The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-17
4 NEW ROLE
 FOR THE CHURCH
Dr. Gladden. Proposes Radical Extension of Religious Life
CITY ORG TON
How the Church's Old-Time Leader ship in the Community May Be Restored-Study in Practical
 Philanthropy

From the Century Magazine.
 It is safe to assert that the state of the Christian church in this country at the end of the first decade of the twen- t!eth century is not all that could be de- sired. Without indulging in any pessimis- tic deplorings or venturing on any per- centages or estimates, I am content to rest this statement on the experience and observation of intelligent men, Put this question to any Christian minister: "Is your church today sustaining the relation to all classes of the community which you would like to- have it sustain? Has 1t the measure of respect from the high and the low, the powerful and the weak the learned and the ignorant, that you would like to claim for it? If you are pastor of a good many years experience, do you feel that your church is gaining in its hold upon the people round about it?"
 The only way to judge of the true con oition of the Christian church is to bring it into immediate contact with the char acter of Jesus Christ It claims to be the body of which He is the head the organism in which He lives and through which his life is manifested to the world The primary question is, therefore, whether it's life reproduces His life. By as much as it does not must it's strength be impaired and it's influence annulled.
 I do not wish to understate that part of our Lords ministry in which He sought to bring men into conscious fe- lowship with God. That work of restor- the joy of sonship and the strength of virtue was never absent from his thought. We must not undervaue this, but we do need to get into it's proper perspective be- fore our minds this other phase of our Lords ministry. And there can be no doubt that shis relation to the poor and the friendless was the outstanding fact of that ministry.
 We are comparing the life of the church today with the life of its Master. How does 1t compare in this respect? Is it to social service? Do the sick and the poor and the despised in our American cities think of the churches of these cities In the same way that the same kind of people in Galiee and Decapolis used to think of Jesus Christ?
 Martin Luther's idea was that the care of the sick and the poor ought to be handed over to the community instead of being provided for by the religious or ganizations. His expectation was, of course, that the community--the munich pality or the state-would be so thorough ly Christianized that this work could be safely intrusted to it. That was the idea of the New England churches also. When the town and the church were one, the church had the philanthropic work in its hands; when the church was separated from the town, the church relinquished to the town this part of It's function. But 1t was supposed that the political com munity would be so fully Christianized that the work would be properly done.
 It Is highly probable that the first Christian churches were municipal churches; that in every town or city was one church with several local congrega- tions, each with it's elder or leader, and all cooperating in the work of the city. The need of the hour is the restoration to every town or city of the municipal church. 1t ought to include all the Chris tians of the municipality; every Christian organization should be represented In it. It's claim to the philanthropic leader ship of the community would not be dis puted. If it is the body of which Christ Is the head, that is its first business. In passing 1t over to the state the church has divested itself of It's most vital func ton. The loss is lamentable, almost fatal; the weakness of the church in this latter day is largely due to it. The church must recover this function; it is not a mere matter of expediency, 1t is a question of life or death
 For such a service as this the munich pal church would require no creed. Its simple message to the world would be- We believe in the friendshop of Jesus Christ, and we live to make 1t known to those who need it most
 Nor would 1t need any new machinery. In most communities the nucleus of such an organization as is required already ex- ists. There is a local federation of churches, or a United Brotherhood, which holds occasional union meetings, and sometimes finds 1t hard to Justify Its own existence. Let 1t assume this task. Let the churches commission it to represent them in this larger service to which Christ Is calling them.