Young People 
 
 and 
 
 the World’s 
 Evangelization 
 
 President John Franklin Goticher 
 
 
 
 
 
^ I • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
HERE are some bless¬ 
 ings promised in God’s 
 word to old people, 
 and others to those in 
 middle life, but young 
 people are the pre¬ 
 ferred class in God’s providence, for 
 every blessing promised in the Bible 
 may be successively theirs. When a 
 child is converted it is a double work 
 of grace, namely, the salvation of a 
 life and the salvation of a lifetime, 
 with its untold opportunities and in¬ 
 fluence. Polycarp was martyred at 
 ninety-five. But he was converted at 
 nine, and had given eighty-six years 
 of blessed service. 
 
 Conversions most 
 frequent 
 
 It is not an accident that young Youth 
 people are the chief objective of the 
 scheme of salvation. In youth the 
 heart is like wax in its impressible¬ 
 
 ness, like bronze in its retentiveness. 
 The years in which conversion usu¬ 
 ally occurs are between twelve and 
 twenty. Statistics show the year of 
 most frequent conversion is the six¬ 
 teenth for girls and the seventeenth 
 for boys. Those years passed, the 
 prospects decrease, and after twenty- 
 two the probability is very small, for 
 over ninety per cent, of the members 
 of the evangelical churches in Amer¬ 
 ica were converted before they were 
 twenty-three years of age. Less than 
 
five per cent, of those who leave col¬ 
 lege unconverted ever commit them- 
 selve to a Christian life. 
 
 Practical philosophers and psy¬ 
 chologists no longer busy themselves 
 about probation after death, but with 
 how far the tendency to fixedness of 
 habit reduces the probability of ever 
 initiating the Christian life after the 
 twenty-fifth year has passed. The 
 thought of the past concerned itself 
 with the Divine decrees, and threw 
 the responsibility upon God; the 
 thought of the present is largely con¬ 
 cerned with personal duty, and throws 
 the responsibility upon man. 
 
 Life Choices 
 
 The latest psychology teaches 
 “ that our impulses and instincts 
 ripen in a certain order, and if the 
 proper objects are provided at the 
 proper time, habits of conduct and 
 character are formed which last for 
 life; but if neglected the impulse dies 
 out, and our most earnest efforts meet 
 with no response.” Professor Star- 
 buck asserts and supports his state¬ 
 ment with many facts and figures, 
 that “ conversion is a distinctively 
 adolescent phenomenon.” Professor 
 Coe says, “ Conversion, or some 
 equivalent personalizing of religion, 
 is a normal part of adolescent growth, 
 and a deeply personal life choice is 
 now easier than either before or 
 after.” The normal occupation dur¬ 
 ing adolescence is consciously or sub¬ 
 consciously to make life choices. 
 
 Young people must be the prime 
 objective in the world’s evangeliza¬ 
 tion, for usually before or during 
 adolescence, if ever, the foundations 
 
 z 
 
of a Christian life are laid, the stu¬ 
 dent life is determined, and the trend 
 for greatest usefulness is established. 
 
 If for thirty consecutive years all 
 the young people in the world be¬ 
 tween ten and twenty-three years of 
 age could be reached by Christian 
 teaching, the world’s evangelization 
 would be accomplished. Five suc¬ 
 cessive generations of young people, 
 from ten to seventeen years of age— 
 during the years when most respon¬ 
 sive to the claims of religion—would 
 have been under the influence of 
 gospel truth; and five successive gen¬ 
 erations, between sixteen and twenty- 
 three years of age—the second 
 period most determinative of a re¬ 
 ligious life—would have had similar 
 influence. Within these periods 
 nearly every person assumes a per¬ 
 sonal relation to religion which he 
 makes final. The vast majority of 
 those who are now twenty-two years 
 old, and not already Christians, of 
 whom probably less than two per cent, 
 would be converted under the most 
 favorable conditions, will have passed 
 to their final account within thirty 
 years, and the world would be occu¬ 
 pied with those who had faced the 
 responsibility of accepting or reject¬ 
 ing Christ, during the most favorable 
 periods of their lives, and the world 
 would be evangelized. 
 
