The Detroit times., 1916-09-16
NEWS OF THE CHURCHES

OF the evangelists IL introduced 20
him. n not. travelling evangelist
T. sent 70 talk With him Once q
year a grand rally Is held 20 bring
together a. many inquirers a. poe
slble Tor conference. Within tho
past year new association has been
formed. which aims 20 place more
advanced books within the reach u
those Interested a loan library has
been established, and the privilege
Of borrowing these books Is confined
/ TO mem bers u the association. who
pay % small fec There are noS
mere han one hundred and twenty
members in this association. The
lReAtAtep contemplated Is 10 estao-
lish local branches 50 as 10 provide
nerve centers" around which popu-
lar Interest may gather, hoping that
IN time these may become the be-
ginnings OF church organizations
A man Of careful and scholarly
habit Of mind. DR. Peters has thus
f, conservaiively tabulated some Of the
results OF three years OF paid pub
lefty
First. three thousand people have
applied for and received sufficient
Christian literature to make them
wise unto salvation. and their names
and addresses are in the card index
There may De others oi whom we
have not heard. Thirty-tVo have
since been baptized upon confession
OF faith. and have become members
OF the Church OF Christ in Japan
tPresbyterisa and Refcrmed), and
OF the Methodist. Baptist. and Luih
eran churches. Such work nay be
sustained and administered by de-
nominational agency, but its results
are inter-denominatiCnaI
The message Of the gospel has
also been very widely brough, to th.
people 81 this AMI other districts
thru this advertising work, more
widely. perhaps, than II has been
brought 10 the people Of any other
province IN Japan by all Of The other
missionary agencies II has been
made accessible 70 az least 90 900 :
people How many OF these have |
read the articles nc one can tell. |
Many do not read them al all. ont |
II is certain than hundreds OF others |
do read them, for u is proved by |
letters and Inquiries 10 The number |
OF nearly 5000 that come to this |
Office from every county ano we'll |
nigh every township in the province
as well as from neighhoring districts
and from remote parts OF Formosa.
Manchuria and Korea
How far the published articles !
have influenced those who have not ,
been heard from f. one OF the things /,
We should like o know. but in the
nature OF the case can lot We can
guess to some extent from our own
experience. for all OF Us are being
influenced. consciously and uncon-
sciously. by what we read in the
papers. but only very rarely DO we
make II known. In all reason, there
fore. 10 the hundreds who have
written us that they have read the
articles and have been deeply i'm
pressed by them, must ee added 9th.
er hundreds who have been equally
impressed. but have not said % We
have also INFORMATION from various
sources that the things thus brought
TO the attention Of the public have
become matters ~ discussion among
groups Of laborers, in the family |
circle, in Young mems clubs. and in
barber shops AMI In others places
where men congregate
AT present there II scarcely a
township and a; the present rate OF
progress. IN few years there will
be scarcely a hamle- in the entire
province whsre there IL not some
one who In In possession Of the Cos
pei and IN touch With an evargeliz-
ing agency. The newspaper and tho
mail carrier 70 everywhere They
are the only distributors Of ideas
that do 20 everywhere. In alliance
WIN Aucul We Cdu ItATn Inc eElNlTf
country. although not all the people
IN II. Without them we are oufned
10 the places which missions ries and
evanseiists can VISIT"
In connection with the great
simultaneous evanseli-tto campaign
throughout Japan. paid publicity has
been widely used 70 acquaint the
public with the meetings and their
meaning In the famous Eddy meet
ings thruout Asia also the same
method was adopted. Thus "stmos-
phere" is created. Minds are made
receptive. The otherwise unreach-
able become hospitable 70 the mes
sage.
Publicity precedes the preacher
and prepares for him-vhlch f. per
hap~ the greatest use Of the new
plan. both In mission lands and in
America. The paid Newspaper ad-
vertisement has made for Itself A
place as a new arm OF the church.