Helps to official members of the Methodist Episcopal church ...

Front matter

I

HELPS

TO

Introduction

T^HOUGH Methodism originated under God by the agency of ministers, and has been thought by many to belong chiefly to them, its operations are largely controlled by laymen. This is true of all its denominational branches, and of the several departments involved in each. Nor is it any new arrangement ; it has been so from the beginning. As the necessity for lay agency appeared, it was introduced, and charged with responsibilities and duties to meet the demand.

In the Methodist Episcopal Church each local society is required to have three permanent classes of lay officers, Trustees, Stewards, and Class-Leaders. We do not mean to say that preach-

4 Introduction.

ers are never allowed to hold any of these offices, but simply that they are generally held by laymen. Besides, our Discipline provides for other lay officers, such as Sabbath-school Superintendents, etc., which constitute a*fourth class.

These offices were devised for high and holy purposes. In many cases they are a grand success, in others a comparative failure. The following pages are designed to help all who have the honor of holding them, that they may be more useful. In writing them we have endeavored to mark the points of danger, and indicate the methods of success.

If we have said some simple things, and furnished some simple formulas and plans of operation, they will meet the wants of young and inexperienced officers who have every thing to learn, as our old officials had forty years ago.

Introduction. 5

Our work is as new and strange in much of this world which we have undertaken to Christianize, as it was in the State of New York in the days of Asbury. All the foundations are to be laid, and the temporal and spiritual superstructure is to be reared. Besides, many of our more experienced officials are not beyond the need of instruction and advice. They may be going on to perfection, but they have hardly reached it. We are not wkhout hope that this little work may benefit them.

Preachers get line upon line from the bishops and others as to their duties ; but our lay officials, especially those who are particularly concerned with finances, seem to be comparatively overlooked, and they fare little better in the matter of prayers. While leaders are often commended to the divine favor, trustees and stewards

6 Introduction.

are seldom mentioned. But this arises from the secular nature of their duties. Ministerial financiers suffer in a similar manner. Our object is to assist all these officers, that they may be more efficient, with less inconvenience and vexation.

James Porter.

Brooklyn, January i, 1877.

C ONTEITS.

Chapter I. Of Trustees

Their Origin— The First American— Primary Objects of— Powers Limited— Responsibilities and Rights of— Property to be Secured in Perpetuity Page 9

CHAPTER n.

OF CHURCH BUILDING.

Historical Facts— Increase of Property— Debts— Practical Suggestions —Building for Posterity— How not to Proceed 35

Chapter I. Of Trustees

THEIR APPOINTMENT, POWERS, AND PRIVILEGES.

N proceeding to erect his first house of religious worship, Mr. Wesley appointed eleven feoffees to take the whole charge of the enterprise, but soon found that he must raise all the money and do all the business, or nothing would be effected. But in attempting to beg the money, Mr. Whitefield and others refused to contribute, unless he would dismiss his feoffees, and do every thing in his own name. " Many reasons," he says, " they gave for this ; but one was enough, namely : * That such feoffees would always have it in their power to control me, and, if I preached not as they liked, to turn me out of the room I had built/ " He, therefore, did as he was advised, but afterward io Helps to Official Members.

arranged for the settlement of his growing Society property on trustees, under such restrictions as should hold it sacredly to the uses for which it was given.

FIRST AMERICAN TRUSTEES.

Twenty-nine years after, the first Methodist chapel in America was erected, in John-street, New York, under the direction of trustees. The old subscription paper and first pulpit are still in existence. At the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1784, the Conference adopted Mr. Wesley's deed, which was drawn by three of the most eminent lawyers of London, and which secures the fee of the property specified to the trustees named, in trust and confidence, and to the intent that they and their successors shall forever hold said property to the use and purposes for which it was purchased. {Emory's Hist, of Dis., p. 70.) That deed has been variously modified since, to accommodate the laws of the land, but never to authorize the appropriation of the property, or any part of it, to other objects than those contemplated in its purchase.

Of Trustees. II

THE PRIMARY OBJECT OF TRUSTEES.

The primary object of trustees, therefore, is to take and hold all our Church property in their respective Societies, including meetinghouses, parsonages, cemeteries, etc., according to our Discipline and usages, in trust for the use of the ministers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The fee is vested in them, not in the bishops, as has been unjustly charged many times. Our trustees have sold a great deal of property, but the signature of a bishop never was found necessary to perfect a title. No bishop or pastor was thought of in this connection. They might have been advised with as to the expediency of the sale ; but not being owners, even in trust, their names could add nothing to the validity of the deed. This is not the case with Romanists, with whom we have been improperly compared.

