The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-25
International
SunddySchooHesson
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
By WILLIAM 7. 4


For June 81 is Review. THE Noble
Life of Samuel"
Super strategy of state.
What the press had widely acclaim
ed as the new and big and modern
strategy of religion in North America
has practically collapsed within the
past two months. The Inter-Church
World movement, which ipent mill
liens in an effort to raise millions, and
which, with unexampled pFess-agent-
ing undertook to impose modern
Methods and efficiency and system
upon the church, is confessed fall
iure. 1t has been unable to raise more
than half of it's financial objective,
amd it has been repudiated by some OF
TIN. Great denominations.
DesFite it's endorsement by shiewd
business men, despite the Rockefeller
special train Of speakers, who are
eminent leaders in the commercial
and political world, despite an elabor-
ate organization so intricate that few
could grasp it's ramifications, the In
ter-Church World movement must be
written down a failure1altho 1T has
been by no means without results,
some of them permanent. and aithe
its detectives We're praisewerthy.
A sudden creation by officials who
had caught the eontagion of the meg
lomania of "big business" the move
ment and its makers have been re.
iected by the sober second thought OF
Christian people; altho out of it, we
hope, there may emerge saner ana
more responsible leadership, a surer,
more Scriptural basis of cooperation
among the churches and a return TO
the tested integrities of Christian>s erV-
| ice, such as have alone brought sue
cess to the church turnout the cen
turtles.
Something like a crisis now results.
There is danger that disbursement
will take hold of the men who toiled
| to meet the worlds present emergency
thru this huge new machine. The
| public at large may jump to the con-
elusion that because the ILter-ehurch
| Movement has failed therefore Chris
tianity has failed.
In truth, the very rejection of this
elaborate organization by the ehuFeh
is proof of the vitality and courage
and independence of the great multi
| tude of pastor and church members,
| who refused to be swept off their feet
by this amazing adaptation of worldly
methods to a spiritual enterprise; ana
who hold fast to the conviction that
| the supreme enterprise of the church
is not the raising of money. The mass
mind of Christians has MADE itself
felt.
New Leaders for New Times.
Obviously, the present condition is
| the result of poor leadership; the huge
bulk of organized Christianity was
| expected to follow the direction OF
| small group of men in New York,
who undertook to lay plans for all the
churches, afterward asking the en-
dorsement of their plans by the
| churches. That the outcome OF the
lHnter-church Movement must neees-
| sarfly be the retirement of eensid-
! erabie company of men from official
positions in the general organizations
| attached to Christianity is a foregone
| conclusion upon which it is not pleas
ant to dwell. AS they pass into priv
1 ate life, and more obscure positions, II
should be without bitterness on the
mart of ANYBODY; local congreg cations
should be the gamers by this inevita-
| BILE withdrawal from posts of promi-
nenee to the quieter spheres where
/, most of the work of God is done; ana
where the vast majority of Christians
| find ample field for the exercise on
all the qualities OF CHRISTIAN apih'y
These men are but going the Sam
| uel way; may they show the Samuel
spirit.
The iucident-for, after all, in the
, larger view. it is only an incident in
the progress of the church-sharply
reminds us that the problem of every
time is the problem of leadership.
That is why we are considering 1t now
in connection with this Sunday School
Lesson Review. Samuers whole life
was bound up with the question of the
lea dership of Israel. He was called in
early childhood to prepare to take the
post of Eli the lea Ter who had been
| found wanting. In time, changed con-
ditions, the effect of public opinion,
| forced Samuel out of his post of ma
| tional leadership. Instead of becom-
ing soured, or sulking in his tent.
Samuel was appointed by God to the
/ task of choosing leaders for the new
era; and ne 1t was who anointed
f1sraers first two kings, Saul and David.
J Samuel was the Old Testament
Best type of spiritual leader. His char
aeter ami conduct were unblemished.
I He wanted only to find out the viii of
God and do it. He was as courageous
as a warrior, as gentle as wemanS
His one law and guide was the word CT
God. His personal dignity lends him a
quality of real grandeur: he was a gem
! tleman without fear and without re-
preach" His personal griefs never af-
fected his public duty. He remains I'd
| serene and benign and pubiic-spirited
| thrueut all vicissitudes. His loyalty
was not fessened, nor his spirit en-
Filtered, by his own releEatien, to a
secondary position. He knew how to
Meet with Triumph and Disaster.
And treat those two impostors just the
same"
Glance Toward Japan.
There is such a thing as super
! strategy of state. It is the wisdom
l which looks beyond methods and per-
| senalities, and seeks to impart a new
spirit to a nation or to the world. The
skill with which the statesmen Of ia
| pan have revived Shintoism for their
larger purposes might be called super
strategy. On broader scale, it is
what is most urgently needed in world
| politics at the present time. to avert
4 impending Generalization and disas-
/ ter. Financial and economic and mill
/ tary and political measures are we'll
/ enough in their way; but they are all
wasted effort unless this old world
gets a new set of impulses that will
make it more brotherly and less self
! ish IN word the ir1snfratfens a1d