Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY
and enable them to exercise elementary functions of
representative government.
Church In addition to the above there is a Church Con-
ence^'
ference to which Indians only are admitted. Its
members consist of clergy, lay agents, and Ia5mien who
are not agents, nearly all the laymen being elected by the
several District Church Councils. It meets once a year
for several days at a time to discuss important questions
of Church policy. It is a purely advisory council, but
its decisions, especially upon the difficult questions of
Indian customs that from time to time arise, are welcomed
and regarded as weighty pronouncements by the
authorities of the Mission.
Central There is, besides, a committee which exercises
mittee.
general control over the whole Mission. This is called
the Telugu Mission Central Committee, and consists
entirely of European missionaries. Among its functions
are the following : it deUberates on questions exclusively
affecting the missionaries, and is an intermediary be-
tween the home society and every part of the Mission
on all matters of finance. It controls in a general
way the larger institutions of the Mission, such as the
boarding-schools, and it is this committee which is in a
strict sense the employer of all the agents who are on
the permanent register of the Mission, though in all
the details of their work they are subject to their own
District Church Council. It also deliberates, as occasion
requires, on the larger questions of mission policy,
discipline, and the like.
The formation of this committee was a notable
event in the history of the Mission, and has rendered