The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1901-10-31
CHURCH OF CHRIST.
Report from the National Convention
In minneapolis.

Two years ago at Cincinnati was
celebrated the Jubilee Anniversary
Of the American Christian Missionary
Society. The assembly was the
largest igious gathering ever
convened on the American continent.
One year ago the convention met at
Kansas City. This, too, was very
large assembly, too large to be well
accommodated in any hall that could
be secured in the city. This year the
exposition building at Minneapolis
furnished the most complete and
ample auditorium and other conjoin-
ed apartments for the greatly en-
larged work of the convention. AL
though this center of population,
Minneapolis and st. Paul together,
containing near 100000 people, lis sit
uated on the rim Of the membership
of the Churches of Christ or Disci-
pies, yet many circumstances con-
spired to make it the most successful
and satisfactory convention in the
history of this movement of the 10th
century, not to reform the church of
Jesus Christ, but to restore the New
Testament Church of Christ and his
inspired apostles, aud thus to effect
thesunion of all Christians for the
conversion of the world.
1t may be of interest to some of the
readers Of the HERALD to know the
purpose and scope of these national
conventions. The sole purpose is to
advance the interests of Christ's
kingdom on earth ;iits scope, not to
legislate or discipline its members to
trylheretics, or formulate a creed, or
devised any name by which the ad
herents of this movement shall be
called, but to devise ways and means
for the most effectual spread of New
Testament Christianity among men.
The two churches we have in st.
Paul and Minneapolis began to work
two years ago to secure this conven-
ton. Our pleal for Christian union
has become so popular and our
growth so unparalleled, from almost
nothing to one and a quarter million
in seventy-fiVe years, that all are
anxious to hear us and to understand
the cause of this wonderful growth.
To meet this demand we take these
great gatherings to great centers of
. population, select our ablest preach
ers to fill the various Protestant pull
pits on Sunday forenoon and night,
and have the sermons fully reported
in the secular press. Forty-eight
preachers were chosen for this pur-
pose at Minneapolis and nearly every
PrUUesranr church in the twin cities"
heard some phase of our plea or
movement for reunion of divided
Professionalism, not by all coming to
us but to Christ. We got the best
advertising in the pulpits and in the
press we ever had. This stay of a
week of 1000 delegates brought many
thousand dollars to the hotels, res
taurants, street car lines etc., but the
exposition building was furnished to
US free. These annual gatherings
have become so large that it has
come to pass that many of the larger
cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific
compete for them. Omaha is the
successful competitor for the next
convention and by common consent
st. Louis for 1903, the year of the
Worlds Fair at that place. All who
go to the convention that year will
also be able to take in the fair.
In organizing our forces to carry
forward the various enterprises of
the church we have been free to
adopt whatever we found good in
other older religious bodies, especial
ly the Methodists, the Baptists, the
Congregationalists and Presbyter-
ians, but in matters of faith we bor-
row from Christ and the inspired
apostles only, and seek to make
Christians only, not the only Christ
ians that are made.
All the various organizations rep
resented at Minneapolis are but in
their infancy as compared with sim
liar organizations among older bod
les, but the following statistics will
show that we are fast lgaining on
them, and the time is not far distant
when the foremost will have to look
70 their laurels.
Receipts through the various chan
nels of church benevolences for the
fiscal year ending Sept. 3Oth, are as
follows:
MISSIONARY
Foreign Christian Mission
airy Society -............. S171, S4S.0O
Christian Woman's Board
OF Missions... .......... 135, 442.0O
American Home Christian
Missionary Society 91,7l7.00
Board Of Church Exten-
sion. ................. 65,845.00
State and district missions 1874 1855. 90
Miscellaneous missions. - 100000
ssl1 $1,000
and other be-
neyolences. ........s lss, OOO, 90
Homes for the orphans.. 100000
Ministerial relief. ... 6,2e9.O 90
sal9 ,2s0 90
LOCAL, CHURCH WORK