I a.--^ i_»i C p V T ^rJ^O 3 no _ _.. ___ ^{ ‘■"^pTm rmr Ki/I ;,( ' -T;- . Lmm LITTLE STORIES OF SUCCESS NATIONAL CAMPAIGN LAYMEN’S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT AMmiCANBAEIIST...MIJ_SLQNARYU^^^^^^ FORD BUILDING, BOSTON, MASS. rrfE Uiii LITTLE STORIES OF SUCCESS ^ The Laymen^s Missionary Movement Campaign is arresting the attention of Christendom and arousing the genuine manhood that is within the Church, Real men, men of action, men who love to grapple with things that test their powers to the limit are rallying hy thousands to the support of the greatest movement of the age. ^ The remarkable results already achieved are eloquently prophetic of what may he expected. The enlistment of men in behalf of the missionary enterprise is notable. The pledges of financial support already made are power¬ ful witnesses of the thoughts and purposes that are formed in the minds and hearts of men. ^ The Baptist men of the cities in which conventions have thus far been held have begun to do and will complete the doing of big things. The purpose of this pamphlet is to let other Baptist men know what their fellows are at¬ tempting. These little stories of success are large with possibilities. Read, then go and do likewise. NEW INSPIRATION I wish to inform you that for many years I have been deeply interested in Missions, both home and foreign and as you have said, I was one of the delegates to the Laymen’s Missionary Convention in Providence and with many others received new inspiration. . . Since then I have been made chairman of the Men’s Missionary Committee of our church, and the first thing that we did was to have about twenty-four of our men meet at a little spread and after talks by the members of the committee we distributed cards for the men to take home, pray over and sign as the Lord might direct. The collector tells me that last Sunday showed new and increased offerings of $1.59 which \vill mean over $82 for the year. Next week we plan to have another group of men meet in the same manner, and we hope for more results.— ^Archibald Rankin, Pawtucket, R. I. 3 “NEVER HEARD ANYTHING LIKE IT” The great wave of missionary enthusiasm that is sweeping over the land in connection with the Laymen’s Missionary Movement struck Cleveland hard. Never before has the city been so stirred up religiously. It was a great sight to see nearly 1,500 men moving down street together for the banquet in the largest building in the city. This was filled to its utmost capacity, and overflow tables had to be spread in nearby hotels to accommodate those who had secured tickets. Exactly 1,462 men were seated at this magnificent gathering, which Mr. Campbell White declared the greatest he had yet attended, and believed that nothing equal to it has taken place in the history of missionary endeavor. The addresses were of a very high order, Mr. White giving all of them a great climax in one of his masterly messages. “It was great,” was heard on every hand as the men filed out. The high spiritual pitch the meeting reached may be judged by one significant act. The caterer, not a Christian man, who had listened to the addresses while waiting for a chance to take care of the dishes left over, was so moved by what he had seen and heard, he presented the committee with $100, stating that he had never heard anything like it, and if that was the aim of the meeting he wanted to have a share in it. If “money talks,” then that night it talked eloquently in that offer¬ ing of a man not committed to the Christian life at all. The Baptists, we are happy to say, were not behind in this splendid meeting, but had a lead on all the other denominations. Although we are fourth on the list as regards numerical strength, we managed, much to the credit of Rev. C. A. Brooks, our efficient superintendent of City Missions, to head the list, having a close competitor in the Presbyterians. Active efforts are being made in all the churches to meet the apportionments assigned, and the city churches will endeavor to raise $160,000 for missions this year, instead of $55,000, which was last year’s total. The Baptists are pledged for $16,000, and it looks as if it will be forthcoming. The chair¬ man of the Baptist contingent, Mr. Ambrose Swasey, is leading off well. He recently banqueted the Baptist pastors and a representative layman from each church at the Hotel EucHd, when plans were laid for the work. —^Rev Llewellyn Brown, Cleveland Letter in New York Examiner. 4 CATCHING THE MISSIONARY VISION As a result of the Laymen’s Convention two or three of our men have begun to catch the missionary vision. I have appointed a missionary committee comprising these men and we are planning to follow up the spirit and suggestions of the Convention by holding in our church a supper for men similar to the one in Philadelphia on November 18, only on a smaller scale. As we can draw only on our male membership and other adherents, we cannot expect more than fifty men but we aim to make the meeting intensive, if not extensive, and by this means to reach our entire local constituency. We aim to follow up this supper immediately with an every-member canvass.