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 A Presbyterian 
 Church with a 
 Waiting List of 
 15,000 
 
 By Rev. A. 14\ Halsey , D.D. 
 
 (Reprinted by permission of The Continent) 
 
 Women’s Board of Foreign Mis¬ 
 sions of the Presbyterian Church 
 
 Room 818, 156 Fifth Ave., New York 
 
 A GROUP OF AFRICAN CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY 
 
 Price 3 cents; 30 cents a dozen 
 
For a church of 2,297 members to be developed in nine¬ 
 teen years from a group of tiuo men and four women 
 is remarkable. That such a church has 15.000 con¬ 
 tributors by envelope to support its 107 evangelists 
 and seventy village schools almost surpasses belief. 
 This has been done in the interior of Africa, where 
 natives formerly were cannibals. The author is corre¬ 
 sponding secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions. 
 
 1915 
 
A Presbyterian Church with a Waiting 
 List of 15,000 
 
 By Rev. A. IV. Halsey, D.D. 
 
 At Elat, German Kamerun, west Africa, is a wonderful Presbyterian 
 church. Nineteen years ago Adolphus Good, that prince of Presbyterian 
 pioneer missionaries, selected Elat, 120 miles from the coast, as a strategic 
 position for a mission station. Superstition, infanticide, immorality and even 
 cannibalism were to be found among the tribes living in that immediate 
 region. But Dr. Good, with his keen, discerning eye, foresaw even cannibals 
 made into Christians and chose Elat as a center for Christian activity, mainly 
 for the reason that it was such a stronghold of sin. 
 
 The Elat church was organized twelve years ago with a charter mem¬ 
 bership of two men and four women. Its membership today numbers 2,297, 
 
 3 
 
of whom 1,075 were received during the year ending August 1, 1914. As for 
 the propriety of calling this the greatest Presbyterian church in the world, 
 it must be acknowledged, of course, that in mere numbers on the church roll 
 there are Presbyterian churches in the homeland surpassing that at Elat. But 
 this African congregation has other strengths and distinctions. In addition 
 to its membership of 2,300, Elat has two catechumen classes, numbering re¬ 
 spectively 2,000 and 13,000. No one can be admitted to the Elat church as a 
 member without a probationary period of at least two years under weekly 
 instruction in these classes. 
 
 Is not that a preeminent superiority? I know of no other Presbyterian 
 church in the world with a waiting list of 15,000. There are certain celebrated 
 clubs in New York City whose waiting lists are said to be a thousand each. 
 But the writer knows of no club, society or church organization which has 
 a waiting list five times its membership. In this respect certainly, Elat is 
 unique. 
 
 But it is unique in another respect. This great Presbyterian church has 
 
 4 
 
15,000 contributors by envelope. Surely that is an unequalled record. The 
 first test of the African mission convert, when admitted to the probationer’s 
 class, is that he must give up his fetish; the next he must settle his palavers— 
 pay his debts, give up surplus wives, give up outwardly at least every im¬ 
 morality. Then as a third step, he must take a bunch of envelopes and become 
 a weekly contributor-—two years before reception into the church. A careful 
 record is kept, and his card is punched each month for church attendance and 
 for contributions. I know of no other Presbyterian church where there is 
 kept such minute accounts with prospective members. 
 
 LONG SALARY ROLL BUT SELF-SUPPORTING 
 
 During the twelve months ending August 1, 7,500 persons confessed 
 Christ at the Elat church. Where has that record been outdone? Of these, 
 5,000 were led to Christ by the native Avorkers. The largest attendance at 
 any communion service during the year was 8,100. The church is practically 
 self-supporting. And it is doubtful if any other church in the world has 
 
 5 
 
such a lengthy salary roll. Elat pays for 107 evangelists and Bible readers. 
 It supports, besides, the teachers of some seventy village schools in which are 
 more than 4,000 scholars. It pays more than half the expenses of the station 
 boarding school, whose average attendance for the year was 900. 
 
 The total receipts from all schools was $2,162 gold; the total contributions 
 through church collections $2,500 gold. To get an accurate idea of what this 
 means, we may choose as a measuring rod the pay of the native evangelist 
 and Bible reader. The lowest amount paid is $1.20 a month, and the highest 
 $2.40. Our fellow Christians in Africa are probably as poor as any group 
 of Presbyterians the world over, and their gifts indicate a spirit of self- 
 sacrifice worthy of all praise. 
 
