THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 THE COLLECTION OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 C.E. M&ddry 
 
 C286 
 322k 
 
"NjVERSiTY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00039140107 
 
 This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
KINGDOM BUILDING BY 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 BAPTISTS 
 
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 KINGDOM BUILDING 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 BAPTISTS 
 
 A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES 
 
 OF THE BAPTIST STATE CONVENTION 
 
 OF NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 DEPARTMENT HEADS 
 OF THE CONVENTION 
 
 EDITED FOR USE IN NORTH CAROLINA BAPTIST 
 STUDY CLASSES OF YOUNG PEOPLE OR ADULTS 
 
 I 
 
 1923 
 Published by 
 
PRESSES OF 
 
 EDWARDS & BROUGHTON PRINTING COMPARTS 
 
 RALEIGH, N. C. 
 
FOREWORD ABOUT THE USE 
 OF THIS BOOK 
 
 This little book is an attempt to give a short account of 
 the organized work of North Carolina Baptists. It tells 
 something of the beginnings of that work, its history, its 
 present state, and its outlook. The information it con- 
 tains should be a familiar possession of every earnest 
 Baptist worker. Especially is such knowledge an essen- 
 tial of well-furnished leadership in our church work. 
 
 The several chapters have been written by the various 
 department heads of the Baptist State Convention. While 
 the order in which they appear may be preferred in most 
 cases, the arrangement is not intended to be rigid. The 
 chapters may readily be studied in any order or at any 
 time that may be most convenient for individuals or 
 classes; but, whatever the order, the reader is enjoined to 
 take them all. 
 
 The book has been edited with a view to its use in all 
 Baptist study classes or organizations, of whatever name, 
 composed of our young people or grown people. The 
 questions and outlines at the end of each chapter are de- 
 signed to be suggestive. They will be useful, it is be- 
 lieved, for individual reviews or for class discussion, but 
 are not intended to take the place of better methods the 
 leader in charge may have for attaining the ends desired. 
 
 Helpful criticisms and suggestions growing out of the 
 use of this little book in private reading or in class study 
 will be gratefully welcomed by the State Mission Board. 
 
 Raleigh, N. C, July 14, 1923. 
 
 
 
 to 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. THE CHALLENGE OF STATE MISSIONS TO 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA BAPTISTS 7 
 
 Dr. Charles E. Maddrt, Corresponding Secre- 
 tary of the Board of Missions of the Baptist State 
 Convention. 
 
 II. THE BAPTIST STATE CONVENTION 21 
 
 Dr. Livingston Johnson, Editor of The Biblical 
 Recorder. 
 
 III. BAPTIST EDUCATIONAL WORK IN NORTH 
 
 CAROLINA 35 
 
 Dr. R. T. Vann, Corresponding Secretary of the 
 Board of Education of the Baptist State Convention. 
 
 IV. THE WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION 47 
 
 Mrs. Wesley N. Jones, President. 
 
 V. SUNDAY SCHOOLS 59 
 
 E. L. Middleton, General Sunday School Secretary 
 of the Baptist State Convention. 
 
 VI. THE BAPTIST YOUNG PEOPLE'S UNION 71 
 
 Perry Morgan, General Secretary, and Miss Elma 
 Leigh Farabow, Secretary of Junior and Inter- 
 mediate work. 
 
 VII. ENLISTMENT OF THE COUNTRY CHURCHES S5 
 
 Rev. A. C. Hamby, Superintendent of Enlistment 
 and Country Church Department of the Baptist 
 State Convention. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CHALLENGE OF STATE MISSIONS 
 TO NORTH CAROLINA BAPTISTS 
 
 The present is a supreme moment in the history of 
 North Carolina Baptists. Rich beyond appraisement in 
 an ancestry of world-embracing faith and heroic achieve- 
 ment, we rejoice today as full-handed harvesters amid the 
 glorious fruitage of ancestral labors. But more than this. 
 Seed time in the Kingdom of God never ceases, nor will 
 harvest time until the end. Sowings continuous mean a 
 continuing harvest. Even while reaping with joy from 
 the sowings made by our fathers, we behold about us yet 
 other fields whitening and broadening and, under the 
 moving wind of God's will, beckoning as they broaden in 
 ever expanding waves unto the uttermost parts of the 
 earth. And amid abounding harvests and whitening 
 fields there breaks upon us ever the soul-compelling call 
 for yet more abundant sowings. The favor of God is 
 upon us, His mercy is not withholden. Dull of mind and 
 slow of heart, indeed, must be that servant whose soul does 
 not thrill to the call of a time like this. 
 
 What of the task ahead of us? A tremendous work, 
 seemingly greater than any that has ever gone before, lies 
 right next to the hands of North Carolina Baptists. It 
 presses urgently. Our undertakings should be worthy of 
 our ancestry, and commensurate with our vast opportuni- 
 ties. Will our present State Mission program in North 
 Carolina be equal to the enlarged and imperative demands 
 of the immediate tomorrow? With our present effort and 
 outlay, shall we be able to hand on the Baptist work of 
 
 17] 
 
8 Kingdom Building by 
 
 tomorrow to our children and children's children, cor- 
 respondingly enlarged and multiplied for our day, as we 
 received it at the hands of our fathers in their day? Let 
 us take a rapid survey of the State mission field as it pre- 
 sents itself in North Carolina today. 
 
 A Manufacturing Commonwealth 
 
 North Carolina is rapidly becoming the leading State of 
 the Union in manufacturing. At the beginning of this 
 century North Carolina's place among the States in the 
 value of manufactured products was twenty-seventh. 
 According to the latest available figures, she is fifteenth 
 with her manufactured products, valued at $943,808,000 
 annually. The amount of capital invested in manufac- 
 turing plants in North Carolina according to the census 
 of 1920, was $619,144,000. That was almost double the 
 amount invested by any other Southern State. In 
 twenty years, the number of manufacturing plants rose 
 from 3,465 to 5,990 — just about doubling the factories. 
 In twenty years the number of factory wage-earners rose 
 from 72,000 to 158,000. The value of wages rose from 
 $14,000,000 to $127,000,000 in twenty years. But listen 
 to this! North Carolina leads the world in the manufac- 
 ture of tobacco. Her tobacco factories use one-fourth of 
 all the leaf tobacco used in manufacture in the United 
 States, and pay one-fourth of all the tobacco taxes levied 
 in the Union. This State leads the South in the cotton 
 textile industry in the number of mills, knitting machines, 
 new looms installed year by year, operatives employed, 
 total capital used, gross value of textile products and in 
 the variety of those products. North Carolina has more 
 cotton mills than any State in the Union. Gaston County 
 has now 101, and is building others. The State has more 
 
North Carolina Baptists 
 
 mills that dye and finish their own products than any 
 State in America. The largest hosiery mills in the world 
 are at Durham, the largest towel mills are at Kannapolis, 
 the largest denim mills in the United States are at Greens- 
 boro, the largest damask mills in Roanoke Rapids, and 
 Winston-Salem contains the largest cotton underwear 
 mill in America. 
 
 North Carolina leads every other Southern State in the 
 number of furniture factories, the amount of capital in- 
 vested in this industry, in number of operatives employed, 
 variety of products and in total value of output. With 
 the single exception of Grand Rapids, High Point leads all 
 of the cities of the nation in the manufacture of furniture. 
 We can also claim the largest aluminum plant in the world, 
 and the largest pulp mill in the United States. 
 
 Hydro-Electric Power Development 
 
 In the value and potential development of hydro- 
 electric power, North Carolina ranks first among the 
 States. According to the latest figures compiled, there is 
 undeveloped in the State potential water-power of 100,- 
 000,000 horsepower, while 360,000 horsepower has already 
 been developed. Hundreds of mills, factories, wood- 
 working plants, shops of public utilities of every descrip- 
 tion are furnished with power generated by the water of 
 our rapidly descending rivers. Already North Carolina 
 is absolutely dependent upon the prosperity or plans of 
 the Southern Power Company. 
 
 North Carolina in Agriculture 
 North Carolina ranks fifth among the States in the 
 Union in the value of farm products, being surpassed only 
 by Texas, California, Illinois and New York. The value 
 
10 Kingdom Building by 
 
 of food and feed crops last year amounted to $12,000,000. 
 The per acre value of North Carolina crops last year was 
 $38.82. Only eight other States exceeded this record, and 
 they were all Northern States. North Carolina ranks 
 second in the production of tobacco, third in sorghum, 
 peanuts, and sweet potatoes, and holds the proud record 
 of having grown more corn to the acre than any other 
 State. 
 
 North Carolina in Lumber and Minerals 
 
 Our State produces half of all the lumber manufac- 
 tured in the United States. The hardwood forests of 
 Western Carolina and the pine forests of Eastern Caro- 
 lina yield the largest supply of lumber in all the eastern 
 half of the Union. 
 
 In minerals we take first rank in many things: first in 
 the value of mica output of the entire country, first in 
 feldspar, first in millstones; and North Carolina talc 
 commands the highest price per ton of any produced in 
 the United States. 
 
 North Carolina in Public Education 
 
 Since 1900 North Carolina has made wonderful strides 
 in agriculture, in manufacturing, in hydro-electric develop- 
 ment, but more romantic and marvelous still is her 
 development and accomplishment in public education. 
 Charles B. Ay cock, the prophet of a new day and a new 
 era in public education in North Carolina, is dead, but the 
 vision and splendor of his dreams for the education of the 
 masses of his fellow-citizens of North Carolina, is rapidly 
 and surely being translated into the solid fact and reality 
 of achievement. Eight years ago North Carolina was 
 spending $4,000,000 on elementary public schools, while 
 
North Carolina Baptists 11 
 
 for the fiscal year 1921-'22 there was spent for the main- 
 tenance of common schools $16,000,000. Between Sep- 
 tember, 1921, and June, 1922, $12,000,000 was spent for 
 local school buildings, while there was raised by the sale 
 of local school bonds and expended for local school pur- 
 poses from January to June, 1922, $9,000,000. In a 
 single year North Carolina has spent $42,000,000 for pub- 
 lic education. Twenty years ago the high schools and 
 preparatory schools in North Carolina could almost have 
 been counted on the fingers of the two hands. Today 
 there are 550 high schools in the State, and the most sig- 
 nificant thing of all is the fact that there are 450 of these 
 out in the country! There are 1,800 high school teachers 
 in North Carolina, every one of whom has had at least the 
 equivalent of two years in college. 
 
 North Carolina in Road Building 
 
 The story of North Carolina's remarkable progress in 
 good roads reads like a fairy tale. The last Legislature 
 authorized the expenditure of $50,000,000 for the building 
 of State roads during these two years. Up to the present 
 time $36,187,000 has been spent, and 2,040 miles of high- 
 ways have been completed, and 1,500 miles more are under 
 construction. In addition to this, the counties built 700 
 miles last year, and will build 500 miles in 1923. Soon 
 the one hundred county seats of North Carolina will be 
 tied together by a marvelous system of hard surface roads. 
 
 North Carolina's Population Native Born 
 
 The population of the State is almost entirely native 
 and to the manner born. Only seven-tenths of one per 
 cent are of foreign birth and mixed parentage. In some 
 of our mountain counties the population is almost entirely 
 
12 Kingdom Building by 
 
 of native stock. Almost every boy and girl you meet in 
 this section is eligible for membership in either the Sons 
 or Daughters of the x\merican Revolution. From among 
 this fine and virile stock must come the men to man the 
 pulpits of America in the generation to come. North 
 Carolina furnishes more Baptist preachers today than any 
 other State in the South. Last year Wake Forest had 48 
 men at our Seminary at Louisville and, all told, in all of 
 the Baptist seminaries of America, North Carolina has 
 just about one hundred men preparing for the ministry. 
 And hundreds more are in our high schools and colleges 
 preparing themselves for the ministry. This is by far the 
 greatest thing that has come to us out of the 75 Million 
 Campaign, — the splendid army of young life that has been 
 laid on God's altar for the ministry and the mission field. 
 
 Remarkable Growth of North Carolina Baptists 
 
 The growth of North Carolina Baptists has been mar- 
 velous indeed. The first statement as to numbers shows 
 a wonderful growth even for that day. In 1770 there 
 were only 9 Baptist churches in North Carolina, while in 
 1784 the number had grown to 42 churches, and 47 minis- 
 ters, with 3,776 church members. By 1812 the number of 
 churches had grown to 204, with 117 ministers and 12,567 
 members. In 1830, the year the Convention was organ- 
 ized, there were 14 Associations, 272 churches with 15,360 
 members. Two years later there was reported 332 
 churches, 211 ministers and 18,918 members. In 1845, 
 the year the Southern Baptist Convention was organized, 
 there were reported 409 churches organized into 21 Asso- 
 ciations, with 218 ministers and 31,066 church members. 
 In 1900 the Convention met in Raleigh. It was the first 
 
North Carolina Baptists 13 
 
 Convention the writer ever attended. That year we re- 
 ported a membership of 166,098 in the churches, 55 Asso- 
 ciations, and a total of $40,075.40 given to all benevolence. 
 This year we report 2,225 churches, 325,050 members, 
 20,601 baptisms and a grand total of $966,940.75 given to 
 all benevolences. What a mighty host! In five years 
 we shall easily number half a million members in our 
 churches. 
 
 What of the present outlay and effort of our State Mis- 
 sion Board? Is our work efficiently and effectively organ- 
 ized? Will the effort and expenditure of today keep pace 
 with the need and demand of tomorrow? We here set 
 forth in detailed statement just what is being attempted 
 today. More and more we are trying to organize the 
 work of our State Board into cooperating and coordinated 
 departments, each with a directing head, and all under the 
 direction of the Corresponding Secretary. 
 
 Departments of Our State Mission Work 
 
 Department of Missionary-Pastoral Assistance. The pri- 
 mary work of our State Mission Board from the very be- 
 ginning has been the support of the gospel in destitute 
 places, and the organization and nourishing of churches 
 throughout the State. At one time or another almost 
 every strong church in our growing towns and cities was 
 assisted by the State Mission Board in the support of the 
 pastor. Follow the lines of railway in North Carolina 
 today in every direction, and almost without a single ex- 
 ception, every church in village and town and city, was 
 established and supported by the Mission Board. Truly 
 it may be said that North Carolina Baptist achievement is 
 a trophy of our State Mission Board's work through 
 ninety odd years of wonderful achievement. While other 
 
14 Kingdom Building by 
 
 departments have been organized and developed, it is still 
 true that the biggest work of our Mission Board today is 
 the preaching of the gospel to the destitute sections of 
 North Carolina, and the establishment and support of 
 weak and struggling churches. More than half of the 
 sum total raised and expended for State Missions today is 
 spent for Missionary-Pastoral assistance. 
 
 We have on our Board about two hundred and five mis- 
 sionaries today. These men are serving some three hun- 
 dred and fifty-odd churches and mission stations. Many 
 growing centers in our State could not have Baptist 
 preaching if it were not for the support of the State Mis- 
 sion Board. We are supplementing the salary of many of 
 the pastors at our college and school centers. We pay 
 the salary of the only Baptist preacher in Hyde County 
 and half of the salary of the only Baptist preacher in Dare 
 County. In our growing industrial centers and multiply- 
 ing mill towns the Board is helping to support the preach- 
 ing of the gospel and the establishing of Baptist churches. 
 
 In many country communities fields of churches have 
 been formed, and the State Board is supplementing the 
 salary of the pastor. 
 
 Country Churches. There are 2,225 Baptist churches in 
 North Carolina, and at least 1,800 of these churches are 
 in the country. The country churches have made won- 
 derful progress in better equipment, better support of the 
 pastor and more generous support of the general denomina- 
 tional program. But there yet remains much to be ac- 
 complished in the way of enlistment and development of 
 our country churches. 
 
 We have organized a Country Church Department, with 
 A. C. Hamby as Superintendent. He has associated with 
 him some six or seven men, who are giving all their time 
 
North Carolina Baptists 15 
 
 to the work of enlisting and developing our country 
 churches. These men make a specialty of the formation 
 of fields, better pastoral support by the churches, the 
 building of parsonages and church and Sunday school 
 equipment, and the general toning up of the whole denomi- 
 national life in the country churches. They have accom- 
 plished much, but much yet remains to be done. The 
 biggest job before North Carolina Baptists is the enlist- 
 ment, enlightenment, and development of the country 
 churches. The State is making wonderful strides in 
 better farming methods, better schools, better roads and 
 better living conditions all around. Unless we awake to 
 the crying need for the rejuvenation and rehabilitation of 
 the country church, our opportunity in the country dis- 
 tricts of North Carolina will be gone, and many of our 
 country churches will lose out in the fierce struggle that 
 is now going on in the country districts of North Carolina. 
 
 Department of Sunday Schools. This year closed the 
 record of twenty-seven years of organized Sunday school 
 work under the auspices of the State Mission Board. 
 North Carolina stands well among the Southern Baptists 
 in Sunday school work. We stand first in the proportion 
 of the number of Sunday schools to the number of 
 churches. We rank second in membership and fourth in 
 teacher-training. We have enlarged the department in 
 two years by the addition of two field workers and an 
 elementary worker. As soon as possible there must be 
 further enlargement of this department to take care of the 
 growing and ever-enlarging needs of our Sunday school 
 work. The reader is referred to a special chapter on our 
 Sunday school work in this book. 
 
