Milford chronicle., 1921-04-01
WILMINGTON CONFERENCE
Is NOW in SESSION

Bishop w. F. Mcdowell is presid-
ing at the Wilmington Annual MethO-
dist Episcopal Conference, which Op-
ened at Crisfeld, Md, Tuesday night
of the present week, with a mass
meeting devoted to Stewardship.
''The Methodist Centenary is a mod
ern miracle" said the Reverend Lu-
ther E. Lovejoy, D. D., of Chicago,
stewardship secretary of the Commit
tee on Conservation and Advance at
meeting in the Methodist EpiscO-
| pal Church. But after full credit has
been given," declared the speaker,
''the average Methodist is still con-
tributing less than a quarter of the
Christians fair obligation to the King
dom. America is the richest country
on the globe. We own thirty-five per
cent of the worlds gold, and one
quarter of its wealth. Our aggregate
income is $40,000,000,O00 a year. If
the churches had one-tenth of the in
come of their people, $2,O0O,OOO,OOO
would be available for the relief of
the worlds distress.
'The wealth of the United States is
forty times what it was when my IA
ther was a boy, ten times as much
per capita, and a new crop of mil
llonalres is coming on at the rate of
8,OOO year. The peril of our age is
the peril of sudden wealth, the fruit |
full source of covetousness, classed bv
the Bible with robbery, adultery and
murder.
The average American gives but
traction more than his grandfather
gave and the average Methodist pays
MS pastor cent week more than
MS father paid thirty-four years ago.
with all our Centenary giving, we av-
srage less than a postage stamp doy
or the world program of the church.
The little red cent of pioneer days
S still the basis of Sunday school SUD-
'ort, and amply satisfies thousands of
prosperous Americans who ride to
hurch in hmOusines and wear furs
n August. We are strong for luxur-
es. Government reports show that it
ost America $5O,OOO,OOO last year to
eep the underside of the Movie The o
ter seats plastered with worn-out .
hewing gum! $S5O,OOO,OOO for soft n
rlnks; $750,000,00O for perfumes :,
ANTS and powder puffs, and for to- ~
accO enough to finance the Methodist a
entenary for los years. t,
A starving world is gasping for
lr help. But the worlds Spiritual m
unger is still more pitiful. In Mon M
ma sixty-nine Methodist congrega- lie
onS nave no church nor pastor. In d'
ie N nearC Oh CaI1forna are vast areas al
ltnout religious agency of any sort.
nile on the frontier are whole coun- be
Us without even a Sunday school
ne foreign sections of our great Cit Ct
are tulI Of churches without eouip- q
enC for community service, some
I'VE no church at all, while millions
our alien nelghbors rear their fam
es without religious help, and thous- or
IDS OF children grow up in Ignorance -
church of which they know moth gi
g except that it has never touched c.
cir lives. =
Waves of crime sweep through an
+ cities, poison the springs of rural Ca
'tus, fill the jails with youthful ban =
IS, and clog the courts of domestic bo
.ation with men and women seeking on
let from marriage bonds. From 1910 =
1920 convictions for juvenile Of orr
ices increased 500 per cent. vic
One-tenth of the income of our SIT
1ple would multiply the yearly re- eet ear
trees Oh every church in the Unit age
States nv four and iDoraoeo - yol
,a1 ,.o+i, -, o,5-.'4. - S'''C II Ap
I'i iN'iO Jul euucdJlOnal, industrial net
1 missionary operations in the -
ne and foreign field.
Until we are willing to give our
is and daughters for Christian SER T
e, and to share our accumulating AS
alth with God, we shall never be be
e to save the world from sorrow n
sin. 1t took billions to win the ing
rid war, and it will ltake millions En-
win the greater war for a redeem TTT
humanity car