— Rev. E. W. Rumsey, North Wales, Pa. MORE THAN ASKED FOR In another case, that of the First Church, Chester, whose pastor took seven of his leading men to the opening meeting of the Convention, and most of whom were present off and on through the Convention, the trus¬ tees have decided that they would raise the Budget, which they, them¬ selves, fixed at a larger sum than had been suggested to them by our State Committees, and that if there should be any shortage toward the end of the year, that shortage would be put in along with any deficit for current expenses, and the whole amount raised. So that we can absolutely count on the advanced Budget. While this affects foreign missions chiefly, all of the other forms of our missionary work will profit to a very considerable extent.— ^Rev. F. S. Dobbins, Philadelphia, Pa. 5 ENJOYING A NEW SENSATION In reply to your inquiry about the recent Laymen’s Missionary Con¬ ference, I would say that I am enjoying a new sensation; i.e., I am witnessing the enthusiastic assumption of all local and missionary re¬ sponsibilities by the men of my church. Last Friday the Finance Committee, through its chairman, called the Missionary Committees into conference and told the pastor that he was not wanted, that they would Like to see what they could do without him. They voted to increase the local budget fifty per cent and the missions budget sixty-six per cent over the regular budget request. They appointed a committee of twenty-five to canvass the entire membership immediately, and we are planning our prayer meeting for a rousing Laymen’s program. The sermon next Sunday morning will be on “Blessedness by Giv¬ ing” as a text, the ninth Beatitude—“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This text, in my judgment, is the last word on the whole sub¬ ject of stewardship. Following that is the banquet to the men of our con¬ gregation by our Baptist Brotherhood next week Tuesday, when our delegates to the Convention will put it up to the men man-fashion. This noble old missionary church is proving that the giving church is the living church. Your question about the apportionment is superfluous. Same with questions about a lot of other old problems now vanished in the heat of this new enthusiasm. The meetings were a great help to all the churches, and I believe the permanent good resulting will exceed some more spectacular and costly meetings of the past.—H. J. White, D.D., Hartford, Conn. “THE FIRE OF MISSIONARY ENTHUSIASM 99 My impression is that all the churches will increase their offerings to all the general missionary organizations. The men in nearly all our churches have shown a greater interest in missionary affairs than I have ever known, and this is attributable to the Men’s Movement almost entirely. I shall be much disappointed if we do not see a great increase in giving in all our churches. If any church fails, it will be because of indifference on the part of the pastor, or because of some remarkable conditions in the local church. As to our church, we have adopted the duplex envelope plan, and already have $22 a week, or $1,144 for the year, subscribed, and we have not seen more than half our members. I think I can confidently promise that we shall raise upwards of $2,000 for all missionary purposes. This includes our offering to the city mission society. Of the amount we expect to give $750 to the Foreign Mission Society. Our gifts will be doubled, and I hope they may be trebled. My observation teaches plainly that the entire matter of raising missionary money depends primarily on the pastor, and, next in import¬ ance, to a few leading spirits in the church, who have caught the fire of missionary enthusiasm. One man of spirit and zeal will add many hundreds of dollars to the missionary treasury in any church, no matter how unpromising.— ^Rev. George Whitman, Buffalo, N. Y. IMMEDIATE RESPONSE The immediate effect of the convention held in our city under the auspices of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement has been to greatly stimulate interest among my men in missions. Some who apparently had no interest have now become deeply interested. The entire church in its official body and beyond, have been so quickened that there was no opposition to introducing the “week by week” method of giving to mis¬ sions, and in a young church like this with prospects of large growth that alone means much.