PRINCETON, N. J. ''^ 
 
 Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. 
 
 BV 2550 .M58 1904 
 
 The missionary workshop 
 
The Missionary Workshop 
 
The Missionary 
 Workshop 
 
 x^^ 
 
 Addresses delivered before the 
 Eastern Missionary Con- 
 vention of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, Philadelphia, 
 Pa., October 13-15, 1903 
 
 " W.\ \o\ Qo x-;^<o,r\V \ oYA CA^ 0\<^ 
 
 T-(2.S3<25 
 
 NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
 CINCINNATI: JENNINGS & PYE 
 
^/ 
 
 The Philadelphia Convention Addresses are pub- 
 lished in a series of seven small volumes, of 
 which this is one. The volumes are entitled: 
 
 A CALL TO ADVANCE 
 
 MISSIONS AND WORLD MOVEMENTS 
 
 THE ASIATIC FIELDS 
 
 THE AFRICAN, EUROPEAN, AND 
 LATIN AMERICAN FIELDS 
 
 GENERAL SURVEY AND HOME FIELDS 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE AND MISSIONS 
 
 THE MISSIONARY WORKSHOP 
 
 Copyright, 1904, by 
 Eaton & Mains 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Presiding Elder. 
 
 The Missionary Responsibility of the Pre- 
 siding Ehv^ 7 
 
 Rev. Ward Piatt, D. D. 
 Plans of Campaign. 
 
 The Iowa PlanX 15 
 
 Rev. J. B. Trimble, D.D. 
 
 Missionary CA\ip>m;Ns 18 
 
 Rev. W. F, Oldham, D.D. 
 
 The District Secretary. 
 Need for, and Work of, the District ^Iis- 
 
 SIONARY Se^^ETARY 21 
 
 Rev. C. E.^avis, D.D. 
 Selection and Qualifications of the Dis- 
 trict MissKyf^ARY Secretary 26 
 
 Rev. W. H. Lindemuth. 
 Developing the District. 
 
 Field, Resourc;^^, Method 32 
 
 Rev. J. S. Greenfield, D.D. 
 The Pastor. 
 
 The Pivotal Posi^ioN of the Pastor 37 
 
 Rev. W. F. Anderson, D.D. 
 The Missionary Responsibility of the Pas- 
 tor jy^: 40 
 
 Rev. E. M. Taylor, D.D. 
 The Pastor Spreading Missionary Infor- 
 mation . . .f^. 44 
 
 Rev. James Mudge^ D. D. 
 Missionary Sermon^/\ 48 
 
 Rev. Samuel F. Upham, D. D. 
 
Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Developing the Local Church. 
 The Disciplinary -Plan of Work for the 
 
 Local Chi^h 54 
 
 Rev. S. O. Benton, D.D. 
 League Mission Study. 
 Motives an^^TMethods in Mission Study. . . 62 
 R. E. Uiffendorfer. 
 Working the "Station Plan." 
 
 The "Station Plan" in the New York 
 
 DiSTR;<?r League 07 
 
 W. O. Gantz. 
 The Sunday School and Missions. 
 
 The Sunday School Mi^ionary Society. .. 70 
 
 Rev. Hedding B. Leech. 
 Missionary Responsibility of Sunday 
 
 School WORKERS 74 
 
 Willis W. Cooper. 
 Missionary Accessories. 
 
 Helps for the SimoAY School 79 
 
 Miss V. F. Penrose. 
 The Laymen. 
 
 Laymen and ptiE Missionary Spirit 85 
 
 V 
 John E. James, M.D. 
 
 Importance of ,■ Promoting Scriptural 
 
 Habits q^^Giving 87 
 
 Lyman L. Pierce. 
 The Circulat^n of Good Literature 93 
 
 G. W. F.'^Swartzell. 
 
 Declar'ations of Purpose 96 
 
 The Policies Adopted 97 
 
 6 
 
The 
 Missionary Workshop. 
 
 THE PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 THE MISSIONARY RESPONSIBILITY OF 
 THE PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 By REV. WARD PL ATT, D.D. 
 
 "Like elder, like district." In missionary 
 endeavor a district may be considered as a 
 single great pastoral charge on which 
 there may be as many assistant pastors as 
 churches. In the work of missions the dis- 
 trict and not the church is the natural unit. 
 Each church works out its part of the 
 district plan emanating from the presiding 
 elder. In this he is the proper leader. His 
 7 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 position at the head of the district and his 
 intimate relations with pastors and churches 
 tend to turn all toward him as the one about 
 whom the district will rally. He is also rec- 
 ognized as the connecting link between his 
 district and the Missionary Society, he be- 
 ing in vital touch with both. His leadership 
 does not rest upon authority, but upon a fit- 
 ness born of a knowledge of the situation. 
 
 By way of illustration there is presented 
 in outline a campaign carried out on the 
 Buffalo District in March and April of 
 1903. The campaign consisted of twenty- 
 four conventions, five city Epworth League 
 group meetings, and a general exchange of 
 pulpits throughout the district. There were 
 enlisted in this service more than sixty 
 preachers and laymen, who gave a total of 
 more than one hundred and fifty addresses, 
 in addition to the sermons preached in 
 connection with the missionary pulpit ex- 
 change. The convention work naturally 
 8 
 
Thk Presiding Elder. 
 
 divided into two parts, that of city and out- 
 of-town, and in the latter the greater 
 amount of work was done. 
 
 The aim was educational, and while all 
 culminated on Easter Sunday with its mis- 
 sionary collections, yet there was a looking 
 beyond this with a view to inaugurating sys- 
 tematic instruction in missions and Chris- 
 tian stewardship. The work was so planned 
 that in charges outside the city no group 
 meetings were held. Each charge, with 
 few exceptions, was visited, and if there 
 were more than one appointment a conven- 
 tion was held, with one exception, at each. 
 In other words, the convention went to the 
 people. 
 
 With but two exceptions afternoon and 
 evening sessions were held with several 
 speakers. Four o'clock was the Sunday 
 school hour, and the children were told the 
 importance attaching to them in the work 
 of world evangelization. More than one 
 9 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 third of our Missionary Society's receipts 
 by collections came last year from the Sun- 
 day schools. Hence the scholars were in- 
 vited in for consultation about their Easter 
 and monthly collections. They were inter- 
 ested listeners, for, before the convention, 
 Easter envelopes had been given out to be 
 returned on Easter day with individual of- 
 ferings. The first hour of the evening ses- 
 sion was devoted to an Epworth League 
 mass meeting, addressed in several in- 
 stances by a layman. 
 
 The work out of town was done by dis- 
 trict talent with the exception of Dr. J. T. 
 Gracey, who made about twenty addresses 
 in fifteen days. No two of his discourses 
 were the same. Printed questions, each on 
 a separate slip, were distributed among the 
 audience. He answered all with clearness 
 and forcefulness. His listeners will never 
 forget his remarkable itinerary. 
 
 The pastors, weeks before the campaign, 
 
 10 
 
The Presiding Elder. 
 
 were communicated with by the presiding 
 elder. Each was asked to carefully prepare 
 a missionary address. This was to be used 
 three times at least; to his own people, in 
 the missionary pulpit exchange, and at one 
 or two of the conventions. Every man on 
 the district was utilized, together with a 
 number of laymen. Every detail of the 
 convention was arranged, even to a notifica- 
 tion by letter to each speaker about his par- 
 ticular train. 
 
 The result was, every convention was 
 held on the date named, and the whole out- 
 of-town district was covered, with twenty- 
 three conventions in a period of sixteen 
 days, including two Saturdays, on which 
 days no meetings were held. In that tiiiie 
 more than one hundred and thirty addresses 
 were made, and every session was a success. 
 The district was stirred and the eflfect was 
 cumulative. 
 
 A conspicuous feature was the exhibit of 
 II 
 
The; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 missionary and Epworth League literature 
 by departments, also that of our Woman's 
 Missionary Societies. This was generally 
 at the front of the church and covered about 
 fifty running feet of table. The walls were 
 adorned with maps and appropriate pla- 
 cards. The exhibits in most features were 
 duplicated for simultaneous conventions. 
 This formed a text for one of the addresses. 
 Two competent persons traveled with each 
 exhibit. The late night packing and early 
 morning trains in order to have all in readi- 
 ness at the next place were a severe tax on 
 those in charge, but they never failed to be 
 equal to these exacting demands. While no 
 one connected with the campaign had any 
 financial interest in the orders taken, yet 
 quite an amount of missionary and League 
 literature was sold. Maps were left on the 
 walls of churches to remind and instruct. 
 
 Looking back over the whole campaign, 
 with its rapidly shifting scenes, its many 
 
 12 
 
Trir; Presiding Ei.dkr. 
 
 audiences, portions of whom came over 
 roads well-nigh impassable, their reverent 
 attentiveness throughout long sessions, 
 their expressed interest, their lavish hos- 
 pitality, one can but have a new and larger 
 faith in the people, together with a deep- 
 ened conviction that the word of the Lord 
 shall not return unto him void. 
 
 The people will amply support our mis- 
 sionary and benevolent causes when once 
 they are put in possession of the facts. 
 
 In the discharge of his missionary re- 
 sponsibility the presiding elder should visit 
 the Sunday schools and Young People's So- 
 cieties as regularly as he does the churches 
 of his district. He must seek to be an up- 
 to-date encyclopedia of plans and mission- 
 ary methods applicable to the several 
 schools and Leagues. Should not a dis- 
 trict feel that for information or initiative 
 in the matter of missions there is no need 
 to look beyond its presiding elder? 
 13 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 A presiding elder may stimulate his dis- 
 trict to splendid endeavor by a great mis- 
 sionary convention such as we have planned 
 at Buffalo for the Genesee Conference as a 
 constituency. 
 
 A presiding elder's district is more pli- 
 able than the average individual church ; 
 hence the elder whose plans are clear-cut, 
 if energetically applied, may mold his dis- 
 trict almost at will into a compact and well- 
 drilled corps, fit to take its place in the right 
 wing of God's line of battle. 
 14 
 
PLANS OF CAMPAIGN. 
 
 THE IOWA PLAN. 
 
 By REV. J. B. TRIMBLE, D.D. 
 
 In the working of the Iowa Plan of mis- 
 sionary campaign we are not a unit as to 
 the time we spend. In some regions a week 
 is set apart, charges are grouped, and the 
 whole district is covered in six or seven 
 days ; in others — forming the rule, not the 
 exception — a whole month is given to a 
 missionary campaign in which the district 
 is subdivided. 
 
