All the business of the Society is done through three grades of secretaries: (1) The librarians, who are secretaries of the church societies; (2) The district secretaries; and (3) the State secretary.
The method of doing business according to this system may well be illustrated by the following diagram:—
M represents the members, L the librarians, D S the district secretaries, S S the State secretary, and O the offices of publication.
The members in the church society, (and the business agent also, when there be one,) bring their business to the librarian. The librarian forwards it to the district secretary. The district secretary forwards to the State secretary all business received from the librarians in his district; and the State secretary forwards the same to the offices of publication.
MEMBERS.
However capable the officers of a T. and M. society may be, its real efficiency depends upon the activity of its members. After joining the society each member should obtain from the librarian a pass book in which to keep a record of all work performed, and any items of interest which may arise while engaged in missionary labor. From the record kept in this pass book the quarterly report is to be made out. He shall also draw from the librarian such reading matter as he may wish to use in his missionary work. A full record of such reading matter drawn should be entered in the pass book, with the number of pages of each kind and the value of the same.
One week before the church quarterly meeting each member will receive from the librarian a blank report, which should be filled out from the record kept in the pass book, to be read at the quarterly meeting. See article on Reporting.
The real work of the members consists in obtaining subscriptions to our periodicals; distributing copies of the same; lending and giving tracts to those who are willing to read; visiting those who are interested in the truth, praying with and for them, and endeavoring to interest those who are still indifferent; calling upon the poor and needy, ascertaining their circumstances, and reporting the same to the proper officers in the church; relieving the widows and orphans; and corresponding with those who may be benefited by such correspondence. A record of all such work should be entered in the pass book.
All moneys received by members, whether on subscriptions for periodicals, from book sales, or from any other source, should be promptly handed to the librarian with a full statement of the business.
BUSINESS AGENT.
The business agent should see that all pledges to the society are promptly paid, and collect dues from old subscribers to our periodicals. He is to collect money on all enterprises that may be entered upon by the society. When money is received on periodicals great care should be taken to give the name of the individual in a clear, legible hand, so that there may be no mistake.
The business agent will need but one book, which may be called a Record Book. In this he will enter the different transactions in full as they occur, and from it a statement should be made out once a week, or oftener if much business is done, to be handed, with the money, to the librarian. Business on periodicals should be reported immediately.
LIBRARIAN.
The work of the librarian is three-fold. First, as librarian, second, as secretary, and third, as treasurer.
1. In his duty as librarian he shall keep in some convenient place, the church is frequently the best, a supply of papers, tracts, &c., to be used by the members in their missionary operations. Care should be taken that a full assortment be kept on hand. He shall supply each member with a pass book in which to enter a record of all work accomplished, and give instruction in regard to its use. He shall keep a supply of blank reports, and hand them out to the members one week before the church quarterly meeting, and see that they are promptly and properly filled out. See article on Reporting.
2. As secretary of the church missionary society he shall keep a list of members, a record of all meetings, and an account of all business transactions. In order to do this, two books will be necessary: a Record book and a Journal. In the first part of the record book should be entered a list of all missionary members in the church, and a record of all meetings of the church missionary society. In the last half of this book should be kept a copy of all business letters. See article, Business Letters.
In the Journal an account should be opened with the district, and with each member in the church. The district should be credited with all books, &c., received by the librarian, and for all periodicals ordered; and charged with all money sent to the district secretary on account. Each member should be charged with all reading matter drawn, and credited with all money paid in by him. The object of these individual accounts is to show what each member is doing, and to guard against the indiscriminate drawing of large quantities of reading matter which may not be judiciously used.
3. As treasurer he shall receive all moneys from the members, and from the business agent, and shall forward the same to the district secretary once a month with a statement specifying for what received. All business on periodicals should be reported the same day that it is received. Accompanying this monthly statement should be a list of those who have joined the society during the month, with their post-office address; and also a list of members who have removed from the district, who have withdrawn from the society, or whose names have been dropped on account of inactivity and failure to report. This is necessary that the record of the district secretary may be complete and correct. As treasurer he shall keep a Cash book, on the debit side of which shall be entered all moneys received, and on the credit side all moneys paid out. See article, How to do Business.
DISTRICT SECRETARY.
The District Secretary shall keep a list of the members in the district, a record of all district meetings, and an account of all business transactions. He shall supply the librarians in his district with blank reports, and see that the reporting in the district is promptly and properly done. See instructions on Reporting. He shall also keep on hand a full supply of tracts, pamphlets, &c., for the supply of the districts, and shall see that the supply does not become exhausted. Immediately after the district quarterly meeting an inventory should be taken of the books on hand, that a full supply for the next quarter may be drawn from the State secretary at the State quarterly meeting.
