Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1914-11-27
THE RURAL
CHURCH
THE FARMERS THE cUSTODIANs
OF THE NATIONS MORALITY.
Cooperation of Church, School and
Press Essential to Community
Building.
BY Peter Radford

Lecturer National Farmers Union.
The church, the press and the school
form triple alliance Of progress that
guides the destiny of every commun-
tty, state and nation. Without them
civilization would witheT and die and
through them life may attain its great
est blessing, power and knowledge.
The farmers of this nation are greatly
indebted to this social triumvirate for
their uplifting influence, and on behalf
of the American plowmen l want to
/ thank those engaged in these high
callings for their able and efficient
service, and l shall offer to the press
! series of articles on cooperation
between these important influences
and the farmers in the hope Of in
creasing the efficiency of all by mu-
tual understanding and organized eff
fort. We will take up, first. the rural
church.
The Farmers Are Great Church Build
er5.
The American farmer is the greatest
church builder the world has ever
known. He is the custodian Of the
nations morality; upon his shoulders
rests the lark of the covenant" and
he is more responsive to religious in
fluences than any other class of cit
izenship.
The farmers of this nation have
built 10000 churches at a cost of
s750,000,0 900, and the annual contribu-i
ton of the nation toward all church
institutions approximates $2O0,O0O,OO0
per annum. The farmers of the Uni
ted States build % churches per day.
There are 100000 rural church COM
municants on the farm, and "a per
cent of the total membership of all
churches reside in the country
The farm is the power-house of all
progress and the birthplace of all that
is noble. The Garden of Eden was,
in the country and the man who would
get close to God must first get close
to nature.
The Functions of Rural Church.
If the rural churches today are go
ing to render a service which this age
demands, there must be cooperation
between the religious, social and eco
nomic life of the community
The church to attain it's fullest meas
ure of success must enrich the lives
of the people in the community it
serves; it must build character; devel-
op thought and increase the efficiency
of human life. 1t must serve the So
cial, business and intellectual as well
as the spiritual and moral side of life.
If religion does not make a man more
capable, more useful and more just,
what good is it? We want a practical
religion, one we can live by and farm
by, as well as die by.
Fewer and Better Churches.
Blessed is that rural community
which has but one place of worship.
While competition is the life of trade,
t is death to the rural church and
moral starvation to the community.
Petty sectarianism is scourge that
Flights the life, and the church preju-
lice saps the vitality, of many COM
An over-churched commun-
ty is crime against religion, seri-
Jus handicap to society and a useless
ak upon agriculture.
While denominations are essential
md church pride commendable, the
Ugh teaching of universal Christianity
must prevail if the rural church is to
ulfill its mission to agriculture.
We frequently have three or four
hurches in community which is not
BILE to adequately support one Small
Congregations attend services once a
month and all fail to perform the re-
lgious functions of the community.
he division of religious forces and
be breaking into fragments of moral
forts is ofttimes little less than a
alamity and defeats the very purpose
hey seek to promote.
The evils of too many churches can
e minimized by cooperation. The
ocial and economic life of rural
ommunity are respective units and
annot be successfully divided by de-
ominational lines, and the churches
an only occupy this important field
cooperation and coordination
The efficient country church will
efnitely serve its community by lead
ig in all worthy efforts at community
uilding, in uniting the people in all
cooperative endeavors for the gen.
raj welfare of the community and in
rousing real love for country life
nd loyalty TO the country home and
lese results can only be successfully
ccomplished by the united effort of
he press, the school. the church and
rganiyed farmers