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T. AND M. INSTITUTE QUESTIONS

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Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 29, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 5

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T. AND M. INSTITUTE QUESTIONS.

Question. Is it necessary to take any formal expression in receiving members into the tract society?
Answer. No, unless they are persons who are not in good standing in any church of S. D. Adventists, or those whose cases are considered questionable. In that case they should get a recommend from some church. See Art. IV. (Membership) in Constitution.
Q. Who should take charge of missionary meetings?
A. The highest tract society officer present.
Q. Do the librarians do the business at the district meetings, as the directors do at the State meetings, or should the business be done by the members present?
A. By the members present.
Q. When a company is organized as a tract society, are they then members of the general society in the State where they reside?
A. They are. By adopting the Constitution they become members belonging to the district which includes the territory where they reside.
Q. What becomes of the membership fees and donations? Do they go to the district, State, or church? Also, where does the church get means to procure tracts from the districts?
A. The money raised by each church goes into the district fund, and this goes into the State society fund. Each church is entitled to draw tracts to the amount of the membership fees and donations it has thus contributed.
Q. If a person lives in one district, and is connected with a church in another, where should he pay his donations and receive his tracts?
A. He should pay his donations to, and receive his tracts from, the church society to which he belongs.
Q. Should a preacher draw his tracts from the church to which he belongs when he is laboring in connection with other churches in other parts of the State?
A. Ministers should deal directly with the State secretary.
Q. Two or three individuals have accepted the truth by reading, in a State where there is no T. and M. society, and have sent their fees, wishing tracts, etc. How shall they be supplied? and to whom shall they report?
A. They should be supplied by, and report to, the society which thus receives their fees and donations.
Q. Shall we drop the names of those who are disfellowshiped, from the T. and M. record?
A. That is generally expected.
Q. Shall we allow individuals to draw tracts, distribute annuals, or canvass for our periodicals, after they are dropped from the society?
A. A man that is not fit to belong to the church, is not fit to correctly represent our people; and if he does not belong to the society, he is not entitled to draw tracts. But if such a person can do any good, who should forbid him?
Q. In canvassing, is it best to argue any point with a man whom you are soliciting for a subscription?
A. It is not. See Special Instruction to Canvassers.
Q. I am a librarian, and have an order for Signs to be sent to Mr. A., whose subscription has expired, and who is in haste for his paper. If I send the order to the district secretary, and he forwards it to the State secretary, who sends it to the Signs Office, much time will elapse before Mr. A. will receive his paper. He will perhaps become anxious about the matter, and insinuate that something is wrong about the affair. Is there no way by which time can be saved? Cannot I send directly to the State secretary? If so, when should I report to the district secretary? immediately, or at the end of the quarter?
A. (1.) Mr. A. should not wait until the Signs subscription expires before he orders its renewal, as the date of the expiration of his subscription is on each paper. (2.) See explanation under the loss of time, Constitution T. and M. S., p. 23.
Q. If a person joins a church T. and M. society where they have a club of Signs, and afterward joins at another place, where they do not have such a club, can he draw the Signs from the church to which he first belonged?
A. Being a tract society member does not entitle an individual to draw Signs from a V. M. society unless he becomes connected with a V. M. S.; but if he is paying a certain sum into a V. M. society, he can have that number of Signs transferred to him where he then lives.
Q. Is the district secretary also treasurer and librarian, and is he to keep a supply of books on hand to supply the church librarians in his district? or does he order them from the State secretary direct to the several societies in his district?
A. See Constitution of the T. and M. Society—District Secretary.
Q. Can a society be organized in the absence of a State officer or director?
A. It is the business of each director, or some T. and M. officer, to be present when any society is organized. Ministers should also be prepared to organize.
Q. Is a person entitled to draw pamphlets and bound books by virtue of his membership?
A. No; pamphlets and bound books should always be paid for by each member at the regular retail price.