The GOSPEL TRUTH

A HISTORY OF AMERICAN REVIVALS

by

Frank G. Beardsley PH.D, S.T.D.

1912

Chapter 17

 

FORWARD MOVEMENTS.

 

The test of any revival is not so much the number of conversions, which are the first-fruits of the revival, as it is the after effects, which continue through the years that follow. Any true revival will result in a quickening of the Church, which gives a new impetus to all lines of religious activity. The great revivals with which our country has been blessed have left behind them lasting effects for good, and in reality have constituted epochs in the life of the Church. The revivals which have visited the various sections of this country during the opening years of the twentieth century afford no exception to this general principle. During these years there has been a quickening in the activities of the Church, which is now bringing forth results that seem destined to be far-reaching in their scope and significance. How close may be the relationship between these new activities and the revivals described in the preceding chapter cannot easily be determined. Whether the direct products of the revivals or not, two movements have originated in the quickened religious life of the time which have been exercising a wide influence, viz: The Laymen's Missionary Movement and The Men and Religion Forward Movement. 

The interdenominational Laymen's Missionary Movement was launched in 1906. It has had as its purpose the stimulating of men in the various religious denominations to greater interest and greater activity along missionary lines. J. Campbell White, the Secretary of the Movement, speaking of the results at the Christian Conservation Congress held in New York, April, 1912, said: 

"We have found that men can be interested and enlisted in missionary work if they are approached in the right way. We have also discovered that multitudes of men are glad to have some worth-while work to do in the Church. Some hundreds of thousands of these men have been appointed as members of the missionary committees in their own churches. These committees undertake to get an adequate missionary policy into actual operation. In a multitude of cases they have succeeded in making their churches do from two to ten times as much for missions as they have ever done before. 

"The total increase during the past five years in contributions to home and foreign missions has not been less than $25,000,000. At the same time the current revenues of the churches have been more easily and adequately provided for. The movement has led to the adoption of more thorough system in all church finance. The number of systematic contributors is also being multiplied, for higher standards of stewardship are being widely accepted. A much larger proportion of laymen are becoming active in Christian service. The faith of many men is being strengthened in the power of Christ to meet all the needs of the world. The movement has also done much to develop the spirit of co-operation and unity among the various churches, and there is a place in the active work of the Laymen's Missionary Movement for every man at this Congress." 

Even broader in its scope and purpose has been the Men and Religion Forward Movement, the aim of which was to arouse the men of the churches to greater activity along all lines of religious work. No new or permanent organization was contemplated, but an answer was sought to the problem, "How can more men be brought into the Church, and how can those who are in the Church be aroused to such activity that we shall have a mighty crusade that will result in making this a better world?" 

The Men and Religion Forward Movement, which has been thoroughly loyal to the Church, originated in a conviction on the part of the leaders of several organizations of Christian men that the time had come for more aggressive efforts by the men of this generation to reach the men and boys who were around them. On May 18, 1910, representatives of these organizations met in a hotel in New York City. After spending a full day in deliberation and prayer, a committee representing various churches and organizations was appointed to formulate and proceed in the development of plans for the launching of a great movement. This committee met for two days at Niagara Falls in August. As a result of their deliberations, based upon a wide consultation and correspondence, a conference was called to meet at Buffalo in October. This conference, lasting two days, was attended by 262 delegates, who came at their own expense and who represented 72 cities and 33 States and Provinces of North America. The following organizations participated: The International Young Men's Christian Association, The International Sunday-school Association, The Gideons, The Brotherhood of Andrew and Philip, and the denominational brotherhoods of the Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and United Presbyterian Churches, the Disciples of Christ and the United Brethren. 

At this conference a general plan of campaign was outlined and a "Committee of Ninety-seven" was formed, consisting of representative men from all communions and from all parts of the United States and Canada. To this committee was given the responsibility for a great campaign, which was to cover the entire continent. 

