YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL How to Interest the Laity in Missions An Address delivered before the Church Club of Philadelphia, February 28, 1898 GEORGE C. THOMAS President of the Club and Treasurer of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CLUB 4 ; PHILADELPHIA : GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO. 103 S. FIFTEENTH STREET l858 ADDRESS Delivered before the Church Club of Philadelphia, February 28, 1898, By MR. GEORGE C. THOMAS, President of the Club, and Treasurer of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, upon the subject HOW TO INTEREST THE LAITY IN MISSIONS. It seems to me that the topic might have been stated in better form as " How we can better Interest the Clergy in Missions," because I think if the Clergy were all deeply interested in the missionary work of the Church, that the Laity would be equally so, as my experience shows that they have always been found ready to re spond to any call that might be made upon them in a proper manner. We have 6,332 Parishes and missions in the United States, 664,000 communicant members, and 481,000 Sunday-school teachers and scholars. A little more than one-half of these Parishes and Sunday-schools have con tributed to the work of the Domestic and Foreign Mis sionary Society ofthe Church ; so it may be well, first of all, to give our very serious consideration to the question why this state of things exists. As I said a moment ago, I believe the Laity have always been found ready to re spond when matters were properly and clearly placed before them, and their zeal and interest in the work of the Church has been greatly increased in the past few years. We see this particularly from the fact that the Sunday-school work of the Church is claiming more interest, and also by the way in which Sunday- school Institutes are being formed, and increasing in every Diocese in the country. These Institutes are emphasizing the missionary idea and bringing it be fore those under instruction. An especial effort is being made at the present time to enlist the sympathy and en thusiasm of the Sunday-school scholars in the Lenten Offerings as a memorial to the Rev. Dr. Langford, who had the matter so much at heart, and which it is hoped may reach the sum of $100,000, to be devoted to general missions without designation. The Brotherhood of St. Andrew, only organized in 1886, has also become an important factor. Recognizing the great influence of this organization, shortly after I accepted the position of Treasurer of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society I addressed a letter to each Chapter in the country, and bespoke the interest of the members in the missionary work of the Church. I told them I was not writing for the purpose of asking them to give money, but I wanted them to take an intel ligent and lively interest in the important matter, to keep themselves in touch with the general officers of the Society, and in every way show how much they felt that this was a work which depends upon the Laity for its support. The replies which I received were very remarkable, and in every case but one they were most encouraging. Those who wrote showed that they were awakened to the importance of the subject ; they thanked me for having communicated with them, and a great many of the Chapters have been taking stated offerings since. I also addressed every Bishop, and asked them if they would give me the names of from four to ten lay men in their Dioceses who might be interested par ticularly in the missionary work ofthe Church, to whom information might be sent from time to time, with a view of having them communicate it to others in their Dio ceses. To this request a large majority of the Bishops complied most cheerfully, and sent me such a list. I communicated with all thus given, and the replies were also most encouraging. The list numbered several hun dred names, and is on file in the Church Missions House. I, therefore, think that we can now face a very encourag ing condition of things, from the fact that the Laity of the Church may have thus been in a larger measure aroused to a consideration of their duty. The total contributions in the Episcopal Church in the United States for last year were $12,696,813.06. This, of course, includes every cent which was contrib uted for Church purposes — for the salaries ofthe clergy, the current expenses of the Churches, such missionary work as they may engage in, such money as they may give for parochial, diocesan or general missions, etc. — and these statistics are about as correct as such statistics can be. The 664,000 communicants then contributed nearly $13,000,000 during last year, and of this there was de voted to Domestic and Foreign Missions the following: The total receipts from September, 1896, to Septem ber, 1897, were: Contributions, .... $358,024 93 (which is only a little over half , a dollar apiece.) The Legacies amounted to (in cluding $4,500 for investment), 181,377 60 The Specials were, . . . 82,174 46 (These were contributions from Churches which desig nated them for some special object; for example, one Churchy would want a certain amount to go to Bishop Brewer, and another would want to contribute to St. John's College in Shanghai, over and above what the Board appropriated.) Value of boxes from the Woman's and Junior Auxiliaries, . . $148,799 71 And Specials sent direct by the Woman's Auxiliary, . . 59,348 58 I should say that much of the money received from the Woman's Auxiliary goes into the Treasury of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, but of course these specials are sent direct to such objects as the senders may desire. 5 The total receipts for Missions from all sources were, there fore, including contributions, legacies, specials, estimated value of boxes, interest, etc., . $829,725 28 There was received by the Treas urer also during the year, from borrowed money, subscrip tions to the Stated Publica tions, etc., .... 149,236 01 $978,961 29 The expenditures during the same period were : For White Work, . . . $148,174 30 For Indian Work, . . . 46,599 16 For Colored Work, . . . 54,750 86 Foreign Missions, of which the great majority went to China and Japan, .... 184,305 45 Legacies invested, . . 4,500 00 Specials, being the sum of the specials paid by the Board, $83,306.24, and the specials sent direct, $59,348.58, . . 142,654 82 The boxes which I have included in the receipts above must of course go on the other side of the account, and they amount to, H8,799 71 And the total expenses, including printing, salaries, and every item of expense, were, . . 