Earlier text: The Department of EducationGeneral Conference Proceedings
Elder O. A. Olsen in the chair. Prayer was offered by Elder S. N. Haskell, who had just arrived. New delegates were seated, as follows: Delegate at large, S. N. Haskell; British Union, Dr. A. B. Olsen; Lake Union, J. W. Mace; Central Union, B. E. Huffman; Canadian Union, Eugene Leland. Upon motion of Allen Moon, supported by J. O. Corliss, the following-named brethren were seated as honorary delegates: G. W. Amadon, A. C. Bourdeau, J. L. Prescott. To this list of honorary delegates were added, by unanimous vote, the names of R. M. Kilgore and R. F. Andrews. Upon motion of J. R. Bryant, duly seconded, it was voted that the consideration of further names that may be suggested as honorary delegates be referred to the committee on seating of delegates. The chairman stated that the special order for this meeting is the report of the Russian Union Conference. Reports of the Russian Conference
Elder J. T. Boettcher, president of the Russian Union Conference, presented the report of that field, of which the following is a condensation:— The territory of this union conference extends from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east, from the Arctic Ocean on the north to the Black Sea and Mongolia on the south, embracing one sixth of the earth’s surface, and containing a population of 148,442,000. In this population are included Great Russians, Little Russians, White Russians, Polanders, Lithuanians, Germans, Rumanians, Armenians, Calmucks, Cossacks, etc. The organization of this union conference went into effect Jan. 1, 1908, prior to which it was a part of the German Union Conference. At the close of 1908 the membership of the union was 3,077, 1,541 members having been added by baptism during the quadrennial period. In 1905 the union paid a tithe of $5,587. Last year the tithe had risen to $11,431. The tithes and offerings for the four years amounted to $39,243. We have in the field fourteen ministers, nine licentiates, fifteen Bible workers, and nine other laborers, with thirty-four canvassers. We have been unable properly to care for and instruct our members, and during the time of persecution we lost great numbers. The Lord helped us in getting our constitution acknowledged for the Russian branch of the Hamburg Publishing House. The result of this in opening the way for the distribution of our literature is already being felt. The smallness of the sales of our publications is due to the fact that we have as yet only pamphlets and tracts. When we have larger works to canvass for, we shall enter the larger cities with them. We have no trouble in Riga with the censor, and our office at that place showed a small gain for the year. The oldest of our conferences is the Caucasian Conference; the next the South Russian, organized in January, 1908. It has nineteen churches and companies and five hundred fifty-three members. The Baltic Conference comprises the Baltic provinces, which have a population of six million people, the better class of whom are Germans. Every city is provided with graded schools, and illiteracy is very uncommon. Our work in this conference has been carried on largely in the cities, and we have churches or companies in many of them. The people gladly listen to the message. This conference has fourteen churches and companies, with a membership of five hundred forty-five. There are only one minister, two licentiates, four missionary licentiates, and seven canvassers engaged in the work, and yet we had an increase during last year of one hundred eighty-five. The West Russian Mission field has a population of twenty-two millions, mostly Polanders and Jews. Such poverty as is here seen among the Jews can be equaled only in China or India. Little children are sent out on the street to beg to keep their sick parents from starving. We have been able to do a little work for the Jews, and in Wilna two have embraced the truth. The membership of the conference is two hundred ninety-six. The East Russian Mission is composed of Russian Turkestan, Siberia, and the provinces along the river Volga. The population of this field is about twenty-two millions. The peculiar conditions of the farming population of this field keeps the people very poor. Famine is common, and we have been obliged to send our brethren money to buy seed. But the work is going even here. Our membership is four hundred fifty-two. The Middle Russian Mission is the largest of our fields, having a population of sixty-four millions. The most of the people can neither read nor write, and the conditions of their life are very hard. They are very teachable, and greatly need our help. The membership of this field was increased during 1908 by the addition of two hundred fifteen converts, and stands now at four hundred eleven. During the last few years, a great many have been emigrating to Siberia, among them quite a number of our people. These have spread the truth, until now calls are coming from many parts of that great country. There are sixty or seventy ready for baptism this spring as the result of work put forth during the winter. Five