The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-12
PROGRESS IN WORK
OF Christian ENDEAVOR
Report Of General Secretary
Shaw of the United
Society.
INTERESTING FIGURES.
Past Year Fruitful-Ad-
vance Steps-Foreign
Fields.
INTERESTING FIGURES.

4NAo0s
Following is the text Of the biennial
report of General Secretary William
Shaw read before the convention of
the United Society of Christian En-
deavor now in session at Seattle.
Wash:
In presenting this, my first report
as general secretary of the United So
ciety Of Christian Endeavor, l cannot
help contrasting the present mighty
movement Of more than sixty-nine
thousand societies and nearly three
and a half million members, in more
than sixty evangelical denominations,
on every continent its literature printed
in eighty languages. its manifold ac-
tivities touching every department y
1ife-business, social, civic, Intellectual,
moral, and spiritual-with the little
group of forty-eight struggling socie-
ties that were in existence when I
Joined the ranks Of Christian En-
deavor.
/ rejoice that / have lived to see
Christian Endeavor enter upon its Sec
ond quarter of a century larger in
numbers, stronger in Organization,
broader in it's range of practical acttv-
fties, and deeper in spirit than ever be-
fore in its history.
Some Figures.
I shall not troubl5 you with state
nnent Of the thousands Of miles travel
ed by your secretary, the tens of
thousands Of patient hearers address,
ed, the scores Of thousands Of letters
and circulars mailed, and the millions
of pages Of printed matter circulated
since our last convention.
MY loved and honored predecessor as
general secretary, Mr.. Won Ogden
vogt, reported at the Baltimore con-
vention 66772 societies in all the
world. 1t is my privilege to report
the present net enrolment of 69,1SS So
cieties, a net gain of 1886 societies. Of
these 47,761 are Young Peoples, 2,265
are Intermediates, 1891 are Juniors,
and the rest are Floating societies and
other classes, with a total membership
of 8,456,900.
From reports received from the So
cieties in this country we learn that
16750s members have united with the
churches during the past year. A rea-
sonable estimate for all the societies
for the two years would be 4466SS, or
an average Of 22S, 344 for each year.
The gifts for missions and other
benevolences, largely local church
work, aggregate $4,S7S,92O for the two
years since the last report, or an aver
3 age Of $2,1S9,460 for each year.
A long list Of Junior and Intermedi-
ate societies report gifts Of over 800
each, and still longer list Of Young
Peoples societies report contributions
ranging from $3.50 to $1,000 each.
If ! am to judge from the reports,
many churches use their Christian En-
deavor society as a convenient agency
for raising money for local needs. l am
convinced that a much larger proper
tion Of the money given by the chill
dren and young people should be used
for missionary purposes In extending
the Kingdom in the regions beyond,
what Endeavorers Are Doing.
Christian Endeavor Is department
of the church for the training of young
people in Christian life and service.
This training should be as broad as the
work Of the church, and as deep as
the needs Of the human heart. We
believe that religion is a natural ex-
perience in the life Of young people,
and that it has natural modes of ex-
nrnssion in life and service
The reason why religion seems so
unnatural to many young people is be-
cause Of the strained and utterly I'M
natural type Of religion that they see
in so many older Christians. We be-
lieve in the expression Of the religi-
Gus life through the service of the life
and the declaration Of the lips-not
either, but both. BY their works and
by their words shall the followers of
Christ be known.
More than anything else to-day the
church needs Christians who are not
ashamed to SAY So" men and yomen
who can give a reason for the faith
that is in them. 1t will be a sad day
for our churches if the lecture by the
pastor supplants the social service by
the pGOplSy anu Tie puIplI SApI6SSSS
all the religious experience and life Of
the church.
Out of a spirit of loyalty to our
own church and the development of
the individual, there has naturally
come the spirit of fellowship with 9TH
ers which is so marked Characters
tic of Christian Endeavor. The work
Of our unions has never before been
SO vital and successful as during the
past two years. This has been illus
trated in work for Christian Citizen
ship, which includes campaigns in the
interest of temperance, Sabath-o bserv-
ance, and other moral reforms.
Missions have had right of way, and
normal classes have been held by our
unions for training leaders of mission
study classes, and thousands of these
classes have been organized in our in
dividual societies.
Plans for promoting systematic and
proportionate giving have been pre-
scented, and the Tenth Legion, an en-
rollment of those who give not less
than one-tenth of their income for
Gods service, now numbers 2S,718
members
Evangelism has gripped the hearts
of our young people as never before. In
many societies and unions training
classes for personal workers have been
organized. Leading evangelists bear