 The Baptist Young People's Union. The finest and most 
 effective agency for the training of our young people is the 
 
16 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Baptist Young People's Union. This department of our 
 work, like all the others, had its day of small things, and 
 in the early days there was even opposition. But it is at 
 last coming into its own; the idea has caught the imag- 
 ination and gripped the thought of our young people. 
 We have organized over four hundred Unions in a year, 
 and the work is growing in a marvelous way. The coun- 
 try churches are waking up and beginning to organize 
 their young people. The building of good roads and the 
 new era in education has put a tremendous strain upon 
 our country churches. What an opportunity for the 
 saving and training and holding our young people, if we 
 will only realize it and avail ourselves of these handmaids 
 of religion before it is too late. A system of hard-surface 
 roads joining together the county seats of North Carolina, 
 together with this wonderful high school movement back 
 in the country districts, presents to the country Baptist 
 churches such an opportunity as has never come to any 
 other people in North Carolina. Not less than sixty per 
 cent of the country people of North Carolina are Baptists. 
 The young people in multitudes belong to our churches; 
 they are our own God-given opportunity and a fearful 
 responsibility. Once-a-month preaching by an absentee 
 pastor, in a one room, dilapidated, out-of-date, ugly meet- 
 ing house, will not long hold this generation of restless, 
 moving young Baptist life in the country. 
 
 The Baptist Young People's Union is the one effect- 
 ive training agency in the churches. It takes the young 
 boys and girls when they are baptized into the church and 
 helps them to find themselves and their place in the life of 
 the church. There are thousands of country boys and 
 girls in our churches who have never had a chance to make 
 out of themselves what they wanted to be and could have 
 
North Carolina Baptists 17 
 
 been, and what God wanted them to be. The Young 
 People's Union takes this raw material and moulds it and 
 shapes it for service in the churches and the Kingdom of 
 God. Many of us who missed the helpful training of the 
 Baptist Young People's Union, thank God for its ministry 
 with every breath, and have pledged ourselves to the task 
 of giving every Baptist boy and girl in North Carolina a 
 worthy chance to find themselves, to find God's will in 
 Christ for them, and to find their relation to a lost world 
 for whom Christ died. 
 
 The Woman's Missionary Union. The greatest problem 
 confronting Southern Baptists today is the problem of the 
 enlistment of all our churches and members in the active 
 support of the work of the gospel at home and abroad. 
 One of the most effective agencies in this great work is the 
 Woman's Missionary Union. Wherever there is a live, 
 active Missionary Society in a church, there you will find 
 a live, aggressive and liberal church. We will never enlist 
 some of our backward churches until we get hold of the 
 women and the young people. Wherever this is being 
 done, we are making progress; where the women are un- 
 organized and undeveloped we are making little progress. 
 This department of our work has had a marvelous growth, 
 and the story of the achievement of the women of our 
 churches reads like a tale of romance. During the three 
 years of the 75 Million campaign North Carolina Baptists 
 have given $3,365,000, and the women have given one- 
 third of this vast sum. But the greatest accomplishment 
 of the Woman's Missionary Union is the spirit of prayer 
 and consecration and enlightenment it has brought to our 
 churches. Wherever there is an active Missionary So- 
 ciety in a church there you will find a spirit of prayer and 
 a band of faithful missionaries, studying the Word of God 
 2 
 
18 Kingdom Building by 
 
 and spreading the light of missionary information through- 
 out the whole life of the church. In another chapter of 
 this book will be found a detailed story of the growth and 
 development of the Woman's Missionary Union in the 
 churches. 
 
 Shall We Enter In and Occupy? 
 
 Such in brief is a description of the field of labor for 
 North Carolina Baptists and the agencies through which 
 they are working. For the consecrated Baptist boy or 
 girl, man or woman, it is a day of privilege the like of 
 which has never been seen before. Let us bestir ourselves 
 and eagerly make the most of our opportunities to have a 
 part in bringing to pass the Kingdom of God on the earth. 
 
 The Baptists of North Carolina have a noble ancestry. 
 Our fathers were great in their convictions, rock-ribbed in 
 their principles, heroic in their services, far-seeing in their 
 vision, and truly Christlike in their unselfish sacrifices. 
 Within the last few months the writer has read anew, with 
 consuming and passionate interest, the marvelous story 
 of organization and phenomenal growth of our Baptist 
 State Convention. It was organized ninety-two years 
 ago at Greenville. There were fourteen brethren present 
 at this first session, and a fund of $220.60 was subscribed 
 for sending the gospel to the destitute sections of North 
 Carolina. A board of directors, corresponding to our 
 Board of Missions, was elected, and Elder Samuel Wait 
 was elected Agent of the Convention. He was to receive 
 one dollar per day for the actual time given to the work. 
 His duties, in a general way and on a small scale, cor- 
 responded to the duties of the Corresponding Secretary 
 today. When we consider the struggles and difficulties 
 these soldiers of the cross encountered and overcame, 
 
North Carolina Baptists 19 
 
 their poverty, their faith, their sacrifices, their far-sighted 
 vision, we stand with subdued hearts and bowed heads 
 before the mighty inheritance bequeathed unto us by 
 these dauntless heroes of another century. Surely North 
 Carolina Baptists, a mighty, conquering host, have come 
 to the Kadesh-barnea of their history, the border line of 
 a wonderful inheritance and the threshold of a mighty 
 destiny. What shall be the response of this mighty army 
 of 325,000 Baptist recruits? Shall we, like Israel of old, 
 falter and turn back into the wilderness to wander for a 
 generation, or shall we gird up our loins and in the con- 
 quering strength of the God of our fathers enter into the 
 wonderful inheritance? 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 
 
 1. Make a list of the significant things in the present 
 material development of North Carolina. Do you 
 think of any not mentioned in this chapter? 
 
 2. In which are you the more interested personallv? 
 Why? 
 
 3. In which phase or phases of material progress as out- 
 lined in this chapter is your county or section con- 
 spicuous? 
 
 4. What problems of religious or social work have accom- 
 panied the material development of your section? 
 What is being- done by local Baptists to meet these 
 new needs? 
 
 5. Read again the section on public education. Review 
 the improvement of public school advantages in your 
 community in the last twenty-five years. Contrast 
 buildings, number of teachers and pupils, courses of 
 study, and other conditions at the beginning and end 
 of this period. 
 
 6. Has the progress of your church and Sunday school 
 kept pace with the material and educational improve- 
 ment of your community? What are the evidences? 
 If not, why not? 
 
20 Kingdom Building by 
 
 7. From the section on the growth of North Carolina 
 Baptists make a list of the dates given; opposite the 
 dates write the other statistics; read the list down- 
 ward and note the growth from time to time. Con- 
 trast the figures for the first date with those for the 
 latest. How do you account for this remarkable 
 growth? 
 
 8. Learn to name in their order the five departments of 
 the State Convention at present. Outline briefly the 
 specific work of each. In which department do you 
 feel the deepest personal interest? Why? 
 
 9. Make out a program of important things which, in 
 your judgment, you and your church should under- 
 take to do next. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 21 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE BAPTIST STATE CONVENTION 
 
 Martin Ross, one of the early Baptist preachers in this 
 State, was the first man, according to the best available 
 history, who conceived the idea of effecting an organiza- 
 tion which would embrace a larger territory than that cov- 
 ered by a district association. The minutes of the Chowan 
 Association contain a resolution by Martin Ross, "em- 
 bracing an inquiry as to the propriety of establishing a 
 meeting of general correspondence to be composed of the 
 neighboring associations." 
 
 First State Organization in 1811 
 
 The committee which was appointed to consider the 
 above resolution reported at the next session of the asso- 
 ciation recommending that the plan suggested be so en- 
 larged as to take in the whole State. The committee 
 addressed a letter to all the associations in the State and 
 received a favorable response from most of them. Con- 
 sequently, a meeting was called to be held at the Falls of 
 Tar River (now Rocky Mount) on "Friday before the first 
 Lord's Day in June, 1811." The organization was known 
 as "the North Carolina General Meeting of Conference," 
 and the meetings were held annually. There is no rec- 
 ord of this General Meeting at hand, but from refer- 
 ences to it in the minutes of the Chowan Association 
 it appears that its object was to secure more perfect 
 cooperation, and to promote the interests of missions. 
 Missionary societies were organized, and the name of the 
 General Meeting of Conference was changed to "The 
 North Carolina Baptist Benevolent Society." 
 
22 Kingdom Building by 
 
 The brethren did not seem satisfied with the organiza- 
 tion, and at the session of the Chowan Association in 1826 
 a committee was appointed to correspond with the several 
 associations of the State with a view of forming a State 
 Convention. In 1827 the committee reported that noth- 
 ing had been done, and, on motion, they were discharged. 
 
 Convention Organized March 26, 1830 
 
 At a meeting of the Benevolent Society which was held 
 in Greenville, N. C, March 26, 1830, the name was 
 changed to the Baptist State Convention of North Caro- 
 lina. It is from this date that we count the organization 
 of the Convention, though this was not a new organiza- 
 tion, but was simply the change of the name from the 
 Benevolent Society to the Convention. 
 
 Fourteen brethren went into the organization, and we 
 think it worth while to record their names. They were 
 P. W. Dowd, R. M. Guffie, William P. Biddle, Samuel 
 Wait, John Armstrong, Thomas Meredith, Charles W. 
 Skinner, James McDaniel, H. Austin, P. P. Lawrence, 
 R. S. Long, Thomas D. Mason, George Stokes, R. S. 
 Blount. "Elder" rather than "Rev." is the prefix given 
 the names of the preachers. That is Scriptural, and these 
 old brethren stuck closely to the Scriptures. 
 
 The mission work prior to the organization of the Con- 
 vention seems to have been done through missionary 
 societies in the several associations, rather than through 
 the churches, and these societies bore about the same rela- 
 tion to the Benevolent Society that the churches do to the 
 associations. 
 
 Meredith's Message. 
 
 Thomas Meredith was requested to prepare a letter, or 
 circular to the brethren of the State, the same to be 
 
North Carolina Baptists 23 
 
 printed in the minutes. From this address we gather 
 that there was strong opposition to the Convention, and 
 Meredith does not mince words in addressing the obstruc- 
 tionists. In the first of the address Meredith sets forth 
 the purposes of the organization. It is to plant churches 
 in destitute sections of the State, and to prepare ministers 
 for efficient leadership. This meant missions and educa- 
 tion. It was the purpose of the Convention from the very 
 beginning, however, to recognize its obligation to the 
 whole world, as this sentence from Meredith's address 
 shows: "This explanation [as to its being a State work] 
 is made not for the purpose of eluding any of the hostility 
 which is usually waged against Foreign Missions, for all 
 missions are substantially the same; but for the purpose 
 of having it distinctly seen that the primary object of the 
 Convention at present is to repair the waste places of our 
 own State." 
 
 There were those who opposed the organized work at 
 the beginning, and they have had successors through all 
 the intervening years. This opposition arose from two 
 causes: The first was fear of encroachment upon the 
 rights of the local churches. It must not be forgotten 
 that Baptists led in the fight for separation between 
 church and state, and they were suspicious of anything 
 that seemed to endanger the authority of the local church. 
 They feared this organization would do that very thing, 
 and they were reluctant to give it their support. The 
 other reason why some opposed the organization of the 
 Convention was because they did not believe in Foreign 
 Missions. So long as there was no organized effort to 
 promote the cause of Foreign Missions, the opposition 
 was latent, but when a movement was made to effect the 
 organization, the opposition became active, and the split 
 
24 Kingdom Building by 
 
 between the Missionary and Anti-Missionary Baptists 
 occurred just about this time. One cannot read the his- 
 tory of North Carolina Baptists without being convinced 
 that the division came at this time because differences 
 were made acute by the organization of the Convention 
 with the avowed purpose of prosecuting the work of 
 missions at home and abroad. 
 
 To those who opposed the work Meredith speaks kindly 
 but very candidly. Here is the way in which he addresses 
 them: "We regard you as Christians, as Baptists and as 
 brethren; but we consider you sadly mistaken and we 
 sincerely regret the loss of your services in the important 
 
 and interesting work before us You may 
 
 misrepresent our intentions if you choose, you may im- 
 pugn our reputations and you may conflict with our 
 movements; but you cannot injure us nor can you pre- 
 vent the accomplishment of our plans. The improve- 
 ment of the ministry and of the Baptist churches will be 
 effected and by means proposed either sooner or later." 
 
 Mission Board Appointed 
 
 Before the Convention adjourned a board of directors 
 was appointed, which corresponds to our Board of Mis- 
 sions, and a dozen brethren were selected as agents whose 
 business seems to have been to present the claims of the 
 Convention as widely as possibly in their respective sec- 
 tions of the State. 
 
 Thus began the work of an organization which has gone 
 on through these ninety-three years, blessing the State as 
 well as building up our denomination. 
 
 When the Convention was organized there were fifteen 
 associations in the State, and the first work of the new 
 organization was to bring these associations into coopera- 
 tion with the State body. It took years to accomplish 
 
North Carolina Baptists 25 
 
 this task, and even yet there are one or two associations 
 in the State which do not enter heartily into the organized 
 work of North Carolina Baptists. 
 
 So far as we can find out there were about thirty thou- 
 sand Baptists in the State at the time the Convention was 
 organized, and this number embraced both white and col- 
 ored. When the split came on the mission question the 
 division was about even, giving fifteen thousand to each 
 wing. Now there are in North Carolina 325,000 white 
 Baptists (and almost as many colored) in the division 
 which devoted itself through the Convention to the great 
 work of spreading the gospel at home and abroad. 
 
 We shall now consider the development of the organiza- 
 tion and see the wisdom displayed by the early Baptists 
 in adding machinery as it was needed. Baptists have 
 always been afraid of too much machinery. Their organ- 
 ization has been as simple as was consistent with efficiency. 
 Indeed, the very simplicity of organization has increased 
 their efficiency. 
 
 Wake Forest College 
 
 The third session of the Convention was held at Reeves' 
 Chapel, and at that session the need for a college at which 
 to train young ministers was seen and discussed. Here is 
 the resolution which committed the Convention to the 
 work of higher education for men: " Resolved unan- 
 imously that the Convention deem it expedient to pur- 
 chase a suitable farm, and to adopt other preliminary 
 measures for the establishment of a Literary Institution 
 in the State on the Manual Labor principle." 
 
 A committee was appointed to solicit funds with which 
 to purchase a farm. ' Two thousand dollars had been 
 already given for this purpose. That was the day of 
 
26 Kingdom Building by 
 
 small things. Baptists were few in number and had but 
 little wealth, but they were rich in faith, and when they 
 saw a thing was needed they determined to have it, though 
 they knew it would require great sacrifice to reach their 
 aims. 
 
 Here the opponents of the organized work again appear. 
 Attention was called to a report which had been circulated 
 to the effect that this move on the part of the Convention 
 to establish a school for training young ministers "was a 
 design to suppress the preaching of those not favored 
 with such advantages." A resolution was adopted ex- 
 pressing regret that any person "would be so wicked as to 
 propagate such scandal, and that any should be so weak 
 as to give it credence; inasmuch as this body has so care- 
 fully guarded against any mistake on this subject, and 
 every person of the most ordinary intelligence must know 
 that the Convention has not the power to effect such an 
 object, even if they had the inclination." 
 
 The Biblical Recorder 
 
 It is interesting to note that at the session of the Con- 
 vention at which the committee was appointed to procure 
 a site for a college, steps were taken for securing a paper 
 to act as a medium of communication between the 
 churches. Elder Samuel Wait, General Agent of the 
 Convention (the officer now known as Corresponding 
 Secretary), said that the Convention was laboring under a 
 very serious disadvantage in not having a well-conducted 
 religious journal. The statement having been made that 
 Elder Thomas Meredith contemplated the publication of 
 a religious periodical to be issued once a month at the 
 price of one dollar a year, it was "Resolved that the Con- 
 vention highly approve the undertaking and earnestly 
 recommend their brethren to give it a liberal patronage." 
 
North Carolina Baptists 27 
 
 Perhaps no two other instrumentalities have had so 
 much to do with the progress of our denomination in this 
 State as have Wake Forest College and the Biblical Re- 
 corder. They were started on their useful careers the 
 same year, and have gone on through all the years since, 
 each serving in its place the denomination in whose in- 
 terest it was brought into being. 
 
 Matthew T. Yates 
 
 A Board of Education was appointed which admin- 
 istered the funds contributed for ministerial education. 
 One of the first young men approved for aid from this 
 fund was Matthew T. Yates, who afterwards became our 
 great missionary to China. We might as well state just 
 here that in 1915 the Education Board's work was en- 
 larged and a whole time secretary employed, who looks 
 after the interests of all our educational institutions as 
 well as the ministerial part of our educational work. 
 
 At the session of the Convention, which was held in 
 Raleigh in 1846, Matthew T. Yates was ordained to the 
 ministry. The ordination sermon was preached b} r 
 Thomas Meredith from II Timothy 4:2. We are taking 
 space to mention this because of the great work Dr. Yates 
 did during his more than forty years as missionary in 
 China. The Convention expressed its pleasure at the 
 organization of the Southern Baptist Convention, and 
 urged the churches to contribute to Foreign Missions 
 through the Foreign Mission Board which had headquar- 
 ters in Richmond, Virginia, and to Home Missions 
 through the Home Mission Board, which was then located 
 in Marion, Alabama. 
 
