The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1915-06-04
MISSION OF THE
RURAL CHURCH
SHOULD BE UNIVERSITY OF RE-
LlGIOUs LEARNING.
Duty Of Christianity to Evan0siixe the
World.
BY Rev. Jno. A. Rice, D. D.
Pastor ST. John M. K. Church. South.
st. Louis. Mo.

Pastor St. John M. e. Church. South.
St Louis. Mo.
Some years ago, the question was
asked: What is q college? The at
tempt to answer it shook the educa-
tional world in America from center
to circumference. Another question Is
now beginning to be asked: What ia
church? Without undertaking to
give a definition of it, let me ask, In
this initial paper, what the church
Is for? The New Testament reveals
three distinct tasks to which 1t Is
committed.
! First, that OF evangelization. The
church is divinely commissioned to
reach for the lowest and the least
man in the least land and offer him
sonship to the Eternal God; offer him
a divine power which lifts him out
of the bog and places him upon the
highest levels of human life. where
God and the soul are In fellowship.
This alone were an immense priv
ilsge.
Teaching the Art Of Living.
The church is commissioned also
to teach and train those who are
rich with its evangelistic message.
The term, Religious Education, has
come to mean a specific thing in our
country, namely, the training Of the
people in the local church in those
deep matters which pertain to the
art OF living. l am not now speaking
of the work of education in schools
colleges and universities, but the work
OF education at our doors, in the con
gregation. Every agency In reacf
should be employed to the utmost II
this important mission. Indeed, tn
local church could be made sort o
university for all the people, In whicl
the simple. practical arts and virtue
OF everyday life should be taught AM
enforced. Only recently has thi
special phase of the church's work re
ceived anything like adequate atten
tion. The New Testament word TO
1t Is Edification.
School Of Religion Needed.
OF course, the Sunday School Is th'
center for all this work, although thu
activities OF the church should exten'
through the entire week and the Sun
day School should cease to be 81
named. 1t should be called the Schoo
, Of Religion or the Church School o
, something else that indicates 1t to b
an all-the-week activity. During thi
time various and sundry clubs, classes
} musical organizations, culture courses
. as we'll as distinctly religious meetings
should be held. Thickly settled neigh
borhoods, as we shall see, offer fin
opportunities for the development O
things spiritual.
The third task to which the churc
is committed is that of Christianizin
the social order; that of infusing tn
spirit of Jesus into every nook an
corner of our life. Nothing is foreig
to the interest Of the church.
NeiohborIy Love Essential.
II religion pervades and colors tn
: whole life then ours is serious bus
ness, for it will let no corner of tn
world escape it's influence. The soone
S we learn that Christianity Is not
5 thing to be practiced in corner tn
better for the world. The question c
the eighteenth century, touching Chri'
tianity, was, Can 1t be made to squar
with the human reason? or the min,
teenth, Can 1t be made to square wit
the results OF scientific research? G
the twentieth, What can 1t do? W
must learn to enforce not only hove {
God, whom we cannot see, but love
our neighbors, with whom we are Twin
i In constant contact. Neither withOu
the other is Christianity whatever els
it may be. Everything that interest
his neighbors must interest him, II b
Is a genuine follower of the Christ.
1t is the mission of the church-th
rural as well as the city-to evang
lize the whole world, to train to tn
highest degree Of efficiency thos
whom it evangelizes and to seek
make the spirit Of Jesus the absolut
rule in all human relations.