Six Thousand Country Churches Part 4

(7) _Interchurch Cooperation_

To subst.i.tute cooperation for compet.i.tion is an essential condition of rural church progress, at least in Ohio. Whenever the new program is adopted by a community it will discover that interchurch compet.i.tion is hostile to community prosperity. Many rural communities already know that interchurch cooperation is desirable. But the great question is how to secure it. Nearly every community is aware that it has too many churches, but the task of reducing the number or securing interchurch comity is a problem beset with difficulties. These difficulties, however, are by no means insuperable. Many communities have already found ways to overcome them.

In every community which really requires more than one church or pastor, there should be a federation of churches; that is, a joint committee of pastors and delegates officially appointed by the several churches to learn and meet the needs, religious, or social, which require concerted action. While such federations, which are carefully to be distinguished from federated churches, are common in our cities, comparatively few are found in the country. One of these is in Shiloh, Ohio, a description of which may be found on page 75. There appear to be no very great difficulties in the way of bringing such federations about.

In communities whose compactness permits, and whose population and resources require, that there should be only one congregation and pastor, but where two or more churches already exist, the churches clearly should either be united organically in a single denominational church, or a federated church should be formed. Descriptions of federated churches may be found on pages 59-69.

In a township or community where population and resources are inadequate to support more than one pastor, but where the population is so distributed that more than one place of worship and organized church are required, a federated circuit may well be formed and a common pastor be employed. In such case the several churches should be officially represented by a joint committee which would act for the circuit not only in employing the common pastor, but also in learning and meeting all the religious and social needs which require concerted church action.

In securing pastors and in other matters where a.s.sistance is needed, the local federated churches and federated circuits should be aided by the State Federation of Churches if there is one, and if not by such bodies as the Committee of Interchurch Cooperation of the Ohio Rural Life a.s.sociation. Both Federation and a.s.sociation are necessary for other purposes, and therefore no ground whatever exists for the objection sometimes made that federated churches will require the formation of new organizations to supervise them.

While it is true that an uneducated minister ordinarily cannot satisfy the people of various denominations, and that usually he is sectarian in his thinking and point of view, it is equally true that where a well-educated man is pastor, the needs of the people of various denominations can easily be met and church unity be made possible.

(8) _Community Churches_

The most successful rural church is the community church. Its members work chiefly not for the church itself, but for the community. Its ambition is to serve every person in its neighborhood, to create an environment favorable to the highest possible development of every person in the neighborhood, and to stimulate other organizations and persons to serve the community in every possible way. It is conceivable that there might be more than one such church in a neighborhood, but in this discussion it is a.s.sumed that a community church is the only church in the community, for by far the larger number of rural communities in Ohio should have but one church. Since, on an average, there are five churches in a township and only 1,448 persons, the formation of community churches is evidently both advisable and important.

The community church may be a denominational church or a federated church.

It is the judgment of most of the denominational officials who are members of the Committee of Interchurch Cooperation of the Ohio Rural Life a.s.sociation that wherever possible churches should be united in one denominational church through the reciprocal exchange and elimination of small churches by the denominational organizations. In such an exchange church members of denomination A would unite with the church of denomination B in community M, while members of denomination B would unite with the church of denomination A in community N, and so on. A number of such exchanges have been made, and so far as can be learned, they have worked well. But the members of the small churches frequently refuse to carry out this plan. They often care more for their local church than for their denomination, and are not willing that their own church organization should be destroyed. While such exchanges will doubtless continue to be made from time to time, it is unlikely that rapid progress will be achieved by this method alone.

On the other hand, the members of a local community are usually ready to form a federated church when they understand it. This has been done in Northfield, Aurora, Wayland, Olmstead Falls, Milford Centre and Huntington, in Greene Township, Trumbull County, and in many other communities. A description of some of them may be found on pages 60-69. If the officials and superintendents of the church should become as favorable to the formation of federated churches as they are to exchange between denominations, and should actively further the movement, they could without question bring about the unification of the churches in very large numbers of communities which stand greatly in need of it.

Here then we have two possible methods of uniting the Christian people in the rural communities. One of them--denominational exchange--is favored by the officials but often opposed by the people in the churches. The other--the federated church--is favored by the people in the churches and opposed by many of the officials.

It is our contention that in the majority of cases the method preferred by the people is more desirable than that preferred by the officials. For a man to leave his own denomination and unite with another often involves action against the conscience. In some of the denominations, for example, the members have been trained to think it undesirable to subscribe to a creed. But creed subscription is required by the churches of many of the denominations as a condition of membership. In such cases the church officials may properly hesitate to urge a part of the people to do what they believe is not right.

Another reason which often makes it impossible for the church member of one denomination to unite with the church of another is a temperamental distaste for the idea of submission to some special system of discipline.

To all Protestants this is clear so far as the Catholic Church is concerned. To many it is just as clear in relation to some of the Protestant bodies.

