CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR, YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETY OF, a society dis tinctly religious in all its features: or ganized Feb. 2, 1881, in Williston Church, Portland, Me., by the Rev. Francis E. Clark, D. D. From one small association it has expanded into over 77,500 societies (United States, 51,268; Canada, 4,118; foreign countries 22,181), with an aggre gate membership of over 5,000,000. In addition to the main organizations in the United States there are various special branches, such as the Life Savers', insti tuted by the Rev. S. Edward Young, at the United States Life-Saving Station at Asbury Park, N. J.; the Travelers' Christian Endeavor Union, organized at Philadelphia, Nov. 14, 1892, for work among commercial travelers; the Float ing societies for work in the United States navy and among seamen general ly; and various other organizations whose fields of labor lie among the Chi nese, the Indiana convicts in prison, etc.
The first Christian Endeavor Society in England was organized in 1887, and was followed by similar ones in other coun tries, and the constitution has been print ed in over 30 different languages. The movement is not a denominational one. Any society belonging to an evangelical Church, which adopts the leading prin ciples as set forth in the constitution, in cluding the prayer-meeting pledge, and which guarantees these principles by the name Christian Endeavor either alone or in connection with a denominational name is admitted to all the privileges of the organization.
The distinctive features in the Chris tian Endeavor movement are its work among the young people, leading them to consecrate their lives to the active service of God; the weekly prayer-meetings, which each member takes a solemn pledge to attend regularly (unless unavoidably detained), and to take part in; and the reconsecration meetings held once a month, at which special efforts are made to see if each one has been faithful to his pledges. The World's Union of Chris tian Endeavor held its first triennial con vention at Washington, D. C., in July, 1896, which was attended by representa tives from all over the world. Since then several international conferences have been held, the last at Buffalo, N. Y., in August, 1919. The United Society of Christian Endeavor is a central body formed in 1885, with headquarters in Boston. It publishes the "Christian En deavor World." The president of the religious society in 1919 was Rev, Francis E. Clark, and the general sec retary, William Shaw.