The Winslow mail., 1914-12-05
THE RURAL
CHURCH
THE FARMERS THE cUsToDlnNs
OF TIE NATIONS MORALITY.
Cooperation of Charoh, School ane
Press Essential 10 Community
Building.
EY Peter Radfora
= = =
-ecturer National Farmers' ITninn.


Lecturer National Farmers Union
The church, the press and the school
form triple alliance OF progress that
guides The destiny Of every commun.
ity, state ana nation. Without them
civilization would Wisher ana die and
through them life may attain lis great
est blessing, power and knowledge
The farmers Of ths nation are erea5i.
indebted to this social trium riEate fos
their uplifting influence, and on behai
OF the American pI0Wmen [ want t.
thank those engaged in these high
callin8s for their able and emoiea.
service, and sball offer to the press
q series Of articles On cooperation
between these important inauenceS
and the farmers in the hope Of in.
creasing the efficiency OF all by ma
tnal understanding and organized ef
fort We viii taIle up, fEat. the rur-5
church
The Farmers Are Great Church Build.
ers.
The American farmer is the creates
church builder the world has ever
known. lie is tho custodian Of the
nations morality; upon his shoulder
rests the ark Of the covenant ana
he is more responsive to religious ia
fuences than any other class of cit-
izensnp
The farmers Of this nation have
built 10000 churches at a cost of
$7500000o0, and the annual conufbu-
ton Of the nation toward all church
institutions appcoEimates $500 GEO 000
per annum The farmers of the Uni,
ted States build e churches per dav.
There are 20000Ct0 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.
Il the rural churches today are CO.
ing to render q service which this age
demands, there must be cooperation
between the religious, social and eco
noniC life OF the community.
The church to attain its 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 eflciencp
Of human life. It must serve the So
cial, business and intellectual as well
as tbe 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
ii is death 10 the rural church aud
moral starvation to The community
Petty sectarianism is q scoUree that
biights the lifes and the church pre5u
dice saps the Vitality, Of many com
manities. an over-churchad commun-
ity is a crime against religion, q seri-
Gus handicap to society and q 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 10
fulnil its mission to agriculture.
We frequently have three or four
churches in 2 community which is not
able to adequately support one. Small
congregations attend services once a /
month and all fail to perform the re-
igious functions Of the community.
The division Of religious forces and
the breaking into fragments Of moral
efforts is oftumes little less than a
calamity and defeats the very purpose
they seek to promote.
Tie evils Of too many churches can
be minimized by cooperation. The