OFFICIAL NFWS j;
of the Fifth Episcopal District
of the c
AFRICAN METHODIST CHURCH j
Rubie B . Shakespeare, Managing Editor Vi
The Rt. Rev. D. Ormonde Walker,
Presiding Bishop
George Jones, President
Box 281
OSKALOOSA, KANSAS
Herbert L. Dudley, President
Connecticut Laymen’s League
Detroit, Michigan
Conference Presidents
Puget Sound Conference
Mrs, George Marshall
California Conference
4210 Market Stree>
Oakland, Calif.
C. A. Stafford
Southern California
1594 El. 45 Street
Los Angeles 11, Calif.
A. L. Mitchell
Colorado Conference
319 No. 1th Street
Albuquerque, N. M.
Dr. J. Louis Ransom
Kansas Conference
2251 Topeka Blvd.
Topeka, Kansas
J. J. Parks
Nebraska Conf.
2914 N. 7th Street
Kaaisas City, Kas.
Joseph T. Anscel
North Missouri Conf.
106 South Wintz
Macon, Missouri
Clarence E. Owens
South*est Missouri Conf.
2134 E 27th Street
Atty. F. L. Martin
217 Jefferson
St. Louis, Mo.
Our Prayer Life
An Open Letter
To the A.M.E.
Bishop S. L. Greene, recently
assigned to Georgia namely the
sixth Episcopal District of the
African Methodist Episcopal
Church, is now the innocent vic
tim of court injunction that en
joins him from jurisdictional
authority in the A.M.E. Church
affairs in said district. This ac
tion is nothing less than a revolt
against the constituted authority
delegated to our Episcopacy and is
unprecedented in the annals of
Church history. A few years ago
one Bishop D. H. Sims revolted
against the authority of the Coun
cil of Bishops and it required a
special session of the General
Conference to subdue the acute
situation. However, the affair had
its ill effects. Now we see, not
a Bishop but an organized Lay
group of Georgia African Meth
odists in open revolt against the
mandates of our Bishops’ actions
in the most recent session of the
Bishops’ Council at Los Angeles.
This picture is a serious affair
and it not only concerns the
Georgia Churches but its reper
cussions shock our Church society
connectionally. It is not the out
come of such “Court Action” that
concerns us most, but it is the
“Spirit of Revolt” against the
constituted authority of our
Church that is the most pertinent
issue.
It is my prediction that the
court will dismiss the injunction
when the Church lawyers submit
our discipline showing the juris
dictional authority of the Episco
pacy in all Church administration
but the “Spirit of Revolt” is not
subject to the perogative of the
secular court and it will grow
into an uncontrollable mischief if
tolerated. The Church needs that
“Judicial Council” that exists in
the Mother Church (Methodist).
It is an ecclesiastical supreme
court composed of elders and lay
men who are qualified and ex
perienced in Church Craft, laws
and policies.
These “outbreaks” that occur
periodically in the A.M.E. Church,
mostly on account of an “exag
gerated ego” among some of our
Episcopacy, are dissipating the
material and spiritual values of
our Church, as well as under
minding our moral, social and
spiritual structure. IT MUST BE
STOPPED!! When the governed
rises in revolt against those in
trusted with the stewardship of
administrative duties of govern
ment, it means that a revolution
is born and unless abated will de
stroy otfr existing fopm of govern
ment. There must be a “way
out”.
The A.M.E. Church through its
Bishops, General Officers, and
Lay Leaders must meet in one
Council of Christian Fellowship
and develop a planned piogram
of reformation and then proceed
to put it into action. We need an
authorized Lay Organization in
each and every ^Episcopal District
and a co-ordinated program in
each district with common con
structive objectives.
The establishing of a Judicial
Council and a Connectional Lay
Organization sanctioned by our
Bishops and the General Confer
ence is a MUST ORDER; it tran
scends the election of Bishops and
I General Officers in importance.
If the Judicial Council was now
in operation, the “Georgia Epi
sode” could be taken out of court
and the appeal made to the high
est Church court for a ruling that
would appease both Clergy and
Laity in Georgia.
If a Connectional Lay Organi
zation existed with the sanction
I of constitutional authority, it
could exert influence upon the
Lay group in Georgia to recon-1
sider their court action against
the Bishop in question and un-,
dergo a “cooling off period” while j
their fellow laymen on the Ju
dicial Council along with the
Clergy considered the merits ofj
the case from both a legal and
moral viewpoint thereby avoiding
Court Action.
The Church will then be ap
proaching the democratic prin
ciples of government which in
reality is the basic ideals of gov
ernment set up by the Found
ing Fathers of the Church.
Think prayerfully on this mat- i
ter between now and the General
Conference!
