Readjustment in Mexico 
 
 The continued disturbance in Mexico and the 
 consequent interruption of missionary work were 
 considered by missionary leaders a favorable oc¬ 
 casion for a readjustment of tbe work in that 
 country on a better and wiser basis. Accordingly, 
 during the annual meeting of the Foreign Mission 
 Boards at Garden City, N. Y., January 14-16, 
 T914, representatives of eleven boards having mis¬ 
 sion work in Mexico met to consider such read¬ 
 justment. After four sessions a statement con¬ 
 taining thirteen recommendations on which sub¬ 
 stantial agreements had been reached was sent to 
 the several boards interested. This statement 
 says; “There was a unanimous feeling that the 
 situation in Mexico had presented an occasion 
 for a careful restudy of the missionary work in 
 that country and for such rearrangements as 
 would increase its efficiency and provide more 
 adequately for work throughout the whole coun¬ 
 try.” After full discussion, substantial agreement 
 was reached on the following points: 
 
 1. One missionary paper for Mexico. 
 
 2. One set of Sunday school lessons and lesson 
 helps. 
 
 3. One missionarv publishing plant. 
 
 4. One theological training school or, at most, 
 two. 
 
 5. Cooperation in matters of property titles and 
 government recognition. 
 
 6. Union and coordination of girls’ schools. 
 
 7. Redistribution of territory and more adequate 
 occupation. 
 
 8. United conference of missionaries to Me.xico, 
 following action of boards on these recommenda¬ 
 tions. 
 
 9. .\n address on unity to the Mexican people. 
 
 10. Transfer of members from one denomina¬ 
 tion to another. 
 
 11. Enlarging the Latin-American Committee. 
 
 12 . Plan of adjustment for girls’ schools. 
 
 13. Request to boards that the findings of this 
 conference be reported to missionaries. 
 
 
 f 
 
Laredo Conference. 
 
 A meeting of our own missionary workers was 
 held in Laredo, Tex., February lo, ii, 1914, at 
 which Bishop Morrison presided. There were 
 twenty present, of whom thirteen w^ere mission¬ 
 aries. The report of this meeting says: “The 
 recommendations referred to this conference by 
 the Conference of Board Secretaries on Cooper¬ 
 ation and Unity in Mexico were considered one 
 by onej and the following items, after full discus¬ 
 sion, w'ere unanimously approved; 
 
 1. That one missionary paper in Me.xico should 
 be sufficient, this paper to provide special facili¬ 
 ties wherever desired for the presentation of the 
 work of any one denomination to its constituency. 
 
 2. That one set of Sunday school lessons and 
 lesson helps ought to lie sufficient, with such adap¬ 
 tation as might on occasion be found necessary 
 for the use of particular bodies. 
 
 3. That the separate mission press establish¬ 
 ments might wdsely be merged into one. 
 
 4. That the several training schools or theolog¬ 
 ical classes should unite and that one (or for 
 territorial purposes perhaps two) such schools 
 would serve the purpose in Mexico. 
 
 5. That the question of cofhperation in arranging 
 property titles or securing any proper government 
 recognition should be referred to the Committee 
 on Latin America with authority to confer with 
 the Committee on Reference and Council if 
 deemed wise. 
 
 6. That the girls’ schools should cobperate and 
 unite wherever possible and that the Committee 
 on Latin America, after conference with the 
 woman's boards having girls' schools in Mexico, 
 should make a suggested scheme of coordination 
 and unity for these schools. 
 
 7. That there might wisely be some redistribu¬ 
 tion of territory looking to the more adequate 
 occupation of the field, and the matter was re¬ 
 ferred to the Latin-American Committee with 
 the request that -they confer with the boards to 
 ascertain whether there could be adjustments 
 made which would secure the occupation of the 
 whole field. 
 
