The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-05-20
INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH.
Its Growth, Aims, Scope and Defects
Considered.

At the Social Science club Tues
ing there was fair attendance. Rev.
S. d. Works read an interesting pa
per on ''The Institutional Church"
Officers were also elected for next
year as follows:
Rev. Geo. H. Davis, president; B.
q. Taylor, vice president; G. M. Ho-
bart, secretary-treasurer; Prof U. 0.
Cox and Geo. M. Palmer as members
of the executive committee with the
president.
The trouble that Sagasta has in
Spain of getting men to accept office,
did not seem to exist in the club, and
the number who were willing ''to sac
rlfice themselves for Office" and were
IN the "hands of their friends" was
alarming and led to protracted
struggle(?) Two or three members
whose vote ran up to the high num-
Der of one each on three or four con-
secutive ballots were accused of do
ing heavy lobbying(?) in their inter
ests, but the charges were not fully
sustained(?).
A vote of thanks was given the H.
brary board for the use of the rooms
during the year.
In his paper on THE Institutional
Church." Mr.. Works said that COM
parison of the church of the fourth
or fifth century, and the nineteenth
century is startling. because of the
different ideals of effectiveness in the
minds of those who shape her policy.
He then briefly described the meth
DDS of conduct of the earlier chrrch
as contrasted with the methods or to-
day, showing the broadening out Of
| church work and the great field it
now covers, much CT which in the
earlier days was not considered a part
of church work. He considered the
institutional church under three
heads. First-''The rise of the move
ment," which he said came through
evolution. Its growth was slow and
natural. Sixty years ago a church
in what is now ''the down town" dis
trict in New York opened a well
equipped reading room to the public,
another organized plan for distri.
buting clothing to the destitute in it's
locality. And so the movement
grew. 1t is only step from the care
OF the body to that of the mind, and
where the first is inaugurated the
latter naturally follows as a matter
of course. Second, he considered
1.-THE aim of the Institutional
church," as first to fulfill the commits
sion given by the man of Nazareth;
to better social conditions; to get bet
ter sanitary conditions; to better edu-
cate girls in matters of housekeeping
to secure better economic conditions
among the poor; to .judiciously dis.
pense charity; to aim to keep the
church open seven days in the week
instead of one.
Third, he considered some of the
defects of the plan among which he
found that it was too expensive fol-
many churches; that through it the
physical is apt to be magnifed above
the spiritual; that in extreme cases il
panders to loaferism; that it often
fails by an effort to mix classes that
are radically different. Unless q
church has large income, it coulc
not maintain genuine institutional
church, and he did not believe thai
outside of four or five Of
our great cities there wa.
any call for such churches. Where
ever there is call for any of the fea
lures of the work it can well bt
adopted if funds can be secured fol
the work.
The discussion was led by Rev. Geo
ID. Davis, and was INDUCED in by {
number Of the members present.