The Columbus weekly dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 1902-1905, 1906-05-10
GENERAL COUNCIL
CONFERENCE OF
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH. SOJ TIL. NOW
HOLDING SESSION
AT BIRMINGHAM.
Meeting One of Great Importance,
and Leading Methodist Divines
from All Over the South are
i'm Attendance.

The fifteenth quadriennum meet
ing of the General Conference OF the
Methodist Episcopal Church. South,
began in Birmingham, Ala, last
Thursday morning. at the First
Methodist Church of that city, With
about two hundred delegates and Wis
itors, church officials and others pres
ent. The roll call revealed the pres
ence of nine active bishops.
The General Conference was called
TO order by Bishop A1pheus ". Viii
son. of Baltimore, the senior bishop
while Bishop j. S. Key led in the
opening prayer. Bishops Charles B..
Galloway, of Mississippi, A. Coke
Smith and E. f. Hoss of Tennessee.
and DR.. c. ". Carter, of Arcadia, La,
took part in the opening devotional
services. The roll call of bishops
showed Bishops Fitzgerald and Gran
berry 10 be the only absentee4s.
Among those responding to the roll
call were the leading missionaries of
the church in foreign fields, includ-
ing Dr. Young J. Allen. of Shanghai.
China The Tennessee, South Geor-
gia, North Alabama, Mississippi and
Texas conferences had practically
complete delegations present at the
opening session.
DR.. John J. Tigert, of Nashville,
secretary of the General Conference
at its two last preceding sessions, was
unanimously reelected secretary
After the adoption Of a resolution
providing for the appointment of the
fourteen regular committees, the
bishops address was read
The Bishops Address.
The address of the college Of
bishops was read TO the conference by
Bishop Charles B. Galloway, of Jack
son. Miss. 1t was quite lengthy, COW
ering the entire operation of the
Southern Methodist Church, both at
home and abroad, since the last
quadriennum conference in 1902.
The address, among other things,
contained the following
The statistical returns are alto
gether encoura ging. The increase in
membership during the past four
years was 109,427, as against only
3S,0S5 during the preceding quad
riennum We have now 1,614,e4S
members, l,039,7S5 Sunday school
scholars, and 12e-4S7 Epworth
League members. The receipts of
our board for foreign missions for
this quadriennum We're S1.659441,
an increase over The preceding four
years of s645, ,673- The collections
for church extension were $372649,-
50, an increase of S112,S33.6s over
the four years ending in 1902 Dur
ing the past year the Women's For
aign Missionary Society received
s155, 90S. and the Womans Home
Mission Society s1O1.721 If these
be added 10 the receipts by
the general and annual conference
boards. We have smm total for home
and foreign missions during the year
now closing of 1858, ,799 .
The Laboref-s Are Few.
Continuing, the address says:
First of ALL we lament with anx-
ous fear cur decreasing of ministers |
All of the evangelical churches are |
ceiling measure of alarm New |
1elds are opening. and the demands
or ministerial service are multiply |
ng. but the 1aborers are few and |
comparatively decreasing. All the |
annual conferences are in need of
more and better qualified me-" "
IN seeking to explain the cause of
his situation, the bishops sar it is
doubtless due TO the decline in the
piritual tone of our family life. "
The bishops recommended the or
sanization of missionary educational
work, which will secure the active
cooperation of pastors. officials of
cpworth Leagues and superintend-
nts of Sunday Schools: the forma-
ion of missionary study classes and
wider circulation of missionary lit
rature: the expansion of work of
translation of Christian literature in
he Spanish and Portuguese. the de-
elopment of the young peoples
Missionary department.; holding {
f an annual meeting in Nashville, or
ONE other central point. of confer /
nee missionary secretaries and rep
esentatives of domestic boards of
1issions. when, under the leadership $
t the secretaries of the general G
oard, important question of policy
nd methods may be discussed; the I