 Qualifications ot 
 Youth 
 
 Young people are not discriminated s° e r rvicc 
 against in the outworking of God’s 
 purpose. They receive from Christ 
 the commission to “ go,” which is 
 never withheld from those who 
 “ come.” As they necessarily consti- 
 
 3 
 
tute the chief subjects of the world’s 
 evangelization, they must largely fur¬ 
 nish the agents and accessories for its 
 accomplishment. Their number would 
 of itself make them an important 
 factor in this great work, but their 
 quality is more important than their 
 quantity. They are acquisitive and at 
 an age when, if ever, they will en¬ 
 throne God, and lay the foundation of 
 devotion and liberality. They most 
 readily acquire strange languages, are 
 enthusiastic, aggressive and coura¬ 
 geous, rarely pessimistic, have endur¬ 
 ance and improvableness. They are 
 the part of the army most easily 
 mobilized, for they are not as yet 
 articulated with society, and high 
 enterprise appeals to their spirit. 
 They are flexible and easily adapt 
 themselves to changing conditions. 
 They furnish the very material for a 
 successful propaganda, and offer the 
 rational field for recruiting the agents 
 and developing the supporters. 
 
 Importance of 
 
 Early - 
 
 Training If the leaders are to be truly great, 
 their training must be commenced 
 when young, that they may discover 
 their aptitudes, develop their endow¬ 
 ments, gather detailed and compre¬ 
 hensive knowledge, acquire skill, and 
 be adjusted to their mission. It is 
 more than a coincidence that during 
 adolescence, when men and women 
 are most responsive to the call of God, 
 they are also most available as agents, 
 most teachable, and then, if ever, the 
 habits of devotion and liberality are 
 best established. 
 
 Every one is commissioned to be 
 Christ’s witness “ to the uttermost 
 
 4 
 
parts of the world.” The burden of 
 proof is with each one to show how 
 he is justified in not being personally 
 at the front. If that is clear, he is 
 under positive requirement to be at 
 the front representatively so far as 
 possible. To hold the life line is as 
 important and obligatory as to go 
 into the breakers. 
 
 Material 
 
 Resources 
 
 If adequate accessories are to be 
 available it must be through training 
 the young people to practical sym¬ 
 pathy and personal, proportionate co¬ 
 operation. In two decades or less the 
 $25,000,000,000 now in the hands 
 of the church members of the United 
 States will be $50,000,000,000, or 
 more, and this sum, whatever it may 
 be, will be subject to the administra¬ 
 tion of those who to-day are in their 
 formative age. Those to whom it is 
 now entrusted will be in eternity, 
 facing the most serious aspects of the 
 question how it was they had the di¬ 
 rection of so much capital and left it 
 uninvested for the Kingdom. Now, 
 if ever, those who are to possess it 
 must be taught the duty and joy of 
 systematic and proportionate cooper¬ 
 ation with the cause of God, that it is 
 their obligation to tithe their posses¬ 
 sions, and their opportunity to con¬ 
 tribute so much as they can, not from 
 impulse or as a gratuity, but “ as good 
 stewards of the manifold grace of 
 God,” that at His coming Christ may 
 have His own with proper use. Un¬ 
 consecrated wealth is an offense to 
 God, and a canker and curse to the 
 holder. “ Your gold and your silver 
 is cankered and the rust of them shall 
 be a witness against you.” 
 
 5 
 
If all the members of the Church 
 were devoted to hastening the king¬ 
 dom of God, the church militant 
 would be the church triumphant, and 
 the problem of home missions would 
 be solved in a decade. There is 
 nothing more contagious than Chris¬ 
 tian personality. 
 
 Resources in 
 
 Eighteen and two-third centuries 
 have passed since Christ commanded 
 His disciples to preach His gospel to 
 every creature, yet only one of the 
 entire membership of the evangelical 
 churches of the United States has 
 gone into the foreign field for every 
 
 5.500 who stay at home, and only 
 
 1.500 of their ordained ministers are 
 engaged in foreign work, while the 
 other 18,000,000 members and 
 122,000 ministers are living their 
 lives in the home field. 
 
 If the evangelical churches were to 
 send to the foreign fields two thou¬ 
 sand missionaries a year for, say 
 thirty years, the world could be evan¬ 
 gelized before the close of the first 
 third of this twentieth century. That 
 would mean, after about twelve 
 years a standing army of, say 20,000 
 laboring among the 1,000,000,000 
 who know not God nor Jesus Christ 
 whom He hath sent, or one mission¬ 
 ary for every 50,000 persons to be 
 reached. That would be sufficient, if 
 properly supported, to develop and 
 give direction to the native agencies 
 and assure success. 
 
 This is not impossible,, nor would 
 it make a disastrous or unreasonable 
 draft on the home churches. There 
 are nearly twice two thousand young 
 
 6 
 
people, Student Volunteers, in the 
 colleges and universities of the United 
 States to-day who are pledged for 
 this work and eager to go. If the 
 demand were manifest their number 
 would be largely increased. Two 
 thousand a year would be only one 
 out of eleven of the young people 
 who go out from our colleges and uni¬ 
 versities, or about one out of every 
 sixteen leaving our institutions of 
 higher education annually. 
 
