{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_32703/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_32703","id":"gutenberg_32703","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32703","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - American","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Rural churches","Rural clergy"],"text":"E-text prepared by Tom Roch and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed\nProofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made\navailable by Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (CHLA), Albert R.\nMann Library, Cornell University (http://chla.library.cornell.edu/) and\nInternet Archive/American Libraries\n(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations.\n      See 32703-h.htm or 32703-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/32703/pg32703-images.html)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32703/32703-h.zip)\n\n\n      Images of the original pages are available through\n      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See\n      http://www.archive.org/details/makingofcountryp00mill\n      or\n      Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (CHLA),\n      Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University\n      http://chla.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=chla;idno=2750849\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAKING OF A\nCOUNTRY PARISH\n\n      *      *      *      *      *\n\nLIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS\n\n_Volumes Issued_\n\nThe Church a Community Force. _By Worth M. Tippy_\n\nThe Church at the Center. _By Warren H. Wilson_\n\nThe Making of a Country Parish. _By Harlow S. Mills_\n\n\n_Cloth, 50 Cents, Prepaid_\n\n\nADDITIONAL VOLUMES TO BE ISSUED\n\n      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\n[Illustration: FROM BEULAH TO BENZONIA]\n\n\nTHE MAKING OF A COUNTRY PARISH\n\nA STORY\n\nby\n\nHARLOW S. MILLS\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nMissionary Education Movement of the\nUnited States and Canada\n1914\n\nCopyright, 1914, by\nMissionary Education Movement\nof the United States and Canada\n\n\n\n\n  TO THE REV. AND MRS. F. A. NOBLE, D.D.,\n  WHO MADE THE SUMMER OF NINETEEN\n  HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN MEMORABLE\n  IN THE LARGER BENZONIA PARISH BY\n  THEIR PRESENCE, AND BY THEIR\n  KINDLY AND HELPFUL INTEREST IN ITS\n  WORK, AND TO WHOM THIS STORY\n  OWES ITS SUGGESTION AND INSPIRATION,\n  IT IS MOST GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  CHAPTER                                           PAGE\n\n  FOREWORD BY NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS                    ix\n\n  INTRODUCTION                                      xiii\n\n  KEY TO MAP                                        xvii\n\n  DESCRIPTION OF THE MAP                           xviii\n\n  I THE HISTORICAL SETTING OF THE STORY                1\n\n  II SOME CONVICTIONS OUT OF WHICH THE VISION CAME    12\n\n  III HOW THE VISION CAME                             25\n\n  IV HOW THE VISION BECAME A REALITY                  36\n\n  V THE METHODS OF THE LARGER PARISH                  59\n\n  VI THINGS YET TO BE DONE                            97\n\n  VII SOME RESULTANT CONCLUSIONS                     113\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                    PAGE\n\n  FROM BEULAH TO BENZONIA                   Frontispiece\n\n  MAP SHOWING THE LARGER PARISH                      xvi\n\n  CRYSTAL LAKE AND BEULAH FROM BENZONIA               10\n\n  THE PLATT LAKE CHAPEL                               72\n\n  THE BENZONIA CHURCH                                104\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nFor many years lovers of the republic have been warning our people as to\nthe perils of modern city life. In 1800 one person out of thirteen lived\nin the city; to-day nearly every other citizen lives in a large town, or a\ngreat city. The city is the home of wealth, commerce, and finance; the\nhome of music, art, and eloquence. Once each year all the great leaders\ncome for a stay, long or short, to the metropolis. The birds leave the\ndesert to seek the oasis, with its palm trees and springs of water. Young\nmen, for two generations, have been deserting the farm and the village, to\nmake their home in the great city. Many unexpected perils have sprung up\nfrom this massing of population. Among these dangers are the tenements,\nsaloon, gambling houses, dens of vice, the tendency to anarchy, incident\nto the contrast between the palaces on the avenues and the rookeries on\nthe Bowery. Insane people, defective children, men and women wrecked\nthrough drink and drugs, are some of the incidental results of congested\npopulations. Innumerable addresses have been given upon the perils of the\ncity life, and innumerable pamphlets and books have been published filled\nwith warnings and black with alarm. The inevitable result is that the\nattention of the people has been focalized upon the manufacturing towns\nand the large cities.\n\nNow comes the Rev. Harlow S. Mills, with his study of the rural\npopulation. With the wisdom made possible by twenty years of first-hand\nknowledge he sets forth the influence of the country upon the large town\nand city. He tells us that the country has furnished the leaders for the\npeople. It is in the country that the boy has his opportunity of brooding\nand reading and reflecting, while in solitude he develops his own gift\nand grows great. The Church has learned to depend upon the country for its\ntheological students, as well as for its best students of law and\nmedicine. But of late the country church has suffered grievously through\nthe pull of the city upon its best young men and women. The inevitable\nresult has been that as the city church has waxed the country church has\nwaned in wealth, numbers, and influence. Many things have occurred during\nthe past twenty years that are calculated to stir the note of fear, lest\nthe life and institutions of the republic, rooted in the country, should\nslowly starve. One of the problems of the hour has been the rejuvenation\nof the country Sunday-school and the country church.\n\nLeaders of the past generation have struggled often in vain with this\nproblem. Twenty years ago, the Rev. Harlow S. Mills, a friend of my\nboyhood, took a country church in northwestern Michigan, and started in to\ndevelop the same community spirit among the people who lived in widely\nseparated school districts that the student finds developed in the wards\nof a great city. The story of these twenty years is full of fascination to\nall lovers of their fellow men and of the Christian Church. Mr. Mills has\nmade some important discoveries and established certain mother principles\nthat should be of invaluable service to the one half of our people living\nin small towns and rural districts. I believe this author and lover of his\nfellows has grown the good seed that ultimately will sow the continent\nwith bread.\n\nNEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe rapid growth of our cities and towns during the last quarter of a\ncentury has brought us face to face with a serious problem. The religious\nand social conditions that have arisen give occasion for grave\napprehensions, and have been subjects of careful thought. The City Problem\nhas been widely discussed. Much thought and effort have been expended in\nits solution, and, while progress has been made and the outlook is\nhopeful, the end is not yet. Within recent years another problem has\narisen which is scarcely less serious than that which the city presents,\nand that is the Country Problem. There are two reasons why this has not\nattracted special attention until quite lately. First, the city problem\nhas been so serious and so acute that it has occupied the public mind to\nthe exclusion of conditions in the country. And, in the second place,\nthose conditions have increased in seriousness so rapidly in recent years\nand their demand for attention and careful consideration has become so\ninsistent and imperious that it can no longer be disregarded. No\nthoughtful person can now blink the fact that there is a country problem,\nthat it is equal in seriousness to the city problem, and that the two are\nso intimately related that neither of them can be solved by itself alone.\nThey stand or fall together.\n\nI have no theory to present, nor any philosophy to exploit. I have no\npatent way of solving either the city or the country problem. I have only\na story to tell of some things that have been done that may point the way\ntoward a solution of the country problem. It is the simple account of an\nexperiment in the work of religious and social welfare that promises to be\nsuccessful. The parish that is spoken of may be regarded as an experiment\nstation, and this story is only the account of the working out of certain\nmethods. It will be enough if the story shall prove to be some small\ncontribution to the solution of the important and difficult country\nproblem.\n\nOne of the greatest difficulties I had in writing this story was with\nmyself. Some of the experiences were so purely personal that I hesitated\nto speak of them and I shrank from the so frequent use of the personal\npronouns. In the first draft of the story I resorted to all manner of\ncircumlocution to avoid their use, but I found it difficult to adopt any\nconsistent form and the result was to weaken the impression. So, acting on\nthe advice of able and judicious critics, I concluded to tell the story in\nthe simplest and most direct way.\n\nH. S. MILLS.\n\nBENZONIA, MICHIGAN,\n\n_August 15, 1914_.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE LARGER PARISH\n\n(WEST HALF OF BENZIE COUNTY, MICHIGAN)]\n\n\nKEY TO MAP\n\n1. Benzonia Village, Benzonia Township. Church Organization, Church\nBuilding. Morning Service every Sunday. Sunday School, Christian Endeavor\nSociety, Woman's Missionary Society, Weekly Prayer Meeting, Ladies' Aid\nSociety.\n\n2. Beulah Village, Benzonia Township. Chapel. Evening Service every\nSunday, Sunday School, Ladies' Aid Society.\n\n3. Eden, Benzonia Township. Church Organization, Schoolhouse (Chapel,\n1914). Evening Service every Sunday, Sunday School, Christian Endeavor\nSociety, Weekly Prayer Meeting, Neighborhood Club, Ladies' Social Circle.\n\n4. Champion Hill, Homestead Township. Church Organization, Chapel. Morning\nService every Sunday, Christian Endeavor Society.\n\n5. Platt Lake, Benzonia Township. Chapel. Afternoon Service on alternate\nSundays. Ladies' Aid Society.\n\n6. North Crystal, Benzonia Township. Private Home (Chapel, 1914).\nAfternoon Service on alternate Sundays, Sunday School, Ladies' Aid\nSociety.\n\n7. Grace, Gilmore Township. Church Organization, Chapel. Morning Service\nevery Sunday, Sunday School, Neighborhood Club, Ladies' Aid Society.\n\n8. Demerley, Joyfield Township. Schoolhouse. Afternoon Service on\nalternate Sundays, Sunday School.\n\n9. South Chapel, Benzonia Township. Chapel. Evening Service on alternate\nSundays, Sunday School.\n\n10. East Joyfield, Joyfield Township. Chapel. Evening Service on alternate\nSundays, Sunday School.\n\n11. Liberty Union, Benzonia Township. Schoolhouse. Afternoon Service on\nalternate Sundays, Neighborhood Club.\n\n12. South Elberta, Gilmore Township. Schoolhouse. Sunday School.\n\n\nDESCRIPTION OF THE MAP\n\nIn order that the term, \"The Larger Parish,\" the name by which the work of\nthis story has come to be familiarly known, may be understood, some\ndescription of its geography and topography as represented on the\naccompanying map, may be necessary.\n\nThe Larger Benzonia Parish is situated in Benzie County, Michigan, eight\nmiles from Lake Michigan and at the east end of Crystal Lake, one of the\nmost beautiful small lakes in the state. Benzonia-Beulah, the twin\nvillages which are at the center of the Larger Parish, are on the Ann\nArbor Railroad, which extends diagonally through the state from Toledo,\nOhio, to Frankfort on Lake Michigan. The Larger Parish includes Benzonia\nTownship and portions of Lake, Homestead, Joyfield, Gilmore, and Crystal\nLake Townships. It divides itself into three sub-parishes: the North\nParish, with two churches, Champion Hill and Eden, and two out-stations,\nNorth Crystal and Platt Lake; the South Parish, with one church, Grace,\nand five out-stations, South Chapel, Demerley, East Joyfield, Liberty\nUnion, and South Elberta; while between these is the Central Parish, with\nBenzonia on the hilltop and Beulah in the valley, half a mile distant.\n\nThe map represents the western half of Benzie County, and the various\nchurches, chapels, and other out-stations are designated.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE HISTORICAL SETTING OF THE STORY\n\n\nThe story of New England with the Pilgrims left out could be neither\nunderstood nor appreciated. We must know something about those sturdy,\nconscientious men and women who became exiles and crossed the stormy\nAtlantic that they might have \"freedom to worship God.\" We must understand\nsomething about the barren and the wintry coast that received them,\nsomething of their struggles and sufferings, their aims and aspirations,\nif we would know the history of that civilization that they founded, or\nget a true conception of the experiment in democracy that they so\nsuccessfully wrought out.\n\nThe story that is about to be told had its Pilgrims. To leave them out\nwould be to spoil the story. It cannot be understood without knowing\nsomething of their heroic spirit, their sincere devotion, and the manner\nin which they permanently impressed their ideas and their personality upon\nthe community which they founded and the institutions which they planted.\nSome account of its historical setting will be necessary in order to make\nthis story of country evangelization complete.\n\nThe half century between 1825 and 1875 witnessed the most remarkable\neducational movement that our country has ever seen. It was the era of\ncollege planting. During that period a line of Christian colleges was\nprojected from New York to California, many of which have been developed\nand stand to-day as monuments to the zeal and foresight of that remarkable\ngeneration of nation builders. The value of their work, and its influence\nfor good upon the people and the institutions of the most populous, the\nwealthiest, and the most influential section of our country cannot be\nestimated.\n\nIn 1858 a company of people from northern Ohio, who had lighted their\ntorch of religious and educational enthusiasm at the flame of Oberlin,\ncame into the vast wilderness of northern Michigan with the purpose of\nplanting there Christian institutions. They were high-minded, sturdy\npeople, with strong religious convictions. The Pilgrims did not bring to\nthe New England coast a truer motive or a purer purpose. They were willing\nto put into the enterprise their lives and their fortunes. They stamped\nthe new community that they founded with the impress of their ideals, and\nthat stamp has persisted.