Enduring Endeavor: How Francis E. Clark Utilized Written Communication, Global Travel, and Organization to Re-Shape the Global Protestant Church's Ministry to Young People through the Christian Endeavor Society

This dissertation is a study of how Francis E. Clark utilized written communication, global travel and organization to re-shape the global Protestant church's ministry to young people through the Christian Endeavor Society. The Church of the late 19th century had a problem. It was losing young people to the expanding entertainments of society. While many of them had connected to a local church when they were young children through Sunday School, they had outgrown that educational ministry of the church. They also were not yet old enough to be a church member and thus could not be active contributors to the work of the church. With no real connection to the church or to Christ, and a growing number of things outside the Church vying for their attention young people were leaving.;Francis E. Clark, a young pastor in Portland, Maine had tried many different things to reach these young people, but all his attempts had failed. Then in February 1881, Clark started the first ever Young Person's Society for Christian Endeavor which would capture young people's attention and keep their focus through its focus on training. This one society of around sixty people would grow and multiply until it reached around the world with over five million members.;This study examines how Francis E. Clark utilized written communication, global travel and organization to re-shape the global Protestant Church's ministry to young people through the Christian Endeavor society. By utilizing these three pieces, Clark would take a fledgling local church ministry with young people and transform it into a world-wide movement that would change the face of the Church.;Clark was a prolific writer and he utilized the new technologies of the day to maximize his audience. Clark helped to start the Christian Endeavor paper first called The Golden Rule, and later termed, Christian Endeavor World. In addition to being the first editor-in-chief, he contributed hundreds of articles and editorials over the years and grew the circulation of the paper into one of the most read Christian youth newspapers in the world. In addition Clark wrote many other articles, letters, and books that he called his "silent missionaries" that he could send all over the world in a moment's notice all in the advocacy of Christian Endeavor and training young people in the church.;In addition, Clark was sometimes called "the most travelled person in the world" because of his many journeys all around the world for the purpose of supporting and encouraging Christian Endeavor. A believer in the capability of young people everywhere, Clark continued to promote Christian Endeavor in his world travels usually in support of the popular Christian Endeavor conventions.;Clark also used his abilities as an administrator and organizer to help Christian Endeavor grow into this worldwide enormous organization. By keeping the organization structure grounded in the local church and compact, Clark was able to keep the vision of Christian Endeavor in place while allowing for great flexibility at the local level. He continually innovated, adapted and challenged the society in ways that would assist in growth.;This dissertation makes several contributions to the areas of youth ministry, globalization and the Protestant church. First, it tells the story of Francis E. Clark. A biography has not been written about Clark in almost a century. His contributions to youth ministry as the church knows it today are unique and long-lasting. Second, it tells the story of the growth of Christian Endeavor under the leadership of Clark. While some books and papers have some sections about Christian Endeavor, none really address the cause of the growth of Christian Endeavor. Third, it identifies the values of Clark and Christian Endeavor --- prizing, preparing, propelling, and promoting young people - that the church today can embrace in efforts to win young people again to Christ and the Church.