48,354 27 The total disbursements for Mis sions were, therefore, including value of boxes, . . . $778,138 57 There was paid by the Treasurer, also, during the year for bor rowed money returned, cost of issuing the Stated Publica tions, etc 144,552 08 $922,690 65 Leaving a balance of, . . $56,270 64 As, however, we began the year with $58,386.66 in the treasury, the balance on hand at the close of the year was, therefore, $114,657.30. The total expenses as stated, $48,354.27, are about 5 per cent, on the amount of money raised as above. Of course a good deal of that is necessary expense, such as freight and printing, which is very essential, and I question whether there is a more economically managed Society in this country or any other country than The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church. I want you, however, to notice that the contributions were $358,000, and the legacies for use $177,000, so you can very readily see that, if it had not been for the lega cies which came in last year, it would have been impos- sible to meet the claims upon us, unless some special effort had been made to raise money, or the Board had drawn upon the reserve provided for temporary need, or used the credit of the Society, which stands very high. I sincerely trust that this may never become necessary again. I think I ought to say that exercising as full over sight and care as I possibly can, living in the city of Philadelphia, I consider that the office in New York is conducted on business principles. The correspondence is very great, and there is much work connected with the administration of affairs, but every effort is made to conduct matters properly, and no one need ever hesitate to ask any proper question, as they will receive a reply as full as possible. The books of the Society are kept in a systematic way, so that information can be promptly gotten. There is a gentleman present here to-night who came to my office the other day and wanted to get some information; I telephoned to New York and the next morning he had a full and explicit letter giving him everything that he wished. You will pardon me for dwelling on these details at the outset, but I think it is information that everybody should have. Now, as I said just a moment ago, the contributions received were $358,000, which is about 50 cents for each communicant member. Of course we must add the " Specials " to that, which would make $440,000, and this does not include the money raised by the Woman's Auxiliary, which was distributed through other channels. The results which it has achieved are most remarkable, 8 and including cash and boxes made up $278,000, which shows their interest in the matter of general missions. Let me now divide the consideration of the subject into three heads : First. — How the Clergy can interest the Laity. Second. — How the Domestic and Foreign Mission ary Society can interest the Laity, and, Third. — How Laymen can interest one another. First. — How can the Clergy interest the Laity in Missions ? I would say by being themselves alive to the importance of this whole matter, and in the first place, the clergy should emphasize to the laity their responsi bility in regard to missions. I am speaking now particu larly of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Church, as that is what is usually understood when we speak of the missionary work of the Church, but what I have to say regarding this applies to every other missionary work, whether Diocesan, City or Parochial. When we remember that all baptized persons are members of that great Society, it seems to me that it is the duty of every clergyman to emphasize to the laity their responsibility in the matter. I am not saying just how this should be done. Some clergymen have a happy knack of presenting these subjects, and others have great difficulty in doing so, but my experience has shown me that when a man is interested in a matter he always finds a way of doing the thing he is inter ested in ; and, if the clergy themselves are really inter ested in the missionary work of the Church, they will manage to communicate their spirit to the laity. This, however, should particularly be done with regard to the Sunday-schools of the Church, and also through the Junior Auxiliary and the Woman's Auxiliary. In ad dition there has been organized what is known as the " Babies Branch," and even small children are taught from their infancy that they are, as baptized persons, members ofthe Missionary Society ofthe Church. In the second place, the laity should be considered as partners. The clergy should not appear to have a cer tain monopoly in this matter, but they should treat their laymen as associates and partners in connection with it. They should have frequent consultations in reference to missionary work. It should not be that at certain periods somebody is brought into the Church to give a dry discourse upon the subject of missions, but there should be a constant presentation of the matter in a plain and practical way before the laymen, as they are all interested in the same thing. This is the way it used to be. I remember when I was a boy in old St. Paul's Church, the great stress which was laid upon the missionary work of the Church, and how care ful the Rector, Rev. Richard Newton, D.D., of blessed memory, was to instruct the people and give them information in regard to it. Each mission field was discussed, and the children and grown people were told who was there and what they were doing. It is a very important point that the clergy should give the laity reliable and constant information in regard to the subject of missions. They get it upon every other sub ject, and they receive it, as a rule, with regard to the IO finances of their own Church. They ought to have it with reference to missionary work. Now this can be gotten a great deal easier than people think. At each of the meetings of the Woman's Auxiliary of my own Parish a member appointed for the purpose brings news from the missionary field, chiefly as found in the Spirit of Missions, which she thinks ought to be given. These reports are very interesting and instructive, and the members go away with a great deal of information on the subject which they otherwise would not have received. It seems to me that every clergyman could interest his people in some such way if he made the effort. Second. — How can the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society interest the Laity ? First of all, by establishing confidence in the management. I think that in the main the Board of Managers have this. There has been a good deal said on this subject, to which I shall refer, but we must not forget the plan under which the work is carried on. Every baptized person is a member of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. The Gen eral Convention is the Board of Missions, and sits once in three years. During the years that the General Con vention does not sit there is a Missionary Council held, which is not a legislative body. It considers matters in connection with the missionary work, and makes sugges tions to the Board of Missions and the Board of Man agers. The last Missionary Council, which was held in Milwaukee, was most enthusiastic, and many of them have done great good, especially in the localities in II which they have been held, in awakening and deep