The official objections to the formation of federated churches involve no questions of moral principle, but merely those of expediency and the smooth running of existing ecclesiastical machinery. It is held by certain officials that the federated church tends to promote autonomy in the local congregations, and that it will impair the authority of the denomination. But this increase of autonomy has already taken place in the city churches, which, as a matter of practice, whatever the denominational theory may be, manage their own affairs. There is here no loss to the denomination, nor is there likely to be when the country churches are strengthened by federation.

In the long run the officials who now entertain objections to the federated church will doubtless not permit them to stand in the way of rural church progress. Particularly will this be true when a minister of their own denomination is to be made pastor of the federated church. It would seem wise, therefore, for the denominational authorities to agree that when federated churches are formed the choice of pastors should be made, so far as possible, on the basis of interdenominational reciprocity.

In view of the urgent needs of the rural communities, as a rule, those methods should be adopted which are most acceptable to the local people whose interests are involved. When the people of a community come to desire united Christian action in promoting community welfare, their zeal will usually be strong enough to overcome the difficulties in the way. But this desirable consummation is greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded where opposition is made by the denomination or its officials. Until the church officials and denominations are able to propose some other practicable plan for the readjustment of church life to community welfare, a plan which can be carried out, the demands of the situation certainly require them to help rather than hinder the movement for the formation of federated churches.

In any event they will not be able to stop it.

In the investigation striking cases were found of denominational officials opposing Christian unity in the mistaken belief that they were acting in accord with the sentiment of their denominations.

It has been reported to us that a certain denominational official has tried in ten different communities to prevent interchurch cooperation, although the local churches and the local people were for it. It might in charity be contended that in nine of these it was not Christian cooperation itself that was opposed, but rather the form of cooperation embodied in a federated church. But in the tenth community it was clearly Christian cooperation and not the form of it to which this official was hostile, for the people of the two local churches were merely meeting together, in union services on Sunday evenings, and for an occasional communion service. No federation or organic union was contemplated. But the old minister was removed, and a new minister was sent to the field with definite instructions to break up what unity there was. These instructions he carried out so thoroughly that the Christian forces in the community were greatly reduced in effectiveness.

In another community an official persistently tried to prevent the formation of a federated church, although himself acknowledging that he sincerely believed it was the very best thing that could be done for the local people. From two other communities it was reported that this same official was the only obstacle in the way of Christian unity. It is entirely probable that in many other communities these denominational officials have opposed Christian cooperation, for only incidentally did the authors hear of the cases reported.

(9) _Nonsectarian Support_

To give strength to the movement for interchurch cooperation, a strong interdenominational or undenominational backing is needed. On the part of the higher leaders and officials there is no lack of genuine desire to further interchurch cooperation. The same desire is shared by very large numbers of the younger ministers who are properly trained for their calling, and by many older ministers also. The movement, however, is often halted because of a feeling that somewhere in the denomination there is a strong sentiment against it.

Faintheartedness is the greatest obstacle to cooperation between churches at the present time. Numbers of actual instances could be given if it were proper to do so. What is needed, therefore, is an active movement between or outside of the denominations, to strengthen those officials who hesitate to promote interchurch cooperation. Such a movement would finally reveal the fact that the prevailing sentiment in the denominations is really in favor of cooperation and not against it, and many who now oppose it or refuse to help would become most valuable agents in promoting it.

It must not be a.s.sumed that the day of denominations is past. Although, as between most of the denominations, theological differences no longer exist, and other differences between many of them are small, denominational feeling is still dominant. The slight differences loom large. Denominational officials for the most part feel that their chief duty is to their denomination, from which they hold their official power; and this duty is very absorbing. Hence it is often most difficult to gain support from denominational authorities and churches for interdenominational projects.

Moreover, the direction of interdenominational organization, at the present time, is largely in the hands of men who are responsible for denominational interests, or the interests of other organizations which require their wholehearted and undivided support. While the cooperation and combined judgment of such men is invaluable in the wise direction of interdenominational projects, in Ohio they fail as a driving force. This is now the chief cause of weakness in the interdenominational movement for church and country life in the State.

Both the work for the country church and for the promoting of rural business are rendered ineffective by lack of pecuniary support. In spite of this, however, plans for progressive work both for rural business and rural church are well developed, and have been tested; and moreover, the feasibility of progress in both these lines of endeavor has been thoroughly proved. Two things, then, are now required. These are funds and federated or independent direction of their use.

We may well expect that adequate funds will be given for carrying on this work in the years immediately following the war. After the sacrifices of war those of peace by comparison will not seem large--while the sacrifices of both peace and war are equally necessary for the realization of the high ideals which as Americans we cherish.

This war as nothing else has done, has caused men in general to realize that there are tasks for all other than the commercial enterprises of the day, and that each of us must accept his share of the responsibility for their performance. What is worth fighting for during the war is worth working for after the war.