are keeping the Sabbath in Harbin, Manchuria, so that we are beginning to occupy China from the west. Now is a good time to work in Siberia, but we have been able to supply only one of the ten laborers called for by the one in charge of the work there. Some of our people have moved into the very heart of Central Asia, Tashkend. From Samara to Tashkend and westward to the Caspian Sea, a distance of twenty-five hundred miles, the Russian government has built a railroad, and many new settlers are moving in. We have two companies in this territory, and laborers are earnestly called for. Our church-membership in Little Russia (among a population of seventeen millions) is three hundred eighty-one. There is not so great poverty in this territory as in that of the Great Russians. Many towns in Little Russia have heard the message, and in one of them we have a church of two hundred members. We ought to have many workers to fill the calls for labor in this field. When I visit these places, they take hold of me bodily and beg me to stay. Elder H. J. Loebsack gave a report for the Caucasian Conference. He said:— The Caucasian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists sends to this General Conference its report, and to you all brotherly greetings. The field of the Caucasian Conference includes the North and South Caucasus, with twelve governments and districts and twelve million inhabitants. Its history is as old as the history of man since the flood, its traditions reaching back to the sons of Noah. In the days of the prophet Daniel this province was very promising. It took fifty years to conquer the wild tribes inhabiting this region, and even to-day the public peace is none too secure. The government does all that it can to bring order. Since 1905 martial law has had to be maintained for the protection of the citizens. The work of the message began by the sending of literature from America to relatives in the Caucasus. In 1901 the conference was organized.12 In 1907 the work was begun in the large cities of Transcaucasus. The workers have had many trying experiences; but souls are being gathered here. In one place one hundred fifty accepted the Sabbath truth through reading before they had ever seen a Seventh-day Adventist minister. This was at Basartschai, and from among these a church of eighty-six members was later organized. These believers have unshakable confidence in the truths of the third angel’s message. We now have in the Caucasus twelve German, thirteen Russian, three Cossack, and three Molokan churches, with eight hundred twenty members. We have two preachers, three licentiates, two Bible workers, two missionary colporteurs, and a canvasser. Two hundred four were added to our membership last year, and our tithes and offerings for that period amounted to two thousand six hundred dollars. The work is the Lord’s, and we have resolved that through the help of God we will not lay down the weapons until it is finished. The time having expired which was allotted to this session of the conference, the reading of the remainder of the reports from the Russian Union was postponed. Elder H. W. Cottrell in the chair. After the opening song, prayer was offered by Elder Allen Moon. New delegates were seated as follows: Lake Union, E. A. Bristol, P. E. Sheppler; North Pacific Union, Prof. M. E. Cady. The chairman called upon Mrs. L. Flora Plummer, secretary of the General Conference Sabbath-school Department, to render the department's report. The Conference listened with deep interest, punctuating the report with hearty amens at many points. The report follows:— Report of the General Conference Sabbath-School Department
MRS. L. FLORA PLUMMER, SECRETARY Fifty-seven years ago this summer the first seed was planted, which, taking deep and abiding root, developed into what we now call the Sabbath-school work of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. That summer, Elder James White, traveling by carriage from Rochester, N. Y., to Bangor, Maine, was deeply impressed with the need of some regular system or plan of Bible lessons, especially adapted to the youth. After dining by the roadside, and while waiting for his team to feed and rest, using his lunch basket for a table, he prepared the first series of Sabbath-school lessons ever used by our people. At that time the believers were widely scattered; the name “Seventh-day Adventist” had not been coined; the word “church” was seldom used; no ministers had been ordained; no church elders cared for the flock. Strange as it may seem, but little attempt was made to instruct the children of believers in the doctrines cherished by their parents. Elder White, to quote his own words, thought this “a grievous error, sufficient to call down the frown of God.” It was decided to urge the organization of Sabbath-schools and to encourage a uniform course of Bible study. To promote this the first number of the Youth’s Instructor was issued at Rochester, N. Y., in August, 1852, and contained four lessons for use in the Sabbath-school. From that time until 1863, lessons were supplied, with occasional lapses—these lapses ranging in