The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-20
"WAY ARE PEWS EMPTY?"
BECA USE THE CHURCH IS NOT
 TRULY DEMOCRATIC.

NS<Ao oSG 1HE CH HCHCH lS NO
 TRULY DEMOCRATIC.
 Admirable Address at Church of tn
 Messiah by Rev. George l.. McNutt,
 Clergyman Turned Laboring Man t.
 Get the Views of "The Other Fellow
 Rev. George L. iMcNutt, for exteer
 years minister with pastora tes in tht
 west, who two years ago left the pulpi
 to become a laboring man, that he
 might better view social conditions from
 the standpoint of the man who is down
 delivered an admirable address at the
 lecture room of the Church of the Mes
 siah last evening on the question Why
 Are Pews Empty?" His answer was
 because of the lack of comradeship in
 our churches and the vital spirit of true
 democracy As for the remedy, the
 speaker illustrated by saying that the
 business of a fisherman is to locate the
 fish, study their habits, find out what
 they want, give it to them and land
 them. Just as applicable, said he, to
 fishers of men as to all fishermen.
 MT. McNutty has a breezy style of
 delivery which is attractive; he indulges
 in effective epigrams and hits right
 from the shoulder. There was nothing
 tame about his address: it was full of
 wholesomeness and sparkled with orig
 inality. Most of all he is intensely sim cere-those who heard him are sure of that.
 Some people urge that ministers should preach more hell fire and damna- tion," said the speaker but I never saw man scared into the church who did not get off at the next station. have eliminated the element of fear in my dealings with the children of the church." We don't see standing room only on our church porches. Why not? I have a feeling that the church as the representative of God on earth ought to be a greater institution in the world. The church is plants if condi- tions are right you get results, if not you don't. Don't work for somebody, but work with somebody--thats one way to get results. Don't call every man in working clothes who asks fla vor a tramp. There are three kinds of tramps--those born tramps, those who achieve tramping, those who have tramping thrust on them, and it is best to assume at the outset that a man is honest. Don't stare at strangers who may attend your church, even if their clothes are not quite as good as yours. My boy and have been stared out of countenance in churches of every de- nomination save the Catholic church, and 1t is as much as I can do to get my boy into church now"
 In an Illinois reform school for boys 1t had been the custom to engage an out of town minister to preach every Sunday, but the plan was abandoned because every one of the ministers preached on the Prodigal Son. It was the last thing the boys wanted; they wanted a change At county jail a minister held service each Sunday, "at- tired in a beautiful suit of ecclesiastical millinery; he preached at the crowd, and after he had gone the crowd swore at him, but colored boy in the prison inaugurated a revival which brought | conversion to almost every convict. One knew how to reach the masses, the other didn't. One preached at, the other 1 with, them.
 "Let me give you word of caution. In our language we have some words [ the meaning of which changes with the | years; some go upward some down. Our word mission has been steadily coming down for centuries. If you want to kill anything outright, strangle it at birth, | call it mission It will be a fizzle f from the start Don't condemn it at | its christening. A man once told me, mission which his church had just instituted: Why, we built that mission to get rid of those people; we didn't want them in our church, you know That's the point Egbert Hub- bard says the churches are becoming social centers and little else. There is must be absolutely democratic to be lseful successful. There must be no difference; one person must be just as yood as another in It's organization The trouble in our churches is not lack # heart but lack of sense" The world is full of lonely people, tarving for comradeship, companion hip. We are afraid of tramps at the pack door but we welcome scamps at he front door. Why is a saloon? Be- l ause it's the best friend man has when he's in his working clothes. Peo- ,le are often driven to saloons because hey are welcome nowhere else. That ] xplains the saloons power. Saloons re open, offering companionship, com- sociability, when the churches r re dark and silent. But people say: t Why, we have fine church, and r ood minister, and good music, and if il eople wont come to church it is their V wn fault" Not at all-go among the t eople, intrust them in your church, how your regard for them get to their n carts, be as eager to enlist brake b lan in your church as you would be b ere he president of your university. s Establish the true spirit of democracy II nd your results will be widespread" a Rev. MT. Dickerman, pastor of the e 1urch, added a few words at the close MT. McNutty's address, saying that lere could be no doubt that the church n
 general is not democratic in it's b ethods of procedure, and that people d lnnot be reached by proxy or by gifts u money. In his opinion there is u arcely a church in the land possess ft g the moral courage to open it's arms
 all classes. There is nothing people l.,, fn, or otf l