Chapter X: Missionary Programs and Rural Community Service

Long years of experience in foreign missionary service has vitally affected the methods of carrying the gospel of Christian living to those who have not yet come under the influence of the Christ. Here the demonstration method of what Christianity means in terms of increased human welfare has done far more to spread the gospel than simply preaching to people. The freeing of the millions now living under the control of other forms of religious belief by introduction of schools, together with the message of health and better moral ideals through the practice of Christian living, has done more to spread Christianity than all the efforts of attempting to build a Christian spirit into a civilization not suited to it nor prepared for it.

The missionary agencies in the home fields have learned from the experience in the foreign fields, and now the programs of home missionary boards are characterized by their large emphasis upon the social gospel. The revival of interest in religious life in this country coincident with the recognition of its vital significance in sound social organization has come so rapidly and popular support has been so liberal that grave danger exists lest the funds made available should be used unintentionally in ways that tend to defeat the purpose of the gift. The church, in its benevolent program, should take advantage of the lessons learned by private philanthropic agencies in dealing with problems of reclamation of the unfortunate or of stimulating to a larger life.

Many of the efforts at social progress fail because of lack of clear statement of objectives. So far as the rural work is concerned, the following are presented as necessary objectives, if the rural church is to succeed in measuring up to its task. It is believed that funds of the church can be used safely and wisely in their attainment.

1. Strengthen the weak places in rural church work in harmony with principles of interdenominational ethics and well-established principles of benevolent assistance.

2. Increase effectiveness of rural ministry by training ministry now in service in modern methods of church work and by recruiting and training a new ministry in sympathy with rural life and devoted to its improvement.

3. Organize rural church work so that every rural family will have definitely assigned pastoral care.

4. Adjust interdenominational relationships so that the ideal of but one resident pastor and one church to each community may be realized.

5. Provide means of interdenominational cooperation so that rural religious forces may work together in dealing with common problems of rural social and religious progress.

6. Organize rural work so that it may have due consideration in the general policies of religious organizations.

7. All the above are preliminary to the one great object, from the social point of view, namely, that of making it possible for the rural church and the rural minister to function most effectively in bringing more abundant life in the best sense to rural people.

After religious forces are organized so that they can present a united front in the attack on the great social problems of rural life, then the individual churches and all churches together can undertake to meet the challenge outlined in earlier chapters of this text and also well presented in much of the recent literature on the subject. But effective organization must precede most effective and permanent service.

Certain principles have been the guiding influence in the program on which the rural department of at least one of the leading denominations has been working. For those who come to positions of administrative responsibility from time to time without having been under the necessity of acquainting themselves with the principles that should guide in the safe expenditure of funds for maintenance of pastors, these are given here:

1. Principles of interdenominational ethics should be observed in making grants of missionary funds to local pastors. It is to be feared that too often funds have been used to sustain a local work in the presence of another denomination when efforts at interdenominational adjustment would have relieved the situation by removing the necessity, namely, that of division of local resources by competing religious forces.

2. Owing to the unusual problems presented on charges asking for missionary aid only the ablest ministers should be assigned to such points. They should be supported according to their needs through missionary aid, and their acceptance of difficult work should enhance rather than lessen their standing in the church.

3. Rigid avoidance of use of missionary funds for purposes of charity, or for making appointments easier. The charge, not the minister, is the objective.

4. Centralization of effort on a few places instead of dissipation of funds in providing inefficient service in many places.

5. Gradual but certain withdrawal of support from national or State boards in order to avoid pauperizing communities by relieving them of their local financial responsibilities.

As one of the most serious problems connected with rural missionary service is that of interdenominational complications, an effort has been made to work out certain principles that may be observed by all religious organizations carrying out a rural program. At the annual meeting of the Home Missions Council in 1914 a statement of principles was adopted. In 1919 the rural fields committee of the Home Missions Council undertook the revision of these principles in the light of later experience and adopted the revision as a committee report. Because this document represents the best judgment of those in the various denominations concerned with rural work it is presented herewith as a desirable basis on which grants of funds may be safely made. The statement is presented in full:

Persuaded of the urgent need of some comprehensive and united
plan for the evangelization of our country and for closer
cooperation to make such plans effective, the Home Missions
Council proposes for the consideration of its constituent
societies the following principles of comity. It is to be
distinctly understood, however, that no ecclesiastical
authority of any kind is implied except as ecclesiastical
bodies shall adopt these policies as their own. They have only
the moral force of the consent of the parties desiring to see
them become effective.

