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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Church Cooperation in Community Life, by Paul L. Vogt.
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Church Cooperation in Community Life, by Paul L. Vogt
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Church Cooperation in Community Life
+
+Author: Paul L. Vogt
+
+Release Date: July 23, 2008 [EBook #26114]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHURCH COOPERATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tom Roch, Karen Dalrymple, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images produced by Core Historical
+Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h1>
+Church Cooperation<br />
+in Community Life
+</h1>
+
+<h3>
+<span class="medium">By</span><br />
+PAUL L. VOGT
+</h3>
+
+<div class="center"><b>
+THE ABINGDON PRESS<br />
+NEW YORK&nbsp;  CINCINNATI
+</b></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<br /><br />
+Copyright, 1921, by<br />
+PAUL L. VOGT<br /><br /><br />
+
+Printed in the<br />
+United States of America
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+<div class="center">
+<br /><br />
+TO<br />
+<span class="large">MY FATHER AND MOTHER</span><br />
+WHOSE PUBLIC-SPIRITED AND LIFELONG LOYALTY TO<br />
+RELIGIOUS WORK IN A COUNTRY COMMUNITY<br />
+HAS BEEN A CONSTANT INSPIRATION<br />
+TO CHRISTIAN SERVICE
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class="medium">
+<span style="margin-left: 10%;">CHAPTER</span>  <span class="linenum">PAGE</span>
+</div>
+<div class="toc">
+<span style="margin-left: 13.5%;"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></span> <span class="linenum"> <a href='#Page_7'>7</a></span>
+</div>
+
+<ol class="toc">
+<li><span class="chapline">Some Preliminary Definitions</span>  <span class="linenum">  <a href='#Page_9'>9</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">The Basis for Community Service</span>  <span class="linenum">  <a href='#Page_26'>26</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">The Economic Challenge to the Church</span>  <span class="linenum"> <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">The Social Challenge to the Church</span>  <span class="linenum">  <a href='#Page_69'>69</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">Building for Community Service</span>  <span class="linenum"> <a href='#Page_84'>84</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">The Church and Rural Public Thought</span>  <span class="linenum">  <a href='#Page_94'>94</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">Adjusting the Local Church to the Community</span> <span class="linenum"> <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">Interdenominational Readjustment</span>  <span class="linenum"><a href='#Page_124'>124</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">The Church and Other Rural Agencies</span>  <span class="linenum"> <a href='#Page_142'>142</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">Missionary Programs and Rural Community Service</span><span class="linenum">  <a href='#Page_152'>152</a></span></li>
+
+<li><span class="chapline">Summary and Conclusion</span>  <span class="linenum">  <a href='#Page_169'>169</a></span></li>
+
+</ol>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2>
+
+
+<p>Many books have been written during the past few years on the rural
+church. Some of these have given excellent concrete illustrations of
+methods that are proving successful in solving local problems. Others
+have discussed the general rural church situation. The rural life
+movement, however, has been so rapid that it is believed that a brief
+restatement of the place of the church in the rural life movement is
+desirable at the present time.</p>
+
+<p>It has been the task and privilege of the writer for the past four
+years to be almost constantly in the field traveling from the Atlantic
+to the Pacific and from Canadian border to the limits of Florida and
+getting so far as possible first-hand impressions of rural church and
+community conditions. It is the purpose of the present essay to
+discuss some of the general problems in rural life presenting
+themselves to the religious forces of America, and to note some
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>conclusions as to the next steps to be taken if these forces are to
+render the service in rural advance that it is believed is theirs to
+render. Suggestions as to local programs will be made only as evidence
+that when the church undertakes in an adequate manner the solution of
+problems whose solution is demanded of it, it receives both the moral
+and the financial support of the people served. The chapters on phases
+of the local program are intended only to help in preparing the way
+for the larger service contemplated.</p>
+
+<p>As with individuals, so it is with institutions. It is difficult to
+discuss the place of different organizations in the rural life
+movement without arousing the antagonism of leaders in the respective
+organizations. It is hoped that the point of view held will be
+accepted as one of sympathy for the efforts of all organizations
+concerned and that the purpose of the discussion is to point the way
+toward a larger cooperation resulting from a better understanding of
+the work that may be expected of each.</p>
+
+<div class="right smcap">Paul L. Vogt.</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>SOME PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS</h3>
+
+
+<p>When one begins to discuss a subject it helps very much if his readers
+know what he has in mind in the terms used. In the title selected for
+this text there are at least three words that need definition.
+Probably no reader will agree fully with any of the definitions given,
+but an attempt to define should at least help the reader to understand
+better in what sense the terms are used by the writer.</p>
+
+<p>The term "community" has come into such common use that it might be
+assumed that definition is unnecessary. And yet when learned bodies
+get together to discuss community problems a large part of the time is
+usually taken up in attempting to define what the different speakers
+are talking about.</p>
+
+<p>When the writer lived in the open country several years ago he went to
+Mifflin Center<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> school and attended Wesley Chapel church. The
+schoolhouse and the church were located at the same crossroads, and
+these two institutions drew for their constituency from an area of
+about four square miles for the school and a somewhat larger area for
+the church. Brownstown school, to the south, Hendrickson's to the
+east, and Whetstone to the west made up other school communities.
+Pleasant Grove church, Salem, and Brownstown, with a different
+territory covered by each, made up church areas that did not coincide
+with the school areas bounding Mifflin Center school territory. In
+like manner, when trading was to be done, Upper Sandusky and Kirby,
+five and six miles away, were the centers to which everybody went,
+generally on Saturday afternoon, when friends from other sections of
+the county might be found on the streets. The boundaries of the trade
+center were thus much larger than those of either the school or the
+church. In politics, the center of interest of the particular township
+with which the writer was concerned was the old schoolhouse turned
+into a township house at Mifflin Center, the location of the church
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> school. The local political interests of the other communities
+mentioned were at the appointed places in the respective townships.
+The seat of justice was for some time in the parlor of the writer's
+father's residence, or in the front yard, to which court was
+occasionally adjourned when weather conditions permitted. In a larger
+way county courts were held at the county seat, as were other of the
+larger political activities.</p>
+
+<p>One could go on indefinitely illustrating the boundaries of interests
+of various kinds. Some of them centered in the State House; others in
+the national Capitol; and many a wordy political battle was fought in
+the little country section over the question as to whether the
+protective tariff or the Democratic party was responsible for the hard
+times the farmers and others were suffering. There were even world
+interests involved, as during the Spanish-American War or the
+Venezuelan difficulty during Cleveland's administration.</p>
+
+<p>This concrete illustration both raises the question, Which of these is
+the "community?" and also points the way to the answer. None of the
+groupings mentioned can be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> considered "<i>the</i> community." Yet each is
+"<i>a</i> community." A "community" is a psychical and not a physical
+thing. It can only approximately be bounded by physical lines. In the
+last analysis the true "community" is nothing more nor less than that
+group of two or more individuals who are bound together by a single
+interest. Thus two people living within sight of one another may be
+members of the same religious community and at the same time be
+absolutely separated from one another in their political affiliations.
+Also one person can at the same time belong to many "communities."</p>
+
+<p>But this definition, if adhered to strictly, would lead to confusion
+of thought perhaps more serious than a less accurate use of the term.
+Careful investigation of the relation of the different psychic
+communities to one another reveals the fact that geographically the
+areas of individual community interest overlap one another; and that
+in the better organized regions the centers of interests coincide and
+it is only the boundaries of the several interests that are not
+coterminous. The Mifflin Center illustration given above is good in
+that it had the religious, educational<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> and political interests
+centered at one physical spot. The social and recreational life of a
+large part of this local area also was centered here. In the other
+local groups mentioned there was a division of interest much more
+marked. A more practical definition, then, of a "community" would be
+"That aggregation of population which is bound together by a
+predominating proportion of its local interests."</p>
+
+<p>If this definition is accepted, then an inspection of almost any local
+aggregation, in the open country at least, will lead to the conclusion
+that there are few groups of people who have any large number of local
+interests in common. Perhaps the most powerful force to be considered
+in determining what is an open country community is that of the social
+life. People in a given section habitually seek those with whom they
+are best acquainted when they get together for social affairs of
+interest outside the family circle; and it is only occasionally that
+the mass will go out of these habitual associations in seeking social
+relaxation. This social life may be sought at one time in the school,
+at another in the church, again at a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> picnic, or in the home of some
+one in the "neighborhood." But the dominating factor is
+acquaintanceship rather than religion or education or business.</p>
+
+<p>Villages are more easily defined as to the number of interests holding
+the group together.</p>
+
+<p>One principal objective in the modern local community organization
+movement seems to be to bring together at some central point the focal
+points of as many local interests as possible, thus strengthening the
+community bonds and increasing the community consciousness. As this
+end is achieved the necessity for the strict definition given above
+disappears and the "community" becomes <i>that aggregation of people the
+majority of whose local interests have a common center</i>. This is the
+sense in which the term will be used in this discussion.</p>
+
+<p>The term "rural" likewise conveys a different thought to different
+people. Indeed, so likely has the term been to mislead that in a
+recent national survey of religious conditions, the term was abandoned
+and "town and country" substituted. The simpler plan is to arrive at a
+definition of the word "rural"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> which will include what the latter
+term connotes. To confuse "rural" with "agricultural" is to ignore
+both the past and the present in movements of population and in
+organization of interests. To an increasing degree the interests of
+the open country are centering in the village, or even larger centers.
+So that in discussing the problems of the agricultural population it
+is often necessary to make the center of discussion the organization
+of the village with an agricultural environment. The better plan is to
+definitely discuss the problems of the open country under the term
+"agricultural" and retain the other term for all interests of groups
+of population in smaller communities, whether in the open country or
+in the villages. In general, the division of the United States Census
+will be observed and the term "rural" regularly applied to all groups
+of under two thousand five hundred population.</p>
+
+<p>At a recent meeting of country ministers an attempt was made to define
+what is the problem of the rural church. The definition as framed is
+herewith presented: "The rural task of the church is the nurture and
+development<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> of all phases of human welfare in those communities where
+the general life and thinking of the people are related to matters
+which pertain to material natural resources."</p>
+
+<p>This definition is inadequate from the administrative point of view in
+that it would exclude the small manufacturing community, the
+educational center, the summer and winter resort communities, and
+similar specialized groups where population is small. The problems of
+these small communities not directly related to material natural
+resources have many characteristics in common with those included in
+the above definition. Size of community has much to do with the type
+of problem presented; and the one who understands the problems of the
+agricultural village is probably better able to deal with the problems
+of the villages of the type mentioned than is the one trained for
+service in a metropolitan center.</p>
+
+<p>The term "church" is here used in the sense of including all religious
+forces in rural life. The Sunday School Association, the Christian
+Associations, Church Federations, and other groups allied to the
+church are included in the general term.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Manifold Functions of the Church</span></h4>
+
+<p>The church is the only agency in existence that is concerned with man
+in all his relationships. It is concerned with keeping alive in human
+consciousness the existence of a Divine Being and of man's
+relationship to that Being. It is the only agency that proceeds on the
+theory of the immortality of the human soul and that has a program of
+preparing the soul for a life after death. In common with other
+agencies the church is concerned with the individual life of man on
+this earth and endeavors to lead human beings to that course of life
+which will result in the maximum of personal spiritual welfare. And in
+common with other agencies it is concerned with man in his relations
+to others and to his material environment because these relationships
+have a vital effect on his spiritual life.</p>
+
+<p>A full analysis of the functions of the church would include a
+discussion of those features of church work which have to do with
+man's relation to God and to an immortal existence. But in a
+discussion of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> church in relation to the community it is not
+necessary to consider man's relation to God nor to a future life
+except in so far as beliefs in such relationships influence his
+personal welfare on this earth or his relationships to his fellow man.
+Thus this discussion falls in the field of sociology rather than in
+the field of theology or psychology. A casual observation of the
+forces at work in human relationships, especially in the smaller
+communities, leads quickly to the conclusion that beliefs both with
+reference to God and to a future life have a vital effect on social
+conduct. But it is the effect instead of the truth of beliefs that is
+the subject matter to be considered.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus defined the field of our discussion both as to subject
+matter and as to the phase of the interests of the church to be
+considered, it is next in order to note the size of the task.</p>
+
+<p>According to the census of 1920, 50,866,899 people in the United
+States lived in rural territory, that is, in communities of less than
+2,500 population. This was 48.1 per cent of the total. For the first
+time in the history of the country the records showed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> a larger
+proportion of the total population living in urban centers than in
+villages or in the open country. The population in incorporated
+villages of less than 2,500 population was 9,864,196, or 9.3 per cent
+of the total, while that in unincorporated or open country communities
+was 41,002,703 or 38.8 per cent, as compared with 8.8 per cent and
+44.8 per cent respectively in 1910.</p>
+
+<p>The total rural population increase was but 1,518,986, or 3.1 per
+cent. Incorporated village increase was 1,745,371, or 21.5 per cent,
+while the unincorporated community population actually decreased
+227,355, or .6 per cent.</p>
+
+<p>These figures indicate two conclusions of importance to our
+discussion. The first is that the villages of less than 2,500
+inhabitants are sharing with the large centers in the general increase
+in population. Their increase proportionately is not so marked as is
+that of the extremely large centers, but it is sufficiently marked to
+indicate that they offer opportunities that attract more than does the
+open country. This village growth must be reckoned with in determining
+policies of location of church buildings and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> type of local church
+program for community service.</p>
+
+<p>The second conclusion is that the open country is still at a
+disadvantage so far as its possibilities of supporting a large
+population are concerned. Actual depopulation of the open country, the
+enlargement of the size of farms, the abandonment of acreage once
+under cultivation, which preliminary figures issued by the Census
+Bureau indicate, show that not yet is the demand for agricultural
+products such as to make a much larger open country population
+possible. This fact also points the direction for readjustment of
+rural community life.</p>
+
+<p>The data from the religious census of the United States, taken in
+1916, while not classified as rural and urban, give hopeful figures as
+to the progress of religious institutions in this country. While the
+total population of the United States increased during the decade
+1910-20, 14.9 per cent, the church membership from 1906-1916 increased
+19.6 per cent. The total church membership increase, 6,858,796, was
+50.2 per cent of 13,710,842, the increase in total population. These
+figures of church <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>membership increase, covering a period before the
+European war began to affect this country seriously, indicate that the
+general rising ethical standards of American life have had their
+reflection in the larger personal as well as financial support of the
+religious forces.</p>
+
+<p>While data are not available as to the proportion of rural and urban
+population belonging to church, the census gives figures as to the
+church membership in communities of over 25,000 population. According
+to census estimates, 32.7 per cent of the population lived in cities
+of over that population in 1916. The religious census shows that 36.5
+per cent of the church membership lived in communities of that size.
+Contrary to popular impression, the larger centers actually have a
+larger proportionate church membership than do the smaller
+communities. The facts show that the problem of advance of the
+Christian Church is more of a small-community problem than it is of
+the larger centers.</p>
+
+<p>While the proportion of the total population belonging to church
+increased from 38.1 per cent in 1906 as compared with the 1910<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+population to 39.6 per cent in 1916 as compared with the 1920
+population, the magnitude of the unfinished task is still almost
+staggering. If the proportion for rural America were the same as for
+the country as a whole, there would be 20,143,292 people not belonging
+to church. Church membership, of course, is not the only criterion of
+the influence of the church; nor would all denominations admit that
+all the people should belong to church, since some would not accept
+children not yet having reached the age of accountability. But in any
+case Christian America is not Christian even in church membership.
+This does not take into account matters of social and economic
+relationships which the spirit of Christianity has not yet penetrated
+and by which church members as well as nonmembers are bound.</p>
+
+<p>More than 50,000,000 rural folk rising to a consciousness of their
+inherent solidarity and community of interest, and more than
+20,000,000 of these not affiliated with any religious organization,
+present a challenge for trained leadership unequaled in the history of
+the world. Urban interests have grown powerful. Urban life has rapidly
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>advanced for at least the more favored groups until it has far
+outstripped conditions in rural communities that go to make up the
+best in modern civilization and culture. Germs have been found in the
+"Old Oaken Bucket" in the country, while the scourge of typhoid has
+been banished from the city, and the "Church in the Dell" has crumbled
+in decay, while the metropolitan pulpit has taken the best leadership
+for its own. The country has been unable to compete with the urban
+centers for educational, religious, or social leadership because
+wealth has accumulated in the cities. Rural population has declined
+because the prizes in wealth accumulation were in the cities and
+because it was easier to secure those things there that people have
+learned to value as most worth while, in good housing, medical
+attendance, education, and recreation. While city poets have sung the
+praises of country life, many people who have lived in the country and
+endured the long hours and little pay from husbandry have, like the
+Arab, folded their tents and slipped away; and when once they have
+tasted the advantages of urban life, have not returned.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+<p>No civilization can be wholesome or permanent so long as any one great
+group is permanently handicapped in its struggle for economic or
+social welfare. So long as any group is evidently at a disadvantage
+the shift of population from the less-favored to the better-favored
+groups will continue; that is, unless castes are formed which compel
+people to remain permanently in one group or the other. And this does
+not happen in modern democratic society. And so long as there is a
+continuous shift of population in one direction or another we have
+evidence that conditions are such as to induce the shift.</p>
+
+<p>It is the existence of conditions such as these that makes the
+challenge for a trained loyal service on the part of those selected to
+attend to matters concerned with rural public welfare.</p>
+
+<p>It is the purpose of the following pages to outline briefly some of
+the conditions to which the church must give attention if it is to
+meet the demand now made upon it by modern rural life. It is not
+intended to be a treatise on practical theology in the sense
+ordinarily accepted in courses on that subject. Very little attention
+will be given to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> matters of organization or administration of the
+local church. It is believed that if only ministers of the gospel can
+once attain an adequate grasp of the purposes of religious service,
+the matter of method of accomplishing results may be left largely to
+the pastors themselves. On the other hand, emphasis upon method, which
+seems to be demanded by many ministers instead of knowledge of ends to
+be attained, is more than likely to lead to overorganization, or
+organization not adapted to objectives. One of the essentials in all
+leadership is that of having definite objectives toward which to work,
+and it is the purpose of this text to call the attention to objectives
+and to organization, both local and general, adapted to the attainment
+of objectives rather than the methods of attaining them.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The past few years have witnessed a marked widening of the concept of
+the functioning of the church. But there is still considerable
+question concerning the basis for the program of church work that now
+bids fair to become conventional. Not long ago the writer attended a
+convention of a state social welfare association. Over three hundred
+and fifty persons were in attendance representing the leading agencies
+for the advance of social welfare in the entire commonwealth, both
+urban and rural. Careful inquiry revealed the fact that but one
+minister had registered, and he was on the program. On the other hand,
+it is the rare occurrence for those professionally interested in
+social service to be present at a convention of representatives of
+religious orders. In practice there is still a clean-cut dividing line
+between those interested in social progress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> and those engaged in
+so-called religious work. The social workers are not irreligious; many
+of them believe their service to be of the highest type of religious
+expression. The representatives of the church are welcomed by social
+workers into their councils, but it is feared that often these
+representatives are not taken seriously because for so long they have
+had a program that affected social welfare in but an indirect way. The
+time has come when representatives of the church should accept their
+rightful position as leaders in all movements that tend to make human
+existence more Christ-like and to make the kingdom of heaven on earth
+more of a reality.</p>
+
+<p>The reason for the attitude of both ministers and people toward the
+church has been the emphasis placed upon individual regeneration as
+the sole and all-important method of advancing the Kingdom. The
+"conversion" of the individual would lead him into right conduct. When
+all individuals were converted then the kingdom of heaven would indeed
+be at hand.</p>
+
+<p>But the advance of social science has made clear the fact that the
+individual is very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> largely the expression of the group in which he
+lives. Custom, convention, fashion, public opinion, and other group
+influences go far to determine what individual thought and action will
+be in any given group. The Tennessee mountaineer has a different
+standard of what constitutes true religion from that of the New
+England Unitarian. The code of race relationships in Mississippi is
+not the same as that in Wisconsin. The standards of the boy's "gang"
+determine largely the dress, the ideals, and habits not only of youth
+but of the coming man. Even in the life of the individual different
+standards exist suitable to the several groups in which he carries on
+his habitual activities. The capitalist who corrupts Legislatures with
+impunity in business or who prevents child-labor legislation may be a
+model Christian gentleman in his home and church life.</p>
+
+<p>It is admitted that in the last analysis the group mind can have its
+existence only in the individual minds that compose it. But it is also
+true that when we consider the minds of individuals working in groups
+with the consciousness of what the reactions of others are, the
+results are different from what they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> are when the individual acts
+alone. Moreover, individuals as a class react in much the same way to
+stimuli that affect all of the members of the group at a given time.
+If the price of milk is raised so that there is suspicion of
+profiteering, common resentment appears. If the leadership of a
+political party is threatened, the politician, even though he loses
+leadership, rarely bolts his group. Instead he finds some excuse for
+standing by the party organization. It is not necessary to alter the
+minds of all individuals by "conversion" in the conventional manner
+either to change public opinion, alter physical conditions, or change
+the form of social organization. When these changes are effected in
+the minds of the controlling elements of the group, then the entire
+public mind and social organization are altered and the social process
+goes on stimulated in newer and, it is hoped, better directions.</p>
+
+<p>One or two illustrations should make this point clearer. Several years
+ago it was the custom to use common drinking cups on railways. When
+first legislation was passed to prevent such use, considerable public
+opinion opposed it as foolish. Now, it is difficult<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> to get any one to
+touch a common drinking cup even in the home. Before the elimination
+of the saloon powerful and sometimes very respectable forces were
+lined up in favor of its continuance. But as soon as the fight against
+the saloon had been carried to the point of its legal elimination many
+of those who once supported the barroom because of the profit to them
+became its opponents. Formerly the saloon was a center for the
+corruption of many if not most of the youth in the community. Now,
+most communities are bringing up a far higher grade of young people
+morally than they once were because it is no longer necessary to fight
+against this center of immoral infection.</p>
+
+<p>The lesson these illustrations should teach is this: that the
+conventional method used by the churches during the past half century
+of depending almost entirely upon individual regeneration through
+personal appeal as a means of salvation of the race has handicapped
+the church and limited its effectiveness. When it is once understood
+that the mind and the character of the individual can be influenced in
+as many ways as there are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> social contacts, and when the means of
+approach through all these contacts is understood, then the
+effectiveness of the church will be immeasurably increased. Social
+life must be saved not only through individual regeneration but also
+through the establishment of a right attitude on the part of the
+individual and as many individuals as possible. On the other hand,
+individual attitudes can be established in large part by bringing
+about, through means now fairly well understood, good economic
+conditions and social organization.</p>
+
+<p>The sad part about the traditional limited method of approach to
+improvement of group life has been that in probably the majority of
+cases impulses were aroused by personal appeal to do good and then
+through ignorance of objectives in group advance those impulses were
+allowed to die. The "backslider" is an excellent illustration of the
+results of periodic renewal of impulse to right living. In most other
+cases the impulses thus aroused have found their expression in a
+hypersensitiveness in regard to certain phases of personal conduct.
+Emphasis upon personal moral conduct to the exclusion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> of effective
+interest in social progress characterized much of the product of the
+personal evangelistic campaigns carried on periodically during the
+past two or three generations, while the real work of making the world
+better has been directed by men and women not particularly subject to
+these periodical waves of religious impulses but imbued with a steady
+abiding faith in the worth of social action. They have had the good
+impulses, but these impulses have been steadied and rendered
+permanently valuable because faith based on knowledge of objectives
+was available.</p>
+
+<p>If the serious errors of the past are to be avoided it will be
+necessary for those intrusted with responsibilities of church
+leadership to vastly increase their knowledge of problems of group
+life and of methods of control of group life. The following pages are
+designed to aid the prospective religious leader, either professional
+or lay, as far as possible in understanding some of the problems that
+must be dealt with in making human life what Christianity hopes for.
+Results already have been achieved sufficient to place beyond question
+the principle that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> church must approach life from every possible
+angle. The effort to produce right attitudes in the individual must be
+continued, but the methods used must be varied and multiplied.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, before the sound point of view with reference to the
+method of approach to the problems of the church can be obtained it
+will be necessary to have a clear understanding as to the place of the
+child in the moral order. Those who derive their theology by reading
+and interpreting isolated passages of the Scriptures sometimes arrive
+at unexpected, and, from the point of view of rational living,
+eccentric and positively harmful conclusions. Some devoted readers
+find in the writings of Paul something about "Whereas in Adam all die,
+in Christ all are made alive"; and in Christ's words the utterance to
+Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again he shall not enter the kingdom
+of heaven." They have drawn from these doctrines that all men are born
+with sin inherent in their natures and that there is no good in the
+soul until "conversion" has taken place. So long as these doctrines
+find a place in the preaching and practice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> of churches the method of
+world salvation will be radically different from that for which the
+writer is contending.</p>
+
+<p>In brief, if the words of Christ are taken at their face value when he
+said "Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the
+kingdom of heaven," we have an entirely different basis of approach to
+our problem than if we assume that all are lost except those upon whom
+the mystical influence of "conversion" in the traditional sense has
+operated. If the assumption that children are born good is accepted,
+then we are brought to the question, "How may these innocents be kept
+so?" The answer is, By training them to control their natural
+impulses, good in themselves but likely to lead into wrong if not
+properly directed; and by cultivating the natural tendencies to good
+that find expression in every normal child. They must also be brought
+to an understanding of what Christ means to them as their Saviour and
+Guide. Then this must be supplemented as rapidly as possible by the
+organization of group life, in such a way that evil influences will be
+eliminated.</p>
+
+<p>The saloon was not many years ago the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> center of corruption of
+thousands&mdash;yes, millions&mdash;of the growing youth of this country. The
+elimination of the saloon has made possible the development of
+millions of young people free from the particular type of sinfulness
+for which the saloon was responsible. In like manner, the elimination
+of commercialized vice has rendered our cities incomparably safer for
+our young men and women than they once were. The substitution of
+wholesome amusement for young folks in good environment for the
+unregulated commercialized amusements once the sole source of
+recreation has exerted a moral influence too far-reaching to be
+estimated. The introduction of cooperation in industry has eliminated
+the sin accompanying the fights between capital and labor in those
+industries where it has been introduced. These illustrations show how
+it is possible, by continuing the improvement of social and economic
+conditions to create such an environment as will destroy the sources
+of individual corruption and degeneration and will make the growth of
+the child a continuous succession of stages of spiritual improvement
+and growth. "Conversion" can thus conceivably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> become a conscious
+personal acceptance of Christ and of the principles of Christianity as
+the normal basis for right living without a noticeable break in the
+course or direction of life rather than the intense emotional
+cataclysm that so often characterized the change in hardened sinners.</p>
+
+<p>When children good by nature are brought up in an environment physical
+and spiritual that has been brought into harmony with the laws of God,
+then the problems of evil will be reduced to those arising out of
+natural causes over which man has not achieved control; and children
+will be looked upon as the natural and rightful members of the church
+instead of being kept out of the church until they reach the age of
+accountability. The burden of getting out of the church should be put
+on the child instead of the usual responsibility of deciding to come
+into it.</p>
+
+<p>It is customary for leaders of the church to assume credit for
+practically all the good things going on in the direction of human
+improvement by assuming that, though the church does not have a large
+membership, comparatively speaking, its influence has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>inspired the
+good work being done in social progress. It is well to face frankly
+the fact that, whatever may have been the situation in the past, at
+the present it is questionable whether the church has been the source
+of even the larger portion of this inspiration. The public schools,
+including the higher institutions of learning, have been socializing
+the future leaders in social progress so that their inspiration has
+been drawn from a concrete knowledge of social problems and from the
+belief that humanity can, by proper effort, control conditions of
+living. Then pragmatic results have furthered this belief until
+inspiration has come from the achievement of results themselves rather
+than from any recognition of Christian influence in social life. The
+Christian religion is doubtless responsible for those things most
+worth while in modern life, but other sources of inspiration have
+developed for which Christianity does not get the credit.</p>
+
+<p>The conclusion of the whole matter is that in the past two or three
+generations two marked divisions have grown up, the one a section or
+wing inside the church which has placed sole emphasis upon individual
+regeneration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> as the method of social progress; the other largely
+outside the church, with emphasis upon social reform as the method of
+advance. What is needed is a widening of the field so that the methods
+of social improvement proved to be of value by social workers will be
+adopted as valid methods of bringing about the kingdom of God. On the
+other hand, social workers must give more attention to the
+regeneration of the individual. When each of these groups recognizes
+the value of the program of the other, then it will be difficult to
+distinguish longer between churchmen and social workers. The two
+groups will, in fact, join hands, and by unifying and coordinating
+efforts will work more effectively in attaining a common aim. The
+basis, then, for the program for the church which will touch all
+phases of human interest in a vital way is that every human interest
+has its effect on the welfare of the soul. And a program that fails to
+take into account every approach to the individual can at least be but
+partial.</p>
+
+<p>Again, it will be necessary to revise popular impression as to just
+what is spiritual. The farmer who after having a most unusual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+"spiritual experience" at a revival service angrily opposed a local
+movement for consolidation of schools because such a move would
+increase taxes had an idea of religion that was strictly personal&mdash;and
+anti-social. The church leader who feared that the encouragement of
+social-center activities by the church would ultimately result in a
+condition in which the social activities of the church would
+overshadow the "spiritual," had in mind a distinction that must be met
+and understood if the church is to broaden its program without losing
+its identity as a religious institution. The minister who, while
+praising a community-club movement which had brought to the community
+many improvements and a better moral condition, stated that it was
+injuring the "church," either saw a real conflict between "spiritual"
+and "social" welfare or had a misconception as to what is spiritual.</p>
+
+<p>The problem seems to arise out of a tendency which has crept into
+theological thought to limit "spiritual" things to mystical personal
+experiences. With this definition of spiritual things there seems to
+have come a tendency to look upon any type of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> activity that was of a
+practical nature, such as providing for the recreational needs of the
+community, organizing a campaign for better reading facilities for
+country people, or for better farming, as not spiritual, and
+consequently be sedulously avoided by the church. Perhaps there is no
+thought in American rural life to-day that causes more trouble to the
+aggressive rural minister of the modern type than this. His young men
+and women want to broaden the scope of the church, but the trustees,
+and those whose word counts toward the selection of pastors and their
+removal, often oppose anything being done by the church which is not
+customary and accordingly, as they think, not spiritual.</p>
+
+<p>Christ said "I am come that ye might have life, and have it more
+abundantly." If this statement is accepted at its face value, then we
+have the foundation for judging every activity in which the church may
+partake. Does the activity tend to increase the material and spiritual
+welfare of the community, so that the influences that tend to the
+extermination of the group are less? If so, then it conforms to the
+purposes of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>coming of the Christ. On the other hand, if the
+activity does positively lessen the resistance of the community,
+reducing it ultimately to a lower scale of living characterized by
+those things that are recognized as harmful, then it is not a
+legitimate part of church work. It also follows that if such harmful
+conditions exist in the community without a protest on the part of the
+church or without some definite effort to eliminate them, then the
+church is not living up to the high calling expected of it by the
+Master. The term "spiritual" is, accordingly, much more inclusive than
+has been popularly supposed, and one of the great contributions of
+social science during the past few decades has been to bring to the
+public mind the knowledge that man and his spirituality cannot be
+dealt with individually but must be included in all those
+relationships that affect the soul of the individual.</p>
+
+<p>While the succeeding pages have to do with the social aspects of the
+spiritual life of man, it must never be forgotten that the
+regeneration or the quickening of the individual is at least half of
+the task in community progress. The life of the honest, upright<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> man,
+whose soul has been set on fire by contact with the flame of divine
+love, whose heart has been brought into harmony with the divine will
+of God, becomes in itself a point for the radiation of impulses for
+right living. And when these impulses are directed into useful
+channels through a broadened understanding of sound objectives in
+social progress, then real advance is possible.</p>
+
+<p>There are many other phases of thought that act as a hindrance to the
+advance of the spiritual kingdom in rural America, but these
+illustrations will be sufficient to show what must be cleared away
+before the broad program of the modern rural church can be
+whole-heartedly accepted. In fairness to the writer it should be kept
+in mind, as stated in the definitions given at the opening, that this
+text has nothing to do with those vital elements of religious
+organization and service which are intended to keep alive man's belief
+in a divinity and in immortality except in so far as these beliefs
+affect community relationships. The discussion of these subjects
+falls, rather, into the realm of theology. It is hoped that at least
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> principles underlying the movement toward broadening the program
+of the rural church have been clearly, if briefly, stated, and that
+the movement toward a larger concept of the religious forces as a
+factor in rural progress will continue to spread at an accelerating
+speed.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH</h3>
+
+
+<p>As one travels through the rural districts of America and observes
+differences in the standards of living he is convinced that human
+welfare depends very largely on economic conditions. The broad,
+well-tilled fields of Iowa, surrounding large, well-built houses, big
+red barns and other outbuildings, form a marked contrast with the
+patches of corn in irregular fields cleared from the brush and scrub
+trees on hillsides in Tennessee or Kentucky, and the hovels and
+rundown farm buildings which go under the name of homes for the hill
+people. Healthy, well-dressed, happy children attending good schools
+of the most modern type in the corn belt undoubtedly have the
+advantage of the boys and girls in the hills who often do not learn to
+read and write before they are ten years old, if at all, and when they
+do go to school must be taught by poorly trained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> teachers for short
+terms, ending before the holidays, and in one-room schools often
+attended by nearly a hundred children. Religious service and
+leadership in the one section under the direction of college and
+theological seminary men can hardly be put in the same class with the
+highly emotional expression of religious impulses of the mountain
+section led by once-a-month absentee pastors with no education, or,
+worse still, by wandering so-called evangelists of doubtful morality.
