El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-01

HE first steps in preparation for
the melting of the Baptist World
Alliance in Philadelphia next
year are now being taken This con-
vent1on of all the Baptists in Christen-
dom will be one of the great religious
events of the first year of the second
decade of the twentieth century. The
Baptists of America will have to raise
at least $4,000, of which $4,000 will
be paid in during the present year as IL
fund for the entertainment of the
World Alliance. The Baptist congrega-
lions throughout the United States and
Canada already are being appealed to
for subscriptions to this fund. The
meeting of the alliance will be pre-
coded by two other very important
meetings. The northern Baptist con-
vention will hold it's sessions in Phila-
delphia and as soon as this convention
adJOurnS us members will take part in
the meeting of the Baptist Convention
of North America, delegates to which
will come from all the Baptist associa-
lions of the continent.
American Baptist WeaIthiest.
The BaptisIs of other countries are
not as wealthy as those of America, 1t
is necessary that funds be- raised by
the American Baptists TO bring minis
tiers from churches on the other CONT
nents. There are few denominations
in America which are so loyal to their
church as the Baptists, and the leaders
of the various associations are conf
dent that every minister of the denomi-
nation outside of America who wish s.
to attend the alliance meeting will be
enabled to do so. AS there are nearly
10 OO0, 900 Baptists in the world it may
be imagined that the : Philadelphia
meeting next year will be largely at
tended
The Baptists of the United States are
now taking steps toward the establish
'ment Of deaconess' homes in the large
cities Of the country. The majority OIL
the Protestant churches of America
are realizing that here is no force more
potent for the upbuilding of their cause
than the work of these devoted women
VINO give their whole lives to missions
Of mercy and the care of unfortunates.
In most essential features these Prot
estant orders of deasonesses are model
ed after the orders which have done so
much for the Catholic church. The
work they do is of the same character
and the rewards go to the homes they
represent and not to the deaconesses
themselves
Many Lutherans and Methodists. =
The Lutherans and the Methodists
are the only Protestant churches in
which have more separate
bodies than the Baptists. The Luther
ans have "a separate organizations. the
Methodists Is, the Bapt;Sts Il and the
Presbyterians II. The Baptists rank
second among the Protestant denomi-
nations in the number of congregations
al organizations. The religious sta
tistfcs recently gathered by the census
bureau show that there were 54,SSO
Baptist organizations in 1906, as COM
pared with 34,700 Methodist ana a. 500
Presbyterian The Baptists have one
fourth OF I'll the rel,<s,o = congrcra-
tlonal organizations in the United
States. With the Methodists, they
have more than half of all the Protest
ant communicates in the United States.
with more than LOCO. eco members out
Of the 20,000.000 Protestant communi-
cants- The Methodists have about
100000 'a''e members han no Dap-
lists. During the six years covered by
the recent report of the census bureau
the Baptists gained nearly twice as
much in membership as their closest
rival, the Methodists. Their gain in
amounted to 1.949,00o as
compared with l 10000 for the Meth |
odists, $4,000 for the Lutherans and |
half a million each for the Presbyte- |
rians and the Disciples.
In the matter of ministers the Bap- !