Thirty-Fourth Meeting

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 19, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 25.

Read the full edition

Thirty-Fourth Meeting

June 5, 10 A. M.

I. H. EVANS in the chair.

Geo. I. Butler offered prayer.

I. H. Evans: The secretary will introduce business.

The report on distribution of labor was considered (page 583 of this paper).

Nos. 1 to 14 were read and question called.

W. A. Spicer (on number 14): Brother Finster, of the Philippines, informs me that Brother Nutter, on further consideration, hardly wishes to give answer at once, on account of parents’ health or condition, I believe, so I suggest that this name be withdrawn, by common consent.

Question was called on numbers 15 to 22.

W. B. White: Number 22 hardly reads as it was passed by the committee. It was that E. Rosenwold, of the Greater New York Conference, go to northern Sweden as soon as his place could be supplied in Greater New York.

It was agreed that this should be the understanding, and that transfers in any case should not be made abruptly without arrangement.

I. H. Evans: Any further remarks?

C. W. Flaiz: Number 2, Carl Neumann and wife, of Walla Walla, to Brazil. Since this recommendation was passed in, an action was taken asking the head of the German department in Walla Walla College to take work in the Oklahoma Conference. This will greatly cripple our school. I understand that there has been some consultation with reference to securing another person to take the place here suggested, and I would like to move that this name be referred back to the committee for further consideration.

I. H. Evans: Number 2 is referred.

Question was called on each further item of the report.

Wm. Steele: Number 38, R. C. Raft, to Porto Rico, should be G. B. Raff.

I. H. Evans: Are we now ready to vote? All in favor of adopting the committee’s report as here amended say, “Aye.” [Adopted.]

W. A. Spicer: May I explain, in behalf of the Mission Board, that it is understood in passing upon all these foreign appointees that all actions are subject to medical counsel before going on to the fields.

The report of the committee on plans (page 292) was considered.

Question was called on resolution 42.

Resolution 43 was read.

G. M. Brown: I wish to call your attention to one feature. I believe there is a difference in the work of a Sabbath-school in an old, established field and newer territory, where believers are few. My experience has been that in the first year of a company’s existence frequent changes in the Sabbath-school are more necessary than in the later years of its experience. I know some mission fields would consider it a hardship if they were obliged to choose a Sabbath-school superintendent for one year. Often we cannot even elect a man as an elder because we have none of sufficient experience. Therefore I am in favor of leaving the term at six months.

Remarks to the point in question were also made by C. W. Flaiz, I. H. Evans, J. E. Fulton, A. W. Anderson, G. B. Thompson, J. W. Westphal, W. F. Martin, and B. F. Kneeland. We regret that we cannot give the discussion in full.

The Conference voted to eliminate the resolution (43) from the report.

Resolution 44 was read, and question called.

Resolution 45 was read.

H. H. Hall: A word of explanation may be in place as to what we mean by home workers’ books. The term has come to be applied to some subscription books, like “Steps to Christ,” “Glorious Appearing,” and that class. For some years efforts have been made to encourage our people in the home churches to organize for the circulation of this class of books, leaving to the regular canvasser the larger subscription books. This plan has not met with great success until two years ago, when a prospectus was formed in which, with loose-leaf arrangement, we have inserted the covers of each of this class of books, together with sixteen sample pages. These now include the foreign books as well as the English. In all there are sixteen of these small books incorporated in this prospectus. The results were immediate.

In one of our union conferences, the North Pacific, seven thousand dollars’ worth of this class of literature was sold last year. In the Southern California Conference, one thousand dollars’ worth was sold by thirty of these home workers. This work has become rooted, and is going to stay. We are glad that such an idea as this can now be presented to you, and we believe that a great army of these home workers may be developed as the result of our people uniting in this organized work, to carry this message in this generation.

The question was called.

Resolutions 46 and 47 were read, and the question called.

Action was then taken on the whole report, the same being adopted, save for the number (43) eliminated.

