A Worldwide General Conference
A. G. Daniells: We talk about the General Conference, but we have never had a General Conference. We have had a North American General Conference, or a North American Union Conference, but we have not had a world's General Conference. In this new arrangement, it appears to me that we have the broadest, the most efficient, and the most workable General Conference Committee that this denomination has ever had. Somebody spoke about this Conference as being here in America, and wrapped up in the affairs of America. If Union Conferences are organized, a thousand details will be taken from the General Conference Committee, and placed in the hands of the local men, where they belong. They do not belong to the General Conference. I trust that the day is past when the General Conference will have its eyes centered upon the affairs of the United States. The day has come for the General Conference Committee to turn its eyes outward, and look at the great, wide world, and to study it, plan for it, and work for its evangelization. Why, my friends, unless God helps us break up this condition and work as we never have before, it will take a millennium to carry this message to the world. We have not begun yet with the greater nations of the world. My idea is that the General Conference Committee should leave the details of the affairs of America in the hands of the Union Conferences. They should deal only with the questions that are general, and that refer to the whole world. Of course America is a part of it, a little bit of it, and must have a little attention from this General Conference, but the world must have the attention of this Conference Committee. And so it seems to me that this committee of twenty-five, representing all the districts, or the Union Conferences of the World, the medical missionary work, the publishing and educational interests that cover all the lines of this denomination that are being carried on to-day, should be permitted to appoint its secretaries. It might not be best that the secretary that this Conference elects here to-day should hold the office for two or four years. The Conference Committee may see best to change its secretaries, and the treasurer as well, and so it seemed that it would be best for so large a representative board, taking in the interests of the world, to do what the Union Conference is permitted to do—make these lines of work departments, select the secretaries, and then work to the very best possible advantage. With this arrangement there will be no friction, and no one will be hampered. The General Conference Committee should throw its whole weight into this matter, to get hold of men and money, as never before, to send abroad to nations that are in darkness. I have no confidence in plans that leave the main decisions regarding the work in distant lands with a board in this country, whose members have never been on the ground. These men can not gather in an upper room here in Battle Creek, and intelligently plan the affairs of people in distant fields. It is not natural; it is not sensible. It must not be done. That is the way I feel regarding this question; and if I thought there was anything wrong in these recommendations, anything that would hurt the foreign fields, I would smite it as hard as possible. For I tell you, brethren, these foreign fields must have our attention, or the curse of God will be upon us; and it is upon us; for God has told us that the prosperity of our work at home will be in proportion to the degree with which we prosecute the work abroad. Our policy abroad has been feeble; it has been weak; it has not been in harmony with the great profession we have made. And we are having that reflex influence all through the United States. Who can not see it? We are in some respects a weaker people than we were fifteen years ago. What is the reason? One reason is because of our weak, inefficient policy regarding the distant, neglected lands. I hope the term “foreign lands” will be dropped. It does not belong to us as a people: the field is the world. I hope we shall drop out of our vocabulary the word “foreign” when we talk about missions. It is a missionary work. God occupies the center. All places are equally distant to Him,—ah, all places are equally near to Him! I suppose that there will be men on this committee who will be in other lands than the United States. I believe that our general men who attempt to deal with the affairs in other lands ought to visit those fields, and spend a reasonable portion of their time in them. The General Conference Committee should send a man to South America as a representative, authorizing him to meet all the workers, study the needs of the field, outline a policy, and agree on it with those workers. Then the committee should stand by the decisions, and furnish both men and means required in the field. The same ought to be done for the West Indies, South Africa, and Japan. I do not believe that we should trot the globe, simply to run about and spend a few weeks in the country. We should select the best men we can get—men full of the Holy Ghost and good sense. These should go to these distant fields and join the workers in studying the situation on the ground,281and outlining the plans to be followed; and the General Conference Committee ought to stand by the decisions that are made. W. W. Prescott: As I understand the whole drift and sentiment of this Conference, it is that we shall recognize that the only thing this body exists for is to give this message to all the world just as quickly as possible, and that therefore we can not tolerate the idea of treading around in this same ring, and spending our means within a limited circle, but that we are expecting to break, and are now breaking, these bands, in the idea that there is only one field, and that field is the world. If that idea is held and acted upon, as it must be, it will wipe out this question as to whether we are going to hold any of the money in the home field. We are going to have just one field, and have our eyes especially on destitute and barren fields, which are to have the preference. Instead of narrowing down in any way the work of extending this message to all the world, this whole idea is to organize in reference to one thing, and that is to do mission work in all fields. Therefore if we are to word it in any way, it seems to me instead of saying that we are going to absorb the Foreign Mission Board into the home field, it is that we are just turning the whole home field into one mission field, so that this work may be prosecuted with vigor in every part of the world.