The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-02-01
coNeREeArIoNALlsM AGAIN
C. n. Smith Takes Exceptions TO State
ments of Banner Correspondent

Editor Bennington Banner, Dear
Sir:-I have been interested in read
ing the article in the Banner receive
ed today about "Congregationalism"
signed "P. T. IL. p" / think ! know
your correspondent very well, and
appreciate his interest in the welfare
of the churches, and his desire that
better conditions may prevail.
No doubt conditions might be bet
ter than they are. Many of our
churches pay pitifully small salaries.
and there are church buildings in the
state that are sadly in need of repair.
But / fear that the reader might get
an unduly pessimistic impression from
reading the article referred to with
out certain explanations. Your cor
respondent says, The present sta
tus of the Congregational churches in
the State Of Vermont can be best de-
termined by facts and figures" That
is certainly true, and he has the zig
ures" correctly, but there are certain
facts" with which he does not seem
to be acquainted, which modify the
conclusions that one might otherwise
reach For instance, he says that IS
churches in Vermont pay less than So
90 salary. Think of it," Well, without
the facts" in the case it does look
bad But the fact is, that every one
of these six churches is very small
one in a very small village. served
by a pastor from a larger village a
few miles distant The result is that
the little hamlet, too small to support
pastor of its own, has religious ser
vices every Sunday, and the pastor
of a stronger church gets an increase
of salary which at least enables him
to keep horse and carriage. What
better arrangement could there be =?
Again he says that three churches
worship in buildings valued at $500
In the statistics published the value
of the church buildings is purely an
estimate, and is not always accurate.
In each of the three cases referred
to think the building is sufficient for
its uses. | know that one of them is
very comfortable chapel, much bet
ter suited to the needs of the commu-
nifty than a larger more pretentious
building would be. For the last year
and a half | have been visiting our
III parts vi lbC
large and small, and | have been sur
prised and pleased to find them in
nearly all cases so comfortable, and
well equipped. Some times windows
rattle" but | have never heard an
"organ squeak" very seldom even on
the coolest days have | found the
church cold or gloomy" and 1t is
not the small country churches with
their clear glass windows that are
poorly lighted" You have to go to
those like the $125,0OO one with beau
tiful stained glass windows to find
the dim. religious light"
Then as to the 81 pulpits, there are
always from ten to twenty churches
which are in process of change.
About a dozen of the churches which
were vacant when the minutes were
printed now have settled pastors.
Then there are few church organ
iZations still carried on the roll which
are practically dead. One of these
had had no pastor for several years,
and was supposed TO be a hopeless
case until the pastor from a neigh
boring parish began TO hold services
there with remarkable success. In
another case the few remaining men,
bers worship at the Baptist church
and help support 1t. Their only re-
ma ming sign of life is a generous Of
fering every year to the benevolenc-
es of their denomination. In several
instances small churches are supplied
by students from the theological sem
inaries during the summer, and In at
least one of these cases the people
keep up services by themselves all
winter, and have done so for thirty
years. A careful examination of the
facts would show that in only a very
few of the 81 vacant churches is the
condition chronic without good rea
son.
AS for the six and seven hundred
lollar salaries, they are absurdly
small when one considers the prepar
,tion which the minister is expected
to make for his work the quantity
md quality of services which he is
required to render, and the demands
made upon him in many directions
Every minister in the state who has
made proper preparation for his work
and who is is able to do the full work
expected OF pastor ought to receive
not less than $1,000 a year. But it
may be safely said that no class of
people begin to get as much value
for their money as the ministers and
their wives. In almost all cases they
I've comfortably, have decent clothes
send their children to school and col
lege, have good books and papers
and give literally to the benevolent
causes. There are churches which
eel some pride in the amount Of
heir benevolent offerings where the
minister's family is responsible for a
very considerable part of the credi
able showing.
| have the privilege Of frequent hos
Ditality in the min 'sters' homes of
several denominations in Vermont,
md I hap. al