\n\nThese modern Pilgrims repeated with some modification the experiences of\ntheir New England prototypes. After a long and stormy voyage on the Great\nLakes they landed in the late autumn on an inhospitable coast, built them\nsome rough shanties that their descendants would not consider worthy to\nshelter their cattle, and there they passed a severe winter. They explored\nthe northwestern Michigan woods, and finally, with a strange indifference\nto the importance of a railway to the development of a town, they lighted\nupon a level plateau on the top of a high hill, two hundred feet above the\nplacid waters of beautiful Lake Crystal, and eight miles from Lake\nMichigan, and there they pitched their tents. Like Abraham, their first\nwork after entering the Promised Land was to build an altar to Jehovah,\nand like him and their New England ancestors, they built it on the highest\nelevation that they could find. One of the first things they did was to\nselect a site for a church and for a school, and, standing under the tall\nmaples and beeches, with hymn and prayer, to dedicate that high hilltop to\nthe cause of Christian education.\n\nThe church that they planted, the first in all the Grand Traverse region,\ncelebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its organization in 1910. It has\nnow a membership of about three hundred, and is the center of the\nreligious and social life, not only of the immediate community but also of\nthe territory known as \"The Larger Parish,\" twelve miles long and ten\nmiles wide. It has been the mother of churches, and now stands encircled\nby a number of younger organizations that are growing strong and sturdy\nunder its cherishing influence.\n\nBenzonia, the village that they founded, never became the populous center\nthat they hoped it would be. There are now but about four hundred people\nliving on the hilltop, and nearly as many more in the village of Beulah,\nwhich, at the bottom of the hill nestles around the head of the Lake, half\na mile away. The two villages of Benzonia and Beulah form one corporation,\nand contain together about seven hundred inhabitants. The school which\nthey established is still doing business, though not exactly in the way\nthat they anticipated. They thought to repeat the history of Oberlin by\nplanting in the woods of northern Michigan an institution of learning such\nas the fathers planted in northern Ohio. But the conditions were very\ndissimilar. Oberlin was in the zone of quick settlement. Cities and towns\nsoon sprang up all about it, and it became in a few years the center of a\nlarge population. But the northern Michigan region developed very slowly\nand it was a long time before there were enough people to maintain a\ncollege or to justify its presence. But from the first there was in\noperation a school of high order, and it performed a splendid service in\nthose early years, doing the educational work for all that region, and\nsupplying teachers for the public schools throughout a wide territory. It\nis now conducted as an Academy and is doing an excellent work, sending\nforth each year large classes of young people well prepared to enter any\ncollege or university in the country. The Academy has been maintained very\nlargely by the gifts and sacrifices of the people of the community, and is\nan important factor of the work that is being wrought out in \"The Larger\nParish.\"\n\nThe people of this community are unusually homogeneous. There are no Roman\nCatholics, few foreigners, and no colored people. They are hardworking and\nindustrious, none of them possessing large wealth, and none of them being\nvery poor. All are compelled to toil for their daily bread. There, if\nanywhere, it is possible to live \"the simple life,\" and in such healthful\nconditions the community life has developed. Though the presence of the\nAcademy has been a means of culture and the center and inspirations of\nliterary life, it is by no means true that all the people in the wide\nparish are well educated. A few miles from the village primitive and\npioneer conditions are found, and there is no lack of genuine missionary\nground.\n\nThe social life of this community is very satisfactory. There are no\nclasses or cliques. The people mingle together freely on a common basis,\nand exemplify to an unusual degree the principle of brotherhood. There has\nnever been a saloon in the community, and the people are for the most part\nsteady-going and law-abiding. They are loyal to their home institutions,\ncrowding the church on Sunday and taking a lively interest in all things\nthat pertain to the welfare of the village and the surrounding country.\nThey are dependent upon themselves for literary and musical\nentertainments--no shows or moving picture combinations ever come that\nway. But a good lecture course is maintained, and there are frequent\nmusical and literary entertainments by the Academy and high school and by\nthe people of the town; so there is no lack of the means of recreation,\nand that of a high order and of a helpful character.\n\nAt the west end of Crystal Lake, eight miles distant, on a beautiful tract\nof land with frontage on Lake Michigan, as well as on Crystal Lake, are\nthe grounds of the Frankfort Congregational Summer Assembly. The location\nis superb, and it is rapidly becoming a favorite summer resort, attracting\npeople even from New England and from the Pacific coast. The relation\nbetween Benzonia and the summer assembly is very close. It is easily\naccessible by frequent boats. Every year they have \"Benzonia Day,\" when\nthe Assembly adjourns to the beautiful campus on the hilltop, enjoying a\ndinner together under the trees and a well-arranged program of speeches\nand music. The residents of the surrounding country come in crowds to\nthese outdoor festivals and they are eagerly anticipated by all. They\nafford a fine opportunity for the people of the vicinage to meet in\nfriendly intercourse those who come from distant parts of the country to\nenjoy the cool breezes and the woods and lakes of the northern Michigan\nregions, and they are appreciated by all. Sometimes the Assembly is the\nhost, and the people of Benzonia are the guests. During the summer the\nleading ministers of the country are frequently in the Benzonia pulpit,\nand so the people, though living quite remote from the great centers, and\nnot given to much travel, have the privilege of hearing the most noted\nspeakers, and thus come in touch with the good things that are being said\nand done in the wider world.\n\nThe Academy and summer Assembly are closely related to the work of the\nLarger Benzonia Parish. While this work has not been dependent upon them,\ntheir presence and influence have been a great stimulus and\nencouragement, and they have added strength and stability to the movement.\n\nThus briefly is sketched the setting of the story that will be told in the\nsucceeding chapters.\n\n\n[Illustration: CRYSTAL LAKE AND BEULAH FROM BENZONIA]\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nSOME CONVICTIONS OUT OF WHICH THE VISION CAME\n\n\nA conviction is a great thing. It is the egg out of which all great\nenterprises are hatched. Almost everything that is worth while was once\nwrapped up in a conviction. Abraham had a conviction that he ought to obey\nGod's leading. He took his journey to the \"land that he knew not of,\" and\nwe have as the result the Hebrew race, and all that has come out of it for\nthe world.\n\nThe vision of which I am telling the story was at first only a conviction.\nThere were a few things of which I had become certain. Just how the\nconviction seized me I hardly know, but I like to think that it came from\nthe same source from which Abraham's conviction came, and that thought\nhas made me confident in following this guiding gleam.\n\n1. I became convinced that the real object of the Church is to _serve_ the\npeople, and that its claim for support should rest upon the same ground\nupon which every other institution bases its claim for support--that it\ngives value received. That has not always been the idea of church people.\nThey have considered the Church as a divine institution, and that because\nof its divine origin and sacred character it can properly demand respect\nand support. There was a time in the not very distant past when the\nministers of the Church, as its representatives, might demand reverence\nand respect because of the position they occupied. There was much of\nreverence and regard for \"the cloth.\" But those days are past. Now the\nChurch is valued only for what it does. If it does nothing, it need no\nlonger look for respectful recognition. If it makes no contribution to\nthe community whose value can be seen and appreciated, it cannot expect\nsupport or favorable regard. People do not care very much for clerical\ndignity in these days. They are not asking what place a man occupies, or\nwhat kind of clothes he wears, but what he does for the community. Is he\nrendering valuable service? They are quite ready to pay for service that\nis of real worth, but for dignity and traditionary sanctity they have\nslight regard.\n\nThere are some who seem to think that the Church makes good by building\n_itself_ up--that if it becomes strong as an institution, if it flourishes\nin its outward aspects, it justifies its existence. They are well\nsatisfied if it increases in numbers, if it erects splendid and beautiful\nbuildings, if it contributes substantially to the glory of the\ndenomination to which it belongs, whether it really serves the people or\nnot. But it can never answer the ends of its existence by simply building\nitself up as an institution. There have been periods in the history of the\nChurch when it was very strong as an organization, but very weak as an\nelement of helpfulness in the lives of the people. Fine buildings and\nstately ritual and high social standing can never satisfy the great\nFounder of the Church. Jesus said, \"The Son of man came not to be\nministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.\"\nHe sent his Church on the same errand. Unless it is doing the thing for\nwhich it was sent it has no justification for its existence. It is here to\nserve, to help the people. In-so-far as it actually does serve it may\nclaim and expect love, recognition, and support--but no further. This\nbecame one of my strong convictions.\n\n2. I also became convinced that the Church, if it makes good must serve\n_all_ the people. The impression has sometimes prevailed that the Church\nis for good people, for those who are respectable. It has been thought of,\nand sometimes it has thought of itself, as under obligations to minister\nto the religious people of the community, or to those who can be induced\nto become religious. There is a large class of people who are not\nreligiously inclined and who have no affiliation with the Church, and who,\nperhaps, are not likely to have, for whom it has not been thought to be\nresponsible. In almost every parish, or within reach of it, there are\nnumbers of people who are not touched by the Church, and who are not\nconsidered to be material for the Church to work upon. Some are outside of\nits influence because they live so far away that they cannot easily be\nreached. Some because of their character and standing in society are\nconsidered beyond its pale. What would be the effect if a company of women\nfrom the street should come into one of our beautiful and respectable\nchurches for a few Sunday mornings? How would they be received? Would the\nushers show them comfortable seats? Would they be welcome in the pews of\nthe good people who have come together to worship God? And yet, the great\nHead of the Church came \"to seek and to save that which was lost.\" He did\nnot shun such people or banish them from his presence. He was \"a friend of\npublicans and sinners,\" and brought down upon himself serious criticism\nbecause he did not discriminate more carefully in the matter of his\nassociates. The Church should have the spirit of the Master, and, wherever\nthere is a man, woman, or child, there is one in whom the Church should be\ninterested, and whom it should seek to serve, whatever may be his\ncharacter, his condition, or his standing socially. It became one of my\nstrong convictions that the Church has a definite mission to every person\nwithin the possible range of its influence, and out of that conviction\ncame the vision.\n\n3. It also became plain that if the Church would fulfil its mission it\nmust serve _all_ the interests of the people. I was brought up with the\nidea that its mission was largely, if not exclusively, spiritual. Its\nchief and almost only concern was the soul of the individual man. It was\nthought that a man has a soul, and that that soul was in peril. His _soul_\nmust be saved--that was the important thing. It was of small consequence\nthat the man himself went to the dogs, if only his soul was saved. The man\nwas forgotten in anxiety for his soul. We were the victims of a false\npsychology; as if a man and his soul could be separated--as if there could\nbe any such thing as simply saving the soul of a man! We have come to see\nthat a man, though composed of many parts, is a unit. He is not put\ntogether mechanically, so that one part may be taken and treated and the\nother parts ignored. He is not built in separate compartments, his soul in\none, and his body in another. Christianity is not dealing with souls\nalone. It is dealing with men, and we are becoming interested in all that\nmakes a man a man. The conviction became strong that the Church should\nhave something to say and something to do with everything that goes to\nmake up the life of the man; that it should make itself felt as an\ninfluence in his business, his education, his recreation, his home life,\nas well as in his so-called religious exercises; that it should be a force\nwith him on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday as well as on Sunday. In\nother words, the line that has been supposed to separate the sacred from\nthe secular must be obliterated, and every common thing must become\nsacred. It was seen that everything that has a rightful place in the life\nof a man should be the concern of the Church, and that whatever cannot be\nbrought into harmony with the Church and its principles has no proper\nplace in the real life of a man.\n\n4. The conviction became strong that the village church, if it would\nfulfil its mission, must be responsible for _country evangelization_. It\nmust reach out into all the surrounding neighborhoods, and touch the\npeople in a vital way for many miles around. In the popular conception the\ninfluence of the church has been contracted and narrowed till it does not\ninclude half the territory nor half the people embraced in its\nresponsibility. Many ministers are content to tramp around in the narrow\nconfines of their own village, with an occasional excursion into the\ncountry, while there are scores of families living a little more remote\nfor whom they are attempting nothing. Some ministers look upon their\nchurches as their field rather than their force--a field to be cultivated\nrather than a force of workers to be led out into the widestretching\nfields that lie beyond. This is a serious mistake. Such a limited\nconception of the extent of its work and such an inadequate idea of its\nreal responsibility and of its best opportunity will certainly condemn a\nchurch to comparative uselessness, and in the end to failure. When all the\nvillage churches get the vision and see their work in its fulness, the\ncountry problem will be solved.\n\nCountry evangelization belongs primarily and practically to the village\nchurch. The village church is the only one that can really take it up and\ndeal with it in a successful way. It is in the power of the churches in\nthe villages and small towns to change the whole aspect of things in the\ncountry, religiously, morally, and socially.