The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1868-08-29
Churches in the South.

Churches in the South.
The Philadelphia Ledger, one Of the most
able journals in the Union, furnishes the
following interesting facts, all of which have
been carefully compiled from official reports !:
In 1860, the Methodist Episcopal Church
South had about zoe 600 members Of whom
1S8, 600 were colored. Besides. there were
about $4,000 Southern Methodist Protest
ants. The Methodist Episcopal Church, the
parent body, had only retained its congre-
cations in Maryland and Delaware, with a
few in Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and
Arkansas. In all the other States it had be-
come extinct But since the close of the
war, the Methodist Church has become one
of the leading and most numerous denomi-
nations in the Southern States. At the close
Of the year of 1867, this Church had the
following annual conferences wholly within
the bounds Of the late slave States: Ala
bama, 9,209 mem bers Georgia, 10,6I3
Holston, "A, ,720 Mississippi, 1900; South
Carolina 1868; Tennessee, 6.0l6; Texas
1884; Virginia and North Carolina, 67I ;
Arkansas and Missouri, 20,4I6; Baltimore
Is, 768; Kentucky, 1891 Western Vir-
GINA, 26,7S3; Washington, 17,473. To
gether these conferences had a membership
of about 10000 persons. Adding to this
the congregations Of such annual confer
ences as lie on the border, 1t has a member
ship of not less than lS0,000-a gain Of
100000 since 1860 The increase of the
two African organizations is still greater.
In 1860 the African Methodist Episcopal
Church and the African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church together reported a
membership of about 26 900; in 1868 they
numbered upwards of 35u0O0 The gain
oF lo 1as l.
among the colored population, while the
Methodist Episcopal Church has gained both
among the whites and coIored people, The
increase of the two African churches ex-
ceeds by far the entire colored membership
Of the Southern Methodist Church. The
two African churches greatly desire union
with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and
negotiations for that purpose have been Off
cially opened. Whenever they prove sue
cesslul, the Methodist Episcopal Church will
have In the late slave States a membership
of not less than 100000, with fair pros
pect of becoming, in point OF numbers, the
| leading denominations in these States.
! The Baptists, also, since the end of the
war, have been engaged In the work of do
mestic missions. The Free Mission Baptist
/ Society, the American Home Missionary
! Society and the Publication Society have
| sent numerous missionaries among the
| freedmen to establish schools and churches
| A large number OF colored Baptists have
| connected themselves with the Consolidated
/ Missionary Association This is an Organi
zation of colored men, which has placed
/ itself in connection with the Northern So
cieties, and IN particular with the Free Mis-
sion Society The latter has likewise or
ganized several associations of Baptis
churches in the South. In Louisiana the
association numbers sixty churches anC
counts up an aggregate membership O
=. 6,779.
The Presbyterians have likewise made
! progress in recognizing their missionary
work In the South The New School Assem-
bly, has three presbyteries III Tennessee
the Old School Assembly has presbyteriei
in North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Zen
nessee, and in one or two other States of tht
far South The United Presbyterians have
a presbYterY in Tennessee. These three
bodies, it is stated, are conducting missionarJ
work among the freedmen with great zeal
The COngregationalists before the wa
only had'a single church IN the late rebe
States, the one at Charleston. The Ma
tional Council Of Congregational churches
held two years ago, however, recommendeC
the American Missionary Association as al
organ through which the denomination
might reach the freedmen. This association
has since labored with great zeal for tht
education of the colored people. According
to a recent report In the monthly magazine
Of the association, ten Congregations
churches have been established, and the frs
Southern association of Congregational min
isters has been formed.