Respectfully,
DR. J. LOUIS RANSOM,
President Kansas Conference
Laymen’s League Fifth
Episcopal District,
African Methodist Episcopal
Church,
2251 Topeka Blvd.
Topeka, Kansas.
—~———-r-- *—
Sunday School :
j t
Lesson
i
GOD'S WONDERFUL
CREATION
Scripture—Genesis 1-2; Psalm
104; John 1:1-3.
Memory Selection—O Lord,
how manifold are thy works! In
wisdom hast thou made them all:
The earth is full of thy riches.
Psalm 104-24.
BY FREDERICK D. JORDAN,
Los Angeles, Calif.
Scientific conceptions of the be
ginning of this world come and
go, but the first chapter of Gene
sis with its religious interpreta
tion of the great fact of creation,
will stand forever. “In the be
ginning God . . is one of the
most inspiring combination of
words to be found anywhere. It
is a basic statement. To put Him
first in everything—our home
life, our work or business, in our
social life, is to make every mo
ment of our lives radiant with
God’s creative power. In the be
ginning God created order out of
chaos, He dispelled darkness with
lightj He gave man dominion over
the earth. So today, if we will
put Him first in our lives, He
will bring peace in this war-torn
world of ours, He will bring us
happiness by dispelling the dark
ness of our sins, our lusts and our
unworthy ambitions. He will give
us not military power and pres
tige, but the power that comes
from a good life._
What Is Layman?
A LAYMAN is the MOST IM
PORTANT PERSON ever in this
church—in Person, by Phone, or
by Mail.
A LAYMAN is not dependent
on us—we are dependent on HIM.
A LAYMAN is not an interrup
tion of our work—he is the PUR
POSE of it. We are not doing
HIM a favor by serving HIM—He
is doing us a favor by giving us
the opportunity to do so.
A LAYMAN is not an OUT
SIDER to our church—he is a
PART OF IT.
A LAYMAN is not a COLD
STATISTIC—He is a FLESH
AND-BLOOD HUMAN BEING
WITH FEELINGS AND EMO
TIONS like your own. And with
Biases and Prejudices.
A LAYMAN is a person who
brings us his wants.
It is our job to handle them
CHARITABLY and to the
GLORY OF GOD.
The executive board of
the Southern California
Laymen’s organization ex
tends deepest sympathy to
the bereaved family of Mr.
Nash Porter, brother of P.
G. Porter, Olatha, Kansas.
Coley YV. Stafford, President
Mable Norman, Sec’y
The Secretary
Reports
i Money Received:
June 4, 1950:
Finance Committte of
Conference . $132.50
Sale of Constitution & By
| Laws . 34.45
Oct. 12, 1950:
, Contribution from Bishop
Walker ... 100.00
Oct. 17, 1950:
District Tax, No. Mo Conf 36.25
Dec. 7, 1950:
District Tax, Calif. Conf. 35.00
Jan. 19, 1951
District Tax, Neb. Conf. . 29.25
Jan. 23, 1951:
District Tax, So. West Mo.,
Conf. 39.50
Jan. 29, 1951:
District Tax, Kansas Conf. 30.00
Total received . $436.95
DISBURSEMENTS:
July 3, 1950.
Printing of Constitution &
By-Laws .$ 68.00
July 3, 1950:
Office Supplies . 5.00
July 3, 1950: .
Mrs. Georgia Marshall Ex
penses . 25.00
Postage . 1-84
Oct. 16, 1950:
Office and Traveling Ex
penses for Pres. George
Jones . 134.34
Dec. 31, 1950:
Bank Charges.53
Jan. 13, 1951:
Telephone to Oskaloosa ... .50
Jan. 20, 1951:
Telephone to Topeka to
Asst. Sec.50
Jan. 20, 195~:
Tax on Telephone Calls . .25
Feb. 11, 1951:
Mimographing of Confer
ence Minutes. 11.00
Total disbursed.$246.96
Total Monies received .. $436.95
Total Monies disbursed .. 246.96
Balance in Treasury. 189.99
Respectfully Submitted,
Henry H. Glass, Secretary.
President George Jones
Reports on Council
To the Laymen of the Fifth
Episcopal District. Greetings!
We have much to be happy and
thankful for in our district pre
sided over by a Bishop possessed
with the three great qualities a
successful Bishop must have,
namely, the Christlike spirit, hu- '
mility, and religion. Then mix j
that with a fine admnistrative'
trained mind and you have our ,
Bishop, Right Rev. D. Ormond
Walker who makes it easy for us ,
; laymen of the Fifth Episcopal )
j district to take our place in the i
J spiritual and temporal program!
of the church.