\n\nFor some years the pastor and church of this story had been trying to do\nsomething for the outlying regions, but they had not grasped the idea that\nall the people for many miles around who were not cared for by some other\nchurch were in their parish--that for them they were responsible and to\nthem they had a mission. They began to see that they were not doing half\nthe work they might do and ought to do; that there were scores of\nfamilies, and hundreds of people, to whom the church was nothing, who\nshould be made to feel its force in a stimulating and uplifting way. They\nbegan to feel the pressure of that obligation that had rested on them all\nalong, and of which they had been unconscious or unheedful. The voice of\nGod began to sound plainly in their ears, \"Go ye forth into these ripe\nharvest-fields, and gather sheaves for the Master.\" The conviction became\nso strong that they ought to take up the wider work, and the duty grew to\nbe so plain that they wondered that they had not seen it long before.\n\n5. The conviction became strong that, if the village church would fulfil\nits mission, it must be a community church. I used to think that the\nchurch had simply to do with individuals; that its work was to reach out\nhere and there, to get hold of this one and that one, and that there its\nwork terminated. Society was thought of as a heap of sand, and not as an\norganism. Man was considered in himself alone, and not in his relations,\nand so he was misunderstood, for nothing can be truly and fully known\nexcept in its relations. But it has become plain that this exclusively\nindividualistic conception was a mistake; that there is such a thing as\ncommunity life, the life that all the people have in common; that men are\nbound up together by common interests; that they are members one of\nanother; that \"none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself.\"\nThe conviction became strong that the church should take account of this\ncommunity life of which the individual is a part; that it should concern\nitself not only for men, but for _man_; that it should serve the whole\ncommunity, and that nothing should be foreign to the church or ignored by\nit that in any way concerns the common life of the people.\n\nThis conviction did not detract from my estimate of the importance of the\nspiritual, or of the individual. I still regarded the spiritual part of a\nman as his most essential part. It was still plain that we have to deal\nwith men as individuals, but I recognized them also in their organic\nrelation to the whole life of the community. Not only were the men's souls\nto be saved, but the _men_ themselves were to be saved. Not only were the\n_men_ to be saved and lifted up to a better life, but the _whole\ncommunity_ was to be saved, and the community life was to be uplifted and\nplaced on a higher plane.\n\nOut of these convictions, which grew more and more positive, came the\nvision whose fulfilment is the subject of this story.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nHOW THE VISION CAME\n\n\nThe genesis of a vision is always interesting, though often obscure. On\none day a certain side of life is a blank. There is no outlook, no hint of\nthe coming brightness. On another day that side of life is made all\nradiant and glorious by a vision, clear and definite, that beckons on to\nfuture achievement. Sometimes it comes suddenly, like Peter's vision when\nhe was upon the housetop in Joppa; and sometimes it dawns gradually, and\nlittle by little paints itself in beautiful colors upon the sky of one's\ninner consciousness. As remarked in a previous chapter, a conviction is\nthe egg from which the vision comes; but the egg is only dead and formless\nmatter until it is brooded over and warmed into life. So a conviction may\nbe strong and positive, but it may exist for a long time, formless,\nlifeless, and useless, until it is quickened into vitality by the brooding\nspirit of a man, and thus becomes an active and inspiring force. So it may\nbe profitable and necessary to the proper understanding of this story to\ntell how the vision came.\n\nFor fifteen years I had been working away in my country parish. They had\nbeen happy years of glad, harmonious work. I was satisfied with my job.\nThough remote from the great centers of population, in a small village,\nand with people of very modest means, that restless feeling that spoils\nthe peace and mars the work of so many ministers had been absent. My\npeople were of the strong and sturdy sort, faithful and appreciative\nbeyond many, ready to cooperate in carrying out any plans of work that the\npastor might propose. They were splendid followers, responding quickly to\nall my suggestions. There was a good understanding between myself and the\npeople.\n\nI was called to pass through deep affliction. My home was broken up by a\nsudden stroke and I was left alone. Into the dark valley of sorrow my\npeople accompanied me as far as they were able to go, and the effect\nseemed to be to unite us with bonds that were very strong and tender.\nEvery home in all the parish was mine. All the children belonged to me.\nThere was a chair for me at every fireside and a plate at every table.\n\nBut as the years went by there came some tempting opportunities to engage\nin work elsewhere. I was not without my ambitions and aspirations. I\nwanted to fill out the full measure of my ability and do my best work. And\nwhen some opportunities came that made the little country parish seem by\ncomparison rather small and meager, I was not altogether proof against\nthem. To become assistant pastor in a famous church in a large city--to\ntake up the work of general missionary for a whole state seemed to promise\nfields of usefulness so rich and large that they made a strong appeal to\nthe best there was in me, and perhaps also to the worst. I spent some\nweeks and months in considering these propositions and finally turned them\ndown. I could not bring myself to sever my connection with those to whom I\nhad been so long and so closely related. The personal tie was too strong\nand I decided to remain with my people.\n\nWith the decision came a thorough heart-searching. It marked a\nturning-point in my spiritual history. I was impressed with the thought\nthat if it was God's will that I should remain in my present work, it must\nbe for a special purpose. Things could not be in the future as they had\nbeen in the past. It would be criminal to turn down a larger work for one\nthat was small unless there were good and sufficient reasons for doing\nso. If it was the Lord's will that I should remain in that country parish,\nthere must be some work there that it was worth while for me to do, some\nwork that in a proper degree, at least, would approach in importance the\nlarge proposition made by the city and the state. What was the work? Was\nthere anything to be done among those hills and in those rapidly\ndisappearing forests that could fire a man's ambitions and satisfy his\nhigh aspirations?\n\nJust here the vision came. At first a whole township was revealed as a\npossible parish, with every family tributary to the church, and the church\nperforming a valuable ministry for them all. The vision expanded until it\ntook in another township, and parts of three or four more. It became plain\nthat almost half a county was tributary to the church, that five hundred\nfamilies and twenty-five hundred people were waiting for its ministry. It\ndawned upon my mental vision that I was called upon to be the pastor of\nall these people, for five or six miles in every direction, that the\nBenzonia church was responsible for them all, that they had a right to\nlook to us for service and help, and that if we failed to give it we\nshould be unfaithful to our Master and recreant to our trust. Then I said:\n\"Here is something worth doing. Here may be wrought out an experiment in\ncountry evangelization and rural betterment that may help to arrest the\ndownward trend that has become so alarming in these latter days. It was\nfor this that God has kept me here. If I can make this vision a reality, I\nneed not pine for a larger field. If I can help others to see the vision,\nand inspire them with enthusiasm to make it real in larger fields than\nmine, and in many parts of our country, I shall never regret that I stayed\nby the stuff.\" The vision came as a compensation. It was the reward that\nGod gave for following his leading along those ways where natural\ninclinations would not have disposed me to go. God wants us to do our best\nand largest work. He never calls us to a smaller work. If he bids us walk\nalong a humble path and go in an obscure way, we shall find our true\nlife-work there.\n\nThe church had for many years been much interested in both home and\nforeign missions. I preached frequently upon the subject, and kept it\nconstantly before the people. Regular collections were taken for\nmissionary objects, and the Every Member Canvass plan had long been in\noperation. The response was always general and liberal. In fact, those who\nwere well acquainted with the churches of the state have often said that\nin proportion to its resources, its gifts were larger than those of any\nother church. Not only did they give money, but they also gave their sons\nand daughters to carry the gospel to less favored regions. Many of the\nyoung women of the church had gone to teach in home mission schools. And\nthere came a beautiful summer Sabbath when a favorite niece, brought up in\nmy home, and an active and useful member of the church, beloved by all,\nwith solemn services in the little church on the hilltop was consecrated\nto the foreign work and sent forth with the prayers and blessings of all\nthe people to represent them among the awakening millions of China.\n\nAs I was sitting in my study one day pondering upon these things, the\nabsurdity of the situation came over me all at once. \"Here we are\ngathering money to send our sons and daughters to the distant parts of the\nearth, but we are doing absolutely nothing for scores of families that are\nalmost within the sound of our church-bell. We feel some responsibility\nfor the millions of people of other lands whom we have never seen, and\nnever shall see, but we have not felt very much responsibility for those\nwho are separated from us by only a few miles. We are anxious to give the\ngospel to the colored people, the Chinese, and to those of alien races;\nbut we have felt no such anxiety for those of our own race who are not so\nvery far away. There are many families and hundreds of people within five\nor six miles of our church that are practically without the gospel, as\ntruly as are the Chinese or the South Sea Islanders. We have made no\nsystematic effort to interest them in these things. We have given them no\nreason to believe that we are drawn out toward them with Christlike\nmotives. Surely there must be something wrong in our calculations.\" Then I\nheard the Master say, \"These ye ought to have done, and not to have left\nthe other undone.\"\n\nAnd then came the vision of \"The Larger Parish.\" I saw the church\nreaching out its hand and touching tenderly but effectively all the people\nin the surrounding country. I saw the church feeling some responsibility\nfor every family, and counting them all as within the bounds of its\nparish. I saw every family in all that wide region as tributary to the\nchurch. I saw the church making systematic plans to carry the gospel to\nall these outlying neighborhoods. I began to think of all those people as\nmy parishioners as truly as were those who lived near the church and were\nmembers of it. And so the vision dawned upon me of the Larger Parish. In\nmy own mind I annexed all the surrounding country and began to make plans\nfor the evangelization and helping of all the people who dwelt therein. So\nunder the stimulus of foreign missions the vision came of the work that\nshould be done and could be done nearer home.\n\nAnd it may be well to add that since the work of the Larger Parish began,\nthe contributions to foreign missions have more than doubled. There are\nthose all over this wide territory who knew little and cared less about\nmissions three years ago, but who now are eager to make some contribution\nto the support of the missionary in China, half of whose salary our Church\nis pledged to provide.\n\nAnd so the vision came, from above as all good visions do, but it came\nwhile walking in the pathway of duty, in the unfolding of a larger\nexperience. He who follows the dawning light will see the vision.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nHOW THE VISION BECAME A REALITY\n\n\nThe chief value of visions is in their fulfilment. A visionary man is one\nwho sees but does not do. He has revelations of splendid possibilities,\nbut they do not materialize. The sky of his inner consciousness is all\npainted over with beautiful pictures, but those designs never get on the\ncanvas or into the marble or find their fulfilment in flesh and blood. The\nmost elaborate plans and specifications will not shelter a family nor\nconstitute a home. They must be embodied in brick and stone and timber in\norder to make them valuable. Only the concreting of ideals can save the\nvision-gazer from becoming a visionary.\n\nIt is always interesting and instructive to trace the process by which a\nvision is made real. Often the pathway to the goal is obscure, difficult,\nand tedious, but it is worth while to follow it. This chapter will be an\nendeavor to trace the process by which the vision of the Larger Parish\nbecame a reality.\n\nI had a clear apprehension of two things--the work to be done, and the\ninstrument by which it must be accomplished; but just how the instrument\nwas to accomplish the work was not so evident. Here was the church, and\nhere were the people; but how could they be brought together to their\nmutual advantage? I had been a very busy man for years. My time had been\nfully occupied and I had not supposed it possible to take more work. How\nwas I to multiply my activities many fold and still be efficient? The\nchurch had been active and aggressive. It had been doing large things. In\nthe opinion of some it had been straining itself beyond reasonable limits\nin carrying on its work. How could it quadruple the size of its parish by\nannexing all the territory within a radius of five miles in every\ndirection, and increase its constituency several times over. Would it not\nbe swamped by its acquisitions? Would it not be overwhelmed by the number\nand greatness of its obligations and responsibilities? It had not\nadequately ministered to all the people in its smaller parish. How would\nit be when its boundaries were so greatly increased?\n\nThese and many other doubtful questions presented themselves, and the\nanswers were not at hand. But there were the outlying neighborhoods;\nwithout consulting them I had annexed them to my parish. There was the\nchurch; without asking its consent, in my own mind I had multiplied its\nwork and increased its burdens many fold. I had a task with the people to\nmake them willing to be annexed; with the church, to lead it to accept\nits heavier burdens and its larger responsibilities; and a still greater\ntask to bring the church and the people into such relations that the work\nshould be accomplished. How did I go about my task?\n\n1. The first thing to be done was to make a survey of the field. I began\nto think of all the twenty-five hundred people in this Larger Parish as\nbelonging to me. I felt a measure of responsibility for them all. We, as a\nchurch and pastor, must do something for them all, and in order to do it,\nwe must know them all. So I started out to visit all the families in this\nwide territory. Many of them, of course, I knew already. But many that\nwere more remote I had not touched closely, though in my fifteen years'\npastorate there were few who had not some acquaintance with me. I tramped\naround over the whole parish, living with the people, often being absent\nfrom my home for two or three days at a time, until there was scarcely a\nhome in all that region in which I was a stranger. This was most\ndelightful and rewarding work. There was a welcome for me everywhere.