Practicing Christian Unity ROY B. GUILD BARNES HALL LIBRARY Cornell University Library BX 8.G95 Practicing Christian unity 3 1924 005 910 082 Cornell University Library The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924005910082 PRACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY PRACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY ROY BERGEN GUILD Executive Secretary of the Commission on Interchurch Federations of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America ASSOCIATION PRESS New York : 347 Madison Avenub 1919 coptkight, 1919, bt The Intehnatiowal Committee op YouNa Men's Chbistian Associations TO MY WIFE CONTENTS CHAFTEB PAOB Foreword ix I. Practicing Christian Unity in Commttnitt Service 1 II. Social Betterment through Interchuhch Work 16 III. Evangelism by Home Talent 29 IV. One Organization but Many Tasks 45 V. The Philosophy of Unified Action 60 VI. Elements Essential to the Success of Interchuhch Work 72 FOEEWORD To maintain the balance between individual and united action is one of the chief problems for the days of reconstruction. The future development of industry, of commerce, of transportation, of education, of govern- ment, of religion, will be strong or weak according to the way in which those who are responsible solve this problem. This is especially true of religion. It is a common- place of criticism to say that the divisions of the Church lessen its power to serve. The Great War accentuated more than ever before the losses that have come through the inability of the great religious bodies of America to act immediately, unitedly, unreservedly, sacrifieially when the world was in need of such vital service. But let us not forget that the liberty of thought and action due to the absence of uniformity of organization and authority made possible the free play of Christian forces in every line of service. This made cooperation between denominations in the War-Time Commission of the Churches formed by the Federal Council cordial and unrestrained. No particular group of individuals had a monopoly of the religious spirit that helped to create the fine, wholesome morale of the American army and navy. During the last two decades the welfare of the com- munity has been the call that has been unifying the forces that have had some responsibility to the com- munity. These forces have rightfully been eager to pre- serve their own integrity and also eager to be good servants. The churches have faced this challenge of Hie welfare of the community in which they have been X FOEEWOED situated. Prom the serious attempts to develop the strongest individual church and at the same time to make the good of the city of paramount importance have resulted cooperative efforts which for the churches are solving this problem of effective united action and con- structive individual initiative. It has been possible to report the inspiring progress that has been made because of the abiding work which has been done by the members of that new religious order — the executive secretaries of federations and coun- cils of churches. The pioneers in this type of work, ably supported by the men of vision and purpose in pulpit and pew, have established lines of action by which commxmity programs of Christian reconstruction may be carried forward with speed and assurance. On every side there are evidences that the standards of interchurch work which have been established will be applied in every city in the land and also in smaller com- munities. During the last twelve months the writer has been peculiarly indebted to the most cordial cooperation of secretaries of Young Men's Christian Associations. These secretaries are in a position, especially in smaller cities, to give great assistance through their admin- istrative service to the churches. With nation-wide development of the Interchurch World Movement there will come the more rapid organ- ization of the churches, that they may be ready for this great opportunity. Several city federation secretaries have been in conierences with the leaders of the Move- ment. Where a strong federation exists, the carrying out of the program will be greatly simplified. Like- wise in other cities the carrying out of this program will develop an organization, by which in time the full inter- church task of the city will be performed. Unity in service is immediately possible, gcarsdale, N. Y., AprU 15, 1919, CHAPTBE I PKACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY IN COMMUNITY SEEVICE Unity is more than union. Christian unity is more than the merging of all sects and denominations into one great single or composite organization. Unity may result in union and union may result in unity. Each can be most helpful to the other, but neither is abso- lutely dependent upon or assured by the other. At the close of the CivU War we had a union of states, but we did not have national unity. We have it now as never before. In two wars the North and the South have faced common foes. The Eainbow Division and the Blue and Grey Division which fought for American principles and for world liberty in the Great War are symbolic of true national unity and also of Christian unity. The more comprehensive the task, the more serious the effort we make together, the finer, the truer will be the spirit of unity. When the churches seriously engage to conquer the world for Christ regardless of the sacrifice required. Christian unity will be supreme. The Christian unity of which we are hearing so much today