Figures

One Dr. H. C. Weber, Presbyterian statistician, produced figures. Last year, said he, 87,632 people joined the church. But, said he, if the Presbyterian Church had been functioning proportionately as well last year as in any one of the years 1826 to 1834, it would have added 173,000 people to its roll. He declared that modern theological controversies were responsible for the small harvests, and called special attention to the work of Harry E. Fosdick, Baptist preacher in the Presbyterian fold.

Thereupon, one Dr. Harlan G. Mendenhall, Clerk of the New York Presbytery, produced figures.

Said he:

"There are five leading Presbyteries in our church, which in their order, according to their membership, are Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. The Presbytery of New York now numbers 38,497 members, which is a slight decrease over 1923, but the conservative Presbytery of Pittsburgh shows a like decrease in membership. There were fewer additions to the New York churches last year than in the preceding year, but the Presbytery of Philadelphia shows a similar decrease, as do those of Chicago and Los Angeles. The striking thing about these figures is that the Presbytery of New York, which has the smallest number of churches of the above group, received last year a larger average addition per church than the other Presbyteries."

With all these figures before them, the leaders of American Presbyterianism met in Atlantic City, laid plans for an energetic campaign. "The business of the church," said Dr. Henry C. Swearingen, Moderator of the General Assembly in 1921, "is selling the gospel, and there is danger that the church will forget that this is its principal task, and will become purely an ethical society or organization for the promotion of philanthrophy."

Dr. Sweringen is pastor of the House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minn. He was chosen campaign manager.