Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / March 28, 1935, edition 1 / Page 1
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i: ; j CHARLOTTE, M. C, THURSDAY, THE PLACE OF THE DAY SCHOOL IN THE LARGER PARISH PLAN By Rev. W. L. Metz, D. D. (A paper read at the Workers' Conference held in the University Church at Johnson C. Smith University, Feb. 5-8.) In Great Britain, Ireland, and in some of the British colonies, the subdivision of a county often coincided with an original ecclesiastical parish, cpnstitut ing the unit and most important district of local government; and it was chiefly constituted for local revenue purposes. The parish idea qpd plan wore brought over to this coun try in the makings—the days of rugged individuality—and con sequently parishes were organ ized and functioned in Charles ton County as did those in Great Britain, Ireland and some of the British colonies. It is yet quite common in Charleston County to hear certain school districts designated as parish es, such as Saint Andrew’s par ish and Saint Paul’s parish. The term is quite common around New Orleans. But in its relation to the body ecclesiastic it can be properly called a local society or organ ization usually not bounded by territorial limits, but composed of those persons who choose to unite under the charge of a particular priest, clergyman or minister. Loosely, it is the ter ritory in iwhicjh the members of a congregation live. But, not withstanding this far-backward reach into the archives of Great Britain, Ireland, and some of British colonies, and even ancient, Charleston, B. C., and demoralized New Orleans, the that the parish idea in its aim and scope began with the dawn of human history, even though (he organization was primitive and crude and reflected efforts growing out of occasions and needs in man’s primitive state. When God chooses leaders he chooses them to render service to the majority; and the ma jority are God’s overgrown, mentally deficient, morally de praved, over-religious, ignis fatuus multitude. When God created man he en tered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of per fect obedience; and then God’s request was that man should multiply and replenish the earth; for God is too wise and merciful to have his world re plenished without a place in it. for the development of his pro duct under some wise, faraee mg leader. Going a step further into sa cred history we see Pharaoh’s brick yard as Moses’s first par ish ; and the whole horde of Is raelites as his parishioners. But they were a pitiful, unre sentful, disorganizd, humble group contending among them selves, and, perhaps, daily ex hibiting the pugilistic spirit and antagonism. Moses, one of their number as to race, trained in Pharaoh’s court, and an out standing alumnus of the Uni versity of Memphis, attempted to exercise his God-given au thority over his parishioners striving one against the other. Moses desired their behavior fo function for the unification of hope and love for ore anoth er that their faith in the one God might be enlarged and con tinued, and thereby bring about an early deliverance from near ly five hundred years of bond age. Moses had a large, wholly an Iraelitish parish; and it seems as if he lived within their midst or moved among them daily and watched their behavior. Perhaps this was his first attempt at correcting un becoming behavior among his people. A step from the king’s court to the brickyard and he is in the thick of his ignorant, hard - headed, short - sighted. - • fleshpot-craving parishioners. But, while it is not my pur pose to discuss events and great characters in Israelitjsh history, it ijs not out of place to pQiunt out what great thing needful Moses lacked to hold him above a compromise with his unfortu nate .parishioners; and which, finally, caused him to become a fugitive from justice. It is ne cessary to say Moses lacked patience. But the thing needed most in that, brick yard parish centuries before Moses was a day school to draw out the best in an Israelite in order to unify that best into love that they might be brothers in their hearts. Of course, the Israelites had not receded from Godly, refined human principles completely There is always, a saving rem nant of these principles left in mankind who once in life expe rienced the product of God’s grace; and in Moses’ parish, that which remained needed to be strengthened through God’s grace. Sacred history tells us plain ly that this same race exhibited the spirit of rebellion against Moses forty years, in meander ing paths and in deserts of star vation and in wildernesses of despair, and wished for Phara oh’s fleshpots in his brick yard. ijhis sad condition can be tru ly attributed to a cause whose effect is evident: a vacant with its" rabbis to draw _ inner life of those Israelites'tc develop it into the higher attri butes to the end of unifying this