SUMMARY OF LABORS IN MICHIGAN by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 30, 1876

SUMMARY OF LABORS IN MICHIGAN.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

As I have taken a careful census of all the churches in Michigan, so far as I have visited them, I think a few facts will be of interest for the REVIEW. I obtained a blank book in which I have made a careful record of the names and addresses of all the officers of each church, the number of the members, number of Sabbath-keepers outside the church over ten years of age, the amount of S. B. pledged for 1875, the amount pledged for 1876, &c. As they show some important facts I will give them.

Churches visited, 54; elders elected and ordained, 10; deacons elected, 10; persons who have united with the different churches, 167; number baptized, 90; number reclaimed, or those who have started for the first time to be Christians, about 400. The majority of these have been young persons, between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five.

Membership of these 54 churches, 1,513; those observing the Sabbath above ten years of age who are not members, 366; total number of Sabbath-keepers, 2,379; children under ten years of age, 827; Systematic Benevolence pledged for 1875, $5,208.96; for 1876, $10,532.20.

The S. B. is a little more than double what it was last year. There are twenty-five churches yet to be visited in Michigan, or just about one-third of the entire number in the State; and this includes such large churches as Battle Creek, Jackson, Flint, Burlington, and those in Hillsdale County, so that full one-third of the membership and wealth of Michigan is not counted in the above figures. If this should be approximately correct, then the entire membership of our churches in Michigan would be 2,269, the number of Sabbath-keepers, 3,568, and the S. B. pledged, at the same rate as the others, would be $15,998.30.

But there are scores, and I think hundreds of scattered Sabbath-keepers, of whom I have made no account, as I have counted only those in the near vicinity of all the different churches. It will be seen by the above figures that considerably over one-third of the Sabbath-keepers worshiping in our different churches are not members of the church. Add to this the scattered ones, and I think it is safe to estimate that nearly, if not quite, one-half who observe the Sabbath are not reckoned in the membership of any of our churches. If this is so in Michigan, it is much more so in the newer Conferences, where organization is much less looked after. The entire membership of all our churches everywhere, at present, I believe is about 10,000. Upon the above basis, the number of Seventh-day Adventists would be about 20,000.

Sixteen thousand ($16,000) dollars S. B. for Michigan may seem like a large amount to some, but after having organized it in about fifty churches in Michigan, and having become acquainted, as I have had a good chance to do, with the circumstances of our people, I can say truthfully, without overstating the matter, that if all our people would pay one-tithe of their annual income, the S. B. in Michigan would be considerably over $30,000. Then when we remember the fact that last year the entire pledge of the State was only about $6,000, we can form some estimate of how much our people are withholding from the treasury of the Lord. If all our people would conscientiously come up to the Bible plan of paying into the Lord’s treasury simply one-tenth of their income, there never need be one dollar’s donation raised outside of this to meet any and all of the wants of the cause. It would pay all our preachers, run all our tents, furnish capital for our Publishing Houses, our College, our Health Institute, our book fund, &c.

And is this the people who are looking for the immediate coming of the Lord, who believe that the destruction of all earthly things is right at hand? Brethren, it seems to me that some different action should be taken by our people upon this question. D. M. CANRIGHT.

Vassar, Mich., March 18, 1876.