 0 J Evangelization 
 
 Possibl 
 
 To carry out this moderate but 
 sufficient propaganda would require, 
 say, $30,000,000 annually. This 
 should be no serious inconvenience. 
 
 The people of the United States 
 spend, shall we say waste, $11,000,- 
 000 a year on chewing gum,—one 
 third enough to save the world. 
 Thirty million dollars per year would 
 be only three twenty-fifths of one per 
 cent., or twelve cents out of each hun¬ 
 dred dollars now in the hands of 
 the evangelical church members in 
 this country. What might be done 
 by reasonable sacrifice? The young 
 people could provide this amount 
 themselves if they had a mind so to 
 do. An average of one cent per day 
 from the more than five million mem¬ 
 bers enrolled in the young people’s 
 societies of the churches in the United 
 States, and one cent per week from 
 the something over fourteen millions 
 gathered in the Sunday-schools, 
 would supply almost the money nec¬ 
 essary. 
 
 J Education 
 
 Essenti 
 
 It is not unreasonable to believe 
 that the world’s evangelization will 
 
be accomplished by the young people 
 when they are properly educated. 
 When Frederick the Great heard of 
 the defeat of his army on a certain 
 occasion, he exclaimed, “ We must 
 educate.” Burke said, “ Education 
 is the cheap defense of nations.” 
 The Church, like Hannah, the wife 
 of Elkanah, must bring her youth to 
 the temple and dedicate them to be 
 educated for and in the ministry of 
 the sanctuary. Then she can say, 
 like Christ, “ Of them which Thou 
 gayest me have I lost none.” The 
 prophecy is, “ All thy children shall 
 be taught of the Lord.” 
 
 If “ child ” means one who is not 
 yet hardened into maturity, the proph¬ 
 ecy that a “ child shall lead them ” 
 may be fulfilled in this great work of 
 bringing the world to Christ. The 
 soldiers who have won the great bat¬ 
 tles of modern times were young men, 
 many of them still in their teens. 
 General Grant said in his Fourth of 
 July address at Hamburg, “ What 
 saved the Union was the coming for¬ 
 ward of the young men.” 
 
 Achievements of 
 
 Youth 
 
 in 
 
 History 
 
 Patrick Henry, by rallying the 
 young men of the Virginia House of 
 Delegates, secured the passage of a 
 resolution sustaining the independence 
 of the colonies and set a standard for 
 the new world. 
 
 The French Academy, which for 
 two and a half centuries has been so 
 potent a factor in shaping the brilliant 
 literature of that people, had its be¬ 
 ginning in the ardent longings and 
 aspirations of young men, the oldest 
 of whom, with perhaps one exception, 
 were under twenty-seven years of age. 
 
 8 
 
Pitt entered Parliament when he 
 was hardly twenty-two, and was Prime 
 Minister of Great Britain before he 
 was twenty-five. 
 
 The typical missionary, who out¬ 
 lined the ideal and set the pattern, He 
 who undertook the most stupendous 
 work ever enterprised, the work of 
 reconciling God and man, said at the 
 age of thirty-three, “ It is finished,” 
 and returned to Heaven from whence 
 He came. 
 
 Saul officially witnessed the stoning 
 of Stephen at twenty-seven, and a 
 short time after was commissioned by 
 Christ to go bear His name far hence 
 to the Gentiles. 
 
 Timothy was but fourteen when 
 converted and eighteen when called to 
 become the assistant to the great 
 apostle. 
 
 Adoniram Judson was but twenty- 
 two when he resolved to devote him¬ 
 self to foreign mission work, and 
 started for India at twenty-four. 
 
 Robert Morrison was but twenty- 
 two when he was accepted by the 
 London Missionary Society and com¬ 
 missioned to open Christian work in 
 China. 
 
 David Livingstone was twenty-one, 
 Jacob Chamberlain nineteen, and 
 Bishop Thoburn only seventeen when 
 called to foreign mission work. These 
 ages are not exceptional, but illustrate 
 the rule. “ Wherever in history we 
 mark a great movement of humanity, 
 we commonly detect a young man at 
 its head or at its heart.” 
 
 It is quite probable that when this 
 world is evangelized, it will be through 
 the agency of young people, occupy- 
 
ing the firing-line, seeking and teach¬ 
 ing the young people while the rest of 
 the Church, whose training com¬ 
 menced as young people, will supply 
 with equal devotion the accessories for 
 maintenance and expansion, every one 
 giving his tithe in kind, sympathy, 
 prayer, thought, time and money, as 
 each is possible. 
 
