Newspapers / The Christian Sun (Elon … / Nov. 6, 1907, edition 1 / Page 1
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J ESTABLISHED 1S4-4. GREENSEORO, N. C., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1907 \ OLtJME LIX. NUMBER 43 All communications, whether for publica tion or pertaining to matters c« «*.isiness, should be sent to the Editor, J. O. Atkinson, Elou College, N. C. TWO BIG C’S. It May Be "Whichever You Will—Cash or Catastrophe. AN APPEAL To the Christian Church and.Brotherhood— . Greeting: At no time during all our history has a grander opportunity for achievement pre sented itself to the Christian denomination. The reason for such a statement are as fol lows : The Quadrennial session of the Amer ican Christian Convention, held at Hunting ton, Ind., manifested a highly hopeful spirit* and judiciously planned for enlarged work; the denominational temper is such as to favor and support wise attempts at broadening -our church and its influence; the temper of other denominations is such that our energy is not consumed in controversy as was the energy of our fathers; the various .organiza tions within the church are in closer touch with one another, and more effective than they have been; while taken all in all we have a more resourceful constituency than ever. On the other side, very flattering op portunities invite us to greater effort. In a word, our ability and temper for aggressive enterprise, over against which stand flat tering invitation and willing receptivity, summon us to the greatest undertakings and brightest chapter of our denominational his tory., If one tremendous bugle blast were a signal for our advance, it could be no more -definite than the signal now calling us. . Shall We Advance? By all means! It were a sin to do other wise! Years of preparation and the present condition of efficieKCjr'IHtrBt be sacrificed, unless we obey the command, ‘1 Forward, march This is especially true of our missionary •enterprise. Listen: the section of Washing ton state now being worked by us has fine openings for more of our churches. At Olympia, the state capital, we have'a nucleus and start; Aberdeen, at the head of Gray’s Harbor, is a wonderfully inviting field; and several others actually need mqre churches. _These openings are largely due to the fact that other denominations have concentrated in other parts of the state. Already we have a good substantial church and membership at Rifle, Colo., and two good openings are afforded at places 12 and 60 miles distant, respectively, the latter a growing city of 8,000 people. Our missionaries in North Da kota have repeatedly called attention to chances for church erection and growth in that state, and the Home Mission Secretary ’s visit to that field confirms the missionaries’ views. Rev. L. D. Holaday is fairly dazing us by his reports from Saskatchewan, Can ada. Cities are growing up within a year, where churches are greatly needed, and where they will reap peculiar advantages, if planted during the early settlement of those places. People in Oklahoma are calling for Chris tian churches. Missouri is a fruitful field, ready ”?or reapers. So is Kansas. Iowa’s state capital might have a strong organiza tion, could we but stand behind it with need v ful cash. New life is thrilling erstwhile drooping churches in Michigan, and dollars put there now would soon change into men. Illinois and Indiana afford fine fields for city churches, provided only we place men in them and sustain the men. This means that we already have material for churches in those cities. We are just recovering a church property, for two years withheld from our people—a fine property in. a good city— and now the need is “backing” that we may regain strength and prosperity. In Dayton, seat of our publishing interests, home of our chief denominational organ, headquarters of the missionary and American Christian Con ‘ vention work, we have two missions already started, one building a church which they ex pect to dedicate in December, the other wor shipping iu a hired building in a residential section of the city, which is new and grow ing and prosperous. Only the litter impos sibility of finding a place of worship hinders us from entering the newest and best part' of the city. Could we build a small church we could gather a splendid audience. The First Christian Church has just decided to proceed at once with the erection of a new edifice such as we ought to have in Dayton. In New England we have a chance to ac quire a new church property and membership, by simply providing and partly supporting a minister. Three incomparable fields for work among the foreigners confront us in Massachusetts;' and the solution of the prob lem how to Christianize the foreigners must begin in the east. The '^greater Norfolk” project will, with little help, greatly increase our numerical strength and financial ability in that Virginian city. Our home mission enterprises in North Carolina and Georgia have responded astonishingly to the little aid l’endered. Do You Wonder? Do you wonder that we are optimistic and hallooing for somebody to come and help drag in these nets and count the big fish? But there is more to our story. Already the Christian Biblical