St. Johnsbury Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-1920, 1920-04-28
GRACE CHURCH
TO BUILD CHAPEL
in INDIA

Within short time natives of !,
certain section of India will worship
in the Parker chapel, built by parish
ioncrs of Grace Methodist church, s..
Johnsbury. A ready response to Il
letter from Mrs. Lois A. Parker, wild
! CIV of Bishop Parker to Rev. George
| \. Martin will make the chapel pos
aiblc. Building conditions in India
arc unlike those in America for the
chapel can be erected at cost Of
$50. Grace church and st. Johns
bury feel deep interest in Mrs. Par
ker's work in India. This is her ma
tive home as it was of her husband,
the late Bishop Parker. Mrs. Park
cr's visit here last summer served to
deepen the interest and to put he
: friends in closer touch with the great
work in India which Bishop Parker
began half century ago and which
Mrs. Parker has SO ably carried or.
Her letter in regard to the chapel in
India follows:
Hardoi, India, March /, 1920.
Dear Brother Martin:
When | was to speak one Sunday
evening in your church had thought
that in closing | would congratulate
your people on having been able to
build such beautiful and commod:-
Gus church building, and ask them
if they would not like to have Il
church building in India where pco-
pie would be worshipping while they
were sleeping, but / had not asked
your permission, and people from
other churches were there so did not
make the proposal and it went out
of my mind.
Just before was leaving India for
America | went with our native Dis
trict Superintendent to IL far away
place in the district for Il quarterly
Conference was held in the after
noon and in the evening there were
some baptisms, some taken into the
church and then Sacramento ser
vice. one of the most) impressive I
ever attended. The people were seat
cd on the bare ground. The Saviour
seemed very near as that little COM
pany of disciples met to remember
what He had done for them. In the
morning was shown fine location
for a place Of worship joining the
preachers house and | was asked if
| could build little church there
if l could help they thought it could
be done. So as was leaving Hardoi
] told the District Superintendent
that | was leaving some money with
the Mission Treasurer that he could
draw to help build the little church if !
he found they could give in work and
money enough so with my help it
could be done. ] heard nothing more
about it until returned in December
then | was told that the building was
finished and they were waiting for
me to come to the dedication. l!
could not resist complying with such
an invitation though it was Il long
journey which required two other
methods of travel besides what could
be done on the railroad. The build
ing is on little cmincncc where four
roads meet. 1t is plain building.
There is no stccplc, dome or towers,
but there is Cross that shows to the
passer by that this India is to be
conquered to Christ. Hindoos have
long had their temples here and the
NJ ohammedans their mosques, but
this is the first building in all that
part of the country dedicated to the
living God. For the dedication service
the place was decorated as only the
Orientals can do it. The people were
seated on mats on the floor as their
custom is. There was Il table on the
platform and chairs for the District
Superintendent and myself, and Il few
low seats for others who might wish
such. The Discipline Ritual was
used. 1t was pleasure to be there
not surpassed by the pleasure of
your people when the beautiful
church I spoke in was dedicated.
After the service | asked the Dis
trict Superintendent where the next
most needy place of worship was, be
mentioned the very place | probably !
should have done. All this time my
thoughts were over in the st. Johns
bury church and the five hundred
who worshippcd there and | then de-
cdcd to write and ask you if there
could be sevcnty-fivc who could give
two dollars each, or thirty who could
give five dollars each to help build Il |
church in II place where there has
not yet been one dedicated to the liv-
ing God, and where there is little !
of disciples too poor to
do this alone. You sec | am asking !
Tor $3.50. Now you will know wheth-
cr it is best to make the proposal,
if you think with all the other calls
this had better rest in your waste
paper basket so let it be. No one
knows that am writing to you. But
if the proposal is given and ono
hundred and fifty dollars can be Civ
en- for this purpose, have it sent to
the Mission Treasurer in New York |
to be sent to the Treasurer of the +
North India Conference for chapel /
in the Harloi District where | direct. /
Then let it be called IL Parker Chap
Ell in memory of the one who carried \
round the first subscription paper to