The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-20

church of their choice.
 When the canvass was made in the city of Montgomery some time ago. at only three or four places was informa- ton refused to visitors. It is possible that the visitor might in one or two in- stances have failed to properly approach the persons. The same cordial reception was given to the visitors in Birmingham.
 An illustration.
 AS an illustration of the method, let us take the city of Mont gomery. In Janu- | ary 1902, the house-to-house canvass of | the city was organized careful esti- | rate, showed that something near POO visitors would be needed. To make al- lowanee for those who would agree 10 come and would be providentially hind cred on the day of visitation, 220 visitors were asked for The committee in charge divided the city into twelve districts and put in charge of each district a leading business man. The headquarters of that district was fixed at some church within the territory. 225 visitors were asked Tor; these were pro-rated among the Sunday schools of the city In exact proportion to their enrolment. Some others volunteer cd, and we had as many as 245 visitors names sent in. The visitors were care fully instructed and the canvass made in about three hours. The reports were then tabulated and the cards were given to the pastor and Sunday school super ntendent of the church preferred by the respective parties
 'rhe good results of the canvass depend in a great degree upon the carefulness end thoroughness with which the work is followed up The agitation in the com munity in ident to the canvass, the thorough organization and the work done on the day of visitation, do quite good deal 60 create public sentiment and to interest the careless and indifferent people. It also aids in securing other members But In order to get the best results from the visitation, it is neees- sary that the superintendent and other workers os each Sunday school should acrefully follow up and visit the people who have expressed a preference for their church.
 "A few people in the community have really no lrch preference Those cards are left at .he Y. NJ. C. A. and the pas tors and superintendents of all the churches have. access 10 those cards and are free to go and visit those families.
 "Several effective methods of following up the house-to-house canvass have been adopted and worked out The most ef- fective are. Personal visitation on the rart of the Sunday school officers: the Home department; the Cradle Roll; and the Sunday School Revival. If these plans are worked faithfully and effectively nearly every school may hope to greatly increase it's membership and improve it's condition.
 Pushing the Work.
 "The State Sunday School Association i. pushing ,uis work vigorously. Already the counties of Calhoun Lee and St. Clair have been nearly canvassed; dur ing the present year the counties of Madi- son, Escamnia. Talladega and Pike are pledged to be canvassed and plans to that end are now being perfected. The ties of Montgomery, Mobile, Birming lam, SelmN Anniston, ani Talladega: and the towns of Opelika, Auburn, l Thenix Ci,v Goodwater, Sylacauga, 1 Gadsden, St tsvenson Decatur, Tuscumbia Tuskaloosa Wetumpka, Marion Ensley Ressemer Pratt City Clanton, Ever green, Faycte,, Ft. Deposit, Tallassee and Albertville are among those that l have been nGnvassed The results obtain l ed in each case varied of course. ac- cording to the thououghness with which the canvass was followed up by the diff ferent chur Ines; but in every case. with cut except. n, where the work was care fully followed up by the Sunday schools and church IS, a great improvement was made and numbers of persons were brought intg the Sunday school who had net atten l d previously. In several cases, some in toVn and some in the country the Sunday school enrolment was in- creased 10 per cen. In Brooksville, Miss issippi town, at the close of the canvass it was found that there were 252 Baptsts CT persons who preferred the Baptist church; by the use of Home Department i and Cradle Roll, all but four of them were brought into the Sunday school. In another canvass, in this state, the super intendent gained 80 members for his Sun day school. In a recent convention the fact was brought out that of the two Sunday schools, similarly situated. that took part in the house-to-house canvass; in one the superintendent and pastor carefully followed up the work; and reap ed great benefit from it; in the other they did not follow 1t as above suggested. and the natural result was that they made no gain These are typical cases and serve to illustrate the necessity of fol- lowing up this work. In one Sunday school that followed up the work the at tendance vas increased from 130 to 200; in another it was increased from 90 to lf0
 Besides increasing the number of Sun day school scholars, the following re' suits have been noted: The careless and indifferent persons are interested; peo- pie who are very indifferent are found and brought into touch with their church; the Christians working together come to know each other better and are drawn closer to each other; many visitors have become interested in the work and rave devs.oped into efficient church workers even people who have drifted very far way from the churches have been reached by this direct method. Spirit of Canvass.
 "These incidents will illustrate the spirit of the canvass. A canvass was being made in a certain city and yisi- tor went into a home where the per son said that he had no choice oi churches, didn't attend church ant } really was without a preference. Th' l visitor sail, suppose there was serious sickness in your family, would you send ? under those circumstances, for a minis } ter, and if so, whom% He said 'Unde } those circu instances I would send fo
 Key. --.' It was good for him tha
 he was put in touch with the one min ister who was likely to be able to hell } bim It was good for the pastor to know