, 1906-02-13
RECORD FOR
HARD WORK
MISSIONARY SPIRIT SHOWN BY
THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN THE WEST.
Tremendous Uplift Given by Depart
mental Meeting Bringing Together
Churohmen and Laymen Almost
Impossible Under the Old Plan of
a General Conference.

The missionary activity of the Pro
testant Episcopal church is being CIV
en- a tremendous uplift by the new ar
ences held annually in different sec
lions of the country known as depart
ments.' There are eight of these de-
partments, whose comparatively limit
ed area makes practicable the presence
of many clergymen and laymen who
could never attend the national mis-
~sionary councils, the last of which was
held in Washington in 1908.
AT these conferences emphasis is
laid upon the educational value of the
occasion. rather than its legislative re-
'sponsibilities. Each conference offers
an opportunity for acquiring informa-
ton about different mission fields, for
discussing various plans for the doing
of missionary work in the field and for
developing support for the work in the
home parish. Moreover, each confer
ence gives the board of missions an OPP
portunity for placing before the church
in the department its plans for the
year and of inviting from the depart
ment conferences suggestions which
may tend to the improvement of such
plans.
This diocese is in the sixth depart
ment, which includes the dioceses of
Duluth, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska,
Missouri and West Missouri, North and
South Dakota, Kansas, Salina, Colora-
do, Laramie and Montana. Clerical
and lay delegates from all these trans,
: Mississippi dioceses met last month in
Denver for their third annual confer.
ence, and the bishops of all the d~ioceses
were present save one; a very notable
meeting, from which the delegates re-
turned with new ideas and new aspira.
lions.
The work of foreign and domestic
missions is interesting a larger mum.
Der in and out Of the church every
year. People who scoffed, people who
were Indifferent, people who didn't be-
lieve in foreign missions, people who
thought missionary work should begin
at home, but who never offered to be-
gin any of it themselves, or help 9th,
ers to begin it; these are getting beau
tifully less. The people who scoffed
can scoff no longer before convincing
proof of the value of missions, viewed
from an entirely unitarian point. Peo-
pie who We're Indifferent, who contrib
uted a dollar simply because some
friend asked for it, are taking an inter
est in the wonders that have been ac-
complished with that dollar. People
who didn't believe in foreign missions
have come to acknowledge their altruis.
tic value while yet questioning their
success in the making of converts. PEG
pie who thought missionary work
should begin at home are pointed to the
work of the church among the coiored
people; among the Indians under the
sanity Hare; to the work in the mis-
sionary districts of Arizona, Laramie,
North Dakota, Salt Lake, Boise and
other western points; to the work of
Bishop Rowe and his staff in Alaska,
or of Bishop Brent in the Philippines,
or Bishop Restarick in Honolulu; all
going on nobly and uninterruptedly
with that in China, Japan or Africa.
Since Dewey sailed into Manila. bay
the term at home covers a pretty
wide field, and missions that might
once have been foreign, are now do.
nestle.
This deepening interest in the mis-.
sionary life of the church finds express.
sion in a steady and gratifying increase
In the receipts of the board of mis-.
sions. The total for the last fiscal year
was s1,677,42S an amount much larger
than ever before. The greatest gain
is found in the offerings of congrega.
tons, which have actually doubled, and
The lumber of congregations making
contributions has more than doubled.
1t is therefore evident that the gain in
offerings represents a healthy growth,
to be mainly credited to the lately
adopted ap%portionment plan.
Thos who in previous years have
given little or nothing are now taking
a share in missionary enterprise. This
Is recognized by the spirit of missions,
the church's review of this Christian
work, as one of the most r~eassuring
facts in recent missionary history.