 Agencies for worid- 
 
 Evangef- It is not only possible that the young 
 people will accomplish the world’s 
 evangelization, but the agencies are 
 well organized and the process far ad¬ 
 vanced. The trend of the evangelical 
 churches was to emphasize, through 
 organized effort, the importance of 
 work for young people; latterly the 
 trend is to emphasize work by young 
 people. Their organizations for de¬ 
 veloping knowledge, loyalty and min¬ 
 istries have had a quiet but striking 
 evolution until their comprehensive¬ 
 ness, possibilities and articulation with 
 the great work of the world’s evangel¬ 
 ization are startling and prophetic. 
 
 Sunday-schools 
 
 First, as to number and date of or¬ 
 ganization, is the Sunday-school. In 
 its earlier stage it gathered poor chil¬ 
 dren, and them exclusively, and taught 
 the elements of education and primary 
 religious truths. Subsequently it 
 sought to gather all children and youth 
 for instruction in Bible truths and per¬ 
 sonal obligations. Its system, scope 
 and efficiency have improved, looking 
 more and more to securing practical 
 and immediate results in personal ex¬ 
 perience and effectiveness. 
 
 There are over fourteen millions 
 gathered into the Sunday-schools of 
 
 io 
 
America. It is estimated that of these 
 twenty per cent, are converted during 
 their attendance, and twenty per cent, 
 afterward. That leaves sixty per cent, 
 to be accounted for; but the forty per 
 cent, who profess conversion furnish 
 eighty-seven per cent, of the members 
 of the evangelical churches, and only 
 thirteen per cent, are gathered from 
 those who never had Sunday-school 
 instruction. The Sunday-school teach¬ 
 ers constitute the vanguard of the 
 Kingdom. 
 
 If our Sunday-school scholars were 
 systematically trained to give an 
 average of one cent per week to 
 the world’s evangelization, it would 
 amount to over seven million dollars, 
 or be nearly one and one-half times as 
 much as the entire Protestant Church 
 of America is giving for foreign mis¬ 
 sions. Systematic work has com¬ 
 menced in this most promising field. 
 
 The sixteenth or seventeenth is the 
 year of maximum probability for con¬ 
 version, and the aim and effort is be¬ 
 coming more defined on the part of 
 the Sunday-schools to see that every 
 scholar is awakened, converted and 
 started in systematic cooperation with 
 the Church before that year is passed. 
 
 In 1901 there were more than 2,000 
 normal classes, and 18,000 conven¬ 
 tions held among the workers in these 
 Sunday-schools, and over 200,000 
 joined the evangelical churches from 
 the ranks of the scholars. 
 
 The Student 
 
 Young 
 
 The Young Men’s Christian Asso- ^ h e r " st s ian 
 ciation was organized in 1844. Its 
 primary object was to look after young 
 men, who are subjected to varied, 
 subtle and serious temptations in our 
 
 11 
 
“ homeless cities.” Everything is a 
 part of the Universe of God, and any¬ 
 thing which is well born becomes ar¬ 
 ticulated with His great purpose. So 
 the Young Men’s Christian Associa¬ 
 tion has naturally broadened its scope, 
 multiplied its departments of work 
 and enriched its ministries. 
 
 The International Committee of 
 the Young Men’s Christian Associa¬ 
 tion commenced to develop u d he 
 Student Young Men’s Christian As¬ 
 sociation ” work in 1877. The move¬ 
 ment now includes nearly every lead¬ 
 ing college and university in North 
 America. “ Its object is to lead stu¬ 
 dents to be intelligent and loyal dis¬ 
 ciples of Jesus Christ, to train them 
 in individual and association Christian 
 work, and to influence them to place 
 their lives where they can best serve 
 their generation.” Through secre¬ 
 taries, training conferences, Bible, mis¬ 
 sion, normal and other study classes, 
 special literature and deputation men, 
 its work has been systematically 
 pushed until it has come to be a chief 
 influence in our leading institutions for 
 promoting the Kingdom in the lives 
 of the students. In state and unde¬ 
 nominational institutions it has well 
 nigh the monopoly of this work. 
 Largely through its efficiency the col¬ 
 leges and universities have come to be 
 the most Christian communities in the 
 United States and Canada. “ Taking 
 the young men of North America as a 
 whole, not more than eight per cent., 
 or one in twelve, are Christians. In 
 1902 a careful census taken in three 
 hundred and fifty-six of our colleges 
 and universities showed that of 83,000 
 
young men, 52 per cent., or more than 
 one-half of the student body, were 
 members of evangelical churches. 
 Twenty-five years previous the pro¬ 
 portion was less than one-third.”— 
 
 John R. Mott. 
 