length of time from eight months to three and one-half years. During this time such schools as were held seemed each to be a law unto itself. There were long intervals when no lessons were furnished. During such times each school chose its own lessons, and even in the same school there were various lessons selected by the different classes. There were no maps, no record books, no song-books, no system of reporting, no contributions, no uniformity in the plan of organization, nor in the manner of conducting the exercises of the school. I do not believe there is power enough in anything in this world—in anything in which men believe—to hold together so scattered, so pitifully helpless a flock, save the power there is in God’s last message to this world. The earliest regularly organized schools of which I have been able to learn were held at Rochester and Bucks Bridge, in New York State, in 1853 and 1854. Elder John Byington was the leader in the latter place. After the removal of the Advent Review Office to Battle Creek, Mich., in 1855, the Lord moved upon the heart of Brother M. G. Kellogg to engage in this work. Of his early experience he says: “For months the life of this poor weakling of a Sabbath-school hung by such a brittle thread that it was a question whether the succeeding Sabbath would find it alive; but by patient perseverance and much strong crying unto God for help, it not only lived, but gradually became a stronger factor for good than I had expected.” State and General Organizations
In 1868-69 the need of some definite plan for Sabbath-school organization was recognized. A regular program of exercises, a system of keeping records of membership and scholarship, was devised and put to the test of practical use in the Battle Creek school. As soon as the efficiency of a method or plan was determined, it was presented to the other schools through the medium of the Instructor. Every effort to bring order and system into the work met with opposition; but the wisdom and excellence of a simple form of organization were at length generally recognized, and it triumphed over all hindrances. One evening during the summer of 1877, at a teachers’ meeting held at the home of Elder James White, Professor Bell, superintendent of the Battle Creek school, asked the teachers if they thought it possible to develop some organization which would bring together the Sabbath-schools of a State—some union which would enable them to help one another. A committee was appointed which outlined a plan for a State association. These plans were submitted by correspondence to workers on the Pacific Coast, resulting in the organization, in August, 1877, of the California State Sabbath-school Association. The Michigan Association was formed soon after. State after State followed, so that during the General Conference held at Battle Creek, Mich., in 1878, with delegates present from twelve States, the General Sabbath-school Association was formed, with C. H. Jones as president of the association, with headquarters at Oakland, Cal. As our work advanced into other lands, this association was re-christened the “International Sabbath-school Association.” In 1901 the organization of the International Sabbath-school Association was dropped, and the general Sabbath-school work became simply a department of the General Conference. The first official compilation of a statistical report was made at the close of 1878, and is as follows:— |
No. of Schools |
Membership |
Attendance |
|---|
| Michigan |
43 |
1,753 |
1,227 |
| Missouri |
14 |
412 |
230 |
| Minnesota |
12 |
673 |
344 |
| Illinois |
16 |
482 |
314 |
| New England |
16 |
396 |
281 |
| New York |
7 |
231 |
145 |
| Iowa |
16 |
679 |
410 |
| Totals |
124 |
4,626 |
2,951 |
You observe that no contributions are reported. The following statistical table shows the record of membership, total contributions and donations to missions, from 1887 to 1908, inclusive:— The Record for Twenty-two Years
Previous to 1887 the California schools had given $700 for the work in Australia.| Year |
Members |
Total Contributions |
Donated to Missions |
|---|
| 1887 |
23,700 |
$16,751.83 |
$10,615.72 |
| 1888 |
25,375 |
18,485.77 |
10,755.34 |
| 1889 |
28,900 |
22,541.24 |
11,767.95 |
| 1890 |
32,000 |
28,642.75 |
17,707.39 |
| 1891 |
33,400 |
29,435.05 |
16,750.94 |
| 1892 |
35,300 |
37,542.27 |
23,618.77 |
| 1893 |
40,100 |
37,936.11 |
24,162.50 |
| 1894 |
49,626 |
39,502.42 |
20,850.50 |
| 1895 |
50,466 |
37,336.35 |
19,800.76 |
| 1896 |
54,070 |
40,125.13 |
23,666.08 |
| 1897 |
52,045 |
41,541.40 |
33,409.32 |
| 1898 |
55,160 |
40,301.87 |
21,475.18 |
| 1899 |
53,967 |
39,071.79 |
21,842.09 |
| 1900 |
55,255 |
46,794.40 |
25,235.47 |
| 1901 |
57,762 |
43,819.67 |
21,947.90 |
| 1902 |
59,351 |
51,642.01 |
28,298.86 |
| 1903 |
66,811 |
55,823.85 |
34,778.85 |
| 1904 |
71,643 |
60,460.80 |
40,278.05 |
| 1905 |
71,700 |
69,421.95 |
48,972.42 |
| 1906 |
75,622 |
74,775.26 |
57,915.81 |
| 1907 |
83,651 |
86,454.47 |
71,753.01 |
| 1908 |
88,843 |
104,917.72 |
94,500.12 |
| Totals |
|
$1,023,384.11 |
$680,802.48 |