 Now, the first method has some things in 
 its favor: it does not consume as much 
 time, and all parts of the district are mov- 
 ing in unison ; but after years of experience 
 as a presiding elder, and some considerable 
 time on a charge, I express myself unquali- 
 15 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 fiedly in favor of the latter method. The 
 one-week plan prohibits the presiding elder 
 from using the district missionary secre- 
 tary and other missionary leaders on more 
 than a few charges, and prevents the 
 presiding elder himself from visiting any 
 but a few charges, when his presence ought 
 to be felt and his views heard in every 
 charge on his district. 
 
 We have found a district organization 
 necessar}^ in Iowa. I think in all the Annual 
 Conferences of the State we have District 
 Conferences. In our first session the whole 
 district goes behind the missionary cam- 
 paign plan and the missionary commis- 
 sion is appointed, consisting of the presiding 
 elder, district missionary secretary, and, if 
 the district be divided into subdistricts, one 
 from each, elected by popular vote. We 
 determine on having a district campaign 
 and pass it over to that committee of about 
 seven to make the arrangements. The com- 
 i6 
 
Plans of Campaign. 
 
 mittee has an early meeting, outlines the 
 plan, formulates a program, and then passes 
 that over to the chairman of each subdis- 
 trict, who calls the pastors of the subdis- 
 tricts together. They go over the program, 
 make assignments, and make arrangements 
 for their particular field, and pass it over 
 to a select committee, who go over it 
 again, so that every pastor in the dis- 
 trict has something to do with the mission- 
 ary campaign. 
 
 I know of no better primary method than 
 that suggested by the Discipline of our 
 Church and this missionary campaign 
 method. Northwest Iowa Conference in 
 1887 indorsed it. The Conference was then 
 contributing $3,681, and is now giving more 
 than $22,000. The State of Iowa ranks high 
 in missionary help, and does not rank so 
 high in wealth. Other Conferences in that 
 great middle West, just as wealthy, do not 
 give one half as much. It comes from the 
 2 17 
 
Tiuv Missionary Workshop. 
 
 method adopted and successfully used from 
 year to year in campaigns. 
 
 MISSIONARY CAMPAIGNS. 
 
 By REV. W. F. OLDHAM, D.D. 
 
 There can never be any single plan that 
 will work in all our borders. It must be a 
 method of campaigning which will convey 
 to every church the accumulated wisdom of 
 the district, the accumulated knowledge of 
 the district, and the accumulated, if I might 
 put it so, concession of the district in re- 
 gard to this matter. 
 
 In the best method of campaign the 
 strength of the district is available for the 
 missionary development of the individual 
 church, as they always put a sprinkling of 
 the strongest men in each subdistrict and 
 they then send these men around. Accord- 
 ing to such a plan, every pastor has to 
 write a new missionary sermon every year. 
 i8 
 
Plans of* Campaign. 
 
 Whether he moved last year or not, he must 
 write a new sermon, because he will preach 
 his sermon in the presence of the same pas- 
 tors, and you know if ever a brother is upon 
 a keen edge it is when he is before his own 
 district brethren. This insures that the in- 
 dividual pastor through the district will 
 ascertain the current facts, and that he will 
 stand prepared before his fellow-pastors to 
 make an adequate presentation of the claims 
 of the missionary cause. 
 
 Give me the Sunday school superin- 
 tendent, give me the leader in the official 
 board, give me the chief directing officer 
 in the financial board, a little sprinkling of 
 the Epworth Leaguers — give me a handful 
 like that at a missionary rally, with three or 
 four IMethodist preachers, and let them get 
 agoing, and I don't care whether the rest 
 of your church turns out or not, presently 
 from man to man the movement will go ; it 
 is not those vAio are absent from the gath- 
 19 
 
Thf, Missionary WoRKSiior. 
 
 cring that I care especially about, it is the 
 little handful that are present and the ef- 
 fect upon them. If you produce the right 
 effect upon them they will communicate it. 
 As the presiding elder goes, so the dis- 
 trict goes — I can prove that by a hundred 
 statements of positive facts. Get a strong 
 presiding elder with a method of campaign, 
 with a determination to put intelligence and 
 added conscience into his district, and he 
 will work out the method. Somehow or 
 other he will accomplish these two things : 
 a deeper knowing, a deeper feeling of obli- 
 gation ; and will lead his district to contin- 
 ual and increasing victory. 
 20 
 
THE DISTRICT SECRETARY. 
 
 NEED FOR, AND WORK OF THE DIS- 
 TRICT MISSIONARY SECRETARY. 
 
 By REV. C. E. DAVIS, D.D. 
 
 Is the district missionary secretary a 
 necessity? The general missionary secre- 
 tary has his well-known duties to perform. 
 The field missionary secretary is a St. 
 Paul burning his Way over his large dis- 
 trict, arousing the Church to enthusiastic 
 action. The district missionary secretary 
 has the all-important work of following up 
 the general and field secretaries and plan- 
 ning and working business details. Twenty- 
 five per cent of our membership gives 
 ninety-five per cent of our missionary 
 money to-day. The district secretary has 
 a big job on hand if he proposes to get after 
 
 21 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 that seventy-five per cent who do nothing, 
 practically, for missions. He can do it ; he 
 must do it. If he is the right man in the 
 right place, he will do it ; and he will do it 
 through his ministerial brethren. 
 
 The population of the earth in round 
 numbers is fifteen hundred millions. Over 
 two thirds of that number — some say more, 
 some less — are heathen. The mortality of 
 the race is such that the average length of 
 life is about thirty -three years. The deaths 
 in thirty-three years must, therefore, equal 
 the present population of the earth. Some 
 will live more than thirty-three years ; 
 others will be born who will live less than 
 thirty-three years ; average, thirty-three 
 years. Fifteen hundred millions dying in 
 thirty-three years makes a death rate of 
 three for every two seconds of time. Two 
 thirds are heathen ; hence the heathen are 
 dying at the rate of one a second. Let the 
 district secretary thrill his brethren with 
 
 22 
 
The; District Secretary. 
 
 this terrible fact, so that they will thrill the 
 Church and the attention of the Church be 
 aroused. 
 
 Ministers must see and make everyone 
 else see that Western civilization is Chris- 
 tian civilization, and must fill the earth. It 
 is our duty as ministers to saturate our- 
 selves with information which reveals this 
 truth in its broadest sense. The district 
 secretary has a most important work to do 
 right here at this point. To his very best 
 ability he must lead his brethren, if need 
 be, to see sharply the differences existing 
 between Christian civilization and all other 
 civilization of all time, and then make his 
 people see those vital differences. I be- 
 lieve that this one point, if fully presented 
 by the ministry of our Church, will rouse 
 the Methodist Church to giving as it has 
 never yet been roused. 
 
 Every district missionary secretary must 
 be the architect of his own plans. I will 
 23 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 suggest one very simple plan of raising 
 money which stimulates the givers (and 
 some nongivers) to intelligent study of the 
 great problem before us. First, get the 
 people roused as much as you can. You or 
 possibly the field secretary may help the 
 pastor to do this, if he wants any aid. Get 
 him to do it if he can. He is the best man 
 on the field to do it, yet if he wants the 
 field secretary or you, go if you can. Then, 
 when the interest is aroused, throw in a 
 few telling facts, and ask everybody to 
 give at least a cent a day for carrying the 
 knowledge of Jesus Christ to the vast horde 
 of heathen who as yet do not know of his 
 existence. A cent a day! Pretty small? 
 Yes. Tobacco users spend many times this 
 sum every day. The moderate drinker 
 averages far above this. Most of our young 
 people spend far more than this at the soda 
 fountains, candy stores, and on the elec- 
 tric cars. Let us stick for a cent a day, and 
 24 
 
Thi5 District Seckdtaky. 
 
 keep holding that up before the people, urg- 
 ing those who can to give the nickel a day, 
 or dime, or quarter, or half dollar or more 
 a day. Then show them that this insignifi- 
 cant gift will furnish us with thirty thou- 
 sand dollars a day, or ten millions a year, 
 if we have three millions of Methodists 
 willing to give a cent a day. It is a 
 good plan. I have found that it works 
 splendidly on different kinds of charges. 
 Why not on districts ? In one charge where 
 I was we were under considerable embar- 
 rassment, yet with a cent-a-day plan we 
 more than doubled the missionary collec- 
 tion, and nobody growled, excepting non- 
 givers, that we were sending too much 
 money away from the Church. But it is a 
 plan that must be pushed all the time. It 
 never pushes itself. No plan will. At first 
 it will not succeed as well as we think, but 
 keep it up. It is a winner. I have found 
 in my own experience that neat subscrip- 
 25 
 
Thf, Missionary Workshop. 
 
 tion cards and collection envelopes, backed 
 by good-natured and optimistic pusbing, 
 will make it win everywbere. I do not say 
 it is tbe best plan. It is a plan. 
 
 The tremendous responsibility of rousing 
 a sleeping people to the needs of Christian 
 missions falls with immense weight on 
 presiding elders and district secretaries. 
 We can carry it, and as we carry it we are 
 going to win. 
 
 SELECTION AND QUALIFICATIONS OF 
 
 THE DISTRICT MISSIONARY 
 
 SECRETARY. 
 
 By REV. W. H. LINDEMUTH. 
 
 In the selection of district missionary 
 secretaries it would be wise to magnify the 
 importance of the office by summoning the 
 appointees to a conference with the bishop 
 and his cabinet, when the new secretaries 
 might be impressed with the largeness of 
 their opportunity. Then it will be known 
 26 
 
The; District Secretary. 
 
 whether or not a pastor is willing to assume 
 such arduous labors in connection with his 
 regular work. This method of procedure 
 will invariably secure the best men for the 
 place. 
 
 No office within the gift of the Confer- 
 ence requires a wider range of qualifica- 
 tions. First, the district missionary secre- 
 tary must be profoundly interested in 
 world-wide evangelism. He must have the 
 larger vision of the Master which takes in 
 the pygmy of Africa and the cultured 
 American. Without this deepening and ab- 
 sorbing personal interest in the success of 
 missions, no secretary can create in the. 
 people a strong and abiding conviction of 
 the necessity and propriety of foreign 
 evangelism. 
 
 Second, the district missionary secretary 
 
 must have a full head as well as a warm 
 
 heart. He must be generally intelligent 
 
 upon the facts and science of missions. We 
 
 27 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 are compelled to believe that many pastors 
 are too poorly equipped to deal with and de- 
 fend the missionary problem. And this is 
 not true merely of the country pastor. A 
 few sermons and addresses, musty with age, 
 filled with antiquated facts and figures, will 
 never create in the people such a missionary 
 ardor and enthusiasm as the present emer- 
 gency requires. The people want facts con- 
 cerning our success and opportunities ; the 
 cause of missions frequently needs a de- 
 fense against the attacks of the indifferent 
 and unbelieving. Missionary enthusiasts 
 are made by informing the head as well as 
 by warming the heart. Let our people 
 know something about the geography of 
 missions, the vastness and variety of hea- 
 then territory ; the history of missions, the 
 successes of the past, the difficulties sur- 
 mounted, and the present situation ; the 
 arithmetic of missions, the density of the 
 population of heathendom, the problem of 
 28 
 
The District Secretary. 
 
 reaching a thousand milHon of people with 
 ten thousand workers, the money problem; 
 the grammar of missions, the divine im- 
 perative mode, "Go ye." Give the people 
 a glimpse of world-wide missions, a rich 
 and continuous supply of facts, a knowl- 
 edge of the work of our missionary organi- 
 zations, the story of missionary heroism, 
 and when the appeal is made to the heart 
 for Christ's sake there will be an intelligent, 
 liberal, and prayerful cooperation. 
 