— ^Rev. A. K. Fuller, Scranton, Pa. 7 “ASHAMED OF INDIFFERENCE TO MISSIONS” The immediate effect upon the men of our congregation has been a very wholesome and joyous one. Some of the men have been ashamed of their indifference to missions and of their scanty support of the work of carrying the Gospel to the distant lands. At a men’s banquet, at which thirty-nine men were present, twenty- five pledged to pay $553 for all benevolent purposes in 1910 and the whole group recommended, that the church raise at least $1200 for benevolences during the year 1910. Our usual contributions had not exceeded $300- $400 for all benevolences a year, so this gathering was one of great enthusiasm and inspiration for missions. We are planning an every member canvass and shall introduce the duplex envelope system beginning with the new year. Remaining true to our pledges and plans, we are sure to raise more than our apportionment to the societies. The German churches as you know have always been faithful to their trust. It will interest you to know that the men are, with but one or two exceptions, wage earners, and their giving will mean sacrifices and burning devotion to the King¬ dom of Gnd. When I consider that the church carries an indebtedness of $4500 on the parsonage recently purchased, these new pledges and plans are a source of great hope and encouragement for the future. I would rather have written you what we have done, than what we mean to do but God help us to remain loyal to our pledges.— Rev. C. A. Daniel, Buffalo, N.Y. 8 AN HONEST EFFORT In reply to your letter in reference to the Laymen’s Missionary Movement, I would say that I believe that in our church there has been a decidedly new interest aroused in mission work. Our church has voted to raise the budget for next year and also to make an honest effort to raise as much as possible of the apportionment outlined by the Laymen’s Movement. We shall at once start on an every-member canvass for missions, and shall introduce the weekly giving for missions by the duplex envelope method January first. Our church never raised so much for missions as last year and we now have an Italian Department of work carried on in our church. I baptized sixteen Italians last year. This work is flourishing. All of this interest in missions has not hurt the financial side of the work. At our annual meeting the other night the treasurer reported for the first time in a number of years no deficit, and the trustees recommended that the pastor’s salary be increased one hundred dollars this year which was unanimously adopted. Of course I shall work hard for missions next year; it pays.— ^Rev. F. W. Stanton, Syracuse, N. Y. HUNDREDS OF MEN INTERESTED The Laymen’s Missionary Convention has interested hundreds of our men in missions, many of them gaining an adequate view of their mis¬ sionary responsibility for the first time. In our case, several by-products of the Convention have been especially noticeable, including an enlarged fellowship of the men of the various Baptist churches and an increased interest in Baptist City Missions. My own church, that raised less than a thousand (which includes an individual gift direct to the Union), will raise $4700 during the coming year.— Rev. C. D. Case, Ph.D., Buffalo, N. Y. 0 “STIRRED UP” I have your letters of inquiry concerning the Laymen’s Missionary Movement Convention and its effect upon our church and the churches of the city. In reply, I may say that the immediate effect has been most gratify¬ ing. It has stimulated the men of our churches in a remarkable way, and has done much to develop a real sense of brotherhood among the churches, and I think the men of the most of the churches are stirred up toward a much larger missionary plan than they have ever had before. As to our own church, our apportionment this year is $440. Our men decided that, in the general advance in giving which would raise $16,000 among the Baptists of Cleveland, our fair share would be $1000. We gave a good deal of thought as to whether this amount should be raised by special appeal or through our regular weekly giving. We felt that to make a special appeal might hamper our weekly contribution plan which we are just getting well under way. Consequently, our benevolent committee has made out a budget for 1910, for a total of $2200. Of this amount, thirty-eight per cent will go to foreign mission work, and with some special funds which we may secure would enable us to raise the $1000. The matter was presented to the church last Sunday, and in looking the field over carefully Monday, we find that we have thus far, what we may safely count on, about $1600 or $1700, and I think our prospects are bright for raising the total budget of $2200 for all missionary en¬ deavor, by weekly contributions from the membership. This will give us a contribution of about $10 per member for benevolences, and is an increase of about 500 per cent over what the church did five years ago.— Rev. Millard Brelsford, East Cleveland, Ohio. 10 CONTAGIOUS ENTHUSIASM Your letter received regarding the influence of the Laymen’s Mis¬ sionary Convention. It has been a great blessing to our city, because it brought together men of all denominations, and gave them a brighter vision of man’s relationship to man than they have ever had before. In answer to your question as to “what has been the immediate effect of this convention upon your men, as individuals, and as a group,” I would say that the effect upon the men—about thirty of them who could come to the sessions—^was deep and abiding. They in turn have com¬ municated their enthusiasm to others, so I feel safe in saying our church has received a great uplift in its spiritual conception of world-wide mis¬ sions. Of course we were blessed in having the convention sessions in our own