A rural survey in Maryland, made by the Department of church and country life of the Board of home missions of the Presbyterian church in the . of the population. The averagemembership is That is to say each church is reaching hardly morethan a fourth of its possible following. At almost every point the colored churches are much more inefficientthan the white churches. Not only have they a smaller proportion oftheir population enrolled in the churches but their efforts at progressare in comparison feeble. In 1906 the approximate membership of allcolored churches was 1,786.
A rural survey in Maryland, made by the Department of church and country life of the Board of home missions of the Presbyterian church in the . of the population. The averagemembership is That is to say each church is reaching hardly morethan a fourth of its possible following. At almost every point the colored churches are much more inefficientthan the white churches. Not only have they a smaller proportion oftheir population enrolled in the churches but their efforts at progressare in comparison feeble. In 1906 the approximate membership of allcolored churches was 1,786. In six years there has been a net increase of195 or as against for the white churches. During the lastchurch year the total number of additions was 153, of which one denomi-nation had 147. This was a gross increase for the year of Only15 of the 40 churches are growing at the present time; 10 are stationary;10 are steadily losing ground, while 5 are unmistakably dying. Thesechurches all cling to life with a remarkably tenacious grip. They almostnever make an end of dying; yet very few of them have anything likerobust health. 9g. ONE OF THE BEST COLORED CHURCHES IN THE COUNTY (c) The Equipment for Service There are 37 church buildings valued at $37,260, the average valuebeing about $1,000. Thirty-ttvo of these are one-room. Perhaps a fourthof them are in reasonably good condition; the remainder are m variousstages of delapidation and decay. Several buildings, notably the M. the A. M. E. in Rockville are brick structures, better than manyof the white churches. All these churches, even more than those we havealready discussed, are adapted for the preaching service only. Notone of them is really convenient for the Sunday-schools. (d) The Working Force There are 18 ministers in charge of 38 churches. Two churches are atpresent pastorless. Six of these men have each a single church; 7 havetwo churches, 2 three churches and 3 foiu churches each. On the faceof i
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Keywords: ., bookauthorpresbyte, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1912
