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404 OTHER INTERDENOMINATIONAL ASSOCIATIONSbearing different names, an effort has been made to perpetuate these names in the Chinese language. This hasbeen rendered easy because there was such small overlappingof territory, and the churches have grown up in theseseparate areas, each bearing a name that would not berecognized by any other branch of the Methodist body inthe nation. Thus it comes to pass that our membersmoving from Fukien to Shanghai or from Hankow toFukien are easily lost to the communion and we fear toChristianity because of the insistence of each brancli uponthe integrity of a name. We cannot but believe that thiscondition is due to a lack of an opportunity for conversation and discussion more than to any disposition on the partof any of the denominations to fail to practice that sweetreasonableness so characteristic of Christian men and women.Efforts are now being made to secure such conferences andit is fondly hoped that Chinese Methodists too in the nearfuture shall be one in name as they are in heart. Surelythe literature of this great spirit-filled organism has termsof such breadth and validity as shall adequately express thegenius of Methodism in the versatile Chinese language.The dominant factor in the formation ofpolicies may be characterized by a singleterm, environment. The vital elements whichdifferentiate organisms are so complex as to defy analysis.However, if we consider climate, race, political institutionsand neighbouring ecclesiastical bodies, we shall have in mindsuggestions to guide our thought as to the nature of thesources of ecclesiastical environment. While the quality ofspiritual life comprehended in the term Methodism is clearlydefined and so characteristic as to be easily recognized, yetduring the seventeen decades of its impact in the world ithas taken root in many different lands and in its development has created a "dwelling-place" builded out of thematerials at hand, differing widely in different countriesbut energized by a common spirit. Thus it comes to passthat thirteen Methodist bodies working in China underdifferent names so far as the Chinese language isconcerned,so emphasize the peculiarities incident to environment as to