Jackson Advocate

Migration Hurts The Church

Migration of the nation's population is making it difficult for the church to keep up with its membership, says the State of the Church Committee in making its report to the 46th session of the East Mississippi Conference.

The report cites the population trends of this country and maintains that inadequate techniques permit a church member to move and still be carried on the rolls. This is due primarily to the fact that many members never seek a transfer of his or her membership. As a result such individuals are carried in many instances on several church rolls.

The report also lashed out at worldliness which it called rampant among church members.

"Many church members are just as eager as any in the rush to get rich. They use the methods of the world in the accumulation of wealth and they hold just as fast to it as any when they have gotten it."

"Prayerlessness abounds, and there is an increasing disregard for the Lord's Day. It is fast becoming a day of worldly pleasure instead of a day of holy service," it continues.

The committee called for better care of church property.

"We have property that rightly belongs to the church where the people are gone and the house and land still there, but no one seems to care about looking after unoccupied territory."

Calling attention to "ghost" members, the report said, "In this East Mississippi Conference from 1950-1956, we have had a 30 per cent increase in membership, but their record shows today that 15 per cent of those members have gone."

The committee is composed of the following persons: Rev. H. M. Foster, Jackson district: Rev. M. R. Mozee, Rev. J. E. Young, and Rev. W. M. Oates, Greenwood district; Dr. B. E. Murph, N. D. Taylor, Meridian district.