Evening star., 1906-03-18
institutional Churches.
The New K nd of House Of Worship That Springing Up
All Over the Country Reflection of Modern
Life in Many Respects.

better get into the country for your vaca-
uon Not-not the money. sirg An. well
perhaps you have to stay In the city th!s
year But run straight away and Join the
senior cub Of st. Bartholomew's GlrlS
CIah' Keep Up your monthly dues ar -
cents, and next summer you'u be able TO
spend TWO jolly weeks in the open AZ lIpu-
day House, Washington Conn
So with you. cocky young shaver Grt
into the Battalion Club OF St. Georges for
example. and two weeks IN camp suma-
Whefe IN the country (Cue OF the greatest
Joys that can befall a real boy) win bo your
portion. Indeed, father mother. boy Eirl
II your lungs are crying out for fresh conn
Try or sea air and you are nt you- wits
ehd now 10 get 1t. turn to the nearest irstf-
tuuonai church-more than likely just
around the corner-and perhaps the next
day You VIII be greedi!y shifting sal. air or
luXuriously rolling in the long sweet
scented grass clothing some fsr-away ul-
side.
-
Penny prOvident banks, clinics. day
nurseries, cobbling classes, wood Yards.
coal clubs, lodging and boarding houses
flower missions coffee ana soup booths,
legal aid societies, civic clubs Red Cross
auxiliaries. toy missions. diet kitchens ex-
cursions to art galleries, museums, racto-
ries, etc, homes for aged people. church
services, clubs and classes for various ma
uonalities, shelters for little children ,yhosa
mothers are dead or i'll, Sunday afternoon
church soCtals, free beds, endowed cots and
college scholarships are to be Included
among the means employed by the instlt,I-
uonaI church in its efforts TO look after the
whole man and all men.
Ihat the work is not in vain glance at
feW statistics shows. Last year the stpH
or st. Georges received over 10000 visits
and made nearly 1890; Ga visitors are eul-
ployed. Five thousand books went out
from the churchs free circulating library
DF Nlayl l,~,s.
ana l25 applications for membership were
received during 1895 The total enrolment
in the trade school exceeded 800 At its
Long Island seaside cottage over bOo per-
and 1890 for the day
81. Bartholomew's employment bureau
gets positions for about 2OD persons
yearly. The number OF consultations in It's
clinic annually tops twenty-five thousand
AS far back as seven years ago its loan as
ISOLATION received over $4,000 and dis
bursed over S63OOO at much lower interest
rates than the poor borrowers could have
got elsewhere. Yet the association is 50
managed that it pays its running expenses.
Statistics collected in 1905 by DR.. Josiah
Strong, president of the American Institute.
of Social Service, show that, all other
things being equal, the institutional church
Increases in membership much faster than
its old line sister. AT that time two Of the
twenty-three churches in the Miami Associ-
alton of Ohio were institutional Both are
downtown in Cincinnati, the hardest sort
of field for a church to work in Stnl. 2Ua
of the 325 additions to all the churches of
the association were to the two institutional
churches. The gain of these two churches
over their losses, which We're naturally
heavy, owing to removals to the suburbs
was ISL The associations g total gain over
losses was la. IT appears, therefore"
said DR.. Strong, that without these two
churches the membership of the association
would have been smaller by four at the END
of the year than it was al the beginning"
The churches In New York that show the
largest uniform growth are those which are
most extensively engaged in institutional
work-St BartholOmew's, st. Georges, o,
Grace, the West End Presbyterian, among
others. Six years ago 112 Of the 4ss Protes-
tant churches in old New York were insti-
tutional in whole or in part. The number
has undoubtedly increased materially in
the last five years, but not all the churches
so working care to be considered az insti-
tutional churches. Nevertheless, and what
ever their aversion to the classification,
that is their work, more or less, and in
most cases it has been noticeable that, fol-
lowing the adoption of the new methods,
church membership has increased and tie
church's hold on its neghburhood and its
respect strengthened.
During the first years Of the new kind Of
church the Congregational denomination
led IN the movement. A few years ago this
distinction belonged to the Protestant Epis-
copal Church. in many quarters popularity
supposed to hold itself aIoOr from the
masses. The institutional church is now
found in practically every denomination,
big and little, and as the statistics of It's
spread in New York city indicate, 1t is the
church militant, the one with rema rlsa bic
growth still before it.
With the institutional church has come in
a distinctively new kind or preacher. Be
fore the days OF its multifarious activities