Norwich bulletin., 1911-09-08
GENERAL SECRETARY sTAaKEY
SPEAKS AT CONFERENCE
The Unchurched Men and Boys Was
the General Topic of the Afternoon
at GriswoId.

Morning showers delayed attendance.
but by noon the usual number of dele
gates represented all the congregations
of the conference of Congregational
churches at the Griswold church on
Wednesday.
Rev. f. S. Bannford of Plainfieid led
the deyotions. Rev. Clarence III. Bar
Der of Danielson preached the sermon.
The text was taken from judges, II: 8,
Now know / that the Lord will do me
good, seeing | have Levite to my
priest" The argument showed the
falslty OF dependence upon an official,
or a Sunday school, or Wife. who
had all the religion in the family for
Christian charaster. Effective influence
must be found in personal devotion
and service.
The choir sang the anthem Come
Unto Me.
taking of a generous collation. and a
friendly fellowship under the Pachaug
oaks.
Afternoon Service.
| Rev. DR.. Cane led a brief praise ser
| vice in the afternoon.
Miss Ruby Paine of UXbridge, Mass,
sang a solo, Sometime, Somewhere
An unusually good and brief dis
cussion followed on the topic, Our I'm
| churched Men and Boys.
| Edward Hall of Plainfield mentioned
| force of habit as one reason for neg
| lect of church attendance, and dwelt
upon the contagion Of good character.
Agencies to Reach Men and Boys.
| Speaking of present agencies at work
| to reach men and boys, Frederick r.
| Starkey, who is general secretary of
| the Norwich Y. M. C. A, pointed out
| that in 1870 there were 100000 men
| and boys engaged in agricultural pur-
/ SJli+ o., In, nd, uf-il MIR
| suits, while in 1910 there are nine mil
hon in agricultural work and twenty
million in the industrial. The trend
| is cityward, for where once agricul-
| ture claimed double the men and boys
| that industrial life did, the ratio is
more than double the other way now.
| This condition is having an effect on
| the country home and the home infiu-
| ence.
| There are things that are having an
| effect on the country home, such as q
| spirit of restlessness to get away to
! the city, the easy means of travel of
| fered by the trolley, the Temptations
| and diverting influences of the city
| and less respect paid to trf dition. In
it's evangelistic method and message
the church is meeting these changed
| conditions in different ways. Meetings
| for men andl boys, unheard of years
| ago, are now carried on, giving spe-
cial message, manly and bold, to those
| 1lIteQ TO receive Sucn a message. / lit
| evangeliStic appeal is made also moi
only on the hereafter, but on the now
showing the fullness of life to be OBJ
tanned through Christian faith.
Bible Study.
A development of the years has beer
greater attention paid to Bible study
| The whole Sunday school movement is
in fact new, and there is now spe-
cial movement to increase the study Of
| NV mr. The in
ternational committee of the Y. M. G
| A has mapped out rs courses in Biblt
study for men and boys. AS examples
| of it's spread. he cited the city of Buff
| falo, where in one department in tht
last three years 1,500 men had beer
| engaged in Bible. study. The same is
true in the churches throughout thu
country. Fifty per cent. of the stu
dents at West Point have been en-
rolled in Bible study classes, at Cor
nell university there have been 500
and at Toronto university over 1000.
The church, too, is catering more t
| mans thirst for fellowship, as showI
by the brotherhood movement, a rec
ognition of the social need of man. So
many fraternaI organiza tons testify
also to this spirit. and more and more
emphasis is being placed by the cilurcl
upon this desire for social fellowship
Development in Line of Service.
There is also a development in thu
line of service Men and boys are nj
longer merely intent only to drink il
the message, but men express thei
faith by their activity in the church
Such is the laymenS missionary move
ment and the religion forward move
ment, which has begun a national
wide campaign of evangelism. Bfbl
study social service, the Boy Scouts
knights of King Arthur and the Bis
Rrother movement are all an evidenc
of the same tendency
The Y M. c. A.
+ The Young Mems Christian associa
ton is d product of this spirit of act
ivity in service which seems to char
acterize the age The church militan
is the church that thrives, the churci
that is oply devotional decays. In tn
old days the church had opposition
= and had to fight for its existence. bu
it tflrived Today there is just as hare
battle on for the church. for evil an,
opposition are endeavoring to under
mine its influence. Bad books and bat
plays are some of the things that tn
church is battling against, and the as
ISOLATION is more needed today thai
it was 100 years ago Men are liz ms
under different conditions and thes
lines of service are necessary becaus
of that.
Personal influence.
Rev. C. NJ. Peck of Hanover suggested
that the church come to know all TIL
men and boys in the community, $shoy
a persistent love toward them an
seek to win them by personal inf1u
ence
Judge Alfred Colt told of The Mel
and Religious Forward Movement o
the places for work in this state thi
fall-from Hartford as its center-an'
the proposed enlistment of five repre-
sentatives of each church for fiv
years campaign.