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,464 MISCELLANEOUSfor women, seeking to carry the gospel into the homes, tolead the women by wise methods into the Church, to winthe entire family for Christ.Of 918 Christians there are 376 \vhoseSecondfather and mother, or whose father orGeneration .f ^. ,? XT .,,Christians mother, were Christians. Neither the fatheror mother of 542 were Christians. Fortyoneper cent (41%) arc of Christian parentage, fifty-nineper cent (59%) are of non-Christian parentage. .More thanhalf lack the advantages of a Christian environment and ofChristian training in the home. They therefore deserve ourpatient sympathy. And the Church must work all theharder to make up the loss which they suffer in the lack ofa Christian inheritance.Out of the 918 Christians in IlangchowInfluence635 Qr ^ o/ were firgt reachedor City and by J the.Country Church in .llangchow. Some of these firstheard the gospel in the hospital, others in onechurch or chapel or another. The remainder, 283, or31%, first heard the gospel outside of Hangehow. That isto say, 3 out of every 10 of our Christians are in part or inwhole the product of work done in the country or in othercities.849 Christians described the primaryinfluencetoleading to their conversion asConversion follows : Christian literature, 45, or 5%;Bible study, 53, or 6%; the influence offriends, 55, or 7% the influence of a; teacher, 91, or 11%;home influences, 167, or 20%; the influence of preaching,282, or 33%; miscellaneous influences, 155, or 18%.Among the last named group there were several who spokeof dreams leading them to a final decision, while othersreferred to "conviction of sin," the "desire for salvation,"and to "the influence of the Holy Ghost" as the decidingfactors in their conversion. These answers are worthyof study. May I simply call, attention to two of them?(1) Note the small number who thought to mention Biblestudy as the primary influence leading to their conversion.Ought we not to so organize our Sunday schools as to reachlarger numbers of non-Christians through them? Were we

CITY SURVEYS 465to do this, would we not have more than 53 Christiansgiving Bible study as the chief influence in their conversion? (2) Note, again, the small number who say that thebiggest influence leading to their conversion was the life orexhortation of friends only 56. One of the finest movements within the Church that I came in contact withduring my recent visit in America were the campaigns ofpersonal evangelism. In these campaigns a church or agroup of churches decide on a period say, of thirty daysduring which the members of the church will makespecial efforts to lead their friends to Christ and into HisChurch. The only public meetings held are for workerswho come together for prayer and conference. The firstpublicmeeting to which outsiders are invited is held at theclose of the campaign when those who have been led toChrist are admitted into the Church. In one city inAmerica last year in which all the churches united in sucha campaign for the forty days before Easter the Methodistchurches alone received more than 1700 new members onEaster morning as a result of the . .campaign. .One of thebest results of the campaign is that a large number ofChristians get during the special campaign the habit ofpersonal work. It shows that 4:56 of our members joined^ ie ChurcliEnterinjMhebefore they were twenty years ofChurch aS e 352 - joined between the ages of twentyand forty, while only 130 joined after theywere foi^ years old. That is to say, 47.6%, nearly onehalf, joined in their childhood and youth, 38.3%, joined inearly manhood and during middle life. Church surveys inAmerica show that this is just as true there as here. Howimportant is work for the young We should ! study ourmethods of reaching the young more carefully and greatlyincrease our efforts on their behalf.Of the 918 Christians 307 are underTra?n?n twenty years of age. Modern psychologyChristians teaches us that during the period of adolesforService cence, from thirteen to twenty years of age,is the period during which our characters areformed. During this period we yield readily to influences,

,464 MISCELLANEOUSfor women, seeking to carry the gospel into the homes, tolead the women by wise methods into the Church, to winthe entire family for Christ.Of 918 Christians there are 376 \vhoseSecondfather and mother, or whose father orGeneration .f ^. ,? XT .,,Christians mother, were Christians. Neither the fatheror mother of 542 were Christians. Fortyoneper cent (41%) arc of Christian parentage, fifty-nineper cent (59%) are of non-Christian parentage. .More thanhalf lack the advantages of a Christian environment and ofChristian training in the home. They therefore deserve ourpatient sympathy. And the Church must work all theharder to make up the loss which they suffer in the lack ofa Christian inheritance.Out of the 918 Christians in IlangchowInfluence635 Qr ^ o/ were firgt reachedor City and by J the.Country Church in .llangchow. Some of these firstheard the gospel in the hospital, others in onechurch or chapel or another. The remainder, 283, or31%, first heard the gospel outside of Hangehow. That isto say, 3 out of every 10 of our Christians are in part or inwhole the product of work done in the country or in othercities.849 Christians described the primaryinfluencetoleading to their conversion asConversion follows : Christian literature, 45, or 5%;Bible study, 53, or 6%; the influence offriends, 55, or 7% the influence of a; teacher, 91, or 11%;home influences, 167, or 20%; the influence of preaching,282, or 33%; miscellaneous influences, 155, or 18%.Among the last named group there were several who spokeof dreams leading them to a final decision, while othersreferred to "conviction of sin," the "desire for salvation,"and to "the influence of the Holy Ghost" as the decidingfactors in their conversion. These answers are worthyof study. May I simply call, attention to two of them?(1) Note the small number who thought to mention Biblestudy as the primary influence leading to their conversion.Ought we not to so organize our Sunday schools as to reachlarger numbers of non-Christians through them? Were we

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