+One could go through the whole list of contrasts between the
+economically well-favored sections of the country and the less favored
+agricultural sections and in no way would the advantage be on the side
+of the latter.</p>
+
+<p>Efficient social and religious institutions cannot be built on poor
+economic foundations. So long as a section of the country cannot
+afford to pay more than five hundred dollars per year for teachers or
+preachers, it cannot hope to have the leadership possible to another
+section where ministers to rural people can easily secure eighteen
+hundred to three thousand dollars per year. Good buildings cannot be
+erected, nor can any of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> material comforts which go to make up the
+foundation of civilized life be enjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>For the sake of the church, as well as the people, the church must
+attend to the economic foundations of rural life. It is unfortunate
+for many parts of the United States that the ministry has become so
+separated from real life by the mystical trend in religion that it has
+rendered practically no service in laying the foundations for the
+continuance of the communities themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The shift of population from rural to urban centers which the census
+records show has continued, if anything, at an accelerated speed,
+indicates the seriousness of the problem. A part of the shift is
+doubtless due to improvements made in methods of production. So far as
+this is the cause there is no reason to be disturbed over the
+tendency, as it is useless to try to keep young men and women in an
+occupation that does not offer opportunity for earning a living. Part
+of the shift may be due to the living conditions in the country. This
+is but an indication of the task of the church on the social side and
+can be changed as economic welfare permits. But the fact that rural
+population has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> leaving the farms and that agricultural lands
+have been abandoned by thousands of acres, indicates that urban
+opportunities have far outbid the rural in financial returns, variety
+of openings, and in working conditions. The farmer's income must be
+increased as compared with other groups before there can be a
+well-balanced relatively stable American life. Until this is achieved
+those who are trying to build up rural institutions as strong as those
+in urban centers will be engaged in a hopeless task.</p>
+
+<p>Eminent, conscientious Christian gentlemen, leaders in religious
+thought, and occasionally country ministers, have accused those who
+maintain that the church should have a vital active interest in
+improving economic welfare of trying to make hog-cholera experts out
+of preachers, thus taking them away from their real tasks. It is
+believed that knowledge of hog cholera and of the agencies that can
+help the farmer to prevent it will not injure the standing of any
+rural minister. It is maintained with reference to care for economic
+welfare that it is the business of the church to encourage economic
+improvement so far as possible (1) by giving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> advice and assisting in
+demonstration work when no other organized agency is in a position to
+render this service, and (2) by opening the way to other organized
+agencies to perform this service. This is the prime business of the
+agricultural colleges through their extension service. But it has been
+the experience of agricultural colleges that they have the greatest
+difficulty in establishing relationships in those agricultural
+sections where their service is needed the most. The minister of the
+gospel, being one of the two or three paid leaders in a local
+community, enjoying a measure of the confidence of the people, and
+having a large part of his time available for pastoral duties, has the
+opportunity and the obligation to tactfully bring to the community the
+assistance of these other agencies now provided by the State. When he
+has done this he can rest assured that he has accomplished something
+that will become the foundation for a far higher, more satisfying
+rural life.</p>
+
+<p>Although ultimately the problem of production in agriculture will
+probably be a most serious one, because of influences such as
+soil-mining, deforestation, and depletion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> of soil through erosion,
+the immediate problems are, rather, the adjustment of production to
+demand so that the farmer will be on a more equitable income basis
+with other elements in the population. When there is newspaper talk of
+again burning corn for fuel, when wool is a drug on the market, and
+when farmers' organizations are urging the decrease in the acreage of
+cotton, it is idle to talk of agricultural welfare being synonymous
+with ability to increase crop acreage or production per acre.
+Agricultural colleges and other State agencies have devoted the large
+part of their efforts to study of problems of production. The results
+of their services to date have been to so improve production as to
+hasten the population movement from the farms to the cities. This
+tendency to aid production to the point of exceeding equitable demand
+has been of economic value to the great centers but it has not
+encouraged the continuance on the farm of a large population, nor has
+it enabled the farmer to compete with the townsman in maintaining a
+satisfactory standard of living. It would seem that the producing
+ability of the farmer has been his misfortune,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> and that his friends
+who have taught him to produce more have been his worst enemies.</p>
+
+<p>When a manufacturing plant closes down because it cannot sell its
+goods at a given price, or when a retailer refuses to handle goods
+below a price believed by many to be excessive, little is said. But
+when the farmer tries to adjust his production to demand by limiting
+production there is widespread criticism of his conduct. There should
+be continuance of efforts to retain the fertility of the soil, to
+improve methods of cultivation, and to prevent destruction of wide
+areas through erosion. The patrimony of the nation must be preserved
+through wise policies of reforestation and reclamation of waste lands.
+But the great immediate task is that of adjusting production to demand
+so that the rural population may advance in material welfare along
+with other groups. In a competitive organization of industry the
+farmers success is gauged by his net income rather than by the number
+of bushels of corn or bales of cotton he produces.</p>
+
+<p>A sinister tendency in the higher-priced general agricultural sections
+is that of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>increase in the number of farms operated by farm tenants.
+Certain writers have attempted to prove that this tendency is taken
+too seriously. But the evidence of the United States Census from
+decade to decade indicates that the danger is real; and that the
+sooner a policy of control is adopted the better.</p>
+
+<p>The handicaps to agriculture through this increase are manifold. In a
+large proportion of cases, as shown by studies in typical areas, the
+landowner does not live on a neighboring farm, nor is he a retired
+parent or other relative of the tenant farmer. He lives in the
+neighboring city. Consequently, the rental from the farm goes to help
+build up the material welfare of the urban center. The contributions
+of the absentee landlord to church work go to supplement the salary of
+a city pastor on a scale far beyond the competing ability of the rural
+church where his land is located. His contributions to benevolences
+are paid for out of the income from his four-hundred-acre farm but are
+credited to the city church of which he is a member instead of to the
+rural church in the community where his land is located.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> Because of
+the transient nature of his residence the tenant, who remains on the
+farm on the average less than two years, has but little permanent
+interest in the life of the community and lacks the stability to
+become a valuable factor in building up strong rural institutions. The
+landlord, as previously suggested, has been known to oppose measures
+for consolidation of rural schools because such consolidation might
+increase taxes, and has been known to threaten tenants with
+dispossession if they should vote for consolidation. The constant
+moving of the tenant has handicapped the children in getting a good
+common-school education because of the breaks in their training
+resulting from this constant changing of residence.</p>
+
+<p>The tenant house, with all its implications of class-distinction, has
+come to the country side in increasing numbers. And slowly but
+gradually a landed aristocracy is growing up in rural America as
+marked as the landed aristocracy based on the purchase of a few acres
+of Manhattan Island several generations ago. And with the tenant has
+come the farm laborer, alien to the community, transient, and as much
+a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>member of the proletariat as if he were working in a great factory
+in the city. The I. W. W. movement in the wheat fields and lumber
+camps of the Northwest is but the beginning of the wage-earning
+consciousness as it spreads out from urban centers.</p>
+
+<p>The short term of tenant operation is lowering the standards of
+agriculture. Instead of farming on a long-time schedule, expecting
+returns on a system of husbandry reaching through the years, the
+tenant is inclined to produce such crops as can be disposed of at the
+close of the year, regardless of the effect of such a form of
+agriculture upon the fertility of the soil. Tenant contracts as yet
+offer little inducement for the tenant to remain permanently on a
+given farm or to keep up needed improvements.</p>
+
+<p>The tenant for the time being may even make larger profits as a tenant
+than as an owner. But the tendency everywhere for rents to rise, and
+the consequent increase in the value of the land, will ultimately
+bring the tenant to the position of securing from his labor on the
+farm an income not much in excess of what he would receive from
+working as a day laborer. The result in the long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> run will be that the
+best agricultural sections of the country will be occupied by a
+population lower in ability than in a landowning section and
+constantly kept down by poverty. This prediction may be deemed
+fanciful by some, but the writer believes that it is worthy of the
+most careful consideration and study.</p>
+
+<p>Since the organization of the great combinations in the oil and sugar
+industries during the 70's and 80's of the past century the movement
+toward close industrial organization has proceeded with little
+interruption. Legislation has been passed designed to break up
+industrial combinations and from time to time various industries have
+been disintegrated. But the layman has not been able to discover that
+such disintegrations by court order have had any marked influence on
+the progress of the fundamental tendencies toward industrial
+consolidation. The farmers have been the last to get into the
+organization field on any extensive scale. The Grange and the Farmers'
+Alliance, and later the Farmers' Union, have made attempts and,
+although many failures are recorded, their work paved the way for a
+far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> larger movement toward farm organization now under way. The
+tendency toward close organization of industrial groups may also be
+seen in the labor movement, the American Federation of Labor and the
+Industrial Workers of the World in this country, and the syndicalist
+movement in Europe; and in the organization of employers' associations
+and the National Chamber of Commerce on the part of business men.
+Whatever may be thought of the unfortunate phases of this movement
+toward closely organized group consciousness, however Bolshevistic it
+may be said to be, it must be recognized that class consciousness has
+come to stay. The old-type citizen who voted as a Republican or a
+Democrat and as an individual regardless of his industrial
+affiliations is passing away, and to-day the business men as a class,
+the wage-earners as a class, the farmers as a class, approach the
+leaders of both traditional parties with their ultimatums as to what
+they will do if certain policies are not recorded in their respective
+platforms. And the best-organized groups, those that can swing the
+most votes or can produce the largest financial inducements, are the
+ones that get most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> consideration. This may be Bolshevism, but if it
+is, it is a fact in American life, and we may as well adjust ourselves
+to handling the situation wisely instead of lamenting the passing of
+the system of individual representation which was the basis on which
+American government was founded.</p>
+
+<p>The farmer cannot be accused of leadership in this change in the
+American State. Business men and wage-earners began it, and the farmer
+has been forced to follow their example. The old type individualism of
+the landowning-operating farmer has long handicapped the farmer in his
+relations with other industrial groups. And it is with many mistakes
+and setbacks that he is now endeavoring to follow the example so ably
+set by the multimillionaires of the other groups. Better organization,
+not for exploitation but for protection and maintenance of a safe
+balance of influence in economic affairs, is fully justified, and the
+minister of the gospel is serving the farmer best when he encourages
+right and efficient organization.</p>
+
+<p>The American Farm Bureau Federation, begun a few years ago through the
+encouragement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> of county agricultural agents in order to give them a
+point of contact with groups of farmers and to give local support of
+the county agent's work, has now taken into its own hands the task of
+farmer organization. And now, with resources far beyond what could
+have been dreamed of a few years ago, this organization is embarking
+on programs of farmers' business organization almost too staggering in
+their size to be comprehended. If rightly managed, and if farmers can
+prove loyal to their own organization, this movement is destined to
+solve many of the problems of intergroup relationships confronting the
+farmers during the past few decades.</p>
+
+<p>As a part of the modern farmer organization movement, and holding
+within itself the largest promise of social values, is the
+encouragement of cooperation. Since the days in 1844, when a little
+group of wage-earners in England, out of work and gathered round a
+fire in a tavern, decided to go into business for themselves on a
+basis of one-man one vote, and distribution of profits on business
+done with the concern instead of stock held, the movement has
+continued to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> spread all over the world until to-day it holds a very
+important place in many lines of industry in leading countries.</p>
+
+<p>In this country cooperation has been an agricultural rather than an
+urban development, primarily because economic conditions have made it
+more necessary in agriculture than elsewhere. Farmers' elevators,
+live-stock shipping associations, insurance companies, fruit-and
+produce-marketing organizations have all gained a sound footing and
+each year shows an increase in their numbers. The movement has been
+consistently fought by competitive profit-seeking interests but
+without avail further than to delay the movement. In the early days
+discrimination in furnishing cars, underbidding, misrepresentation,
+adverse legislation all had to be overcome, in addition to the fact
+that ignorance of business principles often led to failure. Even now,
+within the past five years, agricultural colleges have been prevented
+from adding advisers on cooperative organization to their extension
+staffs, retail merchants' associations have prevented cooperative
+organization legislation, and insidious attempts have been made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> to
+prevent popular education with reference to the movement.</p>
+
+<p>The cooperative movement offers the greatest opportunity for the
+country minister for definite service in the farmers' economic
+progress. The principle underlying the movement is "Each for all, and
+all for each." Instead of the capitalist and laborer being in opposite
+camps under the necessity for bargaining, and each doing as little as
+possible and getting as much as possible for their respective shares
+of the product of the industry, the cooperative movement brings them
+into harmony for production of goods, in the belief that all are to
+share fairly in what is produced. The storekeeper and the buyer no
+longer haggle over the price because both will share in the returns of
+the business done. The cooperative movement bids fair to solve many of
+the problems of open and closed shop, collective bargaining, labor
+organization, and of relations between producer and consumer. Its
+steady growth is bringing about industrial peace and since it
+represents the true spirit of Christianity the minister is justified
+in encouraging its development wherever he may be.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+<p>What is the challenge to the church of the economic conditions and
+tendencies outlined above? First and foremost, the minister must in
+season and out of season preach honesty in business relations. One of
+the most important discoveries in the study of problems of the
+farmer's business relations is that his success or failure depends
+largely upon the moral principles of the farmer as a group. The farmer
+who puts poor apples or potatoes in the middle of the barrel, who uses
+false weights and measures, who fails to produce the best of which he
+is capable, lowers the price of all farm products. The dealer who must
+throw out a certain proportion of bad eggs in his miscellaneous
+purchases makes the buying price low enough to protect himself. The
+consumer's demand is gauged very largely by the quality or reliability
+of the goods he purchases. So dishonesty in farm business hurts the
+farmer more than it does anyone else. The minister can render a
+service when he imbues his people with the highest ideals of business
+morality.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, he can help in eliminating the loss to the farmer through
+attempted sale of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> ungraded, miscellaneous products by encouraging
+standardization and guarantee of quality. This requires organization;
+and while it should be the pastor's aim to encourage the formation of
+agencies independent of the church to attend to this and to establish
+contacts between his community and State and independent organizations
+that will assist in this work he should not hesitate so far as his
+time will permit to organize such standardization work and
+organization for guaranteeing products until other agencies can take
+the work over. His obligation as community leader extends to the
+encouragement of every phase of life that makes the country more
+livable in the way demanded at the particular stage of development in
+which he finds the community.</p>
+
+<p>As stated before, his primary task in encouraging production is now
+that of establishing contacts with State agencies and encouraging the
+support of their work. In some sections of the country, as among the
+colored people, for example, a country preacher might well be a
+trained farmer capable of doing in a local community what a county
+agent tries to do on a larger scale.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> But the State has now progressed
+in most sections to the point where, if opportunity is offered, it can
+assist in this work and relieve the pastor for other duties.</p>
+
+<p>The rural pastor should be a leader in community economic
+organization. It is accepted now that economic organizations along
+cooperative lines should be independent of either educational,
+religious, or social groups. After such organizations are well
+established the pastor has met in this respect the challenge to the
+church and to the pastor as community leader.</p>
+
+<p>The church as a whole should have some form of organization whereby it
+can register its influence in favor of State legislation making safe
+the development of the cooperative movement, the better organization
+of marketing, the proper control of land ownership, taxation, and
+other business relations affecting the farmer. Many of these problems
+cannot be solved by a minister working alone in a local community. He
+can preach honesty, stability, loyalty to community organization with
+all the fervor and liberty of a prophet, but so long as the tenant
+contract remains an inducement to transient tenant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> population; so
+long as class distinctions continue to become more marked; so long as
+discontent over high rents, high prices of land, and other conditions
+continues, he will not get far toward the establishing of the kingdom
+of heaven in agricultural life. These problems must be attacked by the
+church as a whole as the obligation of the general church to the
+minister who is on the firing line of the great world-wide struggle
+for the establishment of industrial peace.</p>
+
+<p>One or two concrete illustrations will show the necessity of general
+church action on these matters if the rural church is to be saved from
+conditions now acute in the large centers. Wage-earners in the large
+centers who have no assurance of permanence of jobs are not inclined
+to give liberally toward providing adequate building and equipment for
+religious services. No wage-earner can be expected to give hundreds of
+dollars out of his income toward building a church when the next month
+may find him compelled to move to some distant city. In like manner it
+is difficult in large centers to get wage-earners even to maintain a
+church adequately. Consequently the church is to-day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> spending
+millions of dollars to provide church buildings for wage-earners in
+large cities. Yet it does not have any program for bringing about wage
+returns, permanency of employment, or interest in business that would
+make it possible or desirable for the wage-earner to finance his own
+church building. Neither does the church have a plan whereby the
+industries of a city make any adequate contribution to the housing of
+religious institutions for those connected with the industry. Although
+the wealth of America is centered in the great cities, the provision
+for religious service to city people is being made by people living in
+small towns and in the open country.</p>
+
+<p>As in the city, so in the open country. It has become necessary for
+the general church to provide even pastoral maintenance in certain
+sections where land is worth three hundred dollars per acre. The
+transient tenant has no abiding interest in the community because he
+expects to move at the end of the year. This condition is gradually
+becoming worse; and unless the general church undertakes the solution
+of problems affecting the local church but over which the local
+church<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> has no control, the future will bring either a decline in
+religious influence in rural sections or a continuous burden on
+national boards that should and would under proper conditions be cared
+for by local communities.</p>
+
+<p>That the church can help in improving economic conditions to the
+advantage of all rural life has already been abundantly demonstrated.
+On the Brookhaven District, Mississippi Conference, Methodist
+Episcopal Church, the missionary board of that denomination made a
+contribution of three hundred dollars toward the support for the
+summer of a man and woman engaged in organizing community clubs.
+Twenty-one clubs were organized, and as a result of their efforts over
+fifty thousand pounds of fruit and truck were saved during the period
+of the war when food conservation was a necessity. As a result of this
+contribution, at last reports there were three colored county
+agricultural agents employed in counties of that district, all
+supported by the State, and no further contribution of missionary
+funds to continue the work was necessary. For years Bishop Thirkield,
+of the New Orleans area of the Methodist Episcopal Church, had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> been
+encouraging keeping of gardens by the pastors and land ownership among
+colored people. It is impossible to estimate accurately the results of
+his broad program, but one district superintendent reported for his
+own official boards that while at the opening of the year 25 per cent
+of his official board members on the district were in debt, at the
+close of the year not one of them was in debt. They had been taught
+how to save money and to pay their debts, and the members of the
+churches were encouraged to follow their example.</p>
+
+<p>On a little charge in southeastern Ohio the pastor began to preach
+good roads. Before the end of the first year a township organization
+had been formed and a vote taken providing for the macadamizing of
+every road in the township.</p>
+
+<p>Four years ago the missionary board of the Methodist Episcopal Church
+made a contribution of four hundred dollars toward the support of a
+pastor in a village in New York. He organized a community club, led in
+securing a community house, installed moving pictures, and provided
+for the recreational life of the community. To-day no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> contribution is
+being made by the Board for this work. Yet the membership of the club
+has increased from fifty-nine to two hundred and twenty-five. It has
+been responsible for the establishment of a national bank which had
+one hundred and seventy thousand dollars deposits in the first six
+months; it paved over five hundred feet of street; it provided for the
+consolidation of four rural schools with the village school. And plans
+were under way for opening a ferry across the Hudson that had not been
+run for thirty years and for the establishment of an important
+manufacturing plant. Thus a little stimulation has resulted in
+economic development that must result in better financial support of
+all community activities.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion it may be said that it is the business of the pastor to
+concern himself with all economic problems that affect the welfare of
+his people. The type of problem will vary with the community and its
+stage of development. As rapidly as possible the church should turn
+over to private or State agencies the task of economic development.
+But the church should encourage in every way every movement that is
+destined to bring about a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> higher stage of economic welfare; and the
+pastor cannot relinquish his obligations in this respect until he has
+succeeded in establishing other agencies that can effectively perform
+this task. His duty, then, is to encourage this form of development by
+educating the people as to its value and by giving it his moral
+support.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SOCIAL CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH</h3>
+
+
+<p>The task of the minister is primarily to deal with man, either in his
+own personal life, his relations to his Maker, or to his fellow-man.
+Unlike the farmer, whose interest lies in the control of animal or
+plant growth, or the mechanic, who controls and molds the forces and
+conditions of inanimate nature, the minister has to do with that most
+delicate and elusive subject of all&mdash;the human soul. His business is
+to tune the individual soul instrument so that it will harmonize with
+the musical vibrations of the Infinite Will; and to bring about such a
+relationship between the different instruments in his little group
+that all together will produce a heavenly harmony.</p>
+
+<p>The Christian religion, except when it has degenerated into formal
+Pharisaism, has been an ethical religion; and the ethical conduct of
+the individual has been a criterion of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> the depth of his religious
+experience. Ethics have primarily to do with the relation of man to
+man, so that the conclusion is logical that the church is vitally
+interested in the ethical problems of humanity and in anything that
+tends to lower or raise the moral standards of the individual or the
+community.</p>
+
+<p>There is no other agency more vitally interested in moral problems
+than is the church. Business organizations may be interested, but
+their efforts have apparently not been to conserve moral standards,
+even in business. The school is interested, but its emphasis has been
+placed more on mental development without regard to moral
+implications, or on utilitarian objectives. The church has been
+preaching right living, and other objectives have been incidental.
+Since this is true the thesis is advanced as the basis for this
+chapter that it is the business of the church to provide building,
+equipment, and leadership for conserving the moral life of the
+community. Since the moral welfare of any community finds its
+expression largely in its social and recreational activities, such
+provision involves providing for the social and recreational
+interests. This is a function<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> which is not to be encouraged and then
+turned over to other agencies, but is to be retained by the church
+itself as its legitimate service.</p>
+
+<p>In view of the fact that the efforts of various agencies have not been
+in entire harmony with this point of view it deserves further
+consideration. For many years it has been argued that the schoolhouse
+should be so built that it could be made the community center for all
+types of activities. Without intending to limit the public schools in
+any laudable endeavor to enrich rural life it should be noted:</p>
+
+<p>1. That so far as villages and open country schools are concerned it
+is not believed that the agitation for the wider use of the school
+plant has yet resulted in any marked nation-wide response to such
+agitation further than to provide room for physical training of
+upper-class students.</p>
+
+<p>2. In general, the schoolhouse is so located that it is not suited for
+community service. It is usually located on the outskirts of the
+village, where plenty of ground may be had for outdoor school games.
+When people gather for social life and leisure they do not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> go away
+from the lights of the village street but move toward them. The
+well-lighted poolroom near the village store will attract more boys
+than the building on the village edge that must be reached through the
+dark. Villagers have their downtown as well as do the great urban
+centers.</p>
+
+<p>3. The school teachers and principal are busy five days in the week in
+the classroom. The schools cannot assume charge of community center
+activities without danger either of overworking the teachers or of
+having to hire special assistance for this service. Many villages
+cannot afford to hire special workers for this purpose alone.</p>
+
+<p>4. It has been argued that the school is the democratic institution
+since it is tax-supported, and thus every one may go there as a right.
+To this it may be replied that, as with the church, only those
+contribute who have resources from which to contribute. The only
+difference is that in the public school the majority decide that all
+those who are able must contribute to the support of public
+institutions, thus it falls short of complete democracy, which must,
+in the last analysis, be a purely voluntary association. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> the
+church the only force compelling contribution is personal desire and
+public opinion. Thus it is as democratic, if not more so, than the
+school.</p>
+
+<p>5. On the other hand, a large part of the time of the country minister
+is available for pastoral service. The establishment of community
+service activities under the auspices of the church bids fair to
+rescue pastoral calling and service from a routine of personal
+visitation by giving it a definite community service objective. Again,
+in the beginnings in the medium-sized and larger villages and probably
+continuously in the smaller places the pastor is the only salaried
+servant of the community with free time during the week for the
+organization and direction of community service.</p>
+
+<p>6. The church building and parish house can be located conveniently at
+the center of the village, thus obviating the objection to the school
+building for this purpose.</p>
+
+<p>7. True religion is a loyal supporter of everything that is safe in
+social and recreational life. It is subject to the control of the
+community in the same way as the school; excessive puritanism need not
+be feared <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>under its auspices more than under the auspices of other
+agencies.</p>
+
+<p>The usual argument against serious consideration of the church as the
+center of community life is that religious agencies are so divided up
+by dogmatism that it is impossible for any one religious organization
+to assume leadership in this respect without incurring the opposition
+of other agencies. While this is true in many cases, it should be
+remembered that dogmatism does not have the influence in more highly
+developed communities that it once had. Moreover, considerable
+progress has already been made toward intergroup agreements, including
+the two great divisions of the Christian Church giving responsibility
+for community leadership to one denomination or another. In cases
+where local adjustments have not been made it may be necessary to
+depend on other agencies to conserve the social and recreational life.
+In these cases the church loses its rightful heritage.</p>
+
+<p>8. The popular response to projects of building community churches and
+parish houses in small communities leads to the belief that the
+general public accepts as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> correct one the principle that the
+church should provide these facilities. The Methodist Episcopal
+denomination alone, through the aid of its Church Extension Board,
+aided in 1920 in building or remodeling over four hundred church and
+parish houses equipped to provide for all or a part of a community
+service program; it is not known how many more made such advances
+without outside aid. The question of whether the church or some other
+agency than either the church or the school should provide community
+service facilities may be answered in much the same way. In some
+States local communities may levy a tax for the building and
+maintenance of community buildings. Where this is possible there seems
+to be no serious objection to such a course. But a community building
+without adequate supervision is likely to become a center of moral
+deterioration. On the other hand, such a public building can be
+located more strategically than can a schoolhouse. The objection to
+stock-company-owned community houses is much more serious. These are
+likely to become mere pleasure resorts, often of a very questionable
+nature.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+<p>The judgment of the American people seems to be rapidly determining
+that the safest plan is to look to the religious agencies for
+conserving the social and recreational life; and this judgment is in
+harmony with the thesis advanced at the opening of this chapter.</p>
+
+<p>If the principle is accepted that it is the business of the church to
+conserve the social life of the community, then it is next in order to
+consider some of the problems of social life that are a challenge to
+the church at the present time.</p>
+
+<p>The social organization of this country in its smaller communities as
+in the larger centers, such as it is, is the product of undirected
+uncoordinated efforts of special interest groups. A general
+classification of the types of rural organizations may be made, first,
+into political, including the incorporated village, towns, townships,
+counties, and political parties; economic, including special
+associations around specific interests such as farm bureaus, stock
+breeders' associations, potato-growers' associations, etc., and the
+increasing number of cooperative organizations, such as farmers'
+elevators, fruit-marketing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> organizations, live-stock, shipping
+associations; social, including the Grange, the various types of
+farmers' clubs for men and women that perform much the same function
+as the Grange, and the more or less permanent groupings for purely
+recreational purposes, such as dancing parties, card parties, etc.;
+and the conventional religious organizations as represented by the
+denominations and their many subsidiary groups for special purposes.</p>
+
+<p>As was pointed out in the chapter on definitions, each of these
+various groups has a customary center for coming together. But owing
+to the fact that each interest has grown largely without reference to
+the others, their centers of activity have been determined largely by
+conditions of local convenience. Now, these centers may have been well
+adapted to the times when they were established, but as time has
+passed shifts of population have come, road improvements have been
+made, and new interests developed so that the traditional centers not
+only tend to lessen community solidarity but also tend to prevent its
+accomplishment. One of the first tasks of the community leader is to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+make a study of his proposed field of activity for the purpose of
+determining what are the present centers of group interests, what
+changes have taken place in rural life conditions which make
+reorganization and readjustment of centers desirable, and then, in
+consultation with representatives of the community, to organize a
+community plan toward ward which the entire community may work. City
+planning has long been an accepted principle for service in the more
+progressive larger centers. The time has come when plans for the most
+efficient organization of village and open country communities should
+be made. It is interesting to note that already in many sections of
+the United States the movement toward community planning has made
+considerable progress. It is now generally recognized that with rare
+exceptions the village rather than an open country point is the normal
+basis for such a plan. In accordance with this, movements are now
+under way to displace the traditional township boundaries created as
+political limits for government and to replace them by boundaries
+conforming as closely as possible with those limits that careful
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>investigation indicates are now and probably will continue to be the
+most representative of what the future limits of rural communities
+will be. In like manner educational work is being reorganized to
+include the community territory instead of the political areas
+inherited from the methods of survey adopted under the ordinance of
+1787. As this movement continues, doubtless farm bureaus, and even
+religious agencies, will try to adapt themselves as far as possible to
+the program of other agencies.</p>
+
+<p>The breakdown of social life in the open country and the very
+questionable forms it often takes in the villages has long been the
+nightmare of the minister of the gospel who stands for a high ethical
+plane of social life. The church, with its Ladies' Aid, its young
+people's societies, its occasional men's clubs, fails to reach more
+than a very limited number of those living in the open country or in
+the village. The lack of a definite, well-organized social program
+results in all kinds of association often anti-social and lowering of
+the moral fiber of the entire group. It is unnecessary to go into the
+sordid details of moral conditions existing among both young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> and old
+in many village communities. The pastor with a program of absentee
+service consisting of an occasional sermon and holding a Sunday school
+finds his efforts continually nullified by more powerful social and
+recreational impulses expressing themselves in ways recognized as
+morally deteriorating. When a plan for ultimate centralization of
+wholesome and legitimate community interest has been made it is the
+minister's task to organize a plan for bringing to the community an
+abundance of wholesome recreational life. The traditional plan has
+been to preach against dancing and card playing. Such preaching has
+more often alienated the young people from the church than it has
+attracted them to religious life. The modern plan is to overcome evil
+with good; that is, to provide such a program of unquestioned
+recreation that the evil will die of itself.</p>
+
+<p>That this actually happens has been demonstrated over and over again.
+The Rev. Matthew B. McNutt, on arriving at Du Page, Illinois, found a
+large building near the church turned into a dancing center. Without
+saying a word against dancing he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> began to organize his young people
+for singing. In a short time the dancing mania had ceased and did not
+return in the twelve years of his service on that charge. The Rev. L.
+P. Fagan found dancing all the rage when he went to a little town in
+Colorado. He began to develop a wholesome program of recreational
+life, and before long dancing had ceased and had not returned two
+years after he had left the charge. At a little town in New York
+State, the young men of the town were accustomed to gather at the fire
+house and indulge in cards with more than occasional playing for
+money. A recreation hall opened in the village broke up the
+card-playing and brought the young men into something more wholesome
+and which they preferred. A village in Southwestern Ohio had a gang of
+"Roughnecks," as they were called, who were accustomed to loaf in the
+poolrooms and find their amusement in neighboring cities. A room in
+the upstairs of the town hall was opened up and fitted for basketball.
+Leadership for clubs was provided by college students training for
+community service. The result was that this group of young men, of
+exceptionally good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> native qualities but spoiling morally for want of
+adequate provision for recreational life, came to the community center
+and for the time being avoided the lower forms of social and
+recreational activity.</p>
+
+<p>These illustrations prove three things: first, the need of such
+equipment; second, the fact that young people prefer and choose the
+better when it is provided for them; and, third, that the church can
+solve many of its most serious problems most readily by attacking the
+source of corruption of the morals of young people through caring for
+recreational interests. The minister who neglects this powerful force
+in attempting to build a Christian civilization is failing to take
+advantage of one of the greatest instruments God has placed in his
+hands. Yet it is the sad fact that in too many instances ministers are
+failing to take advantage of the forces at hand, and that even those
+who have caught the vision of the possibilities of these other forces
+are not trained to use them safely.</p>
+
+<p>The number of village communities that have organized social and
+recreational life is still so small that when such movements are
+discovered they receive widespread <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>comment in the public press. One
+can drop into almost any village in America and make inquiries as to
+what is being done for conserving the recreational life by the church
+or any other community agency, and the answer will be that nothing is
+done either in providing leadership or buildings and equipment. Much
+good work has been done for specific groups by the Christian
+Associations, and now the American Playground Association, the Red
+Cross, and other organizations are applying themselves to the task of
+bringing about a better condition in smaller communities. But the work
+accomplished by all of them is still, as compared with the task in
+hand, scarcely more than a beginning. The church with a paid community
+leader in each community offers the solution for most rapid and
+permanent progress; and the outlook for rapid development under
+religious auspices is most hopeful.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>BUILDING FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The thesis that the church should provide building and equipment for
+conservation of the social and recreational life of the church
+introduces standards and objectives that do not find expression in the
+great majority of church buildings now erected, nor even in the
+majority of plans sent out by religious agencies or architectural
+concerns bidding for contracts for church planning and building.</p>
+
+<p>The traditional village and open country church was a one-room
+structure erected for the sole purpose of providing a place for
+worship. This amply met the needs of a pioneer time when social
+activities were largely carried on in the homes. In a very large
+number of communities this is still the only type of church building
+to be found. As the idea of providing for Sunday school began to
+prevail gradually side rooms were added<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> to provide for extra Sunday
+school classes. In the course of time the needs of a wider program for
+the church began to be recognized, and then basements were added with
+an occasional kitchen. Thus the entertainments for adults and of the
+young people old enough to enjoy banquets and like amusement were
+provided for. But the needs of the young people under sixteen years of
+age and many other community needs were still uncared for.</p>
+
+<p>The new program demands a building or buildings that will provide for
+the threefold program of worship, religious education, and community
+service. In view of the lack of standards for rural church building,
+the present discussion is offered in the hope that it may contain some
+practical suggestions in terms of the program demanded of the modern
+open country and village church.</p>
+
+<p>It is believed that the type of building suitable for an open country
+community will be somewhat different from that needed in a village
+center. The number of rooms will be less. Usually, two main rooms, one
+for worship and the other for recreational purposes, with such side
+rooms for kitchen and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> special clubs and classes as the community can
+afford, will be sufficient. The recreation room should have stage,
+lantern slide, and moving picture equipment, and a very simple
+provision for games. Problems of plumbing and heating must be worked
+out in accordance with local conditions.</p>
+
+<p>In the larger centers, in addition to the facilities mentioned above,
+other rooms may be added as a careful study of village equipment and
+needs, present and probable future, indicate. Rooms for library,
+committees, clubs, offices, shower baths, lockers, art center, and
+similar interests should be provided for if other agencies have not
+done so.</p>
+
+<p>In building for community service the community should not make the
+mistake of economizing because it imagines it cannot afford the best.
