The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1915-06-03

, al cnUnuSlaSm SJOod III the pup
of the Rush Hill Christia
, church at a small country tow
in Audrain county, Mo-, and said SON
blunt things that had lain long in hi
heart.
"The doors of your church ar
blocked" he declared with emphasi;
"You have here a weak church, unat
tractive to non-members, unable Il
pay its preacher much of the time
and gradually losing it's influence. Thu
rival churches of this place are in thu
same fix, and want to say to you
that the country church is doomed un.
less some remedy is found.
"That remedy, in my opinion, is moi
in union. / will not ask you to join
these rural churches; their members
will not join you; but if you will drop
your church name and ask these other
denominations to cooperate with you
in "a church, and all work together for
the good of the community and the
common cause of God, you will sue
coed, and this community will thrive
beyond your greatest expectation"
The answer to this invitation-chal-
lenge is an attractive new modern
$1,000 church building, dedicated May
16 and starting without a cent of debt.
Side by side in its pews at the dedica-
ton sat former members of various
denominations and of no denomina-
ton who somehow have caught the
spirit of the motto of the church:
.......... ...-........ .........
{: ] want to know you; / want !:
/: you to know me, that we may (:
{: love one another and thus make 81
/: cooperation possible. =
- ....... 49,. ........ ..........:
1t is a strange sort of a church, this,
but those connected with it have faith
it will succeed, as also do the
business men of Princeton, Mo-, who
IRE building a $4,000 church based
On the same idea. At any rate, both
testify that the idea of love
md brotherhood has already reduced
and kindred civic wastes, and
hey expect religious cooperation to
rove as efficient as business co-opera
ion has.
One odd thing, there is no ~"joining"
he church. The individual who comes
Onward and gives his hand to the
Minister merely enlists for service,
nd his name is entered on the church
oils as a volunteer, not as a "mem-
er." /,
Here is the formula for enlistment
n the "Rush Hill Church,"
"Are you a Christian?"
"Have you been a member of any
hurch before?" |
as it your wish and desire to CO. ]
.Derate with this people toward solv- |
the problem of the life of God in {
lis community?
That is the whole creed. There is t
, sacrifice of opinions asked. No
lie is urged to give up cherished doc v
ines, but emphasis is laid on the a
ct that all are brothers and when o
ey divide, all shut God out. The h
b~stitution of love and charity for t
vision and intolerance is all that is h
manded.
For ten years Rev. B. G. Reavis of b
Mo-, who is the mar back OF W
e cooperative idea, has been seeing
e necessity for some sort of unity. II
an evangelist, working principally b.
tn country churches, he has watched CO
cir decay, FASTENED by constantly "
owing divisions, by motor cars and al
tier roads, which put the people in dc
lch with the churches of the bigger M
wns, and by a spirit among the or
ung people who find little to inter- in
them in the church, or who are d,
ven from all churches by doctrina, W;
f%erences of their parents.
In Rush Hill he saw the typical con- ca
ion. Here were four Protestant m,
arch bodies, three of whom had lit an
inadequate buildings, paying pas