As secretary two books will be needed, a Record book and a Journal. In the first part of the Record book will be entered, first, a list of members in the district, keeping each church by itself, and giving the post-office address of each member; and second, a record of all district meetings. In the last half should be kept a copy of all business letters. See article, Business Letters.
In the Journal should be opened an account with each church in the district, and with the State. Each church should be charged with all missionary documents sent to it, and for all periodicals ordered by it; and credited with all money received from it. If any church is overdrawing its account, notice of the fact should be sent to the director of the district, and to the librarian of the church overdrawing, that more funds may be raised. Each church should pay its own way as far as possible.
The State should be credited with all books, &c., received by the district, and for all periodicals ordered; and charged with all moneys sent to the State secretary.
As treasurer he shall receive all moneys from the librarians in his district, and forward the same to the State secretary once a month, with a statement of account. Accompanying this statement should be a list of members who have joined during the month, specifying the church which they have joined and giving their post-office address. This is necessary that the State secretary may keep a full record of the membership in the State.
As treasurer he shall keep a Cash book, on the debit side of which shall be entered all moneys received, and on the credit side all moneys paid out. See article, How to do Business.
STATE SECRETARY.
The State secretary shall keep a list of members in the State, a record of all State and directors' meetings, and an account of all business transactions. He shall keep on hand a full supply of tracts, pamphlets, books, specimen copies of our periodicals, and such other missionary documents as are needed throughout the State. The wants of the society should be anticipated by the State secretary, and the greatest care taken that nothing shall hinder its activity. He should keep a supply of blank reports for the State, and see that the districts are supplied with them, and that reporting is properly attended to. See article on Reporting.
As Secretary three books will be required; a Record book, a Letter book, and a Journal. In the first part of the Record book will be kept a list of members, classified according to the church and district to which they belong, giving also the post-office address of each. In the latter part of the Record book should be kept a record of all State and directors' meetings. In the Letter book will be kept a copy of all business letters. See article Business Letters. In the Journal, an account should be opened with each district in the State, and an account with each of the offices of publication. In this book, each district should be charged with all books sent to it, and for periodicals ordered by it, and credited with all moneys received from it on account. If any district is overdrawing its account, the State secretary shall notify the president and the director of the district, that more funds may be raised in the district, as each district should bear its own burden. On the accounts with the offices of publication, they should be credited with everything received from them, and charged with all money sent on account.
As treasurer, he shall receive all moneys from the district secretaries, and forward the same to the offices of publication once a month with a statement of account. As treasurer, he shall keep a cash book, on the debit side of which3shall be entered all moneys received, and on the credit side all moneys paid out. See article, How to do Business.
PRESIDENT.
The President shall preside at all T. and M. meetings in the State whenever he may be present. He shall see that the whole State is supplied with everything necessary for the successful prosecution of the work. He shall thoroughly acquaint himself with the duties of all officers in the State, and be prepared to give them full instructions in regard to their duties and how to perform them. He shall make himself familiar with the plans for keeping accounts for all the officers in the State, as brought out in article, How to do Business, and be prepared to audit any officer's account in the State, and give instructions to all who do not fully understand how to keep their books. In fine, his eye shall be open to the wants of the whole State, and his efforts shall be exerted to produce harmony and efficient work.
VICE-PRESIDENT.
Too often the Vice-president has acted as though no responsibility rested upon him. By reading Art. II. of the Constitution, it will be seen that he is one of the Board of Directors, although he may have no district specially allotted to him. In Art. V., Sec. 2, it will be seen that he is expected to preside over all meetings of the society which he may attend in the absence of the president.
He is also to work in the interests of the society as the president may request. It will therefore be necessary that he become fully acquainted with the workings of the society, and the method of book-keeping adopted.
DIRECTORS.
The first work of the director after his election will be to make himself conversant with the plan of doing business adopted by the society.
The same work will be required of the director in the district as is required of the president in the State. Please read instructions to president. After acquainting himself with the duties of each officer in the district, he shall appoint a secretary for the district, and a librarian and a business agent for each church. In the absence of the president and vice-president, the director shall preside at all district meetings and at all church missionary meetings at which he may be present.
REPORTING,
The object of the reporting system is to obtain a summary each quarter of all the missionary work accomplished in the State.
If this is properly done, it will show whether the State is accomplishing the work it should, and what branches of the work, if any, are being neglected. It will also show which districts are alive and active, and which districts need arousing to greater activity. The same will be manifest to each director in regard to the churches in his district. The reporting system will prove an incentive to activity to every member and officer in the State, which cannot well be neglected. One week before the church quarterly meeting, the librarian should hand to each member a blank report, which should be filled out by the member from the record kept in his pass book. The manner of filling out this report is fully described on the back of the report. These reports should be read by the members at the church quarterly meetings and passed to the librarian.
