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14 THE
Contributed
"WILL IT EVER BE A CHURCH?"
On a recent visit to Lynchburg, Va.,
to preach for the people of Bethesda
(now a part of the First Presbyterian
Church), the above question was asked
the writer by an old esteemed friend.
The question by my friend, under the
conditions. instantly let loose a flood of
tender and conflicting memories. Bethesda
of to-day is the result of a work
begun perhaps fifty years ago, during
the early part of the pastorate of Rev.
W. T. Hall, D.D., or perhaps before some
workers of the old First Church took up
a mission work in the eastern part of
the town on the lower basin and built
what was known as Fishing Creek
Chapel. Dr. Hall preached there as he
fnimd onnortunitv. and Rev. P. K.
Julieii, Rev. John Crews and Rev. Tazewell
McCorkle, all pastors of the Third
Presbyterian Church, had regular stated
appointments there. John Kinnier, a
most consecrated elder and clerk of the
session of the First Church, taught Sunday-school
there and had as regular
helpers such men as John Marshall, now
gone to his reward, and other godly
men and women, who served long and
faithfully. Conditions, chiefly the buying
of nearly all adjacent property by
colored people, made it imperative that
the work be moved. A lot was purchased
on White Rock Hill, adjacent to
and in reach of the people who had
been served by the old Fishing Creek
Mission. In addition the nucleus for a
church in a growing suburb was estab
usnea. r. x?i. xureaugiu, ui suiulku
memory, my best earthly friend, was the
head and heart of this movement. He
identified himself with the people. We
reached out in Campbell county and
built Jehovah-Jireh. The result was
Bethesda Church as a separate institution,
with its own officers and work.
With two good, modest buildings and
with school buildings in each church
yard, and with a membership of more
than 100, this church was served by
pastors as follows: Rev. A. S. Rachal,
Rev. W. C. Underwood, Rev. S. G. Hutton
and Rev. A. N. Perryman, and supplied
for awhile by Rev. S. Tilden
Scherer. In the meantime, through misfortune
and death. Bethesda had. like
myself, lost Its best friend, and to-day
Pethesda is what old Fishing Creek
Chapel was forty years ago?a mission
of the First Church. To-day the Methodists
have Trinity and the Baptists
have Franklin Stree.t, each separate,
vigorous churches, made up largely of
the very same class of people, many of
them next-door neighbors to our Bethes
aa memners. iei me rresDyierians
were at work for years at Fishing Creek
and for a short while at Bethesda while
the very ground on which our sister
churches are now built and thriving was
as yet back lots and grazing lots for
cattle. Bethesda has her record, and it
is one not to he ashamed of, but rather
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUT:
to be proud of. She lias some as good
people as are to be found anywhere.
Why should our Methodist and Baptist
brethren succeed where we have apparently
failed? Let me answer my friend's
question: Yes, Bethesda will become a
church?a living, vitalizing power for
God?when contingent and adjacent
Presbyterians catch something of the
suiuieu spirit 01 f rancis Marion 1 nreaaglll,
who, like Ruth of old, will say to
those worthy poor people, "Thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my
God"; when our Presbyterian people
shall become ashamed of the living example
of our sister churches. If there
Is any going across the town it is leaving
the strong to help the weak. A
score of members could leave the stronger
Presbyterian churches without materially
weakening them but they would
be all sufficient to make the weak strong.
Brethren, let this be done everywhere
in the spirit of the Gospel. Let us stop
this irtission business; no one wants to
join a mission, 1 ao not mean tnat tne
church shall do less mission work, but
more, and do it more efficiently. Let no
Presbyterian church be disbanded and
abandoned. It is not money we need so
much as head, heart and body in the
work. When this is given it will surely
become a church.
A. J. Ponton.
Chatham, Va., September 15, 1909.
THE PRAYER MEETING.
A recent editorial in the Presbyterian
of the South on this subject contained
several valuable suggestions, all of
which are worth trying; but this writer
interposes another. It is just as true as
regards adults as it is of children that
"variety is the spice of life." Try these
suggestions, but do not fasten on to
any one to be continually followed.
There is enchantment about the unexpected
which will do much to enliven
the prayer meeting. A long experience
in attending these services enforces the
belief that it is *he sameness of form, of
lecture, of singing and of prayers that is
the cause of the lowness of this, the socalled
pulse of the church. Men worlied
by business, and women worn down
by family cares can not be aroused to a
lively interest In a service that is but
a minimized Sunday service, with a substitute
song service. This is not putting
it too strongly, as any one may test
by securing honest expression from that
"faithful few" who so regularly attend
for conscience sake. Bread Is the staff
of life, but everybody desires variety
...UU
c*cn in Liiai. opasuiuuit' eiiun?, wim
special song services and announced
subjects, often run well for a time; but
monrtony generally follows and interest
dies. Now, a criticism without a proposed
improvement is worthless; so it is
suggested that the prayer meeting be
made more colloquial, having" no "set
program. But let each meeting bring up
the subject for the next, the pastor being
only the leader. Make the whole a religious
social study of God's Word, interspersed
with prayers and hymns, but
H. September 29, 1909.
with no set stages or regular times. The
leader should be so filled with a desire
to help and be helped that his interest
will prove Infectious, and those who catch
the infection will tell others, and thus
the meetings will become attractive and
adhesive as well as permeatlve.
FOREIGN MISSIONS IN OCTOBER.
Dear Friends:
We are glad that In coining before
you with our October appeal we are
able to begin this year, as we did last,
with a note of thanksgiving.
Notwithstanding a large decrease in
legacies, our contributions for the first
live months of fiscal year show an increase
over those for the corresponding
months of last year of $14,097.43. While
this increase is not so large as we hoped
it might be, in view of the ever-increasing
needs of our ever-expanding
work, we are encouraged to believe that
y % t , .....
iui? year, as lasi, our largest gain win
be in the months following our October
collection.
We also have reason to be grateful for
the news that comes from all our friends
of the unprecedented blessing of God
upon our work. The first graduating
class of the boys' school recently established
at Lavras, Brazil, sends three
fine boys to the seminary at Campinas
this year, and thus begins to fulfill the
purpose of its existence in supplying
the Brazilian Church with a well-trained
native ministry. The native Church in
Mexico is aroused and is co-operating
vigorously in the effort to supply a similar
need for that field.
Our Church at Cardenas, Cuba, has
entered the Forward Movement- smhsorlh
Ing for one $50 share in the work in
Africa. Two brilliant young men from
that Church, one of whom was valedictorian
of his class at Westminster College,
returned this summer to take up
the work of preaching the Gospel at
home. An elder of the Church at Placetas,
ordained in the month of May, was
a delegate to our Missionary Conference
at Montreat, and made an appeal for his
country which deeply moved the hearts
of all his hearers.
Mr. DeYampert writes from Africa
that, notwithstanding the troubles in
that field, the schools, catechumen
classes and daily services keep up a full
attendance, "and the good work moves
on as ever."
Mr. Myers writes us from Japan that
"every missionary in active evangelistic
work can testify that there is less prejudice,
less opposition and more openness
to the Gospel today than ever before in
the history of the country."
The churches in Korea and China are
experiencing a great spiritual awakening.
The revival which came in answer
to the prayers of the Welsh missionaries
in India, when they heard of
the wonderful work ol God in their home
land, passed over to Korea and thence
to Manchuria and is now passing from
church to church throughout China. One
fruit of this revival has been an enthusiastic
evangelistic fervor in the native
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