The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-28
HOME MISSIONS.
Antorossing Address on This Subject n
tho First Presbyterian Church.

An'oross'nR address on This Subject n
tho First Prssbyterian Church.
AT the regular weekly services held
LAST night In the sirst Presbyterian
Onurcn the great work Of home missions
Was considered. and addresses were
maae oy the pastor, Captain Foard, the
omar man OF sshe committee having in
cnsfse this work in the First Church,
and others. This subject was CON
sidered at that time in view of the an.
nual Offering to be made in the Presby-
terrain Churches in the bounds of he
synod OF Virginia In June.
Inc Two great departments of mis-
sions are known ss home and foreign.
fofeiRa missions 10 the effort to carry
the Gospel % the destitute in foreign
lands, ana home missions is the flor.
to carry 1t to the destitute in our own
country The homo mission work in
the Presbyterian Church is carried on
through assembly. synt dcal and Pres
byterial com mil tees.
The synodical work for which this
epeclal collection 10 to be- made is
particular work recently undertaken by
certain synocs, which nploy ministers
who give their whole time to eyanpe-
llst!c wofk. The call for this work ~
very great.
1t 10 surprising to find the needs of
the older States, and the success at
tending these special efforts has demon
strate1 the wisdom of the work As well
ss the great needs. The SUCCESS has
been evident in the large increase in the
GIFTS OF Gods people, in the additions
to the churches and the qu ckening it
has given to all other interests.
In 1850 Col. Bennett H. Young, of
kentucky, offered the Synod of Ken
lucky TO duplicate up TO $1,000 any
amount it would raise for the prosecu.
tion OF this work. The synod accepted
his offer and raised q total Of Sii 900
with which to carry it on. 1t took
some OF it's best pastors and sent the 10
into the destitute portions CT Kentucky
as eVaDgellsts. Their work was defined
TO De so preach the Gospel, visit the pc o
pie In their homes, organize the con-
verts into churches and erect church
buildings. Their work wss greatly
blessed.
In eight years the Synod raised and
expended upwards of 500, 600 in THE
work, organized fifty nine ne W churches,
resoscltated half as many more, erected
forty new church buildings, received
$500 persons on profession Of their faith
into the churches, increased the number
OF candidates for the ministry from five
to thirty K, planted The banner of the
Presbyterian Church in sixteen new
counties H. Kentucky, and raised $780,
OtO as an endowment for Central Uniyer
sity
The Synod of Virginia began this spe.
ciai work In 1891 Some Of the leading
laymen as we'll IS ministers were placed
On the committee having this work In
charge Among these were Col Ven
q ~ Raj ,, ".
of Lynchburg; Rev. Doctors Murklsnd
and Rosebro, and others Seven thou
sand one hundred dollars were raised
tho flrst year. In four years $4,000
were raised Besides this the evaDgel
lists raised $500 additional, making
$50 coo in all. Twenty-three new
churches were organized, 300 persons
were bap;lzei and 700 COMMITMENTS
were added by he labors OF the evan
gelists to the Presbyterian Church
Au md .rect result of this az wss IT,
largely increasing contributions to the
general work OF the church. Othe,
synods undertook it. Inc good results
to the who'll church were seen in tht
very large increase in mem bersnip In
1865 the Southern Presby ;erian Church
had 65 900 Communicates. In $50 wher
the spe cisl yoodica work began it hat
lSu,USo In loSo-n1 teen years later, II
had MT M bership Of 203, 500, showing
an Increase in fifteen years Of nearly
$4,000 mem bers. The contri buttons also
grew. In 1887 the total amount given
to home missions was $4,000 Four
teen years later the annual amount given
was S52 O35.
This Hort also demonstrated the
fact that Presbyterianism wss adapted
81 The masses, that 1t Was mosr accept
able TO them, that the Presbyterian
Church possessed reserve Of force ,ha,
promised great results for the future
and that 1t could succeed anywhere
The Importance of this work Cannot
be Cverestima;ed 1t is the base of
supplies Tor foreign missions. IL has
10 dc with the country and smaller
towns which furnish the bone and sinew
Of 'he city churches. 1t is the agency
by which the spiritually destitute OF
our own land are reached and becausr
OF the large number Of foreigners within
It's borders who have come. In many
Instances, from pagan or temi pagan
countries, f. does s foreign mis-
sion work in home mission field
This Offering will be taken up in the
Presbyterian Churches the first Sund! v
in June. and every member will con
slider II privilege co have parE in &
to tue extent Of his abb ity