 8. That there should be a conference of mis¬ 
 sionaries at work in Mexico, held either in the 
 United States or in Mexico, as should be deemed 
 best, to make a restudy of the work in Me.xico 
 
 [ 2 ] 
 
aid to carry out the plans reconiniended 1)y this 
 Conference when approved by the boards. 
 
 g. The preparation of a .statement to the nation 
 after tlie fashion of the statement issued by the 
 missionaries in Japan last \ear, showing the suh- 
 i slantial unity of the missions in their messag 
 and <'m appeal to the Mexican people with a 
 11 united voice at this time of their realization of 
 1 their need—-such a statement to be ready to 
 i be issued when the i)resent time of disorder is 
 I past. It was suggested that the missionaries 
 now in Mexico City might at once take in hand 
 the preparation of such a statement, to he submit¬ 
 ted to missionaries in other parts of the country 
 and prepared for the signatures of as many of the 
 missionaries in Mexico as possible. 
 
 to. That the attention of the missions be called 
 to the desirability of arranging for the transfer 
 of Church members moving from one section of 
 the country to another, according to the principle 
 which has been recogrized b\' all the Churches, 
 including the Church of England and the Friends, 
 in fields like Aladagascar. 
 
 This meeting also made recommendations to 
 the General Conference concerning the transfer 
 of Mexican work in Texas to the Home Depart¬ 
 ment and in reference to boundaries of missions 
 nr Conferences in Mexico. 
 
 On June 30 and July i, 1914, a conference con¬ 
 vened in Cincinnati on call of the Latin-American 
 Committee. This conference was made up of 
 representatives of nine mission boards, the Amer¬ 
 ican Bible Society, and the Young Men’s Christian 
 .\ssociation. Bishop Wf R. Lambuth presided. 
 This conference appointed live committees, to 
 which were referred the various recommendations 
 and suggestions made by the former conferences. 
 The reports of these committees, after thorough 
 consideration, were adopted. The conclusions of 
 this conference were more elaborate and went 
 more into detail and methods of carrying out the 
 various recommendations than those of the other 
 conferences had done. A full report was fur¬ 
 nished each board interested, to he considered 
 and passed upon. 
 
 Printed copies of this report were mailed to 
 our missionaries to Mexico and to each member 
 of the Board prior to the meeting of September 
 29, and the report was made the basis for the call 
 
 t 3 ] 
 
and action of the Board. Ours was the first 
 board to take action, as ours had been the first 
 mission to meet and indorse the movement, 
 d'here were thirty-three members of the Board 
 present. There was deep interest and enthusiastic 
 approval of the plan in general. The Board found 
 its chief difficulty in going the full length of the 
 recommendations on redistribution of territory 
 and some other features because of legal limi¬ 
 tations, especially on the question of the fixing of 
 boundaries. 
 
 The Board appointed a committee consisting of 
 W. W. Pinson, Miss Mabel Head, Bruce R. 
 Payne, R. F. Burden, and J. W. Perry to bring in 
 a report on the whole question. This report, as 
 follows, was adopted and made the action of the i 
 Board after full and thorough discussion : 
 
 Action of the Board. 
 
 Your committee, having had before it the con¬ 
 clusions and recommendations of a meeting of 
 representatives of our own mission at Laredo and 
 of nine mission boards held in Cincinnati June > 
 30 and July i, 1914. and being convinced of the i 
 need of a readjustment of mission work in Me.x- 
 ico and of the substantial correctness of the i 
 
 findings of said meeting, begs leave to recom- ! 
 
 mend: That this Board give its full and hearty 
 concurrence in the principle of comity and co¬ 
 operation involved as a proper step in the direc¬ 
 tion of that fuller unity for which all good men 
 are praying, and also that it pledge its coopera¬ 
 tion in the realization of the general scheme 
 proposed by said meetings. 
 
 L Press and Publications. 
 
 In view of the urgent need of a sound and 
 suitable Christian literature for the Mexican peo¬ 
 ple and the inadequacy and e.xpensiveness of sep¬ 
 arate denominational methods of producing and 
 disseminating such a literature, it is recommend¬ 
 ed that this Board pledge its cooperation in an 
 effort to realize the following proposals: 
 
 1. A joint depository and selling agency in 
 Mexico City. 
 
 2. To reduce the number of Church papers to 
 as few as may be found practicable on the field. 
 
 3. The establishment of an illustrated young 
 people’s paper. 
 
 [ 4 I 
 
4- The establishment of a joint publishing plant 
 in Mexico City on the basis of a proportionate 
 sharing of expenses by the cooperating denomi¬ 
 nations. 
 
