The Jasper news., 1915-03-18
THE RURAL
@ CHURCH
THE FARMERS THE cUSToDtANs
OF THE NATIONS MORALITY.
Cooperation of Church, School ano
Press Essential to Community
Building.
BY Peter Radford
lecturer National Farmers Unlol


guides the destiny of every commun-
ity, state and nation. Without them
civilization would wither and die and
through them life may attain its great.
est blessing, power and knowledge.
The farmers of this nation are greatly
indebted 70 this social triumvirate for
their uplifting influence, and on behalf
of the American plowmen l want to
thank those engaged in these high
callirgs for their able and efficient
service, and | 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 mu-
tual understanding and organized ef
fort. We will taEG up, first, the rural
church ~,
The FsrE1ere Are Great Church Build.
ers.
The American farmer is the greatest
church builder the world has ever
known. lie is the custodian of the
nations morality; upon his shoulders
rests the ark oil the covenant and
he is more responsive to religious in.
tluonces than any other class OF cit
iZenship.
The farmers of this nation have
built 100000 churches at a cost of
$75O,000,000. and the annual contribu-
ton of the nation toward all church
institutions approXimates S200,0000GO
per arnum. The farmers of the Uni
ted, States build % churches per day.
There are 20,0O0,000 rural church COM
municants on the farm, and 54 per
cent of the total membership of all
churches reside 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 nature.
The Functions of Rural Church.
If the rural churches today are 60
ing to render a service which this age
demands, there must be cooperation
between the religious, social and eco
nomic life Of the community
The church to attain its fullest meas
ure of success must enrich the lives
Of the people in the community it
serves; it must build character; devel.
op thought and increase the efficiency
of human life. 1t must serve the So
cial, business and intellectual, as we'll
as the spiritual and moral side of life.
If religion does not make man more
capable, more useful and more just,
what good is it? We want practical
religion, 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 worship.
While competition is the life of trade,
it is death to the rural church and
moral starvation to the community.
Petty sectarianism is scourge that
blights the life, ana the church preju-
dice saps the vitality, of many COM
munities. An over-churched commun,
ity is a crime against religion, seri-
GUS handicap to society and useless
tax upon agriculture.
While denominations are essential
and church pride cormendable, the
high teaching of universal Christianity
must prevail if the rural church is to
fulfill its mission to agriculture.
We freQuiently have three or four
churches in a community which is not
able tc adequately support one Small
ccrit:: l.c3atiCns attend services once g
month ard all fail to perform the re
ligious functions of the community
The division OF religious forces and
the breaking into fragments OF moral
efforts is ofttimes little less than 4
calamity and defeats the very purpose
they seek to promote.
The evils of too many churches car
be minimized by cooperation. The
social and economic life of a rura
community are respective units ant
cannot be successfully divided by de
nominational lines, and the churches
can only occupy this important fielt
by cooperation and coordination.
\ The efficient country church will
definitely serve its community by lead
Ing in all worthy efforts at communit,
! building, in uniting the people in al
cooperative endeavors for the gen
eral welfare of the community and II
arousing a real love for country lif
and loyalty to the country home an
these results can only be successfully
4 accomplished by the united EFFORT Q
the press, the school, the church an
u | organized farmers,