So, after our executive board
meeting at Los Angeles, the seat
of the Bishop’s council and Con
nectional, I write you this report,
j OUR BOARD MEETING was a
' success in every way thanks to
i our Bishop and our host pastor.
Dr. F. D. Jordan; our president
C. A. Stafford and other churcl
members of that vicinity wh<
provided ample meeting rooms
headquarters, luncheon, enter
tainment and a well representec
program.
ON WEDNESDAY at 3 p.m. w
} had our layman’s mass meeting
j with a fine responsive audience
Such participants as President
C. A. Stafford of South Califor
nia conference; district vice presi
dent, Mrs. Georgia Marshall of
California conference; President
A. L. Mitchell of Colorado confer
ence; P. G. Porter, chairman of
advisory committee of Kansas;
Mrs. Gladys Tyler, assistant dis
trict secretary; Mr. H. H. Petti
! grew, member of advisory com
i mittee of Los Angeles; and en
| livened by Rev. Leake’s two song |
numbers made a very well spent |
j afternoon for our laymen and the ,
good of the church. Our head
quarters were ample to welcome
President H. L. Dudley and his
board in proper form. For this j
consideration we are very grate- '
ful to Dr. Jordan.
The minutes of the executive
board will be sent out soon to
all Conference Presidents and on
to you. But one act of the Con
nectional Lay Organization Board
I want you to know now. They
voted unanimously (except my- j
self) to hold the next bi-ennial
Connectional meeting in St. Louis
instead of Denver on August 2,
3, 4, 1951. The board selected
St. Louis as a centralized loca
tion and our district board ac
cepted the change in joint meet- 1
ing in fair consideration of their
reason and voted our aqnual dis
trict meeting be changed to St.
Louis July 31 and August 1st.
1951, that we may be on hand
as host.
I hope all you conference Pres
idents co-operate to the best of
your ability by bringing a repre
sentative group from your con
ference based on our laws gov
erning such a meeting. I will be
general chairman of the program
committee and hope for no lost
motion at this late day for an
A.M.E. lay program. So send *o
me and. talent you wish to pre
sent on this five day program. I J
am calling again, Mr. Conference J
President, to your attention the
responsibility that is yours in this
meeting. Every church in your
conference, large or small, is en
titled to a delegate. All large
churches are entitled to one dele
gate to everv 500 members plus
an additional delegate for every
traction there of. The conference
3r church organization will ar
range to bear the expense for
these delegates Our Bishop is sug
gesting each church arrange with
the pastor for their laymen day.
I believe that .s a fine time to
make plans for your talent, dele
gates, and expense for this meet
ing. Under the same cover with
our executive board minutes
which will be sent to you will be
the names of the committees to
be appointed. Please work with
me to select good committee
members by presenting names
you feel are best qualified to
serve on these committees which
are as follows:
1. Program. 2. Finance. 3. TSntertain
ment. 4. Housing. 5. Personal Evangelism.
6. Christian Stewardship. 7. New Eras
! of Service. 8. Circulation of Church
i Papers. 9. Church and Ministeral Sup
! port. 10. Training for Leadership. 11.
i | Connectional Fellowship. 12. Auditing
| Committee.
' I will be pleased to hear from
’ any layman of the district with
any suggestion he thinks will ad
1 vance our League, Church and
Kingdom building.
2 George Jones.
Leaders’ Course
Is Planned By
Missouri Pastors
COLUMBIA, MO.—Leadership
training sessions for church school
workers will be conducted next
fall featuring specialists in var
ious phases of church sqhool work
from each denomination, it has
been anounced by the planning
committee of the ministerial as
sociation. The Rev Alfred Sci
pione, associate pastor of the First
Baptist church is chairman.
Other members are the Rev.
Edward Coffman, associate minis
ter of the First Christian church;
Dr. W. L. Briggs, director oi the
Wesley Foundation of the Mis
souri Methodist conference; the
Rev. Doil Felts of the Church of
the Nazarene; and Dr. L. S.
Coolsby pastor of St. Paul African
Methodist Episcopa1 church.
George W. City Killed
In Automobile Accident
Mr. George W. City, 816 E.
40th Place, Los Angeles, Calif.,
was killed instantly Friday,
March 16, in an automobile ac
cident.
Mr. City was a successful real
estate man and a loyal member of
his church. He will be remem
bered as having led the delega
tion to the General Conference
in 1948.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
The orgination oj. the Laymen
in our district has been slow but
I am sure we will succeed in get
ting new subscriptions. The Voice
can give service to the Fifth dis
trict and to the church. As presi
dent of the North Missouri Con
ference I shall do my best to put
this work over.
Sincerely /ours, _
JOSEPH T. ANCELL
108 S Wentz
Macon, Missouri.