28 Kingdom Building by 
 
 The Wreck of War 
 
 In 1865 the Convention met in Fayette ville. The war 
 between the States had just closed, leaving the South in a 
 deplorable condition. The work of the Convention felt 
 the demoralizing effects of the war. The Recorder, which 
 was being edited in Raleigh by Dr. J. D. Hufham, was 
 wrecked by Sherman's army, and had suspended for a few 
 months, but the brethren rejoiced to hear that its publi- 
 cation was to be resumed at an early day. A large part 
 of the endowment of Wake Forest had been swept away; 
 $46,000 which had been invested in Confederate bonds 
 were lost. Here is a quotation from History of The North 
 Carolina Baptist State Convention, which describes condi- 
 tions when the session of 1865 closed: "The war is over. 
 The South is in ashes. Desolation reigns on every hand. 
 But these fathers 'gird up the loins of their minds' to 
 begin the work of the Convention anew. They are 
 'troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but 
 not in despair.' They began at once to 'strengthen the 
 things that remain.' ' ' 
 
 Aftermath of War 
 
 A paragraph from the report of the Corresponding Sec- 
 retary, submitted to the Convention in 1866, would indi- 
 cate that conditions then were similar to those we face 
 now. He says: "Methodists, Presbyterians, Episco- 
 palians and Baptists have hitherto had almost exclusive 
 control of the religious interests of the Southern States; 
 but now Unitarians and, indeed, all the isms which years 
 ago gained a strong foothold in the Northern States, are 
 looking to our section of the country as a field already 
 white for the harvest." 
 
North Carolina Baptists 29 
 
 Because of the ruin wrought by the war some of the 
 strongest churches were forced to secure aid from the 
 Mission Board. Two hundred dollars was appropriated 
 to James McDaniel, at Fayetteville, and two hundred to 
 T. B. Kingsbury at Warrenton. "The brethren now 
 begin to gather up the scattered threads and to weave 
 them into a web of glorious history." — (History of Con- 
 vention.) 
 
 Woman's Work 
 
 In 1877 the Woman's Central Committee was organized 
 with Mrs. J. M. Heck, president. At the following ses- 
 sion of the Convention Dr. T. H. Pritchard, pastor of the 
 First Baptist Church, Raleigh, announced the organiza- 
 tion of this new agency, and asked that the Convention 
 endorse the work and request the Central Committee to 
 submit a report to the next Convention. The Conven- 
 tion, after a heated debate, refused to request a report, 
 and threw so much cold water on the movement that the 
 women became discouraged, gave up the organization, 
 and for ten years there was no effort made to revive it. 
 In 1886 the Central Committee began its work again with 
 Miss Fannie E. S. Heck, as President, which position she 
 filled most acceptably until her lamented death, and Miss 
 Sallie Bailey (now Mrs. Wesley N. Jones) as Correspond- 
 ing Secretary. Mrs. Jones is now the capable president 
 of the Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina. 
 
 The Orphanage 
 
 In 1885 the Baptist Orphanage Association was organ- 
 ized, and the Orphanage was established at Thomasville. 
 Orphaned itself at first, it has become the favorite child 
 of the Convention. 
 
30 Kingdom Building by 
 
 The Western Convention — Division and Reunion 
 
 Just here it seems proper to make a momentary diver- 
 sion. This sketch of the Baptist State Convention would 
 be historically incomplete without due reference to the 
 organic division from and reunion with our brethren in 
 the western part of the State. The Western North Caro- 
 lina Baptist Convention was organized at Boiling Springs 
 Camp Ground in Henderson County, August 30, 1845. 
 At the session of the Baptist State Convention the same 
 year a resolution was adopted approving the formation of 
 the Western Convention. At that time there was no rail- 
 road leading into the western part of the State, and the 
 Blue Ridge formed between the East and West a moun- 
 tain barrier that was almost insuperable. The division 
 seemed necessary on geographical and not on doctrinal 
 grounds, for the Baptists of North Carolina were always 
 a unit in doctrine. As a mere matter of convenience the 
 Western Convention was organized, and the State Con- 
 vention approved the organization on the same ground. 
 
 In course of time a railroad was constructed through the 
 mountains, and these bands of steel linked the two sec- 
 tions together, thus removing the necessity for division. 
 There were several of our Western brethren, however, 
 who were bound to the Western Convention by sentiment. 
 This was perfectly natural; but it delayed the reuniting 
 of the Conventions for some years. 
 
 As it was at Greenville that the North Carolina Baptist 
 Sxate Convention was organized, it was fitting that at 
 Greenville the two Conventions should be reunited. This 
 happy event was celebrated with rejoicing at the session 
 held at Greenville in 1898. An address of welcome to the 
 home-coming churches and brethren was delivered by Dr. 
 Charles E. Taylor to the messengers representing them 
 
North Carolina Baptists 31 
 
 on that memorable occasion. Other leaders of the time 
 joined in the welcome. The spirit of fraternal unity was 
 further augmented by the heart-prompted responses of 
 the messengers from the Western Convention, and the 
 cup of rejoicing was made full in giving and receiving the 
 hand of welcome, while the reunited brethren sang to- 
 gether, " Blest Be the Tie That Binds.' ' Participating in 
 these reunion exercises were men like W. R. Gwaltney, 
 Thomas E. Skinner, and J. B. Boone from the East, and 
 A. E. Brown, A. H. Sims, and R. A. Sentelle from the 
 West. 
 
 Mountain Schools 
 
 In 1899, the year after the two conventions were re- 
 united, the Convention began school work in the moun- 
 tain counties — the territory hitherto included by the 
 Western Convention. A. E. Brown was made Assistant 
 Secretary of the Convention, with the special care of the 
 mountain schools entrusted to him, though he looked after 
 all our denominational interests in the Western part of 
 the State. The Home Mission Board took over the school 
 work in the mountains, and enlarged it so that it covers 
 all the mountain regions in the South. Dr. Brown is still 
 in charge of that important department of the Home 
 Board's work. 
 
 Mekedith College 
 
 In 1888 a resolution looking to the establishment of a 
 college of high grade for women was adopted, and in 1899 
 Meredith College opened its doors. 
 
 Sunday School Work 
 
 We have not mentioned the Sunday School Depart- 
 ment because it is hard to fix any definite date as the 
 
32 Kingdom Building by 
 
 beginning point of this important work. Early in the 
 history of the Convention there was an effort made to do 
 something for the improvement of our Sunday schools, 
 but the movement did not amount to very much, as 
 the denomination was not sufficiently awake to the im- 
 portance of Sunday schools to give the work the support 
 its importance demanded. The first aggressive work for 
 Sunday schools in the State at large was done by Dr. N. B. 
 Cobb. During the war Dr. Cobb's activities were directed 
 to army colportage, and it is doubtful as to whether the 
 Convention ever did a more needed and successful work 
 than was done by Dr. Cobb among the soldiers. 
 
 Ministers' Relief Board 
 
 It was at the Convention in Henderson in 1889 that a 
 Ministers' Relief Board was established with Wilming- 
 ton as the location. The Board was afterwards moved 
 to Durham, at which place it remained until taken over 
 by the Southern Baptist Relief and Annuity Board. 
 
 Such is a brief account of the beginning, formation, and 
 development of our Baptist State Convention. As its 
 several departments will be discussed by those who are in 
 charge of them and are familiar with their workings, the 
 writer has refrained from going into details concerning 
 these Convention agencies. 
 
 The blessing of the Lord has rested in a most signal 
 way upon the organized work of North Carolina Baptists 
 as carried on through their State Convention for the past 
 ninety-three years. "The little one has become a thou- 
 sand." Here we can raise our Ebenezer, for "hitherto 
 hath the Lord helped us." 
 
North Carolina Baptists 33 
 
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 
 
 1. By what are you most impressed in your reading 
 of this chapter? 
 
 2. Statistical detail in this account is meager but highly 
 important. Sift out and set down in order this sta- 
 tistical information (dates, numbers, and associated 
 events) and make it all a fixed mental possession. It 
 will be useful to you as a well-furnished church 
 worker to be familiar with these facts. 
 
 3. The account deals more at length Avith conditions, 
 persons, purposes, difficulties, conflicts. Study the 
 conditions and difficulties through which the State 
 Convention came into being and set out upon its great 
 mission. 
 
 4. Give in your own way a connected account of the 
 conditions and immediate desires out of which the 
 Convention grew. In this connection read also the 
 first two sections of Chapter III. 
 
 5. On what grounds was there considerable opposition 
 to the Convention? How would you answer the 
 arguments of such opponents? Give the substance 
 (as quoted) of Thomas Meredith's address to them. 
 
 6. What two powerful agencies were the first to be estab- 
 lished by the Convention? Relate the circumstances 
 of their origin. 
 
 7. Mention some ways in which you think Wake Forest 
 College and the Biblical Recorder have contributed to 
 Baptist progress and the world-wide spread of the 
 gospel. 
 
 8. Describe conditions following the war of 1861-'65 and 
 the spirit in which they were met. 
 
 3 
 
34 Kingdom Building by 
 
 9. Give an account, in their order, of the establishment 
 of other agencies and departments of the Convention. 
 
 10. Make a list of the pastor and officers of your church. 
 To what association does it belong? To how many 
 delegates to your association is your church entitled? 
 To how many in the State Convention? Time and 
 place of next meeting? Find, or ask your pastor for, 
 copies of minutes which will contain much of the in- 
 formation sought. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 35 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 BAPTIST EDUCATIONAL WORK IN NORTH 
 CAROLINA 
 
 Compelling Incentive in Denominational Needs 
 
 We do not know how long individual Baptists have been 
 at work in Christian education in this State. But Section 
 II of the original constitution of the Baptist State Conven- 
 tion in declaring the " primary objects' ' of that body men- 
 tioned first "the education of young men called of God to 
 the ministry and approved by the churches to which they 
 respectively belong." And in that remarkable address 
 to the Baptists of the State, which was prepared and issued 
 by Thomas Meredith at the request of the Convention in 
 its first session, the first two pages were devoted to a dis- 
 cussion of the essential need of an educated ministry. 
 
 Accordingly, the Convention set itself promptly to the 
 task of establishing an institution of learning for the train- 
 ing of young ministers; and in February 1834 — less than 
 four years after the Convention began its career — what is 
 now Wake Forest College was in operation. A year later, 
 the founding of a seminary for young women was pro- 
 posed, but after considering this project for three years, it 
 was abandoned because "it would too much divide the 
 attention and resources of our friends and patrons to 
 create a new institution at the present time." 
 
 But while that particular enterprise was abandoned, 
 within the next ten years a similar institution for girls, 
 now Chowan College, was founded at Murfreesboro by 
 
36 Kingdom Building by 
 
 the old Chowan Association of North Carolina and the 
 Portsmouth Association of Virginia. 
 
 While the main purpose in founding Wake Forest was 
 the education of young ministers, three facts would indi- 
 cate that the idea of educating under Baptist auspices 
 our young men and women in general must have had a 
 large place in the minds of those old fathers: namely, (1) 
 that they began discussing so promptly the erection of an 
 institution for girls; (2) that such an institution was 
 actually opened so soon thereafter, and (3) that the 
 first year's enrollment at Wake Forest showed about 
 three laymen to one preacher in the student body. 
 
 One wonders at such an ardent interest in education 
 under the circumstances. The masses of our people were 
 disorganized, poor and ignorant, but their ministers as a 
 class were hardly less ignorant. Indeed, as far as appears, 
 there were at that time only five Baptist ministers in 
 North Carolina who had received any college education. 
 Of these, three came from the North, one from the Epis- 
 copal church, and one was a native North Carolina Bap- 
 tist. Such a spirit among our people at such a time is all 
 the more surprising when one considers the recent re- 
 markable awakeriing among them on foreign missions. 
 Starting in America from the movement of Carey and his 
 fellows in England, the mission spirit was kindled into a 
 flame by tidings of the conversion of Judson and Rice to 
 the Baptist faith while on their way to Burma. This 
 manifest call of God to American Baptists was reechoed 
 throughout America by Luther Rice, one of the immortal 
 two who, on returning to this country, spent no little time 
 in North Carolina. The fire was spread throughout the 
 State by men like Martin Ross, Shubal Stearns, Humphrey 
 
North Carolina Baptists 37 
 
 Posey, and others. There was at the time no central 
 Baptist agency like the Biblical Recorder to spread any 
 sort of propaganda. 
 
 How, then, shall we account for the paramount im- 
 portance of education in the minds of our fathers at such 
 a time? No doubt the leaders had read about Carey's tre- 
 mendous handicap for his work from the lack of college 
 training. They had undoubtedly heard a good deal about 
 it in the mighty appeals of Luther Rice. Indeed, they 
 knew that by agreement between him and Judson, his 
 principal business back in America was to awaken the 
 spirit of Christian education and raise funds for the erec- 
 tion of a Baptist college in Washington for the training of 
 Baptist workers. 'Doubtless, too, they had heard of Jud- 
 son's message, to the effect that if he had a thousand 
 dollars to invest in foreign missions he would spend it all 
 in the erection of a school in America for the training of 
 ministers and missionaries. But back of all this, as 
 students of the Bible, they must have noted the example 
 of Jesus in selecting for his twelve apostles men who, in 
 spite of the taunt of ignorance uttered by their enemies, 
 were able to write fluently in at least two languages, a rare 
 accomplishment even among present-day preachers; that 
 he kept them under his own personal training for nearly 
 three years; that the ablest of all the apostles was ap- 
 parently the best educated of all ; and that, in all reason, 
 the call to any kind of service involves the duty of fitting 
 one's self to perform that service effectively. Whatever 
 the cause or causes, North Carolina Baptists, in organizing 
 for evanagelizing the world, laid the foundation for that 
 supreme task by erecting institutions of higher learning 
 under their own control. 
 
38 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Moreover, it should be observed that Baptists through- 
 out the whole South, and the North as well, in starting 
 their State organizations, practically at the same time 
 began the erection of higher educational institutions. 
 
 Equipment for Christian Service 
 the Dominating Aim 
 
 The same spirit seems to have animated Christians of 
 all other faiths, both in this country and in Europe. The 
 great universities of England and the great colleges and 
 universities of New England and the Middle Atlantic 
 States were all established under Christian auspices. " Of 
 the 119 such institutions first founded in the United 
 States," says Dr. A. D. Gilmour, "104 were Christian 
 colleges"; and, he continues, "there is not today a college 
 in the Mississippi Valley over fifty years old that does not 
 owe its origin to the Christian missionary." The only 
 Christian denomination known to the writer that has 
 failed to educate seems to be nearing extinction. 
 
 So then, the fundamental necessity for higher education 
 distinctively Christian seems to have been a common con- 
 viction among Christians of all faiths and all countries. 
 With our fathers, the supreme purpose of such institu- 
 tions was not merely the promotion of culture. Culture 
 was certainly an essential in their educational program, 
 but just as certainly it was not the supreme end. It was 
 not to be given primarily with the view of making the 
 student happier or of increasing his earning capacity, or 
 even of making him a more valuable citizen. The 
 supreme end sought was to include all these results, but 
 they were to be incidental. The one paramount purpose 
 was to equip their young people for the best service in the 
 Kingdom of God. But in their judgment, this end could 
 
North Carolina Baptists 39 
 
 be secured only in institutions established and operated 
 for that particular purpose. 
 
 This did not mean that the proposed institutions should 
 be run as Sunday schools, nor as prayer meetings. But 
 it did mean that they should promote the spirit of both 
 the Sunday school and the prayer meeting, and should 
 give each of these its appropriate place. 
 
 Ultimate Control 
 
 The Congregationalists, who were pioneers in religious 
 education in America, seem never to have maintained 
 organic connection with their schools, but either lost, or 
 willfully declined control of them. Not so with our Bap- 
 tist fathers; certainly in North Carolina. As far as the 
 minutes show, our Convention gave large freedom to the 
 managers of its educational institutions. Retaining the 
 prerogative of ratifying the election of the several boards 
 of trustees, it has uniformly given those boards a free 
 hand in selecting their faculties, and the faculties have 
 been left to administer the institutions. Early in the 
 history of the Convention that body, on motion, turned 
 over to the trustees of Wake Forest College absolutely all 
 the money held by it for education; it left to those boards 
 the filling of vacancies as they occurred, only " requesting 
 the privilege' ' of suggesting names of persons from whom 
 selections should be made. 
 
 And yet, it is well understood by the Convention and 
 by the managements of the several institutions concerned, 
 that both ownership and ultimate authority are vested in 
 the Convention, the organized representative of the Bap- 
 tist denomination in North Carolina. So that, while 
 wisely leaving the general administration of them in the 
 
40 Kingdom Building by 
 
 hands of those specially appointed for that purpose, the 
 Convention has the final word in correcting any evil or 
 inaugurating any change. 
 
 Wisdom of the Fathers Vindicated 
 
 And the wisdom of those fathers, both in establishing 
 their educational institutions and their general policy 
 concerning them, has been abundantly vindicated. We 
 have reaped bountifully from their sowing. " The handful 
 of corn upon the mountains" has produced several hun- 
 dredfold. Instead of $35 for education sent up to the 
 first session of the Convention, the treasurer reported for 
 that object at our last session $266,678.57. Instead of 
 one institution, with one or two teachers, working in a 
 carriage house and closing its first spring term with 
 twenty-five students, our last report showed three well- 
 established colleges in the State, two budding junior col- 
 leges, and eighteen high schools owned and controlled by 
 the denomination, with 265 teachers, 4,244 students, and 
 a total property value of $3,522,836.02. That report 
 does not include one junior college and two high schools 
 owned and operated by individual Baptists. 
 
