The Colorado statesman., 1922-12-09
METHODIST BUREAU OF NEGRO
REPORTS MARKED ADVANCE
Dr. W. A. c. Hughes, Superintendent Receives Commer-
dation and Reelection by Board of Home Mis-
sions and Church Extension at Philadelphia.

j" HE report of Dr. w. A. z:
Hughes Superintendent of the
Bureau of Negro Work under
the Board of Home Missions
and Church Extension of the Methoolsl
Episcopal Church, meeting in Philauel-
mia recently, was one of the features
of the program according to otliclais
of the board. DIR. Hughes, himsei1
Negro who has won prominence IN the
work of his denomination of which
more than 100000 members are
Negroes. followed the rule adopted lor
all bureau heads of the board, Dy Sc
lecting a single conference territory ol
the churchs work as type and CIV
inc If full attention throughout ms au-
dress. A selected lot of stereoptlcon
nictures thrown on screen made Dr'
Hughes remarks especially effecuVe.
The Upper Mississippi Conference
was chosen as an example of the WORK
for Southern Negroes carried on pS
the Bureau under the Methodist hoaru
of Home Missions and Church EAten-
sion. Pointing out that the Negro pop
ulation of the state of MISSISSIPPI oul-
numbers the whites by S1,OOo, Dr.
Hughes showed that only S5o'ooo was
appropriated for Negro education III
tho state by the last Legislature. Ne
gro labor. according to the Farm bu-
reau of Sardis, declared DR.. Hughes
produces 100000 bales of long staple
cotton annually in Mississippi.
Mississippi Delta Methodism Has
FIourshed.
"Jn the Mississippi Delta, an area OF
1000 square miles, Negroes perform
o. per cent of the farm work Here
Methodism has flourished,' SAID d.
Hughes. "Six years ago we had l,2oo
members, today 4,O24; 1000 Sunday
School pupils then, 2,775 now; 70
churches then, and SO churches now"
"The Board of Home Missions and
Church Extension of the Methodist
Episcopal Church maintains two sum
mer schools in the far South for the
training of rural pastors. OF the llo
ministers serving in the Upper Missls-
sippi Conference sixty-five have at
one time or another registered in our
rural schools and thirty-two charges
now have some type of weekly ana
recreational program. An example OF
what a trained leader is doing today
in this section is our pastor, A. u.
Marshall, at Tupelo, Miss In 1918 the
ob,,rob ,,,oc a frama building valued at
$1,000, minister's salary $500, benevo-
lent giving $65, membership 162, aver
age attendance at Sunday School, 30.
Today there is modern brick church
valued at $14,OOO one-acre play
ground a social and recreational pro-
gram, the minister's salary is now ST.
600, benevolent giving $500, member
ship 329, average Sunday School at
tendance 120, representing gain in
all lines of over 800 per cent.
During the Centenary period the
Board of Home Missions and Church
Extension has provided $13,6SS to sup
plement pastors salaries and $25,317
to aid twenty-seven church buildings
and parsonages needed for Negro
Christian expansion in the South.
Under the inspiration of this pro-
gram the Wesley Methodist Episcopal
Church of Greenwood, Mississippi, has
been built and when completed will
nave Sunday School rooms, club rooms,
gymnasium, concert room, library,
twenty-one rooms in all, and will be