Report of the Lake Union Conference
By Allen Moon
THE territory of the Lake Union Conference is composed of five States; namely, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, with a combined area of 249,015 square miles, and a population of 15,985,581. In this territory there are eight Seventh-day Adventist conferences, which, at the close of the year 1904, reported 456 churches, with a membership of 16,044. The tithe paid during the year 1904 was $131,087.72; or about $8.22 per capita. The amount paid in 1904 for foreign mission purposes, so far as reported, is as follows:—
Annual offerings .......... $ 7,717 27
Weekly offerings .......... 3,677 22
Miscellaneous offerings .... 5,730 86
Sabbath-school donations .... 5,351 14
Total ...................... $22,476 49 The general financial condition of the States composing the Lake Union Conference will no doubt compare favorably with that of any like-sized territory in the country, engaged in like pursuits. Agriculture is the chief occupation of the people of the country districts. Some mining is carried on in certain portions of the country, and the usual pursuits of trade and commerce, in the towns and cities. Our people share measurably in the general prosperity of the country. It should be noted here that northern Michigan and northern Wisconsin suffered greatly last year from the result of early frosts, which damaged the corn and other crops. Our people in these sections, being largely engaged in agriculture, have suffered loss, and, as a result, the tithes and offerings have decreased. It does not fall to our lot to chronicle any very important changes that have taken place since the last General Conference. One item, perhaps, is worthy of notice: At the time of the Oakland Conference, what is known as the Northern Peninsula of Michigan had been organized as a separate mission field. This field contained four churches, with a membership of eighty. After some effort to work this territory as a mission field, it was finally voted by a majority of representatives of the mission field, and also of the North Michigan Conference in session, to add the mission territory to the North Michigan Conference, which was finally consummated. The North Michigan Conference is not wholly self-supporting, but since its12organization it has been treated, in a measure, as a mission field, drawing support from the East and West Michigan Conferences, as well as from the Lake Union Conference. The spiritual life and growth of our people vary according to locality, conditions, and environment, and I think I might say, according to the faithfulness of those who first brought light and truth to the knowledge of the people in these various localities. If the servant of God has been faithful to instruct in all that pertains to the requirements of a Christian life, the results will surely be life and growth and power, and the peculiarities of locality or conditions or environment will have little or no influence. If one may judge from the attendance at public worship on the Sabbath, the apparent anxiety to know the truth, and the readiness with which our people respond to calls for help financially and otherwise, it would seem that there was a good degree of spiritual life among the people. Of the various lines of Christian work maintained in the Lake Union Conference, the evangelical stands first. A corps of ninety-eight ordained ministers and thirty-nine licensed men is constantly in the field. In addition to these, there is quite a number of Bible workers, colporteurs, canvassers, etc., all sent forth to preach the truth of God either by word of mouth or by means of the printed page. As we view the work from a given locality, perhaps, or in a given period of time, we may feel disposed to say it is almost a failure; yet it is a fact that more than sixteen thousand souls have been gathered out of a population of fifteen millions. A beginning only has been made, which reveals the possibilities of the future. One of the difficulties encountered in the progress of the work is the inequality of the distribution of laborers. One instance will suffice to illustrate this fact: Illinois comprises about one third of the population of the union conference, with the second city in America, and yet in that State we have less than one tenth of the membership, and a list of laborers correspondingly small. The Medical Department of our work is an important factor. We have in the Lake Union Conference, sanitariums at Battle Creek, Mich.; Madison, Wis.; Moline, Peoria, Chicago, and Hinsdale, Ill.; and Connersville, Ind., while many are employed in treatment rooms in the various cities of the district, Ohio leading in the number of physicians and nurses employed outside of sanitariums. This vast army of physicians and nurses is engaged in humanitarian work, and yet the purpose is the advancement of the cause of truth in the earth. The educational work in the Lake Union Conference at the present time has reached considerable proportions. The schools at Berrien Springs, Mich., and Mt. Vernon, Ohio, are doing college work, while the schools at Cedar Lake, Mich.; Bethel, Wis.; Sheridan and Du Quoin, Ill.; Boggstown, Ind.; and Holly, east Michigan, are intermediate industrial schools. The attendance of students during the past school year has been fair at all these schools, and at some the attendance was unusually large. An excellent class of young people is in training for the great task which the people of God have in hand at this time, and we shall hope to see them find their places in the closing work. It must be that our schools are to become a power in the preparation for the last-day work. A great deal of money has been expended on plants and the preparation of instructors to do a thorough work in these institutions. May God grant that it may not be in vain. The forces now prepared and in course of preparation in the Lake Union Conference ought to be a mighty power in the hands of God for the accomplishment of his purpose, not only among the millions of souls in its midst, but in all the wide field beyond. The aim of the laborers of the Lake Union Conference is to bring about complete amity and unity between the laborers of all departments of the work on the basis of the truth of God; to teach and encourage faithfulness on the part of every church-member in the payment of tithes and offerings, as well as every other duty pertaining to the Christian life; to inspire zeal and energy in the minds of all for the accomplishment of the work to which God has called us in the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom in all the world for a witness unto all nations, before the end shall come. We realize that if we attain to the accomplishment of our aim, it means a more thorough consecration than heretofore; it means the coming of the latter rain, the baptism of the servants of God with power from on high. Then the sacrifices of his people will be acceptable upon his altars, and their prayers will come up before him as incense.