 These figures, however, represent only material facts, 
 which may be reported accurately by figures. But they 
 are not conclusive; they indicate nothing but a higher 
 conception among our people of the value of learning and 
 larger liberality in promoting it. The deeper and finer 
 results, however, cannot be reported. One can only 
 ponder on the thousands of young ministers and mission- 
 aries who have been trained and sent forth from these in- 
 stitutions, and the multiplied thousands of young laymen 
 and women who have gone out from them as His servants, 
 to occupy responsible positions in church and state, giving 
 
North Carolina Baptists 41 
 
 their best to the service of our King. Such results cannot 
 be computed by human figures. To appraise them 
 properly, we must wait until "the books are opened." 
 
 It was for such results that our fathers planned and 
 builded with humble beginnings. But they rejoiced to 
 see this day; and one likes to think "they see it and are 
 glad." 
 
 Original Ideals Unchanged 
 
 It is pertinent to inquire whether the original purpose 
 of our fathers is still maintained in our Baptist schools. 
 It may be safely affirmed that their ideals still live in the 
 minds of the denomination, and still dominate those who 
 control their schools and colleges. While the curricula 
 and equipment have been greatly enlarged, and other 
 courses have been added, looking toward broader train- 
 ing, the dominant purpose in all our institutions is dis- 
 tinctly religious, and they recognize Jesus of Nazareth as 
 their headmaster. They still hold that "the soul of cul- 
 ture is the culture of the soul.' ' For example, ministerial 
 education held first place in the hearts of the fathers. The 
 report to the last Convention showed ministerial students 
 not only in Wake Forest College, the institution that they 
 founded, but in every high school save two, a total of 203. 
 While the first session of the Convention reported no 
 volunteers for missions at Wake Forest, the last report 
 showed an enrollment of 124 such volunteers in our Bap- 
 tist institutions in this State. During its second 3 r ear 
 Wake Forest reported a remarkable revival of religion 
 among its students. Each of our four colleges and all the 
 high schools save one reported similar works of grace 
 among their students, resulting in 299 baptisms. In 
 meetings held by Wake Forest students in the summer of 
 
42 Kingdom Building by 
 
 1921 (date of latest report), there were 405 professions of 
 faith. And the "faith of our fathers" is still maintained 
 and defended in these institutions. 
 
 Not all students leaving our Baptist institutions, of 
 course, are worthy workers in their home churches; nor 
 would it be fair to demand such an output from the 
 schools until we can make a like showing in our churches. 
 We should not expect a higher average of piety among 
 college students than we find among young people of the 
 same age at home. Some, no doubt, return from college 
 even less devout and less helpful than they were when 
 they entered. But does not this happen in quite as large 
 a degree among our young people as they grow older, even 
 though they have never been to college? And when some 
 students return with their faith apparently shaken, is it 
 fair to blame the college for these, when we see so many 
 similar cases among those who never attended college? 
 President Mullins, of the Southern Baptist Theological 
 Seminary, and President Scarborough, of the Southwest- 
 ern Seminary, have each stated, " We have never had a 
 ministerial student coming to us from Wake Forest who 
 showed the slightest sign of wobbling in the Baptist 
 faith.' ' We do not generally blame the churches for the 
 failures among their members of whatever kind, and it 
 seems only fair to judge the colleges by the same standard. 
 Alas, we must look for lapses in both faith and practice 
 among our young people, and also among their elders, 
 until "that which is perfect is come.' ' 
 
 Need for Christian Institutions Unabated 
 
 Instead of abating, the need for the education given by 
 Christian institutions seems rather to be increasing. This 
 is true as to our churches. It is generally understood 
 
North Carolina Baptists 43 
 
 now that Christian institutions furnish nine-tenths of our 
 college-trained ministers and missionaries; but it is not 
 so generally understood that, as far as investigation has 
 shown, about that same proportion holds with regard to 
 our college-trained Christian laymen. 
 
 Moreover, under the State's compulsory educational 
 policy, the succeeding generations, becoming more and 
 more intelligent, will demand still more trained ministers 
 and Sunday school teachers — for whom, as we have seen, 
 we must depend mainly on our own school ; and unless we 
 furnish them we cannot hope to retain our hold on the 
 masses or make any effective appeal to them. For, how- 
 ever orthodox and pious, ignorance will never attract in- 
 telligence. 
 
 The State's need of distinctively Christian education is 
 likewise undiminished. Private beneficence now main- 
 tains 447 out of the 574 colleges and universities in Amer- 
 ica. At last reports, these privately supported institu- 
 tions had twice as much money invested as did those 
 owned by the State; they enrolled 33,912 students, as 
 against 14,235 enrolled in State institutions, and they had 
 9,932 students of college grade, as against 9,517 in State 
 institutions. These facts mean that if the denomina- 
 tional institutions were abolished, the State would have 
 to treble its appropriations for building, equipment and 
 teaching. 
 
 A large majority of our leaders in the State and Nation, 
 including judges, governors, congressmen, senators and 
 presidents, who have attended college at all, have been 
 the product of Christian institutions. When William 
 Howard Taft graduated from Yale it was a Congregational 
 college ; and when Woodrow Wilson left Princeton it was 
 a Presbyterian institution. 
 
44 Kingdom Building by 
 
 But I have chiefly in mind the moral type of public ser- 
 vants prepared by the denominational colleges, and 
 needed by the State. Edward G. Sisson says, "The final 
 question regarding education is whether it avails to pro- 
 vide the type of character required by the republic and 
 the race.' ' A recent editorial in the New York Times, in 
 respect to the large amounts spent for higher education, 
 made this pertinent inquiry: "Does it pay, not in dollars 
 and cents, but in intellectual and moral values?' ' 
 
 Now if State education, necessarily given apart from 
 the direct influence of religion, can produce the highest 
 "moral values' ' as well as that given under direct religious 
 influence, we have labored in vain, and our "faith is also 
 vain." Vice-President Marshall was reported to have 
 said in a public address, which report he confirmed in a 
 personal letter to the writer: "In the future our country 
 must depend for its leaders mainly upon the output of our 
 Christian colleges. Because this country will no longer 
 elect men of low character to high office; and since Chris- 
 tian colleges are maintained principally with a view to pro- 
 ducing high religious character, they are more likely to 
 produce such character than are State colleges, which can 
 have no such purpose.' ' And State educators themselves 
 are realizing so keenly the essential value of religion in all 
 education that they are endeavoring in some way, with- 
 out violating our State and federal constitutions, to intro- 
 duce religious training into their courses. 
 
 But we must consider chiefly our own children; and 
 certainly their need of religious training in the crucial 
 years of high school and college has not in the least 
 abated. They are entitled to the best advantages we 
 can give them and to the best influences with which we 
 can surround them. And if the Christian school is func- 
 tioning in any worthy way, it stands to reason that in 
 
North Carolina Baptists 45 
 
 spite of occasional lapses, its religious advantages should 
 far outweigh those of an institution whose purpose is dis- 
 tinctly non-religious and in which religious training cannot 
 be given. 
 
 Says Dr. Clarke, of the College Board of the Presby- 
 terian Church : " The only kind of school which Christians 
 are committed to in this world is not an organism without 
 religion, nor even an organism with a religious appendage, 
 but an institution which is itself a religious community 
 . . . which can help men go forth with their lives and 
 affections so fashioned that they will live in harmony with 
 the will of God." 
 
 If, as the Minister of Education in England said during 
 the darkest period of the world war, "education is the 
 eternal debt which maturity owes to youth," it would 
 seem that a Christian could not fully discharge that obliga- 
 tion to his own child by giving him a type of education 
 that must ignore his Christ; and that obligation must 
 surely become more sacred to him when he marks the 
 manifest tendency in non-Christian institutions, not only 
 to ignore the Christ, but to deny the existence of his 
 Father. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 
 
 1. What urgent need turned the thoughts of the Con- 
 
 vention to the establishment of a college for young 
 men? 
 
 2. Why was not a school for young women established at 
 the same time? 
 
 3. What three circumstances reflect the deep interest of 
 our early Baptist organizers in the education of 
 young men and women under denominational 
 auspices? 
 
46 Kingdom Building by 
 
 4. Outline the conditions under which the work of 
 Christian education was begun and account for the 
 ardent interest of its promoters. 
 
 5. Discuss the supreme purpose and incidental aims of 
 these early advocates of Christian education. 
 
 6. Outline the method of administration and ultimate 
 control of the denominational schools. What are 
 some of the evidences of the wisdom of this plan? 
 
 7. Show how the ideals of the early advocates of Chris- 
 tian education are being realized in our Baptist 
 schools today. 
 
 8. Are you in agreement with writer's conclusions in the 
 two closing sections? Give the reasons why with re- 
 spect to (1) the churches, (2) the State, and (3) the 
 children, the need for Christian education appears 
 to be in no wise diminished. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE WOMAN'S MISSIONARY UNION 
 
 1886-1923 
 
 I. Its Beginnings 
 
 It is a matter of record that there were woman's mis- 
 sionary societies in North Carolina in the early part of the 
 nineteenth century; one at Fayetteville, organized in 1815 
 or 1816; one in Edenton, organized in 1817; one at 
 Raleigh, organized in 1818; and one at Spring Hill 
 Church, Robeson County, probably organized about the 
 same time. But there was no organized work until 1877, 
 when a Woman's Central Committee of Missions was 
 formed with Mrs. J. M. Heck, President, Mrs. J. C. Scar- 
 borough, Corresponding Secretary, and Mrs. Robert 
 Lewis, Recording Secretary. The organization of this 
 committee was reported to the Baptist State Convention 
 at the annual meeting in Durham by Rev. T. H. Pritch- 
 ard, D.D., who had been instrumental in organizing the 
 committee. Dr. Pritchard offered a resolution commend- 
 ing this work, and asking that the committee be allowed 
 to cooperate in the work of the Convention and make an 
 annual report to that body. This called for a heated dis- 
 cussion, and so much opposition to any organized work of 
 the women in the churches was manifested that it was 
 thought best for the committee to disband. 
 
 Ten years later the Stale Mission Board at the sugges- 
 gestion of the Foreign Mission Board, through their State 
 Vice-President, Dr. Theodore Whitfield, at that time 
 
48 Kingdom Building by 
 
 pastor at New Bern, appointed a Woman's Central Com- 
 mittee of Missions, with headquarters in Raleigh, N. C, 
 whose purpose should be to stimulate the missionary spirit 
 and the grace of giving among the women and children of 
 the churches and to aid in the collection of funds for mis- 
 sionary purposes. Similar committees had been organized 
 in other States at this time, and the success that had attend- 
 ed their work had done much to do away with the opposi- 
 tion to woman's work in North Carolina. The following 
 officers were appointed by the Board : Miss Fannie E. S. 
 Heck, President; Miss Sallie Bailey (now Mrs. Wesley N. 
 Jones), Corresponding Secretary; Miss Lida McDaniel, 
 Recording Secretary; and Mrs. T. H. Briggs, Treasurer. 
 Twelve ladies from the two Baptist churches of Raleigh 
 were appointed members of this committee. Three mem- 
 bers of the original committee have served continuously 
 since its organization in January, 1886: Mrs. N. B. 
 Broughton, Mrs. T. H. Briggs, and Mrs. W. N. Jones. 
 Miss Heck served as President from the beginning until 
 her death in August, 1915. To her untiring and splendid 
 services the Woman's Missionary Union not only in North 
 Carolina, but in the entire South, owes a debt of gratitude, 
 for much of the success of the work today is due to her 
 wise and consecrated leadership. The Woman's Mission- 
 ary Union will stand as an enduring monument to the love 
 and loyalty of her who put the things that are eternal 
 first in her heart and life. 
 
 When the Woman's Missionary Union, Auxiliary to the 
 Southern Baptist Convention , was organized in Richmond, 
 Virginia, in 1888, Miss Heck, President of the North Caro- 
 lina Union, was present ; but our Union did not become a 
 part of that organization until 1891, as there was still op- 
 position on the part of some to organized woman's work for 
 missions. For many years all the work of the Union was 
 
North Carolina Baptists 49 
 
 done in the homes of the officers, and was a voluntary- 
 service. By 1910 the work had grown to such an extent 
 that an office was rented and one officer was employed for 
 full time. When the Biblical Recorder completed its new 
 building, a year later, the office was moved to our present 
 headquarters. 
 
 II. Its Organization 
 Today, after thirty-seven years of active work, we have 
 a complete organization in our State and a graded system 
 of societies that extends from the little children to the 
 oldest of our women. There are five divisions, each under 
 the direction of a Vice-President: the Elizabeth City 
 Division composed of the Chowan, Neuse-Atlantic, Roa- 
 noke and West Chowan Associations; the Wilmington 
 Division, including the Bladen, Brunswick, Cape Fear- 
 Columbus, Cumberland, Eastern, Johnston, Little River, 
 Robeson, South River and Wilmington Associations; the 
 Greensboro Division composed of Beulah, Central, Flat 
 River, Mount Zion, Piedmont, Raleigh, Sandy Creek, and 
 Tar River. The Charlotte Division has the largest num- 
 ber of associations within its borders and covers more terri- 
 tory. In it are the following associations: Brushy Moun- 
 tain, Caldwell, Catawba River, Gaston, Green River, 
 Kings Mountain, Liberty, Mecklenburg-Cabarrus, Mont- 
 gomery, Pee Dee, Pilot Mountain, Sandy Run, South 
 Fork, South Yadkin, Stanly, Stony Fork, Stone Moun- 
 tain, Surry, Union and Yadkin. The Asheville Division 
 covers all territory beyond the Blue Ridge, and includes 
 the following associations: Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, 
 Carolina, French Broad, Haywood, Macon, Mitchell 
 County, Tennessee River, Three Forks, Tuckasiegee, 
 Transylvania, Western North Carolina and Yancey. 
 4 
 
50 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Each of these associations has a superintendent in 
 charge of the work in its boundaries. Many of them have 
 Young Woman's Auxiliary and Junior Superintendents 
 actively at work. The plan of organization of the 
 Woman's Missionary Union includes in each association 
 a Superintendent, a Young Woman's Auxiliary and Junior 
 Superintendent, a Mission Study Leader, and a Personal 
 Service Chairman. These constitute the Executive Com- 
 mittee of the Association. Each Association holds an 
 annual meeting and Division Meetings are held each year 
 by the Vice-President, except in the Division in which the 
 State Meeting of the Woman's Missionary Union is held. 
 
 III. Its Departments of Work 
 
 The first work of the Central Committee was the organ- 
 ization of Woman's Missionary Societies. When the 
 present Executive Committee was formed there were less 
 than ten active Woman's Missionary Societies in the 
 State. Today there are 1,022 with a constituency of over 
 thirty thousand women. The organization of a Woman's 
 Missionary Society in a church results not only in in- 
 creased gifts and interest in missions on the part of the 
 women of the church, but in the entire church member- 
 ship. It is the purpose and plan of the Union to enlist 
 every woman in our Churches in this work. A Standard 
 of Excellence has been established by which we measure 
 the efficiency of our societies, and societies are graded 
 A, B, C, D, by the number of points they attain on this 
 Standard. 
 
 Young People's Work. There are two departments of 
 work for young people under the direction of the Union: 
 (1) the work for the Young Women and Girls through the 
 Young Woman's Auxiliaries and Girls' Auxiliaries under 
 
North Carolina Baptists 51 
 
 the direction of Mrs. R. N. Simms; and (2) the work for 
 the children and boys through our Sunbeam and Royal 
 Ambassador Bands under the direction of Miss Elizabeth 
 N. Briggs. North Carolina led the other States in our 
 Southern Baptist Convention in gifts from our young 
 people the past year. There are at present 238 Young 
 Woman's Auxiliaries, 201 Girls' Auxiliaries, 660 Sunbeam 
 Bands, and 136 Royal Ambassador Chapters. The gifts 
 of the Young Woman's Auxiliaries and Girls' Auxiliaries 
 in 1922 amounted to $34,443.75; the gifts of the Sun- 
 beams and Royal Ambassadors to $16,773.84. The Sun- 
 beam work was organized in 1897, and Miss Elizabeth N. 
 Briggs has served as leader continuously for twenty-six 
 years. Miss M. K. Applewhite, who became Mrs. J. Y. 
 Killian*, was the first superintendent of Young Woman's 
 work. She served for six years, Miss Ellen Graham (now 
 Mrs. John Calvert) for two, Mrs. J. W. Bunn for one, 
 Mrs. C. E. Mason for four, and Mrs. R. N. Simms, the 
 present leader, has completed five years of service. 
 
 Personal Service. Under the Department of Personal 
 Service — Mrs. C. E. Maddry, Chairman — the Union 
 fosters the work of Good Will Centers, cooperation with 
 the Inter-Racial Committee to secure better housing, 
 school facilities, and more complete Christianization for 
 the negro, work among the illiterates, relief of the needy 
 in our own communities, visits to sick, and organized 
 effort to reach the unsaved in our midst. No money ex- 
 pended in Personal Service work is included in the reports 
 of the Union. 
 
 Bible and Mission Study. From the beginning the 
 Union has emphasized the importance of Bible and Mis- 
 sion study: Bible study, that we might be filled with the 
 
 •Died January 12, 1923. 
 