 Third, the district missionary secretary 
 should be a forceful speaker and a man of 
 good executive ability. 
 
 The district missionary secretaries of a 
 Conference should heartily cooperate. They 
 should form themselves with the presiding 
 elders into a permanent missionary cabinet, 
 and together consider all the needs of the 
 various districts. 
 
 The district missionary secretary should 
 keep in touch with the pastors in each 
 29 
 
The; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 charge, remembering that the pastor is the 
 key man. Inspire each pastor to missionary 
 leadership in his local church. Convert him 
 to the cause of missions if he is indifferent. 
 Be bold to suggest that he should subscribe 
 for some current periodical literature, such 
 as the Missionary Review of the World, 
 and that he should diligently study Dr. 
 Dennis's. Christian Missions and Social 
 Progress, Dr. D. L. Leonard's One Hun- 
 dred Years of Missions, and Dr. A. T. 
 Pierson's Modern Missionary Century, and 
 the works of such writers as Speer, Mott, 
 Warneck, Baldwin, and Reid. When the 
 pastor is intelligently prepared for work in 
 the home church, he will be available for 
 work on the district. 
 
 Talk face to face with groups of pastors 
 whenever possible. Introduce the mission- 
 ary work of the Conference before the min- 
 isters' Monday meeting. Make a request of 
 the program committee for permission to 
 30 
 
The District Secretary. 
 
 have a missionary Monday now and then. 
 Let the secretaries suggest the program. 
 
 Form a bureau of missionary speakers, 
 selecting the pastors who are able and will- 
 ing to render service in addressing Sunday 
 schools and church meetings, camp meet- 
 ings, and conventions. 
 
 Secure the cooperation of pastors by ar- 
 ranging an exchange of pulpits, when each 
 speaker is to represent to another congre- 
 gation the red-hot facts of missionary work. 
 This has the immense advantage of the 
 force of a new voice, and a new person. 
 Such interchange of pulpits can best be ac- 
 complished by forming groups of contigu- 
 ous churches. Place a live missionary pas- 
 tor at each group. 
 
 Request the presiding elder to preach 
 missions around the district. A strong 
 missionary sermon by the executive of 
 the district would open the way for the 
 secretary's appeal. 
 
 31 
 
DEVELOPING THE DISTRICT. 
 
 FIELD, RESOURCES, METHOD. 
 
 By REV. J. S. GREENFIELD, D.D. 
 
 Assuming that the district missionary 
 secretary has the first and most essential 
 quahfication, in his own character and 
 spirit, his work then becomes twofold : 
 first, to make a thorough study of his 
 field ; second, to make a thorough study of 
 his resources, that these may be made to fit 
 the one into the other. Studying his field 
 will mean coming to a knowledge of the 
 churches and of the pastors. This is neces- 
 sary, for only by gaining this knowledge will 
 he know what to do in each particular place. 
 
 Then he will study his resources. The 
 
 resources are local and they are general. 
 
 The local resources are the churches, the 
 
 pastors, the Sunday schools, and the Ep- 
 
 32 
 
DKViaopiNC TiTK District. 
 
 worth Leagues, and while it does not come 
 technically within his field of duty to use 
 them, I do not see why he should not call 
 into service the Woman's Foreign and the 
 Woman's Home Missionary Societies, those 
 efficient auxiliaries of our Church. Be- 
 yond the local resources there are the gen- 
 eral resources — the general secretaries, the 
 field secretaries, then men and women in 
 the home church who have a reputation for 
 their interest in missions and the men, and 
 women, too, who have been in the foreign 
 field, who can relate achievements in mission- 
 ary enterprise that may thrill any audience. 
 The secretary, having studied his field 
 and having studied his resources, is ready 
 to plan his campaign. This may take one of 
 three forms : First, he may plan for a dis- 
 trict missionary convention, or, second, for 
 subdistrict group meetings ; but, owing to 
 the present small degree of missionary in- 
 terest in the Giurch, a large attendance at 
 3 33 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 a district missionary convention or at group 
 meetings is usually impracticable. This 
 difificulty, however, may be overcome in part 
 by the district secretary prevailing upon the 
 committee having in charge the annual 
 camp meeting, where such a gathering is 
 held, to set apart one day as "Missionary 
 Day," and then securing the services of 
 some strong representative of our mission- 
 ary work as speaker. 
 
 But the form of campaign that I think 
 promises to solve most effectually what is 
 called the missionary problem of our day is 
 that which provides for the division of the 
 district into subdistricts with a subdistrict 
 chairman, and that provides for a mission- 
 ary rally in each church on the subdistrict. 
 Supposing that in each subdistrict you have 
 eight churches. A meeting is held in each 
 church, consisting of an afternoon and an 
 evening session, sometimes with a mission- 
 ary tea in the evening bringing together in 
 34 
 
Dicve:i,oping the; District. 
 
 a social way the people of the local churches 
 and the eight pastors of the subdistrict. 
 The program is furnished by the eight pas- 
 tors, providing for eight addresses, and a 
 program long enough to give a comprehen- 
 sive presentation of the missionary interests 
 of our Church. The program is arranged 
 by the district missionary secretary for each 
 of the subdistricts. He has studied his men 
 and he has studied his churches. He 
 knows what theme each minister is best 
 qualified to write upon, and he selects that 
 theme for him. Sometimes it is a theme 
 altogether foreign to the general reading of 
 the man who has to prepare the address. So 
 much the better. But there are eight pas- 
 tors in that subdistrict preparing eight ad- 
 dresses having a missionary theme in mind 
 at least two months before they are to give 
 the address. They are bound to get inter- 
 ested in eight different phases of mission- 
 ary work. When they come to the special 
 35 
 
Tiiu Missionary WoRKSiior. 
 
 preparation of the address they are bound 
 to do some supplementary missionary read- 
 ing. As the campaign progresses through 
 the eight churches each man will deliver his 
 own address eight times, which will inevi- 
 tably fix it in his own mind, and he will lis- 
 ten to seven other addresses eight times 
 also, and if nothing else is achieved by 
 faithfully prosecuting this campaign you 
 have the preachers on the whole district 
 very familiar with eight phases of our great 
 missionary work. If nothing else is accom- 
 plished than that it is worth the prosecu- 
 tion of the whole campaign. 
 
 Then, again, you bring the eight preach- 
 ers into close contact with the people at 
 each place for a whole day. Eight men 
 heartily interested in missionary work, 
 moving among the members of a church for 
 a whole day, cannot help but arouse some 
 missionary enthusiasm apart from the ad- 
 dresses they give. 
 
 36 
 
THE PASTOR. 
 
 THE PIVOTAL POSITION OF THE 
 PASTOR. 
 
 By REV. W. F. ANDERSON, D.D. 
 
 Tilt pastor is the pivotal man. Pie is so 
 because he forms the point of contact be- 
 tween the unchristian world, with its needs, 
 and the resources of the Church of the liv- 
 ing God. It is his to lay bare to the minds 
 of the people the awful needs of the un- 
 saved world, and then his, by persuasion, 
 help, and by the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit, to bring the grace and the love and 
 the sympathy of the children of God to the 
 needs of the unsaved world. 
 
 There are two or three things that are 
 very essential. Our Lord's dream of uni- 
 versal conquest must be accepted as prac- 
 37 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 ticable. How long was it ridiculed as a 
 mere fanciful dream, how long were men 
 skeptical as to the possibility of its realiza- 
 tion ! It remained for the nations, the so- 
 called secular nations, of the earth to dissi- 
 pate all our doubts and to tell us that our 
 Lord's dream of universal conquest is a 
 practicable thing for this world. When the 
 representatives of the various nations were 
 gathered yonder, at the Peace Conference 
 at The Hague, men stopped their ridiculing 
 and began to see that this was more than a 
 dream or personal ideal in the mind of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 But if it is essential that this ideal is to 
 be accepted by the Church of the living 
 God, who is to be the human instrumental- 
 ity in bringing about this consummation? 
 The pastor. Not only is it necessary that 
 men should be induced to accept this ideal 
 as a practicable thing, they must also be 
 brought into vital svmpathy in the execu- 
 
The Pastor. 
 
 tion of this great enterprise born of the pur- 
 pose of Ahnighty God ; and he who propa- 
 gates this Gospel is the same as he who by 
 his persuasiveness must lead his people into 
 that depth of the Christ-life where they 
 shall agonize for the world's redemption 
 even as did he. 
 
 Having entered into sympathy with this 
 great purpose of our Lord, it is essential 
 that the people shall be induced to bring of 
 their means in such abundance that the 
 practical realization of this scheme shall be 
 brought to pass. What a problem we have 
 on hand ! I have asked myself, I think, a 
 hundred times, how, in the name of God, 
 I am going to get a man who has an abun- 
 dance of wealth to see that his business in 
 this vv^orld is to devote that wealth to the 
 advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 How are w^e going to induce men to live 
 less luxuriously in order that they may give 
 more generously to the propagation of the 
 39 
 
The; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 greatest thought that ever entered into the 
 mind of Ahnighty God himself? Only as 
 the Holy Spirit helps us shall we he able 
 so to do. This is unquestionably the prob- 
 lem that is upon us now. 
 
 Conceive what would happen if every 
 pastor of our fifteen thousand pastors was 
 aflame with zeal for the missionary cause 
 and was the leader of his people, in the true 
 sense of the word, to the highest possible 
 achievement for God. 
 
 THE MISSIONARY RESPONSIBILITY OF 
 THE PASTOR. 
 
 By REV. E. M. TAYLOR, D.D. 
 
 There are two fundamental principles or 
 convictions that must take hold of the min- 
 ister of Jesus Christ before he can in any 
 way do effective work for his King. First, 
 he- must belieye that Almighty God has a 
 40 
 
The; Pastor. 
 
 plan and a purpose in the creation of hu- 
 manity, and that it is his purpose to bring 
 this human Hfe into fellowship with his 
 knowledge, his holiness, and his love. The 
 second great conviction is that it is the pur- 
 pose of Almighty God to use this old Gos- 
 pel as the method and means of bringing his 
 colossal design into realization. These two 
 principles, firmly fixed in our hearts, give us 
 the basis on which we are to stand and 
 work in relation to the great cause of for- 
 eign missions. 
 