FIRST. As to the occupancy of new fields. The frequently
suggested plan for the entering of new territory is to divide
it among the various denominations, holding each body
responsible for the proper working of its field.

a. In the judgment of this Council this course of procedure
would seem to be impracticable. But a sensitive regard not only
for the rights but for the sentiments of sister bodies of
Christian people is demanded by every consideration of
righteousness as well as fraternity.

b. In districts or in places already occupied by any
denomination new work should be undertaken by any other body
only after fraternal conference between the official
representatives of the missionary organizations embracing those
localities.

c. Occupancy of the field shall be determined by at least the
following characteristics:

1. The establishment of a regularly organized church.

The establishing of a Sunday school shall not be deemed
sufficient to meet the terms of this definition.

2. The appointment of a pastor who shall be expected to hold
services in the community at least once every two weeks.

3. The provision of church building and equipment within a
reasonable time adequate to the needs of the community at its
present stage of development.

The occupation of a field by any denomination after conference
and agreement shall give to that denomination the right to the
field and the responsibility for its Christian culture until
such changes in population shall make it desirable that it be
shared with one or more other denominations.

If the above conference shall fail to reach agreement, it shall
be the privilege of the aggrieved party to make appeal to its
respective board or society, which board or society shall
confer with the sister board or society concerned, and these
boards may then request the superintendents of the
denominations concerned for the field in question to make
personal investigation and to report their findings to their
respective boards. If they agree, the boards shall take action
in accordance therewith. If they disagree, the matter shall be
referred to the boards for such action as their wisdom may
determine, which action shall be communicated to the churches
concerned with whatever ecclesiastical or moral force their
decision may command.

SECOND. In communities already occupied by two or more
denominations, in case any church or mission station shall
consider itself aggrieved in its relations to sister churches,
the course of procedure outlined in Section I shall likewise be
followed.

There shall be friendly conference in the spirit of the Great
Head of the church and recourse be had, when necessary, to the
local or national missionary authorities, whose findings
properly communicated shall have behind them the moral force of
this Council.

Where any denomination occupies a district by groupings of
mission stations under one missionary the same principles shall
apply and the same method of adjusting differences shall be
followed.

THIRD. "Overchurched Communities." Not infrequently the promise
of new towns fails of fulfillment, with the result that there
are more church organizations than in any economic view should
be maintained--at least out of missionary funds. In many
sections of the country also, because of the marked shift of
population from agricultural communities to urban centers,
overchurching has weakened all denominations to the point where
missionary effort is necessary to restore again a wholesome
religious life. Regardless of the cause of overchurching,
whether from the undue optimism of the newer sections of the
country or changed conditions in the older, or other
conditions, the problem of overchurching must be dealt with in
the true spirit of comity and cooperation for the sake of the
common good.

a. The principle should be established that one Protestant
church is adequate for each community of less than 1,500
inhabitants; and that efforts should be made to bring about
interdenominational readjustment to this end in all sections of
the country where economic and social conditions have become
sufficiently established to make improbable any marked or rapid
increase in population within a short time.

b. In communities of over 1,500 inhabitants there should not be
more than one Protestant church to every 1,000 population.

c. In communities of over 1,500 inhabitants and of less than
5,000, plans should be worked out whereby the different
denominations concerned shall cooperate in providing adequate
building and equipment for community service. Such building
should be strategically located and should be controlled by a
governing board made up of representatives, the number of whom
from each denomination shall be determined by the
_constituency_ of that denomination in its proportion to the
total Protestant or cooperating population. The rules for the
control of the activities of such cooperative community service
should respect the standards of the respective denominations.
The support of such community service should be apportioned to
the respective denominations concerned to be raised in their
respective budgets in proportion to their respective
representation on the governing board.

d. It shall be the duty of the denomination to which
responsibility shall have been allocated to provide the
best-trained leadership and the best service of which it is
capable out of consideration to the other denominations that
have intrusted the spiritual welfare of their membership to
this group.

e. In determining what denomination has prime responsibility in
a given community of under 1,500 inhabitants the following
shall be considered.

1. Present resident membership and constituency. The
organization having the largest bona fide membership and
constituency should be considered as having prime
responsibility, from this point of view.

2. The residence of the pastor. In general, the pastor's
residence should be given larger weight than membership unless
the denomination having prime responsibility according to (1)
stands ready to provide a pastor's residence in the community
where this denomination has prime responsibility from the
point of view of membership.

3. The location of the church building. The denomination that
has a building located in a village center should be given
precedence over the denomination that has its headquarters in
the open country near a village. The building of the village
church should be suitably located for adequate community
service; that is, near the center of the village.

4. As between the village and the open country church, the
village church should be given prime consideration in putting
on an aggressive community program.