Institute, recently moved to Defiance, Ohio, has more than 30 students. We will have men! Oh, how we need some of them to man our home mission fields! And still there is more to our story. Most encouraging reports come from our mission aries aeross the sea. All three of our Japan fields report increase and splendid openings. Eighty baptisms were counted the past year, but the number of converts was away be yond that figure; and the Christian teach ing and influence will yield far beyond any figures yet reported. The Utsunomiya field is practically limitless and destitute. Mr; Fry has received invitations to open new stations where there iiro h»"FHNIBMlii' openings and hunger , exist in our northern or Sendai field; and at Sandai a church build ing is sadly needed. We have a Girls’ School and a Bible Training School with un told chances to .educate and Christianize. All the students in the Training School do evan gelistic work every week, and the results are scattered all over Tokyo, in the shape of men impressed or converted by Christian truth. Turning to Porto Rico, the prospects ‘are as bright as the promises of God.” This‘is the day of harvest, sustained interest, sound conversions, large audiences, and church building in the principal stations. In all the six years of this mission’s activity, there has been nothing like the present hopeful out look. Only in Ponce city is any other denom ination working along side of us. We have a field of 75,000 souls practically to ourselves. What a splendid challenge, this! A WAITING LIST. Still other facts demand your attention.. Eight men and women have, offered them selves as missionaries, and as yet no means are at hand to send them abroad for work. This is a pity, when they are so badly needed and so many thonsands souls die without them! Cry after cry has come to us from South America; and a man and his wife have heard that cry and are praying for chance to enter that dark Catholic and pagan con tinent. While hands actually beckon us in that direction, a man asks for chance to go with his wife to India, where he has once served and seen the appalling need of India’s masses. While we contemplate such facts A Fire Burns in our hearts. The Christian denomination is being used of God, it does fill a place in the kingdom, we do amount to something, and thousands are looking to us for help. Here is proof positive in the dqors opened before us, and the appeals reaching our ears calling for light. This is a day such as we never say. It demands action, not compla cency^ it demands faith, not despair; prayer, and not fainting; cash and not can’t; it de mands men and women who will be'" faithful even to sacrifice. "Awake, Thou that Sleepest!” Take our whole denomination as a field for observation, and we can convince you that missionary interest is turning toward flood tide: Your mission secretaries have had more calls to visit churches and confer- ' ences than they could possibly respond to. Requests for information and literature and books are multiplying. Churches and in dividuals are planning to undertake mission ary support; wills are being written in favor of our mission treasury; pastors and period icals sound a missionary charge. Brethren, now is the time to make something more out of ourselves! Awaken the sleepers. Beat the* reveille. Call them to action. Sound a charge. Take your people into your confi dence, brother pastor, and talk over the sit uation with them. Friends, confide the sit uation to your friends. Pour in the facts: let them simmer and, boil, and then pour them out in a heart to heart talk. Forget to preach or argue. Tell them a burden oppresses you, and pour out your heart for the denom ination and the unsaved looking to us. Wounded and Faint. We are wounded and fainting, and need tonics, and emolients, and styptics. The wound is vital, it is in our mission treasury, and the golden life blood is ebbing away. As these words are being written, the Treas urer’s report says that less than $500 work ing balance lies in the treasury. Think of it: "less than $500 to start the year with; and a work on hand that cost nearly $30,000 last year, and ought to cost $40,000 this; a woik that needs $2500 a month, and less than $500 on hand! Brethren, does it stagger you? How then do you think the nine per sons you have laid this burden on are affect ed by it ? Do not mistake our statement: the funds available for the current year on October 1, for out missionary work, were less than $500. What of the Future? In making provision for this year’s-work the. needs hawe not been met. W«~could not for a moment think of appropriating the amounts asked for. We pared to the quick. And yet we dared not bring disaster by total denial of pleas. We have dealt out pittances. Not a dollar, but that was looked at again and again. Not a case, but that was weighed over and over. . It will not avail to criticise and cavil, when we have but a few hundreds to handle, in view of a work that needs thou sands. Suppose that we had cut off a few more hundreds and left bleeding limbs: what would that avail of the needed thousands? The Cure. There is a cure for these ills, a way to avoid lopping off more of our work and work ers, a healing balm for this vital wound