 To put it in a way that we may under- 
 stand it, perhaps, as it touches our lives, 
 the command of the Lord Jesus Christ was 
 the last will and testament of the Master to 
 the first missionaries who undertook to 
 preach in his name. You and I are execu- 
 tors of that will and testament to-day. The 
 sacred trust is committed to us by Jesus 
 Christ to see that the purpose and plan of 
 that will is put into execution in this world. 
 41 
 
The; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 And the moment a man feels that he is 
 called to be indifferent to the things that 
 belong to the commission to preach the Gos- 
 pel in this world, that moment — I care not 
 what his intellectual or oratorical ability or 
 what his position in the Church may be — 
 the moment that man ceases to hold that 
 comprehensive view of the Gospel, he be- 
 comes an embezzler from Almighty God, 
 he steals from the heirs of Jesus Christ. 
 Now, that is a hard sentence, and I have 
 not time to make it explicit in the few 
 moments given me this afternoon ; but you 
 and I are sufficiently acquainted with this 
 word to know the command of Jesus Christ. 
 It is a Christian imperialism that we are 
 preaching in this world. 
 
 If the man whose business it is to serve 
 as a watchman on the walls of Israel hears 
 not the sound of hammers and the shouting 
 of those who are building God's kingdom, 
 he is to be pitied ; his soul is not aflame 
 42 
 
The Pastor. 
 
 with enthusiasm, and it is impossible for 
 him to kindle the zeal or stir the souls of 
 those who are under his care. It was my 
 supreme privilege to labor as a pastor for 
 twenty-one years ; and I know of the oppo- 
 sition, the spirit of pride and arrogance 
 which may be encountered in certain por- 
 tions of our church life. It requires a man 
 to come from his knees, it requires him to 
 get under the blood of the cross of Jesus 
 Christ ; it requires him to hold such close 
 relationship with the blaster that he con- 
 fers not with flesh and blood when he pre- 
 sents the cause of his Lord in the foreign 
 work before the congregation to whom he 
 is called to minister. Let us get together, 
 before our God, and ask to be delivered 
 from the discouraging phases of opposition 
 and indifference, by turning to the vision of 
 Jesus Christ, and by knowing him in the 
 power of his resurrection and the fellow- 
 ship of his passion for lost men. 
 43 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 THE PASTOR SPREADING MISSION- 
 ARY INFORMATION. 
 
 By REV. JAMES MUDGE, D D. 
 
 As I think of the seven hundred foreign 
 missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, and especially of the little band in 
 India with whom it was my privilege to 
 labor, I hear them saying to me, "Speak 
 for us." 
 
 Well do I know what the toil-worn, 
 heart-burdened men and women -would 
 have me say. It is not the work that breaks 
 those men down, hard as that work often 
 is ; it is not the climate with its terrific 
 heat and its perils of many kinds ; it is 
 not even the long separation from native 
 land and loved ones that cuts them most 
 to the quick ; nay, nay, these they can en- 
 dure and can gladly welcome for Christ's 
 sake. But what does afflict them the most, 
 believe me, what does kill them by inches 
 44 
 
The Pastor. 
 
 and what takes their very heart's blood is 
 their being forced, for lack of a few paltry- 
 dollars, to turn from the opening doors that 
 on every side invite them ; to refuse the in- 
 vitations that continually come to them ; 
 nay, to tear down with their own hands that 
 which with patient sacrifice they have built 
 up. When school doors have to be shut, 
 chapels to be closed, native preachers and 
 teachers to be dismissed, inquirers to be 
 turned away by the hundreds, and converts 
 by the thousands to be thrust back into 
 heathendom simply because the appropria- 
 tions have to be cut and cut again — ah, then 
 they cry out in their agony, "O Lord, how 
 long, how long!" 
 
 When the pastor in the home land per- 
 functorily takes up the missionary collection 
 and gets a hundred dollars when he might, 
 with sufficient effort, have got five hundred 
 dollars ; when the rich church pays out for 
 its music, its flowers, its costly ornaments, 
 45 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 and its luxurious enjoyments hundreds of 
 dollars more than it gives to save a thou- 
 sand million of non-Christians — ah, then 
 that pastor little knows, that church little 
 comprehends, what cruel stabs are given to 
 the heart of the missionary — nay, to the 
 heart of the missionary's Master and Lord. 
 
 It is the pastor who holds the key to the 
 situation. That is self-evident. It is the 
 negligence and apathy of the pastor that ac- 
 count for the indifference of the churches. 
 Of that I am absolutely certain. What can 
 the pastor do to make himself and his 
 church missionary in spirit and practice? 
 Three things : he can do it by inculcating 
 principles, by spreading information, and 
 by organizing helpful collection agencies in 
 the field of the local church he serves. 
 
 The spirit of missions is simply and solely 
 
 the spirit of Jesus Christ, And only as we, 
 
 as pastors, shall succeed in reviving the 
 
 spiritual life of the churches, only as we 
 
 46 
 
The Pastor. 
 
 shall succeed in getting them filled with this 
 personal love of the Lord Jesus Christ, can 
 we hope to see this cause marching forward 
 as it should, and this indifference disappear- 
 ing. If we want God's cause to move on, if 
 we want that all nations should speedily 
 come under his banner, then we must do our 
 very best to arouse our churches, to get 
 them out of this shallow experience, which 
 is scarcely more than a form, and get them 
 baptized with Pentecostal power. Then the 
 gold will be poured out like water on the 
 altar of Christ's cause. 
 
 Fuel is necessary that the fire should 
 burn, and the pastor is the one who should 
 gather together and heap on the coal. And 
 facts there are in these days, of the most en- 
 couraging and stimulating character. For a 
 dozen or more years I have read the best 
 missionary periodicals in the world as they 
 have come, month by month, to my table ; 
 and I can aver to you that there is no more 
 47 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 fascinating reading than that which is piHng 
 up around us from this source. 
 
 Give the people the facts, and the funds 
 will come. I have never failed to increase 
 my Sunday school collection from three to 
 seven fold while increasing also the mis- 
 sionary collections in the congregation. At 
 a little church in Massachusetts, where I 
 was stationed when I returned from India, 
 now nearly twenty years ago, I drew up a 
 constitution for my missionary society ; and 
 I aver to you that if that could be generally 
 adopted and worked by our churches the 
 most marvelous results would follow. I 
 know it from what I have accomplished 
 over and over asrain. 
 
 MISSIONARY SERMONS. 
 
 By REV SAMUEL F. UPHAM, D.D. 
 
 What is a missionary sermon as it is 
 usually understood? I answer, in the first 
 48 
 
The Pastor. 
 
 place, it is a very dry concern. There are 
 preachers who are earnest, alert, and dy- 
 namic usually, but it is marvelous, very 
 marvelous, how dry they are when they at- 
 tempt to preach on the world's conversion. 
 In some parts of the country it has passed 
 into a proverb ; "as dry as a missionary ser- 
 mon." I have myself heard men preaching 
 when I really thought they would endanger 
 the insurance on the property — they were 
 so very dry. 
 
 In the second place, missionary sermons 
 are usually much too narrow in their scope. 
 When we preach a missionary sermon we 
 preach on the foreign field entirely. I don't 
 particularly object to that occasionally, or 
 even frequently, but it seems to me we must 
 keep ever before us these words, "The field 
 is the world." We must look out for our 
 own country, for the great cities, the cen- 
 ters of population ; for in the great cities 
 and centers, like Philadelphia, New York, 
 4 49 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 and Boston, there are gathered thousands 
 of foreigners. We send the Gospel across 
 the sea — and we ought to do it, we must 
 continue to do it — but we must at the same 
 time look out for those strangers who are 
 within our gates, and see that they have 
 brought to them the Gospel of the grace of 
 God. 
 
 Then, in the third place, a missionary ser- 
 mon is usually a very unwelcome affair. 
 
 I was greatly refreshed when going to 
 Philadelphia three years ago last winter, to 
 one of the largest churches, the pastor of 
 which had been a pupil of mine. He invited 
 me to come to his church and preach the 
 missionary sermon. He said to me: "I 
 gave out four weeks ago that you were 
 going to preach a missionary sermon ; we 
 have been getting ready for it all through 
 the four weeks ; they are expecting it to- 
 morrow morning, and if it should be a 
 pleasant Sunday morning you will have the 
 50 
 
The Pastor. 
 
 church crowded." It was a pleasant Sun- 
 day morning, and the church was crowded 
 from one end to the other. In the after- 
 noon they gathered again for the children's 
 collection, and the Sunday school came in. 
 Such giving I never saw before. In the 
 evening I preached again — twice the same 
 day — on the subject of missions ; and they 
 grew in grace all the time. That's the way 
 it ought to be, and shame on the congrega- 
 tion that will not stand it. 
 
 Now, a genuine missionary sermon, if I 
 know anything about it, ought to be, in the 
 first place, informing; it ought to abound 
 with facts, and the facts ought to be well 
 related and should be at the preacher's 
 tongue's end, so that he may present them 
 effectively. 
 
 In the next place, the missionary sermon 
 ought to be intellectual. A rehgious dis- 
 course is called a sermon only by courtesy 
 unless it has in it a substratum of good, so- 
 51 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 ber thought. And so a missionary sermon 
 is a miserable apology, a caricature, un- 
 less underneath it there is a foundation of 
 thought. 
 
 These missionary sermons must be fre- 
 quent. If I were pastor I would not an- 
 nounce beforehand that next Sunday I 
 intended to preach a missionary sermon, 
 but I would preach one ; and if I felt con- 
 strained to preach one on the following 
 Sunday I would do so. I would preach 
 many times a year, once a month anyway, 
 on the subject of Christian missions. 
 
 Let a pastor next Sunday take up China 
 and tell the people what he knows about the 
 Chinese. The next Sunday let him take up 
 India, and tell them what he knows about 
 that country; then Japan, Korea, going 
 through a brief history of the nations, 
 showing their peculiar characteristics, 
 showing how in old China and in India, 
 Japan, and Korea the old Gospel is the 
 .52 
 
The Pastor. 
 
 power of God unto salvation just as it 
 is in America. The people will listen to 
 such proclamations of divine truth and go 
 away pleased. 
 
 We have been praying for a revival for 
 a long time, and some have said, "After all 
 your prayers the revival has not come." It 
 has come. Not exactly along the lines that 
 we expected it, perhaps, but it has come in 
 this form : a quickening throughout all our 
 Methodism of a desire to carry the Gospel 
 to the earth's remotest bounds. Let us be 
 equal to the occasion ; and let us feel, breth- 
 ren, as pastors of the churches, the tremen- 
 dous responsibility that rests upon us. 
 53 
 
DEVELOPING THE LOCAL 
 CHURCH. 
 
