Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1914-10-16
THE RURAL
PREACHER
The Pastor Should Be Director OF
the Moral, Economic and Social
Life of the Community.
Ey Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union

ioAIy SAdLlpleS VI luOSS VIM '
and talk with God, man would De
little more than an animal. Inese
divinely commissioned custod!ans OF
virtue and masters of the forces OF
civilization have leavened human ma
ture, sweetened humanity and given
life it's SAVIOR, but their glorious
achievements of the past are eclpsen
by the marvellous possibilities OF tn
new rural civilization now confronting
them, ushering in a new world of USE
fulnesS.
Strong Leadership Needed.
A human life can pest be measured
by service and the preacher is divine
ly appointed to teach and to serve.
The rural church has in the main full
filed it's evangelical mission, but the
economic and social requirements OF
the age now rest heavily upon it
awaiting the leadership and insp1ra-
ton Of the church.
1t is as much part of the duty
of a minister to inspire us to own
a home on earth as it is to exnort US
to build mansions in the skies; to
persuade us to fill the mud holes from
our homes to the church, as to preach
of the golden streets Of the new Je-
rusalem; to teach US how to ma
the markets as we'll as to teach US
how to reach the holy city; to teach
our young girls to wear modest CLOTH
Ing here on earth as we'll as to teach
them to wear a crown in glory. To
teach our young people how to play
| constructive games while they are
here as we'll as to teach them to play
on a harp with a thousand strings
in the land beyond the grave; to
teach us how to live as we'll as teach
us how to pray.
There must be REIMBURSEMENT OF
the evangelical and an extension CT
institutional work of the church. The
frailties of human nature strongly
attracted the pioneer pastor and pity
has flowed freely for the life with sin.
but the building of individual char
acter and training of the emotions
of human life are entitled to more
earnest consideration.
The farmer needs the personal
touch of the pastor. He seldom
comes in direct contact with his hal
lowing influence except when he is
baptized, married and buried. 1t is a
| me-honored custom for our pastors
to visit their rural congregations
once a month, preach a sermon, take
! up a collection, eat dinner and hurry
back to the city. We approve 1t all
except hurrying back to the city. To
interpret the life of the farmer and
construct christian character in the
community the preacher must live
with US and share our trials and trib-
ulations.
Constructive Work for the Pastor.
There is an emptiness in the life Of
rural communities and we want
/ preachers who can weave into the
social fibre educational pastimes, prot.
| table pleasures and Instructive
amusements. Too often we find the
games of our young people a search
for suggestion in immortality and a
stepping-stone to sin. The pastor
should supervise the growing lives o.
young people, approve their amuse-
ments, create expressions Of joy and
pleasure that make for. christian
character. and bless their lives with
christian modesty.
A pastor in neighborhood study
ing the economic, social, moral and
educational problems of the commun-
ity, presenting fresh visions of poten-
| tial possibilities and native power
with beauty and new meaning, inter-
preting the thought-life Of the COM
munity and administering to their
daily. needs will contribute more to-
ward the advancement of a locality
than a dozen preachers who occupy
he pulpit at irregular intervals,
preaching on subjects foreign to the
life of the community.
Too long has the farm furnished
the cities with their great preachers
until today the rural church is the
gang-way to city pulpits. The curr ent
should be reversed The power of the
pulpit IS most needed in the country
where the fundamental forces Of hui
IAN life originate and where human
nature buds and blossoms into a glor-
ious ~fruition.
Why Rural Churches Langulsh.
The destiny of a rural church Is
inseparably associated with the eco.
nomic and social progress Of the COM
munity. If a community Is content
with poor crops and bad farming
methods, the church attains only
small amount of success or fails al
together. If community employs
modern farming methods, improved
farming machinery and builds gooo
roads, the result will be shown not
only in material benefits but the
church will attain the highest degree
of success. You can build a city on
a rock or even on the sand, but you
can't buildEa rural church in non
progressive community. No church is
more prosperous than the country
which supports it and the pastor can
not build his church without first
building the community.
Many a rural church is languishing
or has died altogether because of bad
economics and many pastors have
found that it takes work as we'll as
prayers to make their church a sue
cess. '--.-.