+No community should build less than the best. If it does so, it
+handicaps the community for a generation or more; and this is too
+serious a matter to be lightly permitted. At the present time
+religious organizations have national agencies which are serving to an
+ever larger degree as a reserve resource for the purpose of aiding
+local groups to build adequately. Thus the general<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> organization aids
+each year the limited number of local groups that find it necessary to
+rebuild and renders unnecessary the maintenance of a replacement fund
+by the local church for an indefinite period.</p>
+
+<p>If it is impossible to build an entire building at one time it is
+better to build by units, so that in the course of time a structure of
+which the community may be proud will be completed. It should be
+remembered that a community's solidarity and spirit are gauged largely
+by the type of buildings it erects, and the church and community
+building, representing as it does the deepest interests of man, should
+be a living monument to community loyalty. Such a building becomes a
+lasting inspiration to both old and young, pointing the way to the
+highest and best in human life.</p>
+
+<p>The building should be strategically located. As has been suggested,
+people like to come to the center of the village for their social and
+recreational life. The owner of a poolroom or a picture show that
+would place his building a half mile in the country would not have a
+large and enthusiastic patronage. The main street, near the center of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+the village, is the place to be selected for the principal building of
+the city, the community center.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a well-meaning citizen will offer to a church a plot of land
+far out on the edge of a village free of charge, provided the church
+will accept it for the erection of the new structure. Sometimes the
+Board of Trustees, thinking they will save a few hundred dollars,
+gratefully accept the gift, thus violating the principle expressed in
+the preceding paragraph. When a business man plans to put up an
+expensive building he does not seek the cheapest land but the best
+location regardless of the cost of the land. For illustration, a lot
+on the edge of a village may cost but five hundred dollars, while a
+lot in the center of the village may cost five thousand dollars. If
+the proposed building to be erected is to cost fifty thousand dollars,
+even the larger land cost is but ten per cent of the total; and the
+value of the building to the community after erection on the more
+valuable lot far more than justifies the extra expenditure.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes architects are inclined to sacrifice utility to beauty. They
+are inclined to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> make the recreation room too short because a proper
+length would not harmonize with other lines in the building. The good
+architect accepts the beautification of a useful building as a
+challenge and does not sacrifice utility because a useful structure
+does not embody some feature of Gothic or Old English parish church
+architecture. This tendency should be carefully guarded against.</p>
+
+<p>Details as to the slope of ground best adapted to church building,
+heating, plumbing, and other features can best be learned by
+consultation with a trained architect. Care should be taken to see
+that the recreation room is sufficiently large to carry on the simpler
+games, such as basketball, when the community so desires. The limits
+recommended are fourteen feet high by forty feet wide by sixty feet
+long. Many communities, however, are getting along with rooms
+considerably shorter and narrower than this. The ceiling should be
+supported by steel beams instead of posts. In most sections of the
+country it is recommended that recreation rooms be erected on the same
+level as the church instead of in the basement, as has been the
+practice.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+<p>In many sections of the country there is a distinct objection to
+having the community service features and the house of worship under
+the same roof. It is thought that the light-heartedness of play time
+tends to lessen the sacredness of the house of worship and to lessen
+respect for religious service. While this attitude is largely a matter
+of custom, and while people who have caught the vision of God can
+worship him any place, it is believed that wherever possible
+consideration should be given to this sentiment and the community
+service features of the church should be housed in a separate building
+located adjacent to the church or attached to it by some smaller club
+room. The two should not be located in widely separate parts of the
+village, as the connection between the two may be lost and the service
+of the church to the community in this way not recognized. Both house
+of worship and community or parish house should be located near the
+center of the village.</p>
+
+<p>In villages where there is room for several houses of worship the
+question of community service is much more difficult. The Young
+Men's Christian Associations and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> Young Women's Christian Associations
+have made partial provision in some communities on an interdenominational
+basis. But in the ordinary small town there is not room for a building
+for each of these organizations. The rural Christian Associations have
+been proceeding on the policy of using such buildings as are now
+available, but it is evident that in the vast majority of small
+communities, present buildings can at best be but a makeshift for
+complete community service. It is hoped that the time will come when
+the several denominations will find some way of pooling their financial
+resources so that as religious organizations they can provide a common
+building for community service. The writer knows of no village in America
+where this has yet been done. One village in New York State,
+Milton-on-the-Hudson, has a community club under the direction of a
+Board of Trustees of ten members, two from each of the five denominations
+represented in the village, the Catholic church included. This club has
+been very successful in operating a community house and developing a
+community program. It has been suggested that where property<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> rights are
+involved one denomination might make its contribution by providing
+and maintaining the building, while the other denominations might
+contribute the equivalent of interest on building investment, depreciation
+and maintenance of building to cost of operation of the plant. It is
+feared, however, that in the course of time, the original cost of
+building to one denomination would be forgotten and the community
+would demand that all groups contribute to operating expenses
+according to their membership or some other agreed upon distribution
+of maintenance expense. This should be the ultimate method of
+maintenance.</p>
+
+<p>In a number of communities one denomination has provided the building
+and the operating force, while other denominations have cooperated by
+acting on the Board of Control and contributing what they could to the
+maintenance cost. Such denominational leadership almost invariably
+leads in the beginning to interdenominational jealousy and antagonism,
+but in some cases the community has accepted the situation and all
+have cooperated, it being understood that such provision for community
+purposes is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> not for the purpose of proselyting. Sunday school and
+church membership is encouraged in the denominations from which the
+young people come, and thus a contribution by one denomination has
+strengthened the work of all the churches. Some form of cooperation
+agreed upon for a common development is preferable and independent
+action by one denomination should be undertaken only when the
+different groups concerned are not in a position either by tradition
+or financial ability to cooperate in a common enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>The movement now is very strong in the direction of provision of
+building and equipment for community service by the church. May the
+church not fail in doing justice to its high obligation in the type of
+structure it may erect!</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CHURCH AND RURAL PUBLIC THOUGHT</h3>
+
+
+<p>Many city pastors, and some rural ones too, lament the fact that
+people do not come to listen to them preach. This condition is in
+marked contrast to the good old New England days, when the whole
+neighborhood would turn out and listen to sermons four hours long. It
+is a question whether such intellectual giants as Jonathan Edwards
+built up such congregations or whether such congregations brought out
+the best in Jonathan Edwards.</p>
+
+<p>People to-day go to church for a variety of reasons. But the dominant
+motives that should prevail are those of worship and for instruction.
+All Christians should attend religious services for worship regardless
+of the quality of the sermon or the personal attitude of the people
+toward the minister. The message from the pulpit should be such that
+it too would attract for its own sake.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> It is the exceptional city
+minister that can fill the pews from week to week and from year to
+year because of the type of message given. The daily papers and the
+many other agencies for discussion of live topics have become so
+numerous that the pulpit has lost much of its original importance as
+an agency for instruction. But in the village and the open country the
+pulpit still has a large field for service in this respect and thus
+becomes an especial challenge to the one who wants to develop as a
+leader of thought. The village minister has an opportunity unique in
+American life in this respect. Some of the greatest leaders of thought
+ever produced were the product of the village churches of England and
+Scotland. There is no reason why the village church of America should
+not become the seedbed for the best contributions to religious,
+philosophical, and literary thought of the present day.</p>
+
+<p>It will be impossible to give more than a few illustrations of present
+needs and opportunities for service in this respect in the smaller
+communities. One of the first tasks of the church is the introduction
+of correct thought in regard to religious beliefs. It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> almost
+unbelievable the amount of actual superstition and positively harmful
+beliefs that prevail under the guise of religion not only in rural but
+in urban communities. An example of this is the widespread belief in
+the second coming of Christ at an early date. Educational institutions
+of national note are continuously laboring to extend this form of
+belief. The question as to whether Christ will ever come again is one
+that does not appear to have any immediate social significance other
+than it may have some influence on conduct as to the method of
+preparation for his coming. Those who believe in such coming may
+either believe that all efforts at social improvement now are
+fruitless, because the ultimate inauguration of the Kingdom will
+result from the sweeping away of everything that now exists and in the
+inauguration of a new social order out of the ruins of the old. Or
+they may believe that the efforts of the churches and other agencies
+now are preparing the way for such coming, and the inauguration of the
+Kingdom will be but the next step in an orderly process of social
+progress. There is reason to believe that many of those who are
+teaching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> the second coming are inclined to the former point of view;
+and wherever they gain a hearing their influence practically nullifies
+all efforts to enlist their followers in any program of social
+improvement.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of a belief in an immediate coming of Christ as indicated
+by present world conditions interpreted in the light of Old and New
+Testament prophecy is to paralyze all motive for social action. Such
+action, if this belief is correct, is useless. The devotee is driven
+to the position of finding his sole religious duty that of getting
+himself and those in whom he is interested ready to enter the new
+kingdom through the observance of the personal elements in religious
+life.</p>
+
+<p>Another belief that in some sections has a limited influence is that
+of observance of Saturday instead of Sunday as the day set apart by
+biblical authority as the Sabbath. Without commenting on the rightness
+or the wrong of the contention, it should be remembered that this
+belief has resulted in some sections in practically the breakdown of
+observance of the Sabbath by rural communities, without a
+corresponding gain in Saturday observance. Community solidarity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> for
+either social or religious purposes is thus broken up. From the social
+point of view this is distinctly unfortunate.</p>
+
+<p>Again, in some sections religion has taken an extreme form of
+antagonism to anything of a practical type. The extremes to which the
+emotional expression of religion has gone have been such that these
+groups have become popularly known as "Holy Rollers." Wherever this
+type of religious expression breaks out in a rural community it
+severely handicaps all efforts at making the church function as an
+agency for rural progress. The energies of such devotees are so
+exhausted in their services that they lack the energy, even if they
+had the inspiration, to link their efforts to any program of community
+betterment. This group is usually found not only opposing progressive
+measures in the church but also opposing other progressive activities
+in the community, such as better schools, road improvement, etc.</p>
+
+<p>In isolated sections of rural America all over the country may be
+found groups of Latter Day Saints. These groups are not yet of
+sufficient strength to be of great importance outside of Utah and a
+few other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> Western States. But the existence of an organized group
+anywhere, particularly if it is of a missionary character, is likely
+to spread and ultimately become a factor of considerable importance.
+Anyone visiting the Mormon Temple at Salt Lake and reading on the
+monuments to Joseph and Hiram Smith the testimony in letters of stone
+to the effect that Joseph discovered the message of the Book of Mormon
+on gold plates, and that Hiram was the witness thereof, will realize
+how easy it is to spread almost any belief under the guise of religion
+if the children are taught such doctrines during their youth.</p>
+
+<p>It will be unnecessary to go through the whole catalogue of beliefs
+finding expression in the dogma of practically all religious
+organizations, and in times past dividing the followers of
+Christianity into denominational groups. The most serious problems of
+adjustment of religious institutions for community service grow out of
+these differences in belief on points of dogma.</p>
+
+<p>The solution of the problem of clearing the field of unwholesome and
+injurious belief lies not in writing polemics against them but in
+filling the minds of the people with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>unquestioned truth. As the rural
+mind is directed to the consideration of topics of vital importance
+these things that have crept in and disturbed social order and
+dissipated precious energies in fruitless discussion will disappear
+through lack of attention. On the other hand, persecution will attract
+attention to and arouse the fanatical support of them and distract the
+attention of the group from matters of more vital importance.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to preaching those sermons which keep alive in community
+consciousness the sense of man's obligations to his Maker, the
+significance and solemnity of death and those other epochal events in
+the course of human existence, and the hope given to man of a fuller
+life through the coming of Christ, the minister has certain great
+moral ideals that he should instill into the minds of his people.</p>
+
+<p>The matter of honesty in dealing with both the farmer and his
+neighbors both near and distant has already been mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The right attitude toward wealth accumulation must also be preached
+not only for the safety of the rural community but also for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> the
+entire nation. By the very nature of the business the vast majority of
+people living in small communities and on the farms must remain
+indefinitely people of modest means. The possibilities of large wealth
+accumulation are limited because the farm must continue to be a small
+scale industry. It can be improved so as to afford adequate leisure.
+But farm life does not promise large enjoyment to those of an
+epicurean turn of mind. The ideal of the farm must be that of
+producing wealth so that the modest comforts of life may be insured.
+But the minister must exalt the appreciation of those things that may
+be obtained without lavish expenditure of money, such as local
+entertainment produced by the community itself, literature, music, and
+art; and the simple pleasures that come from democratic association
+with intimate acquaintances.</p>
+
+<p>It is believed that with all the material progress of this country, it
+has had to sacrifice many things that are worth far more than the
+types of enjoyment obtained by slavish imitation of the extremely
+wealthy leisure class in the cities. The exhortation to preach the
+values of the simple pleasures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> possible in smaller communities is not
+for the purpose of keeping people contented with a lot that cannot be
+improved, but because it is believed that the smaller communities
+to-day contain within themselves and their ideals the seed of
+rejuvenation of all life, and that a greater contribution can be made
+by rural communities to civilization by adhering to their ideals than
+by being diverted from them by the money-seeking, materialistic ideals
+of the urban centers. The best in rural ideals must ultimately become
+the ideals of the city if we are to avoid the degeneration that will
+inevitably follow a too materialistic urban civilization.</p>
+
+<p>The pastor should be able to bring to his people from time to time the
+interpretation of national and world events in terms of their relation
+to the advance of religious progress. This obligation will require
+constant and wide reading about the social movements of the time. In
+the more progressive communities many of the farmers and their
+families will have access to literature that will enable them to form
+their own conclusions to a large degree. But not many of them, even
+though they be college graduates,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> will have the time to read as
+widely as they would like on any of the great changes taking place;
+and they will welcome an intelligent interpretation of these by the
+one who has the larger opportunities for such service.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, the preacher must be a prophet. He must have caught the
+vision of tendencies in human life and be able to bring to his people
+the evidences of the hand of God working out the course of the human
+race in the infinite stream of human history. He must believe, with
+Tennyson, in a "far off divine event, toward which the whole creation
+moves," or with Shakespeare when he said "There's a divinity that
+shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will." If he can bring his
+people to see that, even though they may be living in some obscure
+corner of the earth, they have a part in the great movements going on,
+and that they can render a service by doing what they are able in
+supporting the programs for which the church stands, he will be
+contributing his share to the wholesome attitude needed in our rural
+communities.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>ADJUSTING THE LOCAL CHURCH TO THE COMMUNITY</h3>
+
+
+<p>In his book on Social Control Professor Ross has pointed out that
+certain institutions are essentially conservative in their nature.
+They are solid, permanent organizations but are not inclined to assume
+leadership in social progress. He includes in this list the church.
+The fact that the church is a conservative institution is not
+necessarily a criticism of it. Other agencies develop new phases of
+social expression, sometimes in actual opposition to conservative
+agencies. The good innovations live and after they have demonstrated
+their utility the conservative institutions such as the church and the
+state take them over and insure their permanence.</p>
+
+<p>The rapid advance of the social spirit in modern life has outstripped
+existing agencies in their preparation to meet the new <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>approach to
+the solution of problems of living. Many forms of existing
+institutions were created under entirely different conditions and to
+meet different needs. To-day these old forms do not adapt themselves
+to new demands, and in many cases prevent effective action on the part
+of religious organizations that are ready in spirit to broaden their
+programs to include the new demands upon the conservative
+organization.</p>
+
+<p>The minister, trained for the modern service of the church to the
+community, cannot solve alone all the problems of maladjustment he
+finds in his local community. He finds that the contacts and interests
+of his local church organization are far broader than the interests of
+the local group he is called to serve; and that in many cases his
+local efforts are nullified by these larger contacts. It is the
+purpose of this and succeeding chapters to outline some of the
+conditions existing within the church itself that must be adjusted
+before it can act most effectively in meeting the challenge discussed
+in preceding chapters.</p>
+
+<p>The first and probably most important problem is that of enlarging the
+vision of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> church officials, ministers, and people as to the need for
+broadening the program of the church and as to the need of a
+statesman-like reorganization of adjustment of the church to the
+community.</p>
+
+<p>It is believed that quite generally the membership of the larger
+religious organizations in this country are now in sympathy with the
+principle that the church should have a social-service program. There
+is still wide diversity of opinion as to the form that service should
+take. In too many cases there is no opinion at all; and while
+admitting the principle, active opposition develops to any attempt to
+put the principle into practice in a specific project. This condition
+is to be found most marked in those sections of the country that are
+not in the direct line of thought movements, or where living
+conditions are such as to make rural life monotonous. The monotony of
+the plains is as deadening as is the lack of contact of the mountain
+valley; and both fields offer fruitful ground for the spread of
+unsocial types of religious expression.</p>
+
+<p>The solution of this phase of adjustment of the church to community
+needs lies in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> patient educational program carried on by the
+minister of the gospel. He must be a man of broad vision and must have
+the fullest appreciation of the slowness with which the rural public
+mind works. He must be everlastingly tactful and not attempt more than
+the simplest advances at the beginning and not more than one at a
+time. He should have at hand an abundance of educational material in
+the way of literature, lantern slides, and periodicals which can be
+used in showing what actually happens when the church embarks on a
+broader program of rural service. A national educational program of
+this type will in a few years create a demand that must be met and
+that rural churches will pay well for as the value of such work will
+be recognized.</p>
+
+<p>The more serious phase of this problem is the lack of adequate
+preparation for this service on the part of the ministry. In one of
+the leading denominations (Methodist Episcopal) over twenty-nine per
+cent of the charges are cared for by supplies, men who by reason of
+educational preparation, age, or for some other cause are not now and,
+in a large proportion of cases, never will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> eligible to membership
+in the Conferences. Of the remainder, only a small proportion are
+graduates of schools of higher learning, such as colleges and
+theological seminaries. At a time when a large number of those living
+in rural communities are either agricultural college graduates or have
+attended short courses in agriculture, it becomes apparent that an
+uneducated ministry is becoming a menace to the future of the rural
+church.</p>
+
+<p>But of those who have had the advantages of a college or theological
+seminary training, the type of training has not fitted them for
+effective rural service. The training of ministers has gone through
+the same process as other types of training. It was once thought that
+since the sole business of the minister was the personal appeal to
+accept Christ, with the emphasis on the personal atonement features of
+Christianity rather than on the principles of Christian living, the
+same type of training would fit one to deliver the message whether he
+was in the slums of the city, on the shores of Africa, or in the
+mountains of Colorado. Moreover, for some reason, it appears to have
+been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> accepted that the rural ministry was the simplest of all and
+that any one could be a rural minister. It would be amusing if it were
+not so tragic to accept the testimony of some of those who have not
+yet seen that the rural ministry is a type demanding such a
+cosmopolitan understanding of human nature and of conditions of human
+existence that it demands the best intellects and the highest type of
+missionary spirit to carry on successfully. We have heard of college
+presidents recommending young men for important rural positions
+because the young man was "not ambitious for any important work in the
+church." It has been known that officials in the church would bid for
+theological seminary graduates with the assurance that while they
+would have to accept an "undesirable" rural charge for a year or so,
+they would soon be "promoted." The writer knows of at least one young
+Negro minister, a holder of a Master's degree from a large educational
+institution, whose major work for his higher degree was in the dead
+languages. The attitude of our educational institutions, and the
+attitude in public thought has been that progress for the individual
+has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> been in the direction of getting away from the country instead of
+remaining with rural folk and giving one's life to the advancement of
+the group as a whole; and the courses of study have had primarily in
+mind the personal appeal rather than that of dealing with man in his
+particular environment.</p>
+
+<p>It is now recognized that modern life demands a specialized ministry.
+The one who can handle successfully a rural industrial or a downtown
+urban situation may not be at all fitted to deal with the problems of
+the village or the open country. On the other hand, the one who can
+serve farmers successfully might not be at all fitted to fill a
+metropolitan pulpit. Beginnings only have been made in attempting to
+adjust educational work to meet this modern demand. In the meantime
+the problem remains of the ministers trained under former conditions,
+if trained at all. Many of them have not yet caught the vision of the
+larger program of the church; and of those who have caught this vision
+the handling of the tools of the new program is such a delicate task
+that many failures are sure to be recorded. It will take years to
+bring the church to the place where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> it can meet successfully the
+modern demands upon it.</p>
+
+<p>The second great problem is that of maladjustment in thought.
+Protestantism is still suffering from the effects of extreme
+individualism in religious belief. Strong leaders, obsessed with some
+one variation in interpretation of the Scriptures, have pulled off
+from the main body of the church and have started independent
+organizations committed to the development of the particular
+interpretation they have made. When once these organizations have been
+formed and have secured a financial backing, they have continued to
+spread, until to-day rural America presents the spectacle of religious
+forces agreeing on the broad general program of the relation of the
+church to community needs but paralyzed because of dissensions over
+less essential principles of theological dogma. The reasons for
+separate organizations have often been forgotten and loyalty to a
+particular organization as such has taken its place.</p>
+
+<p>The solution of this problem is not that of attempting to eliminate
+differences in dogmatic belief by argument, but of emphasizing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> the
+points of agreement of the various religious groups. Error and
+nonessential dividing lines will disappear if neglected. But if they
+are agitated, they will thrive under persecution and conditions will
+be worse than ever.</p>
+
+<p>The third problem is that of maladjustment of buildings to community
+needs. This problem presents itself in two aspects: first, that of
+location of church buildings, and, second, that of location of
+pastors' residences. In the original settlement of this country,
+people located their new homes in neighborhoods partly for social and
+economic purposes and partly for protection. Where these new groups
+were founded the church building soon found a place. As the
+communities grew, and aided in the course of time by ambitious
+national agencies, the sectarian interests mentioned above established
+new churches to care for those of each particular belief until many
+communities soon became overchurched. The rapid decrease in
+open-country, and even village, population which began during the 70's
+of the past century and which has continued to the present made the
+problem still worse, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>until to-day probably the least efficient
+institution in all rural life is the rural church.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the first settlements did not always mark the spot of
+permanent development of population and interest centers. As time has
+passed, many of the places which it was once thought would be
+permanent centers have lost their preeminence and others have taken
+their place, until now many very small communities have too many
+churches, and others are lacking in adequate facilities for religious
+service.</p>
+
+<p>The time has now come when it is believed that rural population and
+agricultural tendencies are sufficiently well known to enable those
+interested in rural life development to determine what are the most
+suitable centers for community development. The Interchurch World
+Movement, had it been carried to a successful conclusion, would have
+gone far toward determining those centers for the entire United
+States. As it is, the Movement made possible such determination for
+about one fifth of the United States and the task of completing the
+survey may be accomplished in the course of time.</p>
+
+<p>When this task is completed, then the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> challenge to the churches of
+America will be to so readjust the location of their church buildings
+and to remodel them in such a way as to be adapted to the present and
+probable future growth of communities so determined. This work is
+scarcely begun, but it is believed that it has gone far enough to
+insure its ultimate achievement. When this is done, then the local
+church will be in a position to deal most effectively with the
+community problems mentioned in preceding chapters.</p>
+
+<p>The situation as to location of pastors' residences is even more
+serious than that of location of church buildings. During the pioneer
+period of church organization ministers were under the necessity of
+dividing their efforts among a considerable number of small groups.
+These were organized into circuits and the pastor's residence was
+provided at the point either where the original church was established
+or where it was most convenient for him to serve the preaching points
+under his care. Each denomination developed its own work regardless of
+other groups and in many cases from the same common center, so that we
+now have in rural and village organization pastors' residences<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+centralized in the minority of rural communities and the great
+majority of such communities without resident pastoral care.</p>
+
+<p>In the State of Ohio, for example, in one county of twenty-four
+communities but twelve have resident pastors and in these twelve
+communities thirty-nine pastors reside. In another of sixteen
+communities but eight have resident pastors. Yet in each county there
+are enough ministers to supply each community with a resident pastor,
+if readjustment were to be made. In the northeastern part of the State
+on a single Methodist district are to be found two instances of
+Methodist and Presbyterian pastors living in the same village and
+going on alternate Sundays to another village, in one instance larger
+than that wherein the ministers live. The facts as to the growth and
+decline of churches with resident or non-resident ministers elsewhere
+present (see Church Growth and Decline in Ohio) are a sufficient
+indication of the effects of maladjustment of pastoral residences to
+rural community needs. Since the modern demand of rural life upon the
+church is for community leadership as well as for holding Sunday
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>worship, it is clear that no adequate program of church leadership in
+rural life can be worked out until this vital need of readjustment of
+pastoral residences to community service is met.</p>
+
+<p>A third serious problem is that of lack of coordination of
+denominational effort in community service. Where two or more
+religious organizations find a place in the same small community, no
+plan has yet been successfully tried whereby these organizations as
+such have been brought into harmonious and continuous action for
+community service. The presence of two or three ministers of social
+vision in the same small community is not always an asset, since small
+communities do not have a place for more than one leader and sectarian
+interests forbid cooperation under the leadership of either of the
+church pastors. This situation has given rise to such organizations as
+the Christian Associations, the Sunday School Associations, and a
+large number of nonreligious agencies now trying to provide for
+community leadership independent of the church. It is intended here to
+call attention to the problem. A suggestion as to methods of solution
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>will be taken up more at length in a succeeding chapter.</p>
+
+<p>A fourth serious problem resulting from the above is lack of adequate
+support for rural religious institutions. Owing to the general lack of
+financial resources of rural communities as compared with the urban
+centers, they have not been able to compete financially with city
+churches in bidding for men who have high standards of living and who
+demand large financial returns for services rendered. This condition
+will probably continue indefinitely because of the tendency of
+large-scale industrial production to centralize wealth control in
+urban centers; that is, unless the economic motive is taken from
+Christian service through the equalization of salaries. This is a
+solution much to be desired, but it is feared that pastors will not
+take kindly to such a movement; and members of city churches will
+continue to contribute to the support of their own particular pastor
+instead of to general pastoral support. But the weakness in support
+has been seriously increased because of dividing of such resources as
+rural communities have among so many different agencies. Many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+communities that could support a pastor at two thousand dollars or
+more a year now have men serving denominations at one thousand dollars
+per year or less.</p>
+
+<p>The same is true of church building. When five church buildings must
+be erected and maintained for sectarian purposes in a town where there
+is room for but one school building there is little wonder that the
+contrast between church buildings and other rural institutional
+buildings is so marked. And it is little wonder that when people begin
+to think in community terms they are inclined to pass by the church as
+an institution offering hope of community service conservation and
+turn either to the school or to some other agency that they hope will
+serve the purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Closely akin to the problem of inadequate support for the country
+minister and the country church is that contention often made that the
+job of a country preacher does not offer as great a challenge as does
+that of service in other branches of church work. It is believed that
+this contention is erroneous because the rural work, while not
+demanding the same qualities of service as other types,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> does demand
+qualities of its own that equal, if they do not exceed, those of the
+city pulpit. The ability to serve people long and continuously in
+close personal relation to them; to deal patiently with conservatism;
+to endure the hardships of living under conditions far below what are
+to be found in city environments; to get the support of the people for
+progressive measures, and to keep alive mentally in an environment
+that is not the most conducive to study because of lack of reading
+facilities and because of the ease with which one may shirk the means
+of personal growth&mdash;all these make the task one for the specially
+capable and devoted.</p>
+
+<p>But if there is truth in the statement that the country ministry does
+not offer the opportunity for the exercise of personal abilities
+required by the city pulpit, then, unless we frankly recognize that
+the limit of possibility of building up the rural work is to alleviate
+an unavoidable discrepancy in personal challenge, it becomes necessary
+to so reorganize the local parish that it will be a challenge fit to
+attract the best minds in the church.</p>
+
+<p>The first step already has been mentioned:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> that is, to adjust
+relationships between denominations so that a minister will have sole
+responsibility for community leadership.</p>
+
+<p>The second is to enlarge the parishes under the control of one pastor
+that he will have ample field for the exercise of his abilities. In
+some sections of the country two or more communities may still have to
+be assigned to one minister, with the expectation that he will develop
+local volunteer leadership in the respective communities, or have
+adequate assistance in the way of special workers among the children
+and in the homes and have directors of religious education for full or
+part time in each community. In most sections of the country the
+communities are now of such a size as to demand the full time of a
+paid minister and to pay a satisfactory salary for services rendered.</p>
+
+<p>The third is to increase the functions of the pastorate so that people
+will be willing to pay more for the service rendered. This results
+directly from the adoption of the larger program for the church herein
+recommended.</p>
+
+<p>The practice&mdash;still all too rare&mdash;of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>supplying the pastor with an
+automobile for pastoral work, should be encouraged everywhere,
+particularly when the charge has a pastor who has the vision of the
+broader program of the church and is specially trained for his work.
+There are complications in the connectional system of making
+appointments that tend to prevent liberality in this respect. When a
+charge is brought up to adequate self-support the tendency is too
+often to make the charge a place to "take care" of a Conference member
+of that grade regardless of his fitness to follow up the type of
+program introduced by his predecessor. The taking of the automobile by
+the departing pastor deprives the community of its use. Leaving it for
+the use of an inefficient pastor is too great a burden on the
+community. Experience will determine the best means of handling this
+problem and should ultimately put ministers on the same basis as to
+having means of transportation furnished as County Agricultural
+Agents, County Superintendents of Schools, Christian Association
+Secretaries, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The soldier in the ranks will probably never be looked upon as in the
+same grade<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> of responsible position as the captain of the company. So
+the country minister has a right to look forward in due time to
+"promotion" in natural channels; that is, to the district
+superintendency. It is to be feared that too often at the present
+time, the rural minister is discouraged from remaining in the rural
+work because he sees that a very large proportion of the positions in
+the church that are recognized as personal promotions are filled from
+the city pulpits. His course of advance is now from the country pulpit
+to the city pulpit, thence to the district superintendency or detached
+service, thence to the bishopric, a position very few ministers refuse
+if offered. The rural work would be strengthened if rural district
+superintendencies were filled by rural men who have demonstrated their
+ability to build up a rural charge successfully, and then if these
+same rural district superintendents were to have an opportunity to
+fill the highest possible positions in the church, thus bringing to
+the highest administrative offices of the church the tried experience
+that comes from building up a district in Methodism. When the
+necessity of leaving the rural work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> in order to get "promotion" is
+eliminated there will be a marked strengthening of loyalty to the
+rural work.</p>
+
+<p>The illustrations given have been taken from Methodist Episcopal
+experience. Other denominations have similar problems, but probably to
+a less degree because of the more marked form of localized democracy
+in church polity.</p>
+
+<p>If the churches of America permit this crisis of lack of adjustment of
+church to community needs to pass unchallenged, and if they delay in
+making the adjustments needed, the time will soon come when other
+agencies, supported by rural communities, will make provision for
+these needs and the opportunity of the church will be gone
+indefinitely. Other agencies will be performing a real Christian
+service, and the church, by reason of its failure to live up to the
+demands upon it, will have an increasingly difficult task of
+justifying its existence so far as relationship to this world is
+concerned.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>INTERDENOMINATIONAL READJUSTMENT</h3>
+
+
+<p>Rural progress under church leadership has been much like the first
+drops of water on a placid lake at the beginning of a rain. Little
+rises of water appear and some waves circle out, but the ultimate
+level is not much raised. So with the church. Here and there a
+minister stirs up some local community, some definite progress is
+made, attention is attracted from other communities and they may have
+a few symptoms of a rise, but too often the minister moves, another
+comes, and the general level of community life falls back to what it
+was before.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty is that with the overlapping of interdenominational
+jurisdictions it is impossible for any group to lead in progress
+outside of the local community. Methodists cannot lead in a county
+program because Baptists and Presbyterians will not follow them.
+Neither can the other groups lead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> because Methodists are not gifted
+in following the leadership of other denominations. It is perfectly
+natural and justifiable that this should be so. Before the churches of
+America, Protestant or Catholic, can render the entire service
+demanded of them there must be a thoroughgoing system of
+interdenominational cooperation worked out which will insure joint
+responsibility of all denominations concerned in providing for
+community leadership on a large scale. If this is impossible, then the
+inevitable alternative must be accepted of passing by the churches of
+America in carrying out comprehensive plans of progress and of turning
+to other agencies for this service.</p>
+
+<p>During the past, largely owing to the apparently hopeless situation so
+far as interdenominational cooperation is concerned, Christian
+organizations, such as Christian Associations and Sunday School
+Associations, have sprung up to do for the denominations and for the
+ministers what they could not do under present conditions. These
+agencies have done notable work. They have accomplished much in
+preparing the way for a nation-wide recognition of what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> the broad
+function of the church is; they have brought representatives of all
+denominations together and have gradually increased the social spirit
+while at the same time lessening the emphasis upon those things which
+have divided the Christian Church into so many isolated camps. They
+have pioneered and experimented. They have had failures as well as
+successes, but their failures have been a real contribution to the sum
+total of human experience and have taught us many things that should
+be avoided. The service rendered by these agencies must ever be
+remembered as of the most vital and important character.</p>
+
+<p>But it will be admitted by representatives of all organizations that a
+large part of what is now found in the programs of those other
+religious organizations, "arms" of the church, is a legitimate part of
+the work that should be supervised by the minister of a community
+program and included in his program, and that in those communities
+where such trained pastoral leadership exists the functions of these
+other agencies can be materially modified and their activities
+directed into still further new and untried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> fields of endeavor. The
+church needs organizations supported from funds not coming through the
+regular channels founded on the budgets of individual churches. These
+subsidiary organizations can go ahead with experimentation, and their
+failures do not bring the discredit to the parent organization that
+they would if done by the church directly. On the other hand, their
+successes can be adopted into the regular program of the church and
+thus conserved. Complete control of experimentation or demonstration
+work is likely to destroy or prevent initiative, which is the soul of
+progress.</p>
+
+<p>In adjusting problems between denominations in local communities a
+number of plans have been tried with greater or less success. One of
+the oldest is that of the "union" church. This is a type of
+organization in which the people of the local community, tiring of the
+uneconomic system of interdenominational competition, and without hope
+of uniting on any one of the local organizations represented, decide
+to separate from all and form themselves into an independent local
+organization.</p>
+
+<p>No large denomination to-day is favorable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> to the so-called "union"
+church; and all are opposed to the plan sometimes followed by rural
+industrial concerns of erecting a church building open to anyone who
+pretends to speak with authority about religious matters. The "union"
+church usually begins with enthusiasm, but because of lack of outside
+contacts, because of lack of continuity of program, because of lack of
+a broad missionary spirit, it is generally shortlived and gives way to
+some church with denominational affiliations. The "union" church
+without denominational affiliations should not be confused with the
+"community" church with denominational connection. It is the latter
+type that most religious organizations are now agreed is most
+desirable as the solution of the inexcusable overchurching now
+existing in many communities.</p>
+
+<p>In these days of get-together movements denominational leaders should
+think clearly with reference to "federated" churches. A few of these
+have had a fairly long life. But their growth in the past fifteen
+years has not been such as to inspire confidence that they offer a
+satisfactory solution to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>overchurched situation. The "federated"
+church idea is not in harmony with a connectional polity nor with the
+principle of world democracy with centralization of administrative
+responsibility for carrying out democratically adopted plans implied
+in that polity. Local federation involves giving of full power of
+selection of pastors and of determination of policies to the local
+congregation. Whatever may be said about the occasional failures of
+the connectional system in finding suitable pastors, or in other ways,
+it is nevertheless true that this system has a vitality and efficiency
+that are now being recognized by many of the leading religious
+organizations. The polity of the "federated" church is congregational;
+and extreme congregationalism and connectionalism do not mix readily
+so far as polity is concerned. The growth of the one form involves the
+decline of the other. This is why the Methodist Episcopal Church, for
+example, has developed so little sympathy for the "federated" church
+idea.</p>
+
+<p>Far different from this is allocation of responsibility for community
+leadership. This insures leadership to one denomination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> or the other.
