Sharp County record., 1915-01-08
THE RURAL
CHURCH
Cooperation of Church, School
and Press Essential to
Community Building.
BY Peter Radford.
Lecturer National Farmers Union.

The church, the press and the
school form a triple alliance OF
progress that guides the destiny
of every community, state and
nation. Without them clvll1za-
ton would wither and die and
through them life may attain its
greatest blessing, power and
knowledge. The farmers Of this
nation are greatly indebted to
this social triumvirate for its
uplifting influence, and on be-
half of the American plowmen
| want to thank those engaged
in these high callings for their
able and efficient service, and l
shall offer to the press series OF
articles on cooperation between
these important influences and
the farmers in the hope OF IN
creasing the efficiency OF all by
mutual understanding and or
ganized effort. We will take up,
first, the rural church.
The Farmers Are Great Church
Builders.
The American farmer is the
greatest church builder the world
has ever known. He is the Gus
todian of the nations morality;
upon his shoulders rests the ark
of the covenant" and he is more
responsive to religious influences
than any other class OF citizen
ship.
The farmers of this nation
have built 10000 churches at a
cost of $750,000,000, and the an
nual contribution Of the nation
toward all church institutions
approximates $200,000,0O0 per
annum. The farmers Of the Unit
ed States build y churches per
day. There are 100000 rural
church communicates on the
farm, and 81 per cent of the total
membership Of all churches re-
side in the country.
The farm is the power-house
of all progress and the birthplace
of all that is noble. The Garden
of Eden was in the country and
the man who would get close to
God must first get close to ma
ture.
The Functions Of a Rural
Church.
If the rural churches today are
going. to render a service which
this age demands, there must be
cooperation between the rei-
gious, social and economic lie
Of the community.
The church to attain its fullest
measure Of success must enrich
the lives of the people in the
community it serves; it must
build character; develop thought
and increase the efficiency OF
human life. 1t must serve the
social, business and Intellectual,
as we'll as the spiritual and moral
cid. of life If religion does not
make a man more capable, more
useful and more just, what good
is it? We want a practical re-
lieion, one we can live by and
farm by, as well as die by.
Fewer and Better Churches.
Blessed is that rural community
which has but one place Of wor-
ship. While competition is the
life of trade, it is death to the
rural church and moral starvation
to the community, Petty secta-
rianism is a scourge that blights
the life, and church prejudice
saps the vitality Of many COM
munities. An over-churched
community is a crime against
religion, a serious handicap to
society and a useless tax upon
agriculture,
While denominations are es-
sential and church pride COM
mendable, the high teaching OF
universal christianity must pre-
vail II the rural church is to full
fill its mission to agriculture.
We frequently have three or
four churches in a community
which is not able to adequately
support one, Small eongrega-
tions attend services once a
month and all fail to perform
the religious functions of the
community, The division of re-