Many are the blessings God has bestowed upon missionary work in
Birmingham and it is a real pleasure to state briefly some of the
methods employed which have given the workers so much joy, and which
our Heavenly Father has used to advance his cause.
Religious visiting in the homes of the people is a very important
part. God’s word never returns unto Him void, and when it is carried
into the homes and its truths taught and heart to heart talks given
only eternity will reveal its results in leading lost souls to look
to a loving Savior, and arousing indifferent Christians to the fact
that God has chosen them and ordained them that they should go and
bring forth fruit. Again, the teaching of the children is a work never
to be overlooked, for the future of any race or nation depends upon
the moral and religious instruction given to the young. The Sunday
schools, children’s meetings and industrial schools are means which
are accomplishing great good. From two hundred to three hundred meet
each week in the industrial schools during the school year. We have
one session each week in each of the schools. They are held in the
different churches. About one half of the time in each session is spent
teaching different kinds of sewing, and the remainder in giving moral
and religious instruction. The progress made by many of the pupils
in sewing and in gaining Bible knowledge is often a marvel to the
missionaries. The strong temperance stand taken by many of the children
is truly a delight, and when one after another professes a hope in
Christ we are led to say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is
within me, bless His holy name.” The welfare of the young people also
has a large place in our hearts and with the faithful co-operation of
pastors and the young people themselves, there are about forty local B.
Y. P. U.’s which are united in an Asssociational Baptist Young People’s
Union. Great things are expected of these young people from the Bible
knowledge they are acquiring and instruction which they are receiving
concerning Christian work.
[Illustration: Rev. S. L. Ross, Sunday School Missionary for Alabama,
under Auspices Alabama Baptist Publication Society.]
Perhaps no richer blessings have been given than those which have
fallen on the efforts which the women are putting forth. Well can
we remember when there was but one missionary society in Birmingham
that was trying to obey our Savior’s last loving words: “Ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.”
They stood alone, but were inspired to go forward by their pastor,
Rev. W. R. Pettiford. Though few in number, the blessings of God
rested upon them. After a time they had a public missionary meeting.
The subject was “The Indians.” It was held on Sunday night. Hearts
were enlarged; the work was better understood by the membership of the
church, and as a result new members were added to the society. The
sisters in one church after another organized and joined the ranks. The
society of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church no longer stood alone.
The object of the work is given as follows in Article II of the
Constitution: “Its object shall be to promote the purity, intelligence
and happiness of our homes, and to educate the women of our Baptist
churches in a knowledge of missions, to cultivate in them a missionary
spirit, and thus lead them to help in mission work at home, in the
State, in our country, and in foreign lands.”
The following blanks are used by the sisters in reporting their work
from month to month:
Report of.................................................
For the month of....................................189...
Have you read the Bible each day?.........................
Have you taken the Mother’s Pledge and kept it?...........
Number of religious visits................................
Number of families helped.................................
Number added to the Missionary Society....................
Number of meetings conducted..............................
Number of new members brought into the Sunday School......
* * * * *
On July 26, 1893, a day memorable in the history of the work, the local
societies were united in a “Women’s Missionary Association.” Mrs.
Cordelia Taylor was chosen as its president.
The local societies number about twenty-five. We meet twice a year,
for a one day’s meeting. These meetings are largely attended, well
conducted and of real profit to the work.
The study of the uniform subjects which have been prepared for the use
of the local societies have greatly helped the mothers in their great
work in the home, in the Church work, and given a more intelligent
knowledge of missions in ours and other lands. The public missionary
meetings are being held on Sunday afternoons or nights in the different
churches and are proving the same blessing as the first one.
Miss Moore’s paper, _Hope_, is being taken and read by scores of the
sisters, and is an untold blessing to all.
The “Mother’s Pledge” has been signed by quite a company and is rich in
results to both mother and child.
Several of the earnest, Christian women are having fireside schools for
the children in their neighborhoods, and the books are being purchased
by many, thus affording good and helpful reading in many homes.