During this time, in addition to the amount contributed to missions, the Sabbath-schools on special occasions gave $53,104.40 for the maintenance of the Haskell Home for Orphans. Turning from this historical survey of the Sabbath-school work, I will speak particularly of its development during the last four years. Speaking of the field as a whole, we can praise God most heartily for the manifest evidence that the Sabbath-school work is reaching a higher standard. Week by week the lessons are taught with the power and effect that comes from patient, persistent, faithful effort. Little children are learning to love the Saviour, many among our youth are being bound to this message with bands stronger than iron, and through the Sabbath-school influence the hearts of the fathers and mothers in13 Israel are strengthened, encouraged, established. The Sabbath-school has been, and is now, our pioneer organization. We have schools before we have churches. Unquestionably, the Sabbath-school is one of the leading factors in molding, establishing, building up, and making permanent and sure our denominational work. At the close of 1908 there were 3,747 Sabbath-schools with a total membership of 88,843. Of this number 1,269 schools and 22,611 members are in foreign fields. During the last four years persistent effort has been made to get in closer touch with the Sabbath-school work in other lands. The Mount Vernon Convention
In July, 1907, a Sabbath-school and Young People’s Convention, the first of its kind, was held at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, that deserves special mention because of its far-reaching influence. More than two hundred representative workers were together. The occasion was one of absorbing interest, and the company of sober-minded men and women gave themselves faithfully to the consideration of the problems at hand. The Young People’s work, fostered from the beginning by the Sabbath-school Department, was there fully launched as a separate department, under the name Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Department. Convention Work in the Schools
Each year the majority of the schools in this country have held at least one service which might properly be named a Sabbath-school convention. Each year a suggestive program has been printed in the Sabbath School Worker, appropriate subjects suggested, and instruction given to aid wholly inexperienced workers in holding a successful convention. The secretaries of a long list of States report that the majority of their schools have held these conventions as planned. The reports from some portions of the Southern field, from mission fields, and from the schools that have but few advantages, were particularly gratifying. So universal a consideration of Sabbath-school topics can not but be fruitful of results. A study of the statistics of the denomination led to the creation of the Home Department of the Sabbath-school. The membership of our schools had been about one fourth less than the church-membership. It should be considerably larger, as such a large proportion of the Sabbath-school membership is made up of children who are not members of the church. The formation of the Home Department has not only connected with the Sabbath-school the isolated, the feeble, the aged, and those really unable to attend the school, but the effort put forth in behalf of the non-attendants has materially increased the regular membership. The latest returns now show that instead of having a smaller number in the Sabbath-school than we have in the church, we have 8,000 more. The Home Department now numbers 4,500 members. They contribute liberally to missions, and seem to prize highly their connection with the Sabbath-school work. Believing that our Sabbath-schools needed the blessed inspiration of a real burden for the work in mission fields, it was suggested that our schools the world around endeavor to give $1,000 a week to missions in 1906. They gave almost five thousand dollars more than that. In 1907 the same financial motto was chosen, but the call was restricted to the schools in the United States and Canada. The schools responded nobly, giving $10,500 more than the year before, and only fell $600 below the mark. The returns for 1908 smashed the Worker thermometer and all previous records, the schools in the United States and Canada giving $70,758.26; the schools in all the world giving the handsome sum of $94,500.12 to missions. Suggestions for the Future
