The Press., 1914-12-02
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 a triple alliance of progress that guides the destiny of every commun- ity, state and nation. Without them civilization would wither and die and through them life may attain it's 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 I want to thank those engaged in these high callings for their able and efficient service, and I shall offer to the press a 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 ef- fort. We will take up, first, the rural church.
 The Farmers Are Great Church Build. 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 f1uences than any other class of cit izenship.
 The farmers of this nation have built 120,000 churches at 8 cost of $75O, ,00O. and the annual contribu- tion of the nation toward all church institutions approximates $20O, ,OOO per annum. The farmers of the Uni ted States build g churches per day. There are 20,00O,00O rural church com municants on the farm, and 54 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 a 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. homie 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. It 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, it is death to the rural church and moral starvation to the community. Petty sectarianism is a scourge that blights the life, and the church preju- dice saps the vitality, of many com- munities. An over-churched commun- ity is crime against religion, a seri- ous handicap to society and a useless tax upon agriculture.
 While denominations are essential and church pride commendable, the high teaching of universal Christianity must prevail if the rural church is to fulfill it's mission to agriculture.
 We frequently have three or four churches in community which is not able to adequately support one. Small congregations attend services once a month and all fail to perform the re- ligious functions of the community. The division of religious forces and the breaking into fragments of moral efforts is ofttimes little less than a calamity and defeats the very purpose they seek to promote.
 The evils of too many churches can be minimized by cooperation. The social and economic life of rural community are respective units and cannot be successfully divided by de- nominational lines, and the churches can only occupy this important field by cooperation and coordination.
 The efficient country church will definitely serve its community by lead ing in all worthy efforts at community building. in uniting the people in all cooperative endeavors for the gen. eral welfare of the community and in arousing a real love for country life and loyalty to the country home and these results can only be successfully accomplished by the united effort of the press, the school. the church and organized farmers.