Newspaper Page Text
February 28, 1912 ]
WHY A SYJiODFCAL CONFERENCE.
b
Bj Mrs. W. B. Ramsay.
The time has come for action lu the
matter of perfecting the organization of
the women'B missionary work of the
Presbyterian Church, U. S. Not thnt we
need to multiply organization, but that
we need to perfect our system. Not that
we need an extra Union organization,
but that we need an inter-Union organizat'on
to unify and systematize the
work.
Outside the five Synodical organizations,
each Union is developing its own
field, planning its own meetings, and
financing its own work. The weakness
of this system (or lack of system), can
be illustrated by the present method of
securing speakers for our annual meet
Ings. It is possible, if not probable, that
fifty Unions are writing this year for
Dr. Morris to speak on Assembly's
Home HisslonB. Because of conflicting
dates, it 1b possible for him to accept,
say, only fifteen of these invitations.
Even then, in order to meet these appointments,
he has to rush from Wilmington,
N. C., to Canton, Miss., then
take a midnight train for Jacksonville,
Fla., only to turn around and come
back to Charlotte, N. C., for the fourth
addresB, and so on for all fifteen of the
engagements. This waste of means and
energy could be applied to nearly every
phaee of our work under the present
system.
Organ'zation would mean conservation
of forces, economy of means ,and
multiplied power In service.
Now, we hold that the Synodlcal Conference
(after the Georgia plan), and
not the Synodlcal Union, Is the organization
we need. Let us look at these
respective organizations in their executive,
educational, or inspirational, and
economic features.
1st. The Synodlcal Union, as 1
understand It, Is similar In organization
and work to the Presbyterlal Union. The
Synodlcal Conference is organized along
different lines from the Presbyterlal
Union; Its work Is simply unifying and
strengthening the Presbyterlal Union;
and its officers serve the Presbyterlal
Unions in a direct Nation.
Tbe Synodlcal Conference is a definite
organization, with its president, secre
Iiwf OUICI, auu ll?c V lUC-pl COlUCUlOt
and its acredited delegates.
It is a sufficient organization. It plans
for the gathering of all necessary statistics
and the keeping of all necessary
records. Then Its vice-president system
prov'des agencies for the development
and extension of the work. (In the
Georgia Conference there are five vicepresidents:
1st. The Foreign Mission
Vice-President; 2d. The Assembly's
Home Mission Vice-President; 3d. The
Synodlcal Vlce-Pres'dent; 4th. The
Young People's Vice-President; 5th. The
Institutional Vice-President.)
In its conference feature the confer
ence is a unique organization. It does,
in this line, in a definite, vital way, what
the Synodical Union can do only in an
indefinite way. In its closed sessions
there is an exchange of definite and tested
plans; a discussion of delicate and
difficult problems; a plann'ng for the
annual -meetings of the several unions
.?arranging the meetings in rotation,
securing certain speakers, and suggesting
helpful features for the program.
2d. In its educational and inspirational
features we claim that in three
ways the Synodical Conference is more
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v>?wvi*u cuuu i?c u/ iivuiv/ai cuiuu.
a. The Conference will be the means
of securing as good speakers and as
strong a program for each Union as
could be secured for the one Synodlcal
Union meeting, thus reaching dlreetlT
JOIN THE
THS PRESBYTERIj
each society in the state with . the information
and inspiration that otherwise
would be limited to the few.
b. Then, too the vice-president
system, the placing of the different lines
of work in the hands of specialists,
alfords a kind of bureau of information
upon whom the ofbcerB of the Unions
can call for help.
c. Also, according to the Georgia
plan of the conference meeting with the
last Union (a different one each year),
"each Union received the stimulus and
counsel of theBe chosen representatives
of the other Unions, while the Conference
delegates receive the inspiration
to be gained from such attendance upon
the different meetings of the Union."
5H Tr? "A*'" n' *
... <u >.iiicc -najo me oynoaicai
Conference is less expensive than the
Synodlcal Un^on. It is a smaller body.
It provides for no platform meetings,
and, therefore, has no program expenses.
By meeting with and following
a Presbyterlal Union, the expense of entertaining
Is reduced.
We sincerely believe that the Synodleal
Conference after the Georgia plan
is the "necessary, proper, and logical"
organization for the women's work of
the Presbyterian Church, U. S., and we
heartily hope that such an organization
will be effected In every Synod. May
the King and Head of the Church guide
us in all our deliberations and bless us
in all our work.
"ON TO ATLANTA."
By Thornwell Jacobs.