 We would recommend concurrence in the rec¬ 
 ommendation that this enterprise be under the 
 control of a joint board consisting cf one member 
 each, to be named by the cooperating boards. We 
 nominate Rev. N. E. Joyner as our representative. 
 
 11 . General Education. 
 
 We recommend concurrence in the recommen¬ 
 dations of the Cincinnati meeting, which are as 
 follows: 
 
 1. That domestic and manual arts be taught in 
 all schools as far as practicable. 
 
 2. That an elementary school be carried on, as 
 far as possible, w’herever there is an organized 
 congregation, and that in the larger places there 
 be added the fifth and sixth grades, so that pu¬ 
 pils may be prepared for admission into the 
 higher institutions. 
 
 3. That there be high schools established, at 
 least one for boys and one for girls, within each 
 mission territory. The course of study in these 
 schools should include vocational training. 
 
 4. That the various missions working in Mexico 
 appoint a Committee on Education, the committee 
 to be composed of one person representing each 
 mission, to be appointed as the mission shall de¬ 
 termine. It shall be the duty of this committee 
 to study the question of edrreation and make sug¬ 
 gestions for the curriculum, conduct, and corre¬ 
 lation of our schools. 
 
 5. The consolidation of the higher grades of the 
 primary schools in such places as are occupied by 
 two or more denominations. 
 
 6. That a union college for men and women be 
 established at some central place, and that in 
 connection with this college there be established 
 normal, industrial, and kindergarten training 
 schools. 
 
 7. The committee also recommends the consoli¬ 
 dation of normal schools where two or more exist 
 in one center and that where only one normal 
 school exists the question of its continuance or 
 discontinuance be left to the discretion of the 
 denomination concerned. 
 
8. The committee recommends the appointment 
 of a Committee on General Education for the 
 founding of the college and affiliated schools, this 
 committee to be composed of two members rep¬ 
 resenting each denomination, to be appointed as 
 each board or denomination may determine. 
 
 9. The committee recommends the appointment 
 by the Committee on General Education or by the 
 boards of a financial agent for Union College and 
 affiliated schools. 
 
 \\T suggest for our representatives on the 
 General Education Committee Ed F. Cook and 
 Miss Mabel Head. 
 
 III. Theological Education. 
 
 We believe that there is no more serious need 
 in Me.xico than that of a well-equipped theolog¬ 
 ical school, and conditions point to a union of 
 Churches on such an enterprise as feasible and 
 desirable. “Not only has it been recommended 
 by the Committee on Codperation representing 
 the principal boards working in Mexico, but it 
 represents a widespread and growing sentiment 
 among missionaries and native workers in that 
 land.” The recommendations on this came to us 
 as expressing the desire of representatives of 
 nine different Churches. We therefore recom¬ 
 mend concurrence in the following: 
 
 1. The establishment of a Bible institute and 
 
 theological seminary to be known as the Bible 
 Institute and Theological Seminary of the Evan¬ 
 gelical Church in- Mexico (Instituto Biblico y 
 Seminaro Theologico de la Iglesia Evangelisa en 
 Mexico). ■ . 
 
 2. This school shall be under the control of the 
 board of directors, elected by missions or 
 Churches that cooperate in its support. 
 
 3. The board of directors shall have control of 
 the property and funds contributed to the support 
 of the school, shall elect the members of the fac¬ 
 ulty with the approval of the various missions or 
 Churches, and shall discharge the various duties 
 that ordinarily correspond to the directorship of 
 such institutions. 
 
 We prefer to leave recommendations 4, 5, 6, 
 and 7 under this head to the committee that shall 
 have it in charge and to future developments, 
 with our general approval. 
 
