Actions Taken at the College View Council by William Ambrose Spicer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 28, 1909

Actions Taken at the College View Council

By William Ambrose Spicer

The autumn Council of the General Conference Committee was held at College View, Neb., October 5-13. All the North American union conference presidents and nearly all the members of the Committee in this country were present, with quite a number of conference presidents, physicians, managers of sanitariums and publishing houses, and other workers.

At the same time the annual meeting of the International Publishing Association, the foreign publishing house at College View, was held, which called together representatives of the work among the foreign-speaking peoples. The North American Foreign department of the General Conference held council meetings, and advantage of the occasion was taken for the calling of a meeting of the publishing house managers.

Thus the General Conference Committee had the benefit of the presence of workers representing many departments of activity.

The meetings were held in the College View church. The Central Union and Nebraska conferences, Union College, the Nebraska Sanitarium, and the citizens of College View united in providing for the entertainment of all attending the Council. The kindness and courtesy of all these were appreciated by the visitors.

General Topics for Consideration

At the opening of the Council, the chairman outlined the general topics to be considered:—

1. The plans for raising the $300,000 for institutional work in mission fields.

“While raising this fund for special institutional work in foreign fields,” the chairman stated, “the regular mission funds must be maintained, and increased to keep pace with the missionary advance.” He reviewed the very encouraging increase in laborers and tithes and offerings during the eight years of the present decade. The one item requiring attention is the proportionately small increase in membership in the North American division.

The demands of the general work are about one thousand dollars a day. If the ten-cent-a-week plan could be put fully into execution, it would yield nine hundred dollars a day, and the addition from the tithe would readily make up the balance and allow of new work. In order to bring about the actual achievement of ten cents a week, it is necessary that not alone the General Conference committeemen work to the end in view, but every conference president and every church elder must take the burden of seeing that the thing is done, and every individual believer must likewise put his shoulder to the burden to see that in his church or company the amount is regularly raised, watching the reports month by month to see that the amount is made up by larger and smaller gifts.

2. The study of our sanitarium work, and plans for meeting the financial needs in its development.

The chairman called attention to the remarkable growth of our sanitarium work during the last eight years. The sanitariums have increased from twenty-seven to eighty, the physicians from seventy to one hundred eleven, the nurses from four hundred four to nine hundred sixty-six. This has been a very rapid growth, seemingly in the providence of God to meet the crisis that developed some years ago in this department of the work. This increase has meant a large increase of sanitarium liabilities, as well as of assets. Some years ago our schools received special study and help to put them, and operate them, on a sound financial basis; so that, while they have increased also in the last eight years from fourteen to eighty-three, only one or two have any serious financial difficulties to solve. Our sanitarium work has never received the study and consideration given the school work a few years ago, and now it was desired at this Council to go thoroughly into the work that our sanitariums are doing, and plan for the strengthening of this department which has become so large a factor.

3. General superintendents to be selected for India, China, and Japan (the health of Elder M. N. Campbell’s wife precluding their going forward to India, though they had planned to sail).

4. Plans for the Thanksgiving Ingathering campaign.

5. What can be done to increase the tithe?

6. Work in the great cities.

It was agreed that the Council should meet from 8:30 to 12, 2:30 to 5:30, 7 to 9.

The Harvest Ingathering Campaign

As the campaign will be practically on by the time this paper reaches its readers, we give but a word of the discussion on this topic. It was agreed to push the campaign heartily. Many testimonies were borne as to experiences last year. Elder Wm. Covert, of Illinois, said that in his personal visits to the people with the special REVIEW he had some of the richest experiences he has ever had. Elder R. A. Underwood, of the Northern Union Conference, spoke of the opportunity it gave him to break through the barriers and talk with his own neighbors about our work. Brother Miller, editor of the paper for the blind, reported one family of three baptized as the result of reading a copy of the paper left with them last year. It was urged that copies be not ordered to be left lying about or to scatter promiscuously, as they cost money, but that pains be taken to place every copy carefully, with solicitation of gifts for missions.

Union Conference Sessions

Considerable discussion was given to the coming biennial sessions of the union conferences. It was felt that these should be not only occasions for the transaction of the necessary business and the laying of plans for the work, but occasions of seeking God and study and instruction, in order that the meetings may bring a great spiritual uplift to the laborers and count for the increased power and efficiency required in the finishing of the work. A deeper experience in the things of God is the need. The schedule of the union conference sessions was arranged as follows:—

Atlantic, South Lancaster, Mass., November 14-28. Columbia, Baltimore, Md., December 2-12. Southeastern, Atlanta, Ga., January 10-19, 1910. Southern, Nashville, Tenn., January 20-30. Southwestern, Keene, Tex., February 2-9. Central, ——, January 13-23. Pacific, Mountain View, Cal., January 25-30. North Pacific, ——, February 3-13. Northern, Nevada, Iowa, February 22 to March 3. Western Canadian, ——, March 4-13. Lake, ——, (date not fixed). Eastern Canadian, ——, (date not fixed).