+Then the local congregations can work out their problems of adjustment
+as local conditions indicate is best. Usually some form of affiliation
+in worship and in sharing local expenses with continued separation of
+support of missionary and other benevolent enterprises has proven the
+most satisfactory method of local adjustment. By this method
+connectional interests are preserved and fixing of responsibility in
+each community assured.</p>
+
+<p>With the vastly increased missionary resources made available by the
+missionary "drives" of the leading denominations there is positive
+danger of the problem of interdenominational adjustment being made
+still more serious. If the Home Mission Boards, through unwise use of
+mission funds for the purpose of assisting in competitive struggles,
+should precipitate retaliation by other denominations, a misuse of
+missionary funds would result that would not only dry up the sources
+of missionary support but bring Protestantism into lasting disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>In working out a program of interdenominational adjustment the
+following plan has been tried with success on at least three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+Methodist Episcopal Annual Conference districts:</p>
+
+<p>1. A survey of the district and the preparation of a map showing the
+location of all churches, residences of all pastors, circuit systems,
+and whether churches are located in villages or the open country.</p>
+
+<p>2. Separate lists are then made of cases of apparent competitive
+relations with each denomination.</p>
+
+<p>3. Conferences are then called with the representatives of each
+denomination to consider the problems of competition between the
+Methodist Episcopal Church and the particular denomination with which
+the conference is called.</p>
+
+<p>4. After tentative plans have been adopted representatives of both
+denominations visit the local field together, confer with the churches
+concerned, and arrive at some agreement as to adjustments to be made.</p>
+
+<p>5. This method is followed with each denomination, separately, with
+which Methodism has competitive relations.</p>
+
+<p>This plan has been tried with success in the State of Vermont, where
+Methodists,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> Baptists, and Congregationalists had to cooperate or
+abandon the field; in the Portsmouth district, Ohio Conference, where
+the principal problems were with the Presbyterians, United Brethren,
+and Baptists; in Montana, where a conference was held to consider
+adjustments affecting an entire State; and in the Wooster District,
+North-East Ohio Conference, where adjustment of relationships is
+proceeding satisfactorily.</p>
+
+<p>The results of this program already noticeable are:</p>
+
+<p>1. The increase in salary of rural ministers made possible by uniting
+the financial resources of all religious forces in the community.</p>
+
+<p>2. Saving of missionary money by eliminating duplication of missionary
+grants by competing denominations.</p>
+
+<p>3. A marked increase in membership and church attendance.</p>
+
+<p>4. A more vital relationship of the church to community welfare
+through unified action of all religious forces under the trained
+leadership of one pastor.</p>
+
+<p>5. Resident pastorates to more communities through better distribution
+of pastoral<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> residences of the denominations concerned in adjustments
+made.</p>
+
+<p>6. A more vital appeal to life service in rural work can now be made
+to young people who have objected to service in rural charges where
+efforts at community service have been handicapped and even nullified
+by the presence of competing religious organizations and pastors.</p>
+
+<p>It is believed that the results obtained far outweigh the possible
+losses that may come through Methodists intrusting leadership in
+service to Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, or the
+reverse. The good work made possible by fixing responsibility for
+leadership to a given denomination in one community is destined by the
+force of example and imitation to compel similar progress in
+communities to which leadership responsibility has been assigned to
+other denominations.</p>
+
+<p>A word of caution to ministers in charge of local fields is desirable
+in regard to settlement of interdenominational difficulties. The
+interests involved are so much larger than the local church that the
+initiative must be taken by the district superintendent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>always in
+the fullest consultation with the resident bishop, or the proper
+State, synodical, or other representative of the other denominations
+concerned. In a number of cases local initiative in this matter has
+resulted not only in defeating the end sought but has created
+embarrassing situations between the supervisory representatives of the
+denominations. If a local situation needs adjustment, the matter
+should be gone over fully with those responsible for church
+administration, and it is believed that in most cases such adjustment
+can be made satisfactorily. The experience of those in the Methodist
+Episcopal Church who have tried to bring about adjustments by the
+method suggested has been that in most cases other groups are ready to
+come to an agreement.</p>
+
+<p>If other groups refuse to make adjustments, then the denomination
+making the advances has no other alternative than that of caring for
+its own obligations as adequately as possible and with every resource
+that can be made available. But no blame can attach to this policy
+after effort has been made to cooperate with other groups and these
+efforts have failed.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+<p>After communities have been allocated for leadership to one or another
+of the denominations, then the problem of a united program by all
+denominations remains to be solved. Unless this end is attained, then
+rural churches must continue to work largely alone, each in its own
+community without relation to the program of neighboring churches or
+communities. Unless there is coordination between the churches, then
+we shall continue to witness the spectacle of the three
+interdenominational branches of the church, the Sunday School
+Association, and the Christian Associations, each moving in its own
+self-chosen direction, each raising an independent budget, and each
+establishing county organizations without reference to the interests
+of the other; and none of the three doing anything to encourage the
+organization of county groups of the churches as such. The time has
+arrived when the church as such should take the lead in bringing about
+interdenominational cooperation for community service under its own
+auspices and in the most inclusive way.</p>
+
+<p>For many reasons the county offers the best basis for this type of
+organization. It is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> the most permanent political unit, next to the
+State or the incorporated town or city. Social progress finds the
+closest opportunity for cooperation with economic and political
+agencies in the county. The following proposal for a County Christian
+Association, supported out of the budgets of local cooperating
+churches, has been worked out:</p>
+
+
+<div class="center"><b><span class="smcap">Suggested Program for County Rural Christian Association or Federation
+of Churches</span></b><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div>
+
+<ul>
+<li>1a. Proposal for County Christian Association or Church Federation.
+  <ul>
+  <li>1b. Board of Directors.
+    <ul>
+    <li>1c. County Council chosen by each cooperating denomination on
+        basis of membership.</li>
+
+    <li>2c. Election or appointment of denominational representatives
+        to be left to each denomination.</li>
+
+    <li>3c. Selection of county secretary.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>2b. Duties of county secretary.
+    <ul>
+    <li>1c. Survey&mdash;Follow up what interchurch county office has done.
+      <ul>
+      <li>1d. Location of all churches.</li>
+
+      <li>2d. Residence of pastors.</li>
+
+      <li>3d. Community boundaries.</li>
+      </ul></li>
+
+    <li>2c. Organize county religious movements as: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+      <ul>
+      <li>1d. Evangelistic drive.</li>
+
+      <li>2d. Membership rally.</li>
+
+      <li>3d. Go-to-church campaigns.</li>
+
+      <li>4d. Religious worship in the home.</li>
+
+      <li>5d. Common programs with reference to moral and spiritual
+          problems.</li>
+
+      <li>6d. Other religious movements.</li>
+      </ul></li>
+
+    <li>3c. Interchurch adjustments.
+      <ul>
+      <li>1d. Act as secretary of Committee on Adjustments&mdash;provide office
+          for interchurch activities.</li>
+
+      <li>2d. Depository for interchurch religious information.</li>
+
+      <li>3d. Follow-up plans made as result of interchurch survey,
+          including:
+        <ul>
+        <li>1e. Encouragement of building parsonage and getting resident
+            pastor in every community.</li>
+
+        <li>2e. Getting a community church building in every community
+            adequate to its needs.</li>
+
+        <li>3e. Getting a community building under joint religious auspices
+            where need exists for several houses of worship.</li>
+
+        <li>4e. Clearing house for membership conservation.</li>
+
+        <li>5e. Determination of parish boundaries.</li>
+
+        <li>6e. Establishment of new work in communities where there is none.</li>
+        </ul></li>
+      </ul></li>
+
+    <li>4c. Social and recreational.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+      <ul>
+      <li>1d. County field days.</li>
+
+      <li>2d. Cooperation in organizing boys' and girls' clubs in Sunday
+          school or otherwise.</li>
+
+      <li>4d. Direct social and recreational activities.</li>
+
+      <li>5d. Assisting in selection and training leaders for church and
+          community service.</li>
+      </ul></li>
+    <li>5c. Religious education.
+      <ul>
+      <li>1d. Recruiting membership campaigns.</li>
+
+      <li>2d. Perform all functions now expected of volunteer county Sunday
+          school secretary.</li>
+
+      <li>3d. Assist in analysis of Sunday school methods and organization
+          in local churches in organizing for larger service.</li>
+
+      <li>4d. Week-day religious instruction plans.</li>
+      </ul></li>
+    <li>6c. Social service activities to be encouraged:
+      <ul>
+      <li>1d. County free library.</li>
+
+      <li>2d. County hospital and nursing program.</li>
+
+      <li>3d. Adequate provision for dependents, defectives, delinquents.</li>
+
+      <li>4d. Securing desired State public service.</li>
+
+      <li>5d. Health and sanitation campaign.</li>
+
+      <li>6d. County Farm bureaus.</li>
+      </ul></li>
+    <li>7c. Cooperation with other agencies. In general, give moral support
+        <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>
+        to agencies doing effective work in the fields mentioned in (6c).</li>
+
+    <li>8c. Act as bureau of advice with reference to appeals for charitable
+        purposes.</li>
+
+    <li>9c. Religious publicity.</li>
+    </ul></li>
+
+  <li>3b. Budget.
+    <ul>
+    <li>1c. <span class="listtxt">Estimated Salary of Secretary</span><span class="listnum">$3,000</span><br/>
+            <span class="listtxt" >Travel</span><span class="listnum">400</span><br/>
+            <span class="listtxt" >Office rent</span><span class="listnum">300</span><br/>
+            <span class="listtxt" >Equipment</span><span class="listnum"> 200</span><br/>
+            <span class="listtxt" >Stenographer</span><span class="listnum"> 750</span><br/>
+            <span class="listtxt" >Publicity</span><span class="listnum"> 40</span><br/>
+            <span class="listnum">&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;</span><br />
+            <span class="listnum">$5,050</span><br />
+    </li>
+
+    <li>2c. How to raise.
+      <ul>
+      <li>1d. Estimate amount that should come from each cooperating church.
+          Ask each church to assume its share on a three-year guarantee.</li>
+
+      <li>2d. Make list of special givers who may become a private source.</li>
+
+      <li>3d. Communicate with respective missionary boards for aid in
+          carrying balance of budget until such time as it can be brought
+          to self-support.</li>
+      </ul></li>
+    </ul></li>
+  </ul> </li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Prepared in Collaboration with C. J. Hewett, Garrett
+Biblical Institute, Evanston, Ill.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>This form of organization has many advantages, among which are:</p>
+
+<p>1. It coordinates all the religious forces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> of Protestantism, for a
+common community service.</p>
+
+<p>2. It insures ultimate permanent support by being financed out of the
+budgets of the cooperating churches instead of by a limited number of
+private givers of large funds.</p>
+
+<p>3. The county organization develops its work through the churches,
+strengthening the program of the minister instead of developing
+independent organizations locally with volunteer leadership related to
+an "arm" of the church instead of directly to the church.</p>
+
+<p>4. By organizing to do their own work in this way the churches obviate
+the necessity of private Christian agencies organizing with outside
+support to carry on interdenominational work.</p>
+
+<p>If the churches of America do not rapidly work out plans of
+interdenominational cooperation in the development of their work,
+other agencies will enter the field and will receive popular financial
+support for doing those things in rural progress that are the
+legitimate task of the church and for which the church should receive
+support. Church people will supply the large part of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> funds for
+carrying on these activities through nonreligious agencies; and
+because of the narrowness of program the church will have chosen for
+itself many of the brightest and best minds, and consecrated hearts
+now found in our student groups in educational institutions will find
+their life's activities outside the church instead of within its ranks
+where they would prefer to be. This will be the misfortune of the
+church and she cannot clear herself of the wrong of depriving her
+young people of the opportunity of rendering a service to humanity
+within her own ranks and of forcing them to render that service
+through independent social agencies.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CHURCH AND OTHER RURAL AGENCIES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Since the arousal of interest in rural welfare by the studies made by
+the Country Life Commission in 1908, probably no movement has made
+more rapid progress than that concerned with rural life. Studies of
+rural church conditions made by the Presbyterian Board of Home
+Missions and other agencies, of rural health by the National Public
+Health Service and by a number of the large philanthropic foundations,
+of educational conditions by the United States Bureau of Education,
+and of other problems by various agencies concerned, have revealed the
+more important conditions and have made possible the organization of
+programs for their amelioration. The conditions still further revealed
+by the problems incident to preparation for the World War and the
+facilities made possible by that preparation for mobilization of the
+forces for improvement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> still further advanced the rural-life movement
+until now no other interest is occupying more public attention than
+this.</p>
+
+<p>The list of agencies with programs of rural service on a national
+scale that have found representation in the National Council of Rural
+Social Service affiliated with the American Country Life Association
+will indicate the large number of groups now contributing to the
+advance of rural welfare. This list is as follows: National Grange,
+American Farm Bureau Federation, National Board of Farm Organizations,
+Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union, American Home Economics
+Society, American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of
+America, Federal Council of Churches, National Catholic Welfare
+Council, Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the
+United States of America, American Baptist Home Missionary Society,
+Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Young Men's
+Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, United
+States Department of Agriculture, States Relations Service; United
+States Department of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>Agriculture, Office of Farm Management; United
+States Public Health Service, United States Bureau of Education,
+United States Department of Labor, Children's Bureau; National
+Organization for Public Health Nursing, National Child Labor
+Committee, Child Health Organization of America, Russell Sage
+Foundation, National Tuberculosis Association, National Educational
+Association, Rural Department; American Library Association, National
+University Extension Association, National Child Health Council,
+Playground and Recreation Association of America, Community Service,
+Inc.</p>
+
+<p>The above is a list of thirty-one different agencies that have a
+national definitely organized rural-service program. This list
+doubtless is incomplete and will be increased in the course of time.</p>
+
+<p>The problem before us is to determine just what place the church
+should have in this formidable galaxy of agencies, and to consider
+what advantages and difficulties present themselves to the churches of
+America in functioning unitedly and successfully in doing their part
+in the entire movement.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p>
+<p>It must be recognized that it is impossible for the church to assume
+leadership in all the interests represented now by various specialized
+agencies. It has been contended that the task of the church has been
+completed with reference to a number of these interests when it has
+encouraged their organization in a local way and has continued to give
+them its moral support so long as they render effectively the service
+for which they were intended. Rural interests are so complex that
+specialized groups are necessary to insure adequate attention to all
+the interests concerned.</p>
+
+<p>It must also be recognized that until the two great branches of the
+Christian Church&mdash;Catholicism and Protestantism&mdash;learn to cooperate in
+their service to the community, the religious forces of America cannot
+present a united front in rendering the service that belongs
+peculiarly to them. It is assumed that the effort will be made by
+those responsible for community service in both branches of the church
+to work out this problem so that the church can do its part in the
+general movement.</p>
+
+<p>The physical basis for organization of all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> forces for service on a
+comprehensive plan is recognized to be the political units, county,
+State, and nation. The township is giving way gradually to the
+community as the more local unit of organization. In cases where
+community boundary lines do not coincide with county lines local
+adjustments will be made whereby the integrity of communities may be
+maintained within the organization of one or the other of the counties
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p>The present movement is toward the appointment of county work
+secretaries on a salaried basis to administer the work of the
+respective interests concerned. Thus we have now developed wherever
+the spirit of the people has made it possible salaried County Y. M. C.
+A. officers, Y. W. C. A. officers, International Sunday School
+officers, Red Cross Chapters, Boy Scouts, Community Service, Inc., and
+so forth. There is no regularity or uniformity in the selection of the
+counties by the different agencies with reference to each other, but
+it appears that when one of the groups succeeds in getting a county
+office established, it is increasingly difficult for other agencies
+concerned in rural social service to gain a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> foothold on a salaried
+basis. The agency that succeeds in gaining a foothold originally tends
+to incorporate into its activities the full program of social service.
+Theoretically all admit their readiness to turn over to other agencies
+the functions belonging to other groups as soon as they are ready to
+assume their proper duties, but practically the organization of an
+interest group county office delays indefinitely the organization of
+rural service on a proper basis.</p>
+
+<p>The normal course of development is for the agency that is prepared to
+organize and finance a comprehensive rural program for a county should
+render this service; but it should at the same time use its influence
+to bring about at the earliest possible moment a county council of
+social agencies that will give unified control of the rural service
+program to all agencies that should have a voice in rural progress. If
+this policy is adhered to, there will be the heartiest support of the
+work of any agency that wishes to begin its work on a county basis in
+any section of the country.</p>
+
+<p>The first impression that may come to one not familiar with the
+vastness of the organized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> movement for rural welfare may be that a
+large number of agencies have undertaken rural service for their own
+sakes rather than for the sake of the community. This is not the case.
+It is recognized that rural organization for definite objectives
+should take the place of previous uncoordinated, haphazard opportunism
+in rural progress, and the present sporadic and unrelated movements
+toward organization are but the result of a very rapid development
+which has not yet found time to make the desired adjustment desired by
+all concerned. The National Council of Rural Social Agencies, the
+State Councils coming into existence, the County Councils and the
+community councils that have appeared here and there are but the
+beginnings of a well-ordered, economical and necessary coordination of
+rural social forces.</p>
+
+<p>How is the church related to this movement? Repeated investigations
+have shown that the churches of America have within their membership
+by far the larger proportion of those whose public spirit registers
+itself in voluntary financial support of public enterprises. The
+"friendly citizen" is largely a myth. Those who build churches<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> at
+large personal sacrifice, and pay the bills in maintaining religious
+services are those whose names appear at the top of most subscriptions
+to benevolent enterprises. It was the Christian ministry and the
+church membership that made possible the Red Cross drives during the
+war, and the other financial campaigns for relief and other calls
+incident to the war. Thus history has continued to show the same
+condition so far as financial resources for public welfare support are
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p>Since this is the case, it appears that the most natural method of
+initiating social service work on a voluntary basis is to expect the
+churches to take the lead. As has been pointed out, the church and the
+school are the two local institutions that have salaried officials to
+care for their public service. Other agencies, with the possible
+exception of public health nursing service, will probably not in the
+near future be able to secure financial support for full-time salaried
+local officials. The nearest they can approach to such salaried
+service is the county official who must depend for local service upon
+trained volunteer help. This condition puts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> upon the church an
+additional responsibility because through the organization of a county
+religious organization outlined in the preceding chapter it can not
+only mobilize local support for such work on a permanent basis most
+effectively, but it can also provide the salaried local leadership for
+carrying out a well-organized community service program. Moreover, in
+harmony with principles presented in an earlier chapter, the church as
+a conservative institution is one of the permanent organizations that
+in the last analysis must be expected to take over and insure
+permanence to well-tried advances in community organization and
+service. If this thesis is admitted, then it logically follows that
+all who are interested in rural progress should encourage the
+organization of the religious forces on a comprehensive basis to
+insure the perpetuation of the work now being inaugurated by a large
+number of private agencies.</p>
+
+<p>When it is found that the interests of other organizations conflict
+with the program of the church, the interests of the American public
+will give the preference in support to the church, or to the
+tax-supported<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> institution. In the long run much of the work now being
+done by private organizations of various sorts will be inherited
+either by the church or by the state; and it is not only the
+opportunity but the obligation of the church to prepare itself as
+rapidly as possible for conserving these newer activities by financing
+county and State and national organizations for coordination of
+religious forces for community service. If county offices for
+coordination of religious forces were now in existence, the churches
+could provide facilities through which much of the work now being
+developed by other agencies could be carried on. And thus the church
+could render a much-needed service to the entire rural-life movement.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>MISSIONARY PROGRAMS AND RURAL COMMUNITY SERVICE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Long years of experience in foreign missionary service has vitally
+affected the methods of carrying the gospel of Christian living to
+those who have not yet come under the influence of the Christ. Here
+the demonstration method of what Christianity means in terms of
+increased human welfare has done far more to spread the gospel than
+simply preaching to people. The freeing of the millions now living
+under the control of other forms of religious belief by introduction
+of schools, together with the message of health and better moral
+ideals through the practice of Christian living, has done more to
+spread Christianity than all the efforts of attempting to build a
+Christian spirit into a civilization not suited to it nor prepared for
+it.</p>
+
+<p>The missionary agencies in the home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> fields have learned from the
+experience in the foreign fields, and now the programs of home
+missionary boards are characterized by their large emphasis upon the
+social gospel. The revival of interest in religious life in this
+country coincident with the recognition of its vital significance in
+sound social organization has come so rapidly and popular support has
+been so liberal that grave danger exists lest the funds made available
+should be used unintentionally in ways that tend to defeat the purpose
+of the gift. The church, in its benevolent program, should take
+advantage of the lessons learned by private philanthropic agencies in
+dealing with problems of reclamation of the unfortunate or of
+stimulating to a larger life.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the efforts at social progress fail because of lack of clear
+statement of objectives. So far as the rural work is concerned, the
+following are presented as necessary objectives, if the rural church
+is to succeed in measuring up to its task. It is believed that funds
+of the church can be used safely and wisely in their attainment.</p>
+
+<p>1. Strengthen the weak places in rural church work in harmony with
+principles of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> interdenominational ethics and well-established
+principles of benevolent assistance.</p>
+
+<p>2. Increase effectiveness of rural ministry by training ministry now
+in service in modern methods of church work and by recruiting and
+training a new ministry in sympathy with rural life and devoted to its
+improvement.</p>
+
+<p>3. Organize rural church work so that every rural family will have
+definitely assigned pastoral care.</p>
+
+<p>4. Adjust interdenominational relationships so that the ideal of but
+one resident pastor and one church to each community may be realized.</p>
+
+<p>5. Provide means of interdenominational cooperation so that rural
+religious forces may work together in dealing with common problems of
+rural social and religious progress.</p>
+
+<p>6. Organize rural work so that it may have due consideration in the
+general policies of religious organizations.</p>
+
+<p>7. All the above are preliminary to the one great object, from the
+social point of view, namely, that of making it possible for the rural
+church and the rural minister to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> function most effectively in
+bringing more abundant life in the best sense to rural people.</p>
+
+<p>After religious forces are organized so that they can present a united
+front in the attack on the great social problems of rural life, then
+the individual churches and all churches together can undertake to
+meet the challenge outlined in earlier chapters of this text and also
+well presented in much of the recent literature on the subject. But
+effective organization must precede most effective and permanent
+service.</p>
+
+<p>Certain principles have been the guiding influence in the program on
+which the rural department of at least one of the leading
+denominations has been working. For those who come to positions of
+administrative responsibility from time to time without having been
+under the necessity of acquainting themselves with the principles that
+should guide in the safe expenditure of funds for maintenance of
+pastors, these are given here:</p>
+
+<p>1. Principles of interdenominational ethics should be observed in
+making grants of missionary funds to local pastors. It is to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> be feared
+that too often funds have been used to sustain a local work in the
+presence of another denomination when efforts at interdenominational
+adjustment would have relieved the situation by removing the necessity,
+namely, that of division of local resources by competing religious forces.</p>
+
+<p>2. Owing to the unusual problems presented on charges asking for
+missionary aid only the ablest ministers should be assigned to such
+points. They should be supported according to their needs through
+missionary aid, and their acceptance of difficult work should enhance
+rather than lessen their standing in the church.</p>
+
+<p>3. Rigid avoidance of use of missionary funds for purposes of charity,
+or for making appointments easier. The charge, not the minister, is
+the objective.</p>
+
+<p>4. Centralization of effort on a few places instead of dissipation of
+funds in providing inefficient service in many places.</p>
+
+<p>5. Gradual but certain withdrawal of support from national or State
+boards in order to avoid pauperizing communities by relieving them of
+their local financial responsibilities.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+<p>As one of the most serious problems connected with rural missionary
+service is that of interdenominational complications, an effort has
+been made to work out certain principles that may be observed by all
+religious organizations carrying out a rural program. At the annual
+meeting of the Home Missions Council in 1914 a statement of principles
+was adopted. In 1919 the rural fields committee of the Home Missions
+Council undertook the revision of these principles in the light of
+later experience and adopted the revision as a committee report.
+Because this document represents the best judgment of those in the
+various denominations concerned with rural work it is presented
+herewith as a desirable basis on which grants of funds may be safely
+made. The statement is presented in full:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>Persuaded of the urgent need of some comprehensive and united
+plan for the evangelization of our country and for closer
+cooperation to make such plans effective, the Home Missions
+Council proposes for the consideration of its constituent
+societies the following principles of comity. It is to be
+distinctly understood, however, that no ecclesiastical
+authority of any kind is implied <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>except as ecclesiastical
+bodies shall adopt these policies as their own. They have only
+the moral force of the consent of the parties desiring to see
+them become effective.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">First</span>. As to the occupancy of new fields. The frequently
+suggested plan for the entering of new territory is to divide
+it among the various denominations, holding each body
+responsible for the proper working of its field.</p>
+
+<ol>
+<li>In the judgment of this Council this course of procedure
+would seem to be impracticable. But a sensitive regard not only
+for the rights but for the sentiments of sister bodies of
+Christian people is demanded by every consideration of
+righteousness as well as fraternity.</li>
+
+<li>In districts or in places already occupied by any
+denomination new work should be undertaken by any other body
+only after fraternal conference between the official
+representatives of the missionary organizations embracing those
+localities.</li>
+
+<li>Occupancy of the field shall be determined by at least the
+following characteristics:
+
+<ol>
+<li>The establishment of a regularly organized church.<br />
+<br />
+The establishing of a Sunday school shall not be deemed
+sufficient to meet the terms of this definition.</li>
+
+<li>The appointment of a pastor who shall <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+be expected to hold
+services in the community at least once every two weeks.</li>
+
+<li>The provision of church building and equipment within a
+reasonable time adequate to the needs of the community at its
+present stage of development.</li>
+</ol></li>
+</ol>
+
+
+<p>The occupation of a field by any denomination after conference
+and agreement shall give to that denomination the right to the
+field and the responsibility for its Christian culture until
+such changes in population shall make it desirable that it be
+shared with one or more other denominations.</p>
+
+<p>If the above conference shall fail to reach agreement, it shall
+be the privilege of the aggrieved party to make appeal to its
+respective board or society, which board or society shall
+confer with the sister board or society concerned, and these
+boards may then request the superintendents of the
+denominations concerned for the field in question to make
+personal investigation and to report their findings to their
+respective boards. If they agree, the boards shall take action
+in accordance therewith. If they disagree, the matter shall be
+referred to the boards for such action as their wisdom may
+determine, which action shall be communicated to the churches
+concerned with whatever ecclesiastical or moral force their
+decision may command.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Second</span>. In communities already occupied by two or more
+denominations, in case any church or mission station shall
+consider itself aggrieved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> in its relations to sister churches,
+the course of procedure outlined in Section I shall likewise be
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>There shall be friendly conference in the spirit of the Great
+Head of the church and recourse be had, when necessary, to the
+local or national missionary authorities, whose findings
+properly communicated shall have behind them the moral force of
+this Council.</p>
+
+<p>Where any denomination occupies a district by groupings of
+mission stations under one missionary the same principles shall
+apply and the same method of adjusting differences shall be
+followed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Third</span>. "Overchurched Communities." Not infrequently the promise
+of new towns fails of fulfillment, with the result that there
+are more church organizations than in any economic view should
+be maintained&mdash;at least out of missionary funds. In many
+sections of the country also, because of the marked shift of
+population from agricultural communities to urban centers,
+overchurching has weakened all denominations to the point where
+missionary effort is necessary to restore again a wholesome
+religious life. Regardless of the cause of overchurching,
+whether from the undue optimism of the newer sections of the
+country or changed conditions in the older, or other
+conditions, the problem of overchurching must be dealt with in
+the true spirit of comity and cooperation for the sake of the
+common good.</p>
+
+<ol>
+<li>The principle should be established that one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> Protestant
+church is adequate for each community of less than 1,500
+inhabitants; and that efforts should be made to bring about
+interdenominational readjustment to this end in all sections of
+the country where economic and social conditions have become
+sufficiently established to make improbable any marked or rapid
+increase in population within a short time.</li>
+
+<li>In communities of over 1,500 inhabitants there should not be
+more than one Protestant church to every 1,000 population.</li>
+
+<li>In communities of over 1,500 inhabitants and of less than
+5,000, plans should be worked out whereby the different
+denominations concerned shall cooperate in providing adequate
+building and equipment for community service. Such building
+should be strategically located and should be controlled by a
+governing board made up of representatives, the number of whom
+from each denomination shall be determined by the
+<i>constituency</i> of that denomination in its proportion to the
+total Protestant or cooperating population. The rules for the
+control of the activities of such cooperative community service
+should respect the standards of the respective denominations.
+The support of such community service should be apportioned to
+the respective denominations concerned to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> be raised in their
+respective budgets in proportion to their respective
+representation on the governing board.</li>
+
+<li>It shall be the duty of the denomination to which
+responsibility shall have been allocated to provide the
+best-trained leadership and the best service of which it is
+capable out of consideration to the other denominations that
+have intrusted the spiritual welfare of their membership to
+this group.</li>
+
+<li>In determining what denomination has prime responsibility in
+a given community of under 1,500 inhabitants the following
+shall be considered.
+
+<ol>
+<li>Present resident membership and constituency. The
+organization having the largest bona fide membership and
+constituency should be considered as having prime
+responsibility, from this point of view.</li>
+
+<li>The residence of the pastor. In general, the pastor's
+residence should be given larger weight than membership unless
+the denomination having prime responsibility according to (1)
+stands ready to provide a pastor's residence in the community
+where this denomination has prime responsibility from the
+point of view of membership.</li>
+
+<li>The location of the church building. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> denomination that
+has a building located in a village center should be given
+precedence over the denomination that has its headquarters in
+the open country near a village. The building of the village
+church should be suitably located for adequate community
+service; that is, near the center of the village.</li>
+
+<li>As between the village and the open country church, the
+village church should be given prime consideration in putting
+on an aggressive community program.</li>
+
+<li>No missionary or "sustentation" support should be given by
+any cooperating denomination to a pastor in an overchurched
+community nor to a "circuit" involving interdenominational
+competition until after an adjustment is made either by
+reorganization of the circuit or an agreement has been reached
+by the missionary and administrative bodies of the respective
+denominations concerned as to an allocation of such missionary
+responsibility.</li>
+
+<li>Church extension aid should not be given toward the
+rebuilding of churches in these communities until after
+allocation of responsibility has been effected.</li>
+
+<li>If after due effort to secure satisfactory adjustment of
+relationships according to the plans suggested in First above,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+and by such further arbitration or other means as may be
+adopted by the Home Missions Council or its constituent
+bodies, then the denomination seeking such adjustment shall
+be at liberty to develop its own work as it may see fit,
+standing ready, however, to make agreement with competing
+bodies whenever they wish to renew negotiations.</li>
+
+<li>In the interests of the Kingdom, after missionary
+responsibility has been allocated, efforts at unifying local
+religious organizations may take the form of federation,
+assimilation, affiliation, or such other mode as may be
+determined on by the local churches concerned.</li>
+
+<li>Plans should also be worked out whereby the religious forms
+of the different groups may be respected; that is, that
+membership in the remaining religious organization may be
+obtained by fulfilling the obligations of the cooperating body
+with which the persons belonging to the withdrawing
+organization would naturally affiliate.</li>
+
+<li>It is understood that nothing in this proposed set of
+principles implies that withdrawal from given fields shall be
+forced. It is only intended to provide a plan whereby all
+forces both local and general shall be united as rapidly as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+possible in the attainment of the desired end, namely, that of
+unifying Christian service in given communities.</li>
+
+<li>In determining the limits of communities to which this
+plan shall apply the Federal Census Bureau designation of
+communities of 2,500 and under as rural shall be adopted
+except as noted in paragraph 5c.</li>
+</ol></li></ol>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Fourth</span>. Inasmuch as many of the constituent bodies of this
+Council are already by official action committed to the
+principles of comity which we advocate, it would seem
+reasonable to hope that at least gradually these principles
+would find realization along some such lines as here proposed.</p>
+
+<p>It is manifest, of course, that no plan of procedure can be
+expected to cover all cases or to be of universal
+applicability. We are glad to record that in some States there
+are Interchurch Federations to which local comity matters would
+naturally be referred. For other cases this Council proposes
+the erection of an Interdenominational Commission, to which any
+matter of comity not otherwise provided for may be referred by
+mutual agreement of the parties at interest. One representative
+of each of the bodies having membership in the Home Missions
+Council shall constitute this commission. When any case calling
+for adjudication shall rise, which case shall previously have
+had the consideration of any one or more of the constituent
+bodies of the Home Missions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> Council, it shall be referred to a
+Committee of Three chosen from this committee and acceptable to
+both parties. The decision of this committee shall have no
+ecclesiastical force, but its utterance shall be regarded as
+voicing the united judgment of the Home Missions Council and so
+far forth shall be binding on its constituent bodies.</p></div>
+
+<p>It is recognized that these principles do not receive the most
+enthusiastic support of church leaders who are thinking in terms of
+denominational progress instead of community welfare. But this lack of
+support is an evidence of their value instead of a criticism.