is not something that is away off beyond the horizon. It is a reality whenever and wherever two or more disciples of Christ work with hands and with hep,rt8 to make this world more nearly the Kiagdoni 2 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY of Heaven on earth. The divisions of the Church are a sufficient cause for heartache and occasional despair, but we must strengthen our wills and hearts with the knowl- edge of the fact that unity is a reality and a rapidly in- creasing reality in significance and extent. For years the choice spirits in all great communions have been together in many forms of fellowship and work, which have made the dividing lines grow dim as the outline of the world kingdom grew more distinct. To hearten ourselves as we press forward to a complete unity, an undivided Church, let us realize the splendid things that are being done together. One word has grown in importance from year to year. It is the word that marks the transition from devotion to my church to devotion to the Church — the word inter- church. When the greater story of glorious and com- plete Christian unity is told, the most important factor in its coming will have been interchurch worh. When the members of various churches minimize their differ- ences and magnify their common tasks by performing them. Christian unity is rapidly approaching the per- fection which Christ described in the words, "As thou art in Me and I in thee." Eight years ago a great religious campaign was carried on for eight months. A feature of that, cam- paign was a chart with the heading, "Suggested Inter- church Work." The program that was proposed was mostly theoretical. Eepeatedly after it was interpreted the commonplace question was asked, "Where is it being done ?" There had to be a frank confession that it was pot being done systematically and continuously any- UNITY IN COMMUNITY SERVICE 3 where, but was being done occasionally here and there in such a way as to give evidence of what could be done regularly and universally. The campaign closed. The call had been sounded. The vision had been held before the eyes of the church- men. The messengers disbanded and went about the tasks from which they had been called. In many cities the vision faded away and the campaign was pronounced impracticable. Not so with all cities and with all men. Of all the messages of the Men and Eeligion Forward Movement the Social Service Message, as pointing out the mission for the churches, was most permanent. It gripped the im- agination and the heart of churchmen. Professor Walter Eauschenbusch in Eis book, "Christianizing the Social Order," said of this movement, "It has made social Christianity orthodox." At the close of the campaign, that great prophet of social Christianity, Washington Gladden, at a luncheon given by the New York Federation of Churches declared with great emotion, "I have seen come to pass in six months what I had de- spaired of seeing come in my lifetime — the nation-wide preaching of the Gospel as a great social message." In cities like Pittsburgh, Pa., Indianapolis, Ind., Louisville, Ky., St. Louis, Mo., Atlanta, Ga., Cincinnati, Ohio, the committees on Social Service continued working. Christians could do things together, even if they could not agree upon deiinitions. This explains in a large measure the beginning of the strong interchurch or- ganizations which are now rapidly spreading to all the cities of America and reaching out into all communities. 4 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY The principle upon which the commission on Inter- ehurch Federations of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America was formed has been stated by Mr. Fred B. Smith, its chairman, as follows : "No com- munity having two or more churches can be adequately served by those churches unless there is some form of committee, council, or other organization by which they can work together." Apart from a few isolated cases that antedated the organization of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, the only form of interchurch work that was attempted was such as was done by individual members of churches forming organizations to serve ia fields not cared for by the churches as churches. These organizations, such as the American Sunday School Union, the American Bible Society, the International Sunday School Association, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, were the schools in which Christian unity was taught and practiced. They prepared the way for the present day, when not only Christians but Christian churches — Christian denomiaations — are giving demonstrations of Christian unity in spirit and in action. This unity had been so woefully lacking in interchurch relations as to make the churches a reproach to the cause of Christ. The interchurch charts are again being displayed, but the presentation of the program is no longer theoretical. It is most practical. The program which a few years ago was proclaimed as one that ought to be carried out is being carried out. tJNITY IN COMMUNITY SEEVICE 5 Probably the most flagrant of all church sins has been that of locating churches as near to each other as possible, in the spirit of rivalry. It was a case of every church for itself and the devil take the hindmost, which he generally did and some besides. The glory of the home missionary secretary of earlier days was the number of new churches he had organized in the year. If he did not beat his rival secretary into