church. Second, as to plans of apportionments. Last night a meeting of the pastors and missionary conunittees—men—took supper together, and afterward discussed the proposition and I found that there is a strong Christian movement looking toward the raising not only of the apportion¬ ment suggested by the Northern Baptist Convention, but more than that—the probabihty is that the city churches will advance considerably beyond the apportionment itself. You already know that this city gave last year $3,163, and at the pastor’s rally held during the convention determined to try for $10,000 the coming year. Several of the churches have already arranged for meetings of the membership, at which time the question of finance will be taken up, which of course will mean the boom¬ ing of the foreign missions. Our own church had begun already its financial campaign and had sent out its literary cards, etc., so that we are in a position awaiting. Not until our cards are returned and we know what amount has been financially subscribed will we be able to work intelligently upon those who do not thus respond at all. I have no ques¬ tion that our church will do her share, as heretofore, and more than her share. I hope that the increase will not be simply for foreign missions— much as^my heart is centered along that line—^and my hope is that there will be a marked advancement along all lines of beneficence.—M. P. Pikes, D.D., Detroit, Mich. 11 EFFECT OF LAYMEN’S CONVENTION ON BAPTIST CITY MISSIONS The Cleveland Baptist City Mission Society is alive and aggressive, doing missionary work among seven nationahties and an energetic Church Extension work, as well. As its superintendent I may fairly be considered as interested in it and sensitive to anything which in any way threatens its interests. I would have been the first to detect anything in the aim or the method of the convention that was inimical to home interests. I would have suspected at once any false note or “lop-sidedness” in the teaching of the leaders. It was remarked, when we were in conference for the denominational rally, that this was going to be hard on our city mission work. After the convention was over and the amount of $16,500 was pledged by the Baptists as our share of the $160,000 which Cleveland was to raise, it was remarked again and again that this would hurt our city mission work. I am glad to say that so far as I can see not only has no ill effect been experienced, but a most decided and striking blessing has followed. I wish to cite two instances which prove this. One of our best churches, with as strong a group of laymen as can be found in the country, and with a pastor alert to the situation, has experienced nothing less than a revival in the matter of benevolences. One man has doubled his giving; another who gave last year for our City Mission work $5, and whom I heard prior to the convention refuse to give one cent to any missionary work until he had made good his losses suffered in the panic of last year, gave $50 on a recent occasion for City Missions and for other things in proportion. The churches that before the convention had adopted the duplex envelope, I have found, have greatly increased their offerings for City Missions, and now several of our churches have done the same I look for the same result. Perhaps the best single thing is one illustration that comes from one of our church extension fields. This church has never given much'for City Missions, having been too well content to get all it could from the society. We asked them for $50, and when the work was presented they gave nearly a hundred in one service and will make it an even hundred. This, too, since pledging about four times as much as they ever raised for foreign missions. This is since the convention. —Rev. C. A. Brooks, Cleveland, Ohio. 12 A CHECK WITH A HISTORY I have in hand this morning, a check from a young business man, who was at the Laymen’s Convention, and who has never made a direct gift before, and as the entire gift of the church to which he belongs has usually amounted to about $38,1 do not think he could have given a very large sum. He told me yesterday that he was going to send this gift, as an expression of the interest awakened in him by the Laymen’s Convention. The check is for $100. He is a young man, with not a large business, and it means a great deal for him.— Rev. F. S. Dobbins, Philadelphia, Pa. “SOMETHING HEROIC” There has been a decided awakening in the cause of the Kingdom on the part of my men. I have never seen the same determination to do something heroic for the spread of the Gospel over the world. We have divided the entire church membership among a committee of men for a personal canvass. We had adopted the weekly plan of beneficence before so that we are fitting this in, or on, it in any way we can. Our budget amount for Foreign Missions for this year was $1925. As a result of this Laymen’s Convention we are planning to raise $4300.