In carrying out the programme of the Men and Religion Forward Movement the churches of all denominations throughout the country were asked to set apart three days to the movement, viz: Sunday, June 18, 1911, as Recognition Day, in which the aim and purpose of the movement should be adequately set forth; Sunday, September 24, 1911, Rally Day, when efforts were to be made to secure the co-operation of the men and boys in churches, Sunday-schools, Brotherhoods and other organizations in the movement; and Sunday, April 28, 1912, Conservation Day, when the results of the year's work were to be gathered up and plans made for the future. 

Between September 24th and April 28th in some seventy cities conferences or conventions lasting seven days each were held. These conferences were under the general direction of Evangelist Fred B. Smith, who had been chosen leader of the movement. To conduct these conferences three teams of experts on Boys' Work, Bible Study, Evangelism, Social Service and Missions were sent out. The morning and afternoon sessions of the conventions were devoted to conferences on the subjects enumerated, while the evenings were given over to platform meetings, five such meetings being held, one each on the various subjects, in different sections of the convention city. To each city, moreover, was committed the task and responsibility of doing for the surrounding country what the Committee of Ninety-seven was doing for the whole continent. At the Conservation Congress it was reported that there had been at these various conferences a total attendance of 1,492,645 persons, 7,062 meetings had been held, 8,332 addresses given, 6,349 persons interviewed, 26,280 men and boys definitely committed to personal service, and 7,580 men and boys committed to allegiance to Jesus Christ. 

Besides these conferences, which were designed largely to be inspirational in character, with the purpose of arousing men to greater activity in religious work, commissions were appointed to gather statistics and make a careful study along the lines of Publicity, Boys' Work, Evangelism, the Rural Church, Social Service, Missions, Bible Study, and Christian Unity. 

So far as its existence as a propaganda was concerned the Men and Religion Forward Movement was brought to a close by the Christian Conservation Congress which assembled in Carnegie Hall, New York City, April 19, 1912, attended by 1,338 delegates from 453 cities and 36 different States.

The commissions which had been appointed made their reports at this time. Mr. George W. Coleman, President of the Associated Advertising Clubs of America, reported for the Publicity Commission, Rev. Charles W. Gilkey on Boys' Work, Dr. John T. Stone on Evangelism, Henry Wallace, of Wallace's Farm Journal, on the Rural Church, Dr. Henry S. Coffin on Social Service, Dr. Robert E. Speer on Missions, President Ozora S. Davis, of Chicago Theological Seminary, on Bible Study, and Bishop Hendrix on Christian Unity. 

At this Congress a notable series of addresses was delivered by representative men from different parts of the country. Hon. William Jennings Bryan, the great Commoner, and Mr. John Macdonald, of the Toronto Globe, spoke on "Christianity and Governments," Booker T. Washington and ex-Governor Northen of Georgia on "The Negro Problem,î Congressman Richmond P. Hobson on "The Church and Temperance," John Mitchell on "The Labor Problem," Jane Addams of Hull House, Chicago, on "The Social Evil," Professor Edward A. Steiner on "Immigration," John R. Mott and J. Campbell White on "Foreign Missions," and Dr. Talcott Williams on "Journalism." Gipsy Smith preached an evangelistic sermon and Dr. J. H. Jowett brought the Congress to a close with a sermon on "Thy Kingdom Come." 

As a movement the Men and Religion Forward Movement already is a thing of the past, but the fruits of it are bound to appear in the years that are to come. Fred B. Smith, leader of the movement, at the closing meeting of the Congress said, "If the Church of this country does not do the most wonderful things in the next ten years it will be the Church's own fault." To the Brotherhoods of the various denominations, to the Federal Council of the Church of Christ in America, to the International Sunday-school Association, to the International Young Men's Christian Association, and to other organizations has been committed the definite task of working out the practical plans and purposes of this movement. What the ultimate results may be no man is able to forecast, but as we look forward into the coming years the future seems bright with promise and all indications point to the enlargement and expansion of the Redeemer's kingdom among men. That this indeed may be realized is the earnest prayer of every devout Christian heart