METHODISTS. 



495 



Finland, Norway, and Denmark) 234 ordained 

 missionaries, 210 wives of missionaries, 220 other 

 women, 187 of whom are employed by the Wom- 

 an's Foreign Missionary Society; 786 native 

 women employed by the Woman's Foreign Mis- 

 sionary Society, 436 native ordained preachers, 

 961 unordained preachers, 1,006 teachers, and 

 1,215 local preachers and other helpers; 56,884 

 members and 67,967 probationers in the mission 

 churches; 12,445 conversions during the year; 11 

 theological schools, with 154 students; 58 high 

 schools, with 4,622 students; 1,139 day schools, 

 with 31,382 pupils; and 676 churches and chapels, 

 valued at more than $860,000. The society fur- 

 ther owns property in orphanages, schoolrooms, 

 hospitals, book rooms, and other institutions ap- 

 pertaining to its mission work, having a total 

 estimated valuation of $1,320,000. 



Women's Societies. The annual meeting of 

 the Woman's Home Missionary Society was held 

 in Pittsburg, Pa., in October. The society had 

 2,600 auxiliaries, with 70,000 annual and 8,000 

 life members in 52 conferences. Its total income 

 for the year, including the regular contributions, 

 contributions of money and clothing passing 

 through the bureau of supplies, tuition fees, etc., 

 had been $278,548. Appropriations were made 

 for the ensuing year of $192,223, of which $87,- 

 508 were unconditional and $104,715 conditional. 



The work of the deaconesses is in the charge 

 of the Deaconess Bureau, under whose super- 

 vision 230 trained deaconesses are employed and 

 $306,725 are invested in deaconesses' homes. Three 

 rest houses for deaconesses and missionaries have 

 been established at Ocean Grove, N. J., Moun- 

 tain Lake Park, Md., and Round Lake, N. Y. 

 Three deaconesses' assemblies were held during 

 the year at San Francisco, Cal., for the Pacific 

 coast; the anniversary at Ocean Grove, N. J.; 

 and the Summer School of Methods, at Chautau- 

 qua, N. Y. 



The thirtieth annual meeting of the Woman's 

 Foreign Missionary Society was held in Cleve- 

 land, Ohio, Oct. 20". The statistics of the organ- 

 ization accounted for 5,002 auxiliary societies, 

 with 127,139 members, showing an increase for 

 the year of 77 societies and 5,325 members. More 

 than 30,000 young people were members of the 

 society and contributing to it. The German 

 churches, in 9 conferences in the United States 

 and in Germany and Switzerland, returned 270 

 auxiliary societies and 5,817 members. The re- 

 ceipts of the society for the year ending Oct. 1 

 had been $360,338, or $31,000 more than those 

 of the previous year. During the thirty years 

 of the existence of the society the sum of $5,028,- 

 000 had been raised and disbursed. One hundred 

 and ninety-five missionaries, 24 of whom were 

 medical, had been in service during the year in 

 India and Burmah, China, Malaysia, Japan, 

 Korea, Italy, Bulgaria, South America, and Mex- 

 ico. Eleven candidates for service had been ac- 

 cepted. The four periodicals published by the 

 society had an aggregate circulation of 75,400 

 copies. Appropriations of $347,000 were made 

 for the year 1900. An effort is making in the 

 society to raise a twentieth century thank-offer- 

 ing fund of $200,000 in the ensuing two years. 



National City Evangelization Union. The 

 ninth annual convention of the National City 

 Evangelization Union was held in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., Nov. 23 and 24. Reports of interest and prog- 

 ress in efforts for evangelization were received 

 from 38 cities. A committee appointed in the 

 previous convention to wait upon the General 

 Missionary Committee of the Church reported 

 upon the results of their interview with that 



body that a new class of appropriations had been 

 entered upon the schedule arid named " for work 

 in cities." A considerable number of addresses 

 were made upon the different aspects of religious 

 work in cities. 



Methodist Episcopal Church Congress. 



The second Methodist Episcopal Church Congress 

 the first having been held in Pittsbnr", Pa, 

 in 1897 was held in St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 26 to 

 Dec. 1. The object of the congress, which is vol- 

 untary and informal, is represented as being " to 

 secure from the younger men, and especially from 

 the younger scholars, a full expression of their 

 thought upon the relation of the Church to mod- 

 ern social and intellectual conditions." Topics 

 are selected for discussion on which differences 

 of opinion are known to exist, and the speakers 

 are selected with reference to their ability to 

 present the subjects fairly. The present congress 

 gave special attention to the problem of religious 

 life in the cities, to the harmony of religion and 

 science, and to the effect upon religious faith of 

 modern biblical criticism. The meeting was 

 opened with a ,sermon upon Christ the Power of 

 God, by Bishop H. W. Warren. The subject of the 

 Twentieth Century Fund was considered by the 

 Hon. W. M. Day and by Dr. E. R. Mills, its 

 secretary; The Message of the Church to Men 

 of Culture, by Prof. M. D. Learned, of the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania; The Ordering of Wor- 

 ship, by Dr. W. A. Shanklin and the Rev. H. G. 

 Leonard; The Religion of Childhood, by Prof. 

 Street, of Springfield, Mass., and the Rev. J. A. 

 Story; The Working of the Forward Movement 

 by English Methodists, by Prof. A. H. Briggs; 

 The Problem of Religious Life in the City, by 

 Dr. P. H. Swift and the Rev. Harry F. Ward; 

 The Problem of Religious Life in the Town, by 

 the Rev. G. A. Miller; that of Religious Life in 

 the Rural Districts, by the Rev. Emory J. Haynes; 

 Men in the Church, by the Rev. J. E. C. Sawyer; 

 A Methodist Brotherhood, by the Rev. Dr. T. B. 

 Neely; The Higher Education of the Negro, by 

 Prof. Thirkeld, of Atlanta, Ga.; Temperance In- 

 struction: Its Need and Method, by Mr. David 

 D. Thompson; The Findings of Modern Science 

 and Christian Faith, by Prof. William North Rice 

 and the Rev. M. W. Gifford ; Christian Science, by 

 Dr. C. D. Lockwood and the Rev. M. S. Hughes; 

 The Spiritual Element in Modern Literature, by 

 Prof. F. C. Lockwood; Religion and Righteous- 

 ness, by Dr. George Elliott; The Relation of the 

 Church and the Municipality, by the Hon. R. 

 F. Raymond and Dr. W. W. King; The Church 

 and the Higher Criticism, by the Rev. W. F. 

 Andersen and Prof. Sheldon, of Boston; Denomi- 

 nationalism and Catholicity, by Dr. J. A. Dun- 

 can, the Rev. Ira C. Cartwright, and Prof. Borden 

 P. Bowne; The Ethics of Church Membership, by 

 the Rev. T. H. Armstrong and Mr. Hanford Craw- 

 ford. 



Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The 

 estimate of the numbers of this Church at the 

 close of the year 1899 gave it, for the United 

 States only, 5,950 ministers, 14,190 churches, and 

 1,460,272 members, showing a gain during the 

 year of 27 ministers, 30 churches, and 4,000 

 members. 



At the annual meeting of the Book Committee, 

 May 3, the book agents returned the total value 

 of the business from all the departments as $350,- 

 416, from which a gain of $40,144 in assets had 

 been realized. The total capital of the concern, in- 

 cluding real estate, plant, merchandise, notes, ac- 

 counts, etc., was $902,488, against which stood 

 an indebtedness of $9,197. 



At the annual meeting of the Sunday-school 