to our treasury. What is it? Cash, Cash, Cash. We know that you are unwilling to cripple the greatest of our denominational enterpris ?s. W,e believe that you have not fully tak en in the situation. For a week the Mission Board was struggling with this financial and other problems. You will not dismiss it with a passing thought, will you? Surely you have no thought of cutting short the bene ficent work of your home missionaries, of curtailing the very work upon which we must depend for our growth and strength ? Surely you cannot brook a thought of inter rupting the life-work of our foreign mission aries, and shattering plans that will work out in building Christian nations? That will be no cure. Surely not. No; here is the cure, if by January 1, 1908, we can put $5,000 n the Mission Treasury, the work can con I tinue. But it is only honest that we put be fore you the alternative as the Board sees it. It is in the form of a vote. Listen: “If after every reasonable effort has been put forth by the Board to raise an emergency amount sufficient to cover the present indebt edness and current expenses for the present missionary force by January 1, 1908, and a sufficient amount is not raised, then the Mis sion Council is authorized to curtail both the home and foreign work in accordance with Section 53 of our Manual, as necessity may require.” That is, the curtailing shall be pro rata. And what is the indebtedness? $2,000 could cash. Have we asked too much? The Board, each member of it, will do his utmost to raise the amount and put the work on its feet. We Appeal to You. * Will you help? As you love your own work and denomination, we appeal to you. Act quickly, respond heartily. This is a per sonal message to you, and we trust that you will prayerfully look this whole situation in the face and act accordingly. We have been running behind long enough. The existing conditions are not due to the past year’s work; they are the result of several years’ growth of the work without corresponding increase of receipts. Let us stop it. Let us act as Christian men and women should. We can wipe out every cent of deficit and have a good working balance by January 1. Re member, the date is January 1 ,1908. We can do it. We have done things in the past, we can do this. If the Lord has blessed you abundantly, will you not give largely? I£ your means are small, will you not give as you can ? It only needs a general response to easily meet the need. We lay this matter before you, as your servants; we tell you the flattering prospects, and the straitened condition of your mission treas ury; we show you the remedy, and promise to put ourselves under the burden alongside you. We trust you, and believe that you will not fail us in this trying hour. Let us do this one thing and do it imme diately. If you wish copies of this letter, write to the Mission Secretaries for them. If you wish for literature and information about our missionary work, write us at once. Let us help you, and then you help us. Send all money to Rev. J. G. Bishop, D. D., Box 326, Dayton, Ohio. J. G. Bishop, Warren H. Denison. O. W. Pomers. • — - • Merrill* Athella M. Howsare. P. S. Salier. M. D. Wolfe. ( Clarence Defur. W. P. Fletcher. REPORT OF THE FOREIGN FIELDS. By M. T. Morrill. Since we are especially interested in two foreign fields, Japan and Porto Rico, and our foreign funds go to support the work in those fields, some report may naturally be expected, giving readers qf the Sun an idea of what has been accomplished the past year. We have had full reports from the field and missionaries, and the following is a sum mary of the work and conditions. japan. We have had nine American missionaries in Japan the past year, except that Miss Penrod sent in her resignation shortly be fore the close of the financial and mission ary year. We much regret this move, for Miss Penrod has been a valued missionary. She will hereafter work with the Evangelis tic Band, an organization supported from England, with a purpose of promoting the holiness movement. Miss Alice True has been at home on furlough the past year, and yet very active for the Japan work. The number of Japanese workers has ver ied during the year. The September accounts showed eighteen names on the salary list. This force, American and Japanese, has been divided between three fields, Tokyo, Utsunomya, and Sendai. And a few words about each field may give an idea of the conditions and progress. Services have been held at three points in Tokyo—the church, the mission home, and Mr. Garman’s home; at Itabashi, which is virtually a part of the city, and which is given over to prostitution; at the near-by points, Oji, Akabane and Ka waguchi. The Tokyo church has a new pas tor, finely trained, and the work there is growing. -Sunday-schools are held at the other two points, and also Bible classes, well attended. Oji church, which was for some time independent, has been swung back to our mission, and is loyal. Oji is a mill town, and the work is difficult for that reason, al though there are some very staunch good ' A •
The Christian Sun (Elon College, N.C.)
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Nov. 6, 1907, edition 1
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