p. 13 | The Midsummer Offering by W. T. Knox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 9, 1910

The Midsummer Offering

By W. T. Knox

SABBATH, July 2, has been set apart by the General Conference Committee as the time for our regular midsummer offering. It is planned that on that day there shall be read in all the churches the regular missionary reading for July. Previous to this there will have been issued, under date of June 16, our special Story of Missions number of the REVIEW AND HERALD. This number will contain items from the correspondence of our brethren in almost all the mission fields, telling of their experiences; it will thus serve to inform the readers of the progress of the work in these distant lands, will show some of the opportunities God is giving to expand the work, and will be of great interest to all lovers of the truth.

The officers of the General Conference have for months looked forward to this midsummer offering with considerable anxiety and expectancy. In this rapidly developing work, each year's progress not only brings us great encouragement and rejoicing as we witness its marked progress, but also a greater sense of our responsibility to keep pace with its development.

In 1909 the work went forward with great strides. This forward move was made possible by the liberality of the people, our receipts being increased for the year from $270,000 to $371,000, a gain of more than $100,000 in a single year. This generous gain enabled the General Conference to care for a deficit that had existed in its treasury for some years, and to enlarge its missionary operations to such an extent that the disbursements were increased from $272,000 in 1908 to $351,000 in 1909,—an increase of nearly $80,000.

In the work of this message there is no such thing as taking a backward step, or even standing still. The decided advancement of last year calls for further progress and larger disbursements for 1910. The leadings of God in many fields have been so marked, and the calls for assistance so imperative, that we can not ignore them, and the plans thus far adopted by the General Conference Committee call for remittances of funds increasing with each succeeding month, and an outlay of many thousands of dollars for transportation to mission fields of laborers who are now prepared to leave America. But we are confronted each month with an empty treasury and our inability to forward our regular appropriations to all the fields. The reason for this condition is that during the spring and summer months the regular income of the Mission Board is insufficient to meet the requirements of the work, and thus far we have not been able to accumulate sufficient funds to carry us over this season of the year.

To meet this condition the midsummer offering was established. In 1909 the offering amounted to $19,960.03, and was a great help in a time of urgent need. In planning for the offering this year, the General Conference Committee decided to ask for an offering of $25,000. If this amount were doubled, it would be none too much in view of the greatly increased demands upon the treasury.

This is a time of year when the people of America spend great sums of money in noisily celebrating their liberty and the birth of the nation, in pleasure-seeking and worse; and is it not an opportune time for us to show our appreciation of God's goodness to us, of the liberty we have in Christ, and of our privileges as his children, by a generous contribution to extend these great blessings to others still in darkness and the bondage of sin?

The necessities of the situation are sufficiently urgent, and our responsibilities so great, that we feel warranted in earnestly requesting very liberal offerings from all. W. T. KNOX.