the new district, he had at least been able to put in a more energetic minister. It has not been easy to correct this sin, because churches — like charitable organizations, lodges, and political parties — are made up of people, and people are human, and sectarianism while institutional, though not necessarily religious, has its roots in human hearts. The aims can too often be explained by the words, not spoken but thought, "We must beat the other crowd." We may excuse our actions on grounds of doctrine and of policy and of tradition, but this explanation is pretty close to the fact. The sin is being cured by the Christian dis- covery that the other crowd, the other church, is our crowd, our church, our co-laborer with God in the service of humanity. Christian comity is the antidote for denominational rivalry. When churches are located in a city for the benefit of the city and not for the sake of a denomina- tional year book or missionary report, the Church com- mands the respect of those who are repelled by the present-day waste and want of plain Christian common sense and community interest. The Federated Churches of Cleveland, of which the Bev. B. E. Wright is secretary, have given a most strik- 6 PEACTICING CHKISTIAN UNITY ing proof of what can be done when cooperation makes equity possible, equity being as necessary to comity as love is to domestic felicity. The officers of that federa- tion rightly affirm that the comity division is the heart of the federation and that if they fall down there the federation will have its greatest setback. "The cooper- ation we have received from all denominational bodies has made this the strongest department of the federa- tion." The denominational superintendents, the lead- ing pastor and layman from each denomination consti- tute this committee. Thus the money-giving, money- raising and money-spending parties of the church-build- ing project are brought together. This committee has no legislative authority, but the moral effect of its decisions is such that no denomination has refused to accept its deliverances. It is reported that some two years ago a group of over-zealous officials threatened to violate the principle that had been adopted. Public opinion had become too strong. The option that had been secured on a lot was given up. The real leaders and the membership of the church at large would not have sustained that action. The principle is contained in the following resolutions: "Be it resolved. That we deem it inadvisable to locate a new church enterprise within a radius of one-third of a mile of an organization already well established on the field. That the intention of the committee is not to fix hard and fast rules, but rather to provide a flexible standard and leave the way open for giving full weight to the merits of each case as it is reported to the Comity Committee. That we lay special emphasis upon the im- UNITY IN COMMUNITY SERVICE 1 portance of inaugurating new enterprises wholly in the spirit of unity and Christian harmony. "That, so far as is consistent with the purpose of the federation, the recommendations of the Comity Commit- tee with reference to the location of new church enter- prises be given publicity in the daily papers and the bulletin of the Federated Churches, for the purpose of creating comity sentiment and thus obviating the necessity for future entanglements." More than a year has passed since the committee on comity has been called upon to make adjustments in the matter of locating a new church. The resolution has become a common law and common practice so that churches are placed in Cleveland, like public schools, where they are needed. Of course perfection has not been attained, but wonderful progress has been made. The Comity Committee is now devoting most of its efforts to a scientific survey of the congested sections of the city, with a view to bringing about a readjustment of churches. Instead of waiting for Protestantism to evaporate where it has collected in a number of pools, as has happened in so many downtown districts in our large cities, the effort is being made to center the work in certain adequately equipped and manned churches where the church life can be a living stream. Suffice it to say that comity has become such a factor in the religious life of Cleveland that this method of dealing with the problem of comity has come to be known as the Cleveland plan. The success of it in this city has en- couraged other cities to adopt it. In Chicago and Detroit the city missionary societies have arrived at the 8 PKACTICING CHEISTIAN TTNITY same point, through the organization of cooperative councils of city missionary societies. With the solution of this problem in Christian cooperation made possible, other problems are made less difficult. Take, for instance, the matter of weekday religious education. When the schools of Gary, Indiana, adopted certain methods which have come to be known as the Gary System, each denomination represented in the city attempted to meet the opportunity offered for week- day religious training. Some of the larger denomina- tions sent in specialists to attend to these matters, seek- ing to solve the problem along denominational lines. Soon the efforts were declared a failure, the plan im- practical. Through the federation of churches in Gary there had gradually been developed the habit of doing things together. So together they tried to meet the situation. A Board of Religious Education was organized, con- sisting