 THE DISCIPLINARY PLAN OF WORK 
 FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH. 
 
 By REV. S. O. BENTON, D.D. 
 
 "The support of missions is committed 
 to the churches, congregations, and socie- 
 ties as such." So says the Discipline ; and 
 in saying so it not only lays down the basis 
 of the regulations of our own Church on 
 this subject, but it condenses into a single 
 sentence the whole philosophy of mission- 
 ary support. 
 
 The Disciplinary plan contemplates five 
 things: i. The diffusion of information. 
 2, A monthly meeting. 3. A method of 
 collections. 4. An annual field day. 5. An 
 organization of the Sunday school. In all 
 54 
 
De;vi;i.oping thk Locai. Church. 
 
 these the pastor is assumed to be the leader. 
 And it is provided that he shall have the 
 active cooperation of a special committee 
 appointed by the Quarterly Conference. As 
 the nomination of this committee is largely 
 under control of the pastor, he should see 
 to it that suitable selections are made. In 
 fact, the pastor who does not have the very 
 best material his church affords on his mis- 
 sionary committee, at least after his first 
 year in a charge, is responsible for a neglect 
 at the start which dooms to failure the 
 whole Disciplinary plan. 
 
 The first item in the plan is the dissemi- 
 nation of information. Intelligence con- 
 cerning missionary matters is very properly 
 made fundamental. If there is any one 
 word that we need to emphasize just now, 
 it is educate. The diffusion of information 
 need not be a very difficult task in these 
 days. A great variety of attractive mission- 
 ary literature is within easy reach. There 
 55 , ' 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 is our excellent monthly, ]Vorld-Wide Mis- 
 sions, offered free to all families which sub- 
 scribe one dollar or more to the general 
 treasury. The pastor is expected to get a 
 list of all such families, and send it in. You 
 would be surprised to know how many pas- 
 tors do not do it. They are indifferent 
 to it. And here is really one of the very 
 best ways of improving the general intelli- 
 gence of the Church on the subject of mis- 
 sions. It will pay occasionally, brethren, to 
 send for a quantity of sample copies, of- 
 fered at the rate of a dollar per hundred, 
 and distribute them gratuitously among 
 those who do not receive them under the 
 contribution plan. Some of these persons 
 will subscribe a dollar the next year. 
 
 Then we have a really interesting line 
 of leaflets at low rates, as you will find if 
 you examine them. An elegant series of 
 brochures on the several fields occupied by 
 our Church is just now being produced. 
 
DiJVIiLOPING THE LoCAL ChURCH. 
 
 Each one of them gives a graphic descrip- 
 tion of some one country, its people, cus- 
 toms, and rehgion, and then shows what is 
 being done for its evangeHzation. Four 
 of these numbers are already pubHshed — 
 one on India, one on Korea, one on China, 
 and one on Japan. These httle books are 
 gems of the printer's art. They cost only 
 a dime, and they will sell on sight if they 
 are offered to our people. Those who buy 
 one will want others, finding that in this 
 way they can acquire a really beautiful and 
 valuable missionary library at a very trifling 
 cost. There are text-books for classes, and 
 there are the larger books, The Open Door, 
 the campaign libraries, and other attractive 
 volumes. Some of these can be sold, some 
 can be placed in the Sunday school library, 
 and others can be obtained from public 
 libraries. 
 
 In beginning the observance of a monthly 
 missionary meeting, some pastors have 
 57 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 thought it wise to move cautiously and try 
 first a quarterly or a bimonthly meeting. It 
 may be prudent in some communities to put 
 in the meeting without suggesting it as a 
 regular arrangement, and make it so good 
 that a second will be wanted and demanded, 
 and then a third, and then a repetition at 
 stated intervals. But that meeting must be 
 made an interesting meeting. A missionary 
 prayer meeting, held perfunctorily and left 
 to run itself out in extempore generalities 
 about missions, will not do for the twen- 
 tieth century. Programs must be prepared, 
 and in the preparation of these the pastor 
 and missionary committee will have ample 
 opportunity to exercise all their skill in pro- 
 viding attractive features. Most of the 
 parts should be assigned in advance, though 
 never to the absolute exclusion of sponta- 
 neous exercises. I found very great help 
 from the young people in my churches in 
 preparing for these missionary meetings. 
 58 
 
Developing the; Locaiv Church. 
 
 Earnest prayer should be a characteristic 
 of this monthly service. Jesus pointed to 
 the whitening fields and said, "Pray ye the 
 Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers 
 into his harvest." The aim of this monthly 
 meeting should be not merely to entertain, 
 nor even to instruct, but to stimulate to a 
 devout pleading with God. 
 
 The Disciplinary plan for making col- 
 lections is thoroughly methodical as well as 
 Methodistic. It presupposes an earnest en- 
 deavor to get every member of the church 
 and congregation pledged to a definite con- 
 tribution. The last man is to be found and 
 invited to help. Now, here is suggested 
 a serious failure in our practice. In many 
 churches a few persons do most of the giv- 
 ing. In most churches may be found a 
 large number wdio will willfully or care- 
 lessly neglect their privilege. If only we 
 could succeed in securing something, what- 
 ever they might chose to make it, from all 
 59 
 
The; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 those who gave nothing to us the last year, 
 we would, without any further increase 
 from those who have been contributing, see 
 an advance in our collections that would 
 startle the whole Church. 
 
 In visiting a very small and a very poor 
 country charge for quarterly meeting serv- 
 ices, in New England, a few years ago, I 
 learned from the pastor, a very modest, 
 quiet man, that he had raised a hundred 
 dollars for missions. I looked at him with 
 amazement. I would not have thought that 
 such an offering was possible in that com- 
 munity. The year previous the collection 
 was eleven dollars. "Why, my brother," 
 said I, "how in the world did you do it?" 
 "O," said he, in his quiet way, "I only 
 just went around and gave them all an 
 opportunity." 
 
 Here is the secret, a possibility of an in- 
 definite expansion in our receipts. Con- 
 front everyone with a chance to give or to 
 60 
 
DevELoriNG THD Local Church. 
 
 refuse to give. When he pledges his mite 
 each subscriber may elect for himself how 
 he will pay, whether annually in a single 
 payment or in installments, semiannually, 
 monthly, or weekly. 
 
 The annual field day should be a red-let- 
 ter day in the calendar of the local church — 
 a day in which the cause of missions should 
 be presented at every service, including the 
 Sunday school and the Epworth League. 
 
 The organization of the Sunday school 
 as provided in the Discipline is not accom- 
 plished by taking a monthly or a quarterly 
 collection. A distinct society is to be 
 formed and missionary exercises are to be 
 introduced, under its auspices, with the ap- 
 proval of the Sunday School Board. 
 6i 
 
LEAGUE MISSION STUDY. 
 
 MOTIVES AND METHODS IN MISSION 
 STUDY. 
 
 By R. E. DIFFENDORFER. 
 
 The; provision for mission study in the 
 Epworth League is found in an article in 
 the constitution which refers to a depart- 
 ment of work. But that is not the "why" 
 of mission study in our young people's so- 
 ciety. The "why" lies in the following 
 points : The lack of definite knowledge 
 among our young people as to the mission- 
 aries, their work, their aims, their fields, 
 their province, their successes, and their 
 outlook. 
 
 The work was introduced in the young 
 people's society of our Church two years 
 62 
 
Lkague Mission Study. 
 
 ago, not confining it to Methodist mis- 
 sions, nor to any particular field, nor to 
 any particular phase of the work, but in 
 as definite and in as clear a way as pos- 
 sible covering the lives of the various 
 missionaries of the various fields, the prob- 
 lems of all the missionaries, their successes, 
 and the opportunities before them. The 
 plan is to have two books on the more 
 important fields. One is to be biographical, 
 covering the lives of the great pioneer mis- 
 sionaries of these countries. For instance, 
 the book on Africa, called The Price of 
 Africa, deals with the pioneer mission- 
 aries of Africa — David Livingstone, A. C, 
 Good, and others. The book on India, 
 which will be brought out before long, will 
 deal with the great missionaries of India. 
 The book on China deals with the great 
 missionaries of China, Robert Morrison 
 and his type. Again, we will have the sec- 
 ond book on Africa and India and China, 
 63 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 which will deal with the general description 
 of the missions of these and the other prin- 
 cipal world fields. 
 
 Such a scheme with twenty books will 
 fairly cover all the missionary fields and is 
 comprehensive enough to warrant our best 
 attention. The Price of Africa, our text- 
 book for 1902-03, adopted by twenty or 
 more missionary organizations, was used 
 last year by the Epworth League in over 
 six hundred classes with six thousand mem- 
 bers. The book was written by S. Earl 
 Taylor, and presents in the very best pos- 
 sible way the field covered by the lives of 
 great missionaries in Africa. The book of 
 this year is by Harlan P. Beach, Secretary 
 of the Volunteer Movement, a man who 
 spent ten years in China and is very well 
 qualified to write on such a subject. It in- 
 cludes the lives of Robert Morrison, John 
 Kenneth MacKenzie, James Gilmour, John 
 Nevius, George Mackay, and a chapter on 
 64 
 
League Mission Study. 
 
 the "Princely Martyrs of China's Boxer 
 Revolution." 
 
 I find that whenever we advocate the 
 organization of these classes the first objec- 
 tion usually made is that we cannot find a 
 leader. We need every man that we have 
 for other work. I think these offerings 
 of special helps, prepared by the authors 
 of the text-books for the leaders of classes, 
 make it possible for any amateur to take up 
 one of these classes and make it a success. 
 
 As a result of a mission study class in 
 a Milwaukee church three hundred and fifty 
 dollars were subscribed to missions, and 
 with that sum as a nucleus, the Milwaukee 
 Epworth League took upon itself the sup- 
 port of Dr. Richards in East Africa. The 
 mission study class will provide this great 
 vision concerning the work of the mission- 
 ary cause, its problems, its successes, its 
 fields of work. It will arouse a heartfelt 
 svmpathy in the young people of the Church 
 5 65 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 for things missionary. It will provide the 
 money. It will sow the seeds in the hearts 
 of young men and young women which will 
 cause them to give their lives to the Church 
 for foreign missionary service. 
 66 
 
WORKING THE "STATION 
 PLAN." 
 
 THE "STATION PLAN" IN THE 
 NEW YORK DISTRICT LEAGUE. 
 
 By W. O. GANTZ. 
 