group into a Godly, winning personality. r>ne cause oi Moses laiiure in his larger parish stands out as a warning to our group and to our great Church. When our Church -attempts to enlarge our parish in Goodwill section, Sumter County, South Carolina; or the one in and about Cheraw, Chesterfield County, South Car olina; or James Island, Charles ton County, South Carolina, and has no place for a well-operated,' Christian day school in which to train the children — we as a Church shall soon see our work in the South among our group as a large ocean steamer drifting without a rud der; something bearing the name of a lost force after the expenditure of time and mon ey and effort without results. The records and history of our ecclesiastical group in the South reveal the fact, that the rude forerunner of the larger parish in North and South Carolina produced the pioneejr Negro Presbyterian preachers, teachers and outstanding Christian workers of these two States. But there is a reason: a strong day school went up in the midst of the parishioners; and its influence radiated and made a progressive, upward looking, dependable community in human uplift The/ jlate WilMs L. Miller, once a slave holder; once one of the aldermen of Charlotte, N. C., returned from the Civil War, and in March, 1866, with Rev. S. S. Murkland (he was affectionately called Father Murkland) and Rev. S. C. Alex ander, pastor of a large church out from Charlotte, set up a Presbytery and called it Cataw ba; but, there were no Negro churches in North Carolina except Freedom, and, perhaps, one at Milton, North Carolina. Rev. Miller had Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties as his parish. In these counties he or ganised • churihes '; rabidly : Rocky River, Bethpage, Char lotte (now Seventh Street), Poplar Tent, McClintock, Ca tawba River, Back Creek, Murkland Chapel, Lloyd, Wood land, Mt. Olive, and Concord (now \jWeetmiitefcer),. *Rev. Dti Miller organized a number of white cjoitgregations into churches within the bounds of Catawba- Presbytery: Duncan’s Creek, 30 members; Beuia, 14 members; 'Davidson. River, 40 members; Bean’s Creek, members; and Swannanoa, members. This rapidity church organizing by Rev, ler, and the bringing into church daily such as shoul saved seemed to have drawee* the Board of Domestic f Mis sions (that was what it was called then) negative spirit; for this Board wrote these words to Rev. Miller: “Please do not organize any more churches, for the Board hasn’t the money to $arry on the work.” But in 1$6|7 Rev. Miller founded and set up a day school in which to tram ministers and parishion ers^ then he said the young met) should have trained wives, and! another day school was set up for girls. See what these two schools as the forerunners of the larger parish have done! Biddle Memorial Institute and Scotia Seminary! Without this wise set-up of those two day schools in our making as a church group, very likely our church among our group in this State would be very week, if ijt existed at all. And North Carolina would be poorer in Christian virtues and endeav ors worth while in upholding a civilized country. The history of our church in t,he South shows that the day school in the larger parish has a p)ace that can not be supple* mented by meeting on theJttftrd’s chapels, with a large group of Negro children singing and try ing to study God’s Word. Our background of training is yet too much in the making to at tempt Ghristian training, in the larger parish, of our children without a day school. The worth of a day school in our primitive parishes nearly seventy years ago was productive of rich re sults. This is outstanding in Sumter and Fairfield counties; for Fairfield county was Rev. Willard Richardson’s parish; and Sumter and Clarendon counties were Rev. W. R. Mil ler’s. The day school of Ebenez er church, six miles out from Sumter, made Ebenezer section and all of Northwestern Sumter county (Ebenezer parish) the most progressive inj Christian living and intelligence in North western Sumter county. The old Goodwill day school under Rev. W. R. Miller sent a light, over entire Sumter and Clarendon counties and. pro duced more Presbyterian Ne groes than any one county in South Carolina. ((See Minutes of the General Assembly.) When I entered Biddle near ly forty-seven years ago I met about one hundred boarding students there; and over twen ty-five per cent of them were from Sumter, Clarendon mid Fairfield counties; and of this number all were candidates for the ministry except three. Calling the roll from memory, they were: (Fairfield Oounty—H. L. Mc Crorey, Eli McGriff, S. C. Thompson, W. A. Byrd, D. W. Aiken, C. L. Sawyer, T. H. Ayers, Robert Miller, E. W. Al len, T. L. Toatley,_Means, R. L. Douglass, Charlie Bell, (not ministerial candidate), S. M. Plair (not ministerial candidate.) )SutMter County1—!. M. Mift drow, H. L. Peterson, Neptune