USA > Vermont > Windham County > Brattleboro > Minutes and reports of the annual 125th annual meeting of the Vermont Congregational Conference and the 102nd annual meeting of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society > Part 18
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Representing Associations: Term expires 1922-Rev. Wil- liam F. Frazier, Vergennes; Rev. Donald Fraser, Wells River; Carlton D. Howe, Morrisville; Rev. William A. McIntire, Danby; Rev. William J. Ballou, Chester ; H. Gordon Woodruff, Montpelier ; Rev. Herbert P. Woodin, Brattleboro.
Term expires 1923-Rev. Vincent Ravi-Booth, Bennington ; John E. Tinker, Danville; Frank E. McIntosh, Burlington ; Cornelius L. Smith, Swanton; March M. Wilson, Randolph; Rev. Rollo A. Hamilton, Orleans ; Frederick P. Campbell, Wilder.
Executive Committee
H. Gordon Woodruff, Mrs. E. D. Burditt, Rev. W. A. Mc- Intire, Frank E. McIntosh, Rev. Stanley Cummings.
Finance Committee
Charles H. Newell, Jonas H. Brooks, John E. Tinker, Rev. C. H. Merrill.
Members of C. H. M. S.
For one year-Rev. C. H. Smith, Ludlow; Prof. C. B. Wright, Middlebury.
For two years-Geo. L. Dunham, Brattleboro; Rev. Henry C. Newell, Middlebury.
ANNUAL MEETING
The 103rd annual meeting of the Vermont Domestic Mis- sionary Society was held in the First Congregational Church at Vergennes, May 11, 1921, and was called to order by President Nathan G. Williams at 10.00 A. M., in accordance with notices published in the Vermont Missionary and the Burlington Free Press.
Devotions were conducted by Rev. F. E. Davison of Derby, assisted by the Straight College quartet.
The President nominated and the Society elected the follow- ing Nominating Committee: Rev. Henry L. Ballou, C. P. Cooper, Rev. Frederick B. Richards.
The report of the late Treasurer, John T. Ritchie, for the year 1920 was presented by the present Treasurer, Charles H. Newell, and together with the Auditor's certificate was accepted.
The report of the Directors was presented by the Secretary, Rev. Charles H. Merrill, and was accepted.
"The Day's Work in Five Vermont Churches" was presented in brief addresses by the following :
Rev. George B. Marsh, Guildhall; Rev. Clarence C. Lyon, Peru; Miss Frances S. Walkley, Gaysville; Rev. Joseph Evans, West Pawlet; Rev. Miles E. Bacon, Bridgewater.
In view of his declination of further service as President, General N. G. Williams briefly addressed the Society and on mo- tion of Rev. William A. McIntire, in behalf of the Board of Di- rectors, the following resolution was adopted :
Resolved, that in view of the retirement of General Nathan G. Williams of Bellows Falls from the office of President of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society after a service of four years which was preceded by a service of 19 years as Vice-Pres- ident, the Society wishes to put on record its appreciation of the constant interest which General Williams has taken in the work of the Society during all these years and of the fidelity with which he has sought to promote its welfare.
This resolution was adopted unanimously.
The Nominating Committee reported through Chairman Rev. Henry L. Ballou the following list of officers :
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VERMONT DOMESTIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY
President, Prof. George H. Perkins, Burlington; Vice-Pres- ident, Rev. Leland A. Edwards, Newport; Auditor, John C. Clark, St. Johnsbury ; Directors-at-Large, Rev. Stanley Cum- mings, St. Albans ; Jonas H. Brooks, St. Johnsbury.
Representing Associations: Term expires 1923-Rev. Vin- cent Ravi-Booth, Bennington ; John E. Tinker, Danville; Frank E. McIntosh, Burlington; Cornelius L. Smith, Swanton; March M. Wilson, Randolph; Rev. Rollo A. Hamilton, Orleans.
The report was accepted and adopted, the above officers be- ing thereby elected.
The Society adjourned its 103rd annual meeting with prayer by Rev. Edward C. Fellowes of Bellows Falls.