 A FEW words of explanation on the "Sta- 
 tion Plan" may first be required. A group 
 of people, in the churches and in societies of 
 young people, and old people, as well as 
 those in the Sunday school, may join to- 
 gether in providing the support of a mis- 
 sionary at his station in a foreign field ; they 
 may pay all of his necessary expenses ; they 
 may take a man who has been sent out by a 
 Board and relieve the Board of the support 
 of that man ; they may, as time goes on, 
 provide assistants for that man, and raise 
 funds to build his church, if that be neces- 
 ^7 
 
The Missionary Workshop, 
 
 sary, and, so far as possible, take the entire 
 support of the station. 
 
 There is another side, and that is that 
 they get into direct and constant communi- 
 cation with a particular spot on the other 
 side of the world. 
 
 The "Station Plan" contemplates gifts 
 over and above all the regular gifts of the 
 individual before that time, so you see it 
 does not embarrass the Board, but adds so 
 much to its ability to carry on the work, by 
 increasing the missionary force. 
 
 The first year we raised one thousand dol- 
 lars which is necessary for the support of 
 Mr. and Mrs, Burton L. St. John. We took 
 thp.m because of their splendid equipment. 
 They had just gone to Peking and we 
 wanted to start with them. So they have 
 been out there, sending us back letters, 
 sending back pictures of the hospital and 
 of Peking University, and of the Great 
 Wall, and writing us letters touching on 
 68 
 
WoRKiNO Tiiiv "Station Plan." 
 
 the character of their work and the splendid 
 opportunities which they have. 
 
 This is the plan as it has worked out. 
 We are coming to our second year. We 
 shall send to these same people and ask 
 them to continue the support of Mr. and 
 Mrs. St. John. 
 
 It may be asked, What would happen if 
 we do not continue our support of the St. 
 Johns? I am not going to answer that so 
 far as we are concerned. If you want 
 an academic reply, I suppose I can answer 
 as well as anyone, that the Board would 
 take up their support, and be compelled to 
 cut off needed advances in some other di- 
 rection. But, bear in mind, the New York 
 District is going to support the St. Johns 
 next year. There isn't going to be any fall- 
 ing back. Have faith in God, and confi- 
 dence in your fellow-men, and let them 
 know that you believe that all things are 
 possible, God being with us. 
 69 
 
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND 
 MISSIONS. 
 
 THE SUNDAY SCHOOL MISSIONARY 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 By REV. HEDDING B. LEECH. 
 
 In The Worker's Manual, furnished by 
 the Open Door Emergency Commission, 
 there are suggestions which cover the 
 entire field with relation to the subject of 
 the Sunday school and missions. 
 
 The first suggestion is that the pastor 
 recommend the organization of a Sunday 
 School Missionary Society. According to 
 the Discipline, the practical matter of or- 
 ganization in detail is committed to the care 
 of the Sunday School Board. This Board 
 elects the officers of the Missionary So- 
 ciety — president, vice president, secretary, 
 and treasurer — and the Executive Commit- 
 70 
 
Sunday Sciiooiv and Missions. 
 
 tee or Board of Managers is composed of 
 the above-named officers. The society it- 
 self is composed of all the members of the 
 school. Such organization is a matter con- 
 cerning which we have no option. It is 
 our duty to organize the school into a 
 Missionary Society. 
 
 The Sunday School Missionary Society, 
 after having thus been organized, so far as 
 its officers are concerned, by the Sunday 
 School Board, becomes responsible for the 
 direction of the cause of missions in the 
 school. 
 
 Second : A missionary collection, as far 
 as practicable, is to be taken monthly in 
 each Sunday school. This is almost as 
 mandatory as the first. I believe it is the 
 duty of every Sunday school in Methodism 
 to organize a Missionary Society, and to 
 take this monthly missionary collection. 
 
 Third : It is the duty of the Sunday 
 School Missionary Society to provide for 
 71 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 missionary exercises in the school on the 
 day that the monthly missionary collection 
 is taken. So you see, under that provision, 
 there is no excuse for the system which is 
 sometimes worked, of simply receiving the 
 collection, month by month, without having 
 any program, and without having any in- 
 formation given out. 
 
 Fourth : "The Sunday School Mission- 
 ary Society is required to distribute suitable 
 literature in the Sunday school, and arrange 
 for occasional missionary concerts or 
 programs." 
 
 There are Sunday schools in which the 
 officers of the Missionary Society make 
 careful preparation for the monthly pro- 
 gram, providing the best talent it is possible 
 to secure, and they are given all the time 
 they need, at least thirty minutes, on either 
 the first or the last Sunday of each month, 
 to be occupied in presenting the cause of 
 missions to the school. 
 72 
 
Sunday School and Missions. 
 
 I would earnestly urge that the Sunday 
 School Missionary Society provide at least 
 annually, and if possible semiannually, with 
 the approval of the pastor, and with his co- 
 operation, for a Sunday evening concert. 
 Get the best speaker that you can find, pro- 
 vide information from the field, circulate 
 missionary literature, and have your mis- 
 sionary maps on hand. Let the scholars 
 have several weeks in which to make their 
 collections, and when the offerings are re- 
 ceived make something of it. Have the 
 scholars bring the envelopes forward, and 
 deposit them with the treasurer, giving 
 some item of information concerning the 
 great need of the mission field, some appro- 
 priate passage of Scripture, some word or 
 hymn. These, committed to memory, al- 
 ways remain in the mind of the child as a 
 nucleus around which other missionary in- 
 formation, as time passes, will gather. 
 
 There should be the closest cooperation 
 7Z 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 between the superintendent and the pastor, 
 and between the superintendent and the of- 
 ficers of the Missionary Society, Some- 
 times the relationship of these two depart- 
 ments is not clearly understood. The su- 
 perintendent is not by reason of his ofifice 
 the executive officer of the Missionary So- 
 ciety, and yet the president should advise 
 with him. The president should preside 
 during that part of the school time which is 
 devoted to missions. 
 
 MISSIONARY RESPONSIBILITY OF 
 SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS. 
 
 By WILLIS W. COOPER. 
 
 I HAVE hope that some one will speak the 
 word which will awaken the Sunday school 
 superintendents of this land to the respon- 
 sibilities that rest upon their shoulders. 
 Years ago it was the custom of our fathers 
 to take the children and insist upon their 
 74 
 
Sunday School and Missions. 
 
 going to church services — morning service, 
 class meeting, prayer meeting, and all the 
 services of the Church. It was the rule of 
 the fathers of the past that they have family 
 prayers in the home, and on Sabbath after- 
 noon they gathered together about the home 
 circle and taught the children the way of 
 God and instilled into their hearts the great 
 fundamental principles of religious life and 
 character. 
 
 Somehow the impression has gone out 
 that we are not as careful in these directions 
 as were the fathers ; that the children of all 
 these Christian homes have been turned 
 over to the Sunday school, and to the young 
 people's societies, and the children's meet- 
 ings, for their religious instruction and 
 training. 
 
 If these are the facts, then it seems to me 
 
 that the Sunday school superintendent, 
 
 looking out upon the homes all through the 
 
 community, should realize that upon his 
 
 75 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 corps of teachers rests the responsibiHty of 
 laying the fouiidation of Christian character 
 in the hearts of the young. 
 
 The prime need of this hour is that super- 
 intendents, our many thousands of superin- 
 tendents, should have caught the vision of 
 our Master, his last dying command to the 
 world, when he said, "Go and disciple all 
 nations." O, how many of us have heard 
 that call and feel that it means that upon 
 you and me rests this responsibility. I am 
 so glad that in these days there are men and 
 women who believe, if they cannot go, then 
 it is their duty to send this Gospel around 
 the world. 
 
 The responsibility should come home to 
 us, when we recall what some other of the 
 organizations are doing. How gladly we 
 refer to the Woman's Foreign Missionary 
 Society! Only thirty-five years ago it was 
 organized, and yet, during that thirty-five 
 years, after the burden of responsibilitv 
 76 
 
Sunday School and Missions. 
 
 had rested down upon a few hearts at first, 
 over six millions of dollars have been raised 
 by these faithful women upon the two- 
 cents-a-week plan. Wonderful! During 
 the last year almost a half million of dol- 
 lars — four hundred and sixty-seven thou- 
 sand dollars, I think it was — have been 
 raised by the women of our Church. God 
 bless them for feeling the responsibility that 
 rests upon them ! 
 
 And, again, a while ago there was noth- 
 ing done in the rank and file of the young 
 people of our Church, but in some way the 
 work got started and developed until we 
 have this missionary spirit, this missionary 
 vision, if you please, until thousands upon 
 thousands are united to-day in the study, 
 the systematic study, of the great problem 
 of missions. They are inaugurating a cam- 
 paign until the whole community is be- 
 coming enlightened by information thus 
 obtained. 
 
 77. 
 
The; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 Once more, we may ask the question, will 
 our responsibility be any the less if we will 
 not see? 
 
 It is plain to every one of us that we can- 
 not shirk; that God will hold us respon- 
 sible if we are not true to the vision as we 
 see it. And whether we see it or not — I 
 mean in this sense, that if we are deter- 
 mined that we will not see it, that we will 
 not follow God's special call — then God will 
 hold us responsible. 
 
 How can we do more to awaken the Sun- 
 day school? It seems to me, dear friends, 
 if we would do what we ought to do for 
 missions, we would see to it that the Sunday 
 school, with all its possibilities, its enthu- 
 siastic young people, would be the largest 
 and most important factor in the Church of 
 God. It can be made so. Let us resolve 
 that, so far as we are concerned, we will be 
 true to the vision as it shall show itself, and 
 go out and do our duty. 
 78 
 
MISSIONARY ACCESSORIES. 
 
 HELPS FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. 
 
 By MISS V. F. PENROSE. 
 
 I THINK our Sunday schools ought to 
 show that they belong to God for missions. 
 They may have chairs and a desk, but they 
 ought to have a map of the world. Before 
 you give any money to missions, buy that 
 three-dollar map and hang it up and keep 
 it up. It is one of the most important 
 things in the work. The people who come 
 into the room will notice it in a way you 
 will little understand. It can be used again 
 and again. I heard of one church where 
 the map was frescoed on the wall. 
 
 Besides the map, you should have other 
 things. Our missionaries can send a great 
 many little inexpensive things which can 
 79 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 be framed or fastened to the wall, such as 
 scrolls, or embroidery with mottoes. 
 
 Illustrate Bible expressions. Take the 
 words, "O Baal, hear us," where you read 
 the description of Baal worship. I have 
 given that description and held up these 
 gods of mercy from South China, prayed 
 to in times of sickness and trouble. Think 
 of it! All the false or heathen prophets 
 gathered together, crying, "O Baal, hear 
 us." And this also [indicating] has been 
 prayed to in the same way, and no voice, 
 no answer. Boys and girls seeing a thing 
 like that don't forget it. 
 