+Denominational interests must be sacrificed for the sake of the
+advancement of the entire cause when the two come into conflict. There
+is reason to hope that not only Protestants but also Catholics and
+Protestants can come to cooperate on programs of community service,
+thus overcoming forever the vital objection to religious leadership
+now made that because of fundamental differences in belief the two
+great branches of the church cannot render an organized community
+service.</p>
+
+<p>The relations of the benevolent boards of the several denominations to
+other church<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> organizations are such that but little can be said
+concerning methods of relating missionary work to the larger program
+of community service. In each case where projects for missionary aid
+are presented effort should be made to see that local conditions are
+made such that the pastor can render the best service. It must be
+recognized that the application for outside aid is in itself an
+admission of local weakness. The people are poor, or indifferent to
+the type of service to which they have been accustomed. There has been
+unforeseen disaster, as the destruction of church property by fire or
+in some other way. Sudden movements of population have temporarily
+weakened the support of the church and new resources have not yet been
+developed. Circuit systems must be broken up so that people will be
+willing to support full-time resident pastors with efficient programs
+for service. Customs of expecting the pastor to make his living in
+outside work and attending to religious service as a side issue must
+be overcome. The pastor's residence may be in such condition that
+families cannot be sacrificed for the sake of missionary communities
+and residences<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> must be supplied by liberal outside aid as the
+preliminary to effective service. Church buildings are inadequate, and
+the trained minister must be given every assurance that aid will be
+rendered in bringing physical equipment up to par. In each case the
+problems that present themselves must be met. The demands of any one
+charge do not compare with the demands of any other. And methods must
+be adapted to meet the specific needs of each charge. These are
+matters that must be left to those responsible for administration of
+missionary funds.</p>
+
+<p>When the religious forces of America learn their problems so that a
+long-time organized program of religious advance can be worked out,
+when they learn to cooperate in carrying out this program, then the
+haphazard, wasteful, competitive missionary program that has
+characterized rural religious work in the past will disappear and we
+shall see one of the most marked advances in religious welfare the
+world has ever known.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION</h3>
+
+
+<p>In the preceding chapters the effort has been made to outline some of
+the conditions and principles involved in organizing the rural church
+for community service. The field has been limited by distinguishing
+between that type of service which has to do with man's relation to
+his Maker and that which has to do with his relations to his fellow
+man. The latter service has been chosen as the field for the present
+discussion, and the effort has been made to keep within the field,
+regardless of the desirability of discussion of the other phases of
+the work of the rural church. The field itself both as to size of
+community and the scope of the entire field has received attention. An
+attempt has been made to present the philosophic basis justifying the
+church in giving large attention to community service. Some of the
+more general aspects of rural life demanding attention on the part of
+the church<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> have been discussed and the reasons for assuming that
+certain phases of rural social activity properly belong to the church
+rather than to other agencies have been presented to the reader.</p>
+
+<p>The problems of adjustment between religious denominations as such and
+between the parent religious organizations and so-called "arms" of the
+church have been outlined and methods of adjustment suggested. The
+relation of all religious forces to other rural life agencies has
+received some attention; and, finally, the missionary program of the
+church as the agency for strengthening the weak and of advancing the
+general cause of conquest of all life with principles of Christian
+living was discussed. It is hoped that the principles presented will
+at least be given careful consideration, and if they are not accepted
+in full, that they will at least provoke discussion that will
+eventually lead to some form of organization that will more nearly
+meet the demands of the time than the present unorganized, unrelated
+sectarian and other efforts that paralyze and discourage those
+responsible for service in the local as well as in more general fields
+of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> Christian work. If this object can be accomplished, the effort to
+point the direction organization should take will not have been in
+vain.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Church Cooperation in Community Life, by 
+Paul L. Vogt
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@@ -0,0 +1,3677 @@
+Project Gutenberg's Church Cooperation in Community Life, by Paul L. Vogt
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Church Cooperation in Community Life
+
+Author: Paul L. Vogt
+
+Release Date: July 23, 2008 [EBook #26114]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHURCH COOPERATION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Tom Roch, Karen Dalrymple, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images produced by Core Historical
+Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Church Cooperation in Community Life
+
+  By
+  PAUL L. VOGT
+
+
+  THE ABINGDON PRESS
+  NEW YORK   CINCINNATI
+
+
+  Copyright, 1921, by
+  PAUL L. VOGT
+
+  Printed in the
+  United States of America
+
+
+  TO
+
+  MY FATHER AND MOTHER
+
+  WHOSE PUBLIC-SPIRITED AND LIFELONG LOYALTY TO
+  RELIGIOUS WORK IN A COUNTRY COMMUNITY
+  HAS BEEN A CONSTANT INSPIRATION
+  TO CHRISTIAN SERVICE
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER                                                      PAGE
+
+        PREFACE                                                   7
+
+     I. SOME PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS                              9
+
+    II. THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE                          26
+
+   III. THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH                     44
+
+    IV. THE SOCIAL CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH                       69
+
+     V. BUILDING FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE                           84
+
+    VI. THE CHURCH AND RURAL PUBLIC THOUGHT                      94
+
+   VII. ADJUSTING THE LOCAL CHURCH TO THE COMMUNITY             104
+
+  VIII. INTERDENOMINATIONAL READJUSTMENT                        124
+
+    IX. THE CHURCH AND OTHER RURAL AGENCIES                     142
+
+     X. MISSIONARY PROGRAMS AND RURAL COMMUNITY SERVICE         152
+
+    XI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION                                  169
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Many books have been written during the past few years on the rural
+church. Some of these have given excellent concrete illustrations of
+methods that are proving successful in solving local problems. Others
+have discussed the general rural church situation. The rural life
+movement, however, has been so rapid that it is believed that a brief
+restatement of the place of the church in the rural life movement is
+desirable at the present time.
+
+It has been the task and privilege of the writer for the past four
+years to be almost constantly in the field traveling from the Atlantic
+to the Pacific and from Canadian border to the limits of Florida and
+getting so far as possible first-hand impressions of rural church and
+community conditions. It is the purpose of the present essay to
+discuss some of the general problems in rural life presenting
+themselves to the religious forces of America, and to note some
+conclusions as to the next steps to be taken if these forces are to
+render the service in rural advance that it is believed is theirs to
+render. Suggestions as to local programs will be made only as evidence
+that when the church undertakes in an adequate manner the solution of
+problems whose solution is demanded of it, it receives both the moral
+and the financial support of the people served. The chapters on phases
+of the local program are intended only to help in preparing the way
+for the larger service contemplated.
+
+As with individuals, so it is with institutions. It is difficult to
+discuss the place of different organizations in the rural life
+movement without arousing the antagonism of leaders in the respective
+organizations. It is hoped that the point of view held will be
+accepted as one of sympathy for the efforts of all organizations
+concerned and that the purpose of the discussion is to point the way
+toward a larger cooperation resulting from a better understanding of
+the work that may be expected of each.
+
+     PAUL L. VOGT.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+SOME PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS
+
+
+When one begins to discuss a subject it helps very much if his readers
+know what he has in mind in the terms used. In the title selected for
+this text there are at least three words that need definition.
+Probably no reader will agree fully with any of the definitions given,
+but an attempt to define should at least help the reader to understand
+better in what sense the terms are used by the writer.
+
+The term "community" has come into such common use that it might be
+assumed that definition is unnecessary. And yet when learned bodies
+get together to discuss community problems a large part of the time is
+usually taken up in attempting to define what the different speakers
+are talking about.
+
+When the writer lived in the open country several years ago he went to
+Mifflin Center school and attended Wesley Chapel church. The
+schoolhouse and the church were located at the same crossroads, and
+these two institutions drew for their constituency from an area of
+about four square miles for the school and a somewhat larger area for
+the church. Brownstown school, to the south, Hendrickson's to the
+east, and Whetstone to the west made up other school communities.
+Pleasant Grove church, Salem, and Brownstown, with a different
+territory covered by each, made up church areas that did not coincide
+with the school areas bounding Mifflin Center school territory. In
+like manner, when trading was to be done, Upper Sandusky and Kirby,
+five and six miles away, were the centers to which everybody went,
+generally on Saturday afternoon, when friends from other sections of
+the county might be found on the streets. The boundaries of the trade
+center were thus much larger than those of either the school or the
+church. In politics, the center of interest of the particular township
+with which the writer was concerned was the old schoolhouse turned
+into a township house at Mifflin Center, the location of the church
+and school. The local political interests of the other communities
+mentioned were at the appointed places in the respective townships.
+The seat of justice was for some time in the parlor of the writer's
+father's residence, or in the front yard, to which court was
+occasionally adjourned when weather conditions permitted. In a larger
+way county courts were held at the county seat, as were other of the
+larger political activities.
+
+One could go on indefinitely illustrating the boundaries of interests
+of various kinds. Some of them centered in the State House; others in
+the national Capitol; and many a wordy political battle was fought in
+the little country section over the question as to whether the
+protective tariff or the Democratic party was responsible for the hard
+times the farmers and others were suffering. There were even world
+interests involved, as during the Spanish-American War or the
+Venezuelan difficulty during Cleveland's administration.
+
+This concrete illustration both raises the question, Which of these is
+the "community?" and also points the way to the answer. None of the
+groupings mentioned can be considered "_the_ community." Yet each is
+"_a_ community." A "community" is a psychical and not a physical
+thing. It can only approximately be bounded by physical lines. In the
+last analysis the true "community" is nothing more nor less than that
+group of two or more individuals who are bound together by a single
+interest. Thus two people living within sight of one another may be
+members of the same religious community and at the same time be
+absolutely separated from one another in their political affiliations.
+Also one person can at the same time belong to many "communities."
+
+But this definition, if adhered to strictly, would lead to confusion
+of thought perhaps more serious than a less accurate use of the term.
+Careful investigation of the relation of the different psychic
+communities to one another reveals the fact that geographically the
+areas of individual community interest overlap one another; and that
+in the better organized regions the centers of interests coincide and
+it is only the boundaries of the several interests that are not
+coterminous. The Mifflin Center illustration given above is good in
+that it had the religious, educational and political interests
+centered at one physical spot. The social and recreational life of a
+large part of this local area also was centered here. In the other
+local groups mentioned there was a division of interest much more
+marked. A more practical definition, then, of a "community" would be
+"That aggregation of population which is bound together by a
+predominating proportion of its local interests."
+
+If this definition is accepted, then an inspection of almost any local
+aggregation, in the open country at least, will lead to the conclusion
+that there are few groups of people who have any large number of local
+interests in common. Perhaps the most powerful force to be considered
+in determining what is an open country community is that of the social
+life. People in a given section habitually seek those with whom they
+are best acquainted when they get together for social affairs of
+interest outside the family circle; and it is only occasionally that
+the mass will go out of these habitual associations in seeking social
+relaxation. This social life may be sought at one time in the school,
+at another in the church, again at a picnic, or in the home of some
+one in the "neighborhood." But the dominating factor is
+acquaintanceship rather than religion or education or business.
+
+Villages are more easily defined as to the number of interests holding
+the group together.
+
+One principal objective in the modern local community organization
+movement seems to be to bring together at some central point the focal
+points of as many local interests as possible, thus strengthening the
+community bonds and increasing the community consciousness. As this
+end is achieved the necessity for the strict definition given above
+disappears and the "community" becomes _that aggregation of people the
+majority of whose local interests have a common center_. This is the
+sense in which the term will be used in this discussion.
+
+The term "rural" likewise conveys a different thought to different
+people. Indeed, so likely has the term been to mislead that in a
+recent national survey of religious conditions, the term was abandoned
+and "town and country" substituted. The simpler plan is to arrive at a
+definition of the word "rural" which will include what the latter
+term connotes. To confuse "rural" with "agricultural" is to ignore
+both the past and the present in movements of population and in
+organization of interests. To an increasing degree the interests of
+the open country are centering in the village, or even larger centers.
+So that in discussing the problems of the agricultural population it
+is often necessary to make the center of discussion the organization
+of the village with an agricultural environment. The better plan is to
+definitely discuss the problems of the open country under the term
+"agricultural" and retain the other term for all interests of groups
+of population in smaller communities, whether in the open country or
+in the villages. In general, the division of the United States Census
+will be observed and the term "rural" regularly applied to all groups
+of under two thousand five hundred population.
+
+At a recent meeting of country ministers an attempt was made to define
+what is the problem of the rural church. The definition as framed is
+herewith presented: "The rural task of the church is the nurture and
+development of all phases of human welfare in those communities where
+the general life and thinking of the people are related to matters
+which pertain to material natural resources."
+
+This definition is inadequate from the administrative point of view in
+that it would exclude the small manufacturing community, the
+educational center, the summer and winter resort communities, and
+similar specialized groups where population is small. The problems of
+these small communities not directly related to material natural
+resources have many characteristics in common with those included in
+the above definition. Size of community has much to do with the type
+of problem presented; and the one who understands the problems of the
+agricultural village is probably better able to deal with the problems
+of the villages of the type mentioned than is the one trained for
+service in a metropolitan center.
+
+The term "church" is here used in the sense of including all religious
+forces in rural life. The Sunday School Association, the Christian
+Associations, Church Federations, and other groups allied to the
+church are included in the general term.
+
+
+THE MANIFOLD FUNCTIONS OF THE CHURCH
+
+The church is the only agency in existence that is concerned with man
+in all his relationships. It is concerned with keeping alive in human
+consciousness the existence of a Divine Being and of man's
+relationship to that Being. It is the only agency that proceeds on the
+theory of the immortality of the human soul and that has a program of
+preparing the soul for a life after death. In common with other
+agencies the church is concerned with the individual life of man on
+this earth and endeavors to lead human beings to that course of life
+which will result in the maximum of personal spiritual welfare. And in
+common with other agencies it is concerned with man in his relations
+to others and to his material environment because these relationships
+have a vital effect on his spiritual life.
+
+A full analysis of the functions of the church would include a
+discussion of those features of church work which have to do with
+man's relation to God and to an immortal existence. But in a
+discussion of the church in relation to the community it is not
+necessary to consider man's relation to God nor to a future life
+except in so far as beliefs in such relationships influence his
+personal welfare on this earth or his relationships to his fellow man.
+Thus this discussion falls in the field of sociology rather than in
+the field of theology or psychology. A casual observation of the
+forces at work in human relationships, especially in the smaller
+communities, leads quickly to the conclusion that beliefs both with
+reference to God and to a future life have a vital effect on social
+conduct. But it is the effect instead of the truth of beliefs that is
+the subject matter to be considered.
+
+Having thus defined the field of our discussion both as to subject
+matter and as to the phase of the interests of the church to be
+considered, it is next in order to note the size of the task.
+
+According to the census of 1920, 50,866,899 people in the United
+States lived in rural territory, that is, in communities of less than
+2,500 population. This was 48.1 per cent of the total. For the first
+time in the history of the country the records showed a larger
+proportion of the total population living in urban centers than in
+villages or in the open country. The population in incorporated
+villages of less than 2,500 population was 9,864,196, or 9.3 per cent
+of the total, while that in unincorporated or open country communities
+was 41,002,703 or 38.8 per cent, as compared with 8.8 per cent and
+44.8 per cent respectively in 1910.
+
+The total rural population increase was but 1,518,986, or 3.1 per
+cent. Incorporated village increase was 1,745,371, or 21.5 per cent,
+while the unincorporated community population actually decreased
+227,355, or .6 per cent.
+
+These figures indicate two conclusions of importance to our
+discussion. The first is that the villages of less than 2,500
+inhabitants are sharing with the large centers in the general increase
+in population. Their increase proportionately is not so marked as is
+that of the extremely large centers, but it is sufficiently marked to
+indicate that they offer opportunities that attract more than does the
+open country. This village growth must be reckoned with in determining
+policies of location of church buildings and the type of local church
+program for community service.
+
+The second conclusion is that the open country is still at a
+disadvantage so far as its possibilities of supporting a large
+population are concerned. Actual depopulation of the open country, the
+enlargement of the size of farms, the abandonment of acreage once
+under cultivation, which preliminary figures issued by the Census
+Bureau indicate, show that not yet is the demand for agricultural
+products such as to make a much larger open country population
+possible. This fact also points the direction for readjustment of
+rural community life.
+
+The data from the religious census of the United States, taken in
+1916, while not classified as rural and urban, give hopeful figures as
+to the progress of religious institutions in this country. While the
+total population of the United States increased during the decade
+1910-20, 14.9 per cent, the church membership from 1906-1916 increased
+19.6 per cent. The total church membership increase, 6,858,796, was
+50.2 per cent of 13,710,842, the increase in total population. These
+figures of church membership increase, covering a period before the
+European war began to affect this country seriously, indicate that the
+general rising ethical standards of American life have had their
+reflection in the larger personal as well as financial support of the
+religious forces.
+
+While data are not available as to the proportion of rural and urban
+population belonging to church, the census gives figures as to the
+church membership in communities of over 25,000 population. According
+to census estimates, 32.7 per cent of the population lived in cities
+of over that population in 1916. The religious census shows that 36.5
+per cent of the church membership lived in communities of that size.
+Contrary to popular impression, the larger centers actually have a
+larger proportionate church membership than do the smaller
+communities. The facts show that the problem of advance of the
+Christian Church is more of a small-community problem than it is of
+the larger centers.
+
+While the proportion of the total population belonging to church
+increased from 38.1 per cent in 1906 as compared with the 1910
+population to 39.6 per cent in 1916 as compared with the 1920
+population, the magnitude of the unfinished task is still almost
+staggering. If the proportion for rural America were the same as for
+the country as a whole, there would be 20,143,292 people not belonging
+to church. Church membership, of course, is not the only criterion of
+the influence of the church; nor would all denominations admit that
+all the people should belong to church, since some would not accept
+children not yet having reached the age of accountability. But in any
+case Christian America is not Christian even in church membership.
+This does not take into account matters of social and economic
+relationships which the spirit of Christianity has not yet penetrated
+and by which church members as well as nonmembers are bound.
+
+More than 50,000,000 rural folk rising to a consciousness of their
+inherent solidarity and community of interest, and more than
+20,000,000 of these not affiliated with any religious organization,
+present a challenge for trained leadership unequaled in the history of
+the world. Urban interests have grown powerful. Urban life has rapidly
+advanced for at least the more favored groups until it has far
+outstripped conditions in rural communities that go to make up the
+best in modern civilization and culture. Germs have been found in the
+"Old Oaken Bucket" in the country, while the scourge of typhoid has
+been banished from the city, and the "Church in the Dell" has crumbled
+in decay, while the metropolitan pulpit has taken the best leadership
+for its own. The country has been unable to compete with the urban
+centers for educational, religious, or social leadership because
+wealth has accumulated in the cities. Rural population has declined
+because the prizes in wealth accumulation were in the cities and
+because it was easier to secure those things there that people have
+learned to value as most worth while, in good housing, medical
+attendance, education, and recreation. While city poets have sung the
+praises of country life, many people who have lived in the country and
+endured the long hours and little pay from husbandry have, like the
+Arab, folded their tents and slipped away; and when once they have
+tasted the advantages of urban life, have not returned.
+
+No civilization can be wholesome or permanent so long as any one great
+group is permanently handicapped in its struggle for economic or
+social welfare. So long as any group is evidently at a disadvantage
+the shift of population from the less-favored to the better-favored
+groups will continue; that is, unless castes are formed which compel
+people to remain permanently in one group or the other. And this does
+not happen in modern democratic society. And so long as there is a
+continuous shift of population in one direction or another we have
+evidence that conditions are such as to induce the shift.
+
+It is the existence of conditions such as these that makes the
+challenge for a trained loyal service on the part of those selected to
+attend to matters concerned with rural public welfare.
+
+It is the purpose of the following pages to outline briefly some of
+the conditions to which the church must give attention if it is to
+meet the demand now made upon it by modern rural life. It is not
+intended to be a treatise on practical theology in the sense
+ordinarily accepted in courses on that subject. Very little attention
+will be given to matters of organization or administration of the
+local church. It is believed that if only ministers of the gospel can
+once attain an adequate grasp of the purposes of religious service,
+the matter of method of accomplishing results may be left largely to
+the pastors themselves. On the other hand, emphasis upon method, which
+seems to be demanded by many ministers instead of knowledge of ends to
+be attained, is more than likely to lead to overorganization, or
+organization not adapted to objectives. One of the essentials in all
+leadership is that of having definite objectives toward which to work,
+and it is the purpose of this text to call the attention to objectives
+and to organization, both local and general, adapted to the attainment
+of objectives rather than the methods of attaining them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE BASIS FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE
+
+
+The past few years have witnessed a marked widening of the concept of
+the functioning of the church. But there is still considerable
+question concerning the basis for the program of church work that now
+bids fair to become conventional. Not long ago the writer attended a
+convention of a state social welfare association. Over three hundred
+and fifty persons were in attendance representing the leading agencies
+for the advance of social welfare in the entire commonwealth, both
+urban and rural. Careful inquiry revealed the fact that but one
+minister had registered, and he was on the program. On the other hand,
+it is the rare occurrence for those professionally interested in
+social service to be present at a convention of representatives of
+religious orders. In practice there is still a clean-cut dividing line
+between those interested in social progress and those engaged in
+so-called religious work. The social workers are not irreligious; many
+of them believe their service to be of the highest type of religious
+expression. The representatives of the church are welcomed by social
+workers into their councils, but it is feared that often these
+representatives are not taken seriously because for so long they have
+had a program that affected social welfare in but an indirect way. The
+time has come when representatives of the church should accept their
+rightful position as leaders in all movements that tend to make human
+existence more Christ-like and to make the kingdom of heaven on earth
+more of a reality.
+
+The reason for the attitude of both ministers and people toward the
+church has been the emphasis placed upon individual regeneration as
+the sole and all-important method of advancing the Kingdom. The
+"conversion" of the individual would lead him into right conduct. When
+all individuals were converted then the kingdom of heaven would indeed
+be at hand.
+
+But the advance of social science has made clear the fact that the
+individual is very largely the expression of the group in which he
+lives. Custom, convention, fashion, public opinion, and other group
+influences go far to determine what individual thought and action will
+be in any given group. The Tennessee mountaineer has a different
+standard of what constitutes true religion from that of the New
+England Unitarian. The code of race relationships in Mississippi is
+not the same as that in Wisconsin. The standards of the boy's "gang"
+determine largely the dress, the ideals, and habits not only of youth
+but of the coming man. Even in the life of the individual different
+standards exist suitable to the several groups in which he carries on
+his habitual activities. The capitalist who corrupts Legislatures with
+impunity in business or who prevents child-labor legislation may be a
+model Christian gentleman in his home and church life.
+
+It is admitted that in the last analysis the group mind can have its
+existence only in the individual minds that compose it. But it is also
+true that when we consider the minds of individuals working in groups
+with the consciousness of what the reactions of others are, the
+results are different from what they are when the individual acts
+alone. Moreover, individuals as a class react in much the same way to
+stimuli that affect all of the members of the group at a given time.
+If the price of milk is raised so that there is suspicion of
+profiteering, common resentment appears. If the leadership of a
+political party is threatened, the politician, even though he loses
+leadership, rarely bolts his group. Instead he finds some excuse for
+standing by the party organization. It is not necessary to alter the
+minds of all individuals by "conversion" in the conventional manner
+either to change public opinion, alter physical conditions, or change
+the form of social organization. When these changes are effected in
+the minds of the controlling elements of the group, then the entire
+public mind and social organization are altered and the social process
+goes on stimulated in newer and, it is hoped, better directions.
+
+One or two illustrations should make this point clearer. Several years
+ago it was the custom to use common drinking cups on railways. When
+first legislation was passed to prevent such use, considerable public
+opinion opposed it as foolish. Now, it is difficult to get any one to
+touch a common drinking cup even in the home. Before the elimination
+of the saloon powerful and sometimes very respectable forces were
+lined up in favor of its continuance. But as soon as the fight against
+the saloon had been carried to the point of its legal elimination many
+of those who once supported the barroom because of the profit to them
+became its opponents. Formerly the saloon was a center for the
+corruption of many if not most of the youth in the community. Now,
+most communities are bringing up a far higher grade of young people
+morally than they once were because it is no longer necessary to fight
+against this center of immoral infection.
+
+The lesson these illustrations should teach is this: that the
+conventional method used by the churches during the past half century
+of depending almost entirely upon individual regeneration through
+personal appeal as a means of salvation of the race has handicapped
+the church and limited its effectiveness. When it is once understood
+that the mind and the character of the individual can be influenced in
+as many ways as there are social contacts, and when the means of
+approach through all these contacts is understood, then the
+effectiveness of the church will be immeasurably increased. Social
+life must be saved not only through individual regeneration but also
+through the establishment of a right attitude on the part of the
+individual and as many individuals as possible. On the other hand,
+individual attitudes can be established in large part by bringing
+about, through means now fairly well understood, good economic
+conditions and social organization.
+
+The sad part about the traditional limited method of approach to
+improvement of group life has been that in probably the majority of
+cases impulses were aroused by personal appeal to do good and then
+through ignorance of objectives in group advance those impulses were
+allowed to die. The "backslider" is an excellent illustration of the
+results of periodic renewal of impulse to right living. In most other
+cases the impulses thus aroused have found their expression in a
+hypersensitiveness in regard to certain phases of personal conduct.
+Emphasis upon personal moral conduct to the exclusion of effective
+interest in social progress characterized much of the product of the
+personal evangelistic campaigns carried on periodically during the
+past two or three generations, while the real work of making the world
+better has been directed by men and women not particularly subject to
+these periodical waves of religious impulses but imbued with a steady
+abiding faith in the worth of social action. They have had the good
+impulses, but these impulses have been steadied and rendered
+permanently valuable because faith based on knowledge of objectives
+was available.
+
+If the serious errors of the past are to be avoided it will be
+necessary for those intrusted with responsibilities of church
+leadership to vastly increase their knowledge of problems of group
+life and of methods of control of group life. The following pages are
+designed to aid the prospective religious leader, either professional
+or lay, as far as possible in understanding some of the problems that
+must be dealt with in making human life what Christianity hopes for.
+Results already have been achieved sufficient to place beyond question
+the principle that the church must approach life from every possible
+angle. The effort to produce right attitudes in the individual must be
+continued, but the methods used must be varied and multiplied.
+
+Furthermore, before the sound point of view with reference to the
+method of approach to the problems of the church can be obtained it
+will be necessary to have a clear understanding as to the place of the
+child in the moral order. Those who derive their theology by reading
+and interpreting isolated passages of the Scriptures sometimes arrive
+at unexpected, and, from the point of view of rational living,
+eccentric and positively harmful conclusions. Some devoted readers
+find in the writings of Paul something about "Whereas in Adam all die,
+in Christ all are made alive"; and in Christ's words the utterance to
+Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again he shall not enter the kingdom
+of heaven." They have drawn from these doctrines that all men are born
+with sin inherent in their natures and that there is no good in the
+soul until "conversion" has taken place. So long as these doctrines
+find a place in the preaching and practice of churches the method of
+world salvation will be radically different from that for which the
+writer is contending.
+
+In brief, if the words of Christ are taken at their face value when he
+said "Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the
+kingdom of heaven," we have an entirely different basis of approach to
+our problem than if we assume that all are lost except those upon whom
+the mystical influence of "conversion" in the traditional sense has
+operated. If the assumption that children are born good is accepted,
+then we are brought to the question, "How may these innocents be kept
+so?" The answer is, By training them to control their natural
+impulses, good in themselves but likely to lead into wrong if not
+properly directed; and by cultivating the natural tendencies to good
+that find expression in every normal child. They must also be brought
+to an understanding of what Christ means to them as their Saviour and
+Guide. Then this must be supplemented as rapidly as possible by the
+organization of group life, in such a way that evil influences will be
+eliminated.
+
+The saloon was not many years ago the center of corruption of
+thousands--yes, millions--of the growing youth of this country. The
+elimination of the saloon has made possible the development of
+millions of young people free from the particular type of sinfulness
+for which the saloon was responsible. In like manner, the elimination
+of commercialized vice has rendered our cities incomparably safer for
+our young men and women than they once were. The substitution of
+wholesome amusement for young folks in good environment for the
+unregulated commercialized amusements once the sole source of
+recreation has exerted a moral influence too far-reaching to be
+estimated. The introduction of cooperation in industry has eliminated
+the sin accompanying the fights between capital and labor in those
+industries where it has been introduced. These illustrations show how
+it is possible, by continuing the improvement of social and economic
+conditions to create such an environment as will destroy the sources
+of individual corruption and degeneration and will make the growth of
+the child a continuous succession of stages of spiritual improvement
+and growth. "Conversion" can thus conceivably become a conscious
+personal acceptance of Christ and of the principles of Christianity as
+the normal basis for right living without a noticeable break in the
+course or direction of life rather than the intense emotional
+cataclysm that so often characterized the change in hardened sinners.
+
+When children good by nature are brought up in an environment physical
+and spiritual that has been brought into harmony with the laws of God,
+then the problems of evil will be reduced to those arising out of
+natural causes over which man has not achieved control; and children
+will be looked upon as the natural and rightful members of the church
+instead of being kept out of the church until they reach the age of
+accountability. The burden of getting out of the church should be put
+on the child instead of the usual responsibility of deciding to come
+into it.
+
+It is customary for leaders of the church to assume credit for
+practically all the good things going on in the direction of human
+improvement by assuming that, though the church does not have a large
+membership, comparatively speaking, its influence has inspired the
+good work being done in social progress. It is well to face frankly
+the fact that, whatever may have been the situation in the past, at
+the present it is questionable whether the church has been the source
+of even the larger portion of this inspiration. The public schools,
+including the higher institutions of learning, have been socializing
+the future leaders in social progress so that their inspiration has
+been drawn from a concrete knowledge of social problems and from the
+belief that humanity can, by proper effort, control conditions of
+living. Then pragmatic results have furthered this belief until
+inspiration has come from the achievement of results themselves rather
+than from any recognition of Christian influence in social life. The
+Christian religion is doubtless responsible for those things most
+worth while in modern life, but other sources of inspiration have
+developed for which Christianity does not get the credit.
+
+The conclusion of the whole matter is that in the past two or three
+generations two marked divisions have grown up, the one a section or
+wing inside the church which has placed sole emphasis upon individual
+regeneration as the method of social progress; the other largely
+outside the church, with emphasis upon social reform as the method of
+advance. What is needed is a widening of the field so that the methods
+of social improvement proved to be of value by social workers will be
+adopted as valid methods of bringing about the kingdom of God. On the
+other hand, social workers must give more attention to the
+regeneration of the individual. When each of these groups recognizes
+the value of the program of the other, then it will be difficult to
+distinguish longer between churchmen and social workers. The two
+groups will, in fact, join hands, and by unifying and coordinating
+efforts will work more effectively in attaining a common aim. The
+basis, then, for the program for the church which will touch all
+phases of human interest in a vital way is that every human interest
+has its effect on the welfare of the soul. And a program that fails to
+take into account every approach to the individual can at least be but
+partial.
+
+Again, it will be necessary to revise popular impression as to just
+what is spiritual. The farmer who after having a most unusual
+"spiritual experience" at a revival service angrily opposed a local
+movement for consolidation of schools because such a move would
+increase taxes had an idea of religion that was strictly personal--and
+anti-social. The church leader who feared that the encouragement of
+social-center activities by the church would ultimately result in a
+condition in which the social activities of the church would
+overshadow the "spiritual," had in mind a distinction that must be met
+and understood if the church is to broaden its program without losing
+its identity as a religious institution. The minister who, while
+praising a community-club movement which had brought to the community
+many improvements and a better moral condition, stated that it was
+injuring the "church," either saw a real conflict between "spiritual"
+and "social" welfare or had a misconception as to what is spiritual.
+
+The problem seems to arise out of a tendency which has crept into
+theological thought to limit "spiritual" things to mystical personal
+experiences. With this definition of spiritual things there seems to
+have come a tendency to look upon any type of activity that was of a
+practical nature, such as providing for the recreational needs of the
+community, organizing a campaign for better reading facilities for
+country people, or for better farming, as not spiritual, and
+consequently be sedulously avoided by the church. Perhaps there is no
+thought in American rural life to-day that causes more trouble to the
+aggressive rural minister of the modern type than this. His young men
+and women want to broaden the scope of the church, but the trustees,
+and those whose word counts toward the selection of pastors and their
+removal, often oppose anything being done by the church which is not
+customary and accordingly, as they think, not spiritual.
+
+Christ said "I am come that ye might have life, and have it more
+abundantly." If this statement is accepted at its face value, then we
+have the foundation for judging every activity in which the church may
+partake. Does the activity tend to increase the material and spiritual
+welfare of the community, so that the influences that tend to the
+extermination of the group are less? If so, then it conforms to the
+purposes of the coming of the Christ. On the other hand, if the
+activity does positively lessen the resistance of the community,
+reducing it ultimately to a lower scale of living characterized by
+those things that are recognized as harmful, then it is not a
+legitimate part of church work. It also follows that if such harmful
+conditions exist in the community without a protest on the part of the
+church or without some definite effort to eliminate them, then the
+church is not living up to the high calling expected of it by the
+Master. The term "spiritual" is, accordingly, much more inclusive than
+has been popularly supposed, and one of the great contributions of
+social science during the past few decades has been to bring to the
+public mind the knowledge that man and his spirituality cannot be
+dealt with individually but must be included in all those
+relationships that affect the soul of the individual.
+
+While the succeeding pages have to do with the social aspects of the
+spiritual life of man, it must never be forgotten that the
+regeneration or the quickening of the individual is at least half of
+the task in community progress. The life of the honest, upright man,
+whose soul has been set on fire by contact with the flame of divine
+love, whose heart has been brought into harmony with the divine will
+of God, becomes in itself a point for the radiation of impulses for
+right living. And when these impulses are directed into useful
+channels through a broadened understanding of sound objectives in
+social progress, then real advance is possible.
+
+There are many other phases of thought that act as a hindrance to the
+advance of the spiritual kingdom in rural America, but these
+illustrations will be sufficient to show what must be cleared away
+before the broad program of the modern rural church can be
+whole-heartedly accepted. In fairness to the writer it should be kept
+in mind, as stated in the definitions given at the opening, that this
+text has nothing to do with those vital elements of religious
+organization and service which are intended to keep alive man's belief
+in a divinity and in immortality except in so far as these beliefs
+affect community relationships. The discussion of these subjects
+falls, rather, into the realm of theology. It is hoped that at least
+the principles underlying the movement toward broadening the program
+of the rural church have been clearly, if briefly, stated, and that
+the movement toward a larger concept of the religious forces as a
+factor in rural progress will continue to spread at an accelerating
+speed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH
+
+
+As one travels through the rural districts of America and observes
+differences in the standards of living he is convinced that human
+welfare depends very largely on economic conditions. The broad,
+well-tilled fields of Iowa, surrounding large, well-built houses, big
+red barns and other outbuildings, form a marked contrast with the
+patches of corn in irregular fields cleared from the brush and scrub
+trees on hillsides in Tennessee or Kentucky, and the hovels and
+rundown farm buildings which go under the name of homes for the hill
+people. Healthy, well-dressed, happy children attending good schools
+of the most modern type in the corn belt undoubtedly have the
+advantage of the boys and girls in the hills who often do not learn to
+read and write before they are ten years old, if at all, and when they
+do go to school must be taught by poorly trained teachers for short
+terms, ending before the holidays, and in one-room schools often
+attended by nearly a hundred children. Religious service and
+leadership in the one section under the direction of college and
+theological seminary men can hardly be put in the same class with the
+highly emotional expression of religious impulses of the mountain
+section led by once-a-month absentee pastors with no education, or,
+worse still, by wandering so-called evangelists of doubtful morality.
