RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Young People’s Societies
fully meet the demand, other organizations sprang up, and some of them became bodies of importance. Because of the manifest advantages of
1. Origin consolidation, representatives of the
and De- five principal organizations met at velopment. Cleveland, O., May 15, 1889, and
merged them into a single society to be called the Epworth League, which received official standing in the church from the general conference of 1892. An official organ, The Epworth Herald, was founded, and soon attained the largest, circulation of any denominational religious paper for young people.
In the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, unassociated local societies existed for years until a commission appointed by the general conference, in 1890, organized a connectional society for young people similar in plan to that recently formed in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to this new organization they also gave the name of Epworth League. In the same year the Methodist Church of Canada provided a similar organization with the same name, and these two denominations each gave their organization an official paper called, in both instances, The Epworth Hra. The movement thus
rapidly established in the three great
2. Organ- Methodist denominations of the con-
ization. tinent grew amazingly in numbers and
enthusiasm, spreading throughout the Methodist churches and into the mission fields, and became the leading denominational young people’s society.
In each denomination the Epworth League is under the oversight of a board, with a general secretary. A representative international committee manages all interdenominational interests, and eight great international conventions have been held. The local chapters are grouped for administration chiefly by districts and conferences following the denominational organization; and the local chapters of the league are, according to the age of the membership, organized as junior, intermediate, and senior, with adaptations to the needs of those served. The distinctive work is done under four departments, among which are distributed the oversight and promotion of the devotional and evangelistic activities, study and training in the Bible, the missionary and cognate movements, Christian citizenship, temperance and other reforms, social service and Christian philanthropy, and the general literary and social activities required by young life. The avowed purpose of the Epworth League is to win, to save, and to train the young people for Jesus Christ, and thereby to create a world-conquering Church. For this purpose it is marshaling the Christian young people and adding their splendid capabilities to the resources of the Church in the winning, saving, and training of their associates. The heart of the work is in its weekly devotional meeting, and it is developing a mighty leavening power through study classes in the Bible missions, evangelism, Christian stewardship, and Christian experience.
The enthusiasm of the early days of the Epworth League has been succeeded by a policy of practical and systematic achievement, and the organization
is now accomplishing a service of greater value than ever before, while its future is believed to contain possibilities yet unmeasured. Of late years the intensive forms of work have rapidly increased, and this fact has radically changed the character of the conventions, and has given rise to
3. Results summer institutes for instruction and and training in the Christian life and in
Statistics. practical service. Out of these have
come hundreds of volunteers for the ministry, the mission fields, and other forms of service. The Epworth League has profoundly influenced the life of the Methodist churches through the effect of these methods upon the younger ministry, the later missionary recruits, and the young laymen promoted from chapter cabinets to official boards. It is developing a spirit of liberality that promises well for the future Church. From small incomes the young people contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to the official benevolences, in addition to their contributions for local support. In the Methodist Episcopal Church there are now EXjpworth League secretaries under appointment for India and Mexico, and money has been provided for the publication in the native languages of literature for the systematic religious culture of the young people. The practical ideal of a worldencircling army of trained Christian young people of all nations, united to win the world, is rapidly coming into view. The Epworth League is still increasing in numbers, though approaching the limit fixed by the denominational strength. The statistics given by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, are: chapters 4,067, members 145,091; by the Methodist Episcopal Church: senior chapters 13,427, members 573,317, Junior chapters 6,127, members 235,646—a total of 19,554 chapters and 808,963 members. These numbers are, however, inadequate, for official statistics have been required but recently, and these figures do not include about thirty unreported conferences and missions. Statistics for the Methodist Church of Canada are not at command. The general secretaries and headquarters of the Epworth Leagues for the three leading denominations given above are as follows: for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Rev. F. S. Parker, Nashville, Tenn.; for the Methodist Church of Canada, the Rev. 8S. T. Bartlett, Toronto, Ont.; and for the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. Edwin M. Randall, Chicago, III.
VI. International Order of the King’s Daughters and Sons: An interdenominational young people’s society, founded Jan. 13, 1886, by Mrs. Margaret Bottome (q.v.). Its real origin was in a New York circle of the type of the Lend-a-Hand Clubs (see VII.), which took the name of “ The King’s Daughters,” and, after its reorganization as a club of ten members, adopted the four mottoes of the older society, with the watchword, ‘In His Name,” and the badge of a silver Maltese cross, bearing the initials ‘‘ I. H. N.” and the date “‘ 1886.” This circle soon formed the model for others, the distinction between the King’s Daughters and the Lend-a-Hand Clubs lying in the former’s firm Trinitarianism and in its declaration that ‘‘ ours is distinctly a spiritual organization, based on strictly
Young People’s Societies