Work Among the Colored People in the Southwestern Union
By C. N. WOODWARD
THIS union conference has always been weak, and has keenly felt the lack of a colored laborer of sufficient education and experience to stand as a leader among this people, through whom the conference committee could intelligently direct the work. With a view to supplying this lack, and with the advice of the General Conference brethren, Elder M. Jones, a native of Jamaica, was invited to come to this field and labor among this people, taking the oversight of the work among them under the direction of the conference committee. He reached here with his family about the first of last November. Since then his time has been wholly employed in visiting the colored churches and laborers, learning their needs, and counseling with them and instructing them in better plans for advancing the truth. There are now eight well-organized churches of colored people in this union conference, with a membership of about one hundred twenty-five. While all in these churches have not attained to a thorough knowledge and practise of the truth, a large proportion of the membership is well grounded in the whole truth, and love it as dearly as do their white brethren and sisters. Two of these churches are in Oklahoma, two in Arkansas, and four in Texas. Associated with Elder Jones, we have had the following laborers: one ordained minister, one licentiate, one holding missionary license, and a Bible worker in Texas; one licentiate and one holding missionary license in Arkansas, and one with missionary license in Oklahoma. We have been giving full support to all these. We also have a small intermediate school in Arkansas, which for the past two years has been doing a good work. The prospects for a better work the coming year are good, but it will be necessary to give the teacher some support, as the patrons are not able to give full support. We have two tents in the field, one in Texas and the other in Arkansas. The latter is located at Pine Bluff, where there are many colored people. It is considered an educational center for them in that State, and we are trying to get a foothold there which will help us to reach out into other centers among the colored people. A good interest has been manifested, and some have already taken a stand for the truth. Our colored brethren are being instructed in the duty to pay a tithe of their income, and to give offerings, and last year several hundred dollars were received as tithe from the colored church, which was all applied to support their laborers. We have within our territory probably very close to a million colored people, to whom we are made debtors for the truth. We are not able to do our duty to them without the aid of our brethren elsewhere who have means to spare; with their help financially we can do a good work. C. N. WOODWARD.