+One could go through the whole list of contrasts between the
+economically well-favored sections of the country and the less favored
+agricultural sections and in no way would the advantage be on the side
+of the latter.
+
+Efficient social and religious institutions cannot be built on poor
+economic foundations. So long as a section of the country cannot
+afford to pay more than five hundred dollars per year for teachers or
+preachers, it cannot hope to have the leadership possible to another
+section where ministers to rural people can easily secure eighteen
+hundred to three thousand dollars per year. Good buildings cannot be
+erected, nor can any of the material comforts which go to make up the
+foundation of civilized life be enjoyed.
+
+For the sake of the church, as well as the people, the church must
+attend to the economic foundations of rural life. It is unfortunate
+for many parts of the United States that the ministry has become so
+separated from real life by the mystical trend in religion that it has
+rendered practically no service in laying the foundations for the
+continuance of the communities themselves.
+
+The shift of population from rural to urban centers which the census
+records show has continued, if anything, at an accelerated speed,
+indicates the seriousness of the problem. A part of the shift is
+doubtless due to improvements made in methods of production. So far as
+this is the cause there is no reason to be disturbed over the
+tendency, as it is useless to try to keep young men and women in an
+occupation that does not offer opportunity for earning a living. Part
+of the shift may be due to the living conditions in the country. This
+is but an indication of the task of the church on the social side and
+can be changed as economic welfare permits. But the fact that rural
+population has been leaving the farms and that agricultural lands
+have been abandoned by thousands of acres, indicates that urban
+opportunities have far outbid the rural in financial returns, variety
+of openings, and in working conditions. The farmer's income must be
+increased as compared with other groups before there can be a
+well-balanced relatively stable American life. Until this is achieved
+those who are trying to build up rural institutions as strong as those
+in urban centers will be engaged in a hopeless task.
+
+Eminent, conscientious Christian gentlemen, leaders in religious
+thought, and occasionally country ministers, have accused those who
+maintain that the church should have a vital active interest in
+improving economic welfare of trying to make hog-cholera experts out
+of preachers, thus taking them away from their real tasks. It is
+believed that knowledge of hog cholera and of the agencies that can
+help the farmer to prevent it will not injure the standing of any
+rural minister. It is maintained with reference to care for economic
+welfare that it is the business of the church to encourage economic
+improvement so far as possible (1) by giving advice and assisting in
+demonstration work when no other organized agency is in a position to
+render this service, and (2) by opening the way to other organized
+agencies to perform this service. This is the prime business of the
+agricultural colleges through their extension service. But it has been
+the experience of agricultural colleges that they have the greatest
+difficulty in establishing relationships in those agricultural
+sections where their service is needed the most. The minister of the
+gospel, being one of the two or three paid leaders in a local
+community, enjoying a measure of the confidence of the people, and
+having a large part of his time available for pastoral duties, has the
+opportunity and the obligation to tactfully bring to the community the
+assistance of these other agencies now provided by the State. When he
+has done this he can rest assured that he has accomplished something
+that will become the foundation for a far higher, more satisfying
+rural life.
+
+Although ultimately the problem of production in agriculture will
+probably be a most serious one, because of influences such as
+soil-mining, deforestation, and depletion of soil through erosion,
+the immediate problems are, rather, the adjustment of production to
+demand so that the farmer will be on a more equitable income basis
+with other elements in the population. When there is newspaper talk of
+again burning corn for fuel, when wool is a drug on the market, and
+when farmers' organizations are urging the decrease in the acreage of
+cotton, it is idle to talk of agricultural welfare being synonymous
+with ability to increase crop acreage or production per acre.
+Agricultural colleges and other State agencies have devoted the large
+part of their efforts to study of problems of production. The results
+of their services to date have been to so improve production as to
+hasten the population movement from the farms to the cities. This
+tendency to aid production to the point of exceeding equitable demand
+has been of economic value to the great centers but it has not
+encouraged the continuance on the farm of a large population, nor has
+it enabled the farmer to compete with the townsman in maintaining a
+satisfactory standard of living. It would seem that the producing
+ability of the farmer has been his misfortune, and that his friends
+who have taught him to produce more have been his worst enemies.
+
+When a manufacturing plant closes down because it cannot sell its
+goods at a given price, or when a retailer refuses to handle goods
+below a price believed by many to be excessive, little is said. But
+when the farmer tries to adjust his production to demand by limiting
+production there is widespread criticism of his conduct. There should
+be continuance of efforts to retain the fertility of the soil, to
+improve methods of cultivation, and to prevent destruction of wide
+areas through erosion. The patrimony of the nation must be preserved
+through wise policies of reforestation and reclamation of waste lands.
+But the great immediate task is that of adjusting production to demand
+so that the rural population may advance in material welfare along
+with other groups. In a competitive organization of industry the
+farmers success is gauged by his net income rather than by the number
+of bushels of corn or bales of cotton he produces.
+
+A sinister tendency in the higher-priced general agricultural sections
+is that of increase in the number of farms operated by farm tenants.
+Certain writers have attempted to prove that this tendency is taken
+too seriously. But the evidence of the United States Census from
+decade to decade indicates that the danger is real; and that the
+sooner a policy of control is adopted the better.
+
+The handicaps to agriculture through this increase are manifold. In a
+large proportion of cases, as shown by studies in typical areas, the
+landowner does not live on a neighboring farm, nor is he a retired
+parent or other relative of the tenant farmer. He lives in the
+neighboring city. Consequently, the rental from the farm goes to help
+build up the material welfare of the urban center. The contributions
+of the absentee landlord to church work go to supplement the salary of
+a city pastor on a scale far beyond the competing ability of the rural
+church where his land is located. His contributions to benevolences
+are paid for out of the income from his four-hundred-acre farm but are
+credited to the city church of which he is a member instead of to the
+rural church in the community where his land is located. Because of
+the transient nature of his residence the tenant, who remains on the
+farm on the average less than two years, has but little permanent
+interest in the life of the community and lacks the stability to
+become a valuable factor in building up strong rural institutions. The
+landlord, as previously suggested, has been known to oppose measures
+for consolidation of rural schools because such consolidation might
+increase taxes, and has been known to threaten tenants with
+dispossession if they should vote for consolidation. The constant
+moving of the tenant has handicapped the children in getting a good
+common-school education because of the breaks in their training
+resulting from this constant changing of residence.
+
+The tenant house, with all its implications of class-distinction, has
+come to the country side in increasing numbers. And slowly but
+gradually a landed aristocracy is growing up in rural America as
+marked as the landed aristocracy based on the purchase of a few acres
+of Manhattan Island several generations ago. And with the tenant has
+come the farm laborer, alien to the community, transient, and as much
+a member of the proletariat as if he were working in a great factory
+in the city. The I. W. W. movement in the wheat fields and lumber
+camps of the Northwest is but the beginning of the wage-earning
+consciousness as it spreads out from urban centers.
+
+The short term of tenant operation is lowering the standards of
+agriculture. Instead of farming on a long-time schedule, expecting
+returns on a system of husbandry reaching through the years, the
+tenant is inclined to produce such crops as can be disposed of at the
+close of the year, regardless of the effect of such a form of
+agriculture upon the fertility of the soil. Tenant contracts as yet
+offer little inducement for the tenant to remain permanently on a
+given farm or to keep up needed improvements.
+
+The tenant for the time being may even make larger profits as a tenant
+than as an owner. But the tendency everywhere for rents to rise, and
+the consequent increase in the value of the land, will ultimately
+bring the tenant to the position of securing from his labor on the
+farm an income not much in excess of what he would receive from
+working as a day laborer. The result in the long run will be that the
+best agricultural sections of the country will be occupied by a
+population lower in ability than in a landowning section and
+constantly kept down by poverty. This prediction may be deemed
+fanciful by some, but the writer believes that it is worthy of the
+most careful consideration and study.
+
+Since the organization of the great combinations in the oil and sugar
+industries during the 70's and 80's of the past century the movement
+toward close industrial organization has proceeded with little
+interruption. Legislation has been passed designed to break up
+industrial combinations and from time to time various industries have
+been disintegrated. But the layman has not been able to discover that
+such disintegrations by court order have had any marked influence on
+the progress of the fundamental tendencies toward industrial
+consolidation. The farmers have been the last to get into the
+organization field on any extensive scale. The Grange and the Farmers'
+Alliance, and later the Farmers' Union, have made attempts and,
+although many failures are recorded, their work paved the way for a
+far larger movement toward farm organization now under way. The
+tendency toward close organization of industrial groups may also be
+seen in the labor movement, the American Federation of Labor and the
+Industrial Workers of the World in this country, and the syndicalist
+movement in Europe; and in the organization of employers' associations
+and the National Chamber of Commerce on the part of business men.
+Whatever may be thought of the unfortunate phases of this movement
+toward closely organized group consciousness, however Bolshevistic it
+may be said to be, it must be recognized that class consciousness has
+come to stay. The old-type citizen who voted as a Republican or a
+Democrat and as an individual regardless of his industrial
+affiliations is passing away, and to-day the business men as a class,
+the wage-earners as a class, the farmers as a class, approach the
+leaders of both traditional parties with their ultimatums as to what
+they will do if certain policies are not recorded in their respective
+platforms. And the best-organized groups, those that can swing the
+most votes or can produce the largest financial inducements, are the
+ones that get most consideration. This may be Bolshevism, but if it
+is, it is a fact in American life, and we may as well adjust ourselves
+to handling the situation wisely instead of lamenting the passing of
+the system of individual representation which was the basis on which
+American government was founded.
+
+The farmer cannot be accused of leadership in this change in the
+American State. Business men and wage-earners began it, and the farmer
+has been forced to follow their example. The old type individualism of
+the landowning-operating farmer has long handicapped the farmer in his
+relations with other industrial groups. And it is with many mistakes
+and setbacks that he is now endeavoring to follow the example so ably
+set by the multimillionaires of the other groups. Better organization,
+not for exploitation but for protection and maintenance of a safe
+balance of influence in economic affairs, is fully justified, and the
+minister of the gospel is serving the farmer best when he encourages
+right and efficient organization.
+
+The American Farm Bureau Federation, begun a few years ago through the
+encouragement of county agricultural agents in order to give them a
+point of contact with groups of farmers and to give local support of
+the county agent's work, has now taken into its own hands the task of
+farmer organization. And now, with resources far beyond what could
+have been dreamed of a few years ago, this organization is embarking
+on programs of farmers' business organization almost too staggering in
+their size to be comprehended. If rightly managed, and if farmers can
+prove loyal to their own organization, this movement is destined to
+solve many of the problems of intergroup relationships confronting the
+farmers during the past few decades.
+
+As a part of the modern farmer organization movement, and holding
+within itself the largest promise of social values, is the
+encouragement of cooperation. Since the days in 1844, when a little
+group of wage-earners in England, out of work and gathered round a
+fire in a tavern, decided to go into business for themselves on a
+basis of one-man one vote, and distribution of profits on business
+done with the concern instead of stock held, the movement has
+continued to spread all over the world until to-day it holds a very
+important place in many lines of industry in leading countries.
+
+In this country cooperation has been an agricultural rather than an
+urban development, primarily because economic conditions have made it
+more necessary in agriculture than elsewhere. Farmers' elevators,
+live-stock shipping associations, insurance companies, fruit-and
+produce-marketing organizations have all gained a sound footing and
+each year shows an increase in their numbers. The movement has been
+consistently fought by competitive profit-seeking interests but
+without avail further than to delay the movement. In the early days
+discrimination in furnishing cars, underbidding, misrepresentation,
+adverse legislation all had to be overcome, in addition to the fact
+that ignorance of business principles often led to failure. Even now,
+within the past five years, agricultural colleges have been prevented
+from adding advisers on cooperative organization to their extension
+staffs, retail merchants' associations have prevented cooperative
+organization legislation, and insidious attempts have been made to
+prevent popular education with reference to the movement.
+
+The cooperative movement offers the greatest opportunity for the
+country minister for definite service in the farmers' economic
+progress. The principle underlying the movement is "Each for all, and
+all for each." Instead of the capitalist and laborer being in opposite
+camps under the necessity for bargaining, and each doing as little as
+possible and getting as much as possible for their respective shares
+of the product of the industry, the cooperative movement brings them
+into harmony for production of goods, in the belief that all are to
+share fairly in what is produced. The storekeeper and the buyer no
+longer haggle over the price because both will share in the returns of
+the business done. The cooperative movement bids fair to solve many of
+the problems of open and closed shop, collective bargaining, labor
+organization, and of relations between producer and consumer. Its
+steady growth is bringing about industrial peace and since it
+represents the true spirit of Christianity the minister is justified
+in encouraging its development wherever he may be.
+
+What is the challenge to the church of the economic conditions and
+tendencies outlined above? First and foremost, the minister must in
+season and out of season preach honesty in business relations. One of
+the most important discoveries in the study of problems of the
+farmer's business relations is that his success or failure depends
+largely upon the moral principles of the farmer as a group. The farmer
+who puts poor apples or potatoes in the middle of the barrel, who uses
+false weights and measures, who fails to produce the best of which he
+is capable, lowers the price of all farm products. The dealer who must
+throw out a certain proportion of bad eggs in his miscellaneous
+purchases makes the buying price low enough to protect himself. The
+consumer's demand is gauged very largely by the quality or reliability
+of the goods he purchases. So dishonesty in farm business hurts the
+farmer more than it does anyone else. The minister can render a
+service when he imbues his people with the highest ideals of business
+morality.
+
+Moreover, he can help in eliminating the loss to the farmer through
+attempted sale of ungraded, miscellaneous products by encouraging
+standardization and guarantee of quality. This requires organization;
+and while it should be the pastor's aim to encourage the formation of
+agencies independent of the church to attend to this and to establish
+contacts between his community and State and independent organizations
+that will assist in this work he should not hesitate so far as his
+time will permit to organize such standardization work and
+organization for guaranteeing products until other agencies can take
+the work over. His obligation as community leader extends to the
+encouragement of every phase of life that makes the country more
+livable in the way demanded at the particular stage of development in
+which he finds the community.
+
+As stated before, his primary task in encouraging production is now
+that of establishing contacts with State agencies and encouraging the
+support of their work. In some sections of the country, as among the
+colored people, for example, a country preacher might well be a
+trained farmer capable of doing in a local community what a county
+agent tries to do on a larger scale. But the State has now progressed
+in most sections to the point where, if opportunity is offered, it can
+assist in this work and relieve the pastor for other duties.
+
+The rural pastor should be a leader in community economic
+organization. It is accepted now that economic organizations along
+cooperative lines should be independent of either educational,
+religious, or social groups. After such organizations are well
+established the pastor has met in this respect the challenge to the
+church and to the pastor as community leader.
+
+The church as a whole should have some form of organization whereby it
+can register its influence in favor of State legislation making safe
+the development of the cooperative movement, the better organization
+of marketing, the proper control of land ownership, taxation, and
+other business relations affecting the farmer. Many of these problems
+cannot be solved by a minister working alone in a local community. He
+can preach honesty, stability, loyalty to community organization with
+all the fervor and liberty of a prophet, but so long as the tenant
+contract remains an inducement to transient tenant population; so
+long as class distinctions continue to become more marked; so long as
+discontent over high rents, high prices of land, and other conditions
+continues, he will not get far toward the establishing of the kingdom
+of heaven in agricultural life. These problems must be attacked by the
+church as a whole as the obligation of the general church to the
+minister who is on the firing line of the great world-wide struggle
+for the establishment of industrial peace.
+
+One or two concrete illustrations will show the necessity of general
+church action on these matters if the rural church is to be saved from
+conditions now acute in the large centers. Wage-earners in the large
+centers who have no assurance of permanence of jobs are not inclined
+to give liberally toward providing adequate building and equipment for
+religious services. No wage-earner can be expected to give hundreds of
+dollars out of his income toward building a church when the next month
+may find him compelled to move to some distant city. In like manner it
+is difficult in large centers to get wage-earners even to maintain a
+church adequately. Consequently the church is to-day spending
+millions of dollars to provide church buildings for wage-earners in
+large cities. Yet it does not have any program for bringing about wage
+returns, permanency of employment, or interest in business that would
+make it possible or desirable for the wage-earner to finance his own
+church building. Neither does the church have a plan whereby the
+industries of a city make any adequate contribution to the housing of
+religious institutions for those connected with the industry. Although
+the wealth of America is centered in the great cities, the provision
+for religious service to city people is being made by people living in
+small towns and in the open country.
+
+As in the city, so in the open country. It has become necessary for
+the general church to provide even pastoral maintenance in certain
+sections where land is worth three hundred dollars per acre. The
+transient tenant has no abiding interest in the community because he
+expects to move at the end of the year. This condition is gradually
+becoming worse; and unless the general church undertakes the solution
+of problems affecting the local church but over which the local
+church has no control, the future will bring either a decline in
+religious influence in rural sections or a continuous burden on
+national boards that should and would under proper conditions be cared
+for by local communities.
+
+That the church can help in improving economic conditions to the
+advantage of all rural life has already been abundantly demonstrated.
+On the Brookhaven District, Mississippi Conference, Methodist
+Episcopal Church, the missionary board of that denomination made a
+contribution of three hundred dollars toward the support for the
+summer of a man and woman engaged in organizing community clubs.
+Twenty-one clubs were organized, and as a result of their efforts over
+fifty thousand pounds of fruit and truck were saved during the period
+of the war when food conservation was a necessity. As a result of this
+contribution, at last reports there were three colored county
+agricultural agents employed in counties of that district, all
+supported by the State, and no further contribution of missionary
+funds to continue the work was necessary. For years Bishop Thirkield,
+of the New Orleans area of the Methodist Episcopal Church, had been
+encouraging keeping of gardens by the pastors and land ownership among
+colored people. It is impossible to estimate accurately the results of
+his broad program, but one district superintendent reported for his
+own official boards that while at the opening of the year 25 per cent
+of his official board members on the district were in debt, at the
+close of the year not one of them was in debt. They had been taught
+how to save money and to pay their debts, and the members of the
+churches were encouraged to follow their example.
+
+On a little charge in southeastern Ohio the pastor began to preach
+good roads. Before the end of the first year a township organization
+had been formed and a vote taken providing for the macadamizing of
+every road in the township.
+
+Four years ago the missionary board of the Methodist Episcopal Church
+made a contribution of four hundred dollars toward the support of a
+pastor in a village in New York. He organized a community club, led in
+securing a community house, installed moving pictures, and provided
+for the recreational life of the community. To-day no contribution is
+being made by the Board for this work. Yet the membership of the club
+has increased from fifty-nine to two hundred and twenty-five. It has
+been responsible for the establishment of a national bank which had
+one hundred and seventy thousand dollars deposits in the first six
+months; it paved over five hundred feet of street; it provided for the
+consolidation of four rural schools with the village school. And plans
+were under way for opening a ferry across the Hudson that had not been
+run for thirty years and for the establishment of an important
+manufacturing plant. Thus a little stimulation has resulted in
+economic development that must result in better financial support of
+all community activities.
+
+In conclusion it may be said that it is the business of the pastor to
+concern himself with all economic problems that affect the welfare of
+his people. The type of problem will vary with the community and its
+stage of development. As rapidly as possible the church should turn
+over to private or State agencies the task of economic development.
+But the church should encourage in every way every movement that is
+destined to bring about a higher stage of economic welfare; and the
+pastor cannot relinquish his obligations in this respect until he has
+succeeded in establishing other agencies that can effectively perform
+this task. His duty, then, is to encourage this form of development by
+educating the people as to its value and by giving it his moral
+support.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE SOCIAL CHALLENGE TO THE CHURCH
+
+
+The task of the minister is primarily to deal with man, either in his
+own personal life, his relations to his Maker, or to his fellow-man.
+Unlike the farmer, whose interest lies in the control of animal or
+plant growth, or the mechanic, who controls and molds the forces and
+conditions of inanimate nature, the minister has to do with that most
+delicate and elusive subject of all--the human soul. His business is
+to tune the individual soul instrument so that it will harmonize with
+the musical vibrations of the Infinite Will; and to bring about such a
+relationship between the different instruments in his little group
+that all together will produce a heavenly harmony.
+
+The Christian religion, except when it has degenerated into formal
+Pharisaism, has been an ethical religion; and the ethical conduct of
+the individual has been a criterion of the depth of his religious
+experience. Ethics have primarily to do with the relation of man to
+man, so that the conclusion is logical that the church is vitally
+interested in the ethical problems of humanity and in anything that
+tends to lower or raise the moral standards of the individual or the
+community.
+
+There is no other agency more vitally interested in moral problems
+than is the church. Business organizations may be interested, but
+their efforts have apparently not been to conserve moral standards,
+even in business. The school is interested, but its emphasis has been
+placed more on mental development without regard to moral
+implications, or on utilitarian objectives. The church has been
+preaching right living, and other objectives have been incidental.
+Since this is true the thesis is advanced as the basis for this
+chapter that it is the business of the church to provide building,
+equipment, and leadership for conserving the moral life of the
+community. Since the moral welfare of any community finds its
+expression largely in its social and recreational activities, such
+provision involves providing for the social and recreational
+interests. This is a function which is not to be encouraged and then
+turned over to other agencies, but is to be retained by the church
+itself as its legitimate service.
+
+In view of the fact that the efforts of various agencies have not been
+in entire harmony with this point of view it deserves further
+consideration. For many years it has been argued that the schoolhouse
+should be so built that it could be made the community center for all
+types of activities. Without intending to limit the public schools in
+any laudable endeavor to enrich rural life it should be noted:
+
+1. That so far as villages and open country schools are concerned it
+is not believed that the agitation for the wider use of the school
+plant has yet resulted in any marked nation-wide response to such
+agitation further than to provide room for physical training of
+upper-class students.
+
+2. In general, the schoolhouse is so located that it is not suited for
+community service. It is usually located on the outskirts of the
+village, where plenty of ground may be had for outdoor school games.
+When people gather for social life and leisure they do not go away
+from the lights of the village street but move toward them. The
+well-lighted poolroom near the village store will attract more boys
+than the building on the village edge that must be reached through the
+dark. Villagers have their downtown as well as do the great urban
+centers.
+
+3. The school teachers and principal are busy five days in the week in
+the classroom. The schools cannot assume charge of community center
+activities without danger either of overworking the teachers or of
+having to hire special assistance for this service. Many villages
+cannot afford to hire special workers for this purpose alone.
+
+4. It has been argued that the school is the democratic institution
+since it is tax-supported, and thus every one may go there as a right.
+To this it may be replied that, as with the church, only those
+contribute who have resources from which to contribute. The only
+difference is that in the public school the majority decide that all
+those who are able must contribute to the support of public
+institutions, thus it falls short of complete democracy, which must,
+in the last analysis, be a purely voluntary association. In the
+church the only force compelling contribution is personal desire and
+public opinion. Thus it is as democratic, if not more so, than the
+school.
+
+5. On the other hand, a large part of the time of the country minister
+is available for pastoral service. The establishment of community
+service activities under the auspices of the church bids fair to
+rescue pastoral calling and service from a routine of personal
+visitation by giving it a definite community service objective. Again,
+in the beginnings in the medium-sized and larger villages and probably
+continuously in the smaller places the pastor is the only salaried
+servant of the community with free time during the week for the
+organization and direction of community service.
+
+6. The church building and parish house can be located conveniently at
+the center of the village, thus obviating the objection to the school
+building for this purpose.
+
+7. True religion is a loyal supporter of everything that is safe in
+social and recreational life. It is subject to the control of the
+community in the same way as the school; excessive puritanism need not
+be feared under its auspices more than under the auspices of other
+agencies.
+
+The usual argument against serious consideration of the church as the
+center of community life is that religious agencies are so divided up
+by dogmatism that it is impossible for any one religious organization
+to assume leadership in this respect without incurring the opposition
+of other agencies. While this is true in many cases, it should be
+remembered that dogmatism does not have the influence in more highly
+developed communities that it once had. Moreover, considerable
+progress has already been made toward intergroup agreements, including
+the two great divisions of the Christian Church giving responsibility
+for community leadership to one denomination or another. In cases
+where local adjustments have not been made it may be necessary to
+depend on other agencies to conserve the social and recreational life.
+In these cases the church loses its rightful heritage.
+
+8. The popular response to projects of building community churches and
+parish houses in small communities leads to the belief that the
+general public accepts as the correct one the principle that the
+church should provide these facilities. The Methodist Episcopal
+denomination alone, through the aid of its Church Extension Board,
+aided in 1920 in building or remodeling over four hundred church and
+parish houses equipped to provide for all or a part of a community
+service program; it is not known how many more made such advances
+without outside aid. The question of whether the church or some other
+agency than either the church or the school should provide community
+service facilities may be answered in much the same way. In some
+States local communities may levy a tax for the building and
+maintenance of community buildings. Where this is possible there seems
+to be no serious objection to such a course. But a community building
+without adequate supervision is likely to become a center of moral
+deterioration. On the other hand, such a public building can be
+located more strategically than can a schoolhouse. The objection to
+stock-company-owned community houses is much more serious. These are
+likely to become mere pleasure resorts, often of a very questionable
+nature.
+
+The judgment of the American people seems to be rapidly determining
+that the safest plan is to look to the religious agencies for
+conserving the social and recreational life; and this judgment is in
+harmony with the thesis advanced at the opening of this chapter.
+
+If the principle is accepted that it is the business of the church to
+conserve the social life of the community, then it is next in order to
+consider some of the problems of social life that are a challenge to
+the church at the present time.
+
+The social organization of this country in its smaller communities as
+in the larger centers, such as it is, is the product of undirected
+uncoordinated efforts of special interest groups. A general
+classification of the types of rural organizations may be made, first,
+into political, including the incorporated village, towns, townships,
+counties, and political parties; economic, including special
+associations around specific interests such as farm bureaus, stock
+breeders' associations, potato-growers' associations, etc., and the
+increasing number of cooperative organizations, such as farmers'
+elevators, fruit-marketing organizations, live-stock, shipping
+associations; social, including the Grange, the various types of
+farmers' clubs for men and women that perform much the same function
+as the Grange, and the more or less permanent groupings for purely
+recreational purposes, such as dancing parties, card parties, etc.;
+and the conventional religious organizations as represented by the
+denominations and their many subsidiary groups for special purposes.
+
+As was pointed out in the chapter on definitions, each of these
+various groups has a customary center for coming together. But owing
+to the fact that each interest has grown largely without reference to
+the others, their centers of activity have been determined largely by
+conditions of local convenience. Now, these centers may have been well
+adapted to the times when they were established, but as time has
+passed shifts of population have come, road improvements have been
+made, and new interests developed so that the traditional centers not
+only tend to lessen community solidarity but also tend to prevent its
+accomplishment. One of the first tasks of the community leader is to
+make a study of his proposed field of activity for the purpose of
+determining what are the present centers of group interests, what
+changes have taken place in rural life conditions which make
+reorganization and readjustment of centers desirable, and then, in
+consultation with representatives of the community, to organize a
+community plan toward ward which the entire community may work. City
+planning has long been an accepted principle for service in the more
+progressive larger centers. The time has come when plans for the most
+efficient organization of village and open country communities should
+be made. It is interesting to note that already in many sections of
+the United States the movement toward community planning has made
+considerable progress. It is now generally recognized that with rare
+exceptions the village rather than an open country point is the normal
+basis for such a plan. In accordance with this, movements are now
+under way to displace the traditional township boundaries created as
+political limits for government and to replace them by boundaries
+conforming as closely as possible with those limits that careful
+investigation indicates are now and probably will continue to be the
+most representative of what the future limits of rural communities
+will be. In like manner educational work is being reorganized to
+include the community territory instead of the political areas
+inherited from the methods of survey adopted under the ordinance of
+1787. As this movement continues, doubtless farm bureaus, and even
+religious agencies, will try to adapt themselves as far as possible to
+the program of other agencies.
+
+The breakdown of social life in the open country and the very
+questionable forms it often takes in the villages has long been the
+nightmare of the minister of the gospel who stands for a high ethical
+plane of social life. The church, with its Ladies' Aid, its young
+people's societies, its occasional men's clubs, fails to reach more
+than a very limited number of those living in the open country or in
+the village. The lack of a definite, well-organized social program
+results in all kinds of association often anti-social and lowering of
+the moral fiber of the entire group. It is unnecessary to go into the
+sordid details of moral conditions existing among both young and old
+in many village communities. The pastor with a program of absentee
+service consisting of an occasional sermon and holding a Sunday school
+finds his efforts continually nullified by more powerful social and
+recreational impulses expressing themselves in ways recognized as
+morally deteriorating. When a plan for ultimate centralization of
+wholesome and legitimate community interest has been made it is the
+minister's task to organize a plan for bringing to the community an
+abundance of wholesome recreational life. The traditional plan has
+been to preach against dancing and card playing. Such preaching has
+more often alienated the young people from the church than it has
+attracted them to religious life. The modern plan is to overcome evil
+with good; that is, to provide such a program of unquestioned
+recreation that the evil will die of itself.
+
+That this actually happens has been demonstrated over and over again.
+The Rev. Matthew B. McNutt, on arriving at Du Page, Illinois, found a
+large building near the church turned into a dancing center. Without
+saying a word against dancing he began to organize his young people
+for singing. In a short time the dancing mania had ceased and did not
+return in the twelve years of his service on that charge. The Rev. L.
+P. Fagan found dancing all the rage when he went to a little town in
+Colorado. He began to develop a wholesome program of recreational
+life, and before long dancing had ceased and had not returned two
+years after he had left the charge. At a little town in New York
+State, the young men of the town were accustomed to gather at the fire
+house and indulge in cards with more than occasional playing for
+money. A recreation hall opened in the village broke up the
+card-playing and brought the young men into something more wholesome
+and which they preferred. A village in Southwestern Ohio had a gang of
+"Roughnecks," as they were called, who were accustomed to loaf in the
+poolrooms and find their amusement in neighboring cities. A room in
+the upstairs of the town hall was opened up and fitted for basketball.
+Leadership for clubs was provided by college students training for
+community service. The result was that this group of young men, of
+exceptionally good native qualities but spoiling morally for want of
+adequate provision for recreational life, came to the community center
+and for the time being avoided the lower forms of social and
+recreational activity.
+
+These illustrations prove three things: first, the need of such
+equipment; second, the fact that young people prefer and choose the
+better when it is provided for them; and, third, that the church can
+solve many of its most serious problems most readily by attacking the
+source of corruption of the morals of young people through caring for
+recreational interests. The minister who neglects this powerful force
+in attempting to build a Christian civilization is failing to take
+advantage of one of the greatest instruments God has placed in his
+hands. Yet it is the sad fact that in too many instances ministers are
+failing to take advantage of the forces at hand, and that even those
+who have caught the vision of the possibilities of these other forces
+are not trained to use them safely.
+
+The number of village communities that have organized social and
+recreational life is still so small that when such movements are
+discovered they receive widespread comment in the public press. One
+can drop into almost any village in America and make inquiries as to
+what is being done for conserving the recreational life by the church
+or any other community agency, and the answer will be that nothing is
+done either in providing leadership or buildings and equipment. Much
+good work has been done for specific groups by the Christian
+Associations, and now the American Playground Association, the Red
+Cross, and other organizations are applying themselves to the task of
+bringing about a better condition in smaller communities. But the work
+accomplished by all of them is still, as compared with the task in
+hand, scarcely more than a beginning. The church with a paid community
+leader in each community offers the solution for most rapid and
+permanent progress; and the outlook for rapid development under
+religious auspices is most hopeful.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+BUILDING FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE
+
+
+The thesis that the church should provide building and equipment for
+conservation of the social and recreational life of the church
+introduces standards and objectives that do not find expression in the
+great majority of church buildings now erected, nor even in the
+majority of plans sent out by religious agencies or architectural
+concerns bidding for contracts for church planning and building.
+
+The traditional village and open country church was a one-room
+structure erected for the sole purpose of providing a place for
+worship. This amply met the needs of a pioneer time when social
+activities were largely carried on in the homes. In a very large
+number of communities this is still the only type of church building
+to be found. As the idea of providing for Sunday school began to
+prevail gradually side rooms were added to provide for extra Sunday
+school classes. In the course of time the needs of a wider program for
+the church began to be recognized, and then basements were added with
+an occasional kitchen. Thus the entertainments for adults and of the
+young people old enough to enjoy banquets and like amusement were
+provided for. But the needs of the young people under sixteen years of
+age and many other community needs were still uncared for.
+
+The new program demands a building or buildings that will provide for
+the threefold program of worship, religious education, and community
+service. In view of the lack of standards for rural church building,
+the present discussion is offered in the hope that it may contain some
+practical suggestions in terms of the program demanded of the modern
+open country and village church.
+
+It is believed that the type of building suitable for an open country
+community will be somewhat different from that needed in a village
+center. The number of rooms will be less. Usually, two main rooms, one
+for worship and the other for recreational purposes, with such side
+rooms for kitchen and special clubs and classes as the community can
+afford, will be sufficient. The recreation room should have stage,
+lantern slide, and moving picture equipment, and a very simple
+provision for games. Problems of plumbing and heating must be worked
+out in accordance with local conditions.
+
+In the larger centers, in addition to the facilities mentioned above,
+other rooms may be added as a careful study of village equipment and
+needs, present and probable future, indicate. Rooms for library,
+committees, clubs, offices, shower baths, lockers, art center, and
+similar interests should be provided for if other agencies have not
+done so.
+
+In building for community service the community should not make the
+mistake of economizing because it imagines it cannot afford the best.
+No community should build less than the best. If it does so, it
+handicaps the community for a generation or more; and this is too
+serious a matter to be lightly permitted. At the present time
+religious organizations have national agencies which are serving to an
+ever larger degree as a reserve resource for the purpose of aiding
+local groups to build adequately. Thus the general organization aids
+each year the limited number of local groups that find it necessary to
+rebuild and renders unnecessary the maintenance of a replacement fund
+by the local church for an indefinite period.
+
+If it is impossible to build an entire building at one time it is
+better to build by units, so that in the course of time a structure of
+which the community may be proud will be completed. It should be
+remembered that a community's solidarity and spirit are gauged largely
+by the type of buildings it erects, and the church and community
+building, representing as it does the deepest interests of man, should
+be a living monument to community loyalty. Such a building becomes a
+lasting inspiration to both old and young, pointing the way to the
+highest and best in human life.