North American Negro Department

The secretary of this department, Elder J. W. Christian, presented a report from the council of the department recently held at Huntsville, Ala. The recommendations of the report were adopted as follows:—

1. That the treasurer of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists be the treasurer of the North American Negro Department.

2. That all money raised for the colored work by any union conference mission or local mission within its own territory shall be under the direction of the union conferences or local mission executive committee. All such money raised by tithe, donations, collections, or otherwise shall be reported quarterly to the treasurer of the General Department; but all trust funds shall be dealt with in the usual way.

3. That all money received for the department’s work among the colored people by donations, collections, legacies, or otherwise, and not specified in recommendation 2, shall be reported to the department treasurer.

4. That all books, charts, or other merchantable property other than the equipment of schools and institutions, now owned or controlled by any union conference or union Negro mission or corporation shall be the common property of the North American Negro Department, and all revenues from the sale of the same shall be turned over to the treasurer of the Negro Department and credited to such department.

5. That each union conference Negro mission shall make its call for appropriations through its officers to the General Conference Department.

6. That it is our judgment that the Southern Field Echo be discontinued, and that the Gospel Herald be enlarged to an eight by ten eight-page biweekly, and that it be published at the Oakwood Manual Training School, near Huntsville, Ala., the subscription price to be twenty-five cents; club of ten copies, fifteen cents; twenty or more copies, ten cents.

7. That we ask J. W. Christian to act as editor of the Gospel Herald; that an assistant editor be further selected, and such clerical help appointed as is necessary to carry on the department work.

8. That the field secretaries of the various union conference missions, together with Elder T. B. Buckner, act as editorial contributors.

9. That the headquarters of the North American Negro Department be located at Huntsville, Ala., in connection with the Oakwood Manual Training School.

In further action, two thousand five hundred dollars was appropriated to this department for the remaining months of 1909, and it was agreed that forty thousand dollars should be raised for the work in 1910, to come from the October collection, the receipts through the Gospel Herald appeals, and other forms of solicitation and contribution.

Foreign School Work in America

Elder E. T. Russell, president of the board of Union College, asked counsel regarding the future of their Scandinavian and German departments. The board had found it necessary to plan for further facilities for its normal work. A new building for this was essential if no other changes were to be made in the college departments. But the board had known of the desire felt by the different nationalities that their foreign department schools might be established elsewhere, apart from an English school, so that students would be better instructed in their own languages. If this were to be done, it would make room for the normal work, without further additions to their building equipment. It was therefore desirable that this question of the foreign schools be decided. The matter was referred to the Foreign Department of the General Conference, which later brought in its report.

O. A. Olsen, secretary of the Foreign Department, stated that the representatives of the Scandinavian and German work had for some time been considering the question of establishing separate schools, to be devoted to the special interests of their own work. He called upon L. H. Christian, G. F. Haffner, and S. Mortenson, who spoke with reference to the needs of their respective nationalities, and this was followed by remarks from Elder Olsen himself. The following actions were then taken by the Council:—

Whereas, There is a large and growing need of more German, Swedish, and Danish-Norwegian laborers; and,—

Whereas, The training which students get in the German and Scandinavian departments of Union College is not such as meets the demands of the field; and,—

Whereas, Money to build German and Scandinavian schools can be secured, and there are both teachers and students at hand for such schools; therefore,—

Resolved, 1. That we favor the establishment of a German school, a Swedish school, and a Danish-Norwegian school, as soon as enough money can be secured so that there will be no debt on the schools.

2. That each school be owned by the union conference in which it is located, and that it be managed by said union conference, in connection with the secretary of the North American Foreign Department and the advisory committee of the language to which the school belongs.

3. That it be understood there shall be freedom given to secure from all parts of the country the money necessary for the establishment of these schools.

A committee of ten was appointed to make further study of details, and its report was later discussed and adopted, as follows:—

Resolved 1. That we approve of the recommendation of the foreign school representatives that the Swedish school be located in the Lake Union Conference, the German school in the Central Union Conference or the Southwestern Union Conference, and the Danish-Norwegian school in the Northern Union Conference.

2. That a small committee to make recommendation as to location be selected for each foreign school, each committee to be composed as follows:—

The president of the union conference and the president of the local conference in which the school may be located, and the superintendent of the foreign nationality concerned.

3. That a large committee to make final selection of location of schools be chosen by each union conference, in counsel with the Educational Department of the General Conference.

4. That the money for the three foreign schools be raised according to the following plan:—

(a) That the union conference in which one of these schools is located provide a certain per cent of the cost of the school.

(b) That the leaders of each nationality plan in connection with the union conference committee to raise the remaining part of the fund needed for the school, with the understanding that most of it is to come from their respective nationalities.

(c) That the German and Scandinavian representatives of a school do not go to the English-speaking churches to raise money in any union conference where another foreign school is located.

Further report of the Council must be deferred two weeks, inasmuch as the next REVIEW is the Missions Ingathering special.

W. A. SPICER, Secretary.