Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1915-12-01
IMPORTANT PHASE
CHURCH WORK
The Fourth of DIR. Lackland's Series
Of Sermons ON What Business
Men Think Of the Church
SERMONS ATTRACTING
WIDESPREAD ATTENTION
Another Sermon Will he Preached
Next Sunday Night, The Fifth
of the Series.

The Business Men of Decorah are
evidently fast becoming preachers OF
renown. Two different parties in
formed us that over one hundred
miles away, the series of sermons be-
ing preached in the NJ. f. church of
this city, were discussed by travel
ing men, who were displaying much
interest Another large audience
heard the fourth Of the series last
Sunday evening. The sermon was
as follows.
This is an age of efficiency Time
worn customs are being swept into
oblivion unless they produce more
than the cost of the raw material and
the labor expended Everything IS
test" What can you produce and
what is the value OF your product.
The church cannot hope to escape.
While criticism has been invi ed.
one positive question was asked, viz:
What do you consider the most im-
portant phase of church work.
One of the best thinkers in this
city answered. Inside the church it
is the development of good citizen
ship in the rising generation This
man with keen incisive vision was
willing to weigh not only the social
but psychical influence of the church.
He was not contending that the
church should be political force
but was recognizing its contribution
to citizenship. What is a good citi-
zen? Is he not a man of honor.
truth, purity, integrity, perseverance,
and industry? Every last 0nes1 tof
these are spiritual virtues which the
church IL trying hard to inculeate,
On the other hand a bad citizen is in
greedy, selfish, dehauch-
ed, crooked, warped and lazy. These
are all violations Of spiritual law. In
other words the bad citizen is I'M
moral. Not only do the chArches
supply the spiritual values OF good
citizenship but they also set up ethi-
cal standards Of living beyond which
few dare sink. ',t
4 Over one-half of the business men
stressed the social features Of the
church Some stressed the hand
shaking before and after church.
They remind one Of the boy asked n
he liked to 60 to church, who re-
sponded, II like to go to church and
l like to come home, but l hate the
staying there between times" We
trust the "between times may De
made so vi'ally attractive, that this
will be thing of the past. Others
specified the Ladies Aid gatherings
and we wondered If they were plead
ing guilty to the accusation that the
route to a mans heart was via his
digestive organs. Seriously how
ever, we discern the protest OF the
average man against piety. that ID
selfish and refuses TO express itself
in terms of brotherhood. 1t is q pro-
test against churches and people in
them forming cliques, which may be-
we'll intentioned but exclude the out
slider. This they protest is un-Chrfs-.
tian and 1t is. More complaints are
handed to pastors on the grounds OF
unsocial attitudes than any other one
thing. They also point out that In
Christian fellowship, there Is often
an exclusive power unconsclously eS-
erted to the man on the outside.
Christ never excluded any man from
His presence because he was not
follower of His. His approach 10
most people was social one and
we must tear down any fences be-
tween the church and the world IRON
the stand point of brotherhood II We
would follow him.
Three men, evidently acquainted
with the modern trend of church
work stated that the Sunday School
was the most important part OF the
church. 1t is not usually realized,
how large the Sunday School Is. In
Iowa 5000 people are enrolled In
the past three years they have gain
ed one million members in the U. s.
In the NJ. e. church one million mem
bers have been added to the SUNDAY
School in the past six years. There
are one million babies on the cradle
roll, linking two nillion parents "a
the church. The Home Department
visits five million old folks and shut
ms yearly. The membership OF the
church is coming largely from the
Sunday School. The Roman Catho
llic church end the Lutheran church
have emphasized child training Will
the result that from 1S90-1S95 thel
gained 74% and 49% respectively
while other churches gained les
than 4O%. The other churches ars
awakening to the need of this worl
and since 1908 have added ON
million members to the church from
.he Sunday School. Statistics show
THAT s25 invested in the Sunda!
School yields larger returns thai
$3.50 in any other department o
church work. Hence 1t is not to b
wondered at. thai modern church ar
chitecture is revolving around tn
} Sunday School.
The Sunday School is no longer Y
be sneered at as an educating force
lin the M. e church alone, lS,ov
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