+
+The building should be strategically located. As has been suggested,
+people like to come to the center of the village for their social and
+recreational life. The owner of a poolroom or a picture show that
+would place his building a half mile in the country would not have a
+large and enthusiastic patronage. The main street, near the center of
+the village, is the place to be selected for the principal building of
+the city, the community center.
+
+Sometimes a well-meaning citizen will offer to a church a plot of land
+far out on the edge of a village free of charge, provided the church
+will accept it for the erection of the new structure. Sometimes the
+Board of Trustees, thinking they will save a few hundred dollars,
+gratefully accept the gift, thus violating the principle expressed in
+the preceding paragraph. When a business man plans to put up an
+expensive building he does not seek the cheapest land but the best
+location regardless of the cost of the land. For illustration, a lot
+on the edge of a village may cost but five hundred dollars, while a
+lot in the center of the village may cost five thousand dollars. If
+the proposed building to be erected is to cost fifty thousand dollars,
+even the larger land cost is but ten per cent of the total; and the
+value of the building to the community after erection on the more
+valuable lot far more than justifies the extra expenditure.
+
+Sometimes architects are inclined to sacrifice utility to beauty. They
+are inclined to make the recreation room too short because a proper
+length would not harmonize with other lines in the building. The good
+architect accepts the beautification of a useful building as a
+challenge and does not sacrifice utility because a useful structure
+does not embody some feature of Gothic or Old English parish church
+architecture. This tendency should be carefully guarded against.
+
+Details as to the slope of ground best adapted to church building,
+heating, plumbing, and other features can best be learned by
+consultation with a trained architect. Care should be taken to see
+that the recreation room is sufficiently large to carry on the simpler
+games, such as basketball, when the community so desires. The limits
+recommended are fourteen feet high by forty feet wide by sixty feet
+long. Many communities, however, are getting along with rooms
+considerably shorter and narrower than this. The ceiling should be
+supported by steel beams instead of posts. In most sections of the
+country it is recommended that recreation rooms be erected on the same
+level as the church instead of in the basement, as has been the
+practice.
+
+In many sections of the country there is a distinct objection to
+having the community service features and the house of worship under
+the same roof. It is thought that the light-heartedness of play time
+tends to lessen the sacredness of the house of worship and to lessen
+respect for religious service. While this attitude is largely a matter
+of custom, and while people who have caught the vision of God can
+worship him any place, it is believed that wherever possible
+consideration should be given to this sentiment and the community
+service features of the church should be housed in a separate building
+located adjacent to the church or attached to it by some smaller club
+room. The two should not be located in widely separate parts of the
+village, as the connection between the two may be lost and the service
+of the church to the community in this way not recognized. Both house
+of worship and community or parish house should be located near the
+center of the village.
+
+In villages where there is room for several houses of worship the
+question of community service is much more difficult. The Young
+Men's Christian Associations and the Young Women's Christian Associations
+have made partial provision in some communities on an interdenominational
+basis. But in the ordinary small town there is not room for a building
+for each of these organizations. The rural Christian Associations have
+been proceeding on the policy of using such buildings as are now
+available, but it is evident that in the vast majority of small
+communities, present buildings can at best be but a makeshift for
+complete community service. It is hoped that the time will come when
+the several denominations will find some way of pooling their financial
+resources so that as religious organizations they can provide a common
+building for community service. The writer knows of no village in America
+where this has yet been done. One village in New York State,
+Milton-on-the-Hudson, has a community club under the direction of a
+Board of Trustees of ten members, two from each of the five denominations
+represented in the village, the Catholic church included. This club has
+been very successful in operating a community house and developing a
+community program. It has been suggested that where property rights are
+involved one denomination might make its contribution by providing
+and maintaining the building, while the other denominations might
+contribute the equivalent of interest on building investment, depreciation
+and maintenance of building to cost of operation of the plant. It is
+feared, however, that in the course of time, the original cost of
+building to one denomination would be forgotten and the community
+would demand that all groups contribute to operating expenses
+according to their membership or some other agreed upon distribution
+of maintenance expense. This should be the ultimate method of
+maintenance.
+
+In a number of communities one denomination has provided the building
+and the operating force, while other denominations have cooperated by
+acting on the Board of Control and contributing what they could to the
+maintenance cost. Such denominational leadership almost invariably
+leads in the beginning to interdenominational jealousy and antagonism,
+but in some cases the community has accepted the situation and all
+have cooperated, it being understood that such provision for community
+purposes is not for the purpose of proselyting. Sunday school and
+church membership is encouraged in the denominations from which the
+young people come, and thus a contribution by one denomination has
+strengthened the work of all the churches. Some form of cooperation
+agreed upon for a common development is preferable and independent
+action by one denomination should be undertaken only when the
+different groups concerned are not in a position either by tradition
+or financial ability to cooperate in a common enterprise.
+
+The movement now is very strong in the direction of provision of
+building and equipment for community service by the church. May the
+church not fail in doing justice to its high obligation in the type of
+structure it may erect!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE CHURCH AND RURAL PUBLIC THOUGHT
+
+
+Many city pastors, and some rural ones too, lament the fact that
+people do not come to listen to them preach. This condition is in
+marked contrast to the good old New England days, when the whole
+neighborhood would turn out and listen to sermons four hours long. It
+is a question whether such intellectual giants as Jonathan Edwards
+built up such congregations or whether such congregations brought out
+the best in Jonathan Edwards.
+
+People to-day go to church for a variety of reasons. But the dominant
+motives that should prevail are those of worship and for instruction.
+All Christians should attend religious services for worship regardless
+of the quality of the sermon or the personal attitude of the people
+toward the minister. The message from the pulpit should be such that
+it too would attract for its own sake. It is the exceptional city
+minister that can fill the pews from week to week and from year to
+year because of the type of message given. The daily papers and the
+many other agencies for discussion of live topics have become so
+numerous that the pulpit has lost much of its original importance as
+an agency for instruction. But in the village and the open country the
+pulpit still has a large field for service in this respect and thus
+becomes an especial challenge to the one who wants to develop as a
+leader of thought. The village minister has an opportunity unique in
+American life in this respect. Some of the greatest leaders of thought
+ever produced were the product of the village churches of England and
+Scotland. There is no reason why the village church of America should
+not become the seedbed for the best contributions to religious,
+philosophical, and literary thought of the present day.
+
+It will be impossible to give more than a few illustrations of present
+needs and opportunities for service in this respect in the smaller
+communities. One of the first tasks of the church is the introduction
+of correct thought in regard to religious beliefs. It is almost
+unbelievable the amount of actual superstition and positively harmful
+beliefs that prevail under the guise of religion not only in rural but
+in urban communities. An example of this is the widespread belief in
+the second coming of Christ at an early date. Educational institutions
+of national note are continuously laboring to extend this form of
+belief. The question as to whether Christ will ever come again is one
+that does not appear to have any immediate social significance other
+than it may have some influence on conduct as to the method of
+preparation for his coming. Those who believe in such coming may
+either believe that all efforts at social improvement now are
+fruitless, because the ultimate inauguration of the Kingdom will
+result from the sweeping away of everything that now exists and in the
+inauguration of a new social order out of the ruins of the old. Or
+they may believe that the efforts of the churches and other agencies
+now are preparing the way for such coming, and the inauguration of the
+Kingdom will be but the next step in an orderly process of social
+progress. There is reason to believe that many of those who are
+teaching the second coming are inclined to the former point of view;
+and wherever they gain a hearing their influence practically nullifies
+all efforts to enlist their followers in any program of social
+improvement.
+
+The effect of a belief in an immediate coming of Christ as indicated
+by present world conditions interpreted in the light of Old and New
+Testament prophecy is to paralyze all motive for social action. Such
+action, if this belief is correct, is useless. The devotee is driven
+to the position of finding his sole religious duty that of getting
+himself and those in whom he is interested ready to enter the new
+kingdom through the observance of the personal elements in religious
+life.
+
+Another belief that in some sections has a limited influence is that
+of observance of Saturday instead of Sunday as the day set apart by
+biblical authority as the Sabbath. Without commenting on the rightness
+or the wrong of the contention, it should be remembered that this
+belief has resulted in some sections in practically the breakdown of
+observance of the Sabbath by rural communities, without a
+corresponding gain in Saturday observance. Community solidarity for
+either social or religious purposes is thus broken up. From the social
+point of view this is distinctly unfortunate.
+
+Again, in some sections religion has taken an extreme form of
+antagonism to anything of a practical type. The extremes to which the
+emotional expression of religion has gone have been such that these
+groups have become popularly known as "Holy Rollers." Wherever this
+type of religious expression breaks out in a rural community it
+severely handicaps all efforts at making the church function as an
+agency for rural progress. The energies of such devotees are so
+exhausted in their services that they lack the energy, even if they
+had the inspiration, to link their efforts to any program of community
+betterment. This group is usually found not only opposing progressive
+measures in the church but also opposing other progressive activities
+in the community, such as better schools, road improvement, etc.
+
+In isolated sections of rural America all over the country may be
+found groups of Latter Day Saints. These groups are not yet of
+sufficient strength to be of great importance outside of Utah and a
+few other Western States. But the existence of an organized group
+anywhere, particularly if it is of a missionary character, is likely
+to spread and ultimately become a factor of considerable importance.
+Anyone visiting the Mormon Temple at Salt Lake and reading on the
+monuments to Joseph and Hiram Smith the testimony in letters of stone
+to the effect that Joseph discovered the message of the Book of Mormon
+on gold plates, and that Hiram was the witness thereof, will realize
+how easy it is to spread almost any belief under the guise of religion
+if the children are taught such doctrines during their youth.
+
+It will be unnecessary to go through the whole catalogue of beliefs
+finding expression in the dogma of practically all religious
+organizations, and in times past dividing the followers of
+Christianity into denominational groups. The most serious problems of
+adjustment of religious institutions for community service grow out of
+these differences in belief on points of dogma.
+
+The solution of the problem of clearing the field of unwholesome and
+injurious belief lies not in writing polemics against them but in
+filling the minds of the people with unquestioned truth. As the rural
+mind is directed to the consideration of topics of vital importance
+these things that have crept in and disturbed social order and
+dissipated precious energies in fruitless discussion will disappear
+through lack of attention. On the other hand, persecution will attract
+attention to and arouse the fanatical support of them and distract the
+attention of the group from matters of more vital importance.
+
+In addition to preaching those sermons which keep alive in community
+consciousness the sense of man's obligations to his Maker, the
+significance and solemnity of death and those other epochal events in
+the course of human existence, and the hope given to man of a fuller
+life through the coming of Christ, the minister has certain great
+moral ideals that he should instill into the minds of his people.
+
+The matter of honesty in dealing with both the farmer and his
+neighbors both near and distant has already been mentioned.
+
+The right attitude toward wealth accumulation must also be preached
+not only for the safety of the rural community but also for the
+entire nation. By the very nature of the business the vast majority of
+people living in small communities and on the farms must remain
+indefinitely people of modest means. The possibilities of large wealth
+accumulation are limited because the farm must continue to be a small
+scale industry. It can be improved so as to afford adequate leisure.
+But farm life does not promise large enjoyment to those of an
+epicurean turn of mind. The ideal of the farm must be that of
+producing wealth so that the modest comforts of life may be insured.
+But the minister must exalt the appreciation of those things that may
+be obtained without lavish expenditure of money, such as local
+entertainment produced by the community itself, literature, music, and
+art; and the simple pleasures that come from democratic association
+with intimate acquaintances.
+
+It is believed that with all the material progress of this country, it
+has had to sacrifice many things that are worth far more than the
+types of enjoyment obtained by slavish imitation of the extremely
+wealthy leisure class in the cities. The exhortation to preach the
+values of the simple pleasures possible in smaller communities is not
+for the purpose of keeping people contented with a lot that cannot be
+improved, but because it is believed that the smaller communities
+to-day contain within themselves and their ideals the seed of
+rejuvenation of all life, and that a greater contribution can be made
+by rural communities to civilization by adhering to their ideals than
+by being diverted from them by the money-seeking, materialistic ideals
+of the urban centers. The best in rural ideals must ultimately become
+the ideals of the city if we are to avoid the degeneration that will
+inevitably follow a too materialistic urban civilization.
+
+The pastor should be able to bring to his people from time to time the
+interpretation of national and world events in terms of their relation
+to the advance of religious progress. This obligation will require
+constant and wide reading about the social movements of the time. In
+the more progressive communities many of the farmers and their
+families will have access to literature that will enable them to form
+their own conclusions to a large degree. But not many of them, even
+though they be college graduates, will have the time to read as
+widely as they would like on any of the great changes taking place;
+and they will welcome an intelligent interpretation of these by the
+one who has the larger opportunities for such service.
+
+Finally, the preacher must be a prophet. He must have caught the
+vision of tendencies in human life and be able to bring to his people
+the evidences of the hand of God working out the course of the human
+race in the infinite stream of human history. He must believe, with
+Tennyson, in a "far off divine event, toward which the whole creation
+moves," or with Shakespeare when he said "There's a divinity that
+shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will." If he can bring his
+people to see that, even though they may be living in some obscure
+corner of the earth, they have a part in the great movements going on,
+and that they can render a service by doing what they are able in
+supporting the programs for which the church stands, he will be
+contributing his share to the wholesome attitude needed in our rural
+communities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ADJUSTING THE LOCAL CHURCH TO THE COMMUNITY
+
+
+In his book on Social Control Professor Ross has pointed out that
+certain institutions are essentially conservative in their nature.
+They are solid, permanent organizations but are not inclined to assume
+leadership in social progress. He includes in this list the church.
+The fact that the church is a conservative institution is not
+necessarily a criticism of it. Other agencies develop new phases of
+social expression, sometimes in actual opposition to conservative
+agencies. The good innovations live and after they have demonstrated
+their utility the conservative institutions such as the church and the
+state take them over and insure their permanence.
+
+The rapid advance of the social spirit in modern life has outstripped
+existing agencies in their preparation to meet the new approach to
+the solution of problems of living. Many forms of existing
+institutions were created under entirely different conditions and to
+meet different needs. To-day these old forms do not adapt themselves
+to new demands, and in many cases prevent effective action on the part
+of religious organizations that are ready in spirit to broaden their
+programs to include the new demands upon the conservative
+organization.
+
+The minister, trained for the modern service of the church to the
+community, cannot solve alone all the problems of maladjustment he
+finds in his local community. He finds that the contacts and interests
+of his local church organization are far broader than the interests of
+the local group he is called to serve; and that in many cases his
+local efforts are nullified by these larger contacts. It is the
+purpose of this and succeeding chapters to outline some of the
+conditions existing within the church itself that must be adjusted
+before it can act most effectively in meeting the challenge discussed
+in preceding chapters.
+
+The first and probably most important problem is that of enlarging the
+vision of church officials, ministers, and people as to the need for
+broadening the program of the church and as to the need of a
+statesman-like reorganization of adjustment of the church to the
+community.
+
+It is believed that quite generally the membership of the larger
+religious organizations in this country are now in sympathy with the
+principle that the church should have a social-service program. There
+is still wide diversity of opinion as to the form that service should
+take. In too many cases there is no opinion at all; and while
+admitting the principle, active opposition develops to any attempt to
+put the principle into practice in a specific project. This condition
+is to be found most marked in those sections of the country that are
+not in the direct line of thought movements, or where living
+conditions are such as to make rural life monotonous. The monotony of
+the plains is as deadening as is the lack of contact of the mountain
+valley; and both fields offer fruitful ground for the spread of
+unsocial types of religious expression.
+
+The solution of this phase of adjustment of the church to community
+needs lies in a patient educational program carried on by the
+minister of the gospel. He must be a man of broad vision and must have
+the fullest appreciation of the slowness with which the rural public
+mind works. He must be everlastingly tactful and not attempt more than
+the simplest advances at the beginning and not more than one at a
+time. He should have at hand an abundance of educational material in
+the way of literature, lantern slides, and periodicals which can be
+used in showing what actually happens when the church embarks on a
+broader program of rural service. A national educational program of
+this type will in a few years create a demand that must be met and
+that rural churches will pay well for as the value of such work will
+be recognized.
+
+The more serious phase of this problem is the lack of adequate
+preparation for this service on the part of the ministry. In one of
+the leading denominations (Methodist Episcopal) over twenty-nine per
+cent of the charges are cared for by supplies, men who by reason of
+educational preparation, age, or for some other cause are not now and,
+in a large proportion of cases, never will be eligible to membership
+in the Conferences. Of the remainder, only a small proportion are
+graduates of schools of higher learning, such as colleges and
+theological seminaries. At a time when a large number of those living
+in rural communities are either agricultural college graduates or have
+attended short courses in agriculture, it becomes apparent that an
+uneducated ministry is becoming a menace to the future of the rural
+church.
+
+But of those who have had the advantages of a college or theological
+seminary training, the type of training has not fitted them for
+effective rural service. The training of ministers has gone through
+the same process as other types of training. It was once thought that
+since the sole business of the minister was the personal appeal to
+accept Christ, with the emphasis on the personal atonement features of
+Christianity rather than on the principles of Christian living, the
+same type of training would fit one to deliver the message whether he
+was in the slums of the city, on the shores of Africa, or in the
+mountains of Colorado. Moreover, for some reason, it appears to have
+been accepted that the rural ministry was the simplest of all and
+that any one could be a rural minister. It would be amusing if it were
+not so tragic to accept the testimony of some of those who have not
+yet seen that the rural ministry is a type demanding such a
+cosmopolitan understanding of human nature and of conditions of human
+existence that it demands the best intellects and the highest type of
+missionary spirit to carry on successfully. We have heard of college
+presidents recommending young men for important rural positions
+because the young man was "not ambitious for any important work in the
+church." It has been known that officials in the church would bid for
+theological seminary graduates with the assurance that while they
+would have to accept an "undesirable" rural charge for a year or so,
+they would soon be "promoted." The writer knows of at least one young
+Negro minister, a holder of a Master's degree from a large educational
+institution, whose major work for his higher degree was in the dead
+languages. The attitude of our educational institutions, and the
+attitude in public thought has been that progress for the individual
+has been in the direction of getting away from the country instead of
+remaining with rural folk and giving one's life to the advancement of
+the group as a whole; and the courses of study have had primarily in
+mind the personal appeal rather than that of dealing with man in his
+particular environment.
+
+It is now recognized that modern life demands a specialized ministry.
+The one who can handle successfully a rural industrial or a downtown
+urban situation may not be at all fitted to deal with the problems of
+the village or the open country. On the other hand, the one who can
+serve farmers successfully might not be at all fitted to fill a
+metropolitan pulpit. Beginnings only have been made in attempting to
+adjust educational work to meet this modern demand. In the meantime
+the problem remains of the ministers trained under former conditions,
+if trained at all. Many of them have not yet caught the vision of the
+larger program of the church; and of those who have caught this vision
+the handling of the tools of the new program is such a delicate task
+that many failures are sure to be recorded. It will take years to
+bring the church to the place where it can meet successfully the
+modern demands upon it.
+
+The second great problem is that of maladjustment in thought.
+Protestantism is still suffering from the effects of extreme
+individualism in religious belief. Strong leaders, obsessed with some
+one variation in interpretation of the Scriptures, have pulled off
+from the main body of the church and have started independent
+organizations committed to the development of the particular
+interpretation they have made. When once these organizations have been
+formed and have secured a financial backing, they have continued to
+spread, until to-day rural America presents the spectacle of religious
+forces agreeing on the broad general program of the relation of the
+church to community needs but paralyzed because of dissensions over
+less essential principles of theological dogma. The reasons for
+separate organizations have often been forgotten and loyalty to a
+particular organization as such has taken its place.
+
+The solution of this problem is not that of attempting to eliminate
+differences in dogmatic belief by argument, but of emphasizing the
+points of agreement of the various religious groups. Error and
+nonessential dividing lines will disappear if neglected. But if they
+are agitated, they will thrive under persecution and conditions will
+be worse than ever.
+
+The third problem is that of maladjustment of buildings to community
+needs. This problem presents itself in two aspects: first, that of
+location of church buildings, and, second, that of location of
+pastors' residences. In the original settlement of this country,
+people located their new homes in neighborhoods partly for social and
+economic purposes and partly for protection. Where these new groups
+were founded the church building soon found a place. As the
+communities grew, and aided in the course of time by ambitious
+national agencies, the sectarian interests mentioned above established
+new churches to care for those of each particular belief until many
+communities soon became overchurched. The rapid decrease in
+open-country, and even village, population which began during the 70's
+of the past century and which has continued to the present made the
+problem still worse, until to-day probably the least efficient
+institution in all rural life is the rural church.
+
+Moreover, the first settlements did not always mark the spot of
+permanent development of population and interest centers. As time has
+passed, many of the places which it was once thought would be
+permanent centers have lost their preeminence and others have taken
+their place, until now many very small communities have too many
+churches, and others are lacking in adequate facilities for religious
+service.
+
+The time has now come when it is believed that rural population and
+agricultural tendencies are sufficiently well known to enable those
+interested in rural life development to determine what are the most
+suitable centers for community development. The Interchurch World
+Movement, had it been carried to a successful conclusion, would have
+gone far toward determining those centers for the entire United
+States. As it is, the Movement made possible such determination for
+about one fifth of the United States and the task of completing the
+survey may be accomplished in the course of time.
+
+When this task is completed, then the challenge to the churches of
+America will be to so readjust the location of their church buildings
+and to remodel them in such a way as to be adapted to the present and
+probable future growth of communities so determined. This work is
+scarcely begun, but it is believed that it has gone far enough to
+insure its ultimate achievement. When this is done, then the local
+church will be in a position to deal most effectively with the
+community problems mentioned in preceding chapters.
+
+The situation as to location of pastors' residences is even more
+serious than that of location of church buildings. During the pioneer
+period of church organization ministers were under the necessity of
+dividing their efforts among a considerable number of small groups.
+These were organized into circuits and the pastor's residence was
+provided at the point either where the original church was established
+or where it was most convenient for him to serve the preaching points
+under his care. Each denomination developed its own work regardless of
+other groups and in many cases from the same common center, so that we
+now have in rural and village organization pastors' residences
+centralized in the minority of rural communities and the great
+majority of such communities without resident pastoral care.
+
+In the State of Ohio, for example, in one county of twenty-four
+communities but twelve have resident pastors and in these twelve
+communities thirty-nine pastors reside. In another of sixteen
+communities but eight have resident pastors. Yet in each county there
+are enough ministers to supply each community with a resident pastor,
+if readjustment were to be made. In the northeastern part of the State
+on a single Methodist district are to be found two instances of
+Methodist and Presbyterian pastors living in the same village and
+going on alternate Sundays to another village, in one instance larger
+than that wherein the ministers live. The facts as to the growth and
+decline of churches with resident or non-resident ministers elsewhere
+present (see Church Growth and Decline in Ohio) are a sufficient
+indication of the effects of maladjustment of pastoral residences to
+rural community needs. Since the modern demand of rural life upon the
+church is for community leadership as well as for holding Sunday
+worship, it is clear that no adequate program of church leadership in
+rural life can be worked out until this vital need of readjustment of
+pastoral residences to community service is met.
+
+A third serious problem is that of lack of coordination of
+denominational effort in community service. Where two or more
+religious organizations find a place in the same small community, no
+plan has yet been successfully tried whereby these organizations as
+such have been brought into harmonious and continuous action for
+community service. The presence of two or three ministers of social
+vision in the same small community is not always an asset, since small
+communities do not have a place for more than one leader and sectarian
+interests forbid cooperation under the leadership of either of the
+church pastors. This situation has given rise to such organizations as
+the Christian Associations, the Sunday School Associations, and a
+large number of nonreligious agencies now trying to provide for
+community leadership independent of the church. It is intended here to
+call attention to the problem. A suggestion as to methods of solution
+will be taken up more at length in a succeeding chapter.
+
+A fourth serious problem resulting from the above is lack of adequate
+support for rural religious institutions. Owing to the general lack of
+financial resources of rural communities as compared with the urban
+centers, they have not been able to compete financially with city
+churches in bidding for men who have high standards of living and who
+demand large financial returns for services rendered. This condition
+will probably continue indefinitely because of the tendency of
+large-scale industrial production to centralize wealth control in
+urban centers; that is, unless the economic motive is taken from
+Christian service through the equalization of salaries. This is a
+solution much to be desired, but it is feared that pastors will not
+take kindly to such a movement; and members of city churches will
+continue to contribute to the support of their own particular pastor
+instead of to general pastoral support. But the weakness in support
+has been seriously increased because of dividing of such resources as
+rural communities have among so many different agencies. Many
+communities that could support a pastor at two thousand dollars or
+more a year now have men serving denominations at one thousand dollars
+per year or less.
+
+The same is true of church building. When five church buildings must
+be erected and maintained for sectarian purposes in a town where there
+is room for but one school building there is little wonder that the
+contrast between church buildings and other rural institutional
+buildings is so marked. And it is little wonder that when people begin
+to think in community terms they are inclined to pass by the church as
+an institution offering hope of community service conservation and
+turn either to the school or to some other agency that they hope will
+serve the purpose.
+
+Closely akin to the problem of inadequate support for the country
+minister and the country church is that contention often made that the
+job of a country preacher does not offer as great a challenge as does
+that of service in other branches of church work. It is believed that
+this contention is erroneous because the rural work, while not
+demanding the same qualities of service as other types, does demand
+qualities of its own that equal, if they do not exceed, those of the
+city pulpit. The ability to serve people long and continuously in
+close personal relation to them; to deal patiently with conservatism;
+to endure the hardships of living under conditions far below what are
+to be found in city environments; to get the support of the people for
+progressive measures, and to keep alive mentally in an environment
+that is not the most conducive to study because of lack of reading
+facilities and because of the ease with which one may shirk the means
+of personal growth--all these make the task one for the specially
+capable and devoted.
+
+But if there is truth in the statement that the country ministry does
+not offer the opportunity for the exercise of personal abilities
+required by the city pulpit, then, unless we frankly recognize that
+the limit of possibility of building up the rural work is to alleviate
+an unavoidable discrepancy in personal challenge, it becomes necessary
+to so reorganize the local parish that it will be a challenge fit to
+attract the best minds in the church.
+
+The first step already has been mentioned: that is, to adjust
+relationships between denominations so that a minister will have sole
+responsibility for community leadership.
+
+The second is to enlarge the parishes under the control of one pastor
+that he will have ample field for the exercise of his abilities. In
+some sections of the country two or more communities may still have to
+be assigned to one minister, with the expectation that he will develop
+local volunteer leadership in the respective communities, or have
+adequate assistance in the way of special workers among the children
+and in the homes and have directors of religious education for full or
+part time in each community. In most sections of the country the
+communities are now of such a size as to demand the full time of a
+paid minister and to pay a satisfactory salary for services rendered.
+
+The third is to increase the functions of the pastorate so that people
+will be willing to pay more for the service rendered. This results
+directly from the adoption of the larger program for the church herein
+recommended.
+
+The practice--still all too rare--of supplying the pastor with an
+automobile for pastoral work, should be encouraged everywhere,
+particularly when the charge has a pastor who has the vision of the
+broader program of the church and is specially trained for his work.
+There are complications in the connectional system of making
+appointments that tend to prevent liberality in this respect. When a
+charge is brought up to adequate self-support the tendency is too
+often to make the charge a place to "take care" of a Conference member
+of that grade regardless of his fitness to follow up the type of
+program introduced by his predecessor. The taking of the automobile by
+the departing pastor deprives the community of its use. Leaving it for
+the use of an inefficient pastor is too great a burden on the
+community. Experience will determine the best means of handling this
+problem and should ultimately put ministers on the same basis as to
+having means of transportation furnished as County Agricultural
+Agents, County Superintendents of Schools, Christian Association
+Secretaries, etc.
+
+The soldier in the ranks will probably never be looked upon as in the
+same grade of responsible position as the captain of the company. So
+the country minister has a right to look forward in due time to
+"promotion" in natural channels; that is, to the district
+superintendency. It is to be feared that too often at the present
+time, the rural minister is discouraged from remaining in the rural
+work because he sees that a very large proportion of the positions in
+the church that are recognized as personal promotions are filled from
+the city pulpits. His course of advance is now from the country pulpit
+to the city pulpit, thence to the district superintendency or detached
+service, thence to the bishopric, a position very few ministers refuse
+if offered. The rural work would be strengthened if rural district
+superintendencies were filled by rural men who have demonstrated their
+ability to build up a rural charge successfully, and then if these
+same rural district superintendents were to have an opportunity to
+fill the highest possible positions in the church, thus bringing to
+the highest administrative offices of the church the tried experience
+that comes from building up a district in Methodism. When the
+necessity of leaving the rural work in order to get "promotion" is
+eliminated there will be a marked strengthening of loyalty to the
+rural work.
+
+The illustrations given have been taken from Methodist Episcopal
+experience. Other denominations have similar problems, but probably to
+a less degree because of the more marked form of localized democracy
+in church polity.
+
+If the churches of America permit this crisis of lack of adjustment of
+church to community needs to pass unchallenged, and if they delay in
+making the adjustments needed, the time will soon come when other
+agencies, supported by rural communities, will make provision for
+these needs and the opportunity of the church will be gone
+indefinitely. Other agencies will be performing a real Christian
+service, and the church, by reason of its failure to live up to the
+demands upon it, will have an increasingly difficult task of
+justifying its existence so far as relationship to this world is
+concerned.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+INTERDENOMINATIONAL READJUSTMENT
+
+
+Rural progress under church leadership has been much like the first
+drops of water on a placid lake at the beginning of a rain. Little
+rises of water appear and some waves circle out, but the ultimate
+level is not much raised. So with the church. Here and there a
+minister stirs up some local community, some definite progress is
+made, attention is attracted from other communities and they may have
+a few symptoms of a rise, but too often the minister moves, another
+comes, and the general level of community life falls back to what it
+was before.
+
+The difficulty is that with the overlapping of interdenominational
+jurisdictions it is impossible for any group to lead in progress
+outside of the local community. Methodists cannot lead in a county
+program because Baptists and Presbyterians will not follow them.
+Neither can the other groups lead because Methodists are not gifted
+in following the leadership of other denominations. It is perfectly
+natural and justifiable that this should be so. Before the churches of
+America, Protestant or Catholic, can render the entire service
+demanded of them there must be a thoroughgoing system of
+interdenominational cooperation worked out which will insure joint
+responsibility of all denominations concerned in providing for
+community leadership on a large scale. If this is impossible, then the
+inevitable alternative must be accepted of passing by the churches of
+America in carrying out comprehensive plans of progress and of turning
+to other agencies for this service.
+
+During the past, largely owing to the apparently hopeless situation so
+far as interdenominational cooperation is concerned, Christian
+organizations, such as Christian Associations and Sunday School
+Associations, have sprung up to do for the denominations and for the
+ministers what they could not do under present conditions. These
+agencies have done notable work. They have accomplished much in
+preparing the way for a nation-wide recognition of what the broad
+function of the church is; they have brought representatives of all
+denominations together and have gradually increased the social spirit
+while at the same time lessening the emphasis upon those things which
+have divided the Christian Church into so many isolated camps. They
+have pioneered and experimented. They have had failures as well as
+successes, but their failures have been a real contribution to the sum
+total of human experience and have taught us many things that should
+be avoided. The service rendered by these agencies must ever be
+remembered as of the most vital and important character.
+
+But it will be admitted by representatives of all organizations that a
+large part of what is now found in the programs of those other
+religious organizations, "arms" of the church, is a legitimate part of
+the work that should be supervised by the minister of a community
+program and included in his program, and that in those communities
+where such trained pastoral leadership exists the functions of these
+other agencies can be materially modified and their activities
+directed into still further new and untried fields of endeavor. The
+church needs organizations supported from funds not coming through the
+regular channels founded on the budgets of individual churches. These
+subsidiary organizations can go ahead with experimentation, and their
+failures do not bring the discredit to the parent organization that
+they would if done by the church directly. On the other hand, their
+successes can be adopted into the regular program of the church and
+thus conserved. Complete control of experimentation or demonstration
+work is likely to destroy or prevent initiative, which is the soul of
+progress.
+
+In adjusting problems between denominations in local communities a
+number of plans have been tried with greater or less success. One of
+the oldest is that of the "union" church. This is a type of
+organization in which the people of the local community, tiring of the
+uneconomic system of interdenominational competition, and without hope
+of uniting on any one of the local organizations represented, decide
+to separate from all and form themselves into an independent local
+organization.
+
+No large denomination to-day is favorable to the so-called "union"
+church; and all are opposed to the plan sometimes followed by rural
+industrial concerns of erecting a church building open to anyone who
+pretends to speak with authority about religious matters. The "union"
+church usually begins with enthusiasm, but because of lack of outside
+contacts, because of lack of continuity of program, because of lack of
+a broad missionary spirit, it is generally shortlived and gives way to
+some church with denominational affiliations. The "union" church
+without denominational affiliations should not be confused with the
+"community" church with denominational connection. It is the latter
+type that most religious organizations are now agreed is most
+desirable as the solution of the inexcusable overchurching now
+existing in many communities.
+
+In these days of get-together movements denominational leaders should
+think clearly with reference to "federated" churches. A few of these
+have had a fairly long life. But their growth in the past fifteen
+years has not been such as to inspire confidence that they offer a
+satisfactory solution to the overchurched situation. The "federated"
+church idea is not in harmony with a connectional polity nor with the
+principle of world democracy with centralization of administrative
+responsibility for carrying out democratically adopted plans implied
+in that polity. Local federation involves giving of full power of
+selection of pastors and of determination of policies to the local
+congregation. Whatever may be said about the occasional failures of
+the connectional system in finding suitable pastors, or in other ways,
+it is nevertheless true that this system has a vitality and efficiency
+that are now being recognized by many of the leading religious
+organizations. The polity of the "federated" church is congregational;
+and extreme congregationalism and connectionalism do not mix readily
+so far as polity is concerned. The growth of the one form involves the
+decline of the other. This is why the Methodist Episcopal Church, for
+example, has developed so little sympathy for the "federated" church
+idea.
+
+Far different from this is allocation of responsibility for community
+leadership. This insures leadership to one denomination or the other.