CHARLES C. MERRILL, Associate Secretary
The Board of Directors met according to notice that had been given at the close of the morning session of the Society, in the lecture room of the First Congregational Church of Ver- gennes Wednesday, May 11, 1921, and elected the following offi- cers and committees :
Secretary, Charles H. Merrill; Associate Secretary, Rev. Charles C. Merrill; Treasurer, Charles H. Newell; Auditor, John C. Clark; Executive Committee, H. Gordon Woodruff, Mrs. E. D. Burditt, Rev. William A. McIntire, Frank E. McIn- tosh, Rev. Stanley Cummings; Finance Committee, Charles H. Newell, Jonas H. Brooks, John E. Tinker, Rev. Charles H. Mer- rill.
CHARLES C. MERRILL, Associate Secretary
DIRECTORS' REPORT FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1920
In Memory of Treasurer Ritchie
The following is taken from the Minutes of the Directors :
"At a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society held February 18, 1921, action was taken to put on record their appreciation of the long and faithful services gratuitously given by their late Treasurer, Deacon John T. Ritchie, who died January 4, 1921.
Accordingly it was
Resolved : That in the death of Deacon John T. Ritchie, for eighteen years Treasurer of this Society, the Directors recognize the heavy loss sustained in the removal of an officer who has so long and faithfully served in so responsible a position. His position as banker, and his experience in financial affairs enabled him in a way none of his predecessors had to secure favorable investments and contribute to the large increase in endowment, in trust and in reserve funds, that brought the total to a seven-fold enlargement during his years of administration. His interest in the Society was unflagging. He took great pleasure in thus contributing to the larger interests of the church and the progress of the Divine Kingdom."
This is no merely formal tribute. Especially do the execu- tive officers who had so good a chance to understand Mr. Ritchie's character and service feel like echoing it. Volunteer service such as his must ever be the chief reliance for the vitality of an organization like ours. It must also be the chief reliance for the progress, indeed the existence, of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Financial
1. Invested Funds. The funds held in trust for churches stood as of January 1, 1921 at $47,511.90, a gain of $3063.94. Ten years ago these stood at $18,196. There has thus been a gain in the decade of $29,316.90 or 161 per cent. This striking increase points the way for other churches who wish their principal safely
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VERMONT DOMESTIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY
invested, their income assured, a somewhat larger rate of income (five percent) than is given by Savings Banks, and a freedom from the embarassment which arises when for example, local trustees are importuned to loan the church's money to some doubtful enterprise or real estate owner in their own community, and when they need to insist upon arrears of interest money from some fellow-citizen.
The Annuity Funds, the income of which is paid to donors until their death when the principal can be turned into the Society's General Fund, stood at $4500, the same as last year. Correspondence concerning this Annuity Fund is invited with persons who wish to give a sum of money to the Society but feel the need of retaining the income on it during their life time. The rate of income is graded according to the donor's age.
The Permanent Fund stood at $8000, the same as last year, the Memorial Fund at $2550, a gain of $25; and the General Fund (or Legacy Reserve Account) at $29,123, a decrease of $3063.94. This decrease will be discussed later. The total invested funds of the Society on which income accrues to the Society alone stood as of January 1 at $44,173, a decrease of $3038.94, all of it in the General or Legacy Reserve Fund. The present goal for the invested funds, which shall be a permanent endowment for the Society is $100,000. We have yet about $56,000 to go.
2. Receipts on Regular Account. Leaving World Move- ment receipts for later consideration, there was received during the year 1920 :
Budget Estimate
From contributions
$9697.77
$9300.00
From legacies
48.50
3000.00
From interest
2591.44
3000.00
Total
$12,337.71
$15,300.00
The contributions include what came from churches and individuals, after the net adjustment of receipts with the Congre- gational Home Missionary Society, viz. $7099.94; the amount received from the Woman's Home Missionary Union of Vermont,
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DIRECTORS' REPORT
$2534.43; and occasional supply work of the Secretaries and Pastors-at-Large $63.00. The interest amount is of course, less the trust and annuity fund interest that went to annuitants. The fact that a smaller amount was received from interest than called for by the budget estimate seems to be explained partly by the change in the fiscal year and partly by an overestimate. The difference between the amount received from legacies and the amount of the budget estimate is, it will be noticed, within about $100, of the decrease previously shown in the General Funds or the Legacy Reserve Account and substantially explains that de- crease. Taking a ten-year look backward the legacy receipts have totalled $34,571.61 or an average of $3457 per year. Two years during this period there were no legacy receipts at all, again only $500. It may also be noted that already $2000 has been received in legacies during 1921 and more is in sight from at least one estate in process of settlement.
.