52 Kingdom Building by 
 
 knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual under- 
 standing; Mission study, that we might increase in the 
 knowledge of God and the progress of His Kingdom on 
 earth, and be fruitful in every good work. In the last few 
 years there has come a new impetus to our Mission Study 
 work through our Mission Study leaders and a more thor- 
 ough organization. It is recommended that each society 
 have at least one Mission Study class a year, and prefer- 
 ably two. Definite courses of study have been arranged 
 for and certificates and seals awarded to those completing 
 the various courses. The first course calls for the com- 
 pletion of the following books: All the World in All the 
 Word, Stewardship and Missions, In Royal Service, 
 W. M. U. Manual of Methods, a book on Foreign Missions, 
 and a book on Home Missions. Seals are awarded on the 
 completion of each book, and when the course is completed 
 the large seal of the Woman's Missionary Union of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention is attached. Additional 
 courses have been planned to meet the needs of all depart- 
 ments of our work. At this time 3,844 certificates have 
 been awarded, and 5,193 seals. Complete records are 
 kept of all classes and Mission Study awards. Books for 
 study are recommended each year by the Executive Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Literature. The Union recognizes the value of the 
 printed page, and thousands of tracts and leaflets are dis- 
 tributed each year. In the early years of the work, a 
 little paper called The Missionary Talk, with this motto 
 text, "The Lord gave the word; great was the company 
 of those that published it," was begun by Miss Heck and 
 carried missionary news into many homes. The Woman's 
 Missionary Union of Southern Baptist Convention pub- 
 ishes two magazines especially for our woman's work. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 53 
 
 The first, In Royal Service, contains programs for meet- 
 ings and much valuable material for use in our societies. 
 The second, World Comrades, is a new publication, and is 
 intended to meet the needs of our young people's organ- 
 izations. With these magazines it is possible to have in- 
 teresting and instructive missionary programs in remote 
 districts where there is no access to libraries or other 
 sources of information about the work. Special litera- 
 ture is prepared and distributed for the Week of Prayer 
 for World Wide Missions the first week in January, the 
 Week of Prayer for Home Missions in March, and for 
 State Mission Day in September. All societies are urged 
 to subscribe to our State paper, The Biblical Recorder, 
 whose columns have been open to the Woman's Mission- 
 ary Union for many years, and whose editors have given 
 continual and valuable support to our Union. Our 
 mission magazine, Home and Foreign Fields, is recognized 
 as an important factor in our effort to disseminate mis- 
 sionary information, and has a large number of subscrip- 
 tions among our constituency. 
 
 Woman's Missionary Union Training School at Louis- 
 ville, Kentucky. The Woman's Missionary Union Train- 
 ing School stands as a monument to the love and faith of 
 the Baptist women of the South. There have gone out 
 from its doors in the brief years of its history nearly four 
 hundred graduate students who are carrying the light of 
 the gospel of Christ within the bounds of our own land and 
 to the remotest parts of the world. From North Caro- 
 lina we have had eighty students at the Training School. 
 The following are working on the foreign field : 
 
 Miss Alda Grayson, Laichow-Fu, China; Miss Pearle 
 Johnson, Shanghai, China; Miss Cora Caudle, Abeokuta, 
 Africa; Miss Naomi Schell, Fukuoka, Japan; Miss Katie 
 
54 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Murray, Chengchow, China; Mrs. C. A. Leonard, Lai- 
 chow-Fu, China; Mrs. M. T. Rankin, Canton, China; 
 Mrs. L. E. Blackman, Yang Chow, China; Mrs. L. B. 
 Olive, Chinkiang, China. 
 
 The following scholarships have been established at the 
 Training School: The Louis Castlebury Scholarship, 
 established by his daughter, Mrs. J. G. Layton, in mem- 
 ory of her father; a yearly scholarship established by Mr. 
 and Mrs. F. B. Hamrick of Thomasville, and a number of 
 associational scholarships. Close to the hearts of our 
 women lies this institution that Miss Heck dreamed of 
 and planned for during the long days of her illness, and 
 no appeal is necessary for funds for its maintenance, so 
 ready are our women to do their part to meet its needs. 
 
 Hospital, Winston-Salem. A resolution was passed at 
 the meeting of the Woman's Missionary Union in Char- 
 lotte in March 1922, recommending that the Union 
 cooperate in the plans to establish a hospital at Winston- 
 Salem, and that they endeavor as far as possible to provide 
 the furnishing for the building. This work has met with 
 a ready response, and it is confidently expected that our 
 Hospital will continue to secure the support and interest 
 of our women. Mrs. J. J. Roddick and Mrs. L. T. 
 Vaughan represent the Woman's Missionary Union as 
 trustees of the Hospital at Winston-Salem. 
 
 Kathleen Mallory Hospital, Laichow-Fu, China. This 
 hospital has been assigned to the Woman's Missionary 
 Union of North Carolina in order that we may supply 
 needed equipment from year to year in the way of hospital 
 supplies. Miss Alda Grayson, of Rutherfordton, one of 
 our North Carolina Training School girls, is superintend- 
 ent. A study of medical missions has in several instances 
 
North Carolina Baptists 55 
 
 resulted in a box to this Hospital. Mrs. Z. M. Caveness is 
 chairman of our Hospital Committee for Laichow-Fu, 
 China. 
 
 IV. Its Financial Plans 
 
 The Union has never attempted to urge any special 
 financial plan upon the societies. For years most of the 
 gifts were made in the societies and paid by the society 
 treasurer direct to the church treasurer. Latterly many 
 pay fheir mission money through the church envelopes 
 and the church treasurer credits the society with the 
 amounts given by the women. The Woman's Missionary 
 Union is an agency for collecting money for missionary 
 purposes, and while it urges no special plans, it seeks to 
 secure from every woman and child in our churches regu- 
 lar and systematic gifts to missions. To this end not 
 only tithing, but stewardship, is uigcd upon the mem- 
 bers of our societies; tithing of all money that comes into 
 our hands and a stewardship of time, gifts and of life. 
 For thirty-three years all gifts from the societies were for 
 Foreign, Home and State Missions. With the beginning 
 of the Campaign, the objects of our benevolences were in- 
 creased to include all the objects of the Campaign. Many 
 societies had contributed liberally to Education, Min- 
 isterial Relief and the Orphanage, but we had not in- 
 cluded any of these gifts in our reports. In addition to 
 Campaign objects, a small sum is contributed each year 
 by the societies for expenses of the Executive Committee. 
 Contributions to this fund and to the Baptist Woman's 
 Missionary Union Training School, the Margaret Edu- 
 cational Fund, Bible Fund of the Sunday School Board 
 are sent direct to the treasurer of the Woman's Mission- 
 ary Union and all other funds should be paid to the 
 church treasurer. Quarterly report blanks are sent to 
 
56 Kingdom Building by 
 
 each society treasurer. These blanks are signed by the 
 church treasurer when money is paid to him, and the 
 report blank is then sent to the State Woman's Mission- 
 ary Union treasurer, who makes her quarterly report 
 from these signed reports. 
 
 V. Its Achievements 
 
 First, we believe that there has come to our women 
 through the activities of our Woman's Missionary Union 
 not only an increased interest in Kingdom work, but a 
 deepening of their spiritual lives. From its very begin- 
 ning emphasis has been laid on prayer, prayer in the indi- 
 vidual life, and united prayer. Three special seasons of 
 prayer are observed each year: a Week of Prayer for 
 World Wide Missions in January, a Week of Prayer for 
 Home Missions, and a Day of Prayer for State Missions in 
 September. Every morning at nine o'clock the women 
 of the Union unite their prayers for the Divine leadership 
 and blessing on their work and for the coming of His 
 Kingdom in the hearts of men everywhere. A special 
 Calendar of Prayer is prepared each year for use by the 
 Woman's Missionary Union and each one of our mission- 
 aries , and the various agencies of our work have a special 
 day set apart for them. The fact that power in our ser- 
 vice comes through prayer is continually kept before us. 
 The motto of the North Carolina Union is, "For Ye Serve 
 the Lord Christ." Our hymn was written by Miss Heck 
 for the Union, "Come Women, Wide Proclaim." In 
 addition to our motto, we use ejach year the motto and 
 hymn selected by the Woman's Missionary Union of 
 Southern Baptist Convention. At the beginning of the 
 year 1923 there were 2,257 societies of all grades, and 
 these societies have a membership of about forty thousand 
 
North Carolina Baptists 57 
 
 women and children. The Union is represented on the 
 State Mission Board by Mrs. J. Y. Killian*, Newton; 
 Miss Annie Logan, Asheville; and Mrs. L. T. Vaughan, 
 Nashville. From 1886 to 1918, the beginning of the 75 
 Million Campaign, the gifts from the societies amounted 
 to $698,313.41. In the four years of the Campaign, our 
 gifts have totaled SI, 092,781.11, making our total con- 
 tributions to date 81,791,094.52. From 81,000 to 8300,- 
 000 a year in thirty-five years is an achievement that 
 brings joy and encouragement, and is a testimony to the 
 love, devotion and faithful service of the women and 
 children of the Union. 
 
 "Thine O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the 
 glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in 
 the heaven and the earth is Thine. Now, therefore, our 
 God, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious name." — 
 IChron. 11:13. 
 
 VI. Its Officers, 1886-1923 
 
 President. Miss Fannie E. S. Heck, 1886-1915; Mrs. 
 Wesley N. Jones, 1916 . 
 
 Corresponding Secretary. Miss Sallie Bailey (now Mrs. 
 Wesley N. Jones), 1886-1888; Mrs. James A. Briggs, 
 1888-1889; Mrs. Wesley N. Jones, 1890-1907; Mrs. H. 
 C. Moore, 1908-1910; Miss Elizabeth N. Briggs, 1910- 
 1911; Miss Blanche J. Barrusf, 1911-1916; Miss Bertha 
 Carroll, 1917-1920; Mrs. W. H. Reddish, 1921-1922; 
 Miss Mary Warren, 1922 . 
 
 Treasurer. Mrs. T. H. Briggs, 1886-1891; Mrs. J. H. 
 Briggs, 1891-1899; Mrs. W. N. Jones, 1899-1918; Miss 
 Bertha Carroll, 1918-1920; Elsie K. Hunter, 1920 . 
 
 'Deceased. Successor not vet appointed. 
 tDied November 23, 1922. " 
 
58 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Y. W. A. Superintendent. Miss Mary K. Applewhite 
 (Mrs. J. Y. Killian), 1904-1910; Miss Ellen Graham, 
 (Mrs. John Calvert), 1910-1911; Mrs. J. W. Bunn, 1912; 
 Mrs. C. E. Mason, 1913-1916; Mrs. R. N. Simms, 
 1916 . 
 
 Junior Superintendent. Miss Elizabeth N. Briggs, 
 1897 . 
 
 Recording Secretary. 1886, Miss Lida McDaniel; 1887- 
 1891, Mrs. T. H. Briggs; 1892, Miss E. Simmons; 1894, 
 Mrs. H. B. Duffy; 1895, Mrs. L. R. Pruett; 1896, Mrs. 
 Harvey Crist; 1897, Mrs. T. H. Hancock; 1898, Miss 
 E. Wilder; 1899-1902, Mrs. D. Rich; 1903, Miss Mary 
 Taylor; 1904, Mrs. G. T. Lumpkin; 1905-1906, Mrs. 
 H. C. Moore; 1907, Mrs. J. H. Weathers; 1908, Mrs. 
 J. H. King; 1909-1911, Mrs. J. G. Boomhour; 1912-1917, 
 Mrs. J. S. Farmer; 1917, Mrs. Henry Bunch (pro tern.); 
 1918-1919, Mrs. J. S. Farmer; 1920, Mrs. C. C. Hoggard 
 (pro tern.); 1921 , Mrs. J. D. Boushall. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 
 
 1. When was the present Woman's Missionary Union or- 
 
 ganized, and what was the purpose of the organiza- 
 tion? 
 
 2. When and where was the Woman's Missionary Union 
 auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention organ- 
 ized, and in what year did the North Carolina 
 Woman's Missionary Union become a part of this 
 Union? 
 
 3. How many divisions in the State, and how many Asso- 
 ciations have organized Woman's Missionary Union 
 work? What officers constitute the Associational 
 Executive Committee? 
 
 4. Name the five organizations of the Woman's Mission- 
 ary Union. 
 
 5. Mention the various phases of Woman's Missionary 
 Union activity today. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 59 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 SUNDAY SCHOOLS 
 
 The work of Sunday schools has always been closely 
 allied with that of State Missions. In this discussion we 
 look at it from three angles — the past, the present and the 
 future. 
 
 I. A Look Backwards 
 
 Our Baptist history is so incomplete that we can give 
 but a few facts in this brief study. As we came from the 
 shadows of the Civil War in 1865 we found that N. B. 
 Cobb had been superintendent of army colportage. He 
 seems also to have been Sunday School Secretary, and in 
 such capacity made a report to the State Convention in 
 1865. 
 
 Within the next few years there was established a Sun- 
 day School Board. In 1868 we find the Convention pay- 
 ing off a debt on this Board. It seems that practically 
 everything done by this Board was through colportage, 
 and yet it was called the Sunday School Board. Follow- 
 ing Dr. Cobb, Geo. W. Greene was at the head of this 
 work, but we fail to find the exact years. 
 
 In 1877 John E. Ray served as Secretary of the Board 
 of Missions and Sunday Schools. This relationship con- 
 tinued for nearly ten years. These were years of growth 
 and vision. In June 1891, M. L. Kesler was made Sunday 
 School Secretary, but served only six months, and re- 
 turned to the pastorate al the end of the year. 
 
 For several years there was decided division in the Con- 
 vention as to the wisdom of having a separate field work 
 
60 Kingdom Building by 
 
 for Sunday schools, but at the Convention in 1895 action 
 was taken leading to putting a man in the field with these 
 duties: (1) "To gather statistics concerning Sunday- 
 school work. (2) To establish new Sunday schools 
 wherever practicable, and to increase the efficiency of ex- 
 isting ones. (3) To hold Sunday school institutes and 
 introduce the best literature. (4) To report to the 
 Board of Missions and Sunday schools, and through them 
 to the Convention.' ' 
 
 Dr. B. W. Spilman was elected the first Secretary under 
 this arrangement, and on April 1, 1896, began his work. 
 He was a pioneer for this State, the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, and, we might say, for other denominations. 
 For five years he served our people in a great way, but 
 Under the most trying circumstances on account of the 
 lack of support and sympathy. His faithfulness and per- 
 sistence have built for him an enduring monument. 
 
 T. N. Johnson served from 1901 to 1903. He tried new 
 policies. He was really ahead of his times and, failing to 
 secure adequate financial support, he resigned after two 
 years. 
 
 H. C. Moore was elected in 1904 and was Secretary until 
 he became editor of the Biblical Recorder in January, 1908. 
 His service was of such high order that he was elected to a 
 place in the field force of the Sunday School Board of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention, and really served them for 
 four months, but the Board was generous enough to pay 
 him and let him finish his year's work in North Carolina. 
 Dr. Moore was succeeded by E. L. Middleton, who will be 
 mentioned later. 
 
 Marks of Growth. Sunday school statistics have been 
 poorly gathered and kept. Like many churches, we make 
 
North Carolina Baptists 61 
 
 history but fail to record it. The first report we find is 
 1897. We give a few glimpses of how we have grown. 
 
 Dates No. Schools Membership 
 
 1897 
 
 914 
 
 66,046 
 
 1901 
 
 1,251 
 
 91,346 
 
 1906 
 
 1,460 
 
 115,709 
 
 1911 
 
 1,858 
 
 174,384 
 
 1916 
 
 2,123 
 
 221,148 
 
 1921 
 
 2,154 
 
 247,699 
 
 It ought to be said that during these last five years of 
 war, influenza and reconstruction there was an actual loss 
 for three years, and the tide only turned in 1921. 
 
 Finances. Like many other kinds of religious work, our 
 Sunday school work has been one prolonged struggle to 
 secure enough money to do what ought to be done. Dur- 
 ing the early years the offerings for Sunday School Mis- 
 sions were never large enough to pay the expenses. 
 During the five years of Spilman's work the Sunday School 
 Committee could not see any chance to finance the work 
 longer and urged that it be stopped. He begged them to 
 let him go on and pay him only $10 a month and traveling 
 expenses. This was done for a short time. 
 
 During the years 1896 to 1908 State Missions paid any 
 deficit. From 1908 to the 75 Million Campaign there 
 was no deficit. Now the work is financed jointly by State 
 Missions and the Sunday School Board, Nashville, Term. 
 
 II. Evidences of Efficiency 
 
 The faithful, quiet, and persistent efforts of the Secre- 
 taries and, in nearly all cases, the cordial cooperation of 
 the pastors, superintendents and teachers have brought 
 hundreds of our Sunday schools to a high degree of effi- 
 ciency. The outlook was never so bright for many other 
 schools to reach this same desirable goal. 
 
62 Kingdom Building by 
 
 A Southwide Movement. The small beginnings in North 
 Carolina set the pace for all the States in the Southern 
 Baptist Convention. For the five years Dr. Spilman was 
 Secretary no other State had such work except what some 
 States were doing along with colportage, as we did in the 
 sixties and seventies. 
 
 The Sunday School Board at Nashville called Dr. Spil- 
 man from us and began its field force, now numbering 
 twelve. Every State now has a Secretary, and most of 
 them one or more field workers and elementary secre- 
 taries. There are now about sixty people giving all their 
 time to general Sunday school work. Last year the Sun- 
 day School Board spent $110,189.29 as its part of the 
 maintenance of the work. This includes Baptist Young 
 People's Union work also. The several State boards 
 spent over twice as much more. In 1922 Southern Bap- 
 tists spent at least $350,000 for Sunday school work. 
 