A friend of ours and a trustee purchased a costly Roman Catholic church several years ago for commercial purposes. We asked him who signed the deed, to which he replied, "The bishop," giving his name.

It is equally the duty of trustees to protect the property, and keep it in order for the purposes contemplated, In some of the States they receive the rents and income from it, and are holden to pay all the expenses of public worship, including the preacher's salary/fuel, lights, etc. In others, the stewards share the income, by mutual agreement, and pay all the expenses, except those which arise from repairs, insurance, taxes, etc. Of course they must be governed by the laws of their State, but no laws are so specific as not to allow the most free and friendly co-operation between these two classes of Church officers in promoting the common welfare of the Societies they serve.

THEIR POWERS, HOW LIMITED.

At the first, trustees only held the property. They had no power to mortgage or sell it. In 1796 the General Conference revised the Deed of Settlement, so as to allow them to do both, under certain restrictions. But in vindication of the provisions of the deed it declared, " the preservation of our union, and the progress of the work of God, indispensably require that the free and full use of the pulpit should be in the hands of the General Conference, and the yearly Conferences authorized by them. ,, — youmal, vol. i, p. 15.

The trustees cannot shut the Church, therefore, against our regularly authorized ministers, or against our members for whose use it was erected or purchased, nor pervert it to any use inconsistent with its legitimate objects. The General Conference forbids the acceptance " of any charter, deed, or conveyance, for any house of worship to be used by us, unless it be provided in such charter, deed, or conveyance, that the trustees of said house shall at all times permit such ministers and preachers belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church as shall from time to time be duly authorized by the General Conference of the ministers of our Church, or by the Annual Conferences, to preach and expound God's holy word, and to execute the Discipline of the Church, and to administer the sacraments therein, according to the true meaning and purport of our deed of settlement." — Discipline \ % 369.

Nor can trustees acquire authorify to close the Church by any majority vote of their respective Societies. This case has been contested and settled. " They were chosen not to do the bidding of any Society, but " to execute the trust of carrying out the intention of those from whose benevolence flow the temporalities put in their charge. If such an excuse will ever be available, where will it stop ? . . . Upon what principles can it be justified, that they who now live to enjoy the fruits of the charity of the dead, should be permitted, at their caprice, to control, and, perhaps, divert from its original purpose, the endowment which owes none of its support to them ? No such principle is known in law or morals." — 2 Barbour, 415.

And this is emphatically just and right :—

1. Because it is required by a general principle of law, to wit, that money or property given for specific objects shall be forever holden to those objects so long as any of its proper beneficiaries demand it.

2. Because to leave such property to be used at the option of trustees or Societies would often defeat the purposes of benevolence and religion, and thus embarrass the operations of both. Who will be willing to donate money for religious purposes, knowing that it may be perverted in an hour after his death, if not before, to promote infidelity ?

3. It will prevent contention. In purchasing land for a church in Boston, it was proposed to us to make a deed, leaving Methodism a little out of sight. We answered, " No, if it is to be a Methodist Church, write it so in the deed ; if it is to be a Baptist Church, write that plainly, so that there can be no misunderstanding on the part of the contributors, or their successors."

We have known several attempts to secure the control of the pulpit to the trustees or the Society, but they always made trouble. Real Methodists were fearful, and stood back, and others did not care to help a divided people.

OTHER RESTRICTIONS.

The power of our trustees is limited to the property belonging to the Church which they represent. It does not necessarily involve the control of the benevolent collections raised by the pastor or other officers. Trustees may take collections and subscriptions for the payment of debts, or for repairs and improvements on the property under their control ; but they have no right to forbid the pastor, stewards, or properly constituted committees, raising money to pay necessary expenses not otherwise provided for, or for the various benevolences of the Church. Nor have they any right to demand that all moneys thus raised shall pass through their hands. Where the house or pews are rented, it seems eminently proper that they should collect the rents ; but they may arrange with the stewards to do it, which is not uncommon where the stewards provide for the general expenses. But this is of no account, except in extreme cases of difficulty. These matters should be fully and amicably arranged in the Quarterly Conference, or official meeting, and the best plan adopted and carried into effect by the co-operation of all parties. Some trustees have seemed to think themselves the owners and masters of the Church, with full liberty to please themselves. This is a mistake ; they are servants of all. While they hold the Church property, they can only use it in a certain way, and that for the benefit of the parties and cause it was intended to subserve, They have no right to use the church when not occupied by the pastor for any other purpose inconsistent with that for which it was erected. " Corporations created for a specific object have no power to take and hold real estate for purposes wholly foreign to that object." — 3 Pickering, 232-240.

