A Decrease of Local Preachers

Feilding Star, Volume IX, Issue 7, 2 July 1887, Page 4

A Decrease of Local Preachers

_ o , Prom the time that John Wesley! permitted Thomas Maxwell to ex-| horjt i& ; - London, the agency of local preachers has always been one of: great importance in the Methodist: body. This, indeed has been one of; its distinguishing features.. ' The! .agency has been found so valuable in; reaching' outlying districts, as wellj as developing the forces of thej centres, that nearly all other denominations, irichidiag. even the E stab- j ished Church, have adopted a similar-; ' ty&fcem, though on modified lines.j In the earlier history of Methodism,! and down even to more recent times.j this •body^ of lay agents .has been; on the increase. Now, however, aj marked change seems. .to ,haye taken; i place, and in nearly all tlfe 'branches ofr.the great -body of, Methodists this; important "band of lay' workers seemsj to be on the decrease, and in some cases so marked is this decrease as-rter-toe". somewhat alarming to Ihose! who maintain .primitive.-, notions oi aggressiv.ej work. 'A leading Methodist organ recently said thai; this is ' the darkest spot in the Methodist' ;lioriz6n, and everybody should iface ill at once.' In one of the branches of Metho&smi : there A are considerably local preachers to-day than| Tjhere were twenty years ,ago, and t£e comparison'of ten years past makes] the d\ffer-3nce greater still. without 1 an exception there has beenf a decrease each year, and nowhere in' Methodism is this felt more than in, this, northern di strict, r wh,ich has always taken the van in all move-j ments of the body. A comparison, oi returns show a great decrease' in this -district in local preachers, and a ! stekdy yearly decrease for some time| past in most of the branches. It is also noteworthy, that there is a simi-j lar decreasF- r df 'class leaders. — New- j castle_l)ai|y_Chronicle. ]