CHAPTER VII

FEDERATED CHURCHES

There are many rural communities in Ohio where the churches exert a vital influence in community life, and where farm life succeeds in holding families of moral, intellectual, and physical vigor. In some instances the communities and their churches have not been seriously affected by the modern conditions and tendencies which elsewhere are acting unfavorably upon the country church and country life. In other instances, intelligent leadership on the part of the ministers has overcome these conditions.

Many of these ministers highly appreciate the help they have received from the modern country church movement, while not a few have testified that without it they would have failed.

In a very large part of rural Ohio the need of interchurch cooperation is keenly realized. In the divided communities the people, for the most part, want to get together, but they do not know how. But in many communities practical methods have been found and tested, and by these methods Christian cooperation has been brought to pa.s.s and the rural church conditions have been greatly improved. For that reason descriptions of actual successful cases of interchurch cooperation are here supplied.

These examples are intended to include federated churches, church federations, and denominational union churches, as well as certain striking cases of the work of the church in community service. The uniting of Christian forces will not by itself alone insure rural church progress.

The new country church program must be added. In its absence, a real advance appears to be impossible.

_Greene Township_

Greene Township, Trumbull County, is situated in northeastern Ohio, in the Western Reserve. In 1900 it had a population of about 800 persons, in 1910 about 100 less. Some of its residents are descended from the early settlers from New England, others have recently moved in from western sections of Ohio, while possibly 10 per cent are of foreign birth. That its people have been somewhat progressive is indicated by the fact that it was among the first three townships in the State to establish a centralized school.

Greene is not a rich township. It has no railroad. About 40 of its houses are now vacant. Fields which formerly were producing good crops of wheat, corn, and oats are now growing up to brush. The young men between 25 and 30 years of age who were going into farming before the war can be counted on the fingers of one hand. It is probable, however, that a new era in agriculture has begun. Quite recently drainage, and in some cases the application of lime, have reclaimed much waste land. Still other land will be treated in the same way and with equally good results. Doubtless, as elsewhere, progressive country church work will greatly a.s.sist a general movement in the township to secure abundant prosperity.

In the geographical center of the township are two churches, Methodist Episcopal and Disciples of Christ. These two are about equal in strength, while in the northwestern part is a Baptist church with but three or four families in its membership. The latter, however, supports a Sunday school of 30 or 40 attendants.

Formerly, three resident ministers lived in the community, but for twelve years there had been none. The Baptist Church holds only occasional preaching services, the Disciples have depended for their preaching upon student supplies from a neighboring theological school, while the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church have lived outside the township at North Bloomfield, five miles away, where there are Methodist Episcopal, Disciples, and Congregational churches. The Methodist Episcopal Church at Greene, therefore, was part of a circuit of two churches.

As is usually the case among farming people of Ohio where there are no resident ministers the people of Greene Township received very few pastoral calls. Several families in the southeastern section of the township have had little or no a.s.sociation with any ministers or churches.

Mr. Gill recently visited the township on a pleasant Sunday, and learned that less than 30 of its 700 people that day went to church.

As an indication that the churches of Greene Township have been losing their hold on the people, it may be noted that an increasing number of families do not ask clergymen to officiate at funerals. The undertaker sometimes conducts a short service at the grave, or his wife reads a prayer and pa.s.sage of scripture. In view of immemorial custom, the absence of a clergyman on such occasions is significant.

The total amount of money contributed annually to the support of the ministry in Greene Township has been not more than $600. Of this the Methodist Episcopal Church paid its minister $300. The North Bloomfield Church in an adjacent township paid him $500, so that the total salary of the Methodist minister who gave part of his time to Greene Township was $800. Obviously this is not enough to support a family and enable the minister to keep a motor car or a horse. A large part of his time and energy, therefore, was spent in walking from parish to parish and from house to house through an area of 50 square miles.

In January of 1917 a joint committee was appointed by the churches of Greene Township to consider the questions of securing a resident pastor, increasing the size of the Sunday school and congregation, and rendering all other forms of service needed in the community. It was decided by this committee that a federated church should be formed in which each const.i.tuent ecclesiastical body would preserve its own ident.i.ty. Each church would independently meet its obligations to its own denomination in all matters outside of the community, while all the members of the churches would unite in local activities, including the support of a resident minister. A country life inst.i.tute was held to stimulate the desire for community improvement, and the plan of church betterment was set forth and adopted.

To secure support for a minister, a thorough canva.s.s was made by a committee of six representing the three churches. As a result of its work no less than $1,500 was subscribed. "Our results," wrote the chairman of this committee, "have surpa.s.sed our brightest hopes. It is a genuine pleasure to work for something that is going to help the whole community and not just a part. I believe the interests of the Kingdom will be advanced most where effort is united in rural communities. In our canva.s.s for funds we were surprised to find that the non-church people were not willing that the churches should close their doors. In addition we found they had a deeper interest in the church than we could possibly expect.

One old man, probably sixty-five, said that this was the first time he had ever been asked to give to the support of a church. He added that he often felt he would like to give. Many a man said he would double the amount of his gift if it was necessary."