62 



BAPTISTS. 



houses had been $25,511, and this had been dis- 

 tributed among 74 churches. 



American Baptist Missionary Union. The 

 eighty-eighth annual meeting of the American 

 Baptist Missionary Union was held in St. Paul, 

 Minn., May 21 and 22. The financial receipts of 

 the year from all sources had been $080.518, of 

 which $385,295 had come in the form of dona- 

 tions and $115,861 through the woman's soci- 

 eties. These receipts had been sufficient to meet 

 the appropriations for the year's work, and to 

 afford a surplus of $2,840 to be applied to the 

 reduction of the deficit of $38,279 brought over 

 irom two years before. One hundred and sev- 

 enty-eight missionaries were employed. The mis- 

 sions in heathen lands returned 112,000 members, 

 and those in "nominally Christian" lands 117,- 

 000 members; and 16,823 converts had been bap- 

 ti/rd during the year. A marked increase was 

 noted in the number of candidates of high quali- 

 fications offering themselves for missionary serv- 

 ice abroad ; and the society was assured of being 

 able to obtain additions to its working force 

 commensurate to the means that would be sup- 

 plied for supporting new laborers. Twenty can- 

 didates were awaiting appointment. 



The missions were in Europe, including those 

 in northern and southern France, Germany, 

 Sweden, Spain, Russia, Finland, Denmark, and 

 Norway, and in heathen lands Burma, Assam, 

 South India (Telugus), China, Japan, Africa, and 

 the Philippine Islands. They returned: Mis- 

 sions in Europe, 1,187 preachers, 1,039 churches, 

 with 117,099 members, and 92,575 pupils in 

 Sunday-schools; missions in heathen lands, 481 

 missionaries, 1,299 native preachers, with 3,325 

 native helpers, 1,008 churches, having 111,650 

 members, and 35,321 pupils in Sunday-schools; 

 giving in all 2,486 preachers, 2,047 churches, 228,- 

 749 members, and 127,896 pupils in Sunday- 

 schools. The 16,283 baptisms returned during 

 the year included 7,786 in Europe and 8,497 in 

 heathen lands; and the $571,447 contributed by 

 the mission churches were made up of $464,250 

 contributed by European churches and $107,197 

 by those of the missions in heathen lands. Fur- 

 ther, the missions in heathen lands returned 

 1,473 schools, with 37,385 pupils. Ten schools for 

 the higher education, including theological 

 schools, were returned in the heathen field. The 

 figures show an increase for the year of 93 

 churches, 4,184 baptisms, 15,824 members, 8,173 

 pupils in Sunday-schools, and $56,120 in contri- 

 butions, and a decrease of 23 preachers. 



An account was given in the report of the 

 Executive Committee of the conferences the com- 

 mittee had held with representatives of the aux- 

 iliaries and the women s societies for the con- 

 sideration of their relations to one another and 

 of the conclusions which had been reached. 



The chairman of the Executive Committee, Mr. 

 C. W. Perkins, gave an address to which much 

 importance was attached, explaining the meth- 

 ods of business of the committee and the man- 

 ner in which the funds of the society were dis- 

 tributed. The Executive Committee is composed 

 of 15 members, 8 of whom may be ministers, 

 while 7 must be laymen; these members live 

 within a convenient distance of Boston, Mass. 

 With the exception of the two days of the 

 annual meeting of the society, the commit- 

 tee is practically the American Baptist Mission- 

 ary Union. It has absolute control of all the 

 Property of the union, both personal and real. 

 L meets at the office in Boston every two weeks. 

 The executive officers at the rooms consist of the 

 secretaries and the treasurer. The work of the 



home secretary is the collecting of funds in the- 

 United States, and includes the supervising and 

 directing of the district secretaries, the seeking 

 and examination of candidates for missionary 

 appointment, and all the correspondence which 

 naturally takes place in the United States. The 

 foreign secretary conducts the correspondence 

 with foreign countries. The treasurer attends to. 

 the disbursement of money under the direction of 

 the Executive Committee. The accounts of the 

 treasurer in the United States are made up an- 

 nually on April 1. The accounts for the foreign 

 field are made up on Oct. 1 ; and the financial year 

 of this country and of foreign countries differ, 

 therefore, by six months. The Executive Com- 

 mittee meets after the adjournment of the general 

 meeting, and considers and prepares a list of ap- 

 propriations for the coming year, beginning with 

 the 1st of the next October. Into that budget is 

 put every expenditure which can be foreseen or 

 estimated, and the whole is appropriated at one 

 time; and to this amount additions may after- 

 ward be made, as emergencies arise, from time to 

 time. Hence, when the treasurer reports a debt 

 on April 1, it does not necessarily mean that he 

 has no money in the treasury, but simply that he 

 has not in hand sufficient money to meet all his 

 payments to the 1st of the next October six 

 months in advance. A mission treasurer is con- 

 nected with each one of the missions. When the 

 budget has been made out, the foreign secretary 

 notifies each missionary of the amount which 

 he has at his disposal for all purposes for the 

 coming year, beginning Oct. 1, and the treasurer 

 notifies each of the mission treasurers what 

 amount he is authorized to pay to each mission- 

 ary. The Missionary Union becomes thus, in 

 effect, a foreign banking-house. It keeps its own 

 account in London, draws its own bills of ex- 

 change, and does its own financing. The credit 

 of the union is unquestioned. The invested 

 funds of the union consist of $600,000, which 

 were given on the condition that they should 

 be invested and the income only expended; and 

 $380,000 subject to annuities. The union owns 

 real estate in nearly every country in which it 

 works, having an estimated total value of from 

 $800,000 to $1,000,000. In educational work 

 the union has confined itself as far as possible 

 to the preparation of ministers, native workers, 

 and evangelists in the lands in which it labors. 

 Theological schools, colleges, and preparatory 

 schools are established where they seem to be 

 absolutely necessary and can be advantageously 

 used to that end. It has 7 theological schools 

 and 4 colleges. In many countries the union is 

 obliged to print its own literature; and in some 

 of these the written and printed language, the 

 inhabitants having never had such, was made by 

 its missionaries. Medical work and hospitals 

 are conducted in subordination to the missionary 

 and spiritual work. In all its operations the 

 Executive Committee is simply seeking to bring 

 the religion of Jesus Christ to the knowledge, 

 and if possible to the acceptance, of those people 

 who have not heard it. 



Relations of the Woman's Societies. At 

 the mid-year meeting of the boards of all the 

 Baptist missionary societies (Northern), held 

 in New York in December, 1901, a joint com- 

 mittee was appointed, consisting of representa- 

 tives of the American Baptist Missionary .Union 

 and the four Woman's Baptist Foreign Mission- 

 ary Societies of the East, the West, of Oregon, 

 and of California, to consider whether a closer 

 relationship could be established between the 

 parent organization and its auxiliaries. A pre- 



