496 



METHODISTS. 



Board. May 3, the aggregate circulation of the 

 (5 periodicals was returned as being 1.098. <00, an 

 increase for the year of 22.200. Grants amount- 

 ing in all to $2,450 were made in sums of from 

 $100 to $1,000 each to the several foreign mis- 

 sions of the Church. The board resolved to co- 

 operate with the Board of Education in the 

 twentieth century thank-offering movement pro- 

 vided no collections for that object were taken 

 within the Sunday schools themselves. 



Missionary Societies. The detailed report of 

 the foreign missions presented at the annual 

 meeting of the Hoard of Missions, May 2, gives 

 as the totals: Number of missionaries, 128; of 

 native preachers, 87: of local helpers. 147; of 

 members, 9,503, showing an increase of 462; of 

 Sunday schools, 230, with 089 officers and teach- 

 ers and 8.37 "> pupils; of Epworth Leagues, 48, with 

 l.tHJO members; of organized churches, 275, of 

 which 10 are self-supporting; of church build- 

 ings. 102. valued at $104,995. The schools in- 

 cluded 8 boarding schools, with 34 teachers and 

 1.000 pupils, and 17 day schools, with 11 teach- 

 ers and 483 pupils. The 9 school buildings were 

 valued at $50,853, and the 5 hospitals at $14,440. 

 At these hospitals 15,088 patients had been treated 

 during the year. The total value of the mis- 

 sion property was $388,639; amount of collec- 

 tions, $13.404. The board made appropriations 

 to the several missions and mission conferences 

 as follow: To Brazil Mission Conference, $30,- 

 400; to China Mission Conference, $27,162; to 

 Korea mission, $7,650; to Japan Mission Con- 

 ference, $31,714; to Central Mexico Mission Con- 

 ference, $21,127; to the Mexican Border Mission 

 Conference, $13,850; to Northwest Mexican Mis- 

 sion Conference, $12,650; to the Cuba mission, 

 $5,000 ; to the Indian Mission Conference, $2,636 ; 

 to the German Mission Conference, $2,268; and 

 to other conferences within the United States, 

 $25,781. The whole amount appropriated, includ- 

 ing the sum allowed for expenses, was $205,150. 



The Woman's Home Missionary Society has 

 undertaken a celebration of the "twentieth cen- 

 tury movement " by raising a special fund to help 

 its schools viz., the Sue Bennett Memorial 

 School, London, Ky.; the Industrial Home and 

 School, Greenville, Tenn., for the mountain peo- 

 ple; the Cuban schools in Florida; the Chinese 

 and Japanese schools in California; Friendsbury 

 Home, Baltimore, Md.; and Ann Browder Cun- 

 mingham Home, Dallas, Texas, for the training 

 of city missionaries and rescue workers. The 

 Friendsbury estate, Baltimore, Md., has been be- 

 queathed to the society by Miss Melissa Rankin, 

 the founder of Protestant missions in Mexico, on 

 condition of its raising $10,000 for the endow- 

 ment of city mission work. 



The twenty-first annual report of the Woman's 

 Hoard of Foreign Missions gives as the amount 

 of the collections for the year ending March 

 1809, $83,552, showing a loss of $3,000 from the 

 previous year. The following statistics of mis- 

 sionary work in foreign lands were given: In 

 China, 20 missionaries, 59 assistant teachers, 43 

 boarding and day schools, 2,500 pupils. 31 Bible 

 women, 2 Bible schools, 2 hospitals, 86 scholar- 

 ships. In Korea, 2 missionaries, 5 assistant teach- 

 ers, 32 pupils. In Mexico, 17 missionaries 57 

 assistants, 25 schools, 2,687 pupils, 14 scholar- 

 Bible women. In Brazil, 11 mission- 

 aries, 28 teachers, 8 schools, 277 pupils. In the 

 Indian mission, 10 teachers, helpers, and mission- 

 aries, more than 100 pupils, 2 schools, 1 hospital 

 Bible woman. In Cuba, 1 missionary and 1 

 helper had been sent, and 1 school, with 32 pupils 

 had been established. 