 The virility of this movement makes 
 it a great deal more than a home mis¬ 
 sionary organization. The student 
 type of religion is manly and practical. 
 
 “ Their religious life is based upon 
 a personal study of the Scriptures and 
 Christian evidences, and not least help¬ 
 ful in shaping their faith has been the 
 influence of the presentation and study 
 of the facts of Christian missions.” 
 
 For years past students have been the 
 largest purchasers of missionary 
 books. They believe, with Bishop 
 Whately, “ If our religion is not true 
 we ought to change it. If it is true 
 we are bound to propagate what we 
 believe to be the truth.” 
 
 The Student 
 
 Volunteer 
 
 “ The Student Volunteer Move- Movcment 
 ment for Foreign Missions,” a special 
 branch of this work, was organized in 
 1888. It works among the most 
 potential class in the Christian world 
 and seeks to bring them to the high¬ 
 est service in ministry to others. Their 
 appeal is to conscience, conviction, 
 consecration, courage and character. 
 
 The volunteers are among those of 
 strongest personality, largest equip¬ 
 ment and greatest efficiency. Through 
 this agency about 10,000 students 
 have volunteered in the past seventeen 
 years. A large proportion of these 
 are still at college preparing, but over 
 4,000 are actually in the field and 
 many more would be if the Church 
 
had been ready to send them. A re¬ 
 cruiting agency has thus been offered 
 the Church, the like of which she had 
 never known. 
 
 The World’s Student 
 
 Federation The World’s Student Christian 
 Federation, organized in 1895, in¬ 
 cludes eleven national organizations, 
 over 1,800 separate associations or 
 unions and about ninety per cent, of 
 the institutions of higher education of 
 the entire world, with a total member¬ 
 ship of over 100,000 students and 
 professors. An associated Christian 
 effort has thus united more students 
 around the cross of the conquering 
 Jesus than any other inter-collegiate 
 organization, athletic, literary, fra¬ 
 ternal or political. “As go the uni¬ 
 versities so go the nations.” 
 
 This Federation is concerned, in 
 purpose at least, with the moral and 
 religious welfare of two-thirds of the 
 young men of the human race. The 
 movement is now looking toward the 
 8,000 secondary schools of the United 
 States and Canada with their 275,000 
 boys as the key to the colleges and 
 universities. Of the 381,982 mem¬ 
 bers of the Young Men’s Christian 
 Association in this country 54,739 are 
 boys under sixteen years of age. 
 
 The Young Women’s 
 
 Association The American Committee of the 
 Young Women’s Christian Associa¬ 
 tion, working along similar lines, with 
 similar results, was organized in 1886, 
 and numbers 671 associations with a 
 membership of 100,252. 
 
 Young People’s 
 Societies 
 
 The Young People who never go 
 to college far exceed in number those 
 who do. They also are organizing 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
and being trained for and enlisted in 
 this great work. This indicates a 
 third line of preparation for the 
 world’s evangelization. 
 
 The Young People’s Society of 
 Christian Endeavor, the Epworth 
 League, the Baptist Young People’s 
 Union, the Christian Union of United 
 Brethren, the Young People’s Union 
 of the United Presbyterian Church, 
 the Brotherhood of Andrew and 
 Philip, and other smaller associations, 
 include an aggregate membership, not 
 counting any twice, of somewhat over 
 5,000,000, or about 28 per cent, of 
 the evangelical church members of 
 the United States. 
 
 Horizon and inspiration, purpose 
 and uplift, have come to the young 
 people through the great conventions 
 held by these various organizations. 
 Growth is as natural to young people 
 as enthusiasm. It is significant that 
 their conventions are approximating 
 the Conference idea. They are stress¬ 
 ing more and more Bible, Mission and 
 normal study, study of the various 
 fields, problems, phases and methods 
 of Church life and work. Their pro¬ 
 grams provide for less rhetoric and 
 more facts. Those who have brought 
 things to pass are invited to contribute 
 of their experiences, explain methods 
 and answer questions. In their local 
 organizations they associate young 
 people together for specific religious 
 purposes, spiritual, missionary, char¬ 
 itable, literary and social. They make 
 the young people accessible to syste¬ 
 matic instruction and develop organ¬ 
 ized and individual effort, skill and 
 efficiency and beget a sense of personal 
 
 15 
 
/ 
 
 The Young 
 Missionary 
 Movement 
 
 responsibility and achievement. They 
 have vast possibilities and are gradual¬ 
 ly occupying them. 
 
