The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-09
What the Men and Religion Forward Movement is Doing in America
And Some of the Men Who Will Take Part in Work in Grand Forks

The work of the church of Jesus
Christ Is IL mans work. 1t is with Il
realization of this principle that the
Men and Religion Forward movement
is irving to secure the active co-opera-
ton in the church of three million
more men and boys on his continent.
But how is ii 10 be lone? How is
the task tn" promoters of the move
mcnt have set themselves to do. tn he
plished?
For generations these questions
have puzzled the leaders in church
work the country over Plan after
plan has been submitted, each To be
the cause of the s%pringing up of one
al the many "~movements." which,
after a short course. has died. leaving
little permanent benefit t" the work
ing machinery OF the church or to
Christianity i'm general.
Every other enterprise has adopted
modern energetic methods. but the
business of tho church has been wont
to be neglected by the men OF the
country. 1t has always been under
stood in a sort of way that the actual
work of running the church depended
upon the ome They, by their natur-
al ingenuity i'm conducting bazaars.
giving oyster suppers, and begging
what they could out of the men. have
always carried or the work of the
church. And. he it said to their credit.
they have made a pretty good job of
it. But the methods which they have
had to employ and the enormous bur
den they have had to carry has at last
appealed to some of the men of he
church. mo they have determined to
secure the aid nj the men in this
work.
1t is a. matter of statistics that there
are now approximately 100000 moro
women and girls in the Protestant
churches of North America than there
are men. And to the ~remedying of
the inequality have men turned their
thoughts for a long. long time.
Finally. after long study. a young
man I'm the employ the national as
ISOLATION of the Y. NJ. C. \. announced
that he had discovered n plan for the
permanent betterment of church nfe
and the conditions under which that
life existed.
This was in 1909 and the young man
who had formulated he idea was
Harry Arnold. who had been brought
into the Y. NJ. c. A. work by Fred b.
Smith. head of the religious work de-
partment of the international Y. NJ.
G. A. committee. n the present cam
paign manager of the Men and Re-
ligion Forward movement. Smith saw
Arnold at Hiram college, Ohio, and
recognized his great ability and his
influence ove his fellow men. At that
time Arnold was a strong athlete. Il
tall. brawny. manly young fellow, and
possibly the most popular man at
Hiram college.
After apparent failure on one or
two occasions. Mr.. Smith persuaded
the young college athlete to accept a
Christian life and enter the service of
the international Y. NJ. c. a. commit
tee.
About two ears ago Mr.. Arnold
asked for n meeting of secretaries
at the international headquarters and
put before them in general terms the
fundamentals of what he has develop
ed into the Men and Religion Forward
movement. He told them that he
wanted to go after the boys in North
America in such a manner that they
would take up the work of Jesus
Shrist in the church and keep at it;
that they would talk religion. and
treat it as a practical, everyday af-
fair. n not as something to he nam
died with care when it was taken out
of It's place of hiding on Sunda%.
morning and then returned just as
carefully Sunday night. not to be seer
again until another Sabbath rolled
around.
This plan seemed sc colossal in its
undertaking that those who had as
semhled to rear him state his vision
told him it could never be done. Harry
Arnold declined to drop the plan.
however. and two or three times that
winter n spring he had those men
assembled. telling them in April that
this was his last appeal; that if they
would NOT listen to him this time. he
would resign his position from the in
ternationsl committee and appeal sin
~glehanded and alone to the Christian