Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-12

the church will give It,
Remarkable Campaign.
That money is to be spent in the
most remarkable interchurch CAM
paign that has ever been undertaken.
But before telling that story there are
a few things more to be said of Meth
odsm. That church that had failed
needed 1,50O college graduates each
year for the ministry. 1t was getting
only 3I5. 1t needed 1880 young men
for the foreign missions work. 1t
needed ]. 300 young men for home mis-
sions. These men were to be of all
sorts-just so they had the message
and the punch and the preparation.
Some were to teach farmers how to
plow and some were to build bridges
some were Theological engineers"
am not quite sure what a theological
engineer is. But / think he Is a
preacher who knows his business.
The 1850 young men needed for tho
home and mission fields gave them
selves-'for life"-just as soon as
they discovered that the church had
really buckled down to work and was
planning to do big job. And to get
the young men and women needed for
the new program the Methodist lead
ers went into the home and schools.
You are needed" they said to the
young men and women. will you
give yourself-for life?"
Thousands Of Pledges.
Up to date $4,000 young men and
women have signed the First Step
Life Service" card, by which they
pledge themselves to go wherever
sent. whenever sent. The volunteers.
for they are not conscripts. are grow
ing in number every day. Not all are
to be missionaries, for the new idea
of church service Is that 1t Is the
duty of the church to train people to
live well and work well and be good
citizens. The dying well Will take
care of itself.
One young man in a city mot far
from New York had planned to go
into his fathers Office and grow up
with the business. If he had ever
thought of missionaries. he had rather
scorned them. He probably thought
of them as rather futile. But the new
idea caught him. He heard OF the
need Of civil engineers to build roads
and bridges in India. He studied In
dia a little-its wonderful past and
its present and that future which may
be greater than either.
II go to india" said he. ITO fight its
rivers with bridges"
So much for the Methodist part in
lH0 great lulCICh0ICA PAdh. AACAo
are 1000. 900 Methodists in the United
States. There are 100000 members
in all the evangelical churches. and
each of the major denominations Is
playing it's part. Seventy-six denomi-
nations in all were represented at the
meeting Of the general committee of
the interchurch movement, which was
held in Cleveland.
Each Congregation Enlisted.
The evangelical forces Of the nation
have been harnessed and set to work.
The 7. NJ. c. A. and the Y. ". c. A
and the Salvation Army are cooper
ating. The Baptists have q baptist
layman's" movement, and the Dis
ciples have q men and mi1lions''
movement, and the Presbyterians have
q new era" movement, and the Epis-
copalians q forward movement" and
the Lutherans a "tercentenary" and
each other church has q movement 81
its own.
Six hundred delegates met at Cleve-
land and named an executive commit
tee with power to prepare plans. In
September that general committee
will meet in New York to hear the re-
port of the executive committee. Then
it Is anticipated that the storm will
break. None fthe judicatory bodies
of any Of the churches have yet passed
upon the great new plans. and 1t IL
very possible that some one Of those
judicatory bodies will protest. In tho
new program nothing 10 being said
Of creed or immersion or infant dam
nation or any Of the other barriers
that have kept Christians apart The
theory of the leaders has been that
cit makes no difference who saves q
soul-just SO that soul is saved"
Common Sense idea.
One Of the leaders decried the prob
ability of any effective opposition to
the new plan, however. He pointed
out that when fifty million church
members get started 1t will take more
than a few bishops to hold them back.
Not that this Is q suggestion that
many bishops would try to do any
thing of the sort. Az for the plan
itself. 1t is simplicity, common sense,
big business itself. John d. Rookie
Teller and Andrew Carnegie and
Charles NJ. Schwab have known It for
years.
1t is merely the elimination Of COM
petition.
The churches are going to quit light
- R0d