To show how the business was carried on, see the following extracts from a letter of one of their missionaries in Alabama—Rev. W. P. Miller—to the Corresponding Secretary of the Church Extension Society of the M. E. Church, published in the Western Christian Advocate of Jan. 1, 1868:
“There are two churches that I could secure with a little ready money. Can you help us in time of need?
“1. A church, 45 by 55, a plain frame, covered with shingles, good floor, with seats and pulpit, but not ceiled; built during the war, but has never been paid for.
“Last year I raised two hundred and fifty dollars, leaving one hundred and fifty unpaid. The man who owns the land and built the house says if we pay him the hundred and fifty dollars he will give us a deed, but we are so prostrated that we can not do it now. If we fail others will do it, and we will be shut out of doors.
“Another church, 40 by 50, in general description like the first. * * * This house was also built during the war and partly paid for. The builder built on his own land, and was to convey the title when paid for. He died in the war, but his widow says she will give us a deed if we will pay her the balance, one hundred dollars. Please help us, if possible, in this case also.”
They held “Church Extension” meetings in all the Methodist churches in the Northern States to raise funds to meet just such emergencies. An account of a “Church Extension Meeting,” held in Indianapolis, Ind., is given in the Western Christian Advocate of February 19, 1868, soon after Mr. Miller’s letter appeared. The following is an extract:
“At Ashbury chapel Bishop Clarke preached with great power, and in conclusion set forth the claims of the Society. He presented the wants of three Churches in Alabama—one could be saved for fifty dollars, another for one hundred, and a third for one hundred and fifty. The Bishop asked the Church to aid these societies of loyal Christians struggling for an existence, and Asbury most cheerfully responded in a contribution of three hundred dollars.”
Upon the same subject the Northwestern Christian Advocate of March 18, 1868, says:
“When the Church Extension Society was first organized, in commending the new cause to our people, the Bishops in their address said ‘We know of no agency in which the contribution of our people can accomplish a greater amount of good.’ At a later date Bishop Clarke, after a careful survey of the field, and especially of the South, put the case in stronger terms, and said: ‘I do not know where else a man’s money can be used with such certainty of sure and large returns.’”
He then mentions as an illustration the churches reported by Rev. W. P. Miller, and says: “The money was forwarded to Bro. Miller and he has written to the Corresponding Secretary the results, as follows: ‘I have invested the means you sent me, and have secured the two churches of which I wrote; title all right. The churches are frame, and are worth here about $1,000.’”