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General Conference Proceedings

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 27, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 21.

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General Conference Proceedings

Sixth Meeting

May 16, 10:30 A. M.
Elder O. A. Olsen in the chair. Prayer was offered by Elder S. N. Haskell, who had just arrived.
New delegates were seated, as follows: Delegate at large, S. N. Haskell; British Union, Dr. A. B. Olsen; Lake Union, J. W. Mace; Central Union, B. E. Huffman; Canadian Union, Eugene Leland.
Upon motion of Allen Moon, supported by J. O. Corliss, the following-named brethren were seated as honorary delegates: G. W. Amadon, A. C. Bourdeau, J. L. Prescott. To this list of honorary delegates were added, by unanimous vote, the names of R. M. Kilgore and R. F. Andrews.
Upon motion of J. R. Bryant, duly seconded, it was voted that the consideration of further names that may be suggested as honorary delegates be referred to the committee on seating of delegates.
The chairman stated that the special order for this meeting is the report of the Russian Union Conference.

Reports of the Russian Conference

Elder J. T. Boettcher, president of the Russian Union Conference, presented the report of that field, of which the following is a condensation:—
The territory of this union conference extends from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east, from the Arctic Ocean on the north to the Black Sea and Mongolia on the south, embracing one sixth of the earth’s surface, and containing a population of 148,442,000. In this population are included Great Russians, Little Russians, White Russians, Polanders, Lithuanians, Germans, Rumanians, Armenians, Calmucks, Cossacks, etc.
The organization of this union conference went into effect Jan. 1, 1908, prior to which it was a part of the German Union Conference. At the close of 1908 the membership of the union was 3,077, 1,541 members having been added by baptism during the quadrennial period. In 1905 the union paid a tithe of $5,587. Last year the tithe had risen to $11,431. The tithes and offerings for the four years amounted to $39,243. We have in the field fourteen ministers, nine licentiates, fifteen Bible workers, and nine other laborers, with thirty-four canvassers. We have been unable properly to care for and instruct our members, and during the time of persecution we lost great numbers.
The Lord helped us in getting our constitution acknowledged for the Russian branch of the Hamburg Publishing House. The result of this in opening the way for the distribution of our literature is already being felt.
The smallness of the sales of our publications is due to the fact that we have as yet only pamphlets and tracts. When we have larger works to canvass for, we shall enter the larger cities with them. We have no trouble in Riga with the censor, and our office at that place showed a small gain for the year.
The oldest of our conferences is the Caucasian Conference; the next the South Russian, organized in January, 1908. It has nineteen churches and companies and five hundred fifty-three members. The Baltic Conference comprises the Baltic provinces, which have a population of six million people, the better class of whom are Germans. Every city is provided with graded schools, and illiteracy is very uncommon. Our work in this conference has been carried on largely in the cities, and we have churches or companies in many of them. The people gladly listen to the message. This conference has fourteen churches and companies, with a membership of five hundred forty-five. There are only one minister, two licentiates, four missionary licentiates, and seven canvassers engaged in the work, and yet we had an increase during last year of one hundred eighty-five.
The West Russian Mission field has a population of twenty-two millions, mostly Polanders and Jews. Such poverty as is here seen among the Jews can be equaled only in China or India. Little children are sent out on the street to beg to keep their sick parents from starving. We have been able to do a little work for the Jews, and in Wilna two have embraced the truth. The membership of the conference is two hundred ninety-six.
The East Russian Mission is composed of Russian Turkestan, Siberia, and the provinces along the river Volga. The population of this field is about twenty-two millions. The peculiar conditions of the farming population of this field keeps the people very poor. Famine is common, and we have been obliged to send our brethren money to buy seed. But the work is going even here. Our membership is four hundred fifty-two.
The Middle Russian Mission is the largest of our fields, having a population of sixty-four millions. The most of the people can neither read nor write, and the conditions of their life are very hard. They are very teachable, and greatly need our help. The membership of this field was increased during 1908 by the addition of two hundred fifteen converts, and stands now at four hundred eleven.
During the last few years, a great many have been emigrating to Siberia, among them quite a number of our people. These have spread the truth, until now calls are coming from many parts of that great country. There are sixty or seventy ready for baptism this spring as the result of work put forth during the winter. Five are keeping the Sabbath in Harbin, Manchuria, so that we are beginning to occupy China from the west. Now is a good time to work in Siberia, but we have been able to supply only one of the ten laborers called for by the one in charge of the work there.
Some of our people have moved into the very heart of Central Asia, Tashkend. From Samara to Tashkend and westward to the Caspian Sea, a distance of twenty-five hundred miles, the Russian government has built a railroad, and many new settlers are moving in. We have two companies in this territory, and laborers are earnestly called for.
Our church-membership in Little Russia (among a population of seventeen millions) is three hundred eighty-one. There is not so great poverty in this territory as in that of the Great Russians. Many towns in Little Russia have heard the message, and in one of them we have a church of two hundred members. We ought to have many workers to fill the calls for labor in this field. When I visit these places, they take hold of me bodily and beg me to stay.

The Caucasian Conference

Elder H. J. Loebsack gave a report for the Caucasian Conference. He said:—
The Caucasian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists sends to this General Conference its report, and to you all brotherly greetings.
The field of the Caucasian Conference includes the North and South Caucasus, with twelve governments and districts and twelve million inhabitants. Its history is as old as the history of man since the flood, its traditions reaching back to the sons of Noah. In the days of the prophet Daniel this province was very promising. It took fifty years to conquer the wild tribes inhabiting this region, and even to-day the public peace is none too secure. The government does all that it can to bring order. Since 1905 martial law has had to be maintained for the protection of the citizens. The work of the message began by the sending of literature from America to relatives in the Caucasus. In 1901 the conference was organized.
In 1907 the work was begun in the large cities of Transcaucasus. The workers have had many trying experiences; but souls are being gathered here. In one place one hundred fifty accepted the Sabbath truth through reading before they had ever seen a Seventh-day Adventist minister. This was at Basartschai, and from among these a church of eighty-six members was later organized. These believers have unshakable confidence in the truths of the third angel’s message.
We now have in the Caucasus twelve German, thirteen Russian, three Cossack, and three Molokan churches, with eight hundred twenty members. We have two preachers, three licentiates, two Bible workers, two missionary colporteurs, and a canvasser. Two hundred four were added to our membership last year, and our tithes and offerings for that period amounted to two thousand six hundred dollars. The work is the Lord’s, and we have resolved that through the help of God we will not lay down the weapons until it is finished.
The time having expired which was allotted to this session of the conference, the reading of the remainder of the reports from the Russian Union was postponed.