St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1904-04-06
Congregational Statistics.

Nd. Comstock OF Chelsea, statistician
Vermont, publishes in the Vermont
M ssionary tor April a summary OF the
growth OF the churches and their Enan-
cial condition, together with interesting
comments on the same. We give here
with the article:
= Our reported membership is now 81
S13. This is gain OF 80 rom the NUN
b print. in our last minutes. The alb
s nice list. however, ke ps increasing,
a. d he number of our non-resldents,
S OS7. is 67 more than last year, ana so
MAKES a loss in resident m mhership OF
%. The additions are: $50 by comics
SION, 427 by let,er, total 1887. This, it
should ne noted. is the largss, lumber OF
a1diions since the report ct 1897. The
r. movals ares by death 436. by letter
467, by discipline and ieslsi IN OF roll
las, total 1.O4s This is the largest
number OF r movals since the report of
1895. the revision column sho wing
SPECIAL increase largely accounted for by
the dropping of 81 names at Bellows
Falls tue iargs st numb r bt additions
by confession 65 is at Jeff rsonv,ll but
there are 20 her churches adding 10 or
more by confession. There were 335 in
tant baptism>, the largest numb r ever
RI orted. No doubt the re were many
more in ant baptisms in the days of
larger families and more general obser-
vance OF the rite, though the reports in
minutes OF those days do not show he
tact; but how shall we explain the in.
CT. ase IN recent years, md the rise In the
present YEA rom 262 to 335? The
writer would be esp. cialy interested to
know where Pastor Howard found the
80 infants whom he-bap izld at Letter
sonv1lle.
SD day school membership, Is I'll. is
80 less than last year, and average a t.
,endance, 1O,341, a loss IF 193.: Must
we wait tor thOse infants to grow Il w
years oidtr before the Sunday school
fgu es will revive? The increase cam
pign OF last year among the Christian
Endt avorers has brought about gain
ot 145 nut mbe,s o young peoples socie-
ties, IN the same number OF churches, the
present number being 6,262, in 1913
churches. Last year the number OF tam
lilies re DO tied made small decrease, but
this is more than made good his year,
and the number, 1895. IS the largest
reported since that item was first called
for. in 1877.
There is little to cause satisfaction IN
the columns Of b-nev 1ence. The total
Contributions, $40 4O7 are 81 OFT less
than last year. he de- ats are: For
eign missions. $13 8 n (gain $1,Ol6;)
education, $1,574 tlos- $S6;) church
builoi q. So O65 (ga,n 1894 } home ms
Sums, $40 725 floss $6s7,) A. Nd. A.,
SIS 525. (,oss ST. 1929 Sunday school
so. Ie,,, 81 S6S lgai $16S;) ministerial
aid 81 16u. (g IN S667;) ether charities.
SO l4s oss 81 .347 The in crest in
foreign miesi ms being stimulated in
al conferences bv the ad ,ption of
an individual mss onary, and Deacon
Thompson's appeal for the Fairbanks
Board accounts tor the gain to minis
terial aid but these gains should not
cause loss to other branches of our
work. The TACT that home expenditure. $
are pretty steadily on theincrs ase f$225,-
78S this year is $S.142 more than LAST
y. ar and the larg ST amount on record
save twice makes plea OF poverty of
doubtful value.
These figures are not, as a whole. it
will be seen, all that may be desi. ed, or
all that at the opening OF the ,e r we
confidently hoped for. The Forward
Movement IN Evangelism has hardly
made good its promise in addi ions to
the churches, and the need TOR he For
ward Movement In Benevolt nee is in
creasingly evident.