 Only about two per cent, of the 
 people of the United States, who reach 
 twenty-three years of age, without a 
 clear personal identification with 
 Christ and His Church, ever become 
 Christians. The Young People’s So¬ 
 cieties are developing a spirit of co¬ 
 operation with the churches to see by 
 all possible means that every one who 
 can be reached is thoroughly indoc¬ 
 trinated in the Scriptures, established 
 in habits of proportionate giving and 
 personally identified with evangelical 
 work before he reaches that age. 
 
 Technically the term Young People 
 applies only till the end of adolescence, 
 or say, through the twenty-second 
 year. It requires an average of, say, 
 approximately 30,000 young people 
 and 70,000 children to be recruited 
 every week through the year to main¬ 
 tain the membership of the Young 
 People’s Societies and Sunday-schools 
 at their present enrollment, so the 
 Young People’s Societies present a 
 constant demand for well trained lead¬ 
 ers, and the work of the Sunday-school 
 creates similar requirements with 
 growing urgency. 
 
 People’s 
 
 The fourth stage in this develop¬ 
 ment of organized young people’s 
 agencies for the world’s evangeliza¬ 
 tion is the “ Young People’s Mission¬ 
 ary Movement,” which was born of 
 an oppressive sense of need that the 
 ever changing membership of the 
 Young People’s Societies and Sunday- 
 schools should have trained leaders, 
 
 16 
 
up to date alike in the wisdom of tne 
 past and demands of the present, 
 capable to give direction to the sys¬ 
 tematic and practical study of the 
 Word and work of God. The most 
 successful workers in these fields keenly 
 recognize this need. The Young 
 People’s Missionary Movement has 
 its. Executive Committee of fifteen, 
 approved or selected by the Mission¬ 
 ary Boards of the various Churches, 
 its Board of Council and its Secretary 
 with well equipped offices. 
 
 A Missionary 
 
 Clearing 
 
 Its organization was not premedi- House 
 tated, but providential. It is purely 
 supplementary to the work of the 
 Church Universal and in no sense in¬ 
 tended to supplant any branch of it. 
 
 It stands for the broadest catholicity 
 through an enriching and enriched de- 
 nominationalism. Each church may 
 best train its own leaders, but where 
 can the leaders of these leaders be 
 trained so efficiently as in an Inter¬ 
 denominational Conference by de¬ 
 nominational specialists? This is the 
 object of the Young People’s Mission¬ 
 ary Movement. It brings together 
 specialists from the Young Men’s 
 Christian Association, the Sunday- 
 school, the Secretariate of the various 
 Mission Boards, returned mission¬ 
 aries, the leading educational institu¬ 
 tions and representative pulpits, to 
 give instruction in its conferences. It 
 is a clearing-house of facts and ideas, 
 a school of methods, a dynamo of in¬ 
 spiration for both home and foreign 
 mission workers, where each labors 
 for all and all serve each. 
 
 Conferences for 
 Leaders 
 
 This fourth development marks 
 the equipping and constructive stage 
 
 17 
 
through which key-workers may be 
 selected, enriched and trained more 
 thoroughly than ever before to lead 
 in the specific work of organizing and 
 developing the young people through 
 their own denominational societies 
 and Sunday-schools. Though the 
 first preliminary meeting, out of which 
 has grown this organization, was held 
 in December, 1901, it has conducted 
 eight Conferences, attended by over 
 twenty-two hundred workers among 
 young people from about thirty de¬ 
 nominations, and secured a permanent 
 home for its central annual Confer¬ 
 ence at Silver Bay. 
 
 In response to numerous invitations, 
 plans are being perfected to hold four 
 of its Conferences next year, one each 
 at Silver Bay, on Lake George; Ashe¬ 
 ville, North Carolina; Lake Geneva, 
 Wisconsin; and Whitby, Canada. 
 
 Five Missionary Conferences or 
 “ Summer Schools,” after the Silver 
 Bay type, have been held during the 
 last two years in Great Britain. Mr. 
 S. Earl Taylor participated by special 
 request in two of these in 1905. Ar¬ 
 rangements are in progress for four 
 similar Conferences in the summer of 
 1906. 
 
 A special three days’ Conference 
 has been called for Silver Bay next 
 July to discuss plans for comprehen¬ 
 sive and graded Missionary instruc¬ 
 tion in the Sunday-school. 
 
 No one can estimate the importance 
 of this organization which promises to 
 become a movement of movements. 
 