Our hearts go up to God in gratitude as we call to mind the
co-operation of pastors and people in the plans suggested by the former
as well as the present missionaries, and the bountiful way in which
God has blessed the efforts which we have together put forth, and we
would say in the words of the Psalmist: “Many, O Lord, my God, are thy
wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which to usward,
they cannot be reckoned up in order to Thee; if I would declare and
speak of them they are more than can be numbered.”
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Ala., Rev. R.
D. Pollard, Pastor.]
_FINAL REMARKS._
We have done well, but we could have done better. George Ruskin gives
birth to a great river of thought in the expression, “The more my
life _disappointed_ me, the more _solemn_ and the more _wonderful_
it became to me.” We have suffered, it is true, and still we suffer,
beneath the prejudice of a mighty people, the movings of whose will and
passions none but God can stay. But, as we remember that the Almighty
can rule the hearts of men, and that He has promised that the meek (He
doesn’t respect persons) shall inherit the earth; that this prejudice
about us is not a human essence, but a mere accretion upon human life,
rising from abnormal social conditions which are passing away; that
disappointment, instead of cowering and disarming us, should rouse us
to nerve ourselves with a firmer resolution to endure suffering, to
toil, to economize, to increase in knowledge and skill, to fill our
homes with love and beauty, to be still more pure in heart and upright
in word and deed--as we remember these things, we must confess that we
could have done better.
Our greatest needs now are: (_a_) A closer walk with God; (_b_) more
love and peace at home; (_c_) purer thoughts and more prayer in our
hearts; (_d_) a nearer approach to gospel plans in all departments of
our church work; (_e_) more race pride and race confidence; (_f_) more
of the spirit of Christ in our annual meetings; (_g_) co-operation in
business, such as banking and mercantile enterprises.
We earn millions of dollars, a large part of which we ought to and can
keep among ourselves, and thus strengthen the financial standing of the
Negro Race.
We need to establish and maintain money operations among ourselves,
especially for the following reasons:
(1) No moneyless people have any power or voice in the solid things
of life, in those facts which command homes, farms, store houses,
railroads, live stock, steamship lines, furnaces, manufactories,
merchandise, banks, and the like. We need plans of co-operation which
will enable us to come together with our little savings until they
aggregate to an amount that is large enough to support some sort of
business. Saving societies or circles should be organized all over the
country, for the purpose of studying methods for money saving and money
investment.
Of course, it must be admitted that money raised by our people in this
way has fallen into the hands of men who have made way with it. But
this danger may be put out of the way by compelling the man who holds
the money to give good security in the form of a bond, legally made and
properly signed. The money thus raised should be deposited in the bank
till the amount obtained is large enough for some business project.
The Alabama Penny Savings Bank of Birmingham started somewhat after
this fashion, with a small beginning, but now they command in one way
and another nearly one hundred thousand dollars. This bank gives the
colored people of Birmingham a power in financial circles that they
could obtain by no other means.
(2) Our young people need something to do. When the young white man
completes his course at school, he returns to find a job ready for
him--a job as clerk, bookkeeper, collector or something so. Not so with
the young black man--he returns to an empty void so far as concerns
the business world. He comes home to be a loafer, or a boot-black,
or a buggy boy, or a cook, or a waiter, or a barber, or a prisoner. He
comes home to despair, to temptation, to ruin. And this sad state of
things can never change by accident: if a better condition of things
shall ever be our lot, it must come about as the result of forces which
the Negro himself shall put in operation. Our white neighbor looks
upon the facts that we earn the millions and can’t control the cents,
as proof that we are an inferior race. They say we can be preachers,
teachers and doctors, but we can’t manage money and can’t unite in
great business enterprises. We seem not to realize that the handling
of business affairs conduces to the formation of moral character. The
writer dares to hope that there are better things in our hearts on this
line than have yet appeared, and that ere long they will appear in our
united action and in our substantial investments. However, “_Fear God
and keep His commandments._”
[Illustration: Rev. C. L. Purce, President, Louisville, Ky.]