QiiaK r. ? "
.juv-u a ucc|) auu wiueopreaa mieresr
has been shown in the proposal of the
Atlanta Presbyterians that the General
Assemblies of the various Presbyterian
churches in the United States should
hold simultaneous sessions In that city
in the year 1913 that a clear and concise
statement of what Is intended and
Included in that proposition should be
made.
The president of the Presbyterian
Ministers Association of Atlanta is Rev.
S. W. Reid, pastor of the Associate Reformed
church. He is also chairman
of the committee having the matter in
charge. With h'm are associated on
the committee: Dr. Ogden. of the Cen.
tral church (U. S.), Dr. Moore, of the
Harris Street church (U. S. A.), an elder
of the U. P. church, and a number
of other distinguished and conservative
pastors of the Southern Assembly. The
committee, like the proposed meeting,
is therefore Pan-Presbyterian. Of course
uio i caouu wujr uiuer UtlUUIIl1118110118 OI
Presbyterians are not represented on
the committee Is that there are no other
varieties of local churches here.
But It Is intended to still further
broaden the meeting so as to include
representatives, at least, from the other
Presbyterian organizations of the United
States. Not one will be left out.
It should go without saying that this
Is no subtle effort to spring Organic
Union on the Associate Reformed or
Northern or United Presbyterian Assemblies.
If It were so a large number
of the men who are enthusiastically
laboring for the gathering would certainly
withdraw.
Then what is It? It Is an effort to
emphasize tlhe Organic Union already existing;
it Is a striving for the development
of Cardiacal Union. It Is a prayer
offered to their Assemblies by the ministers
of Atlanta that they should gather
at one time, In one place, with one
accord to give thanks that there may
come upon their already united ranks
a mighty Pentecost. It Is the privilege
of the Southern Presbyterians to he the
boats of this historic assemblage, to
blaze the way for the greatest gathering
of Presbyterians eve* held In the
Presbyterian DT i
1 of the South * **
k N OF THE SOUTH
history of the world. It Is of their hospitality
and of their good will that the
gathering would draw inspiration. The
question of Organic Union does not enter
into it. It Is a question of PanPresbyterian
fellowship, a question Infinitely
bigger than Organic Union.
Neither our A. R. P. nor our U. P. nor
our U. S. A. brethren need fear that
we are trying to ensnare them. We
are only trying to tell them that we
love them. Also, that it is what they,
as represented In the Ministers Association,
are trying to tell us.
Why Atlanta? Because Atlanta is
one of the six possible cities in which
such a meeting could be held. It has
an auditorium capable of seating some
ten thousand people. It is the largest
Presbyterian city In the South. It can
and will entertain all delegates and
commissioners. And it alone of all
American cities has in such an auditorium
the finest pipe organ in the world
ready and waiting for Buch an occasion.
Pause for a moment and contemplate
what a gathering that would be, timed
to match the completion of the Panama
canal, tuned to surpass the harmony
of the vast oceans that find rest each
in the bosom of the other, set upon the
stage that fifty years ago was buried
in the ashes of fratricidal strife. On
such a stage, at such a time, in such
a surpassing harmony rises the trium
pnant church or God, united, one in all
their division, in a mighty prayer for
a 'Pan-Presbyterian Pentecost. Even
the Westminster Assembly will recognize
in it a brother.
It is a thing that will be done. AlSpeed?coml
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ready a acore of leading and withal
conservative Southern Presbyterians
have enthusiastically endorsed it. A
similar number of a similar kind from
the other bodleB have done likewise.
Among them are such names as Whaling,
Vance, Warfield, Ogden, Bridges,
Little, Best. Every Presbyterian paper
that has expressed Itself editorially has
favored the plan heartily. Among these
are the Presbyterian Standard, The Continent,
Our Monthly, The Herald and
Presbyter, The New York Observer, and
The Westminster Magazine.
The North Avenue church of Atlanta,
of which Dr. R. O. Flinn is pastor, has
invited the Southern Assembly to meet
with them. The Central Presbyterian
church, of which Dr. D. H. Ogden is
pastor, has invited the U. S. A. Assembly
to meet "with them. The A. R. P.
Synod will meet In their own church
and the U. P. Assembly may take Its
choice between Taft Hall or a half dozen
Presbyterian churches. The leading
speakers, chosen from all the bodies
represented, will address the evening
union services In the Auditorium and
an Immenfle chorus choir will lead the
music, accompanied by the magnificent
pipe organ which will lend especial
grace to the occasion. And when man
shall have done all he can, the prayers
of the Pan-Presbyterian hosts will mingle
with the anthems of the angels and
who may say by what message of tenderness,
by what vast spiritual power
He will answer?
Is it not good of God to allow the
Southern Presbyterian Church to lead
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On Page 24
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