nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

314 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
tutes, Extension classes and Religious Emphasis Weeks. As a result of this
significant cooperation the following have been accomplished:
Enrolled in classes 1,429
Ministers enrolled 601
Institutes and Extension Classes 311
Enrollment of Institutes and Extension Classes 9,010
Revival meetings held 33
Conversions and Additions 618
Students Directed in Religious Activities 3,600
Number of Sermons preached 1,248
THE PROBLEM OF THE NEGRO CHURCH AND A TRAINED MINISTRY
The Negro preacher occupies a strategic place in the life of his people,
because he is the acknowledged leader of the majority of his people. The
preacher should be the best trained man in the community, if he is to maintain
the respect and leadership that was once his exclusively. The fact is, that the
Negro preacher is not the best trained person among his people. With his
limited and meager training in most cases, the more educated and intelligent
Negroes are revolting from an untrained, emotional leadership to a leadership
of other professions, as is represented by the physicians, newspaper editors.
social workers, and college presidents. The leadership which the Negro preacher
has maintained over the years i? definitely and seriously threatened by other
professional groups.
We must prepare Negro preachers for the pastorate. There are' 4,076,380
Negro Baptists, with 24,460 churches. We do not have the men in training
through colleges and seminaries to provide for the appalling need of the Negro
pulpit. Thousands of Negro churches are under the leadership of men who do
not have high school training.
APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM BY HOME MISSION BOARD
The Home Mission Board is attempting to do something about this problem
of ministerial education among Negro Baptists through a cooperative agreement
with Negro colleges and schools in their Theological and Bible departments.
by providing a teacher-missionary whose duty is to teach religious subjects.
These colleges represent the finest and best that there is in educational institutions
among Negroes. The Home Mission Board has twenty-four teachermissionaries
engaged in this noble task. Since our last annual report, we have
twenty-three colleges working with the Home Mission Board rather than sixteen
as in the previous year.
THE INSTITUTE PROGRAM
The Institute Program has served a great purpose in providing training for
the under-privileged Negro preacher. The various colleges have fostered through
this program many institutes in which we have reached several thousand. This
type of program has its value, but it can never take the place of the definite
college and theological training. It provides for the needs of the preacher
who has not the time or the formal training to enter a standardized college.
The following table will give an index of what was accomplished in the Institute
Program during the summer of 1945 in cooperation with our colleges:
No. of No. of No. of No. of Total
Institutes Preachers Women Att. Hours Enrollment
June
23 770 375 153 1,202
July
41 907 573 134 1,606
Total 103 2,364 1,412 424% 4,351
August
Average attendance for the three months—42 plus
39 687 464 137% 1,553
THE Crry MISSION PROGRAM
The City Mission Program among Negroes is performing a worthy service
in our cities with large populations. This program attempts to provide a better
ministerial and lay-leadership for Negro churches as well as to promote the