Arizona republican., 1911-10-10

for, where the church exists in the open country; to fertilize, with it's ap- peals, the sour soil of the farmers
 austerity, with the needed ingredients for benevolence
 The third reason for the church in
 the open country is the fact that the ! church is a family builder. The rural
 household. which for three generations
 was the spring of American idealism. | has been dissolved, in the past twenty
 years. by speculation. The exploita-
 tion of farm lands has made SD many families nomads. and has retired so many farmers to the towns. that there is need of new era of home build ing in the country.
 The best fitted of all institutions for this service is the church. Her work.
 as she well knows. is with the young. | Her membership is always made up | largely of women, and with them lies l the future of the American home in the country. The moving force in the exodus from the farm is too often the woman. The church will do more
 to make life worth while for her on the farm than all other institutions.
 
 open country is as a center of the
 concern for the farmers income. The church in the country which does not sanctify the livelihood of the farmer l will not survive The most success | ful farmers in America" says an | economist, are the MOrmons. the ! Scotch PreSbytcrans and the Penn i sylvania Dutch.' All these are reli- l gious farmers, and their churches are l their cooperative associations for | farming. They all idealizc country | life. They are organized for agricul- | ture But, mark this. in all these l country churches and their churches are out in the open-thc church has ! concern for the prosperity of its farm ! CTS as farmers. The income is the | mans job. and when the church would get the men it will care for the i'm | come The Lord Almighty cares more for the feeding of the whole | people than for any other thing. | First of all God is the Father of men, and he cares more for their satisfac- tion in material things than for their having books. or for their having any of the higher refinements. If the peo- pie have not abundance of food and warm clothing. all moral and religious values will suffer. Therefore the farmer is the Lords hired man: and the church's first business in the open country is ito produce the spirit in which the knowledge will be used. which will enable the farmer to sue ceed."
 The transition in economic affairs. through which We are passing. is working it's effects upon the country churches. For the church is the best of all thermometers of the social econ omy Many churches in the country are being closed In the south alone according tO the Southern Baptist or gan. sixteen hundred Baptist and Methodist country churches are closed every Sunday of the year In the state of Illinois, our sociological sur veys have shown that about seven teen hundred country churches have been closed and abandoned It is the elimination of the unfit IL is the realignment of the religious people for greater efficiency. at new centcrs There is no sign that country people are less religious than they were. But there is every indication that the churches are being sifted on the prin- ciple of efficiency
 The churches are suffering at the farmers hands another process. which l would like to describe as dehorninE It is like the removal of the horns from the heads of dairy cows: and it has the same purpose. Doctrinal sub jects which divide are being tabooed. and the churches are no longer to hook and horn one another. but to live together in peace and produce the most of the milk of human kind ness. with the greatest economy in the fodder of doctrine
 This transition is showing also in the inventing of a new type of church. IL is appearing all over the land at the same time I find it in all denominations, and it bears the marks of the same spirit everywhere. My friend. McNutt of Plainficld. Illi- noiS. has become the most eminent exponent of this new ideal of the pas torate, but he is far from being the only man who is so succeeding He Has ei Alll'lh' llFN'i VI A'.iililS 'l HIS work; but many others, who cannot tell of 1t, can do as well His church has the heart of the community: and there all the people. especially the | young. gather for musical culture. for recreation, as well as for worship.
 The modern church for the open country will be q community center l It will bring all the people together. | by serving the needs which are com | mon to all. For the community has taken the place once held by the farm | household. as the circle of the life ! of country people. Tradition once ] ruled farming, but it's place has been | taken by science The father can no longer teach his son to farm the | land, therefore the household cannot | dominate the country. as once it did. | The new ideals of country life arc | community ideals. And the churches | which are succeeding in the country | are community churches.
 The community center church cares | for the young. for the growing boys | and girls of the community, and for | the farm hands. It is a center for | the recreative life of the people | Music has its home in that church. | Plays are presented under its. aus