\nAlmost without exception the people seemed pleased to come in touch with\nthe representative of the church. Weary of body, but glad of heart, I laid\nmyself down at night under the shelter of some hospitable farmer's roof\nafter having spent the evening in friendly conversation with him and his\nfamily. Such an opportunity to get up close to people is worth a score of\nsermons.\n\nThis visiting tour occupied many weeks--in fact a large part of the autumn\nmonths was spent in this way, and in many desirable things more was\naccomplished in those three months than had been done in the fifteen\nprevious years. I came to know the outside people as I had never known\nthem before. My touch with them was warmer and closer. I came to think of\nthem in a different way. My interest in them was more definite and more\nintelligent. I came to understand the field--to know its extent, its\ndifficulties, and its encouragements--and so I was prepared to grapple\nwith the task God had given me.\n\nThe effect upon myself of these tours among the people was most salutary.\nAside from the information that I gained, there was an even greater gain\nin sympathy, in understanding, and in the inspiration and enthusiasm that\ncame into my own soul. I usually made these apostolic tours on foot. I\nwould start out in the morning with my staff in hand with a general route\npreviously marked out. If I saw a man plowing in the field, I would sit\ndown with him on the plow-beam while his horses were resting, and have a\ngood talk about his farm, his home, the matters of interest in the\ncommunity, and there was almost always a good opportunity to get in a few\nwords about the things of the Kingdom. Then at the dinner or the supper\nhour, when all the family were together, there was a chance to get into\nthe home life, and to be for the time a part of the family circle. I found\nthat when I met the people, not as a minister, but as a man and a friend,\nthere was always a hearty and a glad response, and it was easy to secure a\nsympathetic hearing for my projects and plans. There was much gained in\nestablishing such close relations with the people. Without such a basis,\nthe work of the larger parish could hardly have been successfully carried\non.\n\n2. My task with the church, in bringing it to get my point of view, to see\nthe vision as I saw it, and to cooperate in making it a reality, was not\ndifficult. They were ready for the larger work--at least, they were ready\nto be made ready. All they needed was light and leading. This I undertook\nto give. I told them my vision of the Larger Parish. I held it up before\nthem continually, preaching it on the Sabbath, and talking about it in\nthe prayer-meeting. I described the situation as it had been revealed to\nme in my apostolic tramps. From week to week I could see the kindling\nflame of enthusiasm in the congregation. There was evidently a rising tide\nof interest in the wider work. The people began to see the reasonableness\nof it. They began to feel some sense of responsibility for it, some joy\nand hope as the possibility of doing it began to dawn upon them.\n\nI believe that the rank and file of our churches are more ready to march\nforth to larger service than most of us have thought. There is really more\nwillingness to take up new tasks and to engage in aggressive enterprises\nthan they have had credit for. The people want something to do. They want\na work that is worth while. Many churches are languishing for a job which\nthey may apprehend and accept--for something large enough and difficult\nenough to challenge their powers and kindle their enthusiasm. And when a\nproposition is made to them that seems sane and sensible, when they can\nhave confidence in their leaders, they are generally ready to fall in line\nand to march forward with firm and steady tread. That was the case with\nthis particular church, and they have stood behind the work of the Larger\nParish from the first in solid phalanx. There have been no kickers, no\nknockers. In all this work I have had the satisfaction of knowing that the\npeople were with me. They have been helpers all the way and not hinderers.\n\n3. But how should we begin? How can we move out into this Larger Parish\nand get hold of this greater work? In some way we must be something to all\nthese people. We must find a way by which the church may make itself felt\nas a force in all these five hundred homes. But how? Well, I began to\nhold services in the schoolhouses around. I could at least hold one\nmeeting a week in these out-stations in addition to my regular duties.\nThat seemed a very small beginning, but it was a beginning. It was the\nentering wedge to the larger work that followed. On Wednesday nights some\nof my people would take me to these more distant points, where I was\nalmost invariably greeted by a good and attentive congregation. I had no\nconveyance of my own, and of this I was glad, for it gave an excuse to\ncall upon my people for transportation, and gave them a chance to have a\npart in the work; for I considered that the success of the work depended,\nnot so much upon what I did or said, as upon the attitude that the people\nof the church took toward it. And the presence of the men with me in these\nservices greatly increased the effectiveness of the efforts. I was a\npreacher and I was simply \"on my job.\" _They_ represented the church and\nproclaimed to the people in the outlying regions its attitude toward them.\nIn some of the neighborhoods there were no schoolhouses, and the services\nwere held in private homes. In this simple way the work began to grow.\n\n4. At first I had no definite thought of how the work would develop. I\nsimply started out to do what I could for the people in this wide\nterritory. But it soon became evident that one man would not be able to do\nall the work that was opening up before me. The need of a helper began to\npress heavily, but the possibility of securing one had not yet dawned upon\nme. The General Missionary of the state became interested in the work, and\nhe was the first one to suggest that an Assistant might be secured. This\nput new hope and courage into my heart. The matter was brought to the\nattention of the Superintendent of the state, and he consulted with his\nAdvisory Committee. He came upon the ground, and after making a thorough\ninvestigation, agreed with the General Missionary that a helper was\nnecessary. He thought that the work proposed was legitimate home\nmissionary work, that the best way to evangelize the whole country is for\neach village church to reach out into the country around as far as\npossible, until village with village should touch hands over a region that\nis adequately supplied with gospel privileges.\n\nThe result was that a proposition was made by the Superintendent to the\nchurch. It was substantially this: that we should take into the Parish\nGrace Church, a small Congregational organization four miles distant from\nBenzonia, which had been moribund for a long time, with no regular\nservices for a number of years. The Home Missionary Society would make a\ngrant of one hundred dollars if Grace Church would raise one hundred and\nfifty dollars. It was understood that the Benzonia Church would raise the\nother two hundred and fifty dollars that should make out the Assistant's\nsalary. This should be the contribution of the Benzonia Church to the Home\nMissionary Society, but should be returned to the Benzonia field to be\nspent in the development of the Larger Parish. This proposition was\nbrought before the church at a regular meeting, and by a unanimous vote it\nwas accepted, and so the church in a formal and positive way committed\nitself to the work of the Larger Parish.\n\nThe pastor wishes to make grateful acknowledgment of the part that the\nstate officers of the Congregational Conference have had in developing the\nLarger Parish. Without their cooperation it could never have been brought\nto its present stage of development. With clear foresight and generous\ncontributions they have fostered the work, and the success of the\nexperiment is largely due to their sympathetic interest, and their wise\nand helpful efforts. They have regarded it as the demonstration of a\nmethod of dealing with the country problem that may, if it proves\nsuccessful, find wide application throughout the state, and they have been\nglad to give it their fostering influence and their substantial aid. It is\npossible that the \"Larger Parish Plan\" may furnish a most effective method\nof home missionary activity.\n\n5. But the next thing was to find the man who, for a salary of five\nhundred dollars, was willing to undertake the work of tramping over three\ntownships, and of becoming the under pastor of twenty-five hundred people.\nThe Larger Parish was still unorganized. It was still a rather indefinite\nand unrealized vision. It was clear that in some way gospel work must be\ninaugurated in all that wide territory; but just what form it would take\nwas not yet so clear. The Assistant must be a man of initiative and\nexecutive ability. He must be able to strike out on new lines and to walk\nin untried paths. There would be plenty of hard work, much need of tact\nand wisdom, and the absolute demand for consecration. With these\naggressive qualities he must also be able to act under the direction of\nanother, and to carry on this work in harmony with the pastor of the\nchurch.\n\nThis would seem to be a rare combination, and the task of finding\na man who would fit into this rather peculiar place seemed very\ngreat--especially so, since a mistake or failure at the beginning of the\nwork might put it back indefinitely, or spoil it entirely. But with\nunexpected promptness the very man was found who most fully met the need.\nHe had finished a high school course, had taught two terms in a country\nschool, had spent some time in the lumber and construction camps of the\nnorthern Michigan and Wisconsin woods. He had had a wide and a varied\nexperience for one so young in almost everything except Christian work and\npreaching. In this he was a novice. None of us--not even he himself--knew\nwhat he could do. He had but one sermon to start with and all his powers\nwere untried.\n\nI made out a schedule of appointments for him. At first there were seven\nneighborhoods where he was to hold services, preaching at the Grace Church\nevery Sunday morning, and at the other places as often as he could get\naround. His regular program on Sunday was three sermons, a tramp of from\ntwelve to twenty miles, with such occasional \"lifts\" as he might from time\nto time receive. Several days of each week he spent among the people,\nsharing their hospitality, and entering into their life. For two and a\nhalf years he lived this strenuous life, organizing the work along various\nlines, reducing the chaos to order, getting close to the people, and\nmaking a large and warm place for himself and his work through all the\nwide Parish. He made good, and at the end of that time he was in demand as\nstudent pastor in more than one college town, and went to pursue his\ncollege course, paying his expenses by giving his services as assistant\npastor in a large college church.\n\nAs the work developed and the boundaries of the Larger Parish have\nextended it was found necessary to employ a second Assistant, and three\nmen found more work to do than they could fully cover. The relations\nbetween the pastor and his two helpers are very close and happy.\n\n6. Of significant importance are some achievements in denominational\ncomity that have greatly helped the work of the Larger Parish. I had\nobserved that in many parts of our country zeal for the denomination had\noutrun love for the Kingdom, and I despaired of doing such a work as\nought to be done in the region round about, unless there could be some new\nalinement of the Christian forces. In many places churches have been\nmultiplied to the great detriment of the cause which they are supposed to\nrepresent.\n\nIt is true that some portions of our cities are overchurched, but the evil\nof it is not so much felt because of the unlimited material to work upon.\nIt is in the country and in the small towns and villages that the greatest\nharm is done. There is many a country neighborhood where one church would\nthrive and be a great blessing; but two churches spoil the community\ncompletely, so far as the interests of the Kingdom are concerned.\nOftentimes, too many churches are worse than too few. If there are no\nchurches, there is a chance for some one to come in and start a successful\nwork. But if there are too many, the forces are so divided that none of\nthem can do a vigorous work, they all live at \"a poor dying rate,\" an\nunholy competition is almost unavoidable, and by their fruitless struggle\nthey defeat the very object for which they exist. A minister who had\nrecently gone to a new field replied to the inquiry, how he was getting\non: \"I am doing very well now. I only have two churches to contend against\nin my new field. I had three before.\" The people of the world, looking at\nthe situation of the overchurched community, regard it with contempt, it\nis so illogical and unreasonable. This evil is recognized by all, and will\nnot much longer be tolerated by those who are sincerely interested in the\nprogress of the Kingdom. In fact, there is a strong movement in these days\ntoward a better state of things.\n\nA fine example of what may be done in the way of denominational comity\nwhen a really Christian spirit prevails was shown in this field, and it\ndid much to make the work of the Larger Parish possible. In Benzonia there\nwas a small Methodist organization, in addition to the Congregational\nChurch that had existed for thirty years, but it never got a very strong\nfoothold, and finally it was evident to all that it was not needed. Five\nmiles away there was another Methodist church at Champion Hill, that was\nreally within the territory of the Larger Parish. In an adjoining county\nthe Congregationalists had two churches of about the same grade, and\nsurrounded by the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The\nrepresentatives of the two denominations got together, canvassed the whole\nmatter thoroughly, and were able to come to a unanimous and cordial\ndecision that was satisfactory to both sides. The Methodist Episcopal\nChurch in Benzonia was dropped, and the Champion Hill Church became\nCongregational. And the two Congregational churches in the adjoining\ncounty became Methodist, thus leaving a clear field in each county for\neach denomination, much to the advantage of both. It is understood that no\nwork is to be undertaken by either denomination in the territory thus\nsurrendered.\n\nIt was comparatively easy to work the matter through with the officials,\nbut there was some doubt whether the churches themselves could be brought\nto consent to a change. They were visited by two representatives, one from\neach denomination, the whole matter was fully explained, showing how much\nbetter the work could be cared for under the new arrangement, and, though\nthere was some reluctance on the part of some who were strongly attached\nto their old church associations, most of the members accepted the\nsituation and cheerfully made the change. After trying it for a year they\nall seemed well satisfied with their new relations, and new life and\nvigor has come into all the work.