Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1920-05-13
A COMMUNITY CHURCH

The last editorial we wrote for
our former Idaho paper was com
mending the Interchurch World
Movement, and it seems fitting
that our first plunge into the
News Record editorial pool.
should be along the same line.
We believe firmly in the churches
and also in the work the churches
are doing. Next to the American
home, we believe the church
stands first in Importance of all
organized institutions. Its history
is the story of unseltish service,
moral uplift, the sowing of good
seed for character building, and
the reign of righteousness among
men.
This paper announced a few
days ago the resignation of the
Presbyterian pastor of this place,
and last Sunday we heard read
the resignation of the local pastor
of the Methodist Church. Thus
the pulpit of the two Vashon
churches are now pastorless.
Both retiring pastors are good
men. but in these days of sky
rocketing prices for all living
materials, one finds it well nigh
impossible to meet necessary ex-
penses on a salary which hovers
around a hundred dollars per
month. The community is trying
to do its best toward supporting
these two churches, the pastors
did their best to faithfully serve
their respective folds, but the
system is what appears to us to
be the weak part of the problem.
Does Vashon really need two
evangelical churches? We have
no doubt but some will loudly
answer yes, but we also be-
lieve most of the community
residents will hardly agree that
two churches are vitality needed
to minister to the spiritual and
moral needs of the people Of this
|place.
There are many places scatter
ed over this country which have
no church services within a radi-
us of many, many miles, Children
are growing up without knowing
what a Sunday School means, and
the sick have no pastor to comfort
them, and relatives can find no
preacher to bury their dead. But
Vashon- Maury Island is NOT one
of these places. Here there are
divers and sundry churches of
divers and sundry denominations.
There is a supply and demand for
pastors, but we feel the question
of distribution is now a para
mount issue.
| Why not have one church and
one pastor for this community and
thereby make room for one pastor
to labor in some other field that
is now destituteg
True, there are some minor
| differences between Methodists
and Presbyterians. But this could
also be followed up with another
| subdivision of Free Methodists,
Wesleyan Methodists and Meth
odist Episcopals ad infinitum
There are Presbyterians and
Cumberland Presbyterians and
United Presbyterians, and all ex-
pect to go to heaven irrespective
of the name.
The editor of this paper is a
| Baptist, his parents We're Free
Will Baptists, but we fancy in
the other land there will be no
separate rooms for any of the
members OF these particular earth
creeds. We hope the day will
soon dawn when churches will
altogether cease quarrelling over
names, and church polity, and
creed, and unite on the Golden
Rule of the Gallilean Carpenter.
There are some obstacles in the
way of one union charch for
Vashon The biggest difficulty
as we see it, is the two beautiful
church buildings, with their re-
lspective parsonages. We believe
the obstacles could be overcome