 The amount asked by the mission at the beginning of the year for all na¬ 
 tive work at Elat was $15,515, the amount raised on the field was $13,260. 
 This includes the proceeds of the work done by the industrial department, and 
 fees paid for private practice to the medical missionaries. Such a record in 
 a region of such utter poverty is marvelous. 
 
 6 
 
The boys at the school, in addition to a crusade against weeds, re-roofing 
 houses, preparing ground for new buildings, and much else erected four dormi¬ 
 tories for boys and two for girls—these six buildings being each twenty by 
 forty feet. Also they built the large school building thirty-two by seventy for 
 Bulu pupils, and another thirty-five by eighty for the German school. Each 
 of these has now over 500 pupils. The total cost of all these structures was 
 not far from $5,000. 
 
 The girls worked in the garden, kept house, made a thousand kank each 
 week (kank is native bread made from the cassava root), did much sewing 
 and learned some useful trades. 
 
 It is well to remember that while these village schools teach the “three 
 R's” and industrial trades, such as carpentry, chairmaking, tailoring, sewing 
 and domestic science, they also give daily instruction in the Scriptures. All 
 their reading books are translations of books of the Bible. Practically the only 
 literature in the country outside of the Scripture are translations of “Pilgrim’s 
 Progress” and Foster’s “Story of the Bible.” Each one of the 5,000 or more 
 
 7 
 
pupils under the instruction of the missionaries and members of the Elat 
 church is daily taught some portion of the Word of God. 
 
 All the village schools are manned by teachers trained in the normal 
 schools of the mission. All are Christians and each village school is a re¬ 
 cruiting station for the church. From these schools a large number of those 
 who attend the services at Elat on the great feast days, and who eventually 
 enter the catechumen classes, find their way into the church. 
 
 The report for the past year states that it “has been record breaking in 
 respect to the number of accessions, the size of the crowds attending, the 
 amount of giving and the out-reach and results of evangelistic enterprise.” 
 One of the “out-reaches” was started two years ago at Fulasi, seventy miles east 
 of Elat. Fulasi church was organized on Easter Sunday, 1912, by members 
 who had joined Elat, although living near Fulasi. In the advanced catechumen 
 class at the new station there were last August 1,358 members; in the second 
 class, 7,300. On June communion Sunday there were 10,000 people present 
 at the main station of Fulasi and the immediate out-stations. 
 
 8 
 
BUILDING ERECTED AND FURNISHED BY BOYS OF THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 
 
NATIVES HOLD NEW STATION UNTIL HELP ARRIVES 
 
 Far beyond Elat at Lomie, is a station not yet occupied by the missionaries 
 but preempted simply by native evangelists from Elat who are holding the 
 fort until the Presbyterian Church in America can furnish the men and means 
 to carry on the new enterprise. 
 
 It is suggested that in the theological class the youngy Built theologues 
 who found great difficulty in previous years in mastering the Shorter Cate¬ 
 chism, this last year learned with readiness and with delight sixty-five ques¬ 
 tions from the new Intermediate Catechism, lately authorized by Assembly. 
 The entire body of students answered all the questions correctly and under- 
 standingly. 
 
 The last word from Elat in a letter just received states that it has become 
 a Red Cross station. We fear this means fighting thereabouts, for Elat is a 
 strategic point in the German colony of Kamerun and might very likely be¬ 
 come a point of attack by invasion from the coast or from' the neighboring 
 
 10 
 
colony of French Kongo. But though war might for a time interfere with the 
 growth of this remarkable mission church, the spiritual life of this body of 
 Christians cannot be seriously impaired by any disaster. No such results as 
 are evidenced in the Elat church could have been accomplished save by the 
 power of the Spirit of the living God. 
 
 Some one will say, “Surely you have a very large force of missionaries 
 at Elat.” The entire force last year consisted of three ordained men, four 
 laymen, five missionaries’ wives, two single women. 
 
 The money granted by the board for the support of this station, exclusive 
 of the salaries of the missionaries, was $2,255 gold. 
 
 Is not this the greatest Presbyterian church in the world? 
 
AFRICAN SCHOOL GIRLS ARE EAGER TO LEARN, THOUGH POORLY DRESSED