The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-18
DR. EAVES WRITES ON CHURCH'S WORK Tells What They Are Try
 ing To Do and Asks
 for Cooperation
To the Editor of The Age-Herald:

l The people of Birmingham have been SD exceedingly kind to me these three years; you and your readers have, for nearly year and half, so patiently endured my hebdomadal crudities, that I am yield ing to the temptation to respond to many appreciative messages and letters, with the editors gracious permission, by act ually testing these good walking right out on the promises" as the evan gelists used to say. It is your sweet south ern hospitality that is to blame if l feel myself an integral part of Birmingham!
 AS already announced, we Congregation alists are engaged in the laudable effort to finish the interior of our preliminary chapel, at a cost of approximately 5000. When finished 1t will be dedicated to the service of the people, physical, mental, social, civic spiritual Already two other bodies beside ourselves have the use of l 1t, without any strings on their liberties beyond the guarantee of their fidelity to the spirit of Jesus My lamented and talented predecessor, the Rev. George E. | Bates. a Canadian, died before he had completed his work on the building, and | immediately thereafter the panic caught us, so that with really heroic sacrifices we have not been able to greatly add to the permanent equipment. When the full scheme is finished there will be large auditorium fronting Capitol park. and the present chapel available for all the uses of parish house and social center Already also I delight in the fact that we have, through the devotion of a fine young man with the Christian vision and absolute freedom of action, Boys club, consisting of "clubbable" boys of the class that cannot afford membership in the Y. NJ. c. A., but who most of all need the vital human touch which is here being given them. They have free use of the lower hall but money Is needed to add some elementary equipment for gymnas- ium uses. I simply haven't the money and cannot make 1t charge on the accounts of the church.
 It is sometimes asked: What we are trying to do what we amount to here in Birmingham? In response may I say most briefly that we are a people not wealthy, but eager to contribute to the welfare of the city, and so find our own; that in rural Alabama we have so or 90 churches which need the stimulus of this city church to like service of their sev- eral communities: that we have two rural schools whose foundation principles forbid proselytising, and on one of whose faculties there Is. l believe practically | not a single Congregationalist! We be- lieve the Catholic faith, along with broad hospitality for new truth from every quar- ter We are not Yankees, nor Africans, nor Choctaw Indians, but just plain Chris tian freemen who carried the Protestant reformation to it's logical results, but did not lose our reverence for the historic church or our passion for learning. We are as English as the Episcopalians as evangelical as the Methodists. and in our | church government and our reverence for individual rights, as democratic as Thom- as Jefferson. Concerning politics we hold absolutely to the practice of every man jealously guarding his right of private judgment and free action. Our immediate functions as a body of Christian men have been recently recognized in our great national councils, as supremely adapted to the movement for wisely blend ing the powers of the whole church against existing evil, "the gates of he'll" and so far introducing among men the kingdom of the spirit. the loyalty of love- rather than attachment to creeds or ritual forms
 Thus we are interested in civic welfare not because we think this is the only world but rather because we reckon it the joyful duty of Christians to bring the heavenly Kingdom into practical realiza- tion. We are not burdened with over much theory; so that we fraternize with all who possess the spirit of Jesus, what ever their own theories and creeds We believe in the sanctifying of all commun- ity life, civic, educational, industrial, com mercial and all else, to the one great end. the brotherhood of men, under the intel ligent and gracious mastery of the one spirit. I do not say that other churches have other aims; but only that I have not been able to find one where with equal freedom I can follow these ends.
 It has been my ambition to serve this city by bequeathing to 1t such church as would adequately embody and fulfill such ideals as these. and so contribute to the welfare of all the churches We
 
 lcousness or sectarianism, but as the ser wants of God.
 F But we are sadly impeded by the incom- peteness of our present preliminary chapel. A proper stairway heating ap- paratus, the finishing of the walls and the equipment of the choir at one end and the gymnasium at the other are urgently necessary. We do not want to run race with our neighbors for the largest num- bers, but simply seek to dignify our wor- ship, to develop Christian influence among the unchurched masses in this rapidly growing city, to surround the boys and girls with things wholesome-in word, the privilege of serving the One Master.
 Thinking that many of my friends Cor all churches or none) whom have pos sibly never seen, may desire to help for ward this sort of thing in Alabama, prov ing their love by their gifts which shall be proud to acknowledge in The Age Herald, and thanking you for this gener- ous space, yours gratefully,
 GEO. EAVES
 Birmingham, 1l12 Elm street, May 1T,