Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-02
LABORERS WORTHY
OF THEIR HIRE
How Ministers of the Church Are
Utilizing Moving Pictures and
Government Farm Bulletins for
Community Building.
By RAYMOND q. EULLER

BY RAYMOND G.. FULLER
"DILLY" SUNDAYS pay envelope Is fa-
ID nous There aren't many ministers OF
the gospel whose income for services rem
dered dwarfs that OF the President Of the
! United States or of a railway president and
! gives a pugilists prize money hard run for
stupendosty. At recent church conference
| the presiding bishop invoked the time when
! all ministers should receive at least $1,000 a
! year. Excluding the large cities the highest
average of salaries in any denomination Is
under $3.50 The salary Of one-thlrd of the
ministers in the United States is $500 year
or less. The day of donations has gone by.
| The donation of jewelry given in Philadel-
phla to "BIlly' Sunday and family is, Of
course, quite out Of the ordinary.
"Billy" Sunday is a community dsturber
an awakener. The pastor has a different
work to do. 1t is not less fruitful Of good
And some Of it brings crucifxion.
Charles Kingsley, Community Builder
In the country communities there are too
few Charles Kingsleys and John Kebles, but
In this day OF the rural renaissance there are
many men like them. These workers in the
churches of the countryside are community
builders.
Charles Kingsley for 33 years was pastor
of the country parish of Eversey. OF him
the Rev Dr. N. w Stroup writes "He was
a model pastor and masterful preacher.
He visited the people night and day until he
knew every man, woman and child by name,
and, better still, he knew their lnmost needs.
without regard to class or culture he went
about doing good IF man or woman were
suffering or dying he would go to them five
or six times day-and night as well day
for his own hearts sake as well as for
their souls sake What is the use,' he says,
of talking to a lot of hungry paupers about
heaven" He believed that they must first
be fed and made to feel some degree of sat
isfacton with their earthly lot. lie was
believer in saving the whole man. Our pres
ent day social theories were matters of
everyday practice with him in his work at
Eversley. lie was a community builder. He
was, above all, a spiritual leader"
A Man's-size Task
For more than 20 years a little New Eng
land community had been without a church
1t had ceased, indeed, to be community
in the true sense of the term. It's social
and moral laxity had become fragrant. The
story has been told by Clifford Pinchot;
"Disbcief in the existence of goodness ap-
peared to be common, public disapproval of
indecency timid or lacking and religion
was in general disrepute. Not only was
there no day of worship but also no day of
rest. Life was mean. hard, small, selfish
and covetous. Land belonging to the town
was openly pillaged by the public officers
who held it in trust, real estate values were
low and among the respectable families
there was general desire to sell their prop
erty and move away.
"Then a church was organized The change
which followed was swift, striking, thorough
and enduring The public property of the
town once a source Of graft and demoralza-
tion, became "A public asset. The value Of
real estate increased beyond all proportion
to the general rise of land values elsewhere
In the decade and half that has elapsed
since the church began its work boys and
girls of a new type have been brought up
The reputation of the village has been
changed from bad to good, public order has
greatly improved and growth of the place
as summer resort has begun. 1t is fair to
say that the establishment of the church un-
der Mr.. Gill began new in the history
of the town"
Such churches are positive, not a mega
tive influence. In service to the whole COM
munity they finding themselves
Social Engineering
In the name Of religion and in the cause
of social service an increasing number of
the country ministers of America are doing
the work of Kingsley and Oberlin, according
to the needs of rural America.
They are preaching in terms of country
life.
They are teaching young and old to play
and how to play
They are promoting scientific agriculture.
They themselves are coming to regard agri-
cultural knowledge a part of their neces-
sary equipment.
They are social engineers. Social engineer
ing is the science and art of helping COM
munities to help themselves.
They are helping communities to redscover
themselves as communities,
Truly where such men are at work re-
ligion is taking hold on life And there the
churches are no longer one-day week af-
fairs Their activities embrace all commu.
nifty interests Their alliance is with the
Boy Scouts, the school, the library grange,
the village improvement society, the county