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About The voice. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1946-195? | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1951)
The Lavnieirn Voice w ofllcUl nrw*. of fhr I'iflli Fpiwopal Bif»lricl of llic African !\lellioilif*l Omrrli Cirorgr Jour*.. • • *. President Fifth District Fay Organisation Published Monthly Editorial and Executive Offices 2225 S Street, Lincoln 3, Nebraska Hubie II . Shakvnpeare, Maria/tin/t Editor The Rt Rev, D. Ormonde Walker. Presiding Bishop George Jones. President Box 281 OSKALOOSA KANSAS Herbert I. Dudley. President Connecticut Laymen's League Detroit. Michigan Conference Presidents Mis A. L. Cooke. Puget Sound Conterence, Seattle Wash. Mrs Georgia Marshall. California Conference. 4210 Market Street, Oakland. Calit C. A. Stafford, Southern California, 1594 E. 45 Street, Los Angeles 31, Calif. A. L. Mitchell. Colorado Conterence. 319 No. 7th Street. Albuquerque Is. M Dr. J. Louis Hansom, Kansas Conference 2251 Topeka Blvd., Topeka. Kansas J J. Parks, Nebraska Conference. 2044 N. 7th Street. Kansas City. Kansas Joseph T. Anscel, North Missouri Conference. 106 South Wintz, Macon. Missouri Clarence E. Owens. Southwest Misso iri Conference. 2134 E 27th St.. Kansas City. Mo Atty. F. L. Martin, Missouri Conference, 5245 Cates Ave., St. Louts. Mo. SPECIAL WRITERS Mr. P. G. Porter. Olatha. Kansas Dr. J. Louis Ransom...Topeka. Kansas Mrs. Ida M. Moton. Kansas City, Missouri Dr. Alfred Farrell...Jefferson City, Missouri Mrs. Ester Hearn Smith.Omaha, Nebr. Mrs. Wm. M. Blount. .Kansas City, Kansas Mr. R. J. Gardner. Cleveland, Ohio Mrs. Camillta Leftridge. ...Los Angeles, Calif. Mrs. Hattie Jefferson.Cheyenne, Wyo. Mrs. Thelma De Witte....Seattle, Wash. | Atty. F. L. Martin.St. Louis. Mo. Mrs. Ada! Byars.....Denver, Colo. I The President Speaks Dear Presidents: As Douglas Hospital has been accepted as our project for finan cial aid, I am asking each presi dent to use his own plans, in this effort, to collect from his Confer ence as large a percentage as pos sible on the basis of twenty-five cents per adult member and ten cents per child. No doubt, you have some members who will be glad to pay for several adults or children. I have appointed President Parks, of the Nebraska Confer ence, and President Owens, of the Southwest Missouri Conference, as the financial committee to receive these funds with Henry W. Glass for their bonded secretary. A1J money is to be sent to the secre tary, Mr. Glass, whose address is ^ 2106 E. 27th Street, Kansas City, ( Missouri, and he is to deposit it; ki the Douglas State Bank in the name of the A.M.E. Laymen’s Douglas Hospital Gift Fund,1 George Jones, President. The Dis trict Lay President deposited $100.00 towards this fund: $93.20 being a personal donation and $6.80, 100% for his church. He is sending this receipt to the secre tary. Our Bishop is in appreciative accord with our efforts. Also Su perintendent Rev. Eugene Kelly oi the hospital, who says it is a very timely project and his cooperatior is ours. I hope you will be able tc formulate a plan that will brinj results for the benefit of this serv ice-rendering institution, Dougla: Hospital, which is located withir our boundar ies. In cooperation with our Bishoj and the hospital superintendent, i has been suggested that this gif be presented about December 15 1951, as a Christmas gift. Yours for the good of the churcl and all it stands for, GEORGE JONES District Lay President To All Laymen of the Fifth Epis copal District: The above letter addressed tc the Conference Presidents is alsc your letter. This is purely a free will Laymen’s gift to our strug gling Douglas Hospital. Whoevei gives a twenty-five cent piece oi a ten-cent piece will have a bi| part in spreading Christmas jo^ to many more unfortunate thai yourselves. I hope, Laymen, that you wil rot wait for your Conference President to contact you, but tha you will contact him and you: pastor and make your church < aart to contribute something to this gift fund. i Laymen of the Eleventh Episco- ( pal District raised $10,000 for their j Edward Waters College. With co operating laymen, you will be joy fully surprised to see how easily forty thousand persons can raise a large, appreciative, and needed fund for our Douglas Hospital. Let us hope for success. GEORGE JONES District Lay President i _ i — No. Missouri Conference Re-elect