 How North Carolina Stands. We are far from attain- 
 ing to the efficiency we desire, but facts encourage us to 
 press on to better and larger things: — 
 
 1. In the South there are 72.8 Sunday schools for 
 every 100 churches; in North Carolina there are 96.7 for 
 each 100. In the South there are 66.7 people in Sunday 
 school for every 100 church members; in North Carolina 
 there are 81.7 for each 100. 
 
 2. In Standard Sunday schools Texas had 94; North 
 Carolina 26; Kentucky, 22; Georgia, 21, and all others 
 less. We also have two AA-1 Sunday schools, with only 
 five others in the entire South. 
 
 3. In Teacher-training we are fourth in the number of 
 diplomas, Texas, Georgia and Kentucky leading us; but 
 last year only two States excelled us in total Normal 
 awards, these being Texas and Mississippi. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 63 
 
 4. Our churches were never so interested in up-to-date 
 buildings and adequate equipment as now. Literally 
 hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent annually 
 remodeling old buildings and erecting new ones to take 
 care of the Sunday schools. This phase of the work was 
 never so hopeful. 
 
 5. Two striking examples of efficiency will help all who 
 try to learn what to do and how to do it. One case is in 
 the country and the other in a small city : 
 
 Double Springs was a typical country church five years 
 ago. It had a one-room church house in poor condition, 
 with just such a Sunday school as you would find in a 
 thousand and more other North Carolina country 
 churches. They caught a vision and made it real. No 
 details are possible in so brief a compass, but here are 
 some things they have done: 
 
 They have 227 resident church members with 225 in 
 Sunday school, besides 40 in Home Department and 39 
 on Cradle Roll. Only 420 people live near enough to go. 
 They have reached 72.4 per cent of their constituency. 
 They are using over 100 officers and teachers in the 
 classes, departments and general officers. They have a 
 house that cost over $20,000. They have trained their 
 workers. Seventy-five hold the Normal Diploma. They 
 have in their membership 321 Teacher-training Awards. 
 The school is AA-1 according to standards of the Sunday 
 School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. 
 
 Dunn is just as fine an illustration for another type of 
 Sunday school. It has achieved just as well as Double 
 Springs, and is a AA-1 school. Their census shows 775 
 people in their constituency, with 390 resident church 
 members. Here is their enrollment: Main school 431, 
 Home Department 68, Cradle Roll 77 ; total, 576. This 
 
64 Kingdom Building by 
 
 is 74.3 per cent of their possibilities, and outside the 
 adults, 88.7 per cent. They have a complete Sunday- 
 school organization, using 160 officers and teachers. They 
 have 86 Diplomas with 451 Normal Awards. Their 
 building and equipment cost about $80,000. 
 
 III. The Woek and the Workers 
 
 For more than twenty years one man undertook the 
 task of putting on a worth-while Sunday school program. 
 Besides his duties as Sunday School Secretary he had to 
 devote two months each year to gathering all the statis- 
 tics in the State Convention Annual. In spite of these 
 facts, together with inadequate office help, the work grew 
 apace as already shown. 
 
 North Carolina set the pace for the South, but the 
 vision grew in other States while our horizon remained the 
 same until 1919. The brethren began to see that inevi- 
 tably we must stand still or go backwards without a 
 forward step. On July 15, 1919, J. H. Couch began as 
 field worker and served until March 1, 1920, when he was 
 stricken with what proved to be his last illness. Like 
 many others, he could not stand the strain of field work. 
 Nearly half the time he served was aiding in the 75 Mil- 
 lion Campaign when all forces were mobilized for this 
 great undertaking. 
 
 In 1921 the day of larger things came when two addi- 
 tional workers were elected. In 1922 still another field 
 worker was added. The workers are as follows: 
 
 1. E. L. Middleton is General Secretary. Since 1908 
 he has served in this capacity. He has seen the work 
 grow to its present proportions following not his plans 
 and policies alone, but working along lines planned for 
 the entire South. Annually all the State Secretaries meet 
 
North Carolina Baptists 65 
 
 in Nashville, Tenn., for a conference on policies. Then 
 all the South tries to catch step in these forward-looking 
 movements. 
 
 2. A. L. Stephens came to us from Alabama, where he 
 was a field worker for eight years. He has shown himself 
 successful in every way. He knows the Normal Course, 
 and can teach it. He creates confidence in the people 
 that they can make their Sunday schools larger and better. 
 For the most part his work is in Western North Carolina. 
 
 3. J. N. Barnette is field worker for the East. He it 
 was who, as Superintendent, put over that fine achieve- 
 ment at Double Springs. He is well fitted for his tasks. 
 He is rendering a great service. 
 
 4. Airs. Lydia Yates Milliard is Elementary Secretary. 
 By training and experience she is proving a great asset to 
 our Baptist forces. There are nearly 250,000 children 
 who belong to Baptist Sunday schools. It is her task to 
 present plans for reaching them and teaching them as 
 they ought to be taught. 
 
 5. Special Workers. The Sunday School Board, Nash- 
 ville, Tenn., pays one-half the salaries and expenses of 
 special workers for summer campaigns in country and 
 village churches. In 1921 Ave used these in 138 institutes 
 with this summary of results: 
 
 Institutes conducted 138 
 
 Total enrollment in classes 5,762 
 
 Visitors not enrolled 3,554 
 
 Officers and teachers enrolled 1,665 
 
 Pastors enrolled 251 
 
 Examinations taken 844 
 
 Churches represented 502 
 
 5 
 
66 Kingdom Building by 
 
 In 1922 the campaign was enlarged using fifteen sem- 
 inary and college students for three months. A brief 
 summary is as follows: 
 
 Number of institutes 271 
 
 Churches represented 496 
 
 Pastors present 231 
 
 Enrollment in classes 10,114 
 
 Others present 8,225 
 
 Diplomas, Seals and Certificates 2,030 
 
 IV. Our Immediate Task 
 
 Past achievements are not sufficient. There appear 
 larger tasks as we go along. Here are some of the things 
 we must learn: — 
 
 How to take a religious census. 
 How to organize the Sunday school. 
 How to grade the Sunday school. 
 
 How to maintain a Teachers' Meeting or Workers' 
 Council. 
 
 How to enlist and train teachers. 
 
 How to have a good program every Sunday morning. 
 
 How to keep the pupils for the preaching service. 
 
 How to keep records and make reports. 
 
 How to win the lost to Christ. 
 
 All these things and more are enumerated in our Normal 
 books. Mr. Arthur Flake names these in "Building a 
 Standard Sunday School." Our task is barely begun. I 
 call all men and women who love the Lord to their Sunday 
 school tasks. 
 
 The Unenlisted ought to receive our immediate atten- 
 tion. White Baptists are about thirty per cent of the 
 church members of North Carolina. If we reach only 
 
North Carolina Baptists 67 
 
 our proportionate part of the population 750,000 people 
 belong to our constituency. Our last report shows 
 265,496 in Sunday school. We easily have 500,000 un- 
 reached people. Many cannot attend, but the Cradle 
 Roll for the babies and the Home Department for the 
 "shut-ins" and the "stay-outs" make places for every 
 one who cannot be brought to the Sunday schools. 
 
 A religious census well taken will help tremendously. 
 This must be carefully tabulated and assignments made 
 to the officers and teachers for a follow-up canvass. This 
 done with other things to be named would give us 100,000 
 increase in a year or two. 
 
 The Organization must be made adequate. This means 
 the schools must be divided into the eight basal groups: 
 Cradle Roll, birth to 3 years; Beginners, 4-5; Primaries, 
 6-8; Juniors, 9-12; Intermediates, 13-16; Seniors or 
 Young People, 17-24; Adults, 25 and up; Home Depart- 
 ment from Seniors and Adults. 
 
 It is not enough to stop here. Many of these groups 
 must be subdivided in from two to eight or more classes. 
 These classes and departments must have officers and 
 teachers and, of course, there must be necessary general 
 officers. 
 
 The Building and Equipment must not be forgotten. If 
 we could bring all our people to Sunday school, our 
 churches would not hold them. As we grow we must 
 build, and most schools must build for the present attend- 
 ance. We must learn how to build effectively. Trag- 
 edies are being enacted in the waste of money by archi- 
 tects, contractors and building committees who do not 
 know the needs of the Sunday school. 
 
68 Kingdom Building by 
 
 The Children must receive better attention. They can- 
 not speak for themselves. They comprise the first four 
 groups named. As already said there are about 250,000 
 of them who belong to us. About 160,000 are old enough 
 to be in Sunday school now, and the 90,000 Baptist babies 
 will be old enough in three or four years. 
 
 If you want your church and Sunday school to grow in 
 size, efficiency and power find out all the children need 
 and provide it for them. "And a little child shall lead 
 them." You must secure books and tracts and learn 
 what you ought to do and how to do it. 
 
 The Men and Women must be reached and used, too. 
 This means the Intermediates also, for they will be men 
 and women just as quickly as those babies will be old 
 enough to go to Sunday school. To meet these needs we 
 must press class organization. This is the most effective 
 method ever found for reaching grown people for the Sun- 
 day school, and it will do it if wisely used. 
 
 Training the Workers is our largest task. The 16,000 
 officers and teachers now in our Baptist Sunday schools 
 are earnest, consecrated, faithful people. They are doing 
 about the best they know, but they do not know enough, 
 and Normal studies will make them know more. Then 
 again, with our way of doing things, we change at least 
 8,000 of these every year and put more in that number of 
 inexperienced, untrained workers. Still further, if we 
 enlarge our organizations as we ought to do, we will need 
 at once 3,000 to 5,000 more officers and teachers than we 
 now have. To train present workers and the new ones 
 we need is a staggering task. 
 
 We cannot do it all at once, but we can go to work 
 vigorously at the task. Here are some things that will 
 help: 
 
North Carolina Baptists 69 
 
 1. A Normal Class meeting week by week is the best 
 way for most churches. Select the best leader to conduct 
 the class. Develop a fine spirit of cooperation and hold 
 the class together until the book is finished. 
 
 2. A Training School for a week is a fine way, meeting 
 every night for about two hours with a lunch period for 
 rest and social purposes. This will enable you to finish 
 half the Manual or most of the other books entirely in one 
 week. In the country this same plan can be used in day- 
 time if it is better. 
 
 3. The Correspondence Course is for those who cannot 
 attend a class or go to a training school. There are now 
 nearly 3,000 persons enlisted in this work right here in 
 North Carolina. We are ordering diplomas every week. 
 Write for full information. 
 
 4. Our Colleges and Schools are training our young 
 people for efficient service when their school days are 
 over. In the last two years here in North Carolina these 
 young people have earned nearly 5,000 Normal Awards. 
 Let them help you put into effect a teacher training pro- 
 gram in your church. 
 
 RESTATEMENT FOR TEACHING AND REVIEW 
 
 I. A Look Backwards. 
 
 1. Secretaries 1865 to 1896. 
 
 2. Workers 1896 to date. 
 
 3. Marks of growth. 
 
 4. Finances. How? 
 
 II. Evidences of Efficiency. 
 
 1. Provoked a southwide movement. 
 
 2. How North Carolina stands. 
 
 (1) Membership. (2) Standard schools. (3) Teacher 
 Training. (4) Church buildings. (5) Two illus- 
 trations — Double Springs and Dunn. 
 
70 Kingdom Building by 
 
 III. The Work and the Workers. 
 
 1. The period of one secretary. 
 
 2. Increasing the forces. Name workers. 
 
 3. Program for rural work. 
 
 IV. Our Immediate Task. 
 
 1. Reach the unenlisted. 
 
 2. Plan adequate organization. How? 
 
 3. Provide buildings and equipment. 
 
 4. Remember the children. 
 
 5. Use the men and women. 
 
 6. Train the workers. How? 
 
North Carolina Baptists 71 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE BAPTIST YOUNG PEOPLE'S UNION 
 
 I. Its Origin 
 
 The Baptist Young People's Union of North Carolina 
 was organized about the year 1899 or 1900. At that time 
 the movement was not widespread, nor was it of great 
 strength numerically. For ten years growth was slow 
 and in the summer of 1909, under a spreading chestnut 
 tree standing on the Southern Baptist Assembly grounds 
 at Ridgecrest, a group of North Carolina young people 
 led by Dr. B. W. Spilman, reorganized the State Baptist 
 Young People's Union with J. Powell Tucker as President. 
 In 1910 a number of Baptist Young People's Unions exist- 
 ing in some of the Baptist churches in North Carolina 
 held a State-wide convention at Durham and formed a 
 State-wide cooperative Union with a distinct constitution 
 and plan of work. 
 
 In 1912 there was a general revival in interest in Baptist 
 Young People's Union work in the State. It was the 
 belief of those in touch with the State organization that 
 the Baptist Young People's Union could be made a very 
 effective agency for training young people. The conven- 
 tion of that year expressed itself as desiring a closer rela- 
 tion between the Baptist State Convention and the Bap- 
 tist Young People's Union, adopting the following resolu- 
 tion: "That this convention request the Baptist State 
 Convention to instruct the State Board of Missions to ap- 
 propriate S600 of the State Mission Fund and S300 of the 
 Sunday School Fund to be used in paying the salary of a 
 State Baptist Young People's Union Secretary; and that 
 this convention raise the rest of the amount necessary to 
 
72 Kingdom Building by 
 
 secure a good man to begin his work early in 1913. That 
 the executive committee of this convention name some 
 one, and that the State Board of Missions elect him; that 
 the Baptist Young People's Union Secretary shall sustain 
 the same relation to the State Board of Missions and Sun- 
 day Schools that the Sunday School Secretary sustains; 
 that he shall make his report to the Board.' ' 
 
 Prior to this time, after its origin, this department of 
 the work of the denomination was under the direction and 
 supervision of the Sunday School Secretary, E. L. Middle- 
 ton, and was propagated by him through the Department 
 of Sunday Schools and in connection with his work as 
 Sunday School Secretary. 
 
 In 1916 the Baptist State Board of Missions employed 
 a full-time Secretary for this phase of work and assumed 
 full control of and responsibility for it. 
 
 II. Its Object 
 
 The object of the Baptist Young People's Union as 
 embodied in its constitution, shall be (1) the increased 
 spirituality of the young Christians; (2) their training 
 in essential church activities; (3; their edification in 
 scripture knowledge; (4) their instruction in Baptist doc- 
 trine and history; (5) their enlistment in all forms of mis- 
 sionary endeavor through existing denominational organ- 
 izations. An analysis of the object reveals, in three 
 words, its meaning, viz: consecration, preparation, ser- 
 vice. 
 
 Increased Spirituality. A deepening of the devotional 
 and spiritual life of the young convert may be brought 
 about in numerous ways. It may be done 
 
 (1) Through constant prayer and devotion to God. 
 
 (2) Through daily habit of reading God's word. 
 
 (3) By talking to others about God and His word. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 73 
 
 No Christian is safe from the snares and pitfalls that lie 
 along his pathway until he has acquired a proper rein- 
 forcement through these privileges which have been exer- 
 cised until each has become a fixed habit in his daily life. 
 
 Training in Essential Church Activities. Every Baptist 
 church needs a training service, a drill ground, where the 
 young convert may be taught to march and keep step 
 with the trained ranks in the church. 
 
 The dominant idea in the Baptist Young People's Union 
 is training. There one is taught to exercise his power of 
 initiative. It is there he finds himself, and learns that he 
 is a personality and a necessary adjunct to a great enter- 
 prise. There he is afforded an opportunity to exercise his 
 talents. No boy ever forgets the first time he was per- 
 mitted to drive alone, a horse and buggy or an automobile, 
 along a crowded thoroughfare. In the Baptist Young 
 People's Union one learns, through constant, intelligent 
 practice, to do church work by doing church work. 
 
 Edification in Scripture Knowledge. Embodied in the 
 Baptist Young People's Union Pledge are the following 
 significant statements: "I hereby promise to strive to be 
 true to Christ in all things and at all times; to seek the 
 New Testament Standard of Christian experience and 
 life.' ' If the young convert is to attain, as far as possible, 
 the New Testament Standard of Christian experience and 
 life he must know what that standard is, and to know it 
 he must read the New Testament to his own edification. 
 
 Instruction in Baptist Doctrine and History. Many of 
 our people know practically nothing concerning the dis- 
 tinctive doctrines and views held by Baptists. The doc- 
 trinal topics discussed in the weekly meetings of the Bap- 
 tist Young People's Union educate Baptist young people 
 in the doctrines, beliefs and history of the denomination. 
 
74 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Enlistment in All Forms of Missionary Endeavor Through 
 Existing Denominational Organizations. The Baptist 
 Young People's Union is a form of voluntary activity in 
 the field of religious endeavor. The organization affords 
 young people the means and occasions of exercising the 
 power of initiative. To be allowed to start something 
 and to be left alone to carry the enterprise to a finished 
 conclusion is of vital importance in the training of young 
 people. If voluntary associations are universally recog- 
 nized as necessary means of stimulating and developing 
 the power of youth in other fields, what reason can be 
 given for denying their necessity in the field of religious 
 training? It will be clear to those who understand the 
 principle underlying young people's religious organiza- 
 tions that the Baptist Young People's Union brings the 
 advantages of voluntary activity within reach of all young 
 Baptists. The question naturally arises as to what lines 
 of church activity can and should young converts engage 
 themselves in immediately after taking upon themselves 
 the obligation of church membership. Let us consider 
 some things that should be begun in the lives of young 
 Christians on the day after their baptism. 
 
