The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-08-18
END OF CONFERENCE YEAR.
Rev. III. w. Peck Addresses His
Congregation by Letter.

Congregation by Letter.
At the regular quarterly conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church held
last week, the pastor, Rev. H. w. Peck
read the following communication:
Beloved-We have come to the close
of another conference year 1t is fitting
that I should review the work of this
year, which has been so important in
your history as a church. We began
| the year with the hope that before it
closed we should have a church home
In this our hope has been realized be-
You'd our expectations. l desire to thank
you for the earnest efforts made during
| the year in this work l know that |
also voice your feelings when l say
that we are very grateful for the Chris
| tian help and sympathy shown to us by
many in this community, who have
helped us very materially in the work
| of building church, and have also
often gladdened our hearts by their
presence at our services and participa-
1 ,
| 1895, $5,677 has been paid out for build
| ing purposes. l trust that the balance
of the subscriptions may be speedily
| collected in order that we may devote
our whole attention to other matters OF
great Importance. During the year, ST.
| LIP has been raised toward current eX-
penses. OF this $3.50 has been paid to-
| ward rent of parsonage and salary OF
your pastor.
| We began the year with 20 members
and Ii probationers. During the year
we have had 101 members and proba-
| TONERS; of these 90 were members and
| 4S prObationers. Thirteen members
| have been received from probation, IL
| by letter from Methodist and sister
| churches. One member has died; one
was dropped without prejudice" one
| withdrew upon request. Thirty-fiVe
| have joined the church this year upon
probation. Of these II joined in De-
cember as the result of Rev. G. H. Vat
mans faithful work.
! We rejoice in the fact that our sister
| churches in Honolulu were also greatly
helped by Mr.. Yatman's labors. [ have
| given letters to two prObationers; one
has Joined the Salvation Army.
1t is with heartfelt sorrow that | re-
l
drop the names of Il persons from the
list because of neglect of Christian and
unworthy living. AS your pastor /
must acknowledge that l am not able
10 say that l have done all that l might
| have done for these in order to help
them in their upward struggle. l pray
God to help me to be more faithful.
| 1t is my desire to keep the church s
| membership as free as possible from
| those who have no personal knowledge
| of Jesus Christ as their every day Sa-
vior from sin. While by our system of
probation we are enabled to extend all
| possible Christian help and sympathy
| to any one having the least desire TO
! follow Christ and learn of him; yet il
| the work of grace in a mans heart be
not deep enough to enable him to lead
| a consistent Christian life during six
months of probation, he certainly is not
| fitted to become a member of Christ's
| living church.
During the year our young people
have organized an Epworth League,
with membership of about So. A Jul
nior Epworth League has also been or
| ganiZed, with a membership of about
% Our young people are also co-operat-
| ing with the Y. P. S. G.. E. of the Cen
IIdl OuIOu CulICu anu The L. VI. -. A
in religious work among the sailors.
Our Sunday school has been doing
good work during the year, and several
of the larger children have become
members of the church
Mr.. G.. J. Day has during most of the
year been engaged in preaching Christ
at Pearl City and Eva Plantation. The
people living at those places have
shown their Hearty appreciation of
Brother Days faithful work by their
sympathy and financial help. We are
indebted to Mr.. Henry Waterhouse and
Eva Plantation for placing their
churches at our disposal for the carry
ing on of this work.
l rejoice with you in all these evil
denceS that God is with us and is bless
ing our efforts to uplift our common
humanity and assist our sister churches
in building up Christ's Kingdom in
Hawaii I rejoice in what has been
done; and yet suffer me to say that nv
heart is often filled with mingled sor-
row and indignation as I look out upon
the work. We shall have to get down
before God that he may cleanse and fill
us and lift us up. Then shall we be able
to effectively win souls for the Master
and stem the tide of evil
It was my glad privilege to carry your
greetings to the June Assembly of our
sister churches, and to assure them that
we are most heartily with them in al
Christian effort and spiritual union.
May the spirit of the Most High fill
Us and lead US onward and upward in
the coming year.
HARCOT-PT w PECK Pastor