of four members from each cooperating congre- gation, the pastor and Sunday school superintendent being two of the four and being ex officio members. A corps of teachers was employed, consisting of a principal and three other teachers. A curriculum which has been used in one of the weekday schools was adopted. Suit- able rooms were rented near two of the largest public school buildings, and a two-room schoolhouse built near a third. All of these rooms were equipped as a public schoolroom is equipped. In September, 1917, schools were opened at these three centers. These schools for religious instruction have no connec- tion whatever with the public schools, but there is a fine UNITY IN COMMUNITY SEEVICE 9 spirit of cooperation between the public school authori- ties and those at the head of the religious schools. At- tendance on the classes for religious instruction is wholly voluntary. But it is possible for the children in these public schools to secure two hours per week of as thorough instruction in religion as in any subject in the public school. Eeporting on this interchurch work, the Eev. William Grant Seaman, pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, states: "Federation decreases the per capita cost, increases the available resources, insures on the average a higher grade of instruction, overcomes geo- graphical limitations, and promises to give the work a permanence it would be more difficult to achieve other- wise." His prophecy is already being fulfilled. While in 1917-18 the enrolment reached 600, in the year follow- ing it reached 1,605. There are now seven interchurch schools in Gary. Eeporting to the editor of Religious Education^ Mr. Seaman states: "A partial survey of the enrolment, made when it stood at 1,268, showed that just 300 of the children did not know the religious preference of their homes, and that 143 of those who gave a religious preference were not attending any Sunday school. More than one-third of our total enrolment was therefore of children who were getting no other religious instruction. It was the hope of those who organized the 'Community Church School' that putting it alongside of the public schools would enable it to reach children who were unchurched, but probably the most sanguine did not hope that the I December, 1918, p. 423, 10 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY children of that class would constitute so large a percent- age of the children reached." The churches have always been interested in the prob- lem of amusement. While they give more and more at- tention to the study life of the child, they also give more attention to the play life. The churches of Cincinnati have given much attention to the theaters of that city and have carried on some interesting fights for clean commercialized amusements with the battle going in their favor. The Protestant churches, being unified for action, cooperated with the Eoman Catholic churches through a joint committee that represented the Federa- tion of Protestant Churches and the Federated Catholic Societies. A series of successes has followed these united efforts to safeguard the moral welfare of the community and to protect especially the children. Briefly they are as follows, as reported by the Eev. F. L. Fagley, who has been the leader in this effort : "First: Closing of People's Theater. The manager said he closed because the ministers of the city would not let up in their campaign for eradication of spicy plays. He had been forced to eliminate the features that would naturally draw an audience. The house had been run at a loss. The same is true in regard to the Old Standard Theater, closed some time before. "Second: In the spring of 1917 the Lyric Theater put on a play that brought protests from morally-minded people. The ministers made a presentation to the mayor, who issued orders to eliminate certain parts of the show. The manager came to the Federation of Churches and we considered the whole matter of the churches' attitude toward the theater. He felt the opposition of the churches to be such that he feared the UNITY IN" COMMUNITY SERVICE 11 season would be run at a loss. He proposed that we secure information about plays coming to Cincinnati and warn him of possible opposition. He asked that we protect him from adverse newspaper publicity. "Third: The manager of the Olympic proposed that we view the offerings of his theater, and if we would come to him first he would eliminate objectionable fea- tures, provided we protected him against newspaper publicity. Twice I have called to his attention features that we did feel were objectionable. He eliminated these features in the face of the owner's opposition. "Fourth: This same arrangement is in effect with the manager of the Empress and Keith's and other theaters. It has worked out very satisfactorily. "Fifth : Objection to the showing of 'Purity' brought the matter before the judge of the Juvenile Court. The attorney for the syndicate at once called up the judge, assuring him that they would follow absolutely the pastors' desires and hoped that all that would be neces- sary would be an informal suggestion to him as to what the Court's desires might be without any publicity. However, desiring an opinion, we secured a hearing. The manager of the Walnut Street Theater brought into court the attorney and representatives of the New York office, who had come for the hearing. They asked that no formal judgment be given, nor any publicity made. They were only too