 Bible Study. As the Bible is the one basis for all our 
 Christian endeavor, the young church member should 
 have ample encouragement in handling the Sword of the 
 Spirit. In the experience of young people some form of 
 Bible reading must take the place of the broken down 
 family altar. In many instances it is true with God's 
 people, it would seem, that "Thy Word is no longer needed 
 as a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." 
 Through the activities of the Baptist Young People's 
 Unions thousands of young Baptists have been enlisted in 
 the habit, and are now reading God's word daily. If they 
 
North Carolina Baptists 75 
 
 are properly instructed and guided they will readily begin 
 a habit of reading the word and sooner or later the indi- 
 vidual catches the spirit and finds great joy in perusing 
 the Bible daily. 
 
 Indoctrination. A stream is most powerful where the 
 current is strongest; the narrow, deep mountain stream 
 is more forceful than the wide, shallow lowland stream. 
 The person who knows what he believes and knows why 
 he believes it is the greatest possible force in Christian 
 work; consequently it is very necessary that a young 
 convert be given an opportunity to ascertain his denom- 
 inational doctrines and beliefs. There is going the rounds 
 a gripping appeal to the plastic minds of young people to 
 be "modern and broad" in the Christian life. Daily, 
 literature setting forth some kind of "ism" finds its way 
 into their hands. An unrestful atmosphere prevails, and 
 the one anchor by which young Christians may be held 
 firm in the faith is through proper indoctrination. 
 
 Stewardship. In its broad sense stewardship tends to 
 magnify the giving to the Lord of one's talents, strength, 
 skill, time, opportunity, knowledge, influence, personality, 
 self, substance and all that goes to make up life. While 
 the minds of young converts are impressionable, oppor- 
 tunity should be afforded for practice in the rudiments of 
 stewardship. 
 
 One phase of stewardship that immediately concerns 
 North Carolina Baptists is that of giving back into the 
 Lord's treasury that part of their means that rightly 
 belongs to Him. When shall we ever come upon a time 
 when it will not be necessary to wage special campaigns 
 for money to finance Kingdom work? Not until we have 
 trained and enlisted a generation of church members that 
 recognize and practice the Bible plan of giving. Figures 
 
76 Kingdom Building by 
 
 show that approximately only fifty per cent of the mem- 
 bers of the Baptist churches in North Carolina contribute, 
 with any degree of regularity, of their means to the work 
 of the churches. Statistics are tiresome, but a little 
 figuring reveals some startling facts regarding the possi- 
 bilities for North Carolina in financing Kingdom work. 
 If the Baptists of the State, 325,000 strong, have an 
 annual income of $100 each, and if they should give back 
 into the Lord's treasury the tithe of that amount, they 
 could contribute each year: 
 
 500,000 dollars to Foreign Missions. 
 500,000 dollars to Home Missions. 
 500,000 dollars to Christian Education. 
 250,000 dollars to Church Building. 
 250,000 dollars to Ministerial Relief. 
 500,000 dollars to the Orphanage. 
 500,000 dollars to State Missions. 
 250,000 dollars to be used for Secretaries' salaries, office 
 rent, printing, postage, and other incidentals. 
 
 The Baptist Young People's Union aims to educate and 
 enlist every single one of its members in Scriptural giving, 
 according to the plan, and through the regular channels 
 of the church. 
 
 Social Life. Young people will have some form of social 
 life. Their divinely appointed natures demand it. The 
 Baptist Young People's Union makes an effort to develop 
 within the hearts and minds of young Christians whole- 
 some ideas of play, intelligent recreation and amusement 
 that will counteract the unwholesome things offered by 
 the world. The young convert should be made to realize 
 that after assuming the obligations of church membership 
 his influence is more keenly felt and his social life must be 
 different, in that enjoyment lies elsewhere than in worldly 
 attractions. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 11 
 
 Technological Training. Much time and thought is de- 
 voted to developing young people in various lines of art. 
 It is essential that a church give its young converts oppor- 
 tunities to practice the art of leading in church upbuild- 
 ing, in the technique of developing a broad life of useful- 
 ness, and of becoming a strong factor in Christian work. 
 A little technical training wall, without doubt, expedite 
 the work of all denominational meetings, such as church 
 conferences, associational meetings, women's missionary 
 society meetings, associational and State conventions. 
 Reasons given by many church members for not render- 
 ing efficient service of this kind are summed up in one 
 very trite excuse, viz: "Because I never have." The 
 Baptist Young People's Union offers a place congenial 
 and inviting where young church members may be trained 
 to do the following things : 
 
 Show Hospitality. In the Baptist Young People's 
 Union the talent of being hospitable is developed, and 
 through this form of activity the atmosphere permeating 
 the church service and the home life may be transformed 
 into one of sweet comradeship and reverence. 
 
 Sing. Singing is essential to the highest form of public 
 worship. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon the 
 necessity of using musical talent for uplifting Christ's 
 Kingdom. A church member with musical talent should 
 be encouraged and expected by his church to use his 
 musical talent in adding to the usefulness of church serv- 
 ices. The Baptist Young People's Union encourages 
 the training and development of young Christians in this 
 form of Christian activity. 
 
78 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Speak Publicly. Developing public speakers and train- 
 ing them to give expression to their thoughts while stand- 
 ing in the presence of other young Christians is one of the 
 big things in the field of Baptist Young People's Union 
 endeavor. 
 
 Practice Secret Prayer. The true Christian spirit leads 
 the heart directly to God at all times. The Lord com- 
 mends to His people the matter of praying much in secret. 
 Every good church member should spend much time in 
 secret prayer. 
 
 Practice Public Prayer. A good church member ought 
 to be willing to pray in public. The Baptist form of 
 public worship necessitates training in this direction. The 
 Baptist Young People's Union gives such training. 
 
 Give. A good church member ought to give system- 
 atically and proportionately of his means to support 
 Kingdom work. The Baptist Young People's Union 
 trains in giving and stresses the tithe as a minimum. 
 
 Teach. One of the crying needs of the churches of 
 today is for trained teachers of God's word. The Baptist 
 Young People's Union reveals young Christians to them- 
 selves and to the Church. Here they are enlisted and 
 trained in the art of teaching, being transplanted into the 
 Sunday School into a large sphere of service. 
 
 Lead. The Baptist Young People's Union develops 
 leadership. Its officers and committees are particularly 
 exercised in leadership. If they do their work well they 
 are actual leaders in the Baptist Young People's Union, 
 and ultimately become leaders in all phases of church 
 activity. 
 
 Administer Church Affairs. In the Baptist Deacons' 
 Meetings, Sunday school, Prayer meeting, Woman's Mis- 
 sionary Society, Church Conferences, Associations and 
 
North Carolina Baptists 79 
 
 Conventions the work of the denomination will be com- 
 pletely and effectively changed, when under the guiding 
 hand of trained parliamentarians and thinkers the affairs 
 of the churches are administered. The Baptist Young 
 People's Union gives training along this line. 
 
 Preach the Word. Many hear the call of God to the 
 Ministry and the Mission Fields. The Baptist Young 
 People's Union is a training camp for recruits to the Lord's 
 forces in the battle for righteousness. 
 
 Evangelize. The ultimate aim of the Baptist Young 
 People's Union is to lead lost people into the light and a 
 knowledge of the saving power of Christ Jesus. It trains 
 in definite, personal evangelism. 
 
 In brief, the Baptist Young People's Union trains in 
 Christian living, knowledge and service, and meets the 
 threefold need of man's nature, viz: Spiritual, Intel- 
 lectual and Social. 
 
 III. Its Growth 
 
 In Kinds of Work. Prior to the organization of the 
 Baptist Young People's Union in North Carolina the only 
 young people's meetings were prayer meetings in a few 
 churches. Upon the introduction of committee work and 
 the group plan of organization these meetings took the 
 form of the present Baptist Young People's Union, thereby 
 shifting the responsibility from the heterogeneous crowd 
 to the individual. 
 
 The place which the Baptist Young People's Union 
 work now occupies in the minds and hearts of the young 
 people in North Carolina can hardly be exaggerated. They 
 have found in the Baptist Young People's Union an oppor- 
 tunity for activity and development which satisfies the 
 longings of their mental, spiritual and social natures, and 
 
80 Kingdom Building by 
 
 which supplements the work of the Sunday school class, 
 and ushers them into the larger work of their own church 
 and denomination. Such is the status of the Baptist 
 Young People's Union today, and such will it remain as 
 long as the Baptist denomination continues to be a factor 
 in bringing in the Kingdom of God. 
 
 In Number of Organizations. In 1910 at the time of the 
 meeting of the first State Convention, there were ten 
 Unions reported. Twelve years later, at the close of the 
 year 1922, there were 1,040 in the churches, schools and 
 colleges, as follows: 215 Junior, 103 Intermediates, 722 
 Seniors. Of these 41 were in the schools and colleges of 
 the denomination. 
 
 In Membership. Approximately 350 members of the 
 ten organizations reported in 1910. In 1922 there were 
 28,212 Seniors, 4,101 Intermediates, and 8,370 Juniors; 
 making a total membership of 40,683. North Carolina 
 stands third among the States of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, both in number of Unions and in member- 
 ship, Texas and Georgia being the two States ahead of her. 
 
 In General Organizations. 1. City Unions. In thirteen 
 of our larger towns and cities there are well organized 
 City Unions. These organizations reinforce the work of 
 the Unions in the local churches. 
 
 2. Associational Baptist Young People's Unions. Thirty 
 Associations have been organized, and the number is 
 growing yearly. This organization is needed for several 
 reasons : 
 
 (a) For the educational and inspirational value of its 
 conventions and training schools. 
 
 (b) To train leaders to go anywhere in the association 
 and organize Baptist Young People's Unions, and help 
 those already organized to greater efficiency. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 81 
 
 (c) To create a Baptist Young People's Union spirit in 
 the Association. 
 
 (d) To keep the Baptist Young People's Union work in 
 a healthy condition in those churches that already have it. 
 
 (e) To supplement and augment the work of the State 
 Baptist Young People's Union Secretary and his helpers. 
 
 (f) As a medium through which to advertise and boost 
 our general denominational meetings in the State. 
 
 3. State Convention. Once a year a State-wide conven- 
 tion is held to which churches with or without Baptist 
 Young People's Unions may send representatives. The 
 conventions of 1921-'22 were each attended by more than 
 1,200 young people. 
 
 4. Assemblies. Under the auspices of the Baptist 
 State Board of Missions, two Baptist Assemblies are held 
 each year — one in the east and one in the west. Baptist 
 Young People's Union work has come to be a regular 
 phase of the work of these Assemblies. 
 
 Present Status. The year 1922 was the greatest year 
 experienced by the Baptist Young People's Union up to 
 that time. More than ten thousand members of the 
 churches in the State had completed a study of the Baptist 
 Young People's Union Manual of methods and received 
 their diplomas, and at least five thousand had completed 
 the study of one or more of the advanced books in the Bap- 
 tist Young People's Union Study Course of ten books. The 
 prescribed courses of study are: 
 
 For Juniors, 9 to 12 years of age. 
 "Junior B. Y. P. U. Manual." 
 For Intermediates, 13 to 16 years of age. 
 
 "Intermediate B. Y. P. U. Manual." 
 "Studying for Service." 
 6 
 
82 Kingdom Building by 
 
 "Training in Bible Study.' ' 
 "Training in Christian Service." 
 "Training in Stewardship.' ' 
 
 For Seniors, 17 years of age and up. 
 "Senior B. Y. P. U. Manual." 
 "Training in Stewardship.' ' 
 "Training in Church Membership." 
 "Training in the Baptist Spirit." 
 "Training in Bible Study." 
 "Training in Christian Service." 
 "Pilgrim's Progress for the B. Y. P. U." 
 "Divisions I and II, Normal Manual." 
 
 IV. Its Contribution 
 Pastors, church and denominational leaders, who are 
 aggressive and know the work and worth of the Baptist 
 Young People's Union are, without exception, friends of 
 the organization. During the few years of its existence it 
 has contributed in various ways to the onward march of 
 the denomination in its larger program. Every phase of 
 the work has shared in the contribution made. 
 
 To Local Church Organization. A large proportion of 
 the younger members of boards of deacons, church offi- 
 cers, Sunday School officers and teachers are recruited 
 through the Baptist Young People's Union. The denom- 
 ination looks to the Baptist Young People's Union for re- 
 cruits for the mission fields. The seminaries and training 
 schools look to the Baptist Young People's Union for 
 students who are later to go out as Christian teachers. 
 
 To the Ministry. Leaders in all evangelical denomina- 
 tions testify to the fact that a majority of the younger 
 men in the ministry entered through the young people's 
 organizations. In these latter days one is constantly com- 
 ing in contact with ministers whose testimony is, "Had 
 it not been for the Baptist Young People's Union in all 
 probability I would not be preaching the gospel today." 
 
North Carolina Baptists 83 
 
 A test of the proposition in any convention of young min- 
 isters today reveals the fact that nearly all of them found 
 their calling in the Baptist Young People's Union. 
 
 Financial. The Baptist Young People's Union is not 
 and has never been a money raising agency except as it 
 teaches and trains in systematic and proportionate giving 
 through the regular channels of the churches. The con- 
 tribution made in this way can hardly be estimated. 
 Through the Baptist Young People's Union more than a 
 thousand young church members have pledged themselves 
 to tithe their incomes. In the work of financing the local 
 churches and world-wide missions and benevolences those 
 churches that have strong young people's unions find it 
 much easier to raise the funds than the churches with no 
 Baptist Young People's Union. 
 
 V. The Baptist Young People's Union Workers 
 
 Perry Morgan is General Secretary of Baptist Young- 
 People's Union work in the State. He has served in this 
 capacity since April 1, 1920. He spends his time in the 
 office, Training Schools, Institutes, Associational Confer- 
 ences, Conventions and Assemblies. He is available for 
 both rural and city churches. 
 
 Miss Elma Leigh Farabow has been serving as Secre- 
 tary of Junior and Intermediate work since October 1, 
 1921. She is available for all kinds of field work in both 
 rural and city churches. Her time is spent in Training 
 Schools, Institutes, Conferences, Conventions, Assemblies 
 and in the office. 
 
 Miss Rosa Wiggs is the Baptist Young People's Union 
 office Secretary. 
 
84 Kingdom Building by 
 
 VI. The Baptist Young People's Union Office 
 
 The Baptist Young People's Union headquarters office 
 is 214 Biblical Recorder Building, Raleigh, N. C. All 
 Baptist Young People's Union awards for the State are 
 issued from there. There is at all times a liberal supply 
 of tracts and free literature on hand that may be secured 
 for the asking. 
 
 QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 
 
 1 . Give a brief outline of the origin of the Baptist Young 
 People's Union in North Carolina. 
 
 2. State the object of the Baptist Young People's Union. 
 
 3. Name some things that should be begun in the lives 
 of young Christians early after their conversion. 
 
 4. Name at least eight things young church members 
 should be trained to do. 
 
 5. What definite contribution has the Baptist Young 
 People's Union made to local church organizations? 
 
 6. Where is Baptist Young People's Union headquarters? 
 
 7. Name the Baptist Young People's Union Secretaries 
 for North Carolina. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 85 
 
 CHAPTER Vn 
 
 ENLISTMENT OF THE COUNTRY CHURCHES 
 
 There was a time when all of the Baptist churches in 
 North Carolina were rural or country churches. They 
 served well their day and generation. They contained 
 practically all of the strong denominational leaders. As 
 the population grew villages sprang up and the need for 
 manufacturing brought to them capital and more people, 
 among them the ambitious and aggressive. This move- 
 ment from the country to the centers of population has 
 gone on through the years with increasing momentum. 
 In 1920 about 38 per cent of the population of the State 
 lived in towns and cities. Practically all of the profes- 
 sional men, doctors, lawyers, and teachers have gone to 
 the cities. The country store, once so popular, is not to 
 be found except in the remoter country sections. The 
 number of farm owners living on and cultivating their 
 farms is steadily decreasing. They are becoming the ex- 
 ceptions and tenantry the rule. 
 
 This change of population and the losing of so large a 
 part of the progressive people from the country communi- 
 ties has resulted in seriously crippling the efficiency of 
 country churches. The bulk of the educated preachers 
 have followed the trend and gone to town. They are not 
 better men than those who have elected to remain in the 
 country, but their better training, other things being 
 equal, has made them more efficient, aggressive and ambi- 
 tious. Like the lawyers, doctors, teachers and merchants, 
 they have sought what they believe to be the better ad- 
 vantages offered by the town and city. Each generation 
 of young men and women enters public life and the pro- 
 fessions earlier than the preceding one. The town and 
 
86 Kingdom Building by 
 
 city offer the shortest, easiest road to fame and fortune. 
 The social instincts of young people are urgent and the 
 social opportunities of the country meager, but for the 
 social urgings of youth the city furnishes an outlet that 
 helps to draw them thither. Thus the country church 
 is robbed almost entirely of its best material for leader- 
 ship in religious work. But among those left there is 
 material that may be developed. 
 
 In many sections of the country the churches are grow- 
 ing weaker year by year ; in other sections they are barely 
 holding the ground taken, while comparatively few are 
 gaining ground. All this has made it necessary for 
 denominational help to be given local churches to enable 
 them to develop leaders, plans, programs, social life, com- 
 pact fields, and finances. 
 
 I. Enlistment Defined 
 
 We mean by Enlistment not merely getting the prom- 
 ises of the members to cooperate in what the church under- 
 takes. It is comprehended in the last half of our Lord's 
 command to His church just before be left the earth, 
 namely — " teaching them to observe (do) all things what- 
 soever I have commanded you." It is not explaining to 
 them theories about our Lord's work, but teaching them 
 to do by doing. 
 