 Then, we talk of "vain repetitions." 
 There are such in heathen lands when they 
 say names over and over again, and these 
 words of the Bible about the custom take 
 on a new meaning. 
 
 In this same Simday school where this 
 wall decoration is hung the superintendent 
 has taken one or two curiosities, perhaps a 
 80 
 
Missionary Accessories. 
 
 Chinese book, bought it and lent it to the 
 classes. There were not enough objects to 
 go round, but one class will have one for a 
 week to take home and examine, so the 
 families might see it. Sometimes, when 
 one curiosity is all there is, after the speak- 
 er is through and it has been shown from 
 the desk, it can be given to one class and 
 passed around, and it is surprising how 
 many children can handle the thing in a 
 very short space of time. They don't hurt 
 it — and that is another point — they handle 
 it carefully and it comes back safely. 
 
 The Sunday school teacher can do much. 
 I have a class of boys — and you know boys 
 have a great deal of curiosity — and I like 
 to lay down something and not make any 
 remarks ; for I know that some boy will 
 immediately take it up and want to know 
 what it is, providing a very good opportu- 
 nity to explain the object. 
 
 At the missionary exhibit there are little 
 6 8i 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 boxes hanging up for Christmas offerings, 
 a special Christmas offering, and the boards 
 of eight different denominations have 
 asked that we as individuals and in the Sun- 
 day schools secure these boxes that the 
 Lord Jesus Christ may have a special gift 
 for missions. 
 
 In our Sunday school the least interested 
 man is often picked out to give a mission- 
 ary talk. There was one man picked out to 
 give a talk, who said : "Don't ask me to give 
 a talk about Korea. I don't know anything 
 about it." He was given two weeks to 
 read up. He read four books on Korea, 
 and he never read a missionary book be- 
 fore. He said, "I didn't know missionary 
 books are like that one is." He gave the 
 talk, and one of the young men of his class 
 entered the church the following commun- 
 ion season. Then he said, "Why, now my 
 class are all members of the Church, and 
 what better can they be at than missions." 
 82 
 
Missionary Accessories. 
 
 He organized them into a club in which mis- 
 sions was one feature. He was an uninter- 
 ested man three months before, but he had 
 to read in order to give the talk, and it 
 enlisted him. 
 
 Information precedes interest. In our 
 school each class is asked to subscribe for 
 one copy of a missionary magazine at 
 twenty-five cents a year and to read it — 
 each member marking the articles most in- 
 teresting to him or her. 
 
 Get that ten-dollar library, take one 
 book, mark a chapter, and give it to some 
 uninterested person. Don't ask that he 
 read the whole book. In The Korean Boy 
 1 think everybody who reads that chapter 
 about the Korean boy will want to read 
 more. 
 
 After a little talk has been given in Sun- 
 day schools the boys and girls have been 
 asked to send a postal card or note, telling 
 what they have heard; and five, six, seven, 
 83 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 or eight boys or girls would write what 
 they heard. It was quite surprising how 
 they were interested by doing that. These 
 postal cards were reported in the Sunday 
 school, and so many were received. One 
 little girl said the postal card was not long 
 enough and please excuse her for writing 
 a letter, and she wrote a two or three page 
 letter. And then the name of the one who 
 wrote the best postal or letter, who gave 
 the most accurate account, was read out in 
 the Sunday school as an incentive for fu- 
 ture work. 
 
 84 
 
THE LAYMEN. 
 
 LAYMEN AND THE MISSIONARY 
 SPIRIT. 
 
 By JOHN E. JAMES, M.D. 
 
 Standi NX out like Mont Blanc among 
 the mountain peaks of the Switzerland 
 Alps, we see upon the pages of the world's 
 history three great men who represent 
 epochs that have materially changed the 
 world. Paul, that mighty man of God, 
 stands out as the great Apostle to the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 Martin Luther was inspired to translate 
 the Bible in its entirety into a single 
 language, and started the Reformation, giv- 
 ing a new trend to modern history. 
 
 John Wesley started a revival the like 
 85 
 
The; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 of which the world has never seen, 
 that changed the Hterature of England, 
 controlled statesmen, and remodeled 
 England. 
 
 The preaching of the laymen gave em- 
 phasis and power to the movement. 
 The missionary spirit was in John Wes- 
 ley. It is the missionary spirit that was in 
 his colaborers at that time that has been 
 carried down with the growth of the 
 Church, and has made it a working Church. 
 God opened up before the laymen of the 
 Church an opportunity such as they had not 
 before, an opportunity to work for him, 
 but he added also the responsibility that 
 always goes with opportunity. That is the 
 serious part of it. We do not give all our 
 time, we do not give up business necessa- 
 rily, but we are just as much responsible 
 for the spread of the Gospel as the preacher. 
 There is as much responsibility and obliga- 
 tion upon the layman as upon the preacher 
 86 
 
Tnii Laymen. 
 
 to propagate tlie religion of Jesus Christ; 
 the methods may (h'ffer, but the (hity is the 
 same. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF PROMOTING SCRIP- 
 TURAL HABITS OF GIVING. 
 
 By LYMAN L. PIERCE. 
 
 If I am to judge by my own experience, 
 during all these recent years, we have been 
 comparatively silent on the subject of giv- 
 ing as a life principle. Yet I declare to you 
 my positive, unwavering conviction that the 
 promulgation of this principle is one of our 
 greatest obligations. It is not alone at 
 gatherings of this kind that we are con- 
 fronted by the need of money. In every 
 department of church work retrenchment 
 has become a study ; parsimony is our pol- 
 icy ; deficit is our nightmare ; begging is 
 our avocation. 
 
 The importance of promoting scriptural 
 giving is best emphasized when we consider 
 87 
 
Tnii Missionary Workshop. 
 
 the prevailing low standards. I wish that 
 the day were past when fairs and fetes and 
 festivals and functions were required as a 
 part of the financial machinery of our 
 church work. 
 
 Probably the prevailing standard of giv- 
 ing is that which is governed by impulse, 
 caused by some eloquent appeal, resulting 
 in giving what a man then thinks he can 
 afford. I hear a statement of a case which 
 works strongly on my sympathies, and I 
 abandon myself to the impulse and give a 
 dollar, or all that I have in my purse, or, in 
 extreme cases, I even cast my jewelry into 
 the basket. 
 
 We do not need to be in darkness as to 
 the standard which God himself has set. 
 God teaches plainly that I need a standard 
 for my Christian giving. He shows posi- 
 tively that, unless I have such a standard, I 
 will give by impulse and woefully exagger- 
 ate the amount, or else I will not give at all. 
 
The Laymen. 
 
 From cover to cover of his word runs a 
 clear, oft-repeated, unmistakable law on the 
 subject of giving. The minimum expres- 
 sion of this law is the tithe and the offer- 
 ings. When the people of God wandered 
 away from him, he called them to account 
 in these scathing words : "Will a man rob 
 Gd^^ Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, 
 Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes 
 and offerings." And the New Testament 
 Scriptures embody this when Christ says, 
 "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass 
 from the law, till all be fulfilled." "I am 
 not come to destroy, but to fulfill." As has 
 been truly said, the New Testament de- 
 iiiaiids less but expects more. Dr. F. B. 
 Meyer has said, "Surely the noon of Chris- 
 tianity should not inspire less beneficence 
 than the twilight." 
 
 Let us note the results of the prevailing 
 standards of giving. The yearly contribu- 
 tion of over thirteen million evangelical 
 89 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 Protestant church members in the United 
 States averages less than ninety cents per 
 member for both home and foreign mis- 
 sions, and of the abundant wealth of the 
 Church only one thirty-second of one per 
 cent was given last year for foreign mis- 
 sions. Had each person averaged a cent a 
 day — for which low standard we have no 
 justification whatever — the total would 
 have been four times as much. I\Ir. Eddy 
 calls attention to the fact that our women 
 spend more for artificial flowers and kid 
 gloves and more for jewelry by twenty 
 times than the Church gives for missions, 
 and last year many times as much was 
 smoked away as the Christians have given 
 in a century to evangelize the world ! 
 
 But you say that these high ideals of 
 Christian giving are not practical ; that they 
 cannot be carried into operation. On the 
 contrary, the theory has been demonstrated 
 over and over. Notable instances were N. 
 90 
 
The; Laymen, 
 
 R. Cobb, of Boston, and William Colgate, 
 of New York. 
 
 At present our church membership, in an 
 overwhelming majority, is observing the 
 very lowest forms of giving. It is not con- 
 tinuous, is not systematic, is not proportion- 
 ate. They are violating commands of God 
 which are unmistakable, they are failing to 
 accept God's challenge to material prosper- 
 ity, they are dwarfing spiritually, they are 
 retarding the kingdom of God, standing in 
 the way of sinners, and failing to remove 
 the most serious obstacles in the way of all- 
 around development. They are making 
 short-sighted investments which must re- 
 sult in following Christ afar off if at all. 
 That is why the solution of this problem 
 which we are considering to-day has been 
 well named a question of Gospel dynamics. 
 If we would sweep the world into the king- 
 dom it must be a great, universal, spon- 
 taneous movement which pervades the 
 91 
 
The Missionary, Workshop. 
 
 whole earth. If such a result is attained it 
 will evangelize the world, and will do it in 
 this generation — a result not easy but pos- 
 sible, an undertaking most worthy of our 
 mettle, most pleasing to God, and with an 
 outcome most devoutly to be desired. 
 
 THE CIRCULATION OF GOOD 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 By G. W. F. SWARTZELL. 
 
 Among those who attended the conven- 
 tion at Cleveland, as attentive and inter- 
 ested listeners, were two laymen from the 
 city of Washington, Soon after returning 
 home they discussed the subject of the dis- 
 tribution of literature, and of preparing a 
 plan for assisting thereby, so far as they 
 might be able to do, the pastors of the Balti- 
 more Conference, following the recommen- 
 dation of the convention respecting the edu- 
 cation of the people in systematic giving. 
 92 
 
Tiuc Laymun. 
 
 The result of their conference was the 
 forming of a Committee on Tract Distribu- 
 tion. The committee was composed of five 
 business and professional men. 
 
 Counsel was obtained of several of the 
 presiding elders and a number of the lead- 
 ing pastors, and the plan received their ap- 
 proval. A member of the committee also 
 appeared before the Preachers' Meetings of 
 Washington and Baltimore, and presented 
 the subject before those bodies, securing in- 
 dorsement of the plan. Headquarters, em- 
 bracing an office, and a distributing depot, 
 were established and the pastors were com- 
 municated with. 
 
 The Baltimore Conference contains about 
 two hundred active members. Responses 
 were received from one hundred and four 
 of them, desiring to be supplied with tracts. 
 The total requests amounted to about sev- 
 enteen thousand copies. There were ninety- 
 six who were without a copy of The Open 
 93 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 Door, to whom it was sent with the compH- 
 ments of the committee. Two said they 
 could not cooperate, and the remainder 
 made no response. It is possible that there 
 would have been a greater number of re- 
 sponses if the intended elasticity of the let- 
 ter had been more fully understood. 
 
