Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-11-04

Those congregations who are asking
their ministers to be errand boy, par
ish visitor. property committee, finau-
cial agent, church supper organizer,
delegate to everything, and general
tactotum and roustabout, are guilty of
several blunders, the cardinal one be-
ing sheer stupidity. The only way a
church is going to thrive Is for every
body to bear his part The minister's
tasks ought to- be to preach the Gospel
instruct the people and to be pastor
of the flock. The officers of the church
should have gumption enough to see
that he does this without neglecting it.
and that they do their own share of
the work with equal fidelity. The
priests fitted beautifully into Joash's
scheme when Joash came to his senses
and developed business like scheme
for the enterprise of temple repairing.
Money and Religion.
1t has been said that the quickest
way to dampen the enthusiasm of a
prayer meeting Is to. talk money. New
ertheless, as of old, SO today. money is
needed for the work of the church To
secure 1t from proper motives and In
adequate amount, is one of the great
est single difficulties OF organized reli-
gon. Somehow, the church has not as
keen financial sense as she had In
the days Of Joash There is more pet
tiness exhibited in the financial aspect
of religion than in any other manifes-
tation of Christianity and that is
saying good deal.
Anybody who has ever sat on a
r. hn r1 a
strange phenomenon of business men,
who are accustomed to doing practical
things in practical way, and to con-
Quoting large enterprises in broad
spirit, going about church matters
with an entirety new state of mind,
which Is chiefly characterized by its
smallness. Who can explain why it is
that when business men go at the fin.
ancial side of the church their ideas
Immediately become peanut size? Men
who pay generously in the chamber Of
commerce, or in their social clubs,
pennies when 1t comes to the church.
There is many man with an in.
come of thousands of dollars year
who is total stranger to the expert.
ence of giving as much as one hundred
dollars in a single year to the church.
A whole crowd Of epigrams and stories
have arisen, concerning this well
konwn condition One is Some men
give according to their means, and
others according to their meanness."
Some Christians are so stingy that
when the minister gives out Old Hun.
dred they start to sing Ninety and
Nine in order to get one per cent off. .
If Christian has not religion enough
to give generously, proportionately and
systematically to the church., he has
surely not religion enough to take hi.n
to heaven, or to any other Christian
goal. The first evidence of a revival in
religion In many church would be an
increase in the pastors salary, and the
repairing of the church, have observ
ed in heather lands that at the en-
trance to the temples there is large
chest .Ioash fashion - for the re.
ceipt of offerings. The first act of wor
ship in heathendom is to make gift
Now, as of old, the grave problem is
one Of putting the church into fit con-
dition on her material side. and in her
spiritual strength, to meet the crisis
that is now upon the world.