Christian Endeavor History

Pennsylvania Christian Endeavor is an interdenominational youth organization. Christian Endeavor was founded on February 2nd, 1881 by Francis E. Clark, Pastor of the Williston Congregational Church in Portland, Maine. He had a great concern for the youth who had made a clear decision to accept Christ, but were not involved in the church's activities. An invitation was extended to the young people of the congregation to come to the parsonage Sunday afternoon February 2nd. The topic of discussion was to be "Where do we go from here?"

The young people, along with Pastor Clark composed a constitution for their newly formed group which read in part:

This society shall be called "The Williston Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor." Its object shall be to promote an earnest Christian life among its members, to increase their mutual acquaintance, and to make them more useful in the service of God. Each member is expected to attend all the meetings of the society unless there is a reason acceptable to Christ.

At the close of this meeting, fifty-seven young people signed the first draft of that constitution and Christian Endeavor has since grown into a world-wide ministry for young people, training them for leadership in the church.