J. T. Ancell i; When Joseph T. Ancell, presi i dent of the North Missouri con ; ference lay organization called . the meeting to order in St. Joseph, ; Missouri Saturday, October 6th, i delegates were eagerly awaiting their turn to make their reports. > Others were eager to listen, have L questions answered, and learn t more about the lay movement. . Reports were good. The presi dent’s annual address and report ) were acclaimed and he was re elected. George Jones, president of the Fifth district lay or ganization, Mrs. Rubie W. Shake . speare, editor of The Laymen’s Voice, and Dr. Fred D. Jordan, j'pastor of Ward Chapel, Los An ) geles and candidate for Bishopric, . were among visitors introduced. . | An inspirational gospel choir : thrilled a capacity audience in a r feature prograir Saturday eve . ning. r. Other officers elected for the i year were: Mr. Oscar Smith, 1st vice president; Mr. Eugene Wash 1 ington, 2nd vice president; Mrs. ; Vergie Burgess, secretary; Mrs. t Ada A. Bell, assistant secretary; r Mr. Howard Hoffman, treasurer l and Mrs. Mable Holt, chaplain. How To Organize IA Loral I^eajjue Taken irom ('oiiatltuiltin mid B> l«*W* of Tlie ComurUorml lai> Oi iiunl/ntli'ii LOCAL LAY ORGANIZATIONS: The procedure to be followed in organizing Lay Groups iff the (local churches will depend to a large extent upon existing local con ditions. Those who seek tc organize, and who may not be familiar with the procedure, should consult the President of the Confeieiue lay organization (it the conference has been organized), if not. advice may be obtained directly from the President of the Conncctional Lay Organizations, it is highly adivsable to obtain the full co operation, good will and support ot the minister. The 1948 Edition of the A.M.E. Discipline outlines a procedure on page 342, paragraph 353B. which should prove helpful and bene ficial in organizing local lay groups: Quote, “The Pastor ol each local church shall, within thirty days after the Annual conference, call a meeting of the members of the church for the purpose of organizing the Laymens League in the local church. Said League to be amenable to the Quarterly [Conference. The head of such League shall be a member of the Official Board. THE LAYMEN S LEAGUE IN EACH CHURCH shall elect by " majority vote, the chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, assistant see 1 retary, treasurer, chaplain and fix the time for regular meetings ;|which should not be less than once each month. In the event the ’iPastor of the local church shal' fail or refuse to call the meeting loi 'the organization of the laymen’s league, a majority ot the Stew aids ^shall call the meeting. The league shall elect committees on: 1. Personal Evangelism. 2. Christian Stewardship. 3. Circulation of the church papers. 4. New areas of service. 5. Church and Ministerial support. 6. Train ing for Leadership. 7. Connectional Fellowship. Members of these committees shall number not less than htree persons, and each com mittee shall report at each meeting of the league.” Unquote. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE LOCAL lay organization shall conform to the Constitution of Conference lay organizations, and the presidents of the lay organizations shall bear the same relations to the conference lay organization, as the conference president bear to Episcopal district lay organization. OBJECT AND PURPOSE The object and purpose of this organization shall be: A. To en courage the Laity of our church to support the total program of the church in the local congregation, in the community, in the denom ination and the world. B. To advocate respect and loyalty at all times tc the Constituted authority and leadership of our church, and to manifest proper reverence for our Spiritual Fathers. C. To en courage, stimulate and educate the Laity of our church in the his tory, development and organic laws of African Methodism. D. To foster a systematic and regular study of the discipline of the AME .church to the end that greater knowledge and information may be disseminated among the Laity and with the further purpose ot en couraging Laymen to participate more largely in the general function ing and supervision of the AME church. E. To foster, influence and support all constructive and Drogressive legislation for the church. There shall be a Laymen s League in each local church and Lay men’s League in each Annual