76 



METHODISTS. 



returned 105 missionaries (including wives), 113 na- 

 tive traveling preachers, 155 native helpers, 7,888 

 members, 71 day and boarding schools with 2.081 

 pupils, 247 Sunday schools with 6.862 pupils, 19 

 Epworth Leagues with 587 members, 1 hospital 

 and 3 dispensaries, at which 12.015 patients were 

 treated during the year, and property valued at 

 $458,406. 



The Woman's Parsonage and Home Mission So- 

 ciety aided in the year 1895-'96, through its Central 

 Committee, 21 parsonages in the amount of 5,475. 

 while the local organizations aided 39 parsonages 

 in the amount of $1,584; and supplies were sent 

 out to the amount of $3.096. The society publishes 

 and distributes a considerable literature : sustains a 

 mountain work : is collecting building money for a 

 school at London, Ky. : has a school at Brevard, 

 near Asheville, N. C., with 36 pupils, for which the 

 citizens of the place have given land for a site : lias 

 a home and school at Greenville, Tenn., with a 

 building nearly completed ; sustains a Cuban mis- 

 sion work with 2 day schools, 4 teachers, and 150 

 pupils, and a new building at Ybor City approach- 

 ing completion ; and maintains city mission work, 

 employing 9 missionaries, in several large cities. 

 The total receipts of the society for the year were 

 $17,500, or $9,301 more than the receipts of the 

 previous year. 



The Woman's Board of Foreign Missions received 

 for the year ending in April, 1890, $121.157 and 

 expended $73,393. The whole amount of the ap- 

 propriations made at the annual meeting for the 

 ensuing year was $93,300 ; of which sum .x27. !60 

 were for the missions in China. SI4.225 for those in 

 Brazil, $37,965 for those in Mexico, and $6,150 for 

 those in the Indian Territory. 



111. African Methodist Episcopal Church. 

 The statistical summary of this Church, published 

 in the "Independent" for Jan. 7. 1S!)7. gives it for 

 1896 4,680 ministers, 4,850 churches, and C15.N54 

 members. 



The General Conference met in Wilmington. X. C., 

 May 4. The financial secretary reported that the 

 Church had collected for general expenses during 

 the past four years $351.942. The report of the 

 secretary of education represented that work in that 

 department was increasing. The sum of $269.762 

 had been applied to it during the past four years, 

 in addition to which amounts had been spent for 

 the improvement of property which would swell 

 the total to $301,026. Fifty-two schools had been 

 sustained, with 167 teachers and 5,533 students. 

 During the past twelve years the colleges of the 

 Church had sent out 496" graduates. The school 

 property was valued at $571,532. The editor and 

 publisher of the ' African Methodist Episcopal 

 Church Review" reported that that publication had 

 been self-sustaining during the past four years, and 

 had a small balance in hand. 



The business of the Conference consisted chiefly 

 in provision for the business, benevolent, and edu- 

 cational enterprises of the Church. The Rev. Wil- 

 liam B. Derrick, the Rev. James II. Armstrong, and 

 the Rev. James C. Embrec were elected bishops. 

 Other officers elected were manager of the Book 

 Concern, editor of the "Christian Recorder" (the 

 weekly newspaper organ of the Church), secretary 

 of missions, editor of the "African Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church Review," secretary for the Sunday- 

 school Union, corresponding secretary and treas- 

 urer of the Church Extension Department, and 

 secretary of education. 



The editor-elect of the " Church Review " being 

 a layman, the Conference decided to commit the 

 editing of the books, which had been under the 

 charge of that officer, in the hands of a committee 

 of the bishops. Reports were received from the 



educational institutions Wilberforce University, 

 the largest and most influential colored school in 

 America; Allen University, South Carolina; and 

 Paid Quinn College, Waco, Texas. A resolution was 

 presented and referred, looking to the admission of 

 women as delegates in the General Conference. 



IV. African Methodist Episcopal /ion 

 Church. According to the summary of statis- 

 tics given by the " Independent " newspaper in its 

 review of the Churches of the United States for 

 1896, this Church has 2,561 ministers, 1,615 churches, 

 and 492,888 members. 



The General Conference met at Mobile, Ala., May 

 6. More than 300 delegates attended it, represent- 

 ing 34 States. Canada, and Africa. Legislation was 

 enacted for the further development of the educa- 

 ' tional. missionary, Christian Endeavor, and publi- 

 cation work of the denomination. The Rev. George 

 W. Clinton, the Rev. Jehu Holliday, and the Rev. 

 John B. Small were chosen additional bishops. 



A celebration of the one hundredth year of the 

 existence of this Church was held in the city of New 

 York during twelve days, beginning Oct. 1. In con- 

 nection with the event a detailed history of the 

 Church was published in the "Star of Zion," its 

 newspaper organ. It originated in the withdrawal, 

 in 1796. of James Varick and other colored men 

 from the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 New York, under a feeling of the existence of^ 

 caste prejudice among the white members prevent- 

 ing the freest and fullest development of the reli- 

 gious life of the colored members. Permission was 

 obtained from Bishop Asbury for these colored men 

 to hold meetings by themselves, and an old stable, 

 afterward occupied as a cabinetmaker's shop, was 

 secured as a place for worship. A Church organi- 

 zation was formed three years later, trustees were 

 elected, and a church, called Zion Church, was 

 erected on the corner of Church and Leonard 

 Streets. This church gave its name to the denomi- 

 nation African Methodist Episcopal Church (Zion), 

 under which designation the Church was incorpo- 

 rated in 1801. In the same year the Church was 

 recognized by the visitation of a fraternal delegate 

 from the General Conference of the Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church. White preachers from this Church 

 were employed to serve the congregation for the 

 first twenty years. The first three colored preach- 

 ers were ordained elders in 1821 by elders of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church. The first conference 

 was held in 1821, under the presidency of the 

 Rev. William Phoebus, of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, when Elder James Varick, the founder of 

 the Church, was chosen bishop or superintendent. 

 The Discipline, with the articles of religion and pol- 

 ity of the Methodist Episcopal Church, had been 

 adopted in 1820. The Church, with 70 members at 

 its organization, had grown slowly, and now had 

 less than 500 members, all in the State of Xew 

 York, and property valued at about $35,000. After 

 1823 it began to" extend into other Central and 

 Eastern States, but could not gain a foothold in the 

 slave States. In 1860 it had 85 organized congrega- 

 tions, 64 church buildings. 5 annual conferences, 

 4.600 members, $248,000 of property, and occupied 

 territory in 11 States. The organization of churches 

 in the South was begun in 1863. under the ministra- 

 .tions of Bishop Joseph J. Clinton and Elder James 

 W. Hood, now bishop, when the first North Caro- 

 lina Conference was organized. The Church now 

 has one or more conferences in nearly every Southern 

 State. It has in all 36 regularly organized confer- 

 ences in the United States and Canada, and 1 mis- 

 sionary annual conference in Africa; 1,750 organ- 

 izations, 411,000 members, and 1.600 churches 

 owned by the denomination, with church and other 

 property' valued at $2,750,130 ; 2,250 ministers, 