I. H. Evans: We will now ask for the report of the committee on distribution of labor.

Distribution of Labor

The committee on distribution of labor recommend the following transfers of laborers:—

42. J. Van de Groep and wife, of South Australia, to the Malaysian Mission; for work in Java. 43. E. R. Johnson, of South Dakota, to Mexico. 44. H. E. Meyer and wife, of Kansas, to Mexico; Brother Meyer to take charge of the printing work. 45. Miss Irma Lewis, of California, to Mexico. 46. P. A. Webber and wife, of Iowa, to Japan. 47. Fred Hutchinson and wife, of Tennessee, to the South Caribbean Conference; for office and school work. 48. Roy E. Hay and wife, of Colorado, to the Philippine Islands. 49. Walter Flaiz and wife, of Walla Walla College, to the Malaysian Mission; to engage in educational work. 50. V. O. Punches and wife, of West Pennsylvania, to Japan. 51. J. Wibbens and wife, of Holland, to the Malaysian Mission; for work in Sumatra. 52. G. O. Reed, of the Swedish Seminary, to China. 53. Miss Wilma L. Landis, of California, to China. 54. James E. Shultz and wife, of Mount Vernon College, to China. 55. John Z. Hottel, of Mount Vernon College, to China. 56. Alfonso Anderson, of Union College, to Japan. 57. Miss Matie O. Landis, of California, to Japan. 58. B. H. Shaw, of West Kansas, to China.

FOREIGN SEMINARY APPOINTEES

The following persons, now students in the Foreign Mission Seminary, are requested to respond to calls as follows:—

59. F. E. Stratton and wife, of Minnesota, to China. 60. A. L. Ham and wife, of Western Washington, to China. 61. O. J. Grundset, of Minnesota, to Manchuria. 62. Miss Anna Sorenson, of the Danish-Norwegian Seminary, to Manchuria. 63. H. J. Doolittle and wife, of West Pennsylvania, to China. 64. Bernhard Peterson, of Nebraska, to Manchuria. 65. Miss Bertha Erickson, of Northern Illinois, to Manchuria. 66. M. C. Warren, of Pacific Union College, to China. 67. Miss Lulu Darnell, of Texas, to the South American Union Conference; for Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. 68. J. A. Bodie and wife, of Bolivia, to Guatemala; for work in the Guatemala English school. 69. Henry Brown, of Southern California, to Cuba. 70. W. E. Johnston, to the East Caribbean Mission; for the book work. 71. A. L. Sheidler and wife, of South Dakota, to Venezuela; to engage in the book work.

All other transfers of laborers are referred to the General Conference Committee.

In considering one item of the report, remarks were made, as follows:—

E. C. Kellogg (president of Walla Walla College): I would like to have the name of Professor Flaiz, of Walla Walla College, considered further by the committee before it is acted upon. I would suggest that it be referred back.

C. W. Flaiz being present, he was called upon to explain concerning this recommendation.

C. W. Flaiz: He has been employed for the coming year in one of the departments in Walla Walla. However, there has been an action on record many years in the North Pacific Union that we would release to the foreign fields any worker that might be called for, and I suppose this would obtain in this particular case. That is why I was unable to offer any objection.

I. H. Evans: This is Elder Flaiz’s son. Elder Detamore is superintendent of the Malaysian Mission, and is in desperate need of help to conduct a school for workers in Singapore. Brother Flaiz is a student; he has already mastered several languages, and it is believed that he could easily pick up that Malay language and conduct a good training-school.

The question was called on this final report, the same being adopted.

I. H. Evans: Is there any other committee prepared to report? The committee on plans?

Guy Dail (reading):—

Report on Plans

Whereas, The rapid progress of the advent message to all parts of the world is making very heavy demands upon us for well-qualified recruits for the foreign fields; and,— Whereas, The executive committee of the General Conference, realizing the great necessity of special training for prospective missionaries, has set in operation the plan of placing volunteers for the mission field under provisional appointment and giving them a special training for their work in the Foreign Mission Seminary; and,— Whereas, The wisdom of this plan has already been demonstrated; therefore,—

48. Resolved, That we approve of the plan now in operation, and suggest mutual counsel and the heartiest of coöperation between the General Conference Committee and all our conference and school officers in selecting and training suitable missionaries for the foreign work; and, further,— 49. Resolved, That our mission superintendents, or others calling for workers in the regions beyond, endeavor as far as possible to anticipate their needs, and to make their regular calls in advance, and the General Conference Committee plan to have candidates for mission fields in training, so that these demands upon it may be properly met.

Whereas, Experience has demonstrated in the publishing, the Sabbath-school, and the Missionary Volunteer work, as well as in some of our fields, that regular statistical reports can serve as a great help in creating a deeper interest in the cause of God; and,— Whereas, Most of our fields already have regularly recognized official organs through which they have access to their constituents at least once a quarter; and,— Whereas, The data for the annual reports of the statistical secretary of the General Conference could be much more easily obtained were there to be established

a systematic method of conference reporting; we, therefore,—

50. Recommend, That the General Conference Committee be asked to prepare a report blank which might serve as a basis for reporting from each local, union, and division field the number of workers, churches, companies, isolated believers, total membership, and accessions thereto, with the church receipts in tithe and missionary offerings, and whatever departmental statistics may be thought desirable, such statistics to appear quarterly in the regular local, union, or division official organs; and that the annual summary be given in the yearly reports issued by the statistical secretary of the General Conference.

The committee appointed at the fall council of the General Conference Committee to give study to the general question of our schools and advanced colleges, as to the number that should be maintained and what schools should be reduced in their grades, made its report to a joint meeting of the General Conference Committee, North American Division Committee, and various standing committees of the General Conference, and, as a result of this counsel, have the following to present:—

51. We recommend, That the Pacific Union College, Union College, and Emmanuel Missionary College conduct full college work; that the schools at Walla Walla, South Lancaster, Keene, and Graysville be recognized as training-schools doing fourteenth-grade work; that the Foreign Mission Seminary be recognized as a special training-school for the training of foreign missionaries, ministers, medical missionary nurses, and other workers; that it carry regular academic and college work of the grades 11-14, with the privilege of adding the fifteenth and sixteenth grades when the development of its work seems to warrant it, and when that is agreed upon by the executive committees of the General and North American Division Conferences; that the school at Mount Vernon carry only twelve grades.

52. We recommend, That the General Conference Executive Committee give earnest attention to carrying forward the relief work for our institutions by the sale of “Ministry of Healing” and “Christ’s Object Lessons.”

Whereas, The Harvest Ingathering campaigns, conducted in the interests of our missions during the closing months of each of the past four years, have been very successful, resulting,— (a) In the circulation each year of more than five hundred thousand copies of message-filled periodicals. (b) In organizing many thousands of our young people into an army of house-to-house missionary workers. (c) In paying all its campaign expenses. (d) In raising from $30,000 to $40,000 a year for missions, thus substantially assisting in strengthening our general mission funds; therefore,—

53. Resolved, That the Ingathering campaign be thoroughly organized, and all our people, as far as possible, be enlisted in this good work.

54. We recommend, That the General Conference Committee take into consideration the advisability of granting to loyal, soul-winning physicians and teachers engaged in the work of the denomination , medical missionary licenses and credentials and teachers’ licenses and credentials.

In view of the need of a more satisfactory adjustment of the relations between the organized work in various lines and work not under conference direction,—

55. We recommend, That the General Conference Executive Committee and the North American Division Executive Committee, in joint session, give careful study to this question, and take such action as will provide for the better development of all lines of work.

The Conference took a recess for a short time to allow the North American Division to transact business.

On resuming, field reports were called for.

The time was given to Elder H. C. Goodrich of the West Caribbean Conference, E. C. Boger of the British Guiana Mission, G. M. Brown of Cuba, D. E. Wellman from the Jamaica Conference. W. C. John gave a report of the educational work in South America, and G. W. Casebeer told of the work of the Pua Training-school in Chile, South America.