\n\nThe property interests involved in the exchange were adjusted in a very\nhappy way. All the four churches had houses of worship, and some of them\nhad parsonages. A commission was appointed to appraise the property,\nconsisting of two members each from the Congregational and Methodist\nChurches of Traverse City. They went together, examined all the holdings\nand brought in a report. The two Methodist men thought the\nCongregationalists ought to give two hundred and fifty dollars to boot.\nThe two Congregational men thought the Methodists ought to give two\nhundred and fifty dollars. So they agreed to trade even, and all parties\nwere satisfied. This gives the Congregationalists undisputed jurisdiction\nthroughout all the territory of the Larger Parish. In all that region they\nare without competition, with the exception of a small Disciple church in\none corner of the field, which divides up the work of one neighborhood to\nits great disadvantage. There are a good many Methodist people living\nwithin the bounds of the Larger Parish, but most of them are allying\nthemselves with the church that is doing the work, and the same is true of\nthe Congregationalists. They are now well satisfied with the arrangement.\n\nSo we may trace the steps by which the vision became reality. The work has\nbeen a gradual development from the very first, one step leading to\nanother, often with no more light than was sufficient for the single\nstep.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE METHODS OF THE LARGER PARISH\n\n\nPractical methods that can be successfully worked constitute the great\nneed in any enterprise. The real measure of the value of any plan or\nscheme is found in what it accomplishes. It may look well--the vision may\nbe enticing--but will it really do the business? If, after a fair trial,\nachievements sufficient to justify the effort do not appear, the scheme,\nthe method, the vision, however promising it may have seemed, must be\ndiscarded. A mill that does not turn out lumber soon goes upon the junk\nheap. So a plan that does not bring results will soon be relegated to the\nlimbo of unpractical and useless things. Of course it requires time fairly\nto test a plan, an enterprise, or a method. An important experiment\ncannot be finished in a day. But after three years it is time to look for\nsome proofs of success. What have we to show after working three years\nthat will justify the methods that have been used? What methods have been\nemployed? How have they worked, and what have they accomplished?\n\nNothing has been finished. The work is a growth, and is still in the\nprocess of development. We are all the while finding something more to do\nfor the people, and larger possibilities of service are opening up before\nus continually. But it may be said to have passed beyond the experimental\nstage. Nobody looks upon it any longer as simply an experiment. It is a\npractical plan in successful operation. The church has come to have a\nwell-defined policy. The people have accepted the idea of the Larger\nParish and are cooperating heartily in carrying it out. The work has been\norganized in respect to various community human interests, and is moving\non with a fair degree of satisfaction. We are now in a position to deliver\n_some_ goods--at least enough to prove that we are working a practical\nscheme; enough, as we believe, to be a sure prophecy of greater results in\nthe future.\n\n\nI. RELIGIOUS AND EVANGELISTIC PROGRESS\n\nFirst, I will speak of some methods used and some things done that show\nreligious advance. This must be the crucial test of any church work. It\nmust be work for the kingdom of God. It must bring people into harmony\nwith God and his truth, it must line them up on the side of Jesus Christ,\nor it cannot be said to be successful, however many other desirable things\nit may accomplish. It is not easy to tabulate spiritual results. Any\nshowing that can be made on paper may be more than the truth or less than\nthe truth. Reports of organizations and methods and activities may be\nmisleading. The most that they can do is to approximate the truth. And\nyet, that is the only way we have of reporting spiritual results. The\nresults of religious work must appear in the lives of the people, in the\nChristian sentiment of the community, in the upward trend of all things\nthat make for righteousness and for the establishment and prevalence of\nthe kingdom of God. These things cannot be definitely reported, but some\nthings can be mentioned that will indicate progress.\n\nThe work has been fairly well organized throughout the whole parish and is\nmoving steadily forward in definite directions. There are now twelve\npoints where regular Sunday services are held in this territory, which\ncomprises one whole township and portions of five others. These services\nare held in one church, six chapels, four schoolhouses, and one private\nhome. Other points are asking for services, but with our present force no\nmore work can be undertaken. These preaching points are so arranged that\nno family, with the exception of a few who live in one remote corner of\nthe parish, need go more than a mile and a half to find a place of\nworship. The aggregate attendance on these services will average not far\nfrom six hundred, in a population of twenty-five hundred--about one fourth\nof the inhabitants of the parish being present with some degree of\nregularity.\n\nThere are four organized churches in the parish, at Benzonia, Grace,\nChampion Hill, and Eden. Their combined membership is about four hundred.\nWhen the church was organized at Eden last year, thirty members were\ndismissed from the Benzonia Church to enter the new organization. They had\nlong been connected with the Benzonia Church, and it was with some\nreluctance that they severed their connection with the mother church. They\nwished in some way to retain a relation to the church that had for them so\nmany tender associations. So they decided that of their five trustees, two\nshould be chosen from the old central church. The two churches at Grace\nand Champion Hill are likely to follow suite. In that case, we shall have\na group of four churches, organically related, standing together to do the\nwork of the Larger Parish. The trustees of the local church will attend to\nall ordinary matters, but will feel free to call in the other two trustees\nto consult with them in things of special importance. The trustees from\nthe central church will, of course, feel a special responsibility for the\nwelfare of the branch church with which they are connected. This\narrangement will unify all the religious activities of the parish, and\nbind them up together in one organic relation. And the churches that\nenter into the arrangement will surrender none of their independence as\nCongregational churches. They will still be absolutely free to control\ntheir own affairs. It is understood that the office of the trustees from\nthe central church is largely advisory. While this is something new in\nCongregationalism, it promises to work well, and if it does, it will be\nits own sufficient justification.\n\nTen Sunday-schools are maintained within the parish, with a combined\nmembership of about six hundred. Most of the schools are self-sustaining,\nand are well able to carry on their own work without outside help, but\nsome are conducted by helpers who go out from the central church. The\nschools at Benzonia and Eden are well graded, and are conducted according\nto the up-to-date methods. The Benzonia school has an average attendance\nof more than one hundred and fifty, and the music is led by a large\norchestra. The Eden school has graduated two classes in teacher-training,\nand the third one, with seventeen members, is now at work. The Home\nDepartment is maintained, and much is made of the Cradle Roll. Conventions\nin connection with the schools in the two adjoining townships are held\nonce a quarter, and they are doing much to unite the Sunday-school\ninterests in this region and to promote team work.\n\nThe clerical force that carries on the work throughout the parish is\ncomposed of the pastor and his two assistants. The pastor preaches twice\non Sunday, in the church at Benzonia in the morning, and in the chapel at\nBeulah, half a mile distant, in the evening. Each of the assistants\npreaches three times, traveling from twelve to twenty miles in reaching\ntheir appointments. The Larger Parish naturally divides itself into three\nparts: the North Parish, with two churches, and two out-stations, served\nby Mr. Caldwell; the South Parish, with one church and five out-stations,\nserved by Mr. Huck; and Benzonia and Beulah in between, served by the\npastor, who also has the oversight of the whole field.\n\nThe three pastors usually get together on Mondays, talk over the work,\ncompare sermons and discuss them, and spend part of the day in the most\ndelightful fellowship. They make frequent exchanges, taking each other's\nwork for a Sunday, thus giving the people a change, and themselves some\nvariety of experience, and promoting acquaintance and fellowship\nthroughout the whole parish. This is a most profitable combination. The\nolder pastor helps the younger men with his wider experience, and \"the\nboys\" put new life and fresh spirits into the heart of the \"older man.\"\nTwo men, if they are congenial and can work harmoniously together, are\nworth more than double the value of one man. And three men, joining their\nforces, increase their efficiency in geometrical ratio. Many a minister\nwho works away in isolation and discouragement would have new heart and\ncourage for his difficult task, if he might be closely associated with one\nor two congenial and kindred spirits. That is one of the advantages of the\nLarger Parish Plan--it makes such association and combination possible.\n\nIn the autumn of 1912 the pastor was impressed with the thought that the\nspecial emphasis for that year should be placed on the evangelistic phase\nof the work. Thirteen weeks in all were spent in holding special services\nat six different points. Two ministers from neighboring parishes assisted.\nMuch use was made of the stereopticon. In the out-stations the preaching\nwas done by the pastors in turn, and there was thorough personal work.\nGood results came from these meetings. A large number decided to begin the\nChristian life. About sixty new members were received into the Benzonia\nchurch, and as many more into the other churches in the parish. Not all of\nthose received were converted in the special meetings. Thirty of those who\ncame into the Eden church were dismissed from the Benzonia church, and\nsome others came by letter. One of the results of these special meetings\nwas the organization of the Eden church. The hearts of the people were\ndrawn together, the religious interest was quickened throughout the whole\nterritory, and the idea of the Larger Parish came to be more generally\naccepted.\n\nEden is a country neighborhood three miles north of Benzonia. The people\nare thrifty farmers and fruit raisers, and about a dozen families living\nthere had for many years been connected with the Benzonia church, and\nwere among its most faithful supporters. For twenty-five or thirty years a\nSunday-school had been maintained in that community--one of the best\ncountry schools in the state. A young people's society and a weekly\nprayer-meeting had also been kept up for a long time. The special meetings\nwere held in the schoolhouse in the month of February, amid the stormiest\nweather of the winter. But nothing could keep the people away. There was a\ndeep interest, and a number of positive conversions. It was thought best\nto organize a church. Thirty members were dismissed from the Benzonia\nchurch to enter into the new organization and it started with fifty\ncharter members. Practically all the religious elements of the community\ncame together in the new church and it was launched with much rejoicing\nand enthusiasm. Under the efficient leadership of the assistant pastor, it\nhas gone steadily forward, and though the meetings held are in a\nschoolhouse that is most inconvenient and inadequate for their needs, they\nare as dignified and churchly as many that are conducted in more\nappropriate surroundings. There is a full service of readings, responses,\nwell-prepared music by a faithful choir, and the presence and power of\nGod's Spirit is often strikingly manifest in the services. The recognition\nservices of the Eden church were most impressive. The schoolhouse was\ncrowded to its utmost capacity. Nearly fifty stood up together and entered\ninto covenant relations, a large number receiving the rite of baptism. The\ncommunion service conducted by the pastor was especially solemn and\ntender, and those present will long remember the influences of that hour.\n\nIn a number of cases the services have been held in schoolhouses that are\ninconvenient and inadequate, and in one instance the only place where the\nmeetings could be held was a private home. A movement is on foot to supply\nthese places with chapels that will meet the needs of the community. Last\nsummer a neat chapel was built at Platt Lake. There is no schoolhouse in\nthat community. The children are taken in a bus to the Honor school, and\nthere was no settled meeting-place for more than two years, the services\nbeing held in turn from house to house. Platt Lake is somewhat of a summer\nresort, and the visiting people gave substantial help in the construction\nof the chapel. It is a convenient little building, well furnished, with\norgan and stove contributed by the Benzonia church. There being no\necclesiastical organization in the place, the title of the building is\nvested in the Michigan State Conference, with the understanding that when\na church is formed it shall be deeded back. Since the erection of the\nchapel a fresh impetus has been given to the work in Platt Lake. At this\npoint no regular religious services had ever been held until the movement\nof the Larger Parish began.\n\n\n[Illustration: THE PLATT LAKE CHAPEL\n\nA Typical Preaching Place in the Larger Parish]\n\n\nThe Eden church planned to erect a new building in the summer of 1914, in\nthe form of a comfortable chapel with basement rooms for social purposes.\nEarly in the spring of 1913 the farmers set apart a certain portion of\ntheir land, the products of which should be given for a chapel fund. About\nfifteen farmers entered into this arrangement, the children also setting\nhens and cultivating garden patches for the same purpose. On Thanksgiving\nnight of that year they had a special service at the schoolhouse to bring\nin the returns. A neat model of a church was made for the occasion and\nplaced on the desk, and after an interesting program the people filed past\nthe desk and dropped into the model church the proceeds of their summer's\ntoil. It was found to contain more than two hundred and fifty dollars--a\ngood starter for the new building. Though the resources of the community\nare limited, they are all working together with such industry and\nenthusiasm that it is probable that they will soon have a pleasant and\nconvenient church home.