The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-05-22
y. AZ. 3. Conference Adlourns.


Tho annual conference of the A. NJ. T.
church adjourned at West Chester yester.
day afternoon, to meet In Bethel Church,
this city, next year. Before adjournment
Bishop Grant gave some facts and figures
Whiah showed that the A. NJ e. Church
Connection Is strong and influential
body OF Christian people and is yearly
gaining at remarkable rate. In the
course of his remarks he said among
other things:
.The A. M. e. Church to-day has a total
membership of over 100000 it has more
than $4,000 ministers and 1900 local
preachers. Its publication department ID
One Of the oldest In the world. The Chris
tian Recorder is the oldest religious news-
paper published by our race The bust
ness OF the publishing department brought
In last year revenue of $4,000 1t has
been stated In tho Conference that there is
. mortgage On the building, but want to
say that 1t Is mortgaged to ourselves. /
am mortgaged to my wife and she is mort
gagged to me. This Connection raised on
Easter Day alone the sum of 5000 for
missions. That was only one days collec,
lions.
do not remember the number of mis-
sionarles we have at work abroad but it
70 very large. We have some in our en-
ploy who are white men. We do not hold
: That our church is exodus lively for the col
0red people.
"Our financial department handled
8Bb0 0oO. last year. We own our building
IN Washington which we purchased for
$1,000 and We do not owe a dime on it.
The financial department is doing an
1mmense work and is the most perfectly
organized in the world This is the fund
raised by the dollar money. Thousands
of churches have been saved from sale
by timely help given, We gave 800 to
save church in the town of York, Pa,
and now the report comes to the Confer.
ence that there are 4s members there and
they send us ST. of dollar money when S49
was all that was required.
I'VE sent out from our publishing house
10000 lesson leaves for the Sabbath schools
In that building in Nashville, Tennessee,
where the printing is done, twenty-five
men are employed. We own the building
without any mortgage on it. 1t was paid
for by the children.
"Our papers go out all over the country
and we gather the news from the four
points OF the compass and send it to all
four ot them, You can judge what way
people are trendlng by what they are will
4ng to do for education"
"The Bishop then gave some interesting
statistics concerning colleges and semi.
naries where the young men are being
trained. Some of the leading institutions
are Wilberforee University Morris Brown
College and Allen University, Tho total
OF property owned by the church and in
vested in colleges and schools and build
tngs meant to aid and upllft the race are
valued at not less than SS,0OJ,L0O.
i am glad to be able to say that the ad-
ditions to the churches Of this conference
during the past year will foot up nearly
q nate, IA flain tt,;I,,
have been larger than ever before. In
going around I find that there is II worry
general holding on to the old doctrine.
The people Of our church generally believe
In the doctrine Of sanctitlcatOu. There
are some exceptions People como to us
sometimes from other denominations and
II takes a little while to make good Metho-
flsts ous of them But would be willing
10 place myself at the head of the Phialol.
phia Conference and charge any strong.
hold of the devil in the world"
II want two good men to go to Bermu.
do and to be there before the 4th Of July
They must be prepared to spend the re-
niainder Of their lives there. The climate
Is healthy. | have Travelled all over the
United States and in some foreign lands
besides Bermuda, and know Of no place
that nature has favored more. The society
Is good and the civilization is well ad'
vanced. The men who 20 there will find
IL a pleasant field for labor
b also want man to go to New England
He must DO ono who is good at raising
money and building churches, and has
had ut least ten years experience in the
ministery. | expect to get these three
men out Of the Philadelphia Conference
lwant u man to go in another direction
but l think | have my eye on the one who
ss to go, The other three must be found,
- brethren, think it over and be prepar
ID to furnish the men,"