 Take an average country church. It is one of a field 
 (so called) of four or five churches widely separated. The 
 visiting preacher (he cannot rightly be called the pastor) 
 comes once a month and preaches to the church and the 
 next day returns home and is not seen again in the com- 
 munity for a month perhaps. His salary is so small that 
 he has to supplement it by farming, poultry raising or 
 something else that brings in a few additional dollars. He 
 
North Carolina Baptists 87 
 
 says he cannot give his entire time to the churches because 
 his salary is insufficient for the support of himself and 
 family. The churches say they cannot pay more because 
 they get such a little bit of the preacher's time. 
 Thus we can readily see the two places for enlistment in the 
 pay and service question. The church in question ought 
 to pay at least its share of what is required to furnish the 
 pastor an adequate living. The average country church 
 would bear no financial strain in doing it if all the mem- 
 bers were enlisted; and where is the God-called man who 
 would not be glad to give his full time and talent in the 
 service of a field that paid an adequate salary? If a field 
 of two or more churches does pay enough to enable 
 the pastor and his family to live as well as the average 
 member family of the field, then the churches have a right 
 to expect the pastor to give his full time to developing the 
 churches. Go a step further and say, they have a right 
 to require it of him. 
 
 It will not be at all difficult to enlist the pastor in such 
 an enterprise. There might be an elderly preacher here 
 and there who has for many years divided time between 
 serving churches and farming who would decline to give 
 up farming. But the younger men would rejoice to see 
 the day when churches would pay adequately for the use 
 of their time and talents and demand it of them. Country 
 churches complain that the young preachers have their 
 hearts set on city pastorates. And this is only natural. 
 These young men have fitted themselves for the work of 
 the ministry and not for farming, merchandising, or 
 other secular vocations. They have heard the call of 
 Christ and have left the receipt of custom, the fishing nets 
 and plow to follow him. They do not want to go back, 
 they do not intend to go back. They believe that "they 
 
88 Kingdom Building by 
 
 that preach the gospel should live of the gospel." They 
 go where they can get a living. A dear old brother said, 
 "We want a preacher over at Blank church. We want 
 an educated preacher, a college and seminary man." He 
 said there were four churches in the field, and that they 
 would pay a $1,000 salary. They wanted a young 
 "settled" man with a family. When informed that a 
 man with a family could not live decently on a salary of 
 $1,000 he said the preacher could rent a little farm and 
 raise hie bread and meat. Furthermore, if he was the 
 right kind of a man, he could "work up" his salary in a 
 year or two. This reminds us of the horse that would not 
 pull when the wagon was loaded until the driver twisted 
 his ears. It is the business of the church to "work up" 
 the salary, and the business of the pastor to "feed up" 
 and "work up' ' and lead out the church in broad, unselfish 
 service. 
 
 II. An Enlisted Church 
 
 The above caption may never become true in the super- 
 lative degree when we take into the count the varied and 
 various activities in which a local church should be 
 engaged. Suppose, then, we adopt a standard for a 
 church to reach before we call it an enlisted church. 
 
 1. In a Compact Field. It must be in a group or field 
 of not more than four churches in contiguous territory. 
 Enlistment includes cooperation. One church cannot 
 cooperate with another or other churches in a construc- 
 tive way if it is located on the other side of another field. 
 To conserve time, energy and effect, the pastor's field 
 should be a unity. He cannot do his best work under any 
 other condition. 
 
North Carolina Baptists 89 
 
 2. A Resident Pastor. The pastor must reside within 
 his field at the place where he can serve best the interests 
 of his family and that of the churches. If he has children, 
 he must live close enough to the school for them to walk 
 to it without any great discomfort, for he will be away 
 from home much of the time serving the interests of 
 others. The house the field furnishes for him to live in 
 should have every reasonable convenience, because he 
 will spend the bulk of his time out amongst his member- 
 ship. This throws the whole burden of the home upon 
 his wife. Young women are often warned not to marry 
 preachers unless they are willing to undergo great hard- 
 ships on account of the frequent absences of the preacher 
 from his home. The pastor's wife is expected to be a very 
 active worker in church matters, but she cannot do these 
 things with gladness and efficiency if she becomes broken 
 in health and spirit under unjust domestic burdens. 
 
 3. An Adequate Salary. A living salary must be paid, 
 and paid promptly, every month. By a living salary is 
 meant an amount that will enable him to properly feed 
 and clothe his family and educate his children; to hire a 
 conveyance or run a car and keep it in repair, and to buy 
 such books and papers as he may need as aids in doing his 
 work efficiently. Sickness and other misfortunes, old 
 age and death, come to the pastor and his family just as 
 they come to other families. "Who would deny the man 
 of God the proverbial " rainy day" purse? The pastor 
 cannot do good work if he is burdened with anxiety in 
 trying to make ends meet and keep out of debt . No refer- 
 ence is made to the "spendthrift" preacher; he is out of 
 mind in the above statements. 
 
 When Jesus began preaching he laid aside the carpen- 
 ter's tools. He did not go back to use them again. No 
 
90 Kingdom Building by 
 
 man called of God to preach the gospel has the right to 
 turn to other things to earn a living, and no self-respecting 
 church or group of churches which he serves will force him 
 to do it. Paul voluntarily did so once, saw his mistake 
 and asked the church to forgive him. See II Cor. 11:7-9 
 and 12:13. Many scriptures might be cited to prove this 
 contention, but they are not necessary. 
 
 4. Evangelism, or Making Disciples. This is the first 
 of the two great requirements of the Church's commission. 
 It is not enough to have an annual revival. Death claims 
 many lost people between these annual revivals who 
 ought to be reached and won. Quietly but persistently 
 the quest for souls should go on without ceasing. There 
 should be in every church a band of devout men and 
 women studying and putting into pTactice Bible methods 
 of winning the lost. Usually not a word is spoken to lost 
 people in a community from the time one annual revival 
 closes until the next one begins. What a tragedy that 
 lost men and women are left alone in their sins a whole 
 year with a church in their midst. It is a fearful risk on 
 both sides. No church is enlisted un'less it has a soul- 
 winning program as endless as the need. 
 
 5. Training for Service. Teaching those won to Christ 
 to do His work. This is the second of the two great re- 
 quirements of the church's commission. It is not theory 
 but the application of a life principle that Christ here re- 
 quires of the church. This principle is activity, work. 
 It is putting the hands to the plow and keeping them 
 there. There is no such condition as spiritual balance 
 for a church or one of its members. Either advance or 
 fall back, be positive or negative, be for Him or you are 
 against Him. Do and live, or neglect and die. The 
 church at Laodicea tried to get on the fence and be neither 
 
North Carolina Baptists 91 
 
 positive nor negative, just colorless, peroxided, and the 
 Lord said, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." A 
 church cannot sit astride the fence. 
 
 (a) A Beginning Made. Until quite recently no actual 
 training in service by the country churches was being 
 done. A beginning only has been made. It is true in 
 religious work as in any other work, that we learn to do 
 by doing. Preaching services once a month, a sort of 
 half-hearted effort to carry on a Sunday school, and the 
 annual revival constitute the activities of the average 
 country church. We feel like exclaiming, "How long, 
 Lord, how long will Thy people hold to such a program of 
 inefficiency?' ' 
 
 (b) Lines of Training. Every member should be 
 taught the doctrine of stewardship and led into the prac- 
 tice of it in the use of time, talents, influence, and money. 
 Every member must be set to doing, at least a part, of the 
 following things: praying, teaching, soul-winning, keep- 
 ing records, presiding over conferences, committee work, 
 making surveys, financial canvasses, visiting — which is a 
 fine art — leading study groups in missions, doing personal 
 work and other things as needs may arise. 
 
 (c) Agencies for Training. In order to do this training 
 the following auxiliary organizations within the church 
 are necessary: A well-organized Sunday school with a 
 Normal Class for training officers and teachers; a Tithing- 
 Stewardship band practicing and teaching stewardship and 
 tithing; one or more Baptist Young People's Unions; 
 a Woman's Missionary Society, Sunbeam and Royal Am- 
 bassadors band; a Committee or League of men and 
 women for securing subscriptions to the Biblical Recorder 
 and to secure and distribute denominational and evangel- 
 istic tracts; a Personal Workers' League and a Men's 
 
92 Kingdom Building by 
 
 Brotherhood. The writer knows a large number of 
 country churches, each of which could have all of these 
 auxiliaries if the membership were so minded. The 
 membership cannot be enlisted without these auxiliary 
 organizations or others that correspond with them. 
 
 (d) The Physical Equipment. The oblong meeting 
 house has outlived its days of usefulness. Fifty years 
 ago a great many dwelling houses consisted of one room 
 and a "loft" over it. The family lived, cooked, ate and 
 slept in the one room. Some of the more prosperous 
 built a cook and dining room in the back yard of the living 
 house. Drive through the country now and look at the 
 average dwelling. No self-respecting family will live in a 
 one-room house now and, thanks be, self-respecting 
 churches are quitting the one-room house. Nobody 
 wants to go back to the days of the log schoolhouse. We 
 all know that gradation is a law of education, and it is to 
 be devoutly hoped that soon, now, the churches will re- 
 spect this law in religious education. Every church 
 house should have a room for each class in the Sunday 
 school, except one, or two at most, adult classes that may 
 use the main building. There should be a blackboard, 
 chalk and eraser, and a table in each room, and chairs 
 suited to the age of the pupils. This is the minimum of 
 equipment. These rooms will be used by the various 
 other organizations also. Will any one maintain that we 
 owe more to our physical wellbeing expressed in the build- 
 ing and equipping of five or seven room dwellings in which 
 to live, and four to eight-room schoolhouses in which to 
 train the minds of our children, than we owe to our hearts 
 and souls in spiritual culture? No tent or dwelling 
 equaled the tent of the tabernacle, nor house the temple 
 in costliness, equipment and beauty. Churches cannot 
 go on longer in this way and have clean skirts and a clear 
 
North Carolina Baptists 93 
 
 conscience. The enlisted church will arise and build a 
 suitable house for worship and the training of its member- 
 ship. 
 
 III. An Annual Program for the 
 Enlisted Church 
 
 Every good business man, company or corporation 
 makes an annual survey of his business, usually spoken of 
 as an inventory. Every Baptist church ought to do the 
 same thing. Many changes occur within a year. In a 
 way the pastor and many members of the church are 
 cognizant of these changes, but no one of them knows the 
 exact status of the community in its relation to the church. 
 There are some changes and conditions of which they 
 know nothing. 
 
 1. The Community Survey. A careful survey of the 
 community with the use of properly prepared cards* will 
 reveal many changes and a goodly number of unknown 
 and valuable facts. The tabulating of these facts fur- 
 nishes a basis for making out a program of activities for 
 the following year. Every member of the church ought 
 to be actively engaged along some line of Christian work, 
 but without a program big enough to include the whole 
 membership it is utterly impossible to find something for 
 each one to do. If a survey is not made a correct program 
 cannot be worked out. 
 
 2. The Financial Canvass and the Church Budget. Once 
 a year the pastor and deacons and the finance committee 
 — if the church has such a committee — should meet, and 
 laying the program before them, make out a budget of 
 two parts. 
 
 'Suggested programs may be had for the asking, and survey cards at actual 
 cost by writing the Enlistment Department, Recorder Building, Raleigh, N. C. 
 
94 Kingdom Building by 
 
 First, the budget of local expenses. Include in this the 
 pastor's and sexton's salaries; an ample amount for fuel, 
 lights, insurance, song books, Sunday school and Baptist 
 Young People's Union literature; Mission, Sunday school, 
 Baptist Young People's Union and personal work study 
 course books; put in the church's share of the expense of 
 sending the pastor to the State and Southern Baptist 
 Conventions. 
 
 Second, the benevolent budget. While the 75 Million 
 period is still on, this budget is practically made up. But 
 there are some members coming in all along who should 
 make their pledges to this fund. At present this must 
 answer for the second part of the budget. 
 
 3. Making the Canvass. An e very-member financial 
 canvass is the most satisfactory and efficient method of 
 getting pledges for the support of church work. The 
 pastor, or some member of the church who thoroughly 
 understands it, should carefully and fully explain the 
 budget. Then the church in conference should adopt it. 
 Then the pastor should preach one or more sermons on 
 some phase of the financial side of church and Kingdom 
 work, laying the duty of supporting the church upon the 
 heart of every member. Canvassers should be chosen 
 carefully and drilled for the canvass. The list of mem- 
 bers must be divided amongst these canvassers some time 
 before the canvass is to be made. Care must be exer- 
 cised in this too, for reasons which will appear to the mind 
 of every one. It has been found by many tests that the 
 best way is to set a certain afternoon on which the canvass 
 is to be made, and to get every one to thinking about it. 
 Ask them to remain at home that afternoon until they 
 have made their pledge. After the canvass the church 
 Treasurer makes a record of every name and pledge, and 
 
North Carolina Baptists 95 
 
 as the money is paid in credit is given. Once each quarter 
 a statement ought to be sent to every member, showing 
 amount paid on pledge and balance due, if any. 
 
 One of the crying needs of church work today is for 
 good Business Methods, especially in the financial end of it. 
 The same financial methods used by the average church 
 would in almost no time utterly wreck any business in 
 which men engage. In the name of all that is sacred 
 about our Lord's w r ork, let every church put the very best 
 business plans into the work of the biggest job God ever 
 set man to doing. 
 
 -4. Paying in and Paying Out of Money. The Enlist- 
 ment department is seeking to get the country churches 
 to adopt the Scriptural plan of financing the Lord's work. 
 It is an obvious fact that all substitute plans are make- 
 shifts and failures. Of course any sort of a plan brings 
 in some money. But the fact remains that sufficient 
 money has never come into the treasury of God to finance 
 the work He has set His church in the world to do. Neither 
 has the money been paid in in the right way, nor in the 
 proper proportion from the individual members of the 
 churches. 
 
 5. The Scriptural Plan, (a) Paying In. First, it is 
 systematic: "Upon the first day of the week." Second, 
 it is all-inclusive: "Let each one of you lay by him in 
 store." Third, it is fair, proportionate, equitable: "As 
 he may prosper." 
 
 "As he may prosper," (Revised version) connotes some 
 definite part. What part or proportion? Only one Scrip- 
 ture answer can be found — the tithe. No, Jesus did not 
 command us to pay tithes, nor yet Paul. Why should 
 they? Tithing was well-nigh universally and scrupulously 
 practiced. If some other proportion than the tithe is 
 
96 Kingdom Building by 
 
 scriptural and right, why is it not mentioned? Some have 
 quoted 2 Cor. 9:7, "Let each man do according as he hath 
 purposed in his heart." To take this as a guide is to do 
 violence to the meaning of the verse and to common sense. 
 Until the Lord reveals some other plan we must go by 
 the one He has given. The tithe of the income of all the 
 Christian people will be ample to meet every need. 
 
 (b) Paying Out. Make monthly remittances. All mis- 
 sionaries and general workers are paid by the month. 
 This is safer and easier and will save embarrassment to 
 the Mission Board, the Missionaries, general workers and 
 all concerned. It will prevent that nerve racking work 
 at the end of the Convention year in the office, and elim- 
 inate the high pressure methods employed to get it; it 
 Avill save many dollars in postage and printing, and thou- 
 sands of dollars that always come in too late to be counted 
 in the funds of the current year. 
 
 IV. In Conclusion 
 
 The Enlistment Department, the baby in the organized 
 department family of the Baptist State Convention, is a 
 little fellow with a big job. One is reminded of a ten- 
 year-old wearing his father's clothes; but let him alone, 
 he will grow. Again, it is like a baby trying to grasp a 
 basketball with one hand. 
 
 The Enlistment Department was born for a day like 
 this, when the larger part of 1,800 country churches need 
 to be permanently rearranged into compact fields; to 
 build pastors' homes; to secure resident pastors; to be 
 shown how to pay living salaries; to train leaders for 
 every department of work; to organize themselves and 
 train for efficiencj^; to build and equip houses of worship 
 
North Carolina Baptists 97 
 
 adequate to the needs; to link up all business and social 
 life with the commission they hold from the Lord, and to 
 adopt programs big enough to cover it all. 
 
 These and other things the Enlistment and Country 
 Church Department will try to help the churches to do. 
 It will require many years of time and patient work, but 
 it can be done if the churches want it done. 
 
 There are now (1923), seven men working along these 
 lines. How long will it take seven to cover, just once, the 
 rural territory of North Carolina? From five to eight 
 years ! But to get lasting results , the work done must 
 parallel that of the farmer making a crop. The field must 
 be covered many times with intensive effort. Some time, 
 some time, the work may be done. The Lord of the vine- 
 yard hasten that good day! 
 
 SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 
 
 1. What proportion of our North Carolina people live in 
 
 the country? 
 
 2. Mention the tendencies which take heavy toll of the 
 best material in the country churches. What is 
 your remedy for a situation like this? 
 
 3. Discuss the meaning of Enlistment as employed in this 
 chapter. 
 
 4. Outline the activities of a live enlisted church. How 
 near does your own church approach these standards? 
 
 5. Compare the annual financial program of an enlisted 
 church with the plan employed by your own church. 
 Which plan do you regard as the better one? Why? 
 
 THE END 
 

 DATE 
 
 6, 
 
 aptishL 
 
 JfcoJ KArcici I 
 
 This book must not 
 be taken from the 
 Library building. 
 
 Form No. 471