The Washington herald., 1915-09-12
WHAT CHURCH PEOPLE
ARE SAYING. AND DOING

/
Rev. H. F. Lutz.' pastor of the H
Street Christian Church (Southwest).
was as attendant upon the recent con-
gress of church efhciency, which
brought together $500 disciples of
i Christ at Hammond. Ind. At every
hour of the five days Of the congress.
except during assemblies and lectures.
sixteen simultaneous meetings were
held. to supply which thirty platform
lecturers and over one hundred class
room Instructors. were present The
congress was divided into five schools:
p. H. Welshimsr. Canton, Ohio. was
dean OF the school Of evangelism and
expansion: J. E. Sturgis. Mansfield.
Ohio, dean of the school of singing
evangelism: W. s. Buchanan. Union
City, Ind. dean of the school of
] church efficiency. and E. ]. Meacham.
Cincinnati, dean Of the school of
Christian education.
| number of unusual features were
noted at the Hammond convention in
Guiding four-page, eight-column
newspaper. printed every morning.
called the Congress Times. a subsi-
diary Of the Hammond Times, having
complete report of everything that
| happened at the meetings. L. B. Cross
] was managing editor. and had under
his direction corps Of newspaper
| men.
On one afternoon the visitors were
taken by automobiles on tour Of
the Calumet region. visiting Gary.
East Chicago. Whiting. Miller. In.
diana Harbor, Tolleston. Glenn Park
| and numerous other places: visiting
all churches in the district. Five hun
| dred automobiles were required to
l L he frir . tI,a anI - hA
| tomobile tour the visitors were taken
| through the great steel mills at Gary
on a special train. The automobile
| tour covered about forty miles and
| the inspection of the steel plant oc-
! cupied almost two hours.
Rev. Cecil ]. Sharp, of Hammond.
| was president of the congress. Ham
! mond was selected as the congress
city because of the great activity of
Rev. Mr.. Sharp. who went there
| twelve years ago as college STU
dent. Sharp patched the roof, washed
the windows are repaired an old.
| dilapidated church building about to
| be abandoned by the few remaining
| members of its congregation and set
to work removing the third, >Second
and first mortgages. He built the con-
gregation up to a membership of 1900
after having preached on the first
| Sunday to two men, six women and
their children. He adopted the motto.
Plant a church year. and the
| Hammond church is parent to nine
| other congregations in the neighbor-
| ing cities and communities as a re-
\ suit
Mr.. Sharp established a Sunday
school baseball team and acts as man
ager; stages an opera every year;
operates a building and loan associa-
tion with the congregations; conducts
a real estate exchange for members:
has "barn-raising" crew which goes
forth and builds a church building
| complete between sunrise and sunset
and while the congress was in ses-
sion showed the ministers the virtues
of the moving pictures in churcn
services. He introduced the movies
several years ago and to this attrac-
| ton has added jitney service to and
from Sunday school from distant parts
of the city.
The Christian Century. organ of
the Disciples in Chicago. does not ia
vor the efficiency, congress and the
editor bases his criticism on his ex-
perience at a similar gathering two
years ago, when, he says. the DOM
inant notes emphasized by the gath
ering were, II not misleading. at least
not vital to the interests Of the King
dom of Cod
This editor declares that the last
thing the modern church needs is er-
ficiency. I'VE have too much efficiency
now-too much method, too mucn
mechanism, too much rattle and clang
of machinery-and too little sense of
religious reality. 1t is a well-seasoned
conviction with us that in the SOCIAL
ed efficiency of the modern church is
betrayed her pitiful weakness more
clearly than at any other point.
"As the church becomes conscious
Of its mechanism 1t tends to lose its
consciousness of what the mechanism
is for. We believe the schools Of
methods and Congresses of efficiency
common in our day indicate a deplor-
able lack of spiritual vitality"
The most distinctive forward move
ment taken by the Interdenominatio ton
al Association of Evangelists-which
includes all of those who are holding
the great tabernacle meetings-at it's
annual conference recently. was the
unanimous approval of the plan sug-
gested by the president, H. c. Hart.
and presented in full, by invitation
Of the program committee. by DR.. VIII
bur F. Crafts, of Washington, SUPER
intendent Of the International Reform
Bureau, that the tabernacle meetings
should be preceded by a survey" Of
the town or city that would uncover
its moral conditions and develop So
cial conviction of sin and need of
both individual and social salvation;
and should eliminate while the
forces are still together in the tab
ernacIe, in a week or half-week Of
civic revival in which, by discussion
and by deputations sent to public Of
ficials and otherwise, an effort should
be made to save society II only to
make a safe place for saved souls"
The new slogans Of the association
in this connection are to be:
Get right with God.
Get men night with men.
Change the man.
Change the surroundings.