General Conference Bulletin, vol. 5

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PLANS

W. T. KNOX

17. We recommend, That the General Conference Sabbath-school Department be directed to lay plans that shall foster, improve, and build up the young people’s work. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.3

18. That the ministers and other workers throughout the field be urged to give this work their hearty support and cooperation. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.4

19. That we approve of the plan that Sabbath-school officers be elected by the church. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.5

20. That great care be taken in arranging for the work of the state conference Sabbath-school departments. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.6

(a) In the appointing of capable secretaries, and avoiding frequent changes whenever possible. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.7

(b) In not placing so many other burdens upon those secretaries that the interests of the Sabbath-school and young people’s work must be neglected. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.8

Whereas, The East Indian Archipelago is within easy reach of Australia, and by geographical position naturally belongs within the jurisdiction of the Australasian Union Conference; therefore,— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.9

21. We recommend, That this island group be made a mission field of the said Union Conference, and that an appropriation be made for starting a mission in Singapore as soon as possible; further.— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.10

22. We recommend, That the missions in the Society Islands and in the Samoan Islands be advised to connect with the Australian Union Conference, and that the workers in those fields receive their credentials or licenses from the said Union Conference. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.11

Whereas, The Southern states have been presented to us repeatedly as a very needy and much-neglected field, a field in which we should take a great interest, and with which we should become better acquainted; therefore,— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.12

23. Resolved, That suitable men be chosen from the field to lay before our people in the older and more prosperous conferences the needs of the various struggling institutions and missionary enterprises in the South. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.13

24. Resolved, That persons sent forth to engage in this work should bear special credentials from the managers of the enterprises which they represent, endorsed by the officers of the Union Conference or Mission Field in which said enterprise is located. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.14

Whereas, The Southern Missionary Society is doing a good work in the organization and maintenance of colored mission schools; therefore,— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.15

25. Resolved, That the Executive Committee of this Conference be advised to appropriate from the general mission fund six hundred dollars per quarter for the work in progress, and that there may be some expansion in this line of work. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.16

26. Resolved, That we approve of the following plans adopted by the Southern Union Conference Committee at its January meeting in Nashville:— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.17

(a) That the Southern Union Conference Committee unite with the officers of the Southern Missionary Society in the formation of plans for raising means and in presenting them to the people. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.18

(b) That we approve the plans of the society for raising means by interesting individuals in the sale of books and other useful articles, and donating their commission to the society. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.19

27. That we recommend the use of the little book “Story of Joseph” for this purpose, recommending this enterprise especially to women and children throughout the land. That we invite Christian workers of all denominations to take part in this effort. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.20

Whereas, In the Southern states there is special need of medical missionary effort through many small sanitariums, treatment-rooms, health-food stores, and restaurants, and specially the need of institutes and schools for the training of persons to engage in Christian help work and nursing; and,— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.21

Whereas, A Southern Medical Missionary Association has recently been organized, having great responsibilities and promising opportunities, but having no present resources; therefore,— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.22

28. Resolved, That we endeavor to assist this association in its noble work, by advising the Executive Committee to appropriate one thousand dollars a year for the support of its general work, and by our cooperation with the officers and representatives of the association in an effort to raise eight thousand dollars for the aid of its struggling institutions and enterprises, among which are the Graysville Sanitarium, the Atlanta Sanitarium, the Hildebran Sanitarium, and the Colored Sanitarium at Nashville. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.23

Whereas, The Lord has prepared the way for a mission in German East Africa, and efficient workers are ready to be sent, and the German Union Conference is desirous of having this work begun, and is ready to assist it; therefore,— GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.24

29. Resolved, That we grant the raising of five thousand dollars for this purpose, as was proposed at the Friedensau meeting, in July, 1902. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.25

30. Resolved, That we make an earnest and continuous effort to impress upon our people everywhere the importance of our quickly carrying this message to the people of the large cities, giving special attention to the neglected cities in the East and South. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.26

H. W. Cottrell, Chairman. G. E. Langdon, Secretary.

The secretary read Nos. 17 to 20, the question being called on each one as read until No. 20 was reached. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.27

S. M. Butler: I would like to know what that recommendation means, that Sabbath-school officers should be elected by the church. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.28

Mrs. L. Flora Plummer: The matter came up in our informal Sabbath-school meetings, held during this Conference. At the last General Conference action was taken making the Sabbath-school work a department of the General Conference, instead of a separate organization. The officers of that department were appointed by the Conference. There was thus a change made in the relationship of the Sabbath-school work to the General Conference. The plan was carried out in some of the states. The state conference Sabbath-school department, which had formerly been a separate organization, was made a department of the state conference, and the officers appointed to look after the Sabbath-school work were elected by the conference committee. Carrying the same idea down into the local church, the Sabbath-school is a department of the church, and the Sabbath-school officers would be elected or appointed by the church. I supposed that plan had been quite fully carried out. In the local Sabbath-school where I have been working, we have done this, and I think the brethren from that place would say that it is really very satisfactory. In view of the recommendations made at the last General Conference, it is the only logical plan. I am personally very much in favor of the recommendation, as it solves a great number of perplexities and difficulties. GCB April 14, 1903, page 196.29

H. W. Cottrell: I think the church day school is almost a parallel case. How would you get teachers if you were to start a church day school? Would the scholars elect their teachers? or would not the church select the teachers? It seems to me the principles underlying the two are almost the same; to me it is altogether reasonable and logical that the church should have the voice. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.1