While this policy of devoting to current expenditures each year somewhat less than an average expectancy of legacy re- ceipts, whether or not they come in that year, is quite a justifi- able one and is a common practice among other well-managed Societies, our strong desire is that during the year 1921 the con- tributions from the churches shall be large enough so that all the legacies of the year can be used for the increasing of the per- manent endowment fund.
3. Expenditures
1920 $8714.97
Budget $7815.00
Salaries of Officers
4196.14
4125.00
Expenses of Officers
1830.39
1763.63
Vermont Missionary, (share of deficit)
166.78
250.00
Other printing, including Minutes and Stationery
170.82
300.00
Middlebury Convocation
(Travel and Board of Pastors)
169.01
300.00
Miscellaneous and Margin
351.27
896.37
$15,599,38
$15,300.00
For church work (churches and fields)
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VERMONT DOMESTIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY
The miscellaneous item is made up as follows: Insurance, $14.24 ; legal service in connection with legacy (received in 1921) $100.70 ; appropriation for Federation House at Camp Devens, $200; General Theological Library, $15; advertising for minis- ters, $14.50 ; general, $6.83. The increase of $900 over the budget estimate in the item of church work indicates that more has been attempted, and we hope, accomplished in this central fea- ture of our expenditures. For example, the expenditure for the itinerant department, which is virtually summer work, was near- ly twice what it was the year before.
4. World Movement Account. Following the plan of the National Societies in the World Movement Canvass last April and May, an outline was given of the way in which increased contributions would be expended for work in Vermont. Fol- lowing that outline we have the following expenditures on ac- count of the year 1920:
Increase in salaries of nine pastors-6 months $ 595.35
New work in six fields 680.85
Pastor-at-Large work
Salaries and expenses Rev. A. S. Bole (12
months) and Rev. E. G. French (4 months) 2938.96
Middlebury Convocation-Speakers and arrangements. 496.40
Emergency account-Moving expenses two pastors of aided churches 205.00
$4,916.56
Against this expenditure, there was received $2080.95 from the World Movement Fund, as of the year 1920. If the pledges to that Fund are fully paid, it is expected that the balance due of $2845.30 on this account will be met as well as a large share, if not all, of the expenditures under it for the first four months of 1921. The principal item of this account, the Pastor-at-Large work, will be discussed later. Here it may be said that the World Movement encouraged us to raise salaries that we hope will never be lowered and to enter upon new work from which we hope we shall not have to retreat. We also trust that the Con- vocation has been put upon a permanent financial basis.
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DIRECTORS' REPORT
5. Woman's Home Missionary Union. The unprecedented sum received from this source during the year under review- ($2534.83 as compared with $1164 in 1917, $820 in 1918 and $1295 during the nine months' fiscal year of 1919) is due to a re- adjustment of their plan of work by which they give to our So- ciety its full percentage according to the regular apportionment plan for Homeland work. Their willingness to make this ad- justment, involving as it did some radical changes in the amounts given to some objects to which they had long been contributing, is a fine exhibition of the spirit that "plays the game," and it is deeply appreciated. The contributions of the women of Ver- mont are indeed a bulwark to our treasury.
6. The Vermont Missionary. When the club rate for this paper was raised to twenty-five cents and the individual rate to thirty-five cents, it was feared that the subscription list might be considerably lowered. Such has not proved to be the case. While the deficit has been decreased, it has not been destroyed. Including what the Vermont Branch of the Woman's Board and the Woman's Home Missionary Union paid toward the deficit, the cost of the paper above subscriptions was $321.04 or thirty- eight per cent of the total cost. There are now about 3400 paid subscribers. Cannot the number be increased by at least fifteen hundred, which would make the paper virtually self-supporting. Let that be one of the goals for this year.
Work on the Fields
Forty missionaries have labored in 37 fields giving 26 years, eight months and three weeks service. Ordinary fields 30, itinerant 10, duplicate. 3, leaving 37. Missionaries in ordinary fields 30, in itinerant 10, total 40. This shows an increase of three missionaries and one field. The length of service is proportion- ately about the same when it is taken into account that this report covers the calendar year and the one previous only nine months. Ten other fields were helped on the dollar for dollar plan making the total number 47.
The additions were : By confession 50, by letter 36, total 86. Removals: By dismissal 40, by death 37, by revision of roll 11,
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VERMONT DOMESTIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY
total 88. Net loss 2. The nine months previous there was a gain of 40.
