The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-03-11

Working out toward a better way.
Budget plans and apportionnlent plans
ana systematic giving plans have
made general strides into favor. The
man with an independent cause TO
plead has found 1t steadily more difi-
cult to get a hearing in the churches.
Now. what seems like an ultimate
solution OF how TO put a church's To-
cal and benevolent finance on a bust
ness basis has been found. II was
flrS adOpted one year ago by the
United Presbyterians. Called the
simultaneous e~very-member canvass
it included months Of preliminary ed
ucation, by way OF addresses n lit
erature n organizations: and then all
within the month of March,. the con-
gregatlonal committees called in per-
son upon every member on the church
rolls, to secure his financial pledge
for the year, in behalf of home and
foreign missions, and all the other
wort to which the people had been
contributing. The United PreSbyte-
rlans by this method last year in
creased their total income more than
90 per cent.
At the present time. two other de-
nominations, the Southern P~resbyte-
rians and the German Performers, are
IN the midst of a canyasS They re-
port such a preliminary quickening
VI ldtC1SSI aiming tlISiI ptoplo lldb
the plan is pronounced good. even if
it does not raise an additional dollar.
The Big Group in II.
These three churches are among the
smaller denominations. In the prof.
ect for the next year are the largest
denominations, the Northern INC
Southern Methodists. the Northern
and Southern Baptist and the North
ern Presbyterians. If these great
groups adopt the plan. it is certain to
become the usage of American Pro-
testantism.
Certain practical obstacles are to be
overcome, as. chiefly, h fact that
many denominations end their church
year oH March 81, and so. in the be-
ginning, they would lose the imports
ant March receipts from the preced-
ing year by making the canVaSs in
, that month However, all radical
changes cause difficulty. in the outset,
and leaders say the compromising ad-
4 vantages are great enough to war
rant the disturbance Of existing Sys-
TENS.
Through Work to Union.
The large number of persons who
are more interested in details Of
church finance and administration
than in the larger concerns Of Chris
Y tan comfy and progress-and this
= includes all the general public-see
NAAAS N"iS ~ 20 bOh"N
l bilities Of gerat changes in church
life and work
: Bluntly. it may be a more direc,
: step toward the union of Protestant
: ism than any Of the many gather
e ings which nave union a stheir direct
objective. When all the church mem
bers of the land are set to working
and thinking upon q common end
t and by a uniform procedure, they
Will not be slow to say among them
Y selves, why lave SO many commit
e tees to cover the same ground? lie,
us save this needless waste of work.
V ers and time. Is there any good rea-
I son why our town should not be can
: yassed by district committees, in be.
half Of all the churcheso"
A commOn task unites men more
closely than ever a common creed
e The people of North America are pre-
eminently PRACTICAL. They are like
e lier to learn Christian union in tn
school of cooperation than in tn
n school Of debate and discussion.
II Already it has become the belief Q
l. some that the Allied Mission Board
al of North America, and the Home Mis-
l. sions Council, hold even greater po
tentialities Of a unit ed Protestantisr
than the Federal Council % Church
d es. which has this for its ayowed pur
le pose. When the churches actuall
Id get together for a common Wori
at church union Will come without beiU
talked
"a