Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-09-03
RELIGIOUS SURVEY
World Wide Movement of
the Protestant
Denominations

A general survey OF the religion
conditions OF Caledonia county will
soon be made and the committee
having this in charge is Rev. Georg
A. Martin of st. Johnsbury, Rev. A
N. Pierce of Passumpsic and Rev
Chauncey A. Adams of Danville
This survey is a part of the world
wide movement made by the Inter
Church World Movement of Noltl
America and every evangelical de
nomination has been invited to co
operate in the work.
The survey is to be made by com
petent investigators who are salts
factory to all the churches. TIL,
object is to obtain an impartial ant
complete summary of all the fact:
relating to the condition of every
church in the county as to its fnar
ces, its membership, whether grow
ing, stationary or declining, whether
it has a resident pastor, what fami,
lies are included in its ministry, how
often its people are visited by pds-
tors, what families in the county arc
without pastoral oversight, etc.
The surveyors are also expected to
report upon church groupings, upor
conflicts in parish boundaries, upon
areas without Christian Influences
upon community centers or social
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 council will be expect
ed to assemble this information. 1t
will then be sent on for tabulation
to the state council but, in the mean
time, the facts will be laid before all
the leaders in all the denominations
of the county who will be invited to
attend conferences where local pro-
grams to fit the ascertained facts will
be worked out to be common agree
ment.
What is being done in Caledonia
county is being repeated in every
one of the 5000 rural counties of the
United States. Similar studies of
religious conditions abroad are be-
ing made through the missionaries
in the field, through governmental
forces, through private agencies and
through the headquarters of the
great American missionary societies
In. the course of time the Inter-
church World Movement expects to
have on file a map of every county in
the United States which will show
every railroad, trolley line, road, viii
lage, hamlet, church, lodge, school,
and where every isolated farm house
stands in relation to some church or
other religious center.
The Inter-church World Move
ment is a cooperative effort of the
boards, church extension
societies, and similar benevolent
agencies of all the Evangelical
churches to work out a unified Chris
tian program. 1t is not a movement
for organic church union. On the
contrary, it expects each denomina-
tional society to preserve its own
identity and work with it's own
money through its own machinery.
The idea is to make a systematic and
complete study of everything that is
to be done and to have all the con-
stitucnt bodies get together and
agree upon which part of the work
each is to undertake.
The movement originated last fall
with certain members of the Foreign
Missionary Board of the Presbyteri-
an church, South. Acting upon a
from these men, 1876 rep
of various missionary
societies of many denominations met
n New York City in December This
decided that something of
he kind could be done and appointed
, committee of 20 leaders in various i,
churches to work out plan.
The committee of 20 worked out
| system of cooperation it thought
would be satisfactory. To consider it,
| general conference was called at
Cleveland in May. This conference
vas attended by 500 delegates repre-
enting 200 different religious agen-
les.
1t amplifed and approved the plan
nd, from that movement, the Inter-
hurch World Movement was an ac-
fact. The general COM
nittee includes such we'll known
aaders as Stephen Baker, Fred B.
'mth, James M. Spears, Warren S.
tone, +. P. Haggard, Raymond To- t
ms and John Willis Blair. S. Earl
'aylor, executive secretary of the
1ethodist Centenary organization, is
eneral secretary. John r. Mott, in
head of the Y. M. C. A.
hartman of the executive commit {
,e. I
Realizing that no adequate pro-
ram of cooperation could be work.
n