The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-02-16
NEED OF SYSTEM
IN CHURCH TOLD
By Rev Samuel w. Dixie To-day in
Address Before Religious Educa-
tion Association at Provi-
dence.

Providence, II. t. Feb. l6,The need
/ OF scientific management Of churches
and Of closer cooperation between the
church and the home was emphasized
/ by Rev. Samuel w. Dixie, Ill. d., of
| lAuburndale, Mass, in an address before
4 the convention of the Religious Educa-
tion association in this city to-day. DIR.
! Dixie spoke on "The Church and Religious
Training in the Rural Home" He said
in part:
The leader in the treatment of the
problem OF the church in the rural COM
munity in its relation to the home
should be master of at least the out
lines Of the science of the entire social
life OF the community. 1t is only in
this way that he gets his own problem
into its true perspective He needs this
attitude to save him from the yagaries
of socialism on the one hand and from
the disintegrating influence Of individ-
ualtism on the other There is great
danger from the half trained or mar
rowly trained pastor.
"The church should have a clear idea
Of the place the home has in the COM
mon work OF the two institutions. A
most fundamental need is that the
church learn to keep its hands off from
work that belongs to the home so far
as it is possible The church and its
subordinate institutions have been al
together to careless in this respect. The
plea that the home often does not and
cannot train its own children properly
is superficial and misehievous if it leads
the church or Sunday school to take
over the work without a vigorous eff
fort to get the home to do its own part.
is the church trying to awaken the
home to some degree of spiritual self
support or is it turning its assemblies
into spiritual soup Kitchens, where the
spiritually hungry and the spiritually
lazy can get little better food and
get it more cheaply than they can get
it at homes
"The greatest need of the home is
for understanding and cooperative sym
pathy. The coddling of the church too
often weakens it. 1t often becomes all
the poorer for the dole the church gives
it. For these destroy its sell respect
ard make ii a confirmed pauper, The
home needs TO be taught self respect
and the way to help itself. There should
be cooperation between the church
and the home that creates a life OF
comradeship,
The sense OF social proportion is lack
ing among most church workers, There
is no grasp of the entire situation, both
OF the church and the social order of
its field, such as is indispensable to the
best work for improvement. Church
workers as a rule are narrow special
lists. Many of our churches, those Of the
independent or congregational type es-
peeially are managed like a factory that
has a lot of machines, each of them
speded to its best as the operators see
it, but working on its part Of the prod
uct with small regard either for the pre-
else quantity or quality OF work that
the whole needs.
sFor more than 3 generation scientific
has been grading our public
schools, bringing the work Of each room
and TEACHER into careful adjustment to
all the rest, studying pedagogical values
and the latent needs OF the pupils.
Later still the scientific method has been
with the problems Of amicul
ture, of municipal government and re-
Gently with those Of business.
But more than education, more than
business, does the church need system
and scientific management. In the realm
OF theology science has long been the
servant OF the church. both in con-
business, does the church, both in con-
and progressive quarters. But
it has not fairly entered the field of
polity. There rule of thumb and en-
parieism still control We do not need
the social quack or the emparieist for
the work before us. We need the mas
ter Of scientific social and religious man
aaement7