The Field for the Methodist Episcopal Church among the Colored People in the South
Part II by Rev. W. Scott Chinn, A.B.
from the book Methodism and the Negro, p. 142

Immediately after the close of the war the Methodist Episcopal Church saw fit to come South and take a hand in the work of redeeming a race just set free. That was a wise and righteous act, despite the present-day harangue and bickerings of those who are ever ready to condemn anything and everything not to their liking.

As proof of its wisdom one need only to "come and see," open his eyes, look around and behold results, marvelous and wonderful, already accomplished by the colored people under the care and tutelage of the Church. This tutelage was a necessity then, and to-day it is still a necessity, and an imminent one, for they are yet in the wilderness. The shackles of slavery are only broken, not off; to rid them of these is now the greater task.

The pillar of cloud that has led them thus far, both by day and night, during all these years, must continue with them. To leave now would mean irretrievable loss and disaster to a struggling people. For, while excellent work has been accomplished, yet greater things must be done ere this people can be or ought to be left alone; and if the Church continues to help and encourage them it will be done.

We have great faith in her and are ready to trust her. The field is ready. Race persecution, lynch and mob rule; economic and vital questions, such as disfranchisement; poor and scant school facilities; unjust courts, together with the restlessness that comes from all of this and other causes, such as a desire upon the part of the leading people of the South to keep the colored man down, are making the field "full ripe" for a rich and full harvest to the Church or people who will step forward and take a stand for this race.

Because of its already well-known attitude to the race question, no other Church better than the Methodist Episcopal can afford to be this "champion." The forty-odd years spent in helping to prepare the race should be marked Volume I, and now let the Church begin Volume II, and while I am not a prophet, nor the son of one, I do say that Volume III will follow as a natural sequence, if it is done.

Examine carefully the journals of the several colored Conferences; study the statistics, and see if the South is not a very inviting and needy field, and one that yields results of which the Church need not feel ashamed.

Let the Church continue in the path of the fathers in its work toward the Negro, and heed not the "false prophet" who will foretell of disaster, and that he is everything else but a man; bear with him kindly, be open and frank with him; cheer him, for he is a brother. Let her continue her policy of teaching and preaching to him; honor her own sons and daughters who labor with and for him, as she does those who go to China, Japan, India. He is loyal—that has been fully tested; docile, meek, and patient. Stand by him and his; he has a threefold burden to bear. As God prospers the Church it is her duty to stay by him and with him. The field is ripe for our Church, and she has just reason to feel proud of her work, for she has not only helped her own among the colored people, but every other Church among the colored people has been helped and made better for her being here; and then so perfect and complete has been her training that not one of her graduates coming from her Freedmen's Aid schools has been guilty of the "nameless crime," nor gone to the penitentiary, nor been hanged. This alone ought to be an argument strong and convincing for the continuance of her very wise policy of education and religious training among so deserving a people.

That there may be need of some change in the method and manner of carrying on the work in this "new South" is highly possible; but God forbid that there will ever be any change in the object and purpose to be attained, that is, the development of a full and perfect man, one capable in every way to take his place by the side of other men. To this end the South offers to the Methodist Episcopal Church a better field than any of the foreign fields, and with less attending ills and aches, and with less sacrifices, for verily the South is being Northernized, and there ought not and must not be any sounding of a retreat, but a call to arms, with a "Forward, march!" and the land taken for God and humanity.