5. No missionary or "sustentation" support should be given by
any cooperating denomination to a pastor in an overchurched
community nor to a "circuit" involving interdenominational
competition until after an adjustment is made either by
reorganization of the circuit or an agreement has been reached
by the missionary and administrative bodies of the respective
denominations concerned as to an allocation of such missionary
responsibility.

6. Church extension aid should not be given toward the
rebuilding of churches in these communities until after
allocation of responsibility has been effected.

7. If after due effort to secure satisfactory adjustment of
relationships according to the plans suggested in First above,
and by such further arbitration or other means as may be
adopted by the Home Missions Council or its constituent
bodies, then the denomination seeking such adjustment shall
be at liberty to develop its own work as it may see fit,
standing ready, however, to make agreement with competing
bodies whenever they wish to renew negotiations.

8. In the interests of the Kingdom, after missionary
responsibility has been allocated, efforts at unifying local
religious organizations may take the form of federation,
assimilation, affiliation, or such other mode as may be
determined on by the local churches concerned.

9. Plans should also be worked out whereby the religious forms
of the different groups may be respected; that is, that
membership in the remaining religious organization may be
obtained by fulfilling the obligations of the cooperating body
with which the persons belonging to the withdrawing
organization would naturally affiliate.

10. It is understood that nothing in this proposed set of
principles implies that withdrawal from given fields shall be
forced. It is only intended to provide a plan whereby all
forces both local and general shall be united as rapidly as
possible in the attainment of the desired end, namely, that of
unifying Christian service in given communities.

11. In determining the limits of communities to which this
plan shall apply the Federal Census Bureau designation of
communities of 2,500 and under as rural shall be adopted
except as noted in paragraph 5c.

FOURTH. Inasmuch as many of the constituent bodies of this
Council are already by official action committed to the
principles of comity which we advocate, it would seem
reasonable to hope that at least gradually these principles
would find realization along some such lines as here proposed.

It is manifest, of course, that no plan of procedure can be
expected to cover all cases or to be of universal
applicability. We are glad to record that in some States there
are Interchurch Federations to which local comity matters would
naturally be referred. For other cases this Council proposes
the erection of an Interdenominational Commission, to which any
matter of comity not otherwise provided for may be referred by
mutual agreement of the parties at interest. One representative
of each of the bodies having membership in the Home Missions
Council shall constitute this commission. When any case calling
for adjudication shall rise, which case shall previously have
had the consideration of any one or more of the constituent
bodies of the Home Missions Council, it shall be referred to a
Committee of Three chosen from this committee and acceptable to
both parties. The decision of this committee shall have no
ecclesiastical force, but its utterance shall be regarded as
voicing the united judgment of the Home Missions Council and so
far forth shall be binding on its constituent bodies.

It is recognized that these principles do not receive the most enthusiastic support of church leaders who are thinking in terms of denominational progress instead of community welfare. But this lack of support is an evidence of their value instead of a criticism. Denominational interests must be sacrificed for the sake of the advancement of the entire cause when the two come into conflict. There is reason to hope that not only Protestants but also Catholics and Protestants can come to cooperate on programs of community service, thus overcoming forever the vital objection to religious leadership now made that because of fundamental differences in belief the two great branches of the church cannot render an organized community service.

The relations of the benevolent boards of the several denominations to other church organizations are such that but little can be said concerning methods of relating missionary work to the larger program of community service. In each case where projects for missionary aid are presented effort should be made to see that local conditions are made such that the pastor can render the best service. It must be recognized that the application for outside aid is in itself an admission of local weakness. The people are poor, or indifferent to the type of service to which they have been accustomed. There has been unforeseen disaster, as the destruction of church property by fire or in some other way. Sudden movements of population have temporarily weakened the support of the church and new resources have not yet been developed. Circuit systems must be broken up so that people will be willing to support full-time resident pastors with efficient programs for service. Customs of expecting the pastor to make his living in outside work and attending to religious service as a side issue must be overcome. The pastor's residence may be in such condition that families cannot be sacrificed for the sake of missionary communities and residences must be supplied by liberal outside aid as the preliminary to effective service. Church buildings are inadequate, and the trained minister must be given every assurance that aid will be rendered in bringing physical equipment up to par. In each case the problems that present themselves must be met. The demands of any one charge do not compare with the demands of any other. And methods must be adapted to meet the specific needs of each charge. These are matters that must be left to those responsible for administration of missionary funds.

When the religious forces of America learn their problems so that a long-time organized program of religious advance can be worked out, when they learn to cooperate in carrying out this program, then the haphazard, wasteful, competitive missionary program that has characterized rural religious work in the past will disappear and we shall see one of the most marked advances in religious welfare the world has ever known.