The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-19
BAPTISTS CALL
LAYMEN TO WORK
Ministers SayAIiMembers Must
Take Part in Efforts to Win
Converts.

The two days evangelistic confer
/ ence of the Baptists of st. Paul and
adjacent districts closed last evening
at the First Baptist church with q
largely attended meeting. Each meet
ing of the conference has been well at
tended and the pastors of the st. Paul
churches are we'll pleased with the re-
suits and expect a general revival OF
interest in all the churches as a direct
result.
Personal evangelistic work, now
leading question in all evangelistic
churches, has been the keynote of the
meetings and much interest has been
aroused among the laymen.
The closing meeting was in charge
of Rev. r. M. West, of the First Bap-
fist church, who also made one of the
addresses. He spoke on Where the
Responsibility and Gifts of Evangel-
ism Rest" He called attention to the
discouraging reports of the past year
and the decrease in the number of con-
verts, and said that this must be rem
edied by revival of interest among
the laymen and personal work among
their fellows.
George P. Lyman, assistant general
freight agent of the Chicago, Burling-
ton & Quincy, spoke on What More
May the Preacher Do?" and Rev. w.
W. Dawley, of Minneapolis, discussed
the subject, What More May the Lay
man Do?" He also appealed for more
personal work in the churches.
The conference yesterday afternoon
was also devoted to a discussion Of per-
sonal evangelistic work. There were
several addresses, followed by con-
ference, in which many took part, and
the question was thoroughly discussed.
All Members Must Aid in the Work.
Personal evangelism must be the
keynote of our present-day work." de-
clared Rev. G. F. Holt, Of Minneapolis,
in an address on "The Human Factors
in the Success of the Early Church.
Every member of the church of God
must strive to bring some of his fellow
men to it. We must think of our pur-
pose all the time and drop a word for
Christ whenever the opportunity offers,
in our business, in our social circles or
on the street.
"a preacher may hammer away day
in and day out, but he will get small
results unless he is aided by personal
work of the members of his church,
"rhe church may be running to ma
terialism and the reports may not be
as encouraging as we desire, but this
fact yet remains that every church
likes to put forward as the best evil
dence of it's accomplishments, the num-
Der of converts it has made each year."
said Rev. H. B. Steelman, of the Wood
land Park Baptist church. "The
churches do this because it is the real
mission of the church"
Rev. Steelman spoke of the success
which isms and creeds which have
strayed far away from the simple gos-
pei have been meeting with and said:
IF thousands of people will listen to
the doctrines of Christian Science and
to Mormonism, then certainly many
more will welcome the opportunity to
hear something of the simple gospel.
These isms, which have strayed far
from the simple teachings of Christ,
are gaining their converts by personal
work by discipline. The members of
the evangelistic churches must adopt
the same methods. There must be a
forward and a personal movement on
every side if the church is going to
continue to grow
Rev c.. c. Markham, of the Imman-
uel Baptist church, spoke on '"The
Needs of Men," He also dwelt very
fully upon the great need in the church
of personal evangelism. Men do not
need sympathy today he declared,
"but they need to feel the impress and
the power of a noble church. They
must be attracted into the church by
high standards Of Christian life set for
them by the members"