CLARK, FRANCIS EDWARD
EDWARD (12 September 1851, Aylmer, Canada- 26 May 1927, Newton, MA). Education: B.A., Dartmouth College, 1873; B.D., Andover Seminary, 1876. Career: Minister, Williston Congregational Church, Portland, ME, 1876-83; minister, Phillips Congregational Church, Boston, 1883-87; president, United Society of Christian Endeavor, 1887-1925; editor, Christian Endeavor World (called Golden Rule, 1886-1897), 1886-1919; president, World's Christian Endeavor Union, 1895-1925.
Since the seventeenth century, Congregationalists had been troubled from time to time with the problem of attracting young people to the church. Early Puritans were bothered with the rarity of conversions among the youngsters of the second generation. And their eighteenth-century descendents were delighted when young parishioners were attracted to the church during the Great Awakening. In the era of the Industrial Revolution no Congregationalist was more active than Francis Edward Clark in harnessing the energies of young people to the church.
Orphaned at age seven and raised by an uncle who was a clergyman, he showed an interest in Christian youth from the first days of his ministry. He appealed to adolescents in his congregation with colorful lectures on such topics as gambling dens and "king" alcohol. He involved them in moral reform and Christian missions through a new organization, the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. In an age of giant corporations, Clark developed his idea into a worldwide Christian Endeavor movement. In 1887 he resigned his pastorate to devote full time to organizing and publicizing youth activities. Eventually there were 80,000 Christian Endeavor societies in forty countries, which met occasionally in world congresses. A meeting on Boston Common in 1895 attracted 56,000 delegates. Clark founded the Golden Rule Company and edited Christian Endeavor World, which reached 100,000 readers.
Cotton Mather* had devoted part of his considerable energies to evangelizing the young people of colonial Boston. Clark's worldwide mission to the young is one measure of the emergence of Congregationalism from a provincial faith to a modem church.
Bibliography
A: Children of the Church (Boston, 1882); Looking Out on Life (Boston, 1892); A New Way around an Old World (New York, 1901); Training the Church of the Future (New York, 1902); The Christian Endeavor Manual (Boston, 1903); Christian Endeavor in All Lands (Philadelphia, 1906); Memories of Many Men in Many Lands (Boston, 1922).
B: DARB, 99-100; SH 3, 125; NCAB 13, 51-52; DAB 4, 126-27; NYT 27 May 1927, 23; William Shaw, The Evolution of an Endeavorer (Boston, 1924); Eugene F. Clark, A Son's Portrait of Dr. Francis E. Clark (Boston, 1930).
Since the seventeenth century, Congregationalists had been troubled from time to time with the problem of attracting young people to the church. Early Puritans were bothered with the rarity of conversions among the youngsters of the second generation. And their eighteenth-century descendents were delighted when young parishioners were attracted to the church during the Great Awakening. In the era of the Industrial Revolution no Congregationalist was more active than Francis Edward Clark in harnessing the energies of young people to the church.
Orphaned at age seven and raised by an uncle who was a clergyman, he showed an interest in Christian youth from the first days of his ministry. He appealed to adolescents in his congregation with colorful lectures on such topics as gambling dens and "king" alcohol. He involved them in moral reform and Christian missions through a new organization, the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. In an age of giant corporations, Clark developed his idea into a worldwide Christian Endeavor movement. In 1887 he resigned his pastorate to devote full time to organizing and publicizing youth activities. Eventually there were 80,000 Christian Endeavor societies in forty countries, which met occasionally in world congresses. A meeting on Boston Common in 1895 attracted 56,000 delegates. Clark founded the Golden Rule Company and edited Christian Endeavor World, which reached 100,000 readers.
Cotton Mather* had devoted part of his considerable energies to evangelizing the young people of colonial Boston. Clark's worldwide mission to the young is one measure of the emergence of Congregationalism from a provincial faith to a modem church.
Bibliography
A: Children of the Church (Boston, 1882); Looking Out on Life (Boston, 1892); A New Way around an Old World (New York, 1901); Training the Church of the Future (New York, 1902); The Christian Endeavor Manual (Boston, 1903); Christian Endeavor in All Lands (Philadelphia, 1906); Memories of Many Men in Many Lands (Boston, 1922).
B: DARB, 99-100; SH 3, 125; NCAB 13, 51-52; DAB 4, 126-27; NYT 27 May 1927, 23; William Shaw, The Evolution of an Endeavorer (Boston, 1924); Eugene F. Clark, A Son's Portrait of Dr. Francis E. Clark (Boston, 1930).
