioner. Military ride in Haiti is obviously a failure and has seriously jeop ardized the possibility of per manent harmony between Hai ti and the United States. The soldier. whether in the rank and file or an officer, is essen tially a military policeman, wmcn is to say a maiieu ust ex isting for and trained for emer gency only. He is indispensa ble in hia line, Haitians agree, as was proved in the neat, clean military job which the marines did in putting down the uprisings of 1915-16- But once his job of fighting was definite ly accomplished his functions i should have been exercised and restrained under the control of a civil body, as in any well functioning State. They hold that the “caco” troubles of 1918-20, during which between 1,500 and 2,000 Haitians were killed by the United States marines after several years of tranquility, would never have occurred if military functions had been divorced from civil rule. They claim that more Hai tians were killed in suppress ing the “caco” uprising than in all of their revolutions since 1843. The Soldier Always Wins The great trouble with a mil itary occupation is that the soldier is always right, always wins in any controversy with a civilian Force, not necessarily reason or sympathy, is his eter nal argument. This has been particularly unfortunate in Haiti, where the commission will discover that the social as pects of the situation present a curious phenomenon. It is the spectacle of a white, highly modern, Nordic, domineering American civilization suddenly superimposed upon a colored, conservatively formal, French colonial civilization without the saving grace of similarity of ideals, traditions, language, color, customs or ambitions. What the American officer and his family do in the normal pursuance of work and recre ation is frequently bizarre and ofttimes shocking even to so phisticated Haitians. The daily life and performances of the Haitian is hopelessly old-fash ioned or even ludicrous to the proverbially untactful Ameri can. Add the ever-present col or question, which draws a marp and unsympathetic line between Asfcerjtan officers and their families" and ttfe'BWtian yellow or black elite, together with the dominance of Hie American military over every phase of Haitian life, and there i* revealed a perfect back ground for mutual misunder standing, suspicion, lack of co operation. Take the strike of the stu dents at the Agricultural School at Damien on October *1. The Haitian government through its American advisers ha* di verted some of the money ap propriated to scholarships to ward paying needy students for practical farm work on the school grounds. The strike was declared as a protest against this, as an immediate cause, but was really a demonstration of more general protestation against the whole readme. This appropriation of schol arship money for youths in the farm schools was a mistake in the first place. The Haitians of the better class are n|ot and have never been interested in agriculture as a profession. Some of the “elite” became law yers or doctors, or if their fam ilies happened to be among the “in” obtained Government si necures. But agriculture and engineering being totally unde veloped in Haiti, offered few in ducements to Haitian ytouths The farm school scholarships were bad psychology, a blun dering attempt to bribe young men of the upper class to take up studies in which they were not interested. me ay a tem oi euucauon im posed on the Haitians by the American director is unsuited to their needs an dthey know it. It totally ignores their as pirations, traditions* and native character. Since they could not be led to learn through methods repugnant to them, they were virtually hired to go by means of the scholarships, at five or six times the wages earned by the fathers of many of them, and equal, for example, to the .salary paid to surgeons in the hospitals. This unaccustomed innovation and its effect on the educational program in Haiti has been unfavorably comment ed upon by every educator visit ing the island in recent years. Another factor in the school sit uation capping unrest has been the fact tnat a considerable number of American instruc tors of the Damien School are drawing salaries ranging from $4,000 to $5,000 a year, in ad dition to expenses paid by Ba ton tax-payers, without being able to sneak the native creole or French. Their lectures are (Continued on page 3)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 2, 1930, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75