+Then the local congregations can work out their problems of adjustment
+as local conditions indicate is best. Usually some form of affiliation
+in worship and in sharing local expenses with continued separation of
+support of missionary and other benevolent enterprises has proven the
+most satisfactory method of local adjustment. By this method
+connectional interests are preserved and fixing of responsibility in
+each community assured.
+
+With the vastly increased missionary resources made available by the
+missionary "drives" of the leading denominations there is positive
+danger of the problem of interdenominational adjustment being made
+still more serious. If the Home Mission Boards, through unwise use of
+mission funds for the purpose of assisting in competitive struggles,
+should precipitate retaliation by other denominations, a misuse of
+missionary funds would result that would not only dry up the sources
+of missionary support but bring Protestantism into lasting disgrace.
+
+In working out a program of interdenominational adjustment the
+following plan has been tried with success on at least three
+Methodist Episcopal Annual Conference districts:
+
+1. A survey of the district and the preparation of a map showing the
+location of all churches, residences of all pastors, circuit systems,
+and whether churches are located in villages or the open country.
+
+2. Separate lists are then made of cases of apparent competitive
+relations with each denomination.
+
+3. Conferences are then called with the representatives of each
+denomination to consider the problems of competition between the
+Methodist Episcopal Church and the particular denomination with which
+the conference is called.
+
+4. After tentative plans have been adopted representatives of both
+denominations visit the local field together, confer with the churches
+concerned, and arrive at some agreement as to adjustments to be made.
+
+5. This method is followed with each denomination, separately, with
+which Methodism has competitive relations.
+
+This plan has been tried with success in the State of Vermont, where
+Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists had to cooperate or
+abandon the field; in the Portsmouth district, Ohio Conference, where
+the principal problems were with the Presbyterians, United Brethren,
+and Baptists; in Montana, where a conference was held to consider
+adjustments affecting an entire State; and in the Wooster District,
+North-East Ohio Conference, where adjustment of relationships is
+proceeding satisfactorily.
+
+The results of this program already noticeable are:
+
+1. The increase in salary of rural ministers made possible by uniting
+the financial resources of all religious forces in the community.
+
+2. Saving of missionary money by eliminating duplication of missionary
+grants by competing denominations.
+
+3. A marked increase in membership and church attendance.
+
+4. A more vital relationship of the church to community welfare
+through unified action of all religious forces under the trained
+leadership of one pastor.
+
+5. Resident pastorates to more communities through better distribution
+of pastoral residences of the denominations concerned in adjustments
+made.
+
+6. A more vital appeal to life service in rural work can now be made
+to young people who have objected to service in rural charges where
+efforts at community service have been handicapped and even nullified
+by the presence of competing religious organizations and pastors.
+
+It is believed that the results obtained far outweigh the possible
+losses that may come through Methodists intrusting leadership in
+service to Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, or the
+reverse. The good work made possible by fixing responsibility for
+leadership to a given denomination in one community is destined by the
+force of example and imitation to compel similar progress in
+communities to which leadership responsibility has been assigned to
+other denominations.
+
+A word of caution to ministers in charge of local fields is desirable
+in regard to settlement of interdenominational difficulties. The
+interests involved are so much larger than the local church that the
+initiative must be taken by the district superintendent, always in
+the fullest consultation with the resident bishop, or the proper
+State, synodical, or other representative of the other denominations
+concerned. In a number of cases local initiative in this matter has
+resulted not only in defeating the end sought but has created
+embarrassing situations between the supervisory representatives of the
+denominations. If a local situation needs adjustment, the matter
+should be gone over fully with those responsible for church
+administration, and it is believed that in most cases such adjustment
+can be made satisfactorily. The experience of those in the Methodist
+Episcopal Church who have tried to bring about adjustments by the
+method suggested has been that in most cases other groups are ready to
+come to an agreement.
+
+If other groups refuse to make adjustments, then the denomination
+making the advances has no other alternative than that of caring for
+its own obligations as adequately as possible and with every resource
+that can be made available. But no blame can attach to this policy
+after effort has been made to cooperate with other groups and these
+efforts have failed.
+
+After communities have been allocated for leadership to one or another
+of the denominations, then the problem of a united program by all
+denominations remains to be solved. Unless this end is attained, then
+rural churches must continue to work largely alone, each in its own
+community without relation to the program of neighboring churches or
+communities. Unless there is coordination between the churches, then
+we shall continue to witness the spectacle of the three
+interdenominational branches of the church, the Sunday School
+Association, and the Christian Associations, each moving in its own
+self-chosen direction, each raising an independent budget, and each
+establishing county organizations without reference to the interests
+of the other; and none of the three doing anything to encourage the
+organization of county groups of the churches as such. The time has
+arrived when the church as such should take the lead in bringing about
+interdenominational cooperation for community service under its own
+auspices and in the most inclusive way.
+
+For many reasons the county offers the best basis for this type of
+organization. It is the most permanent political unit, next to the
+State or the incorporated town or city. Social progress finds the
+closest opportunity for cooperation with economic and political
+agencies in the county. The following proposal for a County Christian
+Association, supported out of the budgets of local cooperating
+churches, has been worked out:
+
+
+SUGGESTED PROGRAM FOR COUNTY RURAL CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OR FEDERATION
+OF CHURCHES[1]
+
+  1a. Proposal for County Christian Association or Church Federation.
+
+    1b. Board of Directors.
+
+      1c. County Council chosen by each cooperating denomination on
+          basis of membership.
+
+      2c. Election or appointment of denominational representatives
+          to be left to each denomination.
+
+      3c. Selection of county secretary.
+
+    2b. Duties of county secretary.
+
+      1c. Survey--Follow up what interchurch county office has done.
+
+        1d. Location of all churches.
+
+        2d. Residence of pastors.
+
+        3d. Community boundaries.
+
+      2c. Organize county religious movements as:
+
+        1d. Evangelistic drive.
+
+        2d. Membership rally.
+
+        3d. Go-to-church campaigns.
+
+        4d. Religious worship in the home.
+
+        5d. Common programs with reference to moral and spiritual
+            problems.
+
+        6d. Other religious movements.
+
+      3c. Interchurch adjustments.
+
+        1d. Act as secretary of Committee on Adjustments--provide office
+            for interchurch activities.
+
+        2d. Depository for interchurch religious information.
+
+        3d. Follow-up plans made as result of interchurch survey,
+            including:
+
+          1e. Encouragement of building parsonage and getting resident
+              pastor in every community.
+
+          2e. Getting a community church building in every community
+              adequate to its needs.
+
+          3e. Getting a community building under joint religious auspices
+              where need exists for several houses of worship.
+
+          4e. Clearing house for membership conservation.
+
+          5e. Determination of parish boundaries.
+
+          6e. Establishment of new work in communities where there is none.
+
+      4c. Social and recreational.
+
+        1d. County field days.
+
+        2d. Cooperation in organizing boys' and girls' clubs in Sunday
+            school or otherwise.
+
+        4d. Direct social and recreational activities.
+
+        5d. Assisting in selection and training leaders for church and
+            community service.
+
+      5c. Religious education.
+
+        1d. Recruiting membership campaigns.
+
+        2d. Perform all functions now expected of volunteer county Sunday
+            school secretary.
+
+        3d. Assist in analysis of Sunday school methods and organization
+            in local churches in organizing for larger service.
+
+        4d. Week-day religious instruction plans.
+
+      6c. Social service activities to be encouraged:
+
+        1d. County free library.
+
+        2d. County hospital and nursing program.
+
+        3d. Adequate provision for dependents, defectives, delinquents.
+
+        4d. Securing desired State public service.
+
+        5d. Health and sanitation campaign.
+
+        6d. County Farm bureaus.
+
+      7c. Cooperation with other agencies. In general, give moral support
+          to agencies doing effective work in the fields mentioned in (6c).
+
+      8c. Act as bureau of advice with reference to appeals for charitable
+          purposes.
+
+      9c. Religious publicity.
+
+    3b. Budget.
+
+      1c. Estimated Salary of Secretary   $3,000
+          Travel                             400
+          Office rent                        300
+          Equipment                          200
+          Stenographer                       750
+          Publicity                          400
+                                          ------
+                                          $5,050
+
+      2c. How to raise.
+
+        1d. Estimate amount that should come from each cooperating church.
+            Ask each church to assume its share on a three-year guarantee.
+
+        2d. Make list of special givers who may become a private source.
+
+        3d. Communicate with respective missionary boards for aid in
+            carrying balance of budget until such time as it can be brought
+            to self-support.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[Footnote 1: Prepared in Collaboration with C. J. Hewett, Garrett
+Biblical Institute, Evanston, Ill.]
+
+
+This form of organization has many advantages, among which are:
+
+1. It coordinates all the religious forces of Protestantism, for a
+common community service.
+
+2. It insures ultimate permanent support by being financed out of the
+budgets of the cooperating churches instead of by a limited number of
+private givers of large funds.
+
+3. The county organization develops its work through the churches,
+strengthening the program of the minister instead of developing
+independent organizations locally with volunteer leadership related to
+an "arm" of the church instead of directly to the church.
+
+4. By organizing to do their own work in this way the churches obviate
+the necessity of private Christian agencies organizing with outside
+support to carry on interdenominational work.
+
+If the churches of America do not rapidly work out plans of
+interdenominational cooperation in the development of their work,
+other agencies will enter the field and will receive popular financial
+support for doing those things in rural progress that are the
+legitimate task of the church and for which the church should receive
+support. Church people will supply the large part of the funds for
+carrying on these activities through nonreligious agencies; and
+because of the narrowness of program the church will have chosen for
+itself many of the brightest and best minds, and consecrated hearts
+now found in our student groups in educational institutions will find
+their life's activities outside the church instead of within its ranks
+where they would prefer to be. This will be the misfortune of the
+church and she cannot clear herself of the wrong of depriving her
+young people of the opportunity of rendering a service to humanity
+within her own ranks and of forcing them to render that service
+through independent social agencies.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE CHURCH AND OTHER RURAL AGENCIES
+
+
+Since the arousal of interest in rural welfare by the studies made by
+the Country Life Commission in 1908, probably no movement has made
+more rapid progress than that concerned with rural life. Studies of
+rural church conditions made by the Presbyterian Board of Home
+Missions and other agencies, of rural health by the National Public
+Health Service and by a number of the large philanthropic foundations,
+of educational conditions by the United States Bureau of Education,
+and of other problems by various agencies concerned, have revealed the
+more important conditions and have made possible the organization of
+programs for their amelioration. The conditions still further revealed
+by the problems incident to preparation for the World War and the
+facilities made possible by that preparation for mobilization of the
+forces for improvement still further advanced the rural-life movement
+until now no other interest is occupying more public attention than
+this.
+
+The list of agencies with programs of rural service on a national
+scale that have found representation in the National Council of Rural
+Social Service affiliated with the American Country Life Association
+will indicate the large number of groups now contributing to the
+advance of rural welfare. This list is as follows: National Grange,
+American Farm Bureau Federation, National Board of Farm Organizations,
+Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union, American Home Economics
+Society, American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of
+America, Federal Council of Churches, National Catholic Welfare
+Council, Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the
+United States of America, American Baptist Home Missionary Society,
+Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Young Men's
+Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, United
+States Department of Agriculture, States Relations Service; United
+States Department of Agriculture, Office of Farm Management; United
+States Public Health Service, United States Bureau of Education,
+United States Department of Labor, Children's Bureau; National
+Organization for Public Health Nursing, National Child Labor
+Committee, Child Health Organization of America, Russell Sage
+Foundation, National Tuberculosis Association, National Educational
+Association, Rural Department; American Library Association, National
+University Extension Association, National Child Health Council,
+Playground and Recreation Association of America, Community Service,
+Inc.
+
+The above is a list of thirty-one different agencies that have a
+national definitely organized rural-service program. This list
+doubtless is incomplete and will be increased in the course of time.
+
+The problem before us is to determine just what place the church
+should have in this formidable galaxy of agencies, and to consider
+what advantages and difficulties present themselves to the churches of
+America in functioning unitedly and successfully in doing their part
+in the entire movement.
+
+It must be recognized that it is impossible for the church to assume
+leadership in all the interests represented now by various specialized
+agencies. It has been contended that the task of the church has been
+completed with reference to a number of these interests when it has
+encouraged their organization in a local way and has continued to give
+them its moral support so long as they render effectively the service
+for which they were intended. Rural interests are so complex that
+specialized groups are necessary to insure adequate attention to all
+the interests concerned.
+
+It must also be recognized that until the two great branches of the
+Christian Church--Catholicism and Protestantism--learn to cooperate in
+their service to the community, the religious forces of America cannot
+present a united front in rendering the service that belongs
+peculiarly to them. It is assumed that the effort will be made by
+those responsible for community service in both branches of the church
+to work out this problem so that the church can do its part in the
+general movement.
+
+The physical basis for organization of all forces for service on a
+comprehensive plan is recognized to be the political units, county,
+State, and nation. The township is giving way gradually to the
+community as the more local unit of organization. In cases where
+community boundary lines do not coincide with county lines local
+adjustments will be made whereby the integrity of communities may be
+maintained within the organization of one or the other of the counties
+concerned.
+
+The present movement is toward the appointment of county work
+secretaries on a salaried basis to administer the work of the
+respective interests concerned. Thus we have now developed wherever
+the spirit of the people has made it possible salaried County Y. M. C.
+A. officers, Y. W. C. A. officers, International Sunday School
+officers, Red Cross Chapters, Boy Scouts, Community Service, Inc., and
+so forth. There is no regularity or uniformity in the selection of the
+counties by the different agencies with reference to each other, but
+it appears that when one of the groups succeeds in getting a county
+office established, it is increasingly difficult for other agencies
+concerned in rural social service to gain a foothold on a salaried
+basis. The agency that succeeds in gaining a foothold originally tends
+to incorporate into its activities the full program of social service.
+Theoretically all admit their readiness to turn over to other agencies
+the functions belonging to other groups as soon as they are ready to
+assume their proper duties, but practically the organization of an
+interest group county office delays indefinitely the organization of
+rural service on a proper basis.
+
+The normal course of development is for the agency that is prepared to
+organize and finance a comprehensive rural program for a county should
+render this service; but it should at the same time use its influence
+to bring about at the earliest possible moment a county council of
+social agencies that will give unified control of the rural service
+program to all agencies that should have a voice in rural progress. If
+this policy is adhered to, there will be the heartiest support of the
+work of any agency that wishes to begin its work on a county basis in
+any section of the country.
+
+The first impression that may come to one not familiar with the
+vastness of the organized movement for rural welfare may be that a
+large number of agencies have undertaken rural service for their own
+sakes rather than for the sake of the community. This is not the case.
+It is recognized that rural organization for definite objectives
+should take the place of previous uncoordinated, haphazard opportunism
+in rural progress, and the present sporadic and unrelated movements
+toward organization are but the result of a very rapid development
+which has not yet found time to make the desired adjustment desired by
+all concerned. The National Council of Rural Social Agencies, the
+State Councils coming into existence, the County Councils and the
+community councils that have appeared here and there are but the
+beginnings of a well-ordered, economical and necessary coordination of
+rural social forces.
+
+How is the church related to this movement? Repeated investigations
+have shown that the churches of America have within their membership
+by far the larger proportion of those whose public spirit registers
+itself in voluntary financial support of public enterprises. The
+"friendly citizen" is largely a myth. Those who build churches at
+large personal sacrifice, and pay the bills in maintaining religious
+services are those whose names appear at the top of most subscriptions
+to benevolent enterprises. It was the Christian ministry and the
+church membership that made possible the Red Cross drives during the
+war, and the other financial campaigns for relief and other calls
+incident to the war. Thus history has continued to show the same
+condition so far as financial resources for public welfare support are
+concerned.
+
+Since this is the case, it appears that the most natural method of
+initiating social service work on a voluntary basis is to expect the
+churches to take the lead. As has been pointed out, the church and the
+school are the two local institutions that have salaried officials to
+care for their public service. Other agencies, with the possible
+exception of public health nursing service, will probably not in the
+near future be able to secure financial support for full-time salaried
+local officials. The nearest they can approach to such salaried
+service is the county official who must depend for local service upon
+trained volunteer help. This condition puts upon the church an
+additional responsibility because through the organization of a county
+religious organization outlined in the preceding chapter it can not
+only mobilize local support for such work on a permanent basis most
+effectively, but it can also provide the salaried local leadership for
+carrying out a well-organized community service program. Moreover, in
+harmony with principles presented in an earlier chapter, the church as
+a conservative institution is one of the permanent organizations that
+in the last analysis must be expected to take over and insure
+permanence to well-tried advances in community organization and
+service. If this thesis is admitted, then it logically follows that
+all who are interested in rural progress should encourage the
+organization of the religious forces on a comprehensive basis to
+insure the perpetuation of the work now being inaugurated by a large
+number of private agencies.
+
+When it is found that the interests of other organizations conflict
+with the program of the church, the interests of the American public
+will give the preference in support to the church, or to the
+tax-supported institution. In the long run much of the work now being
+done by private organizations of various sorts will be inherited
+either by the church or by the state; and it is not only the
+opportunity but the obligation of the church to prepare itself as
+rapidly as possible for conserving these newer activities by financing
+county and State and national organizations for coordination of
+religious forces for community service. If county offices for
+coordination of religious forces were now in existence, the churches
+could provide facilities through which much of the work now being
+developed by other agencies could be carried on. And thus the church
+could render a much-needed service to the entire rural-life movement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+MISSIONARY PROGRAMS AND RURAL COMMUNITY SERVICE
+
+
+Long years of experience in foreign missionary service has vitally
+affected the methods of carrying the gospel of Christian living to
+those who have not yet come under the influence of the Christ. Here
+the demonstration method of what Christianity means in terms of
+increased human welfare has done far more to spread the gospel than
+simply preaching to people. The freeing of the millions now living
+under the control of other forms of religious belief by introduction
+of schools, together with the message of health and better moral
+ideals through the practice of Christian living, has done more to
+spread Christianity than all the efforts of attempting to build a
+Christian spirit into a civilization not suited to it nor prepared for
+it.
+
+The missionary agencies in the home fields have learned from the
+experience in the foreign fields, and now the programs of home
+missionary boards are characterized by their large emphasis upon the
+social gospel. The revival of interest in religious life in this
+country coincident with the recognition of its vital significance in
+sound social organization has come so rapidly and popular support has
+been so liberal that grave danger exists lest the funds made available
+should be used unintentionally in ways that tend to defeat the purpose
+of the gift. The church, in its benevolent program, should take
+advantage of the lessons learned by private philanthropic agencies in
+dealing with problems of reclamation of the unfortunate or of
+stimulating to a larger life.
+
+Many of the efforts at social progress fail because of lack of clear
+statement of objectives. So far as the rural work is concerned, the
+following are presented as necessary objectives, if the rural church
+is to succeed in measuring up to its task. It is believed that funds
+of the church can be used safely and wisely in their attainment.
+
+1. Strengthen the weak places in rural church work in harmony with
+principles of interdenominational ethics and well-established
+principles of benevolent assistance.
+
+2. Increase effectiveness of rural ministry by training ministry now
+in service in modern methods of church work and by recruiting and
+training a new ministry in sympathy with rural life and devoted to its
+improvement.
+
+3. Organize rural church work so that every rural family will have
+definitely assigned pastoral care.
+
+4. Adjust interdenominational relationships so that the ideal of but
+one resident pastor and one church to each community may be realized.
+
+5. Provide means of interdenominational cooperation so that rural
+religious forces may work together in dealing with common problems of
+rural social and religious progress.
+
+6. Organize rural work so that it may have due consideration in the
+general policies of religious organizations.
+
+7. All the above are preliminary to the one great object, from the
+social point of view, namely, that of making it possible for the rural
+church and the rural minister to function most effectively in
+bringing more abundant life in the best sense to rural people.
+
+After religious forces are organized so that they can present a united
+front in the attack on the great social problems of rural life, then
+the individual churches and all churches together can undertake to
+meet the challenge outlined in earlier chapters of this text and also
+well presented in much of the recent literature on the subject. But
+effective organization must precede most effective and permanent
+service.
+
+Certain principles have been the guiding influence in the program on
+which the rural department of at least one of the leading
+denominations has been working. For those who come to positions of
+administrative responsibility from time to time without having been
+under the necessity of acquainting themselves with the principles that
+should guide in the safe expenditure of funds for maintenance of
+pastors, these are given here:
+
+1. Principles of interdenominational ethics should be observed in
+making grants of missionary funds to local pastors. It is to be feared
+that too often funds have been used to sustain a local work in the
+presence of another denomination when efforts at interdenominational
+adjustment would have relieved the situation by removing the necessity,
+namely, that of division of local resources by competing religious forces.
+
+2. Owing to the unusual problems presented on charges asking for
+missionary aid only the ablest ministers should be assigned to such
+points. They should be supported according to their needs through
+missionary aid, and their acceptance of difficult work should enhance
+rather than lessen their standing in the church.
+
+3. Rigid avoidance of use of missionary funds for purposes of charity,
+or for making appointments easier. The charge, not the minister, is
+the objective.
+
+4. Centralization of effort on a few places instead of dissipation of
+funds in providing inefficient service in many places.
+
+5. Gradual but certain withdrawal of support from national or State
+boards in order to avoid pauperizing communities by relieving them of
+their local financial responsibilities.
+
+As one of the most serious problems connected with rural missionary
+service is that of interdenominational complications, an effort has
+been made to work out certain principles that may be observed by all
+religious organizations carrying out a rural program. At the annual
+meeting of the Home Missions Council in 1914 a statement of principles
+was adopted. In 1919 the rural fields committee of the Home Missions
+Council undertook the revision of these principles in the light of
+later experience and adopted the revision as a committee report.
+Because this document represents the best judgment of those in the
+various denominations concerned with rural work it is presented
+herewith as a desirable basis on which grants of funds may be safely
+made. The statement is presented in full:
+
+     Persuaded of the urgent need of some comprehensive and united
+     plan for the evangelization of our country and for closer
+     cooperation to make such plans effective, the Home Missions
+     Council proposes for the consideration of its constituent
+     societies the following principles of comity. It is to be
+     distinctly understood, however, that no ecclesiastical
+     authority of any kind is implied except as ecclesiastical
+     bodies shall adopt these policies as their own. They have only
+     the moral force of the consent of the parties desiring to see
+     them become effective.
+
+     FIRST. As to the occupancy of new fields. The frequently
+     suggested plan for the entering of new territory is to divide
+     it among the various denominations, holding each body
+     responsible for the proper working of its field.
+
+         a. In the judgment of this Council this course of procedure
+         would seem to be impracticable. But a sensitive regard not only
+         for the rights but for the sentiments of sister bodies of
+         Christian people is demanded by every consideration of
+         righteousness as well as fraternity.
+
+         b. In districts or in places already occupied by any
+         denomination new work should be undertaken by any other body
+         only after fraternal conference between the official
+         representatives of the missionary organizations embracing those
+         localities.
+
+         c. Occupancy of the field shall be determined by at least the
+         following characteristics:
+
+             1. The establishment of a regularly organized church.
+
+             The establishing of a Sunday school shall not be deemed
+             sufficient to meet the terms of this definition.
+
+             2. The appointment of a pastor who shall be expected to hold
+             services in the community at least once every two weeks.
+
+             3. The provision of church building and equipment within a
+             reasonable time adequate to the needs of the community at its
+             present stage of development.
+
+     The occupation of a field by any denomination after conference
+     and agreement shall give to that denomination the right to the
+     field and the responsibility for its Christian culture until
+     such changes in population shall make it desirable that it be
+     shared with one or more other denominations.
+
+     If the above conference shall fail to reach agreement, it shall
+     be the privilege of the aggrieved party to make appeal to its
+     respective board or society, which board or society shall
+     confer with the sister board or society concerned, and these
+     boards may then request the superintendents of the
+     denominations concerned for the field in question to make
+     personal investigation and to report their findings to their
+     respective boards. If they agree, the boards shall take action
+     in accordance therewith. If they disagree, the matter shall be
+     referred to the boards for such action as their wisdom may
+     determine, which action shall be communicated to the churches
+     concerned with whatever ecclesiastical or moral force their
+     decision may command.
+
+     SECOND. In communities already occupied by two or more
+     denominations, in case any church or mission station shall
+     consider itself aggrieved in its relations to sister churches,
+     the course of procedure outlined in Section I shall likewise be
+     followed.
+
+     There shall be friendly conference in the spirit of the Great
+     Head of the church and recourse be had, when necessary, to the
+     local or national missionary authorities, whose findings
+     properly communicated shall have behind them the moral force of
+     this Council.
+
+     Where any denomination occupies a district by groupings of
+     mission stations under one missionary the same principles shall
+     apply and the same method of adjusting differences shall be
+     followed.
+
+     THIRD. "Overchurched Communities." Not infrequently the promise
+     of new towns fails of fulfillment, with the result that there
+     are more church organizations than in any economic view should
+     be maintained--at least out of missionary funds. In many
+     sections of the country also, because of the marked shift of
+     population from agricultural communities to urban centers,
+     overchurching has weakened all denominations to the point where
+     missionary effort is necessary to restore again a wholesome
+     religious life. Regardless of the cause of overchurching,
+     whether from the undue optimism of the newer sections of the
+     country or changed conditions in the older, or other
+     conditions, the problem of overchurching must be dealt with in
+     the true spirit of comity and cooperation for the sake of the
+     common good.
+
+         a. The principle should be established that one Protestant
+         church is adequate for each community of less than 1,500
+         inhabitants; and that efforts should be made to bring about
+         interdenominational readjustment to this end in all sections of
+         the country where economic and social conditions have become
+         sufficiently established to make improbable any marked or rapid
+         increase in population within a short time.
+
+         b. In communities of over 1,500 inhabitants there should not be
+         more than one Protestant church to every 1,000 population.
+
+         c. In communities of over 1,500 inhabitants and of less than
+         5,000, plans should be worked out whereby the different
+         denominations concerned shall cooperate in providing adequate
+         building and equipment for community service. Such building
+         should be strategically located and should be controlled by a
+         governing board made up of representatives, the number of whom
+         from each denomination shall be determined by the
+         _constituency_ of that denomination in its proportion to the
+         total Protestant or cooperating population. The rules for the
+         control of the activities of such cooperative community service
+         should respect the standards of the respective denominations.
+         The support of such community service should be apportioned to
+         the respective denominations concerned to be raised in their
+         respective budgets in proportion to their respective
+         representation on the governing board.
+
+         d. It shall be the duty of the denomination to which
+         responsibility shall have been allocated to provide the
+         best-trained leadership and the best service of which it is
+         capable out of consideration to the other denominations that
+         have intrusted the spiritual welfare of their membership to
+         this group.
+
+         e. In determining what denomination has prime responsibility in
+         a given community of under 1,500 inhabitants the following
+         shall be considered.
+
+             1. Present resident membership and constituency. The
+             organization having the largest bona fide membership and
+             constituency should be considered as having prime
+             responsibility, from this point of view.
+
+             2. The residence of the pastor. In general, the pastor's
+             residence should be given larger weight than membership unless
+             the denomination having prime responsibility according to (1)
+             stands ready to provide a pastor's residence in the community
+             where this denomination has prime responsibility from the
+             point of view of membership.
+
+             3. The location of the church building. The denomination that
+             has a building located in a village center should be given
+             precedence over the denomination that has its headquarters in
+             the open country near a village. The building of the village
+             church should be suitably located for adequate community
+             service; that is, near the center of the village.
+
+             4. As between the village and the open country church, the
+             village church should be given prime consideration in putting
+             on an aggressive community program.
+
+             5. No missionary or "sustentation" support should be given by
+             any cooperating denomination to a pastor in an overchurched
+             community nor to a "circuit" involving interdenominational
+             competition until after an adjustment is made either by
+             reorganization of the circuit or an agreement has been reached
+             by the missionary and administrative bodies of the respective
+             denominations concerned as to an allocation of such missionary
+             responsibility.
+
+             6. Church extension aid should not be given toward the
+             rebuilding of churches in these communities until after
+             allocation of responsibility has been effected.
+
+             7. If after due effort to secure satisfactory adjustment of
+             relationships according to the plans suggested in First above,
+             and by such further arbitration or other means as may be
+             adopted by the Home Missions Council or its constituent
+             bodies, then the denomination seeking such adjustment shall
+             be at liberty to develop its own work as it may see fit,
+             standing ready, however, to make agreement with competing
+             bodies whenever they wish to renew negotiations.
+
+             8. In the interests of the Kingdom, after missionary
+             responsibility has been allocated, efforts at unifying local
+             religious organizations may take the form of federation,
+             assimilation, affiliation, or such other mode as may be
+             determined on by the local churches concerned.
+
+             9. Plans should also be worked out whereby the religious forms
+             of the different groups may be respected; that is, that
+             membership in the remaining religious organization may be
+             obtained by fulfilling the obligations of the cooperating body
+             with which the persons belonging to the withdrawing
+             organization would naturally affiliate.
+
+             10. It is understood that nothing in this proposed set of
+             principles implies that withdrawal from given fields shall be
+             forced. It is only intended to provide a plan whereby all
+             forces both local and general shall be united as rapidly as
+             possible in the attainment of the desired end, namely, that of
+             unifying Christian service in given communities.
+
+             11. In determining the limits of communities to which this
+             plan shall apply the Federal Census Bureau designation of
+             communities of 2,500 and under as rural shall be adopted
+             except as noted in paragraph 5c.
+
+     FOURTH. Inasmuch as many of the constituent bodies of this
+     Council are already by official action committed to the
+     principles of comity which we advocate, it would seem
+     reasonable to hope that at least gradually these principles
+     would find realization along some such lines as here proposed.
+
+     It is manifest, of course, that no plan of procedure can be
+     expected to cover all cases or to be of universal
+     applicability. We are glad to record that in some States there
+     are Interchurch Federations to which local comity matters would
+     naturally be referred. For other cases this Council proposes
+     the erection of an Interdenominational Commission, to which any
+     matter of comity not otherwise provided for may be referred by
+     mutual agreement of the parties at interest. One representative
+     of each of the bodies having membership in the Home Missions
+     Council shall constitute this commission. When any case calling
+     for adjudication shall rise, which case shall previously have
+     had the consideration of any one or more of the constituent
+     bodies of the Home Missions Council, it shall be referred to a
+     Committee of Three chosen from this committee and acceptable to
+     both parties. The decision of this committee shall have no
+     ecclesiastical force, but its utterance shall be regarded as
+     voicing the united judgment of the Home Missions Council and so
+     far forth shall be binding on its constituent bodies.
+
+It is recognized that these principles do not receive the most
+enthusiastic support of church leaders who are thinking in terms of
+denominational progress instead of community welfare. But this lack of
+support is an evidence of their value instead of a criticism.
+Denominational interests must be sacrificed for the sake of the
+advancement of the entire cause when the two come into conflict. There
+is reason to hope that not only Protestants but also Catholics and
+Protestants can come to cooperate on programs of community service,
+thus overcoming forever the vital objection to religious leadership
+now made that because of fundamental differences in belief the two
+great branches of the church cannot render an organized community
+service.
+
+The relations of the benevolent boards of the several denominations to
+other church organizations are such that but little can be said
+concerning methods of relating missionary work to the larger program
+of community service. In each case where projects for missionary aid
+are presented effort should be made to see that local conditions are
+made such that the pastor can render the best service. It must be
+recognized that the application for outside aid is in itself an
+admission of local weakness. The people are poor, or indifferent to
+the type of service to which they have been accustomed. There has been
+unforeseen disaster, as the destruction of church property by fire or
+in some other way. Sudden movements of population have temporarily
+weakened the support of the church and new resources have not yet been
+developed. Circuit systems must be broken up so that people will be
+willing to support full-time resident pastors with efficient programs
+for service. Customs of expecting the pastor to make his living in
+outside work and attending to religious service as a side issue must
+be overcome. The pastor's residence may be in such condition that
+families cannot be sacrificed for the sake of missionary communities
+and residences must be supplied by liberal outside aid as the
+preliminary to effective service. Church buildings are inadequate, and
+the trained minister must be given every assurance that aid will be
+rendered in bringing physical equipment up to par. In each case the
+problems that present themselves must be met. The demands of any one
+charge do not compare with the demands of any other. And methods must
+be adapted to meet the specific needs of each charge. These are
+matters that must be left to those responsible for administration of
+missionary funds.
+
+When the religious forces of America learn their problems so that a
+long-time organized program of religious advance can be worked out,
+when they learn to cooperate in carrying out this program, then the
+haphazard, wasteful, competitive missionary program that has
+characterized rural religious work in the past will disappear and we
+shall see one of the most marked advances in religious welfare the
+world has ever known.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
+
+
+In the preceding chapters the effort has been made to outline some of
+the conditions and principles involved in organizing the rural church
+for community service. The field has been limited by distinguishing
+between that type of service which has to do with man's relation to
+his Maker and that which has to do with his relations to his fellow
+man. The latter service has been chosen as the field for the present
+discussion, and the effort has been made to keep within the field,
+regardless of the desirability of discussion of the other phases of
+the work of the rural church. The field itself both as to size of
+community and the scope of the entire field has received attention. An
+attempt has been made to present the philosophic basis justifying the
+church in giving large attention to community service. Some of the
+more general aspects of rural life demanding attention on the part of
+the church have been discussed and the reasons for assuming that
+certain phases of rural social activity properly belong to the church
+rather than to other agencies have been presented to the reader.
+
+The problems of adjustment between religious denominations as such and
+between the parent religious organizations and so-called "arms" of the
+church have been outlined and methods of adjustment suggested. The
+relation of all religious forces to other rural life agencies has
+received some attention; and, finally, the missionary program of the
+church as the agency for strengthening the weak and of advancing the
+general cause of conquest of all life with principles of Christian
+living was discussed. It is hoped that the principles presented will
+at least be given careful consideration, and if they are not accepted
+in full, that they will at least provoke discussion that will
+eventually lead to some form of organization that will more nearly
+meet the demands of the time than the present unorganized, unrelated
+sectarian and other efforts that paralyze and discourage those
+responsible for service in the local as well as in more general fields
+of Christian work. If this object can be accomplished, the effort to
+point the direction organization should take will not have been in
+vain.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Church Cooperation in Community Life, by 
+Paul L. Vogt
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:20:07 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:20:07 -0700
commit	202f3c7ef5c08f82096be5716206435cf76575d5 (patch)
tree	2cbbbfd8e2e7c9369f5df9e7c228806fd826aaa9