\n\nAt North Crystal where there is a flourishing Sunday-school and where the\nservices are held in a private home, the people are working hard to build\na little chapel. Here too the resorters, who have their cottages along the\nshore of Crystal Lake, are very helpful. In the summer the meetings are\nheld under the trees, and large crowds come together to hear the gospel\nand to join in the songs. The Ladies' Aid Society is working hard and\nconsiderable progress has been made in collecting a chapel fund. Poverty\nof resources can hardly prevent the accomplishment of such an enterprise\nwhen all the people unite in the effort so heartily and with such a\nwillingness to make sacrifices for the desired end. The church at Benzonia\nhas also been building an addition to its house of worship, adding one\nhundred sittings and numerous rooms for the accommodation of the\nSunday-school and social work. One would have been considered rash indeed\nwho should have prophesied beforehand that in two years in this community\nof limited resources so large a sum could be raised for the purpose of\nproviding accommodations for the worship of God and for community and\nsocial work.\n\nIf the amount of money that people are willing to give for religious\npurposes is an index of their interest in the Kingdom, one must conclude\nthat there has been a very significant revival in that respect throughout\nthe Larger Parish. More means for carrying on the work are now in sight\nthan any one would have supposed it possible to raise three years ago.\n\nThe salaries paid the pastor and his two assistants are two and a half\ntimes as much as was paid to the pastor alone before the wider work was\nundertaken. This, however, is made possible only through the help of the\nHome Missionary Society. The contributions for home and foreign missions\nhave more than doubled during this period, and the number of contributors\nhas increased more than twofold. If there was any hesitation about\nundertaking the wider work on account of the increased financial\nobligation involved, experience has shown that it was unnecessary. More\nthan twice as much money is raised on the whole field now than was the\ncase before the wider work began, and it comes with just as little effort.\nNobody now objects to the work on financial grounds. It has paid for\nitself in every way.\n\nThis experience leads me to believe that on almost every field there are\nresources sufficient for carrying on all the work that needs to be done\nthere, if only they can be reached, and I am also convinced that an\nactive, aggressive program will be much more successful in developing the\nresources than a timid and conservative effort can ever be.\n\nIn order to promote unity and fellowship throughout the whole parish,\noccasional meetings designed to bring all the people together are held\nwith very good results. Two or three times during the year all the\nservices in the various points are omitted and the people come together on\nthe beautiful campus on the Benzonia hilltop and spend the day in worship\nand in social intercourse. The services are held in the shade of the great\nbeech and maple trees that crown the summit of the hill. There is a large\nchoir and orchestra to lead the music, some noted speaker from abroad\npreaches the sermon, and the congregation of four or five hundred is as\ndevout and attentive as can be found in any church building. At the close\nof the service they assemble in groups to eat the lunch which they have\nbrought, the coffee being furnished by the Benzonia people, and they spend\ntwo hours in delightful social intercourse, many old friends and neighbors\nmeeting there who might not otherwise see each other for years. In the\nafternoon a platform meeting is held with a number of speakers, and as the\nsun is sinking low in the west the people disperse and go quietly to their\nhomes, with a larger outlook, a quickened community consciousness, and a\nfuller appreciation of the work of the Larger Parish. Last year we had on\none Sabbath \"Larger Parish Sunday School Rally.\" Posters announcing the\nmeeting had been previously circulated. All the ten schools of the parish\nassembled, holding in the morning such a service as I have described,\nhaving dinner together, and in the afternoon occurred the Children's Day\nservices, with exercises by the various schools and an address by John E.\nGunckel, the famous Toledo newsboy man. These Larger Parish rallies have\nproved to be a valuable feature of the work and are anticipated with\npleasure by all the people.\n\nI wonder if any pastor ever felt entirely satisfied with the results of\nhis work? I certainly do not. I have fallen far short of my ideal. In\nlooking back I see failures enough to keep me humble and mistake enough to\nmake me cautious. The numbers that have not been reached are so great that\nthe thought of them mingles much of sadness with the gladness for those\nwho have come into the Kingdom. I am thankful for the results that can be\nreported, and I consider them sufficient to justify the method of the\nLarger Parish. If the method had been more efficiently worked there would\nhave been more to show. My hope is that some one may make a better use of\nit and that such results may be evident that the Larger Parish method will\ncome into general operation, and that it may play a large part in the\nspiritual and social rehabilitation of the rural regions.\n\n\nII. COMMUNITY UPLIFT AND SOCIAL BETTERMENT\n\nOne of the convictions out of which the vision came that led to the work\nof the Larger Parish was that the Church should minister to the _whole\nman_; that nothing that goes to make a man a full-rounded man, or that has\na legitimate place in his life should be ignored by the Church; that it\nshould have something to say and something to do with his social nature as\nwell as his religious nature; that it should concern itself with the\naffairs of the community and be an element of uplifting power in the\ncommunity life. Following this conviction, it was quite natural that, when\nthe work of the Larger Parish was undertaken, considerable attention\nshould be paid to that part of the life of the people that is often\nthought to lie outside of the distinctive realm of religion. The effort\nhas been made to help the people in a social way and to make their\nrecreations healthful and wholesome, to stimulate and guide them in their\nintellectual life, and by these broader aims to minister to all their\nneeds. It may be profitable to show how the methods used in the work of\nthe Larger Parish have contributed to these ends.\n\nRecognizing the tendency of country life to isolation and extreme\nindividualism and the danger of its becoming barren and monotonous, we\nhave thought it important to provide for social and literary functions,\nand for wholesome recreation and healthful pleasures. This was thought\ndesirable, not only for the young people, but for all the people, and we\nhave sought to bring together in these activities the old and the young,\nand the children as well. It has been our effort to make all our\nout-stations, where services are held, social centers, and to encourage\nfrequent meetings of the people where they might mingle together in a free\nand friendly manner. The people have responded to these efforts and have\nappreciated very much the opportunities that have been afforded them in\nthis direction.\n\n1. Neighborhood Clubs have been formed in some of the out-stations whose\nfunction it is to provide for these social necessities. The name,\n\"Neighborhood Club\" quite well defines their object. They are to serve as\nsocial centers. There is a simple constitution and by-laws, and the usual\nofficers. But the work is carried on under the direction of three\ncommittees in three departments. First, there is a Social Committee, whose\nbusiness it is to arrange for picnics, parties, sociables, excursions,\netc. Then there is a Literary Committee that provides for literary\nentertainments, lectures, debates, and the like. After that comes the Team\nWork Committee, which leads out in any movement in which the people need\nto cooperate, such as helping an unfortunate neighbor to harvest his\ncrops, planting trees by the roadside, plowing out the roads in winter, or\nmending a bad place in the highway. Often many kindly deeds are omitted,\nand many desirable things for a community are left undone, not because the\npeople are selfish, or wanting in public spirit, but for lack of leading.\nThere is no one to lead out in such things, and so they are neglected.\n\nNot long ago one of the neighborhood clubs spent the day in helping to\nraise a barn, having a dinner together and enjoying a jolly social time.\nOne of the clubs offered a prize for rat-killing, getting out some posters\nthat were a curiosity. From time to time various matters of local interest\nare taken up and discussed by the club, and considerable talent in debate\nhas been developed in unexpected places. Occasionally the various\nneighborhood clubs get together for a day of sports and recreation. They\nhave in the forenoon games and contests, then a picnic dinner, followed by\na program of music and addresses. These gatherings promote neighborliness\nand afford the farmers and their wives and children a little break in the\nmonotony of their toilsome lives.\n\nThe first winter a lecture course was organized, consisting of five or six\nnumbers, mostly by home talent. All these lectures were given before the\nvarious clubs. The pastor gave an account of his travels in the Holy\nLand. The principal of the Academy talked about \"The Farm and the School.\"\nA doctor from a neighboring town spoke about \"Farm Sanitation,\" and an\nexpert horticulturist about \"Better Orchards.\" A layman spoke about \"Some\nLegal Principles That Should be Generally Known.\" Much interest was taken\nin these lectures, and the people turned out well to hear them. The next\nwinter the clubs arranged their own programs and carried on a lively and\ninteresting campaign. One of the clubs had a series of Special Topic\nnights. One night was devoted to \"The Pilgrims,\" with a varied and\ninteresting program. Another to \"Abraham Lincoln,\" another to \"Michigan,\"\nwith a program full of information, historical, statistical, and\notherwise, about the state of which the community was a part. One of the\nclubs organized and maintained an Old Fashioned Singing School under an\ninstructor from the village, that was a fair success. These neighborhood\nclubs have proved to be very popular and very valuable, and it would seem\nthat they are well adapted to almost any country community, taking the\nplace of the old lyceums and literary societies of a former generation\nthat did so much to sharpen the wits, inform the minds, and increase the\nfriendliness of those who went before us.\n\n2. In some of the neighborhoods where it has not yet been thought best to\norganize clubs, some attention has been paid to this side of life and some\nprovision made for social diversions. During Thanksgiving week, festivals\nwere held in three different places that were very successful and\nprofitable. The description of one of them will be typical. Three\ncommunities, East Joyfield, Demerley, and the South Chapel, united in\nholding a festival in the Joyfield Town Hall on Thanksgiving Day.\nThorough preparations had been made. Various committees were appointed,\nthe teachers in the four school districts included in that territory\ntrained the children, a program of games and sports and contests was\narranged, and all the people took much interest in getting ready for the\nevent. At three o'clock a religious service was held in the hall and the\npastor preached a Thanksgiving sermon to a large and attentive\ncongregation.\n\nWhile the ladies were preparing the supper, the program of sports, a part\nof which had been previously given in a large barn near by, was finished\non the lawn. Various races were run and stunts of different kinds were\nperformed, including a tug of war and wrestling matches, that took up the\ntime till the call to supper came. Two long tables extending the whole\nlength of the hall were filled twice, not less than one hundred and fifty\nsitting down to a sumptuous feast. When all had satisfied the wants of\nthe \"inner man,\" there were supplies enough left to feed another crowd\nalmost as great, so lavish are the country folk in their hospitality.\n\nAs soon as the tables could be cleared away and the people could get\nseated the evening's entertainment began. The hall was crowded to its\nutmost capacity, the people were jammed in like sardines in a box, and\nsome could not find entrance, but the utmost good nature prevailed, and\nthey sat, not patiently, but delightedly, through a program of\nrecitations, dialogs, songs, and like exercises given by the children\noccupying two full hours. Then came the distributing of the prizes to the\nwinners in the games, and the happy crowd dispersed, feeling more kindly\ntoward each other and realizing more fully the joy of neighborliness\nbecause they had come together in their Thanksgiving festival. Similar\nfestivals were held at Grace the day before, and at Liberty Union the day\nafter. They were all conceived and carried out by Mr. Huck, the assistant\npastor, just from England, thus proving his efficiency and his\nadaptability.\n\n3. On a snowy Saturday the men of East Joyfield, under the lead of the\nassistant pastor, arranged \"A Community Rabbit Hunt.\" They met with their\nguns and went in pairs in different directions, scouring the woods and the\nfields in search of game. They were measurably successful, and a heap of\nforty-five \"cotton tails\" rewarded their efforts. They were distributed\namong fifteen families, who were to prepare them with other good things\nfor a \"Rabbit Social\" on the next Tuesday night at the chapel. Though the\nnight was stormy, the chapel was well filled, there was a fine program of\nmusic and games, and then a feast of rabbit pie that was appetizing and\nabundant. So the \"cotton tails\" served the community better by being\neaten themselves than they would if they had been left to eat the bark\nfrom the young fruit trees on the surrounding farms.\n\n4. Since the pursuit of athletics has so large a place in the minds of the\nyoung people in these days, it has been thought worth while to do\nsomething in this field. One of the assistant pastors having had some\ntraining when in school organized Athletic Clubs among the boys and young\nmen in six or seven different neighborhoods. These clubs met from time to\ntime for practise. They were combined into an Athletic League for the\nwhole parish and occasionally held Field Days. They would come together on\nthe Academy campus at Benzonia and spend the day in sports and games and\ncontests in which a previously prepared schedule of events was carried on.\nThere were junior contests for the boys and the girls too had a part in\nthe last field-day sports. Occasionally they have a banquet with toasts\nand an opportunity for social intercourse. These athletic clubs have not\nonly done much to encourage clean and healthful sports, but they have\ngiven the assistant pastor large influence over the young people, and most\nof them are noticeably regular in their attendance on the services he\nconducts on the Sabbath.\n\nLadies' Aid Societies are organized in the various neighborhoods and they\nbring together in a social way, not only the ladies, but also the men in\nthe winter season, who then find time to enjoy the good dinner that the\nladies provide and to spend part of the day in social intercourse. These\nAid Societies are ready to take hold in a helpful way of any enterprise\nthat is for the good of the community, and any enterprise to which they\ndevote themselves is bound to go.