N. Gregg, A. J. Jefferson, Sum ter Frierson, S. P. Mitchell, J. Q. Moses, Alexander L. Mar lin, H. H. Muldrow (not minis terial candidate.) Clarendon Oounty—J. H Cooper, C. S. McFadden, B. B, Benjamin. > parishes with their day caused this fact to stand |per and. Fairfield coun #'sent out more Fresby (reachers than any other [ In South Carolina; and f County comes next be ll Brainerd Institute, primitive parishes in and Fairfield counties ead and shoulders above the othe$* counties in Carolina in church mem school out: Si ties ha terian counti« Cheste These Sumte standi any o South bershl pds out as a bold fact parish that attempts to Its bounds to reach a number must have its >ol to draw out the mor piritual values for man’s Sent. Without this, is produced other than t for every wind of doc Qffjcourse, the Gospel of singing hymns, and Ne tuals should be firmly d appreciated in the of the young parishion the larger parish. The Gospel of Christ, and hymns extol the attributes of the Man of Galilee; his active and passive obedience — these are the embodiment of moral and spiritual values, which should have our highest appreciation. Bui the outstanding fact re mains*' we find it, beyond the of hfiman effort to ap te the value of moral and .1 life without being to see and appreciate the-product of moral and spirit ual values. No man is fully able to appreciate the beauty in a language without being well trained in'this art; and this is true along air lines of laudable endeavor. e youth in the larger par ish must be taught, that moral ual values have no i trinsic v#ftie that man can cal culate; and they have no rela tive value that man can compare with something else. Your at tempt is folly when you try to calculate the cost, of their pro duction; and it is equally sim ple when you try to compare something else with them in value. Where this foundation work should begin points directly to the larger parish. Surely our great. Church is not initiating an experiment among Negroes contrary to reason? I am sure not The day school in the larger parish plan is the light to give growth, strength and beauty to its product. There is a group in our great Church whose background of training and ancestral extrac tion reach back to the brown hills of educated Scotland, and, too, among soldiers who won fame and died on the battlefield of Bannockburn—they needed this day school in their parish es less than one hundred years ago. Then why not we? Why not we whose plight along all lines of human endeavor has no equal? In an address to the Presby terian Ministerial Association at the First Presbyterian church (Charlotte) Monday morning, February 4th, the Rev. J. C. Grier, pastor of Mulberry Pres byterian church, made clear and stressed the fact that pioneer ministers were educators as well as citizens and preachers of the gospel; and to prove his claim, he pointed out four out standing pioneer Presbyterian ministers: Rev. Alexander Craighead, of Mecklenburg Countyr Dr. David Caldwell, of Guliford County; Dr. James Hall, of Iredell County, and Dr. James E. McCorkle, of Rowan County. The Rev. Grier said these pioneer ministers taught and preached either before or during the Revolutionary War. He states further that the teaching and preaching of Rev. Craighead led to the Declara tion of Mecklenburg Indepen dence. Dr. McCorkle prepared (Continued on page 4) THE LIGHTHOUSE ON THE HILL, 1 1 ■: ' , | ii Looking eastward /from (the heart of the city, one may see the Shiloh Presbyterian church standing upon a hill and thereby conclude that the slo gan, “The Lighthouse on the Hill,” is justifiable. As a Light house, the church has endeav ored to radiate the Light of Christ to the community and to all people. For the past six months a new watchman has directed the focus and the light has been projected through a definite program, comprehend ing a major portion of all the facilities of the church. Empha sis has been centered upon spe cific objects, including: Mis sions, ^Evangelism, Steward ship, The Christian Home1, Or ganization and Attendance. The results have been encouraging and inspiring. In the Semi-An nual program the following goals were set up: To add 25 members to the church (41 have been added); to secure hymnafts for ; the church (100 are now m use); to increase Sunday sdhool at tendance 50 per cent (an in crease of 65 per cent recorded). Other objectives reached in the program include: the organiza tion of a church council of Re ligious Education and a Young People's Cabinet, a School oi Missions, an Evangelistic Ser vice, adoption of the Youth Budget Plan, Week Day School of Religion (with classes for children and adults) and an Every Member Canvass. In the evangelistic service 16 wer added to the church. In the Week Day School, units of credit of twp> Standard Train ing^CoUrsek have been awarded by the Board of Christian Edu >and 16 children have* attended