The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-05-26

| De nrst in everything was MS pea
prayer was offered for the speedy re-
covery of Mr.. Muckley.
f. b. Kershner of Kansas City, Mo-,
concluded the session of Wednesday
afternoon with powerful talk on the
personal sacrifice every Christian
owes to the church. He referred to
the lamentable fact that there is but
little real sacrifice among a number
of so-called Christian workers. The
social message of Jesus Christ is the
gospel of Christ and sacrifice, he stat
ed, and amplified upon this beautiful
theme in manner very pleasing to
his interested audience.
One of the most interesting fea-
lures of the entire convention was an
education luncheon and round table
at the Methodist Episcopal church
Wednesday afternoon, starting at 5
o'clock, which was well attended
| largely by graduates of the various
Church of Christ colleges, Hiram,
Bethany, etc.
The subjects for discussion were as
| follows:
Our Colleges and Our Young Peo-
ple-(a) Who should attend our COL
leges?; (b) How should students with
little or no money be aided?; (c)
What can be done to enroll more of
our young people in our colleges?
Our Colleges and Our Budgets
(a) What pace should education have
in our budgets?; (b) What place
should education have in our calen-
dar?
Our Colleges and Our People of
Means-How may they be led to re-
member our colleges by large gifts,
gifts on annuity plan or bequests?
Thursday Morning
In the main auditorium, Robert NJ.
Hopkins of Cincinnati addressed the
audience on the subject, "The Bible
School Serving the Community" Mr..
Hopkins, magnetic speaker, stated
that Sunday school work arose from
an attempt to meet the needs of the
community and that the church's big
gest possibility for service today lies
in the cultivation and upbuilding of
it's Bible school work.
In adjoining rooms, ]. A. Candy and
Justin N. Green conducted instruc-
ton Mr.. Candy spoke on "The
Training of Workers." giving many
valuable suggestion on the educative
processes best fitted for this, and Mr..
Green on Graded Lessons in the BIZ
BILE School," outlining systematic en-
deavor along this line and pointing
out it's benefits.
One of the most impressive ad-
dresses of the morning was that of
w. S. Athearn on the subject, "Meth-
ods of Cultivating the Church-Going
Habit" Between the impressionistic
years of 8 and II, the speaker stated,
is the time to SOW the seed which will
result in a future habit of church-go-
ing. He decried religious education
al system which considers that young
boys and young girls, when they have
attended Sunday school, have had
sufficient amount of church for the
day, demanding that they be influ-
enced to remain through the actual
church services.
The need of more workers in the
field was urged by c. A. Mcdonald
who spoke on Evangelism in Ohio"
Mr.. Mcdonald stated that his own
work had been primarily with the
weaker churches and that he had sue
ceeded in many instances in building
these up. AS a result of his work,
there have been 1,0O1 additions to the
church in Ohio in the past year. The
possibilities of the work demand more
workers, he concluded.
At this juncture, the report of the
commission on rural churches of the
state was read by the chairman, G. A.
Freer of East Liberty. A summary of
tnls report IolloWs:
There are 400 churches in the state
of the Christian denomination situat-
ed in towns of $500 and. less popula-
ton. OF these, 126 are included in
the report. The average enrolment
is 12O for the church and 12S for the
Sunday school. Forty-four churches
have ministers all the time and 81
one-half of the time. An average Of
$529 year is paid the ministers.
The membership in the churches runs
from Is to 450. Ninety-siX reported
an average of S1O1 spent in work out
side the respective communities. The
average cost of buildings is $4,705.
An average increase of SO members
in five years was reported by rs of
the churches, while only ten reported
a decrease and that an average of
90 Twenty reported the same num-
ber of members.
The report of State Bible School
unerintandeut XViIford TT NToT ain