Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-10-03
RELIGIOUS SURVEY
Inter Church World Movement Institutes Most Notable
Religious Survey of History = Rev. A. B. Eby Su-
peryisor of Survey in Fulton County To
Reach Every Farm House in the U. S.

A general survey of the religious
conditions and need of this county,
as part of the worldwide survey
being made by the Inter-church
Movement of North America, Will be
made as soon as the organization of
a county council and other prelimin-
ary steps now under way have been
completed.
Every Evangelical denomination
has been invited to cooperate in the
work. The survey is to be made ov
trained Investigators. The object is
to obtain an impartial and complete
summary of all the facts relating to
the conditions Of every church in the
county as to its finances. its member
sinlp, whether growing, stationary, or
declining, whether4it has a resident
pastor, what families are included in
ats ministry, how often it's people are
visited by pastors, what families in
the county are without pastoral over
sight, etc.
The surveyors are also expected
to report upon all church groupings.
upon conflicts in parish countries.
upon areas without Christian influ-
cial buildings, such as lodges and
oranges, and upon any other matters
that will throw light on the problems
Of the churches in this county.
. The County surveyors will be expect
led assemble this information. 1t
will then be sent on for tabuIat;on to
the state council but in the meantime
the facts will be laid before all the
leaders in all the denominations of
the county who will be invited to at
tend conferences where local pro-
grams to fiji the ascertained facts
Will be worked out by common agree
ment.
What is being done in this county
is being repeated in every one of the
5000 rural counties of the United
States. Similar studies of religious
conditions abroad are being made
through the missionaries in the field,
through governmental forces, thru
private agencies and through the
headquarters of the great American
missionary societies. In the course
of time the Interchurck World Move
ment expects to have On file map
of every county in the United States
which will show every railroad, troll
ley line, road, village, hamlet, church
lodge, school and where every isolat-
ed farm house stands in relation to
some church or other religious center
The Intechurch World Movement
IS a cooperative effort of the Miss
i0nary boards, church extension
societies and similar benevolent
agencies, of all the Evangelical
churches to work .out unified Chris
Itian program. It is not a movement
fOr organic church union. On the
contrary it expects each denomination
al society to preserve its own identity
and work with its own money through
its own machinery. The idea is to
make systematic and complete
study of everything that is to be
done and to have all the constituent
bodies get together and agree upor
which part of the work each is to
undertake.
\ The movement originated last fall
with certain members of the Foreign
Missionary Board of the Presby-
tterian Church, South. Acting upon
a suggestion from these men, 1876 re-
representatives. of various missionary
societies of many denominations
met in New York City in December,
This conference decided that some
thing of the kind could be done and
appointed committee of 20 leaders
in various churches to work out a
plan.
S. Earl Taylor, Executive Secre-
tary of the Methodist Centenary Or
ganhation, is general secretary
John R. Mott, international head OF
the Y. M. C. A. is chairman of the
executive committee.
Realizing that no adequate program
Of cooperation could be worked oui
until all the f&cts were known, the
movement already has begun it's sur.
veys. The foreign survey was pu1
under the general care of Ralph w
Ward, authority on Chna. The home
survey was put in charge of r. E
Diffendorfer, who did similar work
for the Methodist Centenary.
The home surveys may be divided
roughly into two parts, rural sur
| veys and city surveys. The rura
surveys are under the direction ol
DR.. Edmund de S. Brunner, of tht
Moravian church, a leader in rura
matters and Herman N. Morse OF thu
Presbyterian Board of Home ! Mis-
SONS. City surveys are under the di
/ rection of w. P. Shiver, Henry p
'SchauFler, VIM. H. Patterson ant
i Walter Laidlaw. In addition ther,
are surveys of special problems, suci
as the immigrant question. the for
e;gn language colony, work amons
negroes. work among isolated people
H sucha ast thereof rhe mountain coun
4 tries etc..
For convenience, the United States
Il has been divided into ten geographic
an groups, each with a regional dl
rector, The Ohio state headquarters
are at 521-22 Columbus Savings ant
Trust Building, Columbus Ohio witt
B: F. Lamb. state survey supervisor
For each state there is councl
formed. consisting of one clergyman
and one layman from each denomina
ton and representatives OF all Tn
other interests involved. This cosn
Gil sets in an advisory capacity 10
the county councils. The count!
body is really the basic unit OF th'
world organization. -
After the county councils has com
pleted their work and forwarded tn
| nesults to the state council, that bod,
Y will make up a complete report ant
ANALYSIS for the entire state. Thi
ii turn will be forwarded to th'
National organization for final an
aevsis. after which it will be possible
to get at the salient points OF IN
formation for any locality in tn
United States that NAV be desires
and at the same time, to study tn
general phenomena of partlcuia
6 groups and environments:
The Interchurch World Movemen
: the first organization to undertak
Rsela task on such large scale.
na...a, ,ro,. Gaddell has installed