Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1915-01-01
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
ity, state and nation. Without them
civilization would wither 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 | want to
thank those engaged in these high
callings for their able and efficient
service, and | 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 eff
fort. We will take up, first, the rural
church.
The Farmers Are Great Church Build.
ers.
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 ark of the covenant" and
he is more responsive to religious in
huences than any other class of cit
iz%enship.
The farmers of this nation have
built 10000 churches at a cost of
S75O,O00, 900, and the annual contribu-
ton of the nation toward all church
Institutions approximates 5000, 00O.O 900
per annum The farmers of the Uni
ted States build % churches per day.
There are 2O,O 900 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 a Rural Church.
If the rural churches today are 60
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 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 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.
1t 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 overchurched commun-
ity IS a crime against religion, a seri-
GUS handicap to society and a useless
tax upon agriculture.
While denominations are essential
and church pride c~ommendable, the
high teaching of universal. Christianity
must prevail if the rural church is to
fulfill its mission to agriculture.
We frequently have three or four
churches in a 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 IA
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 a 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 a only be successfully
accomplished by the united effort of
the press, the school. the church and
organized farmers