The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1916-04-27
LAYMEN TO BRING TOGETHER
CHRISTIANS OF WARRING MA.
TONS
(By Associated Press.)

aSnlnSton, April 27.-T0 bring
together again the now widely sep
arated Christian men of the warning
nations of the world will be one of
the tasks which the leaders of the
Laymen's Missionary Movement will
undertake at the close of the war,
according to one feature of the pro-
gram announced tonight at the OPEN
ing session of the National Mission
airy Cogress.
This announcement was made at
the close of report presented by
the General Secretary, William B.
Millar, on the program made by the
Laymen's Missionary Movement since
its organization on November Is,
1900 period of practically ten
years. A large number of sugges-
tions were made for the extension
of the laymens work but the one
of greatest scope was outlined as flo
lows:
To organize at the close OF the
war Worlds Laymen's Missionary
Movement, federation of the Nat
ional Movements of Christendom and
also of mission lands, and to assist
in this arrangement for the vista
tion of these countries by commits
sions of strong laymen and ministers
to confer with the Christian leaders
of these nations. The war has wide
ly separated the Christian men of
the nations-an unselfish service of
this kind would bring them together
again with the one supreme purpose
of making Christ known throughout
the world"
In accomplishing the tasks which
the founders of the Laymen's Mis-
! sionary Movement set for itself a de-
cade ago remarkable progress has
| been made. These tasks were,
chiefly, to supply the lack of the
masculine element in church activity
| and to correct the unbusinesslike
methods of church and missionary
! finance which has for years retarded
progress. In the latter connection
the figures show that the foreign
missionary eifts of Canada and the
United States for the year preceding
last January were $1S,793,99O as
compared with SS,120,725 for the
year 1905, the year before the lay
mems movement came into being
an average increase of $1,000,000 a
year for foreign missions alone, and
a gain for the decade greater than
that for the previous nine decades
combined.
This is a million dollar-age, ant
the church is now thinking in those
TERMS" says the report. "a few
years ago it would have been almos
unthinkable for ain individual to pu
a million dollars into single gif
for the missionary and benevolent
work of the church. 1t was unheart
of for a single individual to assum,
the expenses for large portion O
territory in tho mission field, but al
of this has taken place in the las
few years of this decade.
Between 1904 and 1914, Will,
commitment church membership il
l A of the leading Protestant denomi
nations increased 25.3 per cent, the
contributions for all local churcl
expenses increased 39.7 per cent, tn,
contributions to missionary and be
nevolent work in the United States
CTS per cent, and the contributions
to foreign missionary work S75 pei
cent. Yet it is a startling fact that
local church expenses has increased
during that time only .O16 cents
while the average per member to
missionary and benevolent work has
increased only about one cent pei
week 1t is difficult to get away
from the feeling that the church is
still playing with its great task and
that there is need for still greater
effort to awaken adequate interest
among the laymen."
The activities of the movement
have included national campaign
in Canada, 190S-09, during which
conventions were held in twenty
four leading cities; a similar cam
paign in seventy cities of the Unit
ed States during 19O9-1O, when over
seventy thousand registered dele
gates attended; and campaign,
just ending during which there have
been conventions in siXty-nine cities
of the United States with a record
attedance at one of these conven-
If 1T is THE
nUInI VT~