Omaha daily bee., 1919-02-10
CHURCHES
OF S ATE
and IOWA
INNEWERA
Movement lnaugurated by
Presbyterian Churches
Holding Sessions
in Omaha.

in Omaha.
"The whole church marshalled foi
its whole task and a specific task
for you" That briefly is the pur.
pose of the New Era movement in.
augurated by the Presbyterian
church according to Rev. William H
Foulkes, general secretary and one
of the leaders in this religious work
The New Era conference for the
district including Nebraska and west
ern Iowa is holding its session in
Omaha, bringing here 1000 or more
of the Presbyterian preachers and
laymen from this territory. The first
session was held Sunday afternoon
in the First Presbyterian church,
with a mass meeting in the Bran
deis theater in the evening. Today
the conference will hold sessions in
the First church at 10 o'clock this
morning and this afternoon, with
a mass meeting in the Brandeis al
7;30 this evening.
Pastor Host.
At the meeting Sunday afternoon,
Rev. Z. II. jerks, pastor of the First
Presbyterian church, conducted the
devotional exercises and explained
that he occupied the unique position
of pastor-host. In doing so he in
formed the visitors while in the city
to make the First church their home
and refer to it as "our," and not the
First Presbyterian church of Omaha
He extended a hearty welcome to
the visitors, saying that he spoke in
behalf Of all Presbyterians Of Oma-
ha.
N. RI. Loonlis presided, delivering
a short address in which he wei
coined the visitors, following which
DIR. Smith of Grand Island offered
prayer.
Presenting the New Era move
ment for consideration in referring
to the narashalling of Presbyterian
forces for work, DIR. Foulkes spoke
Of the need OF activities in all de-
partments of church work, saying
that he had attended many funerals
during the last few years and that
at a great number of them the only
thing missing was the corpse. He
added that in making the statement
he did not intend to infer that the
church is dead.
Churches Help the War.
During the war, according to DR..
Foukles. the church was one of the
great agencies called into action.
He asserted that had it not been for
the Christian churches of the coun-
try and the activity Of their mem
bers, the war savings stamp, Lib
cry bond and other droves could
not have lasted AZ hours.
Relative to success in the church,
DR.. Foulkes urged unity of action,
asserting that thereby it is possible
to obtain the desired results. 70
secure these results there must be
1000 battle fronts and 1000 differ
ent kinds of fighting going on along
the line.
The matter Of salaries paid
preachers was touched upon, the
doctor vcnturing the opinion that
of the men occupying pulpits, 50 per
cent of them are SO underpaid that
they are completely discouraged,
adding that III a great number OF
cases they receive less for their
services than does the ditch digger.
Movement to Correct Evils.
The New Era movement is de-
signed to correct many of the evils
with which the church has to con-
tend "and place men in position so
that they can sing songs Of service
making the angels weep"
Miss Margaret Hodge, executive
of the Women's Board
Of Foreign missions. reviewed the
work performed by the
women of the Presbyterian chIEch.
Her figures showed that last year
the church raised 81 100000 for for
e ;gn missionary work and that of
that sum, more than one-half was
through the efforts of
the church women.
Rev. w. E. Biederwolf spoke on
the Family Altar" giving 10 rea-
sons why family prayers should
be one of the features of every home
He advised the setting up of fam
ily altar, saying, IF you can't get
the family to pray pray yourself.
He urged a campaign for 100000
family affairs among Presbyterians
adding that the life Of the American
nation can never be on higher. or
lower plane than the plane Of the
American home.
Have Family Worship.
"Have your family worship and
the home problem will be solved
Not only will it solve this problem.
but it will solve every problem Of
the church life. Set your goal for
100000 family altars and try and
get them"
Speaking on "Marshalling the
Manhood of the Church." DR.. F.
Weir urged that the New Era
must equip the mems or
ganizations of the church with the
for mobilization and that
there must be the adequate agen-
cies for leading in this work. Men
Continued on Page Two, Column Four.l