Youth Led the Way in Fund-Raising for Assembly Auditorium
With the advantage of time, it is easy to see that the year 1929 was a watershed for youth ministry in the Church of God. On October 24, the General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing the Church of God Young People’s Endeavor(YPE) as a national youth organization. Just two months earlier, Alda B. Harrison had begun publishing the church’s youth magazine, The Lighted Pathway.
These advances were the natural outgrowth of earlier efforts. The Church of God declared an interest in youth at least as early as 1906 when the first General Assembly encouraged Sunday schools. And the national YPE was born out of already existing youth programs in Florida and Michigan.
Church of God youth were involved in raising money for the Assembly Auditorium built in Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1920.
A survey of Evangels reveals two interesting youth drives at the beginning of the 1920s. A 1921 drive promoted youth meetings in local churches along with fund-raising for the newly built Assembly auditorium. A 1922 drive focused on youth meetings and fundraising for the Evangel. W.M. Chester organized both drives, encouraged youth to send one dime a week, and suggested that youth could raise as much as $27,000 in a single year.
Although these drives did not reach their monetary goals, many churches established weekly youth nights, and the Evangel regularly reported their activities. Minnie E. Haynes captured the excitement of youth night in Cleveland: “Some of the most wonderful manifestations of the Spirit of God have been witnessed…dancing, singing in the Spirit, playing the piano under the power, and messages and interpretations occurred most every service…God has also rolled the burden and spirit of prayer upon His young children and many souls have been saved, sanctified and filled with the blessed Holy Ghost. Others have been wonderfully healed…” (“Cleveland Young People’s Meeting,” April 2, 1921).
In both spiritual and financial matters, Church of God youth led the way.
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This article was written by Church of God Historian David G. Roebuck, Ph.D., who is director of the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center and assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Lee University. This “Church of God Chronicles” was first published in the October 1999 Church of God Evangel.
