Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-09-13

THE COUNTRY CHURCH IS FACING 4 GREAT
OPPORTUNITY.
fight the devil gets his due, and too
often he has seized his opportunity to
capture the whole community, bag and
baggage.
The cases where church differences
are carried to extremes are fortunately
comparatively rare. The worst part of
the division into denominations is
found usually in the division Of church
support. A community that could sup
port one thriving church divides its en-
ergies among half a dozen. The only
bass singer is a Presbyterian perhaps,
and the soprano Is Methodist and the
rest Of the choir are Baptists. AS a
result the singing in all the churches
is a minus quantity. or nearly SO. The
only good Sunday school superintend-
ent belongs to one denomination and
all the good teachers belong to anoth-
er. AS result all the Sunday schools
lead a precarious existence.
One Of the worst effects Is seen in
the social life Of the community. The
country church should be the center
Of rural social life. Where several
weak churches have taken the place Of
one strong church this is impossible.
A free mingling of all the people in
the community on an equal basis Is
interfered with.
Another Of the evils of denomina-
tionaIism is the division Of financial
support. When the money that might
support one strong chusch is divided
among two or three the results are
disastrous. The first effect is seen
in the quality Of the preachers. The
salaries which the divided churches
can afford to pay. will attract only the
poorest class Of preachers. Often two
or three towns are Joined together and
one preacher provided for all. He
must spend a large share of his time
travelling. and his only influence in
the community is that which he ex-
erts from the pulpit on Sunday. II
instead Of giving one preacher three
churches in different towns he were
given the three In the same town, he
would have more time to give to his
people.
In essentials the different churches
have the same belief. Rural people
want the plain. simple religion Of
Jesus Christ. They have no time to
split hairs over fancied differences Of
creed. Few of them know the creed
~ hra nt, To whit
or whether It has creed or not. The
Bible is creed enough for them.
The increased financial support which
the consolidated church receives
means better building, better lights,
more money for the Sunday school
and. above all. better preacher.
This last is the most difficult point.
Ideal preachers for rural churches are
difficult to secure. The theological
schools do not recognize the country
church as having needs that differ
from those of the city church. The
pastor who Is sent to the country
church is usually city born and city
trained man with city ideals. He has
no understanding Of rural life or rural
problems and too often he has no de-
sire to learn. He looks upon the coun-
try church as stepping stone to a
pulpit in the city.
1t is little wonder that preacher
with no sympathy with the problems
or lives of his people cannot achieve
the highest success. He gives the peo-
Pile theology when they want the sim
pie faith. He tells them how to die
when they are trying to learn how TO
live.
Modern agriculture has awakened
the rural communities. 1t has renovat-
ed the rural schools. and where given q
chance 1t is breathing the breath of life
into the country churches. The idea.
is sacrilegious only to those who re-
gard agriculture as an occupation
only. like banking or law. Agriculture
Is much more than this. 1t is q life
led by more than 100000 people.
The church that does not recognize
that life and help the people who are
living It to solve their problems can
not hope to become a power In Its
community.