TWO ERRORS TO BE AVOIDED.

In the course of human events trustees have been known, under special excitement, to shut the church doors against a regularly appointed preacher and his people. This is always an error and a breach of trust. It has also occurred in connection with these cases that the offended party have broken into the church and taken possession of it by force. This is another error which should never be committed.

The courts have decided that "if the trustees have violated their trust, the Society has ample remedy." But, " while the trustees are in actual possession the civil authority is bound to protect them against the unlawful and irregular intrusion of any persons, whether members of the Church or strangers. The trustees are responsible for the faithful discharge of their trust, not to a violent mob, but to the Society in a legal manner, whose interests they serve." — Rep. 9 Johnson, 156.

RESPONSIBILITY OF TRUSTEES.

Trustees in making contracts are not personally responsible when they sign them, or notes growing out of them, as trustees, as for example : John Doe, Trustee. If they do not sign as trustees, they may be personally holden. The same is true of the building committee. By signing as a committee they bind the trustees or other party for whom they act, but exonerate themselves as individuals, and their own property.

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE PEW

SYSTEM.

Our Discipline was arranged with reference to free churches, and contains no instructions about the management of pews. But as the practice of selling or renting pews has become somewhat prevalent among us, it is necessary for trustees to understand the law governing in such cases. The numerous conflicts between trustees and pew-holders in other denominations have pretty clearly developed the rights of both parties. The following principles are reliable : —

The Society, or their representatives, the trustees, own the fee of the land on which the house is erected. By a grant of a pew the grantee . . . can claim no interest in the soil beneath his pew, nor in the space above it, nor an absolute claim to any part of the building itself. The Society can control the soil, can construct a gallery and pews above him, and prevent the pew-holder from removing the material of his pew from the house. The right of the pew-owner is limited as to time. If the house be burned, or destroyed by time, the right is lost. The grant of a pew does not bind the Society to provide for the maintenance of public worship in the meeting-house, but they may abandon it at pleasure. It is the opinion, also, of able jurists, that the rights of a pew-owner are subject to the right of a Society to remove the house to such a location as will best accommodate the whole congregation. In this case the value of the property is not diminished, but rather enhanced, by the more commodious location of the house. But the pew-owner does acquire the exclusive right to occupy his pew when the house is opened for public religious worship. . . . (See 17 Mass. Rep., 435 ; 1 Pickering, 102 ; 24 Pickering, 347 ;

When a house is holden by trustees as a place of worship, and for no other use, and the deeds recognise this use exclusively, the pew-owner can claim the right to occupy his pew whenever the house is opened, though it be for a different purpose, and the trustees cannot prevent his doing so. " It is the practice,'* however, as Judge Shaw remarks. " for religious Societies to lend the use of their houses to various societies and philanthropic associations, to hold meetings for various purposes, and upon such occasions it has been usual for the body or association to whom the house is lent, to control the use of the pews, without regard to particular owners." —

5 Metcalfe 133.

No pew-holder has a right to use his pew for any purpose other than that for which it was intended, nor can he modify it to the detriment of other pew-holders. Should the house be taken down, because unfit for further use as a church, he can claim no indemnity. But if taken down to render it more convenient, and the materials are used in the reconstruction, he has a just claim. In the latter case trustees should have the pews properly appraised, and tender each owner the value of his pew.

All interest of any person in a pew to extend beyond one year should be secured in writing. (16 Wendall, 28.)

Houses of worship, pews, and their furniture, are exempt from taxation in nearly all the States in the Union. In some, pews are regarded as real estate ; in others, as personal. They may be attached like other property, but New Hampshire, and, perhaps, some other States, exempt one pew for each family.

In selling pews at auction, the auctioneer, though a trustee, is the agent for both parties, for the purchaser as well as the trustees. The memorandum of the sale must be perfect, including the conditions, etc. The mere writing of the name of the purchaser on the ground plan of the pews, with the amount which is bid, is not sufficient. (16 Wendall, 28.)