The Sabbath-school work is so old and well established that there is danger of its needs being disregarded in a meeting of this kind, where such a multitude of matters come up for consideration. But if our Sabbath-schools ever really fulfil their mission, there must be great improvement in the quality of the work the schools are now doing. What course of training can be placed within the reach of Sabbath-school officers and teachers that will increase their efficiency? How shall we make real Bible students of Sabbath-school scholars? How can the work of the General Conference Sabbath-school Department be strengthened and conducted to better advantage? What are helping and what are hindering policies in the conducting of conference Sabbath-school departments? What shall be the financial policy of our Sabbath-schools? These are five Sabbath-school questions. Upon their solution depends, to a large extent, the advancement of the work during the next four years. I believe this conference should make definite recommendations upon the following matters:— 1. The preparation of a Sabbath-school Manual. The little book, “Testimonies on Sabbath-school Work,” is the only literature we have in book form. If an inquirer asks for a book giving instruction in the details of Sabbath-school work, he must be referred to Sunday-school books as the only matter available. While the various Sunday-school manuals contain much that is helpful, there is very much that is not at all adapted to our work. I believe there is no better or more effective way to improve our teaching force and to help our schools as a whole, than to provide a well-written, practical, up-to-date Sabbath-school Manual. 2. A Reading Course for Sabbath-school officers and teachers. The demand for more efficient officers and teachers is imperative. We are beginning to realize that our Sabbath-schools are dealing with souls for whom they must give an account. The value of practical reading courses is unquestioned. I believe a reading course based on “Testimonies on Sabbath-school Work,” a good Sabbath-school Manual, and perhaps one other selected book of merit, would give an uplift to our work that would be felt throughout the entire field. 3. This Conference would do well to recognize the value of the Sabbath-school lessons, and to urge our people to heed the message, “Parents, set apart a little time each day for the study of the Sabbath-school lesson with your children.” We have only to remember how very little the Bible is studied in the homes of our people, to recognize the need of this. In many homes these good lessons which we have been told “are of far greater consequence than many now discern,” are passed by unstudied, perhaps even unread. As heresies, vain philosophies, and fables abound more and more, those who are not establishing their faith by patiently, steadfastly, and continually studying the truth, are standing where they may very easily be led to accept darkness for light. The influence of this gathering ought to go out unwaveringly in favor of the daily study of the Sabbath-school lesson in the home. 4. The Home Department should receive your approval. 5. The Sabbath School Worker needs attention, even if it does not deserve it. As accurate an estimate as it is possible to make shows that only about one half the schools in this country are taking it. Counting out the schools that do not read English, there are yet a large number not supplied with a single copy. So far the subscription list has more than met the cost of publication, but a very little effort on the part of those who visit schools and churches would materially increase the influence of our Sabbath-school journal. The most experienced workers among us are chosen to write the lesson helps for the various grades, and this feature of the paper alone would justify an energetic effort in its behalf. 6. Perhaps this Conference will desire either to approve or disapprove of the schools giving all their donations to missions. We can hardly believe that a backward step could be recommended. However, it should be remembered that in asking the schools to give all their donations to missions, the State conferences, to be consistent, should make no levy on those donations to support the conference Sabbath-school work. 7. We very much hope that each union conference may establish the custom of holding a Sabbath-school convention at least as often as once in two years, at which time all the conference Sabbath-school secretaries in the union may come together for counsel. Such counsels would yield rich results in better and more effective work. In closing I want to plead most earnestly for a removal of every hindering policy in the conducting of Sabbath-school affairs. I fear that sometimes the progress of this work has been unconsciously hindered by its friends. Every conference officer, every minister, might well note whether his interest has been active and as sympathetic as he could make it. This child of the church which has to do with the children of the entire denomination, should not be regarded in the conference as merely an organization for the collection of reports, and the work thus restricted. We are pressing forward. Our eyes and hearts are fixed on those who should be brought into the fold of Christ, and strengthened and established. Every conference needs a devoted, faithful, capable Sabbath-school secretary—one you can trust,—one who has a burden for souls,—one who knows how to conduct the work, or who, with your help, will set herself to learn how,—one who has time for this work,—one who is not carrying so many other burdens that the Sabbath-school work is mere incidental,—one who will be an inspiration to every Sabbath-school in Elder H. W. Cottrell called for a continuation of the reports from the German Union Conference. Elder K. Sinz, speaking through an interpreter, Elder