Three years ago the Ontario Conference committee gave special study to the problem of increasing the membership of the conference. It was found that during the previous ten years there had been a net loss of 133 members. The churches were almost devoid of young people, and with one exception the church schools, which once flourished in the larger churches, had been closed. During this time the conference had not been going behind in other respects. For a number of years the sixty-cents-per-capita goal for missions had been reached, and the conference was gradually getting out of a heavy debt. It was felt by all, however, that the time had come for a strong movement to sound the advent message to the multitudes within the conference.
The chief difficulty was lack of funds. Although finally out of debt, the conference had no reserve, and the tithe barely paid the workers' salaries. In spite of this, it was decided to launch a large effort in Toronto. An appeal was made to the union conference, which resulted in a grant of $1,000, and the effort was begun in the largest hall in the city. The entire working force of the conference was concentrated on the one effort; and while it was in progress, we made strong appeals to our constituency for help. The whole field seemed to be fired with zeal to make the effort a success, and gifts large and small began to pour into the Conference office. Approximately $1,500 was received, and this with the $1,000 already mentioned, paid all the expenses involved in the effort.
Considered both from a soul-winning viewpoint and as a training school for our workers, the effort was a success. Sixty persons were baptized, and each conference worker had an opportunity to observe and have some part in a large city effort. Each week a workers' meeting was held at our conference office, at which were discussed various methods of work and the detailed organization which a large effort entails.
The following year, four efforts were held by our workers. One lay member caught the spirit of soul winning, and held an effort in his local church which resulted in the addition of ten new members. A department secretary from the General Conference also spent three months in our field in a tent efloft. All these efforts resulted in a total of 212 baptized during 1931.
This year it was decided that each minister should hold an effort on his own responsibility. We have only one full-time Bible worker, but several others are employed during the winter efforts. At the present time twelve efforts are in progress, four of which are conducted by laymen. Large numbers of people are thus coming in contact with the message in various parts of the conference.
As in the first year, these efforts are still entirely supported by freewill offerings. As our tithe increases, we employ more workers. To secure the offerings for evangelism, a strong plea is made at camp meeting, and pledges are taken for this purpose as well as for foreign missions. During the year, a personal appeal is made to each member in the conference who is able to give financial assistance, each worker doing his part in promoting gifts to the evangelism fund. Ontario is a small conference, and there are not many members to whom we can go for this purpose; but at the opening of this year, in spite of the depression, we had approximately $4,000 on hand to finance the efforts during 1932.
The success of the tent effort last summer has led us to plan for two similar efforts this year, and an additional tent has been purchased for the purpose. The emphasis placed on evangelism has had a reflex influence upon the older members throughout the field, emphasizing the fact that our mission in the world is to win souls. Members who were in the process of losing their first love of the message, have taken hold of it with new vigor, and are assisting in the present program both with their means and by active home missionary work. Calls are coming to the office from every direction from members wishing to have an effort held in their locality. Church officers and local elders have been inspired to attempt efforts of their own, and it is surprising to find that some of them can present the message as ably as the ordained minister.
We are attempting to build solidly. Before baptism we make certain that each person is thoroughly instructed in every phase of our truth, and thus far we have succeeded in establishing a church school and a strong Missionary Volunteer Society in every church where an effort has been held. This has resulted in the number of our church schools' increasing fivefold in a short time.
With the realization that our ministers are almost entirely occupied with soul saving in the homeland, our church officers have taken a far greater responsibility in the matter of raising funds than heretofore. Still more of this responsibility will have to be laid on church officers in the future, as plans are being laid to make it possible for each of our ministers to hold two efforts each year.
The evangelistic program of the past three years has produced sturdy growth in each worker. Not one has been found to be a failure, and with
each effort more souls are won in proportion to both the cost and the attendance. Every particular regarding each effort is kept on record at our office, so that each can be studied, and the various tendencies which go to produce success may be noted and used with profit by the whole working force.
Ministers who were used as helpers in our first effort are large and successful evangelistic cam paigns of their own. In the efforts are now leading out in large and successful evangelistic campaigns of their own. In the efforts now in progress the Sabbath question has been presented, and each week swells the number of new Sabbath keepers.
The statement of Elder I. G. Woodman, in a recent issue of the Review that "the greatest help we in the homeland can give to the world-wide mission program is to add thousands of new believers to our churches in the near future," expresses the belief of the workers in this conference; and while every endeavor is made to promote giving to foreign fields, we feel that the prime duty of each minister is to win as many souls as possible each year. The natural consequence is increased mission funds and increased tithe. With the depressed financial status of the world, it is hard to compare monetary results accurately, but it has been clearly demonstrated that the new members have proved a financial asset to us as a conference and to our world-wide work.
Toronto, Ontario.
