Christian Endeavor’s Twenty-Five-Year Growth
ONE of the greatest religious movements of modern times finishes the first quarter century of its existence Feb. 2, 1906,—that represented by the Christian Endeavor Society. Some figures showing the rapid growth of the movement during this period are given by its founder and president, Rev. Francis E. Clarke, as follows:— Feb. 2, 1881. One society with forty members. Feb. 2, 1906. Over sixty-seven thousand societies, with nearly four millions of members. Feb. 2, 1881. One nation and one language represented in the society. Feb. 2, 1906. Over fifty nations or large colonial dependencies and eighty languages represented. Feb. 2, 1881. The only literature a draft copy of the constitution. Feb. 2, 1906. Forty weekly or monthly publications in fifteen different languages exclusively devoted to the society, weekly or monthly Christian Endeavor departments in several thousand papers and magazines, and abundant other literature in most of the chief languages of the world. Feb. 2, 1881. No national, State, or local Christian Endeavor unions. Feb. 2, 1906. National unions in the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Bohemia, India, China, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa both for the Dutch and English, and more than three thousand State and local unions, with regular meetings held in almost all parts of the world. Feb. 2, 1881. One denomination represented. Feb. 2, 1906. One hundred denominations represented. If this great religious force keeps to the pathway of true Christian endeavor, it will be a tremendous power in the world for good. If, however, it is led to diverge from this pathway, and is made to lend its great power and influence to the furtherance of movements which conceal injustice under a Christian exterior, then it will accomplish incalculable harm. The devil “is transformed into an angel of light,” and as such he seeks to lead these mighty religious bodies to diverge from their proper pathway.