— H. F. Stillwell, D.D., Cleveland, Ohio. IS “BAPTISTS IN ACTION” Following up the inspiration of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement two weeks ago, the denominations are having missionary campaigns all over town. Tonight the Baptist committee met to consider how they could raise four times as much missionary money as in 1908-0. The results of that three-day meeting two weeks ago are astound¬ ing. Suburban towns are holding dinner meetings for men, two or three every night, and laymen from BufPalo are addressing these meetings, calling for and getting double and treble the amount of previous of¬ ferings. The grandest hopes of clergy and laymen are being realized and exceeded: $100,000 was pledged to foreign missions Tuesday, October 19, of which the Baptists took $15,000, as against about $4,000 last year. Of the $100,000, over $19,000 is subscribed by individuals voluntarily and in advance of church canvasses, and one church has guaranteed $6,000. About ten days before the convention we began to sit up and take notice and then things began to fly. Since the convention we have been making plans for extending the influence of the convention into all of the Buffalo territory, which covers a radius of about one hundred miles from the city. Mass meetings of men are being held in all the surrounding towns, and the Buffalo men are addressing them along missionary lines and encourag¬ ing them to adopt some definite scheme of missionary education, and at the same time urging much larger contributions. In the city the Baptist men have got together as quickly as they could. It is true that many of the Baptist men had to disregard denomi¬ national lines in the general effort of the Laymen’s Missionary Committee outside the city. We got together last Saturday night, however, and after a four-hour discussion it was decided to put the whole matter squarely before all the Baptist people of the city in printed form, and our issue of “Baptists in Action” is the result of our effort. Personally I hope that a further issue of this paper may be distributed in a month or two showing progress, and that a grand jubilee of all the Baptist men of Buffalo and the surrounding towns can be arranged for, in six weeks or so, at which time it may be reported that our grandest expectations have been realized.—J. W. Noble, Buffalo, N. Y. 14 “CONVERTED TO FOREIGN MISSIONS” The effect of the convention on my men was a great inspiration to those who attended. One man said he was converted to foreign missions through it. Two others, I think from what I know of them, were helped to a decision to devote one-tenth of their income to the work of the Lord. We have decided as a church to do what I have wanted the church to do ever since I came to them, take our offerings for missions weekly. This decision came just before the convention. We are planning now to make a canvass of every member for a subscription for missions. I do not think we can reach our apportionment by the last of March, as we begin our weekly offerings with January. But we will get in shape so that after this I hope we can do more than our apportionment.— Rev. M. H. Pettit, Detroit, Mich. “WE SHALL DO OUR LEVEL BEST” The immediate effect of the Laymen’s Missionary Conference, recently held in our city, has been that several of our laymen have become more deeply interested in the work of missions. The second result has been that we have already formulated plans for making a thorough canvass of the membership of our church, with a view of securing weekly contributions to Foreign Missions, as well as to the current expenses of the church; and have also agreed to make up our full apportionment, as assigned to us by the Northern Baptist Convention. The amount assigned to our church and that we shall attempt to raise for Foreign Missions is $1700, as against about $979, raised last year. We shall do our level best to secure this amount, and, if possible, more.— Rev. W. W. Dawley, Syracuse, N. Y. 15 SOME DEFINITE PLEDGES It may be interesting to know what the Baptist men of twelve centers propose to do as a result of the recent Laymen’s Mission¬ ary Movement Conventions held in as many cities. The figures in the first column are round numbers, but sufficiently accurate for purposes of comparison. Gave for Propose to give Cities Foreign Missions for Foreign Mi, 1908-1909 1909-1910 Buffalo $4,025 $15,000 Cleveland 5,307 16,800 Worcester 1,976 3,200 Washington 7,639 15,000 Philadelphia 27,248 45,000 Harrisburg 185 370 Scranton 1,300 2,000 Hartford 2,079 3,300 Portland 1,112 1,500 Reading 298 600 Detroit 3,163 10,000 Syracuse 2,979 6,000 $57,311 $118,770 Lest it be felt that the foregoing may indicate that home missions will lose by these pledges for foreign missions it should be remembered that in each convention a vote has been passed that these sums for foreign missions would be secured in addition to the amounts which the Budget of 1909-1910 asks for the Home Mission Society and the Publication Society. On this point a prominent city missionary wrote as follows: “No’^man ever had a vision ofJChrist and his Kingdom who failed to see the whole world. No man can be really interested in the man across the water and be indifferent to the man across the way.” 16 894-1 Ed.-20 M-Jan. ’10.