Conference, and a Laymen’s league in each Episcopal District. We are as much opposed to the disgruntled Layman, who seeks to use the local Lay Organization for his own purpose, as we are to the “Cringing”, “Uncle Tom” “Yes Man” type, who lacks backbone and intestinal fortitude to stand up courageously for the thing he believes in. The men and women who are identified with this Lay movement must be Strong, Loyal Dependable, Courageous, God fearing Laymen, who desire to permanently organize and to follow ; through until the entire membership, if possible, has been organized and made aware of the great constructive good which comes through organization. Mr. C. W, Stafford Repor ts on donf. The twenty-seventh session of the southern California Confer ence, and the second session of the Laymen’s annual conference, is now history Measured by the cur rent standard of success, i e (money) this is hailed as the greatest conference in the history of the A.M.E. Church in this area. While the claim is true as regard the amount of money reported, but when viewed in the light ot the announced purpose of the church, one wonders if after all, ^ the stress now being placed on money, is in the best interest of ; the church. In the church as in civil gov ernment, the greater the amount of money handled, the greater the temptation for questional political activities. The danger of politics ; in the church, as in government, is that the lust for positions of power and influence make for in tellectual dishonesty, and deceit. Morality is thrown out the win | dow when it interfers with the position sought, anything short of out right violation of the law goes. In such an atmosphere, the sav | ing of souls are of secondary con cern. We hold that the primary business of the church is, orj should be the saving of souls. Therefore, when viewed from the point of view of the number of! ; souls saved during the past year, our claim to greatness, make a! I sorry picture. The Laymen of this confer ence adopted as a project at the beginning of the conference year just closed, a visit to each church in the conference. We succeeded in carrying out that plan, return ing to some five or six churches the second time, our major aim was to revive the spirit of fellow ship, evangelism, and comradship. We have no way of knowing how well we succeeded in accomplish ing our purpose. This we do know, we raised and turned over to the forty-two churches visited, ; $1,263.13. ! we have tried in our humble way to impress upon believers everywhere, that to be effective, the gospel of Jesus Christ must be rescured from its position of subservience to money and made the prime objective of the church. | REV. F. M. MASON Presiding Elder of Columbus District of the Ohio A.M.E. con ference, 51 Jefferson Avenue, Co lumbus 15, Ohio. Candidate for Bishophric in 1952 Pulpiteer and loyal churchman. Pastor 27 years. Presiding Elder 14 years. A special friend to rising min isters. Believe in financing Colleges, Universities, Theological Semina ries and Church expansion. Feels that every mission church should pay, or be helped to pay their pastor not less than $25 per week. He has a program which he feels will benefit the great A.M.E. church. He craves your support in 1952. World Community Day Observed Church women of more than eighty Protestant denominations, organized in some 1800 state and local councils. United Church Women of the National Council of the Churches are preparing to observe their annual “World Community Day" on Friday, No vember 2nd. In preparation for ,the day, some hundreds of thou sands of church women across the nation are working on two proj ects. One is the raising of an “Ecumenical Scholarship fund” to bring to the United States Christian young people from overseas for specialized training for leadership in their home com munities. The other is the mak ing or collecting of blankets and warm clothing to be given to refugees and homeless people in Europe and Asia. “Live thy faith” is the w-atchw'ord of the day. Our A.M.E. Woman's Missionary Soci ety is a part of this group of church women and it is expected that in many of our churches there will be active participation in the observance of World Com 'munity Day. I —_ G. WAYMAN BLAKELY, SR* pastor BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH 9th & Broadway Little Rock. Ark. CANDIDATE FOR BISHOP 1952 Your Prayers, vote and inilucnc* solicited —