The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-11-05
USE or SCIENCE
BY CHURCHES IN
CITIES is URGED
Dr.. Lyman P. Powell Says
Great Mission Field
Is Overlooked.

BIZ Timcs Special
NEW Y~-E, Nov. 5.-American
churches, which yearly send small
armies of missionaries across the
world into Africa and Asia, stand
most desperately in need of mis-
sionary work in the field which
should receive their most concen-
trated attention, the heart Of the
great American city.
This is the view expressed by DR..
Lyman P. Powell, distinguished
educator and lecturer, who several
years ago undertook the ministry of
st. Margaret's Episcopal church in
the most rapidly growing section
of New York city, the Borough OF
the Bronx.
"Of the million persons in the
Bronx, only ITO, 001 even nomlnally
are attached to any 1old," DR.. Powell
writes in the current issue of The
Review Of Reviews. And with less
than 20 per cent Of the BronXites
religiously affiliated, the one-quar-
ter of these habitually attending
services bring the total of the de-
pendably religious down to perhaps
4 per cent, and indisputably makes
the Bronx as definitely a missionary
field as midas coral strand or
Africa's sunny fountains"
Church Must Be Center
What churches must do if they
are to hold their ground and pro-
gress in the polyglot and material
istic city of today, DR.. Powell be-
lieves, is to devote less time to alb
struse theology and differences OF
dogma, and to give more attention
to making the church an active
social agency, center OF neighbor-
hood life and a welcoming friend
for newcomers who are puzzled
where to turn for help with their
everyday problems.
In such regions as the Bronx, to
be found in every great American
city, the population is made up
largely of newcomers from the
country, the small town and for
eign land, he points out. These
find it difficult to adjust themselves
to neighborlesS life in small apart
mentS.
There perhaps are families repre-
senting a dozen different races in a
single block, living among the nat
ural racial and antipathies which
delay social cohesion. The conSe
quence, unless the church steps il
as guiding influence, is an indi-
vidualistic, bohemian existence
which results in the disintegratior
of family, as well as social, life.
Ministers Must Get Busy
If ministers would stop arguing
a. miracles and get busy doing
what they can with the aid medi.
cine and psychology now lend tc
religion" says DR.. PoWell's Review
of Reviews article, "the world voulC
accept more quickly Edna st. Vim
cent Millay's stout saying: The
! Church of God is not a candle
Blow on"
Ministers and their church work
ers, he continues, must discard The
old ideas of positive and inherent
! good and evil and supplement theil
efforts with scientific knowledge.
THE queer one is in many 6
home" he says. ITO call her devil
ish is to betray ignorance. Menta
inheritances and moral tendencies
can be tracked to their lair.
sDental LESSONS, eye strain, mites.
final infections and oUher irregu-
laritieS may explain much. What
ever the cause of the queerness. il
must be treated with intelligence
and patience. Scolding, beratine
and ostraciSm are as Anticipated az
| the ball and chain"