Embarrassments have arisen in selling pews outright, and also in renting them, from the lack of proper precaution in constructing the lease or deed. It should always embrace the following particulars, and, perhaps, some others, to provide for special occasions, to wit : —

The pew or seat in the Methodist Episcopal Church

in the said L , which is numbered , with all the

privileges and appurtenances, estate, right, title, interest, and property of us, or of either of us, whatsoever, as trustees for and in behalf of the said Methodist Episcopal Society, reserving to the said Methodist Episcopal Society the sole use of the said church, as a place of religious worship, according to the rules and discipline which from time to time may be agreed upon at their General Conferences ; and also reserving to the said Methodist Episcopal Society the sole use of the said pew during the holding of love-feasts, class-meetings, and such special church meetings as the duly authorized ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church shall appoint ; and also reserving unto the said Methodist Episcopal Society the right to levy a proportionate tax upon said pew for the necessary repairs and insurance of the house. {Baker on the Discipline, pp. 1 89, 1 94. Ed. 1 874.)

All these objects may be easily provided for at the outset. If overlooked then there is no telling what embarrassments may ensue. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

OF THE APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES.

The Discipline requires that each board of trustees shall consist of from three to nine persons not less than twenty-one years of age, a majority of whom shall be members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Where the civil law does not interfere, they are to be chosen annually by the Quarterly Conference of the circuit or station upon the nomination of the preacher in charge, or the presiding elder of the district, and hold their office until their successors are elected. — Discipline, paragraphs

370-373.

But, owing to the diversity in former or existing State laws, there is little uniformity among us either in originating or perpetuating boards of trustees. In New York these boards were formerly arranged in conformity to ancient parish laws, enacted for the convenience of other denominations, and modified by innumerable amendments, which challenged the profoundest legal wisdom. Many boards in New England were organized under Congregational parish laws which were as unsuited to our economy as a poor carriage road is to a railroad car. In that embarrassing state of affairs many were formally organized under special charters, and elect trustees as they require. Several States have provided a general act under which all denominations may assume corporate powers in conformity with their peculiar system and methods of business. Every State should enact such a law to save religious Societies the trouble and expense of procuring special acts, or running their own machinery in antiquated grooves to which it has little adaptation.

The aim, however, should always be to elect men who are interested in the Church, whether members or not— men of talent and influence, who know something of human nature and business, and have enterprise and integrity enough to exercise the functions of the office in exact accord with its objects.

PROPERTY TO BE SECURED IN PERPETUITY.

In obtaining property, special care should be taken with regard to the title, that it be unquestionable. Many deeds have been accepted which secured the fee to the trustees only so long as they occupied the premises for church purposes. If they should vacate, the property would revert to the grantor or his heirs. This was a mistake. It is generally bad policy to accept the gift, or, more properly speaking, the loan of property on these conditions. It is better to purchase and take a title in fee simple. Many of our bad locations originated in the gift of the land, and this restriction in the deed stands in the way of a change for the better in many places.

This, perhaps, is all that need be said generally with regard to trustees. Other points of interest will be developed in speaking of their work. It should never be forgotten, however, that the office is not for the glory of the men who hold it, but for the glory of God and the welfare of the Church. It gives them a commanding influence, in the exercise of which self should be excluded, otherwise there will be trouble. We believe our trustees generally to be good men. The Church is greatly indebted to them for their self-sacrifice and efficiency. But some are hardly entitled to this credit. They insist on maintaining a ministry that accomplishes little more than a regular decline, and a social life that is ruinous to vital piety, and the Church is dying upon their hands. Churches of different denominations have been sold out and buried, and it should be inscribed upon their tombstones in staring capitals, Died of the Trustees. And, if there is not an improvement in the management of this holy trust in other directions, we fear the number will be greatly increased. Methodism is life, or it is nothing. It was not made to follow the ruts of other sects. It must be aggressive or retrograde — advance or die. It needs trustees to stir up its fires and pile on the fuel. But when they neglect this, and apply their great power to the brakes, what can we expect ?

Chapter II. Of Church Building

HISTORICAL FACTS — EVILS RESULTING FROM HEAVY DEBTS — PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS, ETC.

THE corner-stone of the first Methodist chapel in the world was laid in Bristol, England, May 12. 1739; and that of the first in America was laid in New York twenty-nine years after, in 1768. Both enterprises were undertaken after much prayer, and carried through with many sacrifices, though not without incurring some debt.

This was the beginning of Methodist church building, the history of which has never been written, and never can be. Once started on this line, and being generally shut out of public buildings, every little Society began to covet a chapel of its own, and rushed into the work, and many of them into debt beyond their means of paying. When the aggregate amount of the connectional debt was found to be .£11,383, some fifty-five thousand dollars, Mr. Wesley was alarmed, and said, " We shall be ruined." To prevent further embarrassment he commanded,

" Let all the preaching-houses be built plain and decent, but no more expensive than is absolutely unavoidable ; " and he forbade the building of any new chapel " unless two thirds of the expenses should be subscribed."

