The Washington times., 1901-09-01
AGREAT CHURCH CCNCLAVE
Third Decennial Meeting of the
MethOdists in London.
The EcumenicnI Conference to BE
Called to order in City Road
Chapel Next Wednesday - John
WesIey's Pulpit StilI in Use.

Representative Methodists from all
over the world are making their way tO
London where on next Wednesday, the
third Methodist Ecumenical Conference
will meet Once every ten years Meth
odists hold such a worlds conference
TO discuss questions of moment to the
denomination, and to compare notes
as to the status of all its branches. Ten
years ago the conference met in this
city in the Metropolitan Methodist
Church. The first conference, twenty
years ago, was held in City Road Chap
el, London, which is also to be the
meeting place this year
City Road Chapel is the birthplace of
Methodism. 1t was there that John
Wesley preached, and he is buried with
in it's walls. The old pulpit from which
the founder of Metnodism spoke is still
in use. and from it the conference ser
mon will be preached by Bishop Gallo
way, of the Methodist Church, South.
Five hundred delegates will sit in the
conference, 300 being assigned to the
Western Section and 200 to the Eastern.
The Western Section comprises all
branches of the Methodist Church in
the United States and Canada, includ-
ing their foreign work, and the Eastern
is composed of British Methodism and
affiliated conferences and mission fields
Delegates to the Ecumenical Confer
ence of this year will represent nearly
10000 more members than did those
to the Washington conference. In 1881,
when the latter body met, the total
number of members of Methodist
Churches in the world was 6,50S, s59. OF
these 5,3S2,S75 belonged to the American
Churches. In the ten years Methodist
membership in the world has grown
to 7,402, ,913, the American figures being
6,2o1, ,250. There has been proportion
ate growth in the number of churches.
Ten years ago there were l1,ls6 in the
whole world, 81, ,465 being in America
There is now a total of $3.50 churches,
of which 5S,6S5 are on this side of the
Atlantic Ocean, or are affiliated with
the church organizations here. Metho-
dists IN the United States are divided
into seventeen organizations. of which
the largest is the body known popularity
as the Methodist Church, North. This
had at last reports 2.746,191 members
while the next largest body is the Meth
odist Church. South, with membership
of 1,47D.520. There are several organ
izations OF colored Methodists. the lars-
est having 675, 462 members.
The growth of the Methodist Church
in the United States has been largely
In tlax inst ole
While the work began in New York in
1856, when, at the call of godly wo-
man, a few Methodists met in sail
loft, organized a church, and made plans
for the erection of a $1,000 place of wor-
ship, al the close of the eighteenth CEN
tury there were only $1,000 Methodists
in the United States, although the de-
nomination then ranked third among
Protestant bodies here in number of
of the nineteenth century, however, it
advanced to first place in numbers. and
easily holds that rank today. The next
largest body in the United States is
the Baptist, but the Methodist leads 1t
in membership by nearly million and
a half. The erection of a $1,000 church
in 1866 gave little more promise OF &C.
clesiastical wealth than did the hand
full of people in the movement give of
numerical supremacy; but in the value
OF church property the growth has been
as wonderful as to membership. The
54 ,35l Methodist churches in the United
States at the opening of the new cen
tury own property valued at SIS, 900. 900,
and this figure does not include the
property of universities, colleges, and
hospitals conducted under Methodist
auspices.
The benevolent societies and enter
prises of the Methodist Church in the
United States were ali started in the
century, as is also the case
with the young peoples and other or
ganizations Of the denomination A few
figures will show the extent to which |
this phase of denominational work
Is done. The Epworth League has 49,
800 local organizations. with 1,s6O,OO0 |
members. The Sunday School Union
has 81 ,6s6 schools enrolled. The Tract |
Society distributes about 12,00O,000 |
pages of literature annually. The |
Methodist Book, Concern made sales il
the last fifty years aggregating over
te0, 900, 600. The Freedmen's Aid Society |
has disbursed $5,2eo,OQO and has aided |
POI, 600 students. The Missionary So |
rlety has spent SIG, ,0e0, 900 for the evan |
gelization of the world. The Board OF
Church Extension has aided 1l.S01 |
TO the amount of $6,5Ss, 430- |
The Woman's Foreign Missionary So |
ciety has 5000 auxiliary organizations. |
with COO members. The Woman's |
Home Missionary Society has 5000 aux- |
liary societies, with 10000 members. A !
recent work, which involves a large |
amount Of ingiiey. is the raising Of |
twentieth century FUNDS in both the |
y tthefn and Southern bodies of the |
Church. The idea of these funds origi- |
lated with the Wesleyan Methodists of |
England, who set out to raise about |
6, ,000.0s0 at the beginning of the new
century. The Northern body in the
United States adopted the idea, but |
,aised the stint to s2O,00O,0O0 the sum
o be devoted to educational. philan-
hropic, endowment, and debt paying
purposes. Twelve million dollars has
been subscribed to the fund, and 1t is
that the remaining Ss,000,000.
,r most Of it, will be pledged before the
md OF the year. Methodists South
nave raised sI,5O0,0Oo for similar pur-
POSES
Educational work in the Methodist
church has kept pace with growth