The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-06-25

love Jesus Christ himself
If the church of the Lord Jesus Christ
will not look after its members, who will?
Here, for instance, is that farmers boy
about whom we were talking. He goes
TO business one stormy winters day with
out his rubbers He takes cold; pneumo-
MIA sets in. What is to become of him
| He has no friends. He eats in a little res
taurant five blocks from his boarding
house Shall he be hustled off to the
county hospital? Shall he have no one to
write to his mother and father miles
| away? Here is a poor widow struggling
To be brother, father and mother to her
three little girls. Sunday comes around
and there are no decent shoes in the
| house and no proper clothing. Shall that
| widowed mother not have those shoes
| provided? Here is a young husband
| taken sick You call at the house and the
wife meets you at the door with shawl
about her shoulders. 1t is freezing cold
| in that room. What is the matter? Cold
is $40 a ton No credit. The salary of
that young man is stopped. Has not the
| halfway church a mission in every one
OF those homes? I tell you it has and
furthermore, I tell you that where there
is one case of poverty which should be
alleviated in the boulevard church there
are ffty-aye. a hundred-cases of dis
tress under the shadow of the halfway
an1 be a good Samaritan to the Jew who
had fallen among the thieves. Christ also
tells the halfway church" to be prac-
| teal financial helper on its Jericho road
Must Always Be Open.
The halfway church" must have con-
seerated leaders, too. 1t must have out
side financial aid 1t must also have
church building which is open every night
IN the week-Monday Tuesday. Wednes-
day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday as
well as Sunday. 1t must appeal to its
people through their social as well as
there spiritual natures. Two preaching
services ON a Sunday, a midweek prayer
meeting and a short hour for Sunday
school will not be the work of half
way church." Four weekly sessions of
prayer and praise service cannot success
fully cope with saloon and billiard and
dance halls and low variety theatres
which compete with the vim and the
vltals of a halfway church's" parish.
The way church should be conducted
for the boarding house element is entire
ly different from how one should be con-
Quoted for a residential district of a
boulevard. Let us compare them. How
are You, Mr. So-and-so? Where are you
going tonight?" | greet you thus in the
electric ear on your way home from bus
mess ooh, )" you say, II am going home.
am going to spend the happiest part of
my daily existence with my family. ! am
going to spend an evening at home with
my wife and children. Come up and take
dinner with me-" Yes l WILL" l answer.
We alisht from the car on a fine street.
You say. How are YOU to almost every
one you meet Here all the neighbors
know each other. A dear wife greets you
at the door. Your children come romping
through the hall at the call of dinner.
49,, IL l., q H..
10 the library or sitting room. The games
are brought out or the piano is opened or
the interesting book is read. That is the
way you spend your evenings. Every in
fluence of your home Is an influence for
good.
How about the evenings of that poor
farmers son who is boarding under the
shadow of the halfway church?' He has
one small hall bedroom. If he stays there
too much at night The landlady grumbles
at him for wasting the gas. After he has
eaten his supper if he does not find his
enjoyment in the church or some of its
connections in all probability he will find
1t in ways he ought not to find It, The
halfway church" must nave for its
young people places for debates places
for musical entertainment places where
the young people can assemble. or else
these young people will drift off and drift
away and be gone forever.
Let Them Have Fun
I am today pastor of a church of the
boulevard. | would not conduct my church
any differently fron the old fashioned,
co: servative way of my forefathers if L
Id, But l wan, to tell the pastors of
the halfway churches in the boarding
house districts of a great city that If l
was again pastor of such a church I
would do entirely different from what L
once did. / would change my policy en-
tlrely and make my church attractive to
the young me and the young women who
live in those boarding houses. My pres
ent principle of raising my children is to
let them have all the games all the fun,
all the friends. they want if they will only
play those games at my home. My prin-
eple of carrying on a halfway church"
would be to keer the young people at the
church or in the lecture room all | could.
| would preach on Sunday Jesus Christ
just as earnestly as God would give me
rover. Then one week nights | would
have stereopticon lectures. / would have
debating societies. | would have reading
rooms and libraries ard social gatherings.
In other words, the saloons of those
regions fight for my young men and wo-
men at all times and during all the week
nights l would fight for them day in and
day out also May God today give our
halfway churches grace enough to
throw off the old hidebound. conservative
Ines of church work and fight sin along
the lines upon whith alone sin in these
boarding house regions can be successful
ly fought. Social affiliations must go side
by side with spiritual upliftment
Lastly, | remark that these halfway
churches" need the very best ministers
the world affords They need the ablest
in brain power In organizing power in
preaching ability and in conservation
Gu. presbyteries should select the finest
young men who come out of our seminal
ries and say: Here. young man. we
want you for a halfway church. We will
support you. We will not simply put you