the Pastor’s Instruc tion Class. All special days were ob served and programs have been rendered by the Guild, the Fel lowship, the Men’s Brotherhood, the Missionary Circles, the church choir, and the Young People’s Cabinet. The church has received a Rotary Duplica tor that was donated by Circle No 2, and a new church regis ter donated by the Sunday school. Circle No. 1 and the Men's Brotherhood have given clothing and shoes to less for unate school children. Distinguished visitors who were cordially presented as quests were: Rev. A. H. George, a former pastor, now teacher of Homiletics and Church His tory in the Theological Semina ry of Johnson C. Smith Univer sity, Charlotte, N. C.; Mr. George Matthews, lyric tenor, of Detroit, Mich.; Rev. Thomas B. Hargrave, of Hot Springs, Ark.; Rev. J. B. Barber, of Chattanooga, Tenn.; Rev. Oli ver Wallace, of Maryville Tenn.; Mrs. Agnes B. Snively, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Mr. Lester Granger, Secretary of the Urban League of New. York City; Kev. Kaiph w. L,loyd, u. u., President of Maryville College, of Maryville, Tenn.; and Mrs. Reba M. Grahaim, Field Secre ary of the Board of Forei Missions, Chicago, 111. The pas tors and choirs of the Mt, Zior Baptist church, the East Vin M. E„ and the Bethel A. M. F have exchanged profitable ser vices. The Austin High School Glee Club and the Green School Sextette have appeared on en tertaining programs. The Lighthouse has focussed its rays toward another Seflnih annual program that has re cently been outlined in 14 pr jects: a Five Year Program for the church excluding the annual program is: 1. To reach a membership of 500; 2. to provide a playground for chil dren; 3. to establish an extension project or mission outpost; 4. to create a department of so rial welfare; 5. to send forth a missionary worker or a can didate for the ministry; 6. to secure an illuminated bulletin board; 7. to operate a full time Week-Day School of Keliftion. “God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of our, Lord Jesus Christ." THE WATCHMAN. THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S LEAGUE MEETING By 'Miss Edith Durham The first- quarterly meeting of the Young People's League cf District No. 3, Cape Pear Presbytery, met in Elizabeth* town, N. C., Saturday, March 16 at 10 o’clock A. M. Morning Program 10:00 — Recreation Period which was to be carried out by Miss Mildred Moore, of White ville, N. 0., but for some reason she was not present. 11— Topics fbr disdussipn and quizzes. Is the League accom plishing its aim in the church? If so, how? If not, why? This discussion was to have been led by Miss L. F. Williams, of Fay etteville. Miss Williams was un able to come, but Miss Free man, of Lumberton, willingly consented to take her place, and the topic was well dis* cussed. She encouraged the members of the League very much by her talk, telling them they were accomplishing some aim in their efforts. She made it plain to them how they would be able to help the future church. Other members o;f the League and visitors todkpart in the discussion. Mr. Leroy Mc Laurin, a Senior of Bladen Oounjty .Training (School*, gave a very interesting talk op the subject. 11:30—The topic was: “What Would You Suggest to Increase | the Interest and Attendance of , "Our League?” Discussion was led by Miss Edith Durham, foil Elizabethtown. Miss Durham , made mention of a few points to the League and explained them. Some of the suggestions , were as follows: Have well ’ planned meetings; select com* , petent leaders; bring interest ing speakers to the meeting, and have some type of social 1 hour, well planned and super 1 vised. Others gave good sugges ; cions on this topic. 12— Business Session. There was little business to be attend ’ ed to. Each church will get out a program, and so the next pro gram of the League of District | No. 3 is to be gotten out by the League of Elizabethtown. The ? next place of meeting is Chad [ bourn, N. C. 12:30—Dinner and exchange of greetings. Afternoon Program 2:00—Closing Vesper Servic es. Theme, “Making the League More Interesting and Finding Our Place in the Church.” Beautiful music was sung by the Junior choir of Eliza bethtown. Scripture Lesson—27th Psa. 1:14. Address: “Reaching the Ob jectives of the League,” by Miss Wallie Crump, Fayetteville. Solo — Mr. Leroy McLaurin, of Elizabethtown. Worship Message: “How May the Minister Help the Young People to Find Their Place lb the Church?” This question was well answered by Rev. B. H. Brown, of Elizabethtown, after which we had silent pray-, er by all. Then the offering and the closing nymn. Benediction in unison: “Lord, make me happy in my youth, as I follow thy voice (Continued on pKgo 8)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
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March 28, 1935, edition 1
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