Clark had relied for years upon prevailing wisdom that entertainment, mutual improvement and literary societies would sustain young people's interest in Christian church work.

[9] This situation was addressed at the 1886 Chicago General Convention with a proposal to create a national youth society called the Young People's Missionary Association (Y.P M.A.).

[11] Also closely associated with the formation of this Christian Endeavor Society was Albert G. Grier, a principal in the local school system.

Roblin recruited Cardall and Grier, who had just formed the local Bay City Christian Endeavor Society, and Fisher and Tillinghast, publishers of the Universalist Union, to conduct a correspondence campaign.

If interested, youth groups were encouraged to send delegates to an organizing meeting to take place a day before the General Convention in Lynn, Massachusetts.

assumed responsibility for the publication of the Universalist Union, changing the name to Onward, and modified the format from a monthly to weekly magazine.

branded colors (blue for truth, white for purity), motto ("For Christ and His Church"), hymn ("Follow the Gleam") and watchword ("Onward!").

Finally, to provide an organizational structure for young Universalists who did not have a local church community, the Union at Large concept was introduced in 1892, with Sarah B. Hammond being appointed its first national superintendent.

William H. McGlauflin; granting its secretary a salary; adopting a temperance position; organizing a Post Office Mission for the distribution of religious literature; establishing a funding mechanism called the Two Cent a Week for Missions; explicitly denominationally rebranding the group by appending "of the Universalist Church" to the group's name; and the appointment of Rev.

Northern businessmen through the Tennessee Land Company were making substantial investments in Harriman to exploit abundant coal, iron, timber and limestone resources.

turned its attention to Atlanta in 1895, the fortunes of the Grace Universalist Church reflected the economic downward trajectory of Harriman.

Herman A. Bisbee briefly served as the society's first minister before he accepted a call in November 1866 to the Universalist church in nearby St. Anthony, Minnesota.

However, based on a review of newspaper announcements in the St. Paul Globe during this period, the Ladies Aid Society of the First Universalist Church continued to hold the small liberal community together.

Notices posted in the Daily Arkansas Gazette showed that Universalist Sunday school was regularly held in 1899 in rented space at the Congregational Church at the corner of Eleventh and Main streets.

turned its missionary zeal toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was the last major church building effort by the youth group.

[47] About the time that Robinson was exploring fellowship with the Universalists, Chattanooga became the focal point of a multi-year search for a site to build a church to honor Rev.

In 1911, four possible locations for the construction of a Shinn Memorial church were discussed at the General Convention: Houston, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Chattanooga, Tennessee and Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

[50] Three weeks later, in a front-page article in the August 1, 1914, edition of Onward, Unioners were implored to "Let the slogan 'Chattanooga and Work' be ours for the coming year."

The institute's summer programs were designed to train workers for service in Sunday schools, young people's societies and missionary work.

[54] In spite of starting with a surplus of funds after the church was built, the congregation frequently had financial trouble and had to depend on denominational aid.

To extend the light into the dark places and to proclaim the gospel of our church where hitherto no voice has been raised in its behalf is the sphere of this mission.

[57] The national-level Post Office Mission leadership encouraged local Unions to maintain literature tables or racks in the vestibules of their churches.

Contributing to the decline was the continued need for local funds and the inability to concretely measure the Post Office Mission's success.

He went on to recommend that the function of the Post Office Mission, "to sow the seed, trusting that the fruit would follow", be transferred to another department called the Union-at-Large.

convention, held in the United Liberal Church of Atlanta, a joint Unitarian-Universalist congregation, was "one of tension and crisis from beginning to end.

"[60] The youth group faced shrinking membership, increasing deficits, and an uncertain future for Onward, and needed to answer the question of merger with the Unitarian Young People's Religious Union (Y.P.R.U.).

The problem with Onward was addressed by changing its format back to a monthly magazine with a four-page limit focused on news bulletins and less on "abstract articles…little read and little needed".

Manpower demands from World War II significantly diminished the UYF leadership ranks that came primarily from those preparing for the ministry at Tufts College.

In late 1945 they cooperated on the publication of two small magazine-size digests called Youth for Action that focused on social service.

The publication regularly contained appeals to feed starving Czech and Dutch people and photographs of students rebuilding Stalingrad.