\n\n5. One more way of working has proved to be valuable, and well worth\nwhile. Like nearly all small towns, we have a weekly newspaper which finds\nits way into most of the homes of the parish. The pastor and the editor\nwork together in the effort to make it an organ of helpful power in the\ncommunity life. For the past three years I have had each week a\ncolumn--usually a column and a half--in this paper. It is my regular\nMonday forenoon work to write that column. I put into it whatever I think\nwill be useful to the people, bringing them many a message that would\nhardly come appropriately into the pulpit, and reaching in that way many\nwhom I would not often come in touch with otherwise. The themes are\nvarious, a few may serve as specimens. \"How to Keep One's Religion and\nMake It Pay,\" \"The Back Yard,\" \"The Test of the Summer Time,\" \"The Man You\nHappen to Meet,\" \"The Utility of the Yell,\" \"The Wedding Bells and Funeral\nKnells,\" \"Dr. Charles M. Sheldon and His Ideas of an Educated Man,\" \"Be a\nColumbus,\" \"The Keen Zest of Living.\" Any local topic of general interest\nis taken up and discussed, and the activities of the church and the social\nand literary doings in the various out-stations are brought before the\npeople. So they are kept constantly aware that something is going on that\nis worth while throughout the parish, and I have an opportunity to keep my\nideas before the whole parish. This I consider one of my most valuable\nways of working, and I find that the Pastor's Column is eagerly looked for\nand widely read.\n\nThis suggests the question whether in the past the pastors of our churches\nhave sufficiently appreciated the value of printer's ink as an adjunct in\ncarrying on religious and community work. If the pastor can speak through\nthe press as well as the pulpit, he is duplicating his influence.\n\n6. The Benzonia Christian Endeavor Society purchased a stereopticon for\nuse in the Larger Parish. It was equipped with electrical apparatus to be\nused in the villages, and with acetylene light for the schoolhouses and\ncountry places where there was no electric current. It could be easily\ncarried from place to place, and became a very practical and useful\ninstrument in the work. Slides on various subjects were easily obtained,\nand the effect of lectures and talks was greatly increased. The people in\nthese days want to see things as well as to hear about them, and the sight\nhelps out the hearing. They never get tired of looking at good pictures.\nIt became easy with the help of the lantern to provide an interesting and\nprofitable evening entertainment, and the people showed their appreciation\nby their presence in large numbers and their careful attention. \"The\nPanama Canal\" was thus presented and illustrated, and \"The Other Wise\nMan.\" Some lectures by the pastor--\"On Horseback through the Holy Land,\"\n\"A Week in and about Jerusalem,\" \"Three Months on an Ocean Steamer\"--were\nmade more vivid and attractive by views from photographs taken on a\nforeign trip. In many ways the stereopticon has proved a valuable\nacquisition, and especially in a country parish can it be used with great\nprofit and satisfaction.\n\n7. In a local option campaign the influence of the Larger Parish made\nitself felt in an effective way for the banishment of the saloon. Debates\nwere arranged on the question in the neighborhood clubs.\n\nThe pastors preached on the subject and made addresses at the meetings\nheld throughout the county. One of the assistant pastors gave valuable\nservice on the Central Committee. In all such movements that have for\ntheir object the purifying of the community and the establishment of\nrighteousness the forces that are active in the Larger Parish are lined up\non the right side, ready to cooperate and promptly available for practical\nwork.\n\nAn Every Member Canvass for home and foreign missions is carried on\nthroughout the whole parish. Each year a letter is prepared, giving\nbriefly the progress of the work for the year past and setting forth its\npresent condition. These letters are sent by mail to nearly all the\nfamilies in the parish, with small collection envelopes for the different\nmembers of the household, with the request that they bring the offerings\nto their accustomed places of worship. The children as well as the older\npeople are encouraged to bring in their offerings, and we have found this\nan effective way of cultivating in them the spirit of benevolence. There\nis much gain in leading them to feel that they have a part in the work.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHINGS YET TO BE DONE\n\n\nTheir name is legion. Everything is to be done. Only a beginning has been\nmade. Nothing is finished. What has been accomplished is only a prophecy\nof the larger and completer work that lies before us in the future.\nReligious and community work is not mechanical. You cannot finish it up\nand store it away as the carpenter finishes a box, or the housewife a\ngarment. Life is a development, a growth, and those who deal with life\nmust always be content with beginnings. \"Nothing that has life is ever\nfinished.\" Life in its larger unfolding and its fuller meaning must always\nbe in the future. A life that is finished and complete would better end,\nand a community that has reached perfection should be translated to\nanother sphere. We must ever be content to spend our labor upon\nbeginnings, thankful for such fruitage as may appear from time to time.\nThe real ingathering must always be in the future. What has been\naccomplished in the Larger Parish gives us confidence in the methods\nemployed, and encourages us to expect larger things from the better and\ncompleter application of those and similar methods in the days to come.\n\nIn may be well to mention some of the things that have not as yet been\nfully done, but that we hope to see accomplished in the Larger Parish in\nthe future.\n\n1. The first and most important aim of this work, and of all church work,\nis to bring people into the kingdom of God. All social and community work\nmust be subordinate to this and lead up to it. The Church must be\nsomething more than a social settlement. I still hold to the old-fashioned\nidea that men need to be saved, and that the only salvation that there\ncan be for them is found in loyalty to Jesus Christ. While this salvation\nis a matter of the spirit, affecting one's standing with God and his\nrelation to the great eternal realities, it also affects his standing with\nmen and his relation to society. And here comes in all the humanitarian\nand community work that is a legitimate and important part of the church's\nconcern. Community work can never take the place of the work of God's\nSpirit in the individual life. To be permanently valuable it must be the\n_result_ of that work. The kingdom of God embraces the complete ideal, and\nif we can induce men to live according to the principles of that kingdom,\ncareful attention will be paid to all the work that needs to be done for\nthe community. Therefore the work of the Larger Parish is primarily,\nthough not exclusively, evangelistic. We are trying to lead men to become\nChristians, not in a narrow sense, but in the large, rich meaning of that\nword which the teaching of Jesus gives it.\n\nDuring the three years that we have in review there have been some such\nresults. A goodly number have decided to begin the Christian life and have\ntaken their places in the ranks of the followers of Jesus Christ. We are\nthankful that the army of the Lord has received so many new recruits. But\nthere are many more who are not as yet willing to enlist. The number of\nthose who are still outside the ranks is greater than of those who are\nmarching under the banner of the visible Church. Much remains to be done\nin this direction. The work is far from being complete in this its most\nvital and important aspect. We have only made a beginning. It will not be\nfinished until every person in all the wide parish is openly and\npositively arrayed on the side of Christ. At the present rate of progress\nit looks as if the Church had work laid out for it for a long time to\ncome. It is not in danger of soon running out of material. There is a\ngreat work yet to be done in the way of bringing men into the kingdom of\nGod. We hope to keep that always in view--to make it our central aim and\nour uppermost thought.\n\n2. There needs to be created in the hearts of the people more respect for\nthe Church, a better understanding of its mission, and a fuller\nappreciation of its work. Many people have mistaken ideas of the Church,\nand therefore fail to appreciate its work or its purpose. Some regard it\nsimply as a venerable institution that has long had a place in human\nsociety. In former times it has done an important work, and still has its\nvalue. It is to be honored for its record and still encouraged in a mild\nand patronizing way. They would not banish the Church--they are not yet\nquite ready to undertake to conduct human society without it. They\ntolerate it and perhaps support it in a half-hearted way, but they do not\nregard it as absolutely essential or its work as vitally important. They\ndo not understand the Church. The Church may be in some measure to blame\nfor this. It has not always understood itself. Its conception of its own\nmission has been small, narrow, and inadequate, and it was inevitable that\nno truer or larger impression could be made upon the community. When the\nChurch undertakes to do all for which it is responsible and prosecutes it\nwith the vigor and earnestness that it deserves, the people will begin to\nunderstand it better and to appreciate more fully its mission.\n\nMany people regard the Church as an institution to be supported. In common\nthought this institution, for some reason that may not always appear, has\nassumed the right to lay the community under tribute for support. Some\naccept this traditional idea without thinking much about it, while others\nare in revolt against it. One of the assistant pastors was calling at a\nhouse for the first time. The master of the house, when he was introduced,\nsaid, \"Oh, another preacher! Well, I suppose they all have to be\nsupported.\" And he was not the first representative of the Church that has\nmet with such an indignity.\n\nHere again the Church may be at least partially to blame. It has too often\nregarded its office as that of preying upon the community as well as\npraying for it. It has not always been careful to give value received.\n\nIt is our purpose to make the Church a necessity in the community. Its\ngood works, its efficiency as an element of power in everything that is\nfor the improvement and uplifting of the people, should be so great and so\nevident that no one can reasonably call them in question. That is one of\nthe things that needs to be done, and that by the method of the Larger\nParish we hope to accomplish. We propose that the Church shall have such a\nspirit of helpfulness, that it shall be so wise and practical in laying\nout its work, so energetic and aggressive in prosecuting it, that all\nshall recognize it as a potent and most blessed force--an institution that\nthey gladly support because of its practical value. Some progress has been\nmade in this direction. The Church has gained immensely in the respect of\nthe people since it began the work of the Larger Parish. The people can\nsee that it is really doing something.\n\n3. There needs to be created a stronger and more universal community\nspirit. The tendency in the country toward isolation and independence is\nespecially strong. Each farmer is separate from every other. He lives\nalone, somewhat like a baron in his castle in old feudal times,\nsufficient for himself, without much necessity of borrowing, or thought of\nlending. Living in such conditions it is quite natural that he should grow\nselfish, and should come to think largely if not exclusively of his own\nindividual interests. He is in danger of overlooking the fact that society\nis an organism, and he is a part of it; that he has duties and obligations\nto the general public; that his life cannot be complete if it is lived\nalone; that he owes something to the community at large, and that he must\nget something from it if he would really be a man, do a man's work, and\nfill a man's place. He must come to see that the public good means private\nadvantage, and that when he cuts himself off from others and thinks only\nof his own individual interests he is following a foolish and suicidal\npolicy.\n\n\n[Illustration: THE BENZONIA CHURCH]\n\n\nThis community spirit needs to be carefully cultivated, and that work has\nbeen going on in the Larger Parish. The community spirit has been growing.\nThe people are more interested in one another and in those things that are\nundertaken for the public good than they formerly were. But there is still\nmuch to be done in this respect. Not all the people are yet able to look\nover the narrow boundaries of their own possessions and see their\nneighbors' needs. Not all grasp the idea of the solidarity of society. But\nthis spirit is growing and there will be larger fruitage in the coming\ndays.\n\n4. There needs to be more team work among the people, more cooperation in\ncarrying out the schemes that are for the public good. When all the people\ntake hold together, there is scarcely anything that needs to be done that\ncannot be accomplished. A single individual is comparatively powerless,\nbut a common movement in any community is bound to succeed. One of the\nforemost services to any community is to unite its forces and bring the\npeople to work together heartily and enthusiastically in some good cause.\n\nThe work of the Larger Parish has been useful in this direction. The Team\nWork Committees of the neighborhood clubs have this for their object--to\nlead out in anything in which it is desirable for the people to move\ntogether. It is easier to bring the people to unite their efforts now than\nit was three years ago, but much more remains to be done. The goal has not\nyet been reached. The effective team work that we have seen is a prophecy\nof that completer cooperation in all good things that we hope and expect\nto see in the coming days.\n\n5. In some way more variety should be brought into the lives of country\npeople. Farm life should become one of the most attractive and interesting\nspheres of activity. Its freedom, its independence, its close contact\nwith nature, should give to it for multitudes a compelling charm. It would\nseem that a strong current of human interest could be made to flow from\nthe crowded and unwholesome conditions of the city to the open country,\nwhere the fresh breezes play and the flowers bloom. At present it is not\nso. The stream flows in the opposite direction and every year the city\nswallows up much of the best blood of the country. It is the city that\nattracts, and the country that repels. This can be explained very largely\nby the isolated and monotonous character of country life.\n\nThe only way by which this movement can be checked or reversed is to give\nmore variety to rural life; to break up its monotony and to introduce into\nit those intellectual and social pleasures and employments that are a\nnecessary part of a healthful and contented life. Young people crave\nvariety, they must get together, they must have some kind of amusements,\nsome form of recreation. If they cannot find it on the farm, they will go\nto the city where it is supplied in lavish abundance but often in\nobjectionable forms.