At its annual meeting in 1899 this board made 

 appropriations of $99,000 for the year's work, the 

 amount exceeding any previously voted for one 

 year. 



Epworth League. An enumeration of the 

 Epworth Leagues of this Church made by its 

 secretary gives them for May 30, 1899, 5,031 

 chapters (4,536 senior and 495 junior), with a 

 total of 221,445 members (204,120 senior and 17,- 

 325 junior), against 195,840 members in 1898. 

 During the year that had passed 478 senior and 

 117 junior leagues had been added. 



African Methodist Episcopal Church. The 

 statistics of this Church, published by Bishop 

 Arnet, the Church historian, at the beginning of 

 1898, account for 62 annual conferences, of which 

 52 were in the United States, 4 in Africa, 3 in 

 the West Indies, and 3 in British America. These 

 returns include 9 bishops, 9 general officers, 4,825 

 ministers on the rolls of the annual conferences, 

 242 presiding elders, 8,409 local preachers, 5,250 

 exhorters, 556,289 members, and 57,836 probation- 

 ers; 5,172 churches, valued at $6,150,176; 1,750 

 parsonages, valued at $624,423, with $752,964 of 

 indebtedness against church property; 11 schools, 

 with 160 teachers, 5,257 students, 660 graduates, 

 property valued at $756,475, and an aggregate 

 annual income of $115,560; and 3,447 Sunday 

 schools, with 21,514 officers, 37,916 teachers, and 

 362,421 pupils. The benevolent contributions for 

 , the year were $29,938 for missions, $16,745 for 

 publication, $17,252 for church extension, $115,- 

 560 for education, $753,404 for ministerial sup- 

 port, $141,876 for presiding elders, and $20,740 

 for the Sunday-school department. The whole 

 amount of money raised in the Church was $1,- 

 570,329. The total value of its property is 

 $8,104,886. 



The Sunday School Union received for the last 

 year for which the report is made up (ending 

 March 31, 1898) $21,084, and expended $19,240. 

 It aided 368 needy Sunday schools with literature 

 to the value of $852. At the annual meeting 

 of the Board of Managers, held in Nashville, Tenn., 

 April 6, 1899, a committee was appointed to re- 

 port upon the condition of the negro in the 

 United States. It is represented that this society 

 was the first Sunday-school union in America 

 established among negroes. Property was pur- 

 chased for it in Nashville in 1885, on which a 

 publication house has been built. 



The publication department of the Church pub- 

 lished in 1898 The Bright Side of Life in Africa, 

 by Dr. W. H. Beard; The Descent of the Negro, 

 by Bishop Tanner; The True Christian Sabbath, 

 by the Rev. D. A. Graham; How to Educate 

 Yourself, by Dr. W. D. Johnson; The Negro and 

 his Trials, by Dr. H. T. Johnson; several book- 

 lets, two impressions of the Hymn and Tune 

 Book, and a number of periodicals. It had a bal- 

 ance of $267 in its treasury on March 30, 1899. 



The Board of Bishops on June 16 approved a 

 plan for collecting a " twentieth century thank- 

 offering " of $600,000, to be obtained by Jan. 1, 

 1901, and appointed the Rev. L. J. Coppin, D. D'., 

 commissioner to make all the necessary arrange- 

 ments for carrying it out. The amount of $600,- 

 000 is to be distributed as follows: To the Mis- 

 sion Board, Home and African, $100,000; to the 

 Church Extension fund, $200,000; to the colleges 

 and universities, half on the old debt, half for 

 endowment, $100,000; to theological seminaries, 

 $200,000. The commissioner, who is to be 

 assisted by annual conference commissioners, is 

 instructed to report to a board of directors con- 

 stituted of the bishops and one person from each 

 episcopal district. A board of five directors was 



