Negro school In this rural area. When he finally got his bag, he could not have been happier if it had been a gold mine! Last Christmas a little over 2,000 cellophane bags were filled with an apple apiece, some candy, cookies, popcorn and nuts. Several hundred additional bags previously prepared, were sent in by interested friends. You can scarcely realize how much these meant to the children to whom they were given, unless you know that many of them leave home early in the morning to walk as far as three or four miles to school (there are no public school busses for Ne gro children in Mississippi), often without breakfast; that many of them bring no lunch, unless it might be a sorghum soaked biscuit or two; that they walk the same distance home for their single meal, all too often most inadequate. This is cer tainly not descriptive of all nor even most of the school children. Some schools have privately operated busses, and many have a hot lunch program. But teachers and super visors assure us that the above con ditions exist in hundreds of in stances. The object of these treats was that in the months to come the Gospel might have freer course in the hearts of these little ones, and be more readily received. Children, like adults, are softened for a spirit ual ministry, through human kind ness!
schools and churches. Permission is readily obtained to conduct “Chapel Programs” in the schools, simply by walking up to the door, flannelgraph board and tripod in hand, and asking for it. In many cases, the church and the school are in the same build ing. One third of the Negro schools in the state are conducted in build ings not designed for school use at all: either churches or abandoned dwelling houses are thus utilized. In our opinion, the most effective work in reaching the children is that done through the churches. It has not seemed best as yet, to use the Home Bible Club Method with the Negro children in this state. We will be most thankful when the ' day comes that it can be used, when there will be sufficient Bible-taught, conse crated Christians to carry on the work. But it seems we must go for ward a step at a time. The chil dren receive so little real Bible truth in the majority of Sunday schools. A leading Christian magazine recent ly published the statement that in the state of Georgia 94% of the Ne gro Baptist ministers have received no Bible school or seminary train ing. It is not likely then that we would find many skilled Sunday school teachers among the congrega tions. So we feel that we must begin by first reaching them in that work in which they are already interested —their own Sunday schools. Through teacher training classes, held for short periods in various portions of the state, this work has been started. The great need is for skilled, conse crated workers to enlarge this work, to fill the many openings and to an swer the innumerable Macedonian calls to “Come . . . and help us.”
Colored Child Evangelism Over the Nation
A number of inquiries have come in as to the method of conducting Child Evangelism work among the Negro children over the country at large. Each Child Evangelism Fel lowship, whether state, county or city, carries on the Negro work in its area, just as it carries on the white work. There is no separate organ ization within the I. C. E. F. to deal with Negro children only. Any re quests for information concerning the work, should be addressed to the director of Child Evangelism- pro grams in the state or city about which information is desired. Whenever or wherever we attempt to win souls to Christ, we encounter real opposition—we all know that. But in the colored work there is def inite opposition, and particular need for an all-out effort NOW. Certain forces antagonistic to the work of the gospel are sparing no efforts, or expense, to win the Negro. They be lieve that NOW is their golden oppor tunity, in this unsettled period after the war, and they are going at it with hammer and tongs. From my own personal observation, I would say that evangelical Christianity is “going at it” as it reclines in a well- padded easy chair! May we unite as never before in prayer to Almighty God, that laborers may be thrust into the field, and that there may be a great harvest of souls. A great num ber in Mississippi professed to re ceive Christ as their personal Saviour in 1946. May God give us a landslide victory for Christ this year of our Lord 1947!
Colored Child Evangelism in Mississippi
The work of reaching Negro chil dren for Christ in Mississippi is car ried on almost entirely through the
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