\n\nIt has been the object of the work of the Larger Parish to supply this\nneed of country life. It has provided and promoted frequent opportunities\nfor the people to come together in a social way. The Sunday services\nestablished in so many places have not only served as opportunities of\nworship, but also of neighborly intercourse and of the interchange of\nfriendly greetings. The neighborhood clubs have been a kind of social and\nliterary clearing-house for the community, affording many a pleasant and\nprofitable evening and providing something wholesome to think of and to\nplan for during the day. The Ladies' Aid Societies have brought the women\ntogether, in projects and accomplishments of common interest, relieving\nthe weeks of monotonous toil with forms of cooperative fellowship. Much\nmore needs to be done to impart interest and attraction to life in the\ncountry, and it is something to which the Church, in its desire to\nminister to the whole man, may very appropriately give its thought and\neffort.\n\n6. Machinery seems to be a necessity in all kinds of work. Nothing can be\ndone without a method, an organization, a machine--some kind of an\ninstrument to facilitate the process. But the machine is never properly an\nend in itself. Sometimes it is made an end, but no farmer could be\nsatisfied with a reaper that did not cut the grain, however beautiful and\nwell-made it might be or however smoothly it might run. Nevertheless some\nchurches seem to be satisfied with the smooth running of the machinery,\neven though the results of it all are very meager.\n\nThe primary object of the work of the Larger Parish is to help the people\nand to serve them in a religious and social way, not to promote a\ndenomination, to build up a church, to perfect an organization, or to\nconstruct or to operate machinery of any kind. But in order to help the\npeople and serve their best interests efficiently, some machinery, some\norganization, is necessary. Our thought is to supply it when the necessity\ncomes, but not before. When it is needed it must be invented or\ndiscovered, or in some way brought into the service. Certain methods have\nbeen introduced. There have been employed some forms of organization, some\nmachinery has been set in operation. Some things we have tried, that did\nnot work satisfactorily and they had to be discarded. Some of the methods\nthat seem to be successful at present may not always continue to work so\nwell, and they will have to be exchanged for others. We must ever keep in\nview the prime object for which we are working--to serve the people and\nto uplift the community life--and to that object we must adapt our methods\nand adjust our machinery.\n\nIf we do the work that needs to be done in the coming days we shall need a\ntrue and unwavering purpose, a clear eye to discern the situation, a calm\nand correct judgment to fit the method to the work, and above all, the\nconstant leading of the Holy Spirit. The Larger Parish is not a method, or\norganization, or machine, that one can secure and put in operation and\nthen the work is done. It is a vision--an ideal--that must be a living\nreality in the soul, and then must be wrought out in actual life in the\nbest way possible.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nSOME RESULTANT CONCLUSIONS\n\n\nThis story began with \"Some Convictions.\" It ends with \"Some Conclusions.\"\nThere has been an attempt to tell how a vision became a reality. The\nvision originated in convictions. The conclusions have come from the\nrealization of the vision.\n\nThere are a few things that may be stated with confidence as the result of\nthe three years' work in translating the vision into the fact of the\nLarger Parish. The mention of some of them will round out the story.\n\n1. The village church, if it would do its proper work, must belong to the\npeople and be in close touch with them. It must minister in some way to\nall the people and be a force in the life of all the people. Churches\nlike individuals are known to have certain characteristics, to possess\ncertain temperaments. Some are aristocratic and exclusive. They gather to\nthemselves a number of select families who have common tastes and are\ncongenial with one another. They have good times together, and within that\nnarrow circle there is a delightful social life. Those few people are well\ntrained, and well instructed in the facts and principles of religion as\nthey are understood by them. But they do not seem to get hold of the idea\nthat the church is for all the people; that as Jesus conceived it it is\nessentially democratic. They have no sense of obligation for the community\nat large, and make no effort to affect it as a whole and to lift it up to\na higher level.\n\nThe village church that would do its work must be democratic and must have\na community consciousness. It must belong to the people--be in close\ntouch with those of each and every class.\n\n2. The village church, if it would do its proper work, must recognize its\nobligation to minister in some way to the religious and social needs of\nthe people in the outlying country districts. The village should not be\nits parish, but rather its base of operations, from which it goes forth to\nall the wide-stretching territory that lies beyond.\n\n3. The church which has this vision, which recognizes this obligation and\nseeks to discharge it, will find some way of doing it. The work within the\ntowns and villages is often great and difficult. Many churches have failed\nto reach all the people within the sound of their church-bell, and there\nis much work at their very doors that they have not yet accomplished.\nShall they reach out and extend their parish threefold, and multiply their\nduties and obligations many times? If they do not do all that ought to be\ndone in their smaller parish, shall they increase its boundaries and\nassume greater obligations? Yes. That is what many churches are\nlanguishing for--a bigger job, something that it is worth while to do;\nsomething that will challenge all their powers and awaken to enthusiasm\ntheir sleeping energies.\n\n4. The only village church that will continue to abide in strength and\nvigor in the future years will be the church that is all buttressed about\nby a strong and vigorous country work. It must be done as a means of\nself-preservation. The village churches are as much in danger of losing\ntheir lives as the country churches are. The church that confines its\nefforts within the village boundaries is sure to languish and dwindle and\nafter a while it will give up the ghost, as it ought to do. As the city is\nfed from the towns and villages, so the towns and villages are fed from\nthe country. If the work goes down in the towns and villages, it will be\nfelt in the city, and if it loses its hold in the country, it will soon\nlose its grip upon the villages and towns. The country needs the work of\nthe Larger Parish, and it will perish without it. But the village church\nneeds to do the work even more, and unless it takes it up with vigor it is\ndoomed.\n\n5. When the churches come to be more interested in the promotion of the\nKingdom than they are in the promotion of their own particular\ndenomination, they will begin to have that prosperity which only those can\nhave who are really doing the Lord's work. The chief hindrance to the work\nof the churches is often the churches themselves. One of the greatest\nneeds of the villages and rural regions is fewer churches.\n\nIf in each small village there was a single church in which all the\nChristians of the community could unite, they could easily organize the\nwork in all the surrounding country and carry it on successfully. But\nwhere there are a number of churches they are in the way of each other and\neffectually prevent any widespread and efficient work. Still, even in that\nunfortunate condition, something may be done in a systematic way to help\nthe rural regions. Why cannot the representatives of the various churches\nget together, make a united survey of the country for miles in every\ndirection, become fully acquainted with the situation and conditions, and\nseeing clearly what needs to be done, divide the territory up between\nthem, giving each church its own particular field, and allowing it to\narrange for its cultivation in its own way? I believe that some such\narrangement is feasible when it is the Kingdom that the churches are\nchiefly interested to promote, instead of the particular denomination to\nwhich they happen to belong.\n\n6. When all the religious forces in any community can combine and work\ntogether, all the work that needs to be done in the community can be done,\nand there will be no lack of resources to carry it on with vigor and\nsuccess. In almost every community there are Christians enough, and there\nis money enough, for the work, if only they can be assembled and utilized.\nBut when they are scattered about, lying around lose and uncombined, or\nwhen they are organized into competing camps, they are useless for any\npurpose of aggressive and effective work. It isn't the poverty of the\npeople that stands in the way, or the small number of professing\nChristians. It is the lack of team work, the lack of cooperation, that\nconstitutes the weakness of the cause. No work can be done in the country\nthat is at all effective without this cooperation and combination. With\nit, all the work that needs to be done, can be done.\n\n7. The church that sees the vision and with faith and courage undertakes\nto make it a reality, will be prospered. Perhaps the experience of the\nBenzonia church may be cited as proof of this. Situated in a small\nvillage, composed of people of meager means, in a country that has not\neven yet emerged from pioneer conditions, it had for many years carried on\nits work only with much sacrifice and careful economy. Three years ago, by\na unanimous vote, it formally adopted the policy of reaching out and\nannexing all the territory within a radius of five miles in every\ndirection, thus greatly increasing its obligations and more than doubling\nits annual budget of expenses. There was some questioning as to how it\ncould be done, but, without waiting for clearer light, it moved forward\nunanimously to the enlarged work.\n\nWhat do we find to be the result of the three years? They have been the\nthree most prosperous years of the church's history. Two men have been\nadded to the clerical force. The expenses of the church have been met, and\nthe bills have been paid when they were due. The contributions for home\nand foreign missions have more than doubled. More members have been\nreceived than during any other similar period. There has been perfect\nharmony and the people have been glad and happy in their common work. Ten\nplaces of worship have been established in the country around where\nregular services are held. The people in these neighborhoods attend their\nown services and do not come into the village church as some of them\nformerly did. The present arrangement does not tend to build up a large\ncentral congregation, but has the opposite effect. Thirty former central\nmembers have become part of a newly formed church three miles away. There\nhas been no great increase in the population, either of the village or of\nthe country around. But the congregations and the Sunday-schools were\nnever so large as they have been during this period. It has been found\nimpossible to accommodate all those who wished to worship with the church,\nor properly to care for those attending the Sunday-school. A larger\nbuilding became an actual necessity, and in the summer of 1913 an addition\nwas made, increasing the seating capacity of the building by one third,\nand providing a number of rooms for Sunday-school and social purpose. Can\nwe doubt that the blessing of God will attend any church that sees the\nvision, and with faith and courage and sacrifice gives itself to the work\nof making it a reality?\n\n8. When all the ministers and all the churches catch the vision of the\nLarger Parish and address themselves to the work of making it a reality,\nthe rural regions will be rehabilitated, religiously, morally, and\nsocially, and a splendid impulse will be given to the work throughout the\nwhole country. If some practical plan can be adopted by the village\nchurches for extension work, the whole aspect of the country situation may\nbe quickly changed. The people, both in the villages and in the open\ncountry, are more ready for some such movement than has been supposed.\nWould not the Larger Parish idea as set forth in this story furnish a good\nworking plan for such a movement?\n\nNo man can have very much enthusiasm in a task that does not challenge all\nhis powers and bring them into action--neither can a church. With the\nvillage churches it is a case of self-preservation as well as outreaching\nservice. They must do this work or die. They will not long survive the\nspiritual declension of the country. The country and the village stand or\nfall together. Their fortunes are united. They must help each other up\ninto a better life or they will sink into a like economic, social, and\nspiritual stagnation and death. The plan of the wider parish, or some\nbetter plan, if it is wisely and vigorously worked, will secure both to\nthe village and the country communities their rightful heritage of\nspiritual and social strength and usefulness.\n\n9. Nearly all the Christian denominations have their home missionary\nboards or societies whose functions it is to help sustain gospel work in\nneedy places and to organize and cherish churches on the frontier and in\ndestitute places. The frontier lines are not so extensive as they once\nwere, but the desolate places are almost as numerous as ever, and they are\nin the very heart of our most highly developed civilization. In fact, they\nlie all about our churches, often almost within the sound of the\nchurch-bell. It is often too expensive to sustain a minister and maintain\nregular services in all these places and so they are left without gospel\nprivileges. If they can be grouped about a village church as a center, and\nif the church can be the base of operations from which the work is carried\non in all these outlying regions; if through the aid of the home\nmissionary boards a sufficient clerical force can be maintained to carry\non the wide work, will not such a course be a practical, a successful, and\nan economical method of accomplishing home mission work?\n\nGod is waiting to give the vision to those who are ready to receive it.\nThe country in its great need and desolation is waiting for the help which\nthe village churches can give to them. I believe the home missionary\nsocieties and boards are ready to cooperate in some such plan for the\nuplifting and the evangelization of the country districts. The village\nchurches themselves are waiting for the wider work to quicken their waning\nlife, and to kindle their dying enthusiasm. The world is waiting to see\nthem move forward in a determined and consecrated effort to reduce the\nvision to reality. God is waiting to pour out his Spirit in abundant\nblessing upon the churches that have enough faith and courage to undertake\nthe work.\n\nI believe that the fulfilment of all this is not far in the future, and if\nthis story of the Larger Parish shall contribute even in a small degree to\nthis result, the teller will be amply repaid for his attempt to picture\nthe new path along which God has led him.\n\n  \"Move to the fore.\n  God himself waits, and must wait, till thou come,\n  Men are God's prophets though ages lie dumb.\n  Halts the Christ-Kingdom, with conquest so near?\n  Thou art the cause, then, thou man at the rear.\n  Move to the fore.\"","title":"The Making of a Country Parish: A Story","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":21413}