Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1915-02-05
THE CHURCH As
AS0C|AL CENTER
4 Broader Sphere for ReIgion-New
Field for the Rural Church.
BY Peter Radford

BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union
The social duty of the rural church
Is as much a part of it's obligations
as its spiritual side. In expressing its
social interest, the modern rural
church does not hesitate to claim that
It is expressing a true religious in
stinct and the old-time idea that the
social instincts should be starved
while the spiritual nature was over
fed with solid theological food, is fast
giving way to broader interpreta-
ton of the functions of true religion.
We take our place in the succession
Of those who have sought to make the
world fit habitation for the children
Of man when we seek to study and
understand the social duty of the
rural church. The true christian re-
ligion is essentially social-its tenets
Of faith being love and brotherhood
and fellowship. While following after
righteousness, the church must chal-
lenge and seek to reform that social
order in which moral life is ex-
pressed. While cherishing ideals OF
service, the rural church which IT.
tains the fullest measure OF success
Ii that which enriches as many lives
as it can touch, and in no way can
the church come in as close contact
with its members as through the
avenue of social functions.
The country town and the rural
community need q social center. The
ambition to fill this need in the COM
munity, if an understanding Of it,
mission brings this purpose into clear
consciousness. The structure Of .
rural community is exceedingly COM
pick; it contains many social groups.
each Of which has its own center, but
there are many localities which have
but one church, and although such
church cannot command the inter-
est Of all the people, 1t is relieved
from the embarrassment Of religiously
divided communities.
Social Needs Imperative.
Tho average country boy and girl
have very little opportunity for real
enjoyment, and have, as q rule. q
vague conception Of the meaning of
pleasure and recreation. 1t is to fill
this void in the lives of country youth
that the rural church has risen to
the necessity Of providing entertain.
ment. as well as instruction, to its
membership among the young. The
children and young people OF the
church should meet when religion is
not even mentioned. 1t has been
found safest for them to meet fire..
quently under the direction and care
Of the church. To send them into the
world with no social training exposes
them to grave perils and to try to
keep them out of the world with no
social privileges is sheer folly. There
10 q social nature to both old and
young, but the social requirements Of
the young are imperative. The church
must provide directly or indirectly
some modern equivalent for the husk.
ing bee, the quilting bee and the sing.
ing schools of the old days. In one
way or another the social instincts
of our young people must have oppor-
tunity for expression, which may
take the form of clubs. parties. pic
MICS or other forms of amusement.
One thing is certain, and that is that
the church cannot take away the
dance, the card party and the theatre
unless 1t can offer in its place q sat
isfying substitute in the form Of more
pleasing recreation.
Universal Instinct for Play.
In providing for enjoyment the
church uses one Of the greatest meth.
DDS by which human society has de.
veloped. Association is never secure
until It is pleasurable; in play the in
stinctive aversion Of one person for
another il overcome and the social
mood il fostered. Play is the chief
educational agency in rural commun.
tiles and in the play-day of human
childhood social sympathy and social
habits are evolved. AS individuals
come together in social gatherings,
their viewpoint is broadened. their
ideals are lifted and finally they con-
stitute a cultured and refined society
It is plain, therefore, that the
church which aims at a perfected So
ciety must use in a refined and ex-
allied way the essential factors in
social evolution and must avail itself
of the universal instinct for play.
If the church surrounds itself with
social functions which appeal to the
young among its membership, it will
ELL a large part of the lamentable