Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-08-02

Reformed Church in America. S23
Presbyterian Church in U. 8.
| (north) ...............-. St
Methodist Episcopal (north) I4l
Lutheran 744
! UniverSaliSts Ss'
| Protestant Episcopal ........... 9s4
/ Unitarian NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 1,ZZ1
| The leaders Of other religious or
carnations in the United States are
paid on an average as follows:
Greek Orthodox church .......$ l2o
Russian Orthodox church ........ 13l
Buddhist .............-' o.u
Jewish congregations ....-....... Sal
Some other statistics view the con-
ditions from other angles:
+, In the United States there are 1922
/! 7s5 church ed!aces. providing seating
capacity for 5s,536.Ss0 people. The
I total value OF church property is
sl,257 1855. The highest average OF
membership per organization is found
| in Rhode Island. where the fig-
| ures are 522. On the other hand.
Oklahoma has an average membership
per organization Of only So. followed
(! in order by Florida, So: Arkansas, 69'
! and West Virginia. IS An average
! mem bership of less than 100 is reported
| by twelve states, of 100 or more, and
!! less than 200, in % states; of zoo or
more. and less than 300. states; and OF
800 or more. state. The average
/ number per organization is Isl me
] average value OF church propeTi: IS
s6,756, and the debt is s3.21i. Tne
average encumbrance upon church
property varies from s12,40O In New
York. s10,9s3 in the District of Column
sbia. and ss.6os IN Massachusetts, to
1850 in Kansas. where the average
membership Is 90; to $l.0lS in Florioa'
where the average membership Is DO
and to $4s2 in Alabama. which mas an
average membership OF SO.
"A careful study OF the data pre-
scented shows that there are 1880
church edifces with naverase OF lo'
members per organization. and that the
debt of the average body S nearly 'V
per cent Of the value Of the church
property. This implies heavy tax on
the membership even before its legiti-
mate work is begun. With member
ship of 157, it is estimated that at least
two-thir6s of the members are women.
This leaves 50 male members, Of whom
doubtless a large proportion are boys
ttoo young to be Of much financial
Iducted for nonresident members, there
|, are left approximately twenty to thirty
Il men upon whom must fall the chief
| burden of support of the average
church. What such a tax would be II
| raised for other than church purposes
, is apparent"
, Religious leaders Of different states
/ were appealed to for opinions regard
!, ing the relation Of overchurching and
, low salaries. Maine reports one-quarter
of It's towns supplied with more protest
/ ant churches than 1t needs. Pennsyi-
lyania is sure 1t is ver-churched, and
Michigan assigns this cause for its low
, lsalaries for ministers. New York ad-
2 nits that overchurching IL very GER
tainly one great reason for the In
, ADEQUATE salaries Indiana Tepud!ate.
: the cause. and Illinois says that over
churching and low salaries are both
, prevalent, tho their interrelation is
more apparent than real" In the far
: west many communities have not
/ enough churches. but Colorado reports
: tina, in almost every instance the low
} salary is directly in consequence OF the
I community supporting too many
l church" From the region beyond
Kansas City the report reads: People
. in the southwest stand pretty close te
8 their own church, even If 1t Is small
a They want that or nothing" There II
said to be a Protestant church for every
5 221 people.
:. THE organization Of the American
I church is far from IDEAL says the
Live Church (P. ED We distinguish
e between two classes OF bishops at
I diocean and missionary; but all Dish
e ops are, or should be, missionaries
: We accord an independence to the in
J. dividual bishop that is almost un-
precedented in church history; the
need for guidance to bishops, partly IL
: their use Of funds intrusted to them
:, by the church at large, partly IN thei!
= dealings with Individual clergy ano
:. with parishes, is evident. The fiFs'
: need could be met by Strengthening
: the central organization Of the church
= SO that the national church could ac'
more efficiently as unit. larger
. and larger amount of church work /:
administered each year from tht
= Church Mission House, and larger anc
a larger amounts Of money are expended
n annually from the central treasury
I This administration and this expendi'
o ture ought rather to increase. and +
o increase largely. than to diminish
i. But with that centralized work ough
9 I,inevitably to give greater centralized
e control. Missionary bishops should b.
Il more directly s:hjec. tc control In tn
administration Of funds. Dioceses
q should be required to admit Of SOM
n control by the central authority o
y such work within their limits az Il
e supported by the national church
Il This means that the central authorit.
o Itself must fully represent the nationa
n church. Nothing less than an electtY