S. M. Butler: Some things that are logical are not always just, and I do not think we should always accept a thing simply because it is logical. In a large number of our Sabbath-schools there is a large per cent of our Sabbath-school membership that does not belong to the church; and in many cases but few of the church-members attend the Sabbath-school. It does not seem right to me that the large per cent of the Sabbath-school members should be ignored in this matter, in order to make this change simply to be logical. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.2

J. E. White: I was connected with the Sabbath-school work in its early days, and this question came up over and over again, and we felt this that, as we came to the churches, we found perhaps half of the church membership that did not have interest enough to attend the Sabbath-school. We also found a good, sturdy representation in the Sabbath-school work among the young people, and we felt that to ignore that branch of the work, and let a church do the voting for the school, that had little interest in the school, and so could not know much about it, was not conserving the best interests of the school. I have not seen any reason to change my opinion in regard to this, and I am not in favor of the proposition. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.3

C. Santee: This matter under consideration is a serious matter, and I have met it in a number of places. I knew one man educating himself for a lawyer, and making no profession whatever, who was elected into a Sabbath-school in a place where a majority of the members were not members of the church. I know of another place where, within the last year, a man who had been turned from the church because of his actions and his manner of life still came to the Sabbath-school, and he nominated from the floor two officers, the superintendent and another officer, and he had in mind, it seemed, a division by making the nominations. Of course, it is a very embarrassing thing for one to oppose a nomination, and in that case it was carried. Where such is the case, where our Sabbath-schools are in many places largely composed of those who are not church-members, the idea that the members do not take interest in it is, it seems to me, not the right idea. I believe the Sabbath-school is a part of the church, and, even though elections may be made by those not connected with it, it is still a child of the church, and a part of it. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.4

A. G. Daniells: For one, I am very heartily in favor of this recommendation. I worked on this line for a number of years myself, and quite fully supposed that I did so not only in harmony with my own judgment as to what seemed to be a proper thing, but I have supposed that I was also acting under instruction and advice of Sister White in this matter. In Australia we had this matter up, and shifted the whole thing upon the church, so far as I know. During the last five years, in conducting our Sabbath-schools there, we have carried out this plan. I do believe that the church-elders and the deacons and the church-members of experience are the ones to guide in this matter, and that we should not turn it over to the hands of children and youth, who do not always know how to choose as they ought. I believe, if we could examine the matter further, we should see that this is the only proper position to take in regard to manning the church. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.5

R. M. Kilgore: The last two speakers have given my speech. I am certainly in harmony with this resolution, because of the experience we have had in the church of which I am a member. This plan is a success. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.6

Smith Sharp: I am loathe to prolong the discussion. I have had a connection with this people for about forty years, and during this time have seen the difficulties attending Sabbath-school work. During the past two years I have been connected with a church of over two hundred members, whose Sabbath-school is manned as recommended in this resolution. The plan has given such excellent satisfaction that I think there is not a single member of the school but that would feel that to return to the old plan would be a long step backward. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.7

E. J. Waggoner: It seems to me that, if the Sabbath-school were on its proper basis, there would be no room for such a recommendation as this, because it could not be otherwise than that the church should elect the Sabbath-school officers and teachers, because the church and the Sabbath-school are one. There ought never to be such a thing as a Sabbath-school existing as something outside of and separate entirely from the church. If we should go back to the Lord’s instruction, we would have even a more sweeping resolution than this; for when you take the Lord’s instruction to Peter, you find that he was given commission as an elder not only to feed the sheep, but to feed the lambs. And that is the duty of the elder. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.8

Resolutions Nos. 20 to 22, inclusive, were read, the question being called on each. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.9

Resolutions Nos. 23 to 28, relating to the work in the South, were read as a whole, in order that time might be saved by discussing them together. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.10

Smith Sharp: I am very anxious that a few points shall come before the delegation. I do not think the South has been niggardly dealt with by the Northern brethren, but that we have been treated generously by them. This recommendation will not require very much aid from the treasury. These recommendations only propose to open the way so that means may be solicited. I think there is a good reason why the Huntsville School should be specially helped. The only way, practically, in which the colored race can go among the whites is as trained nurses; and it is proposed that at Huntsville such buildings shall be put up and instruction given as will enable the colored people to be trained as nurses. Where shall this means come from? It seems to me that Graysville is the most hopeful quarter from which to expect assistance. A building is up, and we need means to continue work on it. We need another dormitory very badly. I would add that the Southern Conference Association is an organization against which no word has ever been said, and any means sent to that body will be distributed as donors may request. GCB April 14, 1903, page 197.11

Secretary read Nos. 20 and 30. GCB April 14, 1903, page 198.1

H. W. Cottrell: Our first pioneer workers. Brother and Sister White, Brother Andrews, and others, started the work in the East and South, and worked toward the West, with the expectation that some time the work would return eastward. It seems that the Spirit of the Lord thus expected, and I think, the time has come, that those large, populous cities,—Philadelphia, New York, and others,—should be worked, and that something very decided and definite should be done. And this does not detract from doing similar work in other large cities like Chicago. GCB April 14, 1903, page 198.2

The question was now put on the whole series of recommendations, Nos. 17 to 30, and the motion to adopt prevailed. GCB April 14, 1903, page 198.3

At this juncture, Sister White came in and addressed the delegates. GCB April 14, 1903, page 198.4

The meeting then adjourned. GCB April 14, 1903, page 198.5

W. T. KNOX, Chairman.
H. E. OSBORNE, Secretary.