Russell H. Conwell, founder of the Institutional church in America : $b the work and the manBurr, Agnes Rush
Religion
Russell H. Conwell, founder of the Institutional church in America : $b the work and the man
Burr, Agnes Rush
Conwell, Russell H., 1843-1925; Minneapolis (Minn.) -- Biography
"Often a working guild of some sort is brought into existence for a
specific but transient purpose; the object accomplished, the
work completed, the society disbands, or merges into some other
organization, or reorganizes under a new name for some new work. The
work of Grace Church is like the operations of a great army; recruits
are coming to the front constantly; regiments being assigned to this
corps, and suddenly withdrawn to reinforce that one; two or three
commands consolidated for a sudden emergency; one regiment deployed
along a great line of small posts; infantry detailed into the
batteries, cavalry dismounted for light infantry service, yet all
the time in all this apparent confusion and restless change which
bewilders the civilian, everything is clear and plain and
perfectly regular and methodical to the commanding general and his
subordinates."
Another association of this kind was the "Committee of One Hundred,"
organized in 1891. The suggestion for its organization came from the
Young Women's Association. A number of them went to the Trustees and
proposed that the Board should appoint a committee of fifty from among
the congregation to devise ways and means to raise money for paying
off the floating indebtedness of the church. The suggestion was
adopted. The Committee of Fifty was appointed, each organization of
the church being represented in it by one or more members. It met for
organization in 1892. The Young Women's Association, pledged itself to
raise $1,000 during the year. Other societies pledged certain sums.
Individuals went to work to swell the amount, and in one year, the
Committee reported that the floating debt of the church, which at the
time of the Committee's organization was $25,000, was paid. Encouraged
by this success the Committee enlarged itself to one hundred and
vigorously attacked the work of paying off the mortgage of $15,200 on
the ground on which the college was to be built.
Among the minor associations of the church that promoted good
fellowship and did a definite good work in their time were the
"Tourists' Club," a social development of the Young Women's
Association. The members took an ideal European trip while sitting in
the pleasant reading room in the Lower Temple. A route of travel was
laid out a month in advance. Each member present took some part; to
one was assigned the principal buildings; to another, some famous
painting; to others, parks, hotels, places of amusement, ruins, etc.,
until at the close of the evening they almost could hear the tongue of
the strange land through which in fancy they had journeyed. Maps and
pictures helped to materialize the journey.
The "Girls" Auxiliary was formed to meet the needs of the younger
members of the church. Any girl under sixteen could become a member
by the payment of monthly dues of five cents. There were classes in
embroidery, elocution, sewing, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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