 We recommend that the lf)Cating and estab- 
 t 6 ] 
 
lishing of the Bible Institute and Theolo^igical 
 Seminary he made one of the duties of the Gen¬ 
 eral Education Committee. 
 
 We nominate as our representative on the 
 board of directors of the Bible Institute and 
 'rheological Seminary R. C. Elliott. 
 
 IV. Territorial Occupation. 
 
 'I'he readjustment of territory is interpreted to 
 mean the agreement to assume “primary respon¬ 
 sibility” for a given territory. By this means the 
 whole country would be assigned and each Church 
 assume primary responsibility for the part as¬ 
 signed to it, other Churches leaving it to work 
 out that responsibility. It need not be said that 
 we cannot change Conference lines, since the 
 General Conference alone can do that. We can, 
 however, determine the location of institutions, 
 ihe expenditure of missionary money, and the 
 placing of missionaries with the cooperation of 
 the bishop in charge. Neither can we determine 
 a change of Church membership. Those who are 
 Methodists can remain so and continue their 
 worship, their organization, and their ministra¬ 
 tion. It is not to be thought of that we can 
 transfer members without their consent. We 
 can only determine our policy of support, of ter¬ 
 ritorial assignment of missionaries, the location 
 of institutions, and the distribution of funds for 
 support and e.xtension. 
 
 In all these matters that concern the denomina¬ 
 tional relation of the Mexicans the plan involves 
 their consultation and cooperation ; but in matters 
 of missionary policy, the extension or adjustment 
 of territory, etc., it is obviously our responsibility 
 as a Board to determine. 
 
 Accepting the proposed readjustment of terri¬ 
 tory as interpreted by the Cincinnati meeting as 
 meaning the agreement to assume “primary re¬ 
 sponsibility” for a given territory and also the 
 agreement not to enter new' territory where some 
 other denomination is made primarily responsi¬ 
 ble, we give our hearty indorsement to the prin¬ 
 ciple of readjustment. 
 
 We recommend the fullest cooperation that 
 this Board and its representatives can give within 
 the limits of the law of the Church and with due 
 regard to Conference lines as fi.xed by the Gen¬ 
 eral Conference in working toward the realization 
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
of this end. We recommend that in the location 
 of mission stations, of institutions, and in other 
 matters not transgressing- either the Discipline or 
 the rights of missionaries or members we so ad¬ 
 minister onr mission in Mexico as to promote 
 the proposed readjustment and cooperation until 
 such time as General Conference action can be 
 secured. 
 
 In taking this action we intend only to indorse 
 the general principle of territorial distribution. 
 Only the General Conference has authority to 
 change the boundaries of our Annual Conferences 
 or to surrender the territory now occupied by our 
 Board. 
 
 V. General Recommendations. 
 
 (See pages 18-21, report of Cincinnati Confer¬ 
 ence.) 
 
 We would concur in the recommendations con¬ 
 cerning (i) self-support, (2) a month of evan¬ 
 gelism, (3) promotion of education, (4) medical 
 missions, (5) missionaries and their preparation, 
 (6) language study, (7) a permanent Committee 
 of Reference on the field. We nominate as our 
 representative for this committee F. S. Onder- 
 donk; Miss Esther Case, alternate. 
 
 We further recommend the formation of a Con¬ 
 sulting Committee, to be composed of two repre¬ 
 sentatives (Mexicans) from each cooperating 
 Church, who shall give advice and counsel in all 
 these matters and also keep in touch with the 
 Churches in Mexico and seek their approval and 
 cooperation in all that is proposed. We nominate 
 .Andres Osuna and Julian Castro to represent us 
 on this committee. 
 
 In view of the enlargement of the Committee 
 on Latin America representing the mission boards 
 in the United States and Canada already provided 
 for, and in consideration of the extent and im¬ 
 portance of the educational work being done by 
 the women in Latin lands, we respectfully request 
 the addition of at least two women to that com¬ 
 mittee. one from the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 and one from the Methodist Episcooal Church, 
 South. 
 
 Hoard of Missions of the M. E. Church, South 
 810 Broadway, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 r ^ 1