American Methodists early adopted his principles, but soon departed from them, especially in the matter of contracting debts. The Conferences demurred, but this did not restrain enterprising adventurers, and the debts increased, though the churches were generally sufficiently plain and uninviting.

WONDERFUL ADVANCE IN CHURCH PROPERTY.

Twenty years ago we had few churches that would now be deemed tasteful. Our first report of Church property was made in 1857, showing 8,335 churches, valued at $15,781,310. Soon afterward there sprang up a wonderful revival in church building, demanding better churches and more of them. In ten years (1867) we reported 11,121 churches, valued at $35*885,439, showing an increase of nearly one third in the number of churches, and of more than 125 per cent, in their value. And yet we have gained more rapidly since than before. The Minutes of 1875 show 15,633 churches, valued at $71,353,234, or an increase of more than one third in the number of churches, and about ninety per cent, in their estimated value in eight years.

This rapid advance has involved great liberality and tremendous struggles. If it has been attended with unprecedented blunders and mortifying defeats, it is not surprising. The success of- some who began to build early in the period mentioned stimulated others to venture beyond their ability, and many have been caught by the financial pressure, and will not escape without a terrible scathing, if they do not lose every thing. The struggle may be useful, and the experience of the immediate sufferers ought to teach others a lesson of caution.

These figures show, also, what we well know to be the fact, namely, that many of the churches of to-day are of much higher grade than we formerly possessed. The cost of those reported in 1857 averaged less than $1,900 each, while those reported in 1874 averaged over $4,600. This may be accounted for in part by the advance in cost of labor and material, but it is largely attributable to a multitude of expensive churches, many of which were ill advised.

HEAVY DEBTS DISASTROUS.

While we strongly believe in fine churches, we see serious objections to such as cannot be paid for and conveniently sustained without burdening our friends or courting our enemies.

i. They drive off the poor, who cannot afford to purchase or hire a pew in them, unless it be in a retired position, and who have too much pride or self-respect to occupy a free seat in the gallery. This effect is little less certain when such houses are nominally free, for they require so much begging, to which the poor are unable to respond with a liberality corresponding to the necessities of the case, that they feel compelled to stay at home, or go to other churches where they can occupy a higher position relatively at less expense. This is a great calamity. Many of our present ministers and wealthy men came from this class. Being converted young, they grew up into position and power among us. We have little success in winning men already rich, or ministers already prepared to our hand. Our candidates are among the poor, and are to be converted and led to the ministry or to wealth as God shall direct. Hence to lose the poor is ruinous to our prospects.

These expensive churches contribute to this evil in another way. They are apt to change the spirit and style of public and social worship in a manner to render them less attractive to the poor. A splendid house demands a fine preacher, and a fine preacher to please a particular class of hearers. Thus the poor are overlooked, and soon slip away to find more congenial society and higher spirituality. This is, perhaps, the worst effect of extravagant churches, but is by no means the only one to be deprecated.

2. They often keep men of means from coming among us. Not that they are unwilling to pay a reasonable amount in pew rent or subscription, but they see a crushing debt hanging over the church, the responsibility of which they do not care to assume. They are sharp enough to know that every worshiper will have to be taxed to his utmost ability to carry that burden, so they only visit the church evenings, and at other odd times, as they may, without incurring any responsibility. Some of our Societies have been sadly retarded by this cause. They have wondered why their preacher did not "draw" more people. While they remained in their old house some would not come because it was not respectable. Had they built reasonably they would have obviated this objection without incurring another ; but plunging recklessly into debt for a beautiful house, which is no credit to them considering its incumbrances, they are more embarrassed than before. Many are afraid of them.

3. Another evil connected with such enterprises is, that we often lose our own men of means as well as the poor. Finding that the expenses of the church are a constant and exorbitant drain upon their purses, and a tax upon their patience, and seeing no relief, they move away to escape the pressure. Or, if this is not convenient, they take offense at some trifling circumstance and go to some other church.

4. Finally, such churches often necessitate so much catering to the world as to qunech spiritual life and defeat their ostensible purpose. Instead of being the blessing anticipated, they are a curse and a hinderance to the cause they are intended to promote. Improvements are desirable, but great errors are committed in building so expensively. Houses costing half or two thirds the amount invested, under wise management would answer all the ends of convenience and utility, and might be paid for, or nearly so.