The librarian makes out upon a similar blank a summary of the reports of members, which he reads at the district quarterly meeting and passes to the district secretary. The district secretary makes up a summary from all the reports received from the librarians, which he shall read at the State quarterly meeting and pass to the State secretary. From these district reports, the State secretary makes out a summary for the State. The plan of holding the church quarterly meeting the first Sunday in the quarter, the district quarterly meeting the second Sunday, and the State quarterly meeting the third, makes this plan of reporting easy to carry out.
Any member who fails to report for two quarters in succession should be dropped from the list of working members. They may be reinstated again upon resuming work. This is necessary to prevent the list becoming cumbered with names of inactive members.
BUSINESS LETTERS.
Perhaps nothing gives rise to so much difficulty in the missionary work, as the careless manner in which business letters are frequently written. A few rules if adopted and always followed will soon establish a correct habit in letter writing, which is no mean accomplishment. Below is a sample showing the principal features which should be embodied in a business letter:
(1.) Oakland, Cal., Jan. 10th, 1877.
(2.) Review and Herald,
Battle Creek, Mich. :—
(3.) Please send by freight, addressed SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Oakland, Cal.,
200 copies Life of Urgos,
250 copies History of the Sabbath.
Charge the same to the account of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
Yours truly,
(4.) James White.
In our explanation the following figures will be noticed:—
(1.) The date line. This should specify the post-office address of the writer, and the date of writing. Nothing is so aggravating as to receive a letter in which the address of the writer is not given, unless it be the failure to sign the name. If either of these particulars is omitted the letter is valueless.
(2.) The party addressed. This should specify both the name and post-office address of the party to whom the letter is written. If this is done it is almost sure to reach the person intended, even if, through carelessness, it should fall into other hands.
(3.) The body of the letter. This should be plain, right to the point, and stated in as few words as possible. When business is sent it should not be mixed up with other communications. Where a person has a large number of business letters to read and attend to each day, it is very tiresome to be obliged to wade through two or three pages on other topics to find the one item of business contained. If anything is to be said on any other topic, or to the editors, let it be on another piece of paper. Keep the business by itself.
(4.) The signature. Of whatever other carelessness you may be guilty, do not forget to sign your name clear, and in full. Make every letter so plain that it could be read if standing alone.
Finally, be careful. Remember that what may be so plain to you may not be so plain to the person to whom you are writing. Don't leave out half you wish to say, and leave the reader to guess the rest.
All missionary letters should be copied in the Record or Letter book, and numbered at the head. The same number should be placed over the letter, and over the copy in the letter book, so that in case of future reference the letter can be referred to by number.
It has also been suggested that each item of business in the letter should be numbered, so that any item may be referred to by number. This is a good plan, especially when many items are introduced into one letter.
A FULL CANVASS.
When a thorough canvass of any place is desired, it is a good plan to divide the territory into districts, and divide the workers into as many companies as there are districts, and appoint a leader from their number for each district. The leader apportions to each individual the streets, or portions of the territory he is to canvass, receives the business done by the members in his district, and passes the same to the librarian. By following this system the same ground will not be gone over by two or more individuals.
PERIODICALS AND BOOKS FREE.
One part of the tract and missionary work is to furnish librarians and reading rooms with such books and periodicals as the judgment of proper individuals would approve. But this work should be done with deliberation and care. If a church is not in debt to the district it may furnish books to libraries by obtaining the consent of the president, and the director of the district. If in debt the matter should be referred to the State quarterly meeting. Periodicals may be furnished to libraries, reading rooms, or to the worthy poor, by the vote of any church missionary meeting, provided the church is not in debt to the district. If in debt to the district the matter should be referred to the director.
QUARTERLY MEETINGS.
According to the plan suggested by the General Conference Committee, the missionary year should commence with January, and the quarters commence with the months of January, April, July, and October. The church quarterly meeting should be held the first Sunday in the quarter, the district quarterly meeting the second Sunday, and the State quarterly meeting the third. By following this plan, reports can be ready in time for the State secretary's summary. At the church quarterly meetings, every member should, if possible, be present. At the district quarterly meetings, the librarian and business agent from each church, and as many of the members as possible, should be present. It is important that all the church officers should be present at these meetings, for there plans are matured which can be taken home and put into active operation. At this time the librarians should obtain a supply of books and papers for the next quarter. At the State quarterly meetings the director and secretary of each district, and as many of the church officers and members as possible, should be present. Every district officer should be present at the State quarterly meetings, as the workings of the society in the whole State are here discussed, and the spirit of the work should be fully entered into and carried to their respective districts. At this time the district secretaries should obtain a supply of books and papers for the coming quarter.
