The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-10-05
DR.. M'FARLAND'S PLACE
First Methodist Church May Be
Left Without a Pastor.

If a proposition which is being talked
of among the Methodist preachers of
Kansas is carried through it will be
necessary for the First Methodist Epis-
copal church of Topeka to find another
new minister next spring.
There is a proposition on foot to take
Dr. J. T. Mcfarland from the pastor
ate of the Topeka church and make MIN
editor of the Central Christian Advo-
cate, the organ OF the church for the
western states. If this is done it will
remove him from Topeka to St. Louis
and place him in one of the foremost
positions in the entire Methodist
church.
The editors of the different church pa
pers of the Methodist church are elect
ed once in four years by the general
conference. The next general confer
ence will meet in Chicago in May, 1900,
at which time the present editor of
the Central Christian Advocate will be
reelected or a new one chosen to sue
coed him.
The present editor of the paper is DR..
Jesse Bowman Young He was elected
to the position in 1892, and previous to
that time was pastor of the Grand
Avenue NJ. E. church in Kansas City.
There is considerable dissatisfaction
among the Methodists of the west on
account of his conduct of the paper,
and there is a demand that a new man
shall be chosen next year to succeed
him. The clergy claim that his theOl-
Ogy is not sound while the laity say
that the paper has deteriOrated under
his management. It is generally ad-
mitted that DR.. Young is better
preacher than editor, and for this rea-
son it is very probable that a new man
viii be chosen to succeed him at the
general conference next spring.
The boom" for DR.. Mcfarland orig
mated among the ministers of the
Northwest Kansas conference, and is
spreading not only over Kansas, but
also in Iowa and Illinois, where DR..
Mcfarland is we'll known. Rev. T. J.
der of the COncOrdia district, is one of
the prime movers in the proposition. 1t
is meeting with favor among the Meth
OdiSt ministers of Iowa and Illinois, be-
cause DR. Mcfarland was formerly
members OF the conferences of both
those states. He began his ministry in
Iowa, and was for several years presi-
dent of the Iowa Wesleyan university
Later he went to Jacksonville, Illinois,
and spent several years in that state
prior to his removal to Brooklyn.
An effort was made by the Illinois
Nethodists in 1892 to elect DR.. McFar-
land to editOrship of the paper instead
of Dr. Young, but at that time Dr.
Young had the Kansas delegation and
most of the others from the west
DR.. Mcfarland has been a leading
contributor to the church papers for
several years, and is recognized as one
of the most scholarly men in the Meth
odist church. His ability in this line is
recognized not only in the west, but
also in the New York conferences,
where he labOred for three years, and
for this reason the ministers who are
pushing him forward for the editor
ship of the Advocate, believe they will
have little difficulty in securing his
election by the general conference The
place is counted as one of the best in
the church, by reason of the influence
which the editor exertS.