The Detroit times., 1916-03-25
Long Series of COnven-
= tons Proves To BE
Il Marked Success
CHURCH UNITY
Y IS GIVEN BOOST
Six Thousand Men At
"a tend Single Session
+ n Los Angeles
~ THE RELIGIOUS RAMBLER.

~ THE RELIGIOUS RAMBLER.
O. The long heralded series OF sew
cnty.fve Laymen's Missionary con
vsntions Is over, the principal cities
az the country having been covered.
,Eow remain only the conservation
congress" TO be held In washington
Dext month, to complete what has
been In many ways the most re-
markable series Of religious meet.
ings ever held. About 400 sep
Pirate sessions have been held. adj
dressed by some 200 different speak.
ters.
~ Every delegate 10 these conven'
tons paid a registration Zee Of one
pdollar. and thus the campaign was
financed. The average enrolment
WAS more than 1000 delegates for a
city. The largest. which broke all
records for religious conventions OF
linen held anywhere. was at LOSS
-Angeles. where nearly 5000 men
swere registered-5.963 10 be exact.
columbia. South Carolina. enrolled
.2.2I6. and Greensboro. North Caro-
Tina, Lisa surprising record for
70 small city. Des Moines went 10
1850 and Minneapolis TO 2.074. Har.
Fisburg enrolled more than 1000 In
IN unusual series OF meetings. Rich
mond. Virginia, had 1.S40 men In at.
tendance upon a really notable con-
vention.
As these were interdenomina-
tional meetings. the church repre-
sentation varied. In one city the
Episcopalians led. In another the
Presbyterians, Methodists or Luth.
,erans. At the Minneapolis conven-
tion there were $50 Lutherans. the
-largest Lutheran delegation at any
single convention OF the series. The
largest registration from single
church was POI delegates from the
First Presbyterian Church of Co
lumbia. South Carolina.
}. While all the leading communions
were represented on the three
"'teams' OF speakers that covered
the country. there was q blending
Of denominational lines. and a dis
regard Of them that was fine. In
The nature OF the case. the speak.
ers, whatever their Affiliations. were
obliged to address all the churches.
Sometimes all the speakers OF
single session were Of one demon
instion. though the audience never
suspected II. Bishops. board secre-
.taries, missionaries and laymen
made up the speaking teams.
The tolerant attitude which &C.
com panied the conventions OF the
that at Little Rock. Arkansas.
where In old Christ Church. with
Bishop Winchester In charge OF the
service, a Presbyterian layman oc-
cupied the pulpit on Sunday morn.
ing. and spoke concerning Epis.
copal missions as he had seen them
In the Orient.
- Each convention lasted four days.
end UNCONVENTIONAL conferences
were held In the afternoon. in order
that each communion might instruct
Its own men and further its own
definite enterprises. Some demon.
nations report as by.products OF
the convention very definite results
IN the way OF special gifts to their
own enterprises.
No aspect OF these meetings has
been more notable than the mani
hesitation OF the unity OF all the mes
sages OF the churches. What a
Baptist man from China had to say
applied equally to the work OF Pres
Abyterians and Methodists. An Epis-
copalian's plea for America was no
different from that OF a Lutheran.
The work and message Of the whole
church on earth IL essentially one.
n almost every instance. the
work OF the laymen's committee for
the conventions was furthered by
the local trade bodies, such as the
chambers OF commerce.
In Houston. Texas, the City audi.
forum was given for the opening
session OF the convention on Sun.
day night. and more than $500 per.
sons were present In Fort Worth,
also, the chamber OF commerce pro-
vided the auditorium and got
sQuarely behind the meetings. This
convention opened with q banquet
at which more than 500 men dined
Last week the Lutherans OF the
seven synods OF the South held
their own denominational conven-
ton at Roanoke. Virginia. Although
one of the more conservative de-
nominations. and with churches
widely scattered throughout the
South. the registration was more
than 1000 men. Speakers who had
been addressing the lnterdenomina.
tionsl conventions across the CONT.
nent reported this as one Of the
most notable OF the entire series.
In addition TO the delegates. min.
isterisl and lay. from the seven syn.