Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-08

I. - NE Of the marked tendencies Of
the times in religious meetings
for men and women Is to in
crease the personal participation
of the audience in the discussion
and in the service. The lack of this ele-
ment is, in the judgment of Rev. Charles
Guthrie. pastor of Hamline Methodist
Episcopal Church, largely responsible for
the failure of churches to reach the UNI
churched and to win the active interest
of the hand working wage-earners as a
group, who for many reasons seem to
have grown away from Protestant
churches especially.
In Washington said the pastor re-
Gently, 1.-The effort Of federated church
groups in utilization with the Young Mems
Christian Association to get closer to the
people has found expression in weekly
meetings at .car barns, navy yard shops
and other industrial centers and through
summer meetings in the Franklin. Lincoln
and Rosedale parks. Another means OF
strengthening the common ground or good
will between the church and laboring peo-
pie has been the ministerial and Y. NJ. Z.
A. fraternal delegates to the Washington
Central Labor Union.
The experiment of Rev. Paul NJ. Strayer
in popular meetings in Rochester, N l.,
to reach the unchurched, and especially to
win the interest of handwriting wage
have grown away from the churches, and
it's many elements of general interest to
religious teachers and workers We're re-
called to the pastor.
Views Of Pastor Guthrie.
This Rochester experiment" contin-
ued the minister, who has himself been
active in promoting this type of meeting
in Washington, has greatly Interested
me- I have found that these audiences
of workingmen are profoundly concerned
with strong, vital, earnest discussions OF
live ethical and social questions. Their
interest intensifies In proportion as they
have opportunity to participate personally
i'm promoting the meeting or helping the
discussion. They manifest moral earn
estness and intellectual grasp which COM
mand the respect Of the thinking men.
feel that questions of the moral and re-
ligious life of the individual. when APP
preached from the viewpoint of the king
dom of God on earth, can never fail 10
command the interest of the serious
drifted from formal church allegiance.
This Rochester experiment points one way
Of securing the personal interest.
To carry the message of the church
to the large number of city dwellers
who do not attend church and who are
more or less out of touch and sympathy
with the spirit and methods of the aver
age church is the experiment tried last
winter in Rochester by Rev. DR.. Strayer.
pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Strayer's church is located on East
avenue, Rochester's show residence
street, euualed by few in the world in
point of beauty and wealth OF lawns
and homes. The church's congregation
is drawn from well-to-do homes. Many
of it's pew holders are wealthy. BY
location and in respect OF the ctrcum-
stances of its congregation. it carries
to outsiders unacquainted with it's spirit
the impression of an aristocracy. in
which the man in a cheap suit or the
woman in a calico gown might not feel
at home
Hostility to the Church.
The nastnr had heen and still is the