willing to follow any suggestion of the Court, and desired not to have any record made that the film had been brought before the Court. The judge, however, gave his opinion, which, I am informed, brought anything but financial profit to the theater." The most important task before the Church today is to meet unitedly, determinedly, wisely, constructively, positively the great opportunity offered to it by the love of children and adults for amusement, in which char- 12 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY acter can be made just as well as it can be marred. All too long we have been content to deal with the play life negatively. Other agencies, like the Playground and Eecreation Association of America, are doing a great deal but not enough. The churches must Christianize recreation so that children will love the Church for the joy it gives them; not the joy of an anticipated heaven after old age, but a presentday childlike joy. This is a community task and Christian unity can make its finest demonstration and win its lifelong adherents by opening two doors to happiness for every one it has closed to a false conception of a good time. This is one of the greatest presentday challenges awaiting the ac- ceptance of united Christianity in every community. Kow that the Christian forces of America have been so successful in having the prohibition Amendment enacted, how will they measure up to the responsibility and opportunity which the closing of the saloons will present ? Two great interchureh missionary movements have hastened the day of Christian unity by the practice of it, not only nationally but locally. The Missionary Educa- tion Movement has brought foreign and home mis- sionary boards together in preparing great study courses for Christians in all the world, and has brought the people of all churches together to study those lessons in every nook and corner of America. It has blazed the trail and even paved the road over which the coming Interchureh World Movement of North America will move with speed and safety. The Laymen's Missionary Movement has for a decade been arousing the manhood UNITY IN COMMUNITY SBEVICE 13 of the churches not only to catch the vision of a world- wide kingdom but to make that vision a fact in the earth through the gifts of life and money. With the Student Volunteer Movement, it has given to missionary work a sense of virility which has resulted in the foreign mission field's becoming the most attractive field of service in all the world for the finest young men and young women of America. The very spirit which leads these young people to Turkey and India and China and Africa, has brought it to pass that -Christian unity is realized in a larger degree in these lands than at home. Out of this missionary study movement, out of this call to service, has come a new interest in the missionary task of the home town. Every great missionary station is a social settlement ruled by a Christian spirit. They long antedated Toynbee Hall, South End House, Uni- versity Settlement, HuU House and Chicago Commons, only we did not realize it. Their success has been due primarily to a religious passion that found expression in social work. The home churches are thus studying the home town. Cooperating with the Missionary Educa- tion Movement the church federations of St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland have published study books entitled, "The Challenge of St. Louis," "The ChaUenge of Pittsburgh," "The Challenge of Cleveland." In time every city will have such a book prepared and studied by the people in all the churches. "The Challenge of Pittsburgh" was written by the Eev. Daniel L. Marsh, pastor of the Smithfield Method- ist Episcopal Church. The titles of the chapters indicate the character of the book ; 14 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY 1. What kind of a city do we live in ? 2. What kind of people live in this city ? 3. How do these people work ? 4. How do these people play? 5. Under what conditions do these people live? 6. What social agencies hinder and help the life of these people ? 7. How is the religious life of these people nurtured and expressed? The campaign of study was conducted by a committee made up of members from the Council of Churches, the County Sunday School Association, the Young Men's Christian Association, the various young people's or- ganizations in the churches, and the Interdenomina- tional Union of Women's Missionary Societies of the county. It was truly an interchurch campaign. The results were that upwards of 7,000 copies of the book were sold, and, in one form or another, the study was made in the majority of the churches. There is no way of estimating how many people participated in the study, for the reason that so many different methods were used. Many pastors made the book the basis of a series of midweek services, the pastor taking up one chapter each week at his prayer meeting. Some pastors made it the basis of a series of Sunday evening sermons, recommending that the people secure copies of the book and follow the course with their reading. The Epworth League organization did notably effective work, partly by an arrangement whereby they challenged the St. Louis Leaguers to a contest in the study of the respective books on Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Practically every league in the Pittsburgh District of the Conference put UNITY IN COMMUNITY SERVICE 15 on the study, and more than three-fourths of