 The Interdenominational Mission¬ 
 ary Institute is an interesting out¬ 
 growth of the Movement’s Summer 
 
 18 
 
Conferences and promises large con¬ 
 structive influence. These institutes 
 assemble delegates from the Sunday- 
 schools and Young People’s Societies 
 surrounding metropolitan centers. 
 
 Their object is to train leaders who 
 will be able to organize and direct 
 Bible or Mission Study Classes in 
 every congregation, Sunday-school and 
 Young People’s Society within the im¬ 
 mediate territory. 
 
 Forty-six institutes have been held 
 with an aggregate attendance of 17,- 
 365 delegates and half as many more 
 are scheduled for the next few months, 
 four of which will be on the Pacific 
 Coast. 
 
 During the year 1904-05 sixty 
 thousand young people were enrolled 
 in Classes systematically studying the 
 Mission text-books prepared by this 
 Movement and during the first three 
 and one-half months of 1905-06 an 
 equal number have been enrolled 
 which suggests a large growth for the 
 year. 
 
 Preparation of 
 
 Missionary 
 
 Another important field of useful¬ 
 ness for this movement is in the 
 preparation of suitable Missionary 
 Programs, material and literature for 
 the Sunday-schools. 
 
 A set of carefully selected educa¬ 
 tional curios from Japan have been 
 arranged for the primary department 
 and similar boxes to illustrate the 
 study of Africa and India are being 
 selected. It has prepared a series of 
 Programs and illustrated accessories 
 for the Intermediate Department and 
 a Manual of missionary work in the 
 various departments of the Sunday- 
 
school for leaders and teachers is in 
 preparation. 
 
 This material placed at the disposal 
 of denominational missionary secreta¬ 
 ries for adaptation to denominational 
 needs and used through denomina¬ 
 tional channels, will be of great 
 educational value in directing the 
 thought of the fourteen millions of 
 Sunday-school scholars to the needs of 
 the mission fields. 
 
 Similar, though more elaborate and 
 advanced material, prepared for the 
 use of Young People’s Societies may 
 give direction to the five million mem¬ 
 bers of these organizations in a pro¬ 
 gressive study of the world field. 
 
 Mission Study 
 
 book's A form of service that has already 
 proven of great value is the prepara¬ 
 tion of suitable text-books for the use 
 of Young People’s Mission Study 
 Classes. To meet the demand for 
 such text-books the Movement, 
 through its Editorial Committee, is 
 preparing the Forward Mission Study 
 Courses. These Courses, as at pres¬ 
 ent outlined, comprise twenty volumes 
 written by leading authorities on mis¬ 
 sions and present the needs and condi¬ 
 tions of both home and foreign mis¬ 
 sion fields. 
 
 Libraries' The need and demand for books of 
 this type are indicated by the fact that 
 the publications of the Movement are 
 being used and distributed by thirty- 
 two Missionary Boards in the United 
 States, Canada, Great Britain, New 
 Zealand, Australia, South America, 
 South Africa and India. The Move¬ 
 ment has prepared and published seven 
 Mission Study Text-Books, of which 
 
 20 
 
165,000 volumes have been sold. It 
 has selected and issued six Libraries, 
 including two General Libraries and 
 four Reference Libraries, the aggre¬ 
 gate sales of which have been 155,947 
 volumes. 
 
 The leaflets, pamphlets and other 
 accessories issued to assist Mission 
 Study and Missionary Committees ap¬ 
 proach a total of 500,000. It has also 
 prepared and published outline maps 
 of different countries and various sets 
 of Mission charts. 
 
 The selection and preparation of 
 Libraries suitable for Juniors and 
 the younger Sunday-school scholars 
 are now receiving the attention of 
 the Library Committee. 
 
 Denominational 
 Y oung 
 
 The greatest work of the Young 
 People’s Missionary Movement is not 
 as an independent organization, but 
 as a servant of the denominational 
 boards whose representatives consti¬ 
 tute its Executive Committee and 
 Board of Counsel. 
 
 The leading denominations are rec¬ 
 ognizing the opportunity and obliga¬ 
 tion which these converging lines of 
 organized young people’s work create. 
 
 A number of Missionary Boards have 
 standing or special Committees to su¬ 
 pervise the Young People’s Mission¬ 
 ary work within their denominations. 
 
 Eleven Secretaries are giving all their 
 time and ten others partial time to 
 foster and develop the study and work 
 of Missions among the young people 
 of their churches. 
 
