Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-11
CHURCHES FACE BIC
|. PROBLEM AT HOME.
C. Melvin Sharpe Discusses
Some Causes for Inter-
church World Movement.

| with only about 10000 900 people
out Of i00.o0o.0o0 in the country more
or less intimately connected with the
various religious bodies in the United
States. 1t appears the churches have
home problem. indeed" said c. Mel
win Sharpe, director Of the interchurch
world movement campaign In the Dis
trict, last night. Mr.. Sharpe discussed
the need of cooperation on the part
of the churches.
THE survey Of the country con-
Quoted by the home mission division
of the tnterchurch world movement
indicates that. even when those per-
are exceedingly limited are taken into
account. 1t safely may be said that
less than half of the people Of the
United States are actively supporting
religious movements.
From the Rocky mountains west to
the Pacific coast the percentage of
Protestant church membership to the
total population is exceedingly small.
In New Mexico, Arizona. Utah. Nevada.
Idaho and in parts of Montana the
proportion is less than 10 per cent.
while in the coast states-California,
Washington and Oregon-it is not Is
per cent.
1.-THE interchurch world movement,
which is about to launch campaign
for $3S6.o00. 900 to spread Christianity
both in this country and abroad, is
| movement in which thirty de-
nominations are cooperating. House
| hold surveys conducted by the move
| ment are revealing thousands of per-
| sons. who in their childhood and
youth lived in homes where the church
influence was strong, and who were
| connected with Sunday schools, who
are not now actively related to the
+, church.
I'VE have a large number Of for
eign-born people settling in this coun-
! try. They have had a taste of the
freedom Of American life under bet
ter economic conditions. In many
cases they. have forsaken their old
having been educated in American
public schools. have abandoned their
family religion anu the churches of
| their fathers. Large majorities of
these groups are living today without
any attempt to cultivate the spiritual
1.-THE survey shows, too. that un-
married young people who move from
town and country to the large cities
| for business or education and families
| which leave the farm and The village
| to an astonishingly large degree fail
l
| in the cities. So far no adequate
method of the follow-up Of removals
I and transfers has been worked out
to avoid this great loss in church
| membership.
| Churches Fail to Cooperate.
| Surveys Of town. country and city
are all showing vast geographical
areas in which no church. is at work
at all. This is due in large part to
the fact that church forces of the
different denominations do not CO.
| operate in occupying territory, and
! do not distribute their forces, either
to the best advantage. The worst
| that can be said is that the church
leaders are ignorant Of the real stu
| alton. and especially of each others
plans. This leads to congestion of
| churches in certain centers and total
lack of church effort in other places
TIE home surveys show conclusively
that the moral and spiritual life OF
a community cannot be built up by
| absent treatment"