L. R. Conradi, for the The field which I represent is the cradle of the Reformation. The territory is small, but has a population of four million five hundred thousand. Our work there was at first under the direction of Elder Perk, but he was sent out of the country, being a foreigner. As I was born in that country, I was called to labor there, but have been greatly hindered. At every meeting, even when met for singing, there were detectives present, noting what was said and done; but to-day the authorities are more favorable to us. We can not yet baptize openly, nor celebrate the ordinances of the Lord’s house. In spite of all these difficulties, the truth has spread in such a manner that by January, 1908, the believers could be organized into a conference. Our membership is now four hundred thirty-four, and our tithe for last year was over five thousand dollars. We are grateful for our success, and our brethren and sisters there are of good courage. In the absence of the president of the Middle German Conference, W. Prillwitz, his report was presented by Guy Dail, as follows:— This is the youngest conference in the German Union. It contains a population of five million four hundred forty-eight thousand three hundred, among whom we have twenty churches and companies, with a membership of four hundred eighty-two. We have two ministers, three licentiates, six Bible workers, and two other helpers. During the first quarter of our organized existence, we have had a gain of thirty-four members, and the tithe was twenty-eight hundred dollars. In spite of opposition the Lord has blessed the work. We are happy that our opponents are being silenced by the truth, and that the Lord is leaving these efforts not without results. Holland and Flemish-Belgium Mission Field
In the absence of R. G. Klingbeil, the superintendent of this mission, his report was presented by Brother J. Wintzen, in substance as follows:— The members of the Holland and Flemish-Belgium Mission field send their sincere greetings and best wishes for the blessing of God to the General Conference assembled. While the area of our field is not large, yet we have nine million people to work for. Our staff consists of eight laborers, and we have now about two hundred fifty members. In 1908 their tithes and offerings amounted to $2,607.96. God has richly blessed our canvassing work. We have twenty-nine canvassers, who, in 1908, sold books to the value of six thousand fifty-nine dollars. Our Holland paper, Teekenen des Tijds, is published monthly, with an average of seven thousand copies. The work here has grown amid many difficulties. All our brethren and sisters firmly believe in this third angel’s message, and are working to bring the message to their neighbors. This union mission field was reported for by Elder H. F. Schuberth, president of the union, as follows:— The Balkan Mission consists of Rumania, with a population of seven million seven hundred thousand, and Bulgaria, with four millions. Five years ago Brother J. F. Hinter went to Bucharest, and found there a company of sixteen Sabbath-keepers. The membership of this church has now grown to one hundred six. Although in their unconverted state the many nationalities of which this mission field is composed are continually at odds with one another, yet the third angel’s message makes them all one in Christ. Though many times threatened with banishment, Brother Hinter has been able to work all these years without serious molestation. However, only a month ago, he was compelled by the authorities to leave the country, and has taken up his residence on the border of Rumania, where he can look after the work in the field. I was there myself at the time, and was compelled to leave within twenty-four hours, because it was stated that the growth of our work was threatening the prosperity of the Greek Church. The total membership of this field is one hundred thirty-seven, and our force of laborers includes two ministers and four Bible workers. Our tithe for 1908 was $1,195.37. The work and workers here have every need of the prayers of our people. At this point the chairman called for further reports by the brethren from the Russian Union Conference. The South Russian Conference
D. Isaak, president of the South Russian Conference, reported as follows:— In October, 1905, I was assigned to South Russia, which field then had a membership of two hundred seventy. In the three years following, through the blessing of God, we have added three hundred forty to that membership. This includes both Russians and Germans, and one family of Jews. In 190715 this mission field was organized into a conference, known as the South Russian Conference. We have four laborers. The calls for laborers are coming in much faster than we can possibly answer them. We have great hopes that our coming school will help in this respect. One Russian laborer has been working at Sevastopol for the past year, and has had his hall filled every evening, and a church of sixty-two members has been organized. Three of these, who were sailor-soldiers, are now suffering imprisonment for their faith. Our canvassers in general are doing well in selling books, tracts, and papers. This conference, even from its beginning as a mission field, has been self-supporting. We have at present sixteen churches and three companies, with a membership of five hundred seventy-two. The report from this mission field was presented by D. P. Gaede, the director, who said:— Over a century ago my forefathers, known as the German Mennonites, emigrated to Russia from the plains of eastern Prussia. They had been promised in Russia “religious liberty forever,” but Alexander III interpreted “forever” to mean just one hundred years. This caused many to emigrate to America. Among these, my parents came to America in 1879, I at that time being twelve years of age. I accepted present truth in Kansas, and later went back to the old country to labor for the native Russians. The nine years that I have now labored in Russia have been full of rich blessings and the ingathering of precious souls. I have seen the increase of members in Russia from seven hundred to three thousand, and the workers from five to fifty. The Lord has gone before us in our work. There is an “away from Rome” movement in Poland, the special aim of whose exponents is to ignore the authority of the pope, give the Bible to the people, and allow the priests to marry. It has come to be a powerful movement. We believe this to be an open door for the message. A similar stir is being made among the Jews, several missionary organizations being at work among them. Last year I spent a part of my time among these people, and had the privilege of baptizing three persons. At the close of this report Brother G. Perk, one of the first Seventh-day Adventists in Russia, if not the very first, told some interesting experiences in connection with his first witnessing for the truth in that country. Reports from German Union Conference
Elder J. Wolfgarten, director of the Austrian Mission, reported as follows:— The largest field in the German Union is Austria, right in the heart of Europe. It contains one hundred twenty thousand square miles, and is about as large as Oregon and Oklahoma. Its inhabitants number about thirty million people, who are divided among Germans, Bohemians, Poles, Ruthenians, Slovakians, Croatians, Italians, and Rumanians. The larger portion of these are Roman Catholic. Our work began in this field in 1901. In 1905 we had five companies with sixty-three members, paying six hundred dollars tithe. Last year these had increased to one hundred thirty-five members, paying eleven hundred dollars tithe. We have now formed a society under the name of “Christian Men and Women,” whose purpose is declared to be the advancing of Christian life and the holding of public meetings; but we are not allowed to open our meetings with prayer. I have found that the Lord has gone before me and opened ways and made preparations that I knew nothing about. The canvassing work is forbidden, yet last year we baptized fifty believers. We have two ordained ministers, four licentiates, and eight Bible workers. We ask the prayers of God’s people everywhere that we may have still greater success in this interesting field. Elder J. F. Huenergardt, president of the Hungarian Conference, reported for that field:— This conference embraces the kingdom of Hungary, including Transylvania, with a population of twenty-one million eight hundred thousand, or one fourth the population of the United States. Its territory is about the size of Kansas and Oklahoma. About 1587 a Hungarian nobleman, Ossoe Andras, was convinced of the Bible Sabbath through the simple reading of the Bible. As a result of his work, within a quarter of a century there were sixty-five villages and towns in Transylvania that were observing the true Sabbath. When I went to that country, I found twelve Sabbath-keepers. We now have Sabbath-keepers among the Hungarian, the German, the Slovakian, the Servian, and the Rumanian nationalities, scattered among twenty-five groups and companies in the principal cities and towns of the country. Our conference was organized at Kolozsvat in 1907, and our present membership is five hundred five. Our force of laborers is composed of three ordained ministers, one licentiate, six Bible workers, and two missionary nurses. Our tithes and gifts have more than doubled since the organization of the conference. The work is steadily advancing, and workers are being prepared for these various nationalities. Our canvassing work is developing, and we are translating our tracts and other literature into all these languages. H. Fenner, the president of the West German Conference, speaking through an interpreter, said:— The West German Conference was organized in 1898, and since the organization of the German Union Conference in 1901, three conferences have been cut off from its territory. The population of our conference is now seven million two hundred fifty thousand. We now have twenty churches, with five hundred twenty-nine members. Our workers are happy in their work. Our greatest need is more laborers to do justice to the interests that are springing up. Upon motion the meeting adjourned until 3 P. M.