 Achievements in 
 
 The following facts concerning the 
 work of the Young People s Depart- 
 
ment of a single denomination give an 
 encouraging insight into the possibil¬ 
 ities of this work when fully developed 
 in all Boards and Churches. Every 
 Sunday-school of this denomination is 
 organized into a Sunday-school Mis¬ 
 sionary Society with provisions for a 
 monthly meeting and a missionary an¬ 
 niversary in each school. They gave 
 last year $509,000 for missions and 
 are showing a healthy growth in intel¬ 
 ligent sympathy and practical aid. 
 
 The Young People’s Society of this 
 denomination occupies high ground in 
 the cause of world-wide evangeliza¬ 
 tion. The constitution requires a 
 standing committee to be appointed in 
 every Chapter, which committee un¬ 
 der the chairmanship of a special Vice- 
 President supervises the department 
 of world evangelization, including 
 mission study, church benevolences 
 and various forms of missionary activ¬ 
 ity. Mission study is a regular feature 
 of its educational plan. In i904-’c>5 
 the Secretary of the Young People’s 
 Department of its Missionary Society 
 gave direction to 1308 mission study 
 classes with an enrollment of 17,264 
 systematically studying the prescribed 
 courses, and a great many classes were 
 not officially reported. Since 1901 
 over 42,000 have been enrolled in its 
 mission study classes. 
 
 Its Missionary Society has a Young 
 People’s Secretary and a Missionary 
 Editor with well organized offices, 
 both directed by a standing committee 
 of the Board. They are creating and 
 circulating literature; planning for 
 and assisting at conventions; prepar¬ 
 ing and displaying missionary exhib- 
 
 22 
 
its; conducting correspondence, direct¬ 
 ing student campaigns and campaign¬ 
 ers. In one year, under the direction 
 of the Young People’s Secretary, 
 thirty colleges were visited and con¬ 
 ferences held to train campaigners, 
 and one hundred and thirty-two cam¬ 
 paigners were placed in the field to 
 organize and conduct mission and 
 Bible study classes, circulate literature 
 and locate Missionary Libraries. 
 During the year, cards, leaflets and 
 pamphlets, aggregating 785,000 
 pieces, were printed and sent out by 
 the Young People’s Department in 
 the interests of Mission study and 
 stewardship. In addition to these its 
 outgoing mail has included 151,000 
 personal and circular letters. 
 
 Each of the four great movements, 
 the Sunday-school, the Young Men’s 
 and Young Women’s Christian Asso¬ 
 ciations, the Young People’s Societies, 
 and the Young People’s Missionary 
 Movement, has its distinctive field and 
 commission, but they naturally over¬ 
 lap and supplement each other. All 
 are the legitimate children of the 
 Church which begat and nurtures 
 them. She rejoices in their develop¬ 
 ment. Their success is her honor, and 
 they are honored in being able to aid 
 with growing efficiency in preparing 
 her for the coming of Him who is 
 Lord of All. 
 
 The church which neglects her 
 young people “ proves herself improv¬ 
 ident and must neither wonder nor 
 complain if Heaven leaves her nothing 
 to nurse but her own desolation.” 
 
 What is true of the churches in the 
 
 The Obligation 
 and 
 
 Opportu¬ 
 nity of the 
 Church 
 
 23 
 
United States in their relation to this 
 great problem, is in a measure true of 
 all the churches and lands in Christen¬ 
 dom. 
 
 Nothing is accomplished without 
 vision. Those through whom the 
 Spirit of God has its most effective 
 work are the Seers, those who see the 
 vision of God’s purpose and of human 
 opportunity. They have the first qual¬ 
 ification for leadership in the world’s 
 evangelization. 
 
 We are now living in the dispensa¬ 
 tion of the Holy Spirit, when it was 
 promised, “ Your young men shall see 
 visions,” and “ the spirit of teaching 
 shall be given to your sons and daugh¬ 
 ters.” Surely, “ The light that never 
 was on sea or land ” is the illumina¬ 
 tion of these organized activities of 
 the young people. 
 
 Their responsibility and their goal 
 is the world’s evangelization. Their 
 challenge is to the host of God. Their 
 activity and development give hope 
 that in and through the young people, 
 who rapidly transform knowledge in¬ 
 to power, and are teeming with that 
 joyous fulness of creative life which 
 radiates thoughts as inspirations and 
 dissipates “ the torpor of narrow vis¬ 
 ion and indolent ignorance ” by the ir¬ 
 resistible power of the broad human 
 gladness found in a life of unselfish 
 love of their kind, the desire of God 
 shall be realized, “ Who will have all 
 men to be saved and come unto the 
 knowledge of the truth.” 
 
t 
 
YOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT 
 IBS FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK