The age-herald., 1902-02-27
WANT TO BUILD
 "OECEDER" CHURCH
MOVEMENT TO HAVE THE REV. OLIVER JOHNSON COME HERE TO INVESTIGATE FOUNDING OF BRANCH OF DENOMINATION.

The Board of Home Mission of the As- sociate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which has general supervision and control of all work in the denomination looking to the building up of new chruches, is ex- tremely anxious for the Rev. Oliver John-
 son, of Leslie, s. C., to come to Birm- ingham and take charge of the work of establishing a church here of that de-
 nomination.
 The Associate Reformed Presbyterians, l commonly called "Seceders," are the reli- l glous descendants in this country of the old Scotch Covenanters. In the North and l West the Scottish or psalm-snging
 branches of the Presbyterian Church
 coalesced in 1858 under the name of Uni ted Presbyterians" but the psalm singing Presbyterians of the South held aloof from the coalition and retained their old
 name of Associated Reform ed Presbyte-
 rians.' The two bodies have for several
 years been considering the subject of or
 ganic union, and the Rev. Mir. Johnson.
 by direction of the Associate Reformed
 Presbyterian Synod of the South, the highest ecclesiastical body in the denom- ination, bore the fraternal greetings of the Synod in 1900 to the General Assembly at
 Chicago of the United Presbyterian Church, and reciprocated, in cordial ex- presslon, the desire that the time should come when their churches, which are in matters of doctrine and discipline,
 should be also one in organic action.
 The Rev. MT Johnson has at different times been offered the charge of con gregations in Massachusetts, in Pennsyl- vania, and in Washington City, but he has preferred not to sever his connection with the Seceders of the South. The church at Leslie, S. C., of which he has been pastor since 1894, Is over a hundred years old, having been organized in 17S7 in @ region of country settled by Scotch Irish emigrants and Is today the second largest church in the denomination. By | election of the Synod, MT. Johnson Is a | director of the Erskine Theological Sem l mary at Due West, s. C., the place where | most of the ministers of the Associate l Reformed Presbyterian Church for more
 than sixty years have been educated l that place being the seat of both their | college and their theological seminary.
 MT. Johnson, as visiting clergyman at l Washington. has by invitation served as
 chaplain in both the Senate and House of | Representatives of the United States Con- | gross.
 | The Seceders are small denomination, | but under the inspiration and active lead | ership of its Board of Home Missions, the membership of the denomination has in- l creased more than 50 per cent within | the last ten years. Recently churches | have been dedicated by them in Corsica | na, Tex, and in Rock Hill. s. C., and the l Synod has determined to commemorate it's centennial year, 1903. by the dedication of a fine centennial church at Columbia,
 S. C., the capital of the State in which
 the Synod was organized. Just now the
 Seceders want to establish themselves in
 Birmingham which they believe to be a
 good place for a pslam-singing church. MT. Johnson has not said that he would
 undertake the work at Birmingham, but
 has agreed to visit the place and see what
 he thinks of the outlook here for a Se- ceder Church.