Comments and Characteristics
The following extracts from the reports of a single month or quarter, taken at random, show some of the encouragements, events and difficulties which characterized our pastors' work :
"The summer work promises to be encouraging, and many non-church goers have been reached and brought to the church service by our Automobile Club. We are enrolling all who can- not attend church or Sunday School in the Home Department. The greatest hindrance is that people will not pull together."
"The children are coming to Sunday School as never before since my work began. On May 27th the people at a bean sup- per at the church voted to have a Community Fair Wednesday, August 4. This is the first time I have found them ready to do a big thing together."
"Last Sunday four young people in one family were received into the church. The baptismal service (at the request of the mother of the four) was held beside the sparkling waters of Broad Brook, in which the baptism was performed by immersion. The perfect day and beautiful natural surroundings made this a service most memorable and impressive."
"We have been seriously affected by the removal of mem- bers of the church. In some things we have been obliged to begin all over again owing to the loss of leaders."
"A Father and Son's banquet was held in which eighty-three men and boys sat down together and enjoyed a social evening. A number of speeches were made by the townsmen. The orchestra was in attendance. A union communion service was held on the second Sunday in which ninety-nine members from both churches were present. A union choir added to the in- spiration of the service. The Union Young People's Society are making the canvass for the Tuberculosis Drive. They are also planning for a series of cottage prayer meetings in the outer districts. The two pastors go out calling together, taking every house on a road. A greater interest in union services is manifesting itself and is adding strength to the community work." (This church has since federated with its sister Methodist church and the Missionary aid of $300 is no longer needed.)
The Pastor-at-Large Work
As we go on further with this missionary task among the smaller communities of Vermont we are more and more impressed
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DIRECTORS' REPORT
with the necessity of keeping in close personal contact with it. Letters have their sharp limitations and one mustn't try to do too much by telephone. This is one primary reason for the work of the two Pastors-at-Large, one of whom, Rev. A. S. Bole, has continued the fine service he began last year; and the other of whom, Rev. E. G. French, came into the Pastorate-at-Large as a natural consequence of his intimate and successful contact with the churches as field represtentative for the Congregational World Movement.
To make more definite the service of the Pastors-at-Large, here are the sorts of things they have done during the past year :
(1) Visit churches to make sure they really need aid and as much aid as they think they do; (2) help churches raise increased budgets; (3) hold series of meetings to deepen Christian life, to encourage churches in the face of difficulties and to win folks to Christ; (4) have conferences with pastors and church com- mittees to formulate and adopt a larger program of service, with visits to aid in carrying out the program ; (5) shepherd pastorless churches; (6) supplement the work of non-resident pastors; (7) take an especially difficult field and prepare it for the coming of a permanent pastor ; (8) assist the Secretaries in office, pastoral supply and field work.
We asked Messrs. Bole and French to give for our own information some account of their work and, though they did not write for publication, we cannot do better than present ex- tracts from their reports.
From Mr. Bole :
"I have kept no account of the number of places visited and for what purposes, or the number of miles travelled by train, by stage and by automobile, but from examination of my expense account for carfare and for gasoline I estimate that for the past Conference year from May to May, I have travelled on errands of the State work eight thousand miles by automobile, ten thousand miles by train and perhaps five hundred miles by stage and, including pastoral calling at Bridgewater and walking be- tween towns and staging stations to save time, probably two hundred miles on foot. I have had some part, more or less, in the locating of men at East Charleston, Coventry, North Troy, Rox- bury, Guildhall, Bakersfield, Marshfield, Warren and Bridgewater.
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VERMONT DOMESTIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY
I have assisted in pastoral calling at East Braintree and West Brookfield and made a visitation in Franklin, trying in some measure to prepare the way for the federation which has now been consummated. I supervised more or less the student supply work last summer, had charge for a month or six weeks at Guildhall and spent ten weeks in Bridgewater on reconstruction work. I have been sent on numerous errands as "trouble man" to straighten out difficulties of various kinds and have contrib- uted from time to time to the Vermont Missionary news items, editorials, etc."