 In order to save itself some labor, and 
 make the distribution as nearly simulta- 
 neous as possible, the committee sent its 
 shipping list to the publisher of the tract to 
 be distributed, "What We Owe and How 
 to Pay It," had him count, wrap, and ad- 
 dress the separate packages, put all in one 
 case, and ship to Washington, from which 
 point the distribution of the separate pack- 
 ages was conducted through the local ship- 
 ping department, either by mail or express, 
 as the size of the package required. 
 
 The tract thus distributed was used as a 
 starter for two reasons: first, because sev- 
 eral members of the committee and some 
 94 
 
The iLAYMDN. 
 
 of their friends had efifective as well as sat- 
 isfactory experience with it many years 
 ago ; and, second, because the other sub- 
 jects which it proposed to use were not then 
 in print. Those other subjects were the 
 admirable addresses of President Bashford, 
 Dr. Locke, and Professor Magruder, deliv- 
 ered a year ago at Cleveland. These are 
 now on hand, and will be distributed at 
 proper intervals. 
 
 Why may not a few laymen in each Con- 
 ference, or perhaps in each presiding elder's 
 district, organize themselves into a commit- 
 tee on the distribution of literature, under 
 the supervision of the presiding elders or 
 elder, as the case may be, and in this man- 
 ner be the supporters and helpers of both 
 presiding elders and pastors ; not by sym- 
 pathy merely, but in very act? This is not 
 only possible and feasible but it is very 
 desirable, as it will at the same time enlist 
 the laymen in missions. 
 95 
 
DECLARATIONS OF PURPOSE. 
 
 Without doubt the Section Conferences 
 of the Philadelphia Convention were among 
 the most helpful and memorable features of 
 that gathering. The entire afternoon of the 
 second day of the Convention was given 
 over to conferences of presiding elders, 
 district missionary secretaries, pastors, rep- 
 resentatives of the Epworth League, Sun- 
 day school workers, and laymen. These 
 workers assembled in their several groups 
 after careful deliberation registered their 
 convictions in the form of written policies. 
 These strong declarartions of purpose are 
 especially significant. Since the Conven- 
 tion was made up of representative mem- 
 bers of the Church, if the points embodied 
 are followed out it will mean the organiza- 
 tion of a widespread and aggressive mis- 
 sionarv campaign. 
 
 96 
 
THE POLICIES ADOPTED. 
 
 I. Presiding Ei.de;rs. 
 Recognizing this new missionary era as 
 one demanding new methods, also as one 
 calling for new emphasis upon plans hither- 
 to successful in inciting to missionary activ- 
 ity and liberality, we, assembled in the 
 Presiding Elders' Section Conference of the 
 Eastern Missionary Convention, Philadel- 
 phia, October 15, 1903, do hereby express 
 ourselves favorable to the following policy : 
 
 1. The making more effective the Dis- 
 ciplinary provisions concerning Missions, 
 particularly those relating to the Missionary 
 Committee, the Sunday School Mission- 
 ary Society, and the Monthly Missionary 
 Prayer Meeting. 
 
 2. The bringing to the attention of each 
 young people's society the importance of 
 missionary and Bible study classes, this, 
 
 1. 97 
 
Thi; Missionary Workshop. 
 
 when feasible, to culminate in the support 
 of a foreign missionary sent out as a repre- 
 sentative of the District League. 
 
 3. The earnest support by the presiding 
 elders of any efforts made by the Mission- 
 ary Society in providing an adequate mis- 
 sionary literature for our Sunday schools 
 and Epworth Leagues. 
 
 4. The inaugurating of District and Con- 
 ference missionary conventions and cam- 
 paigns in harmony with the work of the 
 Open Door Emergency Commission. 
 
 5. The adopting of one dollar a mem- 
 ber for missions as a minimum standard. 
 
 IL District Missionary Secretaries. 
 
 We, the district missionary secretaries, 
 assembled in Section Conference, believing 
 that the Methodist Episcopal Church has 
 reached a crisis in her missionary history, 
 heartily and unanimously recommend and 
 indorse the following policy : 
 98 
 
The Policies Adopted. 
 
 1. The immediate carrying into effect 
 of all our Disciplinary provisions relating 
 to missions in the Church and Sunday 
 school. 
 
 2. The urging of our Epworth Leagues 
 to purchase the missionary libraries for the 
 instruction of their membership. 
 
 3. The persistent pushing of the "Dollar 
 a Member" plan throughout the Church in 
 America wherever possible. 
 
 4. Systematic campaigning on every pre- 
 siding elder's district in the Church. 
 
 III. Pastors. 
 
 We, the pastors assembled in Section 
 Conference, believing that as a Church we 
 are ready for an immediate and aggressive 
 campaign in the cause of missions, recom- 
 mend the support of the following policy : 
 
 I. The carrying out of all the Disciplin- 
 ary provisions relative to missions, both in 
 the Church and Smiday school, as per 
 99 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 paragraphs 366, 370, 371, and 374, and Ap- 
 pendix, paragraph 53, of the DiscipHne. 
 
 2. That we give greater prominence, with 
 more frequency, to missionary subjects in 
 our pulpit work, and that we endeavor to 
 place missionary literature in every home. 
 
 3. That we hereby indorse the raising of 
 the standard of giving until at least an aver- 
 age of one dollar a member throughout the 
 Church has been realized. 
 
 4. That we believe this great work can- 
 not be accomplished without laying plans 
 for a systematic campaign, and we pledge 
 ourselves to inaugurate and carry for- 
 ward this movement with earnestness and 
 devotion. 
 
 IV. Epworth League Representatives. 
 
 We, the local and district Epworth 
 League officers, assembled in Section Con- 
 ference, heartily and unanimously recom- 
 mend and indorse the following policy : 
 100 
 
The Policies Adopted. 
 
 1. That the members of the district cabi- 
 nets and local chapters of the Epworth 
 League cooperate with the Young People's 
 Department of the Missionary Society in 
 the promotion of its plans. 
 
 2. That books of the Forward Mission 
 Study Courses be adopted and used. 
 
 3. That the presiding elders' districts be 
 divided into subdistricts ; missionary com- 
 mittees to be organized therein under the 
 supervision of the second vice president of 
 the district ; and the chairmen of these sub- 
 districts to form the missionary committee 
 of the district. 
 
 4. That an earnest effort be made to se- 
 cure an average contribution of one dollar 
 a member for missions, one dollar being 
 the minimum, and "ability to give" the 
 maximum. 
 
 5. That the widest possible circulation 
 be secured for the Missionary Campaign 
 Libraries. 
 
 lOI 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 6. That Epworth League conventions 
 give ample time for conferences on methods 
 of missionary work, and for inspirational 
 missionary addresses. 
 
 7. That district cabinets aim to provide 
 sufficient funds to enable their missionary 
 committees to carry on aggressive cam- 
 paigns by correspondence with local chap- 
 ters, by distributing literature, and in meet- 
 ing expenses incurred in other lines of work 
 whenever such expenses cannot be met by 
 local chapters. 
 
 8. That the principle of Christian stew- 
 ardship be promoted in the local chapters 
 of the League in accordance with the plans 
 set forth by the central office of the Ep- 
 worth League. 
 
 9. That the Station Plan be adopted, and 
 the support of their own missionaries on the 
 field be recommended for such districts as 
 have been prepared for such an enterprise 
 by an educational campaign. 
 
 102 
 
Thf. PolicuvS Adopted. 
 
 V. Sunday School Workers. 
 
 We, the members in attendance upon the 
 Sunday School Section Conference, record 
 the following policy : 
 
 1. The Sunday schools to be organized 
 into missionary societies in accordance with 
 the Discipline ; the Disciplinary provisions 
 for a monthly missionary program, monthly 
 missionary collections, the distribution of 
 appropriate literature, and the promotion of 
 missionary concerts to be put into effect ; at 
 least one missionary concert annually to be 
 lield on Sunday evening in place of the reg- 
 ular preaching service. 
 
 2. The Sunday school missionary socie- 
 ties to avail themselves of the material that 
 is already prepared, such as the regular 
 monthly missionary program which is pub- 
 lished in the Sunday School Journal and 
 Bible Student's Magazine, supplementary 
 material for which appears in World-Wide 
 
 103 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 Missio)is, and the missionary supplies, pro- 
 vided through the Rindge Literature De- 
 partment of the Missionary Society. 
 
 3. The Missionary Campaign Libraries 
 to be introduced into every Sunday school, 
 and a children's missionary library provided. 
 
 4. The best efforts to be used to bring the 
 missionary contributions of the Sunday 
 school to the standard of one dollar a 
 member as the minimum ; ability to give, 
 the maximum. 
 
 5. The sentiment to be encouraged in fa- 
 vor of the payment of all Sunday school 
 expenses from the budget of the local 
 church, thus releasing all Sunday school 
 collections for the missionary cause. 
 
 VL Laymen. 
 
 We, the laymen assembled in the Lay- 
 men's Section Conference, hereby pledge 
 ourselves to carry out the following policy : 
 
 I. We recognize the importance of mak- 
 104 
 
The Policies Adopted. 
 
 ing our Church a missionary Church, and 
 that the spirit of conquest for our Lord 
 must take possession of the souls and Hves 
 of our laity if we fulfill the commission he 
 left with his disciples when he said, "Go ye 
 therefore, and teach all nations ;" and hav- 
 ing realized the importance of these things, 
 we will do our utmost to implant this 
 spirit in the hearts of our fellow-members 
 throughout the local churches to which we 
 belong and throughout our land. 
 
 2. It shall be our constant endeavor to 
 raise the standard of our obligation to God 
 in Christian giving. We will not rest until 
 the local churches to which we belong ad- 
 vance in their gifts to missions, until at least 
 one dollar a member is given each year in 
 offerings to the cause of missions, and until 
 our full responsibility has been reached. 
 
 3. We will do our utmost to see that the 
 Disciplinary provisions have been faithfully 
 carried out in all our societies. 
 
 105 
 
The Missionary Workshop. 
 
 4. We recognize the importance of sys- 
 tematically and thoroughly caring for every 
 responsibility placed within our hands, and 
 we will henceforth apply the same business 
 diligence in caring for the cause of missions 
 in our churches as we apply in our every- 
 day lives as business men. 
 
 5. We recognize the great principle of 
 Christian stewardship imposed upon us as 
 taught in the Scriptures, and will use our 
 best endeavor not only to practice it our- 
 selves, but to inculcate the doctrine in the 
 hearts of all who profess to love our Lord. 
 
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