nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

476 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
tithes and offerings, including the ones of the three seasons of prayer but
exclusive of contributions for the local work of their respective churches.
amounted to $6,517,321.87 which is a highly gratifying increase of $129,-
723.31 over the 1944 record; of this total $3,469,588.65 was for undesignated
Co-operative Program causes, which was an increase of $869,395.73 over the
previous year.
As an urge to larger contributions this year, the Union is seeking to enro
among its women and young people at least one-third of the million tithers
being sought by the denomination as a whole. The reaching of such a goal
will call for real Christian zeal if the gains of last year as to W.MX. tithers
are indices: the total number of tithers recorded last year among W.M.U.
women and young people shows an appreciated gain of 6694 but in order to
reach the 1946 goal of 333,333 W.M.U. tithers the gain this year will have to
be ever so much larger since there are now only 177,871 W.M.U. tithers.
Perhaps the simplest way to state how the 1946 goal may be reached would
be to say: if each tither wins a tither the Union's third of the million will be
more than attained. This goal is all the more commendable and attainable
because the present enrolment of tithers among the 739,360 W.M.U. members
provides a possibility of 561,489 new tithers. Last year's averages of W.M.U.
tithers were as follows: one tither among 3.2 W.M.S. members and one tither
among 6.6 of the youth members; the average for the youth members show?
a gratifying .6 increase.
"TURN THEIR HEARTS TO THE RIGHT"
Just as the paying of tithes and the giving of offerings that "Christ's g
Kingdom shall come on earth" bless both the one who thus contributes and
also the one who receives, likewise the giving of oneself in community missions
accomplishes manifold good. For this reason and because Christ "went about
doing good" and clearly stated that those "who follow in His train" will begin
their witness right where they live, Woman's Missionary Union has for the
past three dozen years specifically planned programs and projects to encourage
its members, both adults and youths, to turn the hearts of their neighbors to
the Lord. It will be remembered that one of the chief emphases of the S.B.C.
Centennial Celebration was the winning of a million souls to Christ. Accordingly
Woman's Missionary Union opened the Daees of Royal Service to articles
by the S.B.C. promoters of the Centennial "Evangelistic Crusade, placed the
winning of souls as the petition for the first Monday on the Calendar of Prayer
each month, furnished articles and otherwise encouraged its members to open
their homes for cottage prayer-meetings in preparation for or coincident with
the revival services in their churches, urged the study of recommended books
on soul-winning and kept calling attention to the fact that "the chief aim of
community missions is to win souls." In all such "Christlike living in one's
community" it is readily realized that in addition to individual efforts vast
and often very permanent good is accomplished under the direction of the
organization's Community Missions Committee. Accordingly each W.M.U.
organization is urged to have such a committee or at least to have a director
for its community missions. Last year there were 19,010 organizations that
reported having done community missions, though 19,045 organizations reported
that they had Community Missions Committees to direct such activities.
Many of these committees definitely advocate the work done for the Jews
through "The Friends of Israel" groups. Also the societies and their member?
are urged to subscribe in the name of Jewish friends for The Mediator, price
25c from Rev. Jacob Gartenhaus, 494 Spring Street N. W.. Atlanta 3, Ga.
It is likewise true that from year to year the W.M.U. Literature Department
contributes $60 to the "Postal Missions Fund" as handled by Mr. Gartenhaus
to supply Christian literature, including The Mediator, to yet other Jewish
people. Similarly W.M.S. members are encouraged to help definitely the
Negro Baptist women in their communities, so that their missionary organizations
will function as finely as possible for their women and youne people.
Among the periodicals which are thus regularly provided by W.M.U. organizations
is The Worker, price 50c a year from Miss Nannie Burroughs. Lincoln
fund
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