From Mr. French :
"I have held special services in North Hyde Park, Lyndon, West Newbury, East Arlington, Peru, Cornwall and two differ- ent series in Guilford. The effort in these places has been to bring encouragement and help to both pastor and people. I have tried to humanize and sweeten religion by making God more real and by lifting common toil and service and business to a higher plane. In four places I have helped the pastors and churches to raise the money for local expenses. In four other churches I have spent a week or more in each field doing special pastoral work, assisting the pastors who were over-worked or where there was no pastor. To fourteen other fields I have gone on special missions, such as the granting of State aid, clearing up difficulties, seeing which way the wind blows and getting reports of the earthquake! It is very easy to mention the names of the places where I worked and the number of miles I have travelled, and over five thousand of them have been since January 1, 1921, but it is not so easy to reduce this kind of work to statistics. It cannot be done. I do believe, however that as I go among the churches, I can see a building up of the morale of the ministers, and the churches are beginning to see the real world-wide work of Congregationalism more clearly than ever and there is a team- work spirit among the men and churches stronger than I have ever seen before. More intimate relations have been established between the office and the pastors and churches and a closer supervision given to the aided churches all of which makes, I believe, for greater efficiency in our churches."
(Mr. French also spent considerable time in the State Office, of which he does not speak).
The value of work like this is at once apparent, as well as the exact niche which it fills in our polity. Congregational churches do not care to be "superintended" or "supervised" in a technical sense; they do not ask to be visited once in so often to
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DIRECTORS' REPORT
see how they are getting on. But real errands, to meet definite needs, to lend a hand when a signal of distress is displayed, for this there is a very sure place. There is also a sure place for such visiting among our aided churches as shall insure, so far as it can be insured, that their own resources, financial and other- wise, are being developed to the utmost and that they are really setting an example to non-aided churches in quality of service to their communities.
A Question of Personality
We quote from Mr. Bole again :
"The one emphatically encouraging reaction to the actual experience of the year is the point proved and settled in my own mind, that reconstruction is a practical possibility and that the down and out church can come back if we can provide the right leadership. The Bridgewater experience has demonstrated to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that so-called outsiders will respond to modern, sane presentation of religion in terms that ring true to human experience. Give us the leaders, unselfish, manly men, lovers of humans and we can redeem country life conditions, and put the church on the map again as the head and center of the community life. But the men? There is the rub. We got but he is one of a thousand. You could pick out a dozen men at random and I will warrant that not one of them will hold that situation for six weeks. It is a new type of leader that is required, for a new line job. He can be sixty- eight years old but he must have new vision and think in terms of the present. This leads me to say that our real task is a hunt for men."
This is hitting the nail squarely on the head. In proof let us give something of what a man says who is leaving one of our aided churches again to become pastor of a city church :
"Some years ago I was called from a church of one hundred fifty members to another of nearly five hundred. The oppor- tunity for service was greater and the larger salary I really needed. I was quite happy over the prospects. Several old-time friends, most of them my college mates, congratulated me sin- cerely. They considered the change an advance in my minis- terial work. I do not feel a bit that way this time. I have not finished my job here. I haven't done anything like what I had in mind when I came to this little country charge. I don't care to be congratulated at all for going to a larger church, because
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VERMONT DOMESTIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY
I consider the work here far more difficult and demanding a better man than I now think I am. I am not sure that the Community Church will solve the problem. But of this I feel certain: the minister ought to be a most versatile religious worker, able to help the community socially ; the leader in education, agriculture ; the grower of the finest fruits and garden stuffs; owner of no scrub cow, hens, or anything else under grade. He must set the example to help a poor community like this to keep house, do better farming, and give his reasons for believing in high grade stuff and stock. Before we help a community like this religiously we must help the folks to prosper. Too many houses here are not fit for humans to live in; the stock is scrubby ; parents must be encouraged, compelled to help their children to attend school. There is need of another Oberlin. He began at twenty- seven and spent his whole life as you know. And what did he not do to help his people! So please don't talk to me about leaving for a larger work! The big job, if done as above outlined, is here. I need better personal equipment to finish it."
Shall Vermont be Christianized? The answer hinges upon whether men like us are up to it. Have we the singleness of aim, the resourcefulness, the resoluteness, the patience, the wisdom, the forgetfulness of self, the constraining empowering love of Christ which qualifies us at all for the task? "Every athlete practices self-restraint all round ; but while they do it to win a fading wreath. we do it for an unfading. Well, I am without swerving ; I do not plant my blows upon the empty air- no, I maul and master my body, in case, after preaching to other people, I am disqualified myself." (I Cor. 9 : 25-27)
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