THE STATISTICAL REPORT FOR 1912 by H. E. Rogers

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 26, 1913

THE STATISTICAL REPORT FOR 1912

By H. E. Rogers

H. E. Rogers, Statistical Secretary

This is the fiftieth annual statistical report of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination since the organization of the General Conference, May 21, 1863. Thus the half-century mark has been passed, and something of the development which it has brought is indicated in the following pages. The growth along some lines has been very marked, the most important of which perhaps is in the extent of the work. Beginning in obscurity, year by year has witnessed continual progress, until today this work is being carried forward in eighty-six countries, where it is making adherents, and to which laborers have been sent, where missions have been opened, conferences organized, and schools, printing plants, and sanitariums set in operation and doing their appointed work. In some of these countries the progress has been quite rapid. This work is also reaching out to other lands in the effort to proclaim to all nations and people the gospel message it bears to the world.

Increase of Members

Another cause for gratitude is the large increase in the number of communicants, as well as institutions and facilities for carrying on the various lines of work now being conducted. Instead of a handful of believers, with few facilities, there is now a body of believers numbering 114,206, with many and varied facilities for proclaiming the message. Among these are the excellent training-schools for the preparation of laborers, and it is gratifying to know that the work of these schools, so well supplemented by other denominational institutions, has been so effective that today there is one active evangelistic laborer for every twenty-two members in the denomination, and including the laborers in denominational institutions, there is one laborer for every twelve members. This shows a very high percentage of laborers in active service in some branch of this cause, and affords abundant reason to expect further rapid increase.

The extension of this work into so many countries has made necessary the preparation of literature to meet the requirements in all the lands entered. This work has been promptly undertaken, and today denominational literature is prepared and circulated in seventy-five languages. And there are sixteen other languages in use as the medium of communicating this truth orally, and in which the printed page will in due time appear.

Increase of Funds

While the increase in members and facilities, as indicated above, is very encouraging, it is of interest to note the increase in funds. The primary object in a work of this character is the bringing of souls into a right relation to God. The contribution of funds is a means to accomplish this object, and the manner in which a cause is supported is a true index of the place which that cause holds in the affections of those who profess its principles. The situation presented along financial lines is very gratifying indeed. The year 1912 realized the largest amount of funds ever raised by the denomination, as well as the highest amount per capita. The amount contributed for all purposes was $2,702,199.02, and the amount per capita was $23.66. The per capita contributions during the closing year of each of the five decades since this work was organized have been as follows: First decade, $5.55; second, $5.64; third, $11.59; fourth, $11.01; fifth, $23.66. The total funds raised by the entire denomination for all lines of work since this cause was organized fifty years ago, amount to the sum of $25,718,682.56. Of this amount $20,200,705.22 was raised in the United States, or 78.54 per cent, and $5,517,977.34 was raised outside this country, or 21.46 per cent.

The various features of the report, as well as comparisons with former years, may be best brought out by means of summaries, each bearing on some particular phase. These are presented in the following pages.

Summary 1

Summary 1 gives information regarding total contributions and total communicants for 1912 in each union conference throughout the world. The per cent that the total contributions and communicants of each union sustained to the grand total is indicated in columns 4 and 6 respectively. The amount of contributions per capita is stated in column 3. From this it will be seen that the per capita contributions from conferences in the United States for the year 1912 was $28.78. The total funds raised in this field constituted 70.23 per cent of all the funds, and the communicants were 57.74 per cent of all the communicants. The highest per capita contributions in the United States were those from the Pacific Union Conference, namely, $33.88. The highest contributions for any union outside the United States were those for the Western Canadian Union, which were $34.94; and the Australasian Union was next, being $30.15. The net gain in total contributions for the year was $339,110.73, a gain of 14.35 per cent. The gain in the number of communicants was 5,231, a gain of 4.80 per cent. The net increase of the four general funds making up the total net gain for 1912 has been as follows:— Tithe .................$176,034.28 Offerings ............. 109,759.29 Home mission funds .... 19,843.27 Local missionary funds . 33,473.89 Total ................$339,110.73

Summary 2

In Summary 2, the total contributions of the denomination are classified under four general heads, with the total amount contributed from the United States and all other countries reported separately, for 1912. This table indicates that the total tithe paid by the denomination was $1,653,624.54, a per capita of $14.48 for every communicant; and this amount constituted 61.20 per cent of the grand total of funds raised for all purposes. The total mission offerings

amounted to $595,004.72, being a per capita of $5.21, and constituting 22.02 per cent of the entire amount raised during the year. For all lines of home mission work, there was contributed $161,700.91, this amount being $1.42 per capita, and constituting 5.98 per cent of the grand total. For all lines of local church missionary work and enterprises, there was contributed during the year, $291,868.85, a per capita of $2.55, and constituting 10.80 per cent of the grand total. The total amount contributed in the United States of all funds was $1,897,792.52, or 70.23 per cent; from all other countries, $804,406.50, or 29.77 per cent. The contributions for the United States therefore sustained a higher relation to the grand total contributions than the total communicants in that territory sustained to the grand total communicants, and this fact is shown by the higher per capita amount, namely, $27.78, as against $16.66 for each of the communicants outside this country. The statement further shows that the total funds raised by churches constituted 85.62 per cent of all the funds raised, and the amount raised by departments of the church was 14.38 per cent. The percentages are as follows: Tithe, 61.20; offerings, 24.42; Sabbath-school donations, 8.61; church-schools, 5.12; Missionary Volunteer societies, .65. The total contributions by churches was $2,313,377.80; contributed by departments of the church, $388,821.22, a grand total of $2,702,199.02. This constitutes the largest amount ever raised by this denomination in any year, the amount being greater than all the contributions for all purposes for the first twenty-nine years, from 1863 to 1892.

Summary 3

This summary gives information regarding the Educational Department. At the close of 1912 there were 573 primary schools, employing 674 teachers, and having an enrolment of 12,037. The value of the equipment of these schools is placed at $156,141.10, and annual maintenance, $138,320.22. At the close of 1912 there were ninety colleges, academies, and intermediate schools, employing 631 teachers, and having an enrolment of 8,205. The enrolment of certain schools conducted in mission fields (formerly included in the statistical report, but now reported separately in a report pertaining wholly to work in non-Christian and non-Protestant lands) should be added to the foregoing figures, to put this report on same basis as those for former years, thus making the total as stated in Summary 3; namely, enrolment of primary schools, 15,602; enrolment of colleges, academies, etc., 8,205; grand total enrolment, 23,807.

Summary 4

Summary 4 gives information pertaining to the Missionary Volunteer Department. The number of societies at the close of 1912 had increased to 685, with an enrolment of 14,028 members. This number is 12.28 per cent of the total number of communicants in the denomination. The contributions for all purposes amounted to $17,818.60, a per capita of $1.27; 60.88 per cent of this amount was contributed for foreign work.

Summary 5

Summary 5 segregates the communicants, funds, and laborers in the United States and all other countries, making percentage comparisons, year by year, for the past fifty years.

The total amount of funds raised in the United States during the past fifty years, was $20,200,705.22, or 78.54 per cent of the total contributions; the amount raised outside the United States was $5,517,977.34, or 21.46 per cent. The percentages for the United States are continually decreasing, while those outside this country are increasing. The percentage of communicants at the close of 1912 in the United States was 57.74; outside this country, 42.26 per cent. Of laborers, the per cent in the United States was 45.56, outside of this country, 54.44; thus there are 453 more laborers outside the United States than in this country.

Summary 6

Summary 6 gives information regarding the four general funds which make up the grand total of contributions raised by the denomination, giving the amount for each year, and stating whether the contributions are in the United States, or outside this country. This table indicates that the total contributions for the past fifty years amounts to $25,718,682.56. Of this amount, $17,948,510.06, or 69.79 per cent, has been tithe; $1,717,494.89, or 6.68 per cent, has been Sabbath-school offerings; $3,364,342.37, or 13.08 per cent, has been foreign mission funds; $2,688,335.24, or 10.45 per cent, has been home mission funds.

Summary 7

This summary gives information regarding the Sabbath-school work. It shows that for the year 1912, there were 4,450 organized Sabbath-schools, having a membership of 114,897, which is greater than the total communicants by 691. The total contributions that have been received by all the Sabbath-schools since 1878, amounts to $1,717,494.89. The per capita for the past year is the highest in the history of this cause, being $2.03. For the year 1912, all but .11 per cent was given to missions, only $293.04 being used for the maintenance of local schools. This amount does not represent the total expenses of local schools, such amount being included in column 24 of the general table.

Summary 8

This summary shows that at the close of 1912, there were thirty-seven publishing houses and branches, in which were employed 684 persons, and that the total periodicals issued numbered 125. Publications of all kinds were issued in seventy-five languages.

The book and periodical sales for the year were $1,836,527.86.

Summary 9

Summary 9 pertains to the work of sanitariums and treatment-rooms, and shows that the total number of sanitariums in 1912 is sixty-nine, and of treatment-rooms thirty-five, with total resources amounting to $4,254,500.33; 129 physicians are connected with these institutions, and the number of employees connected therewith is 2,359.

Table 2

Table 2 relates to institutions connected with the denomination. The total number of institutions is given as 231, with total assets of $8,165,413.06. The total number of persons connected with these institutions is 3,674. The number of evangelistic laborers, as given elsewhere in this report, is 1,101; of primary teachers, 674, a grand total of 9,449. The value of buildings and equipment of the 90 schools teaching grades 1 to 16 is placed at $2,231,737.12. The income received by these schools during the preceding year was $429,124.59. The total enrolment was 8,205, divided as follows: Grades 1-8, 3,937; grades 9-12, 3,778; grades 13-16, 490. The total number of graduates and the percentages which they sustain to the enrolment of each of the grades respectively, are as follows: Grades 1-8, 194, 4.93 per cent; grades 9-12, 289, 7.57 per cent; grades 13-16, 28, 5.71 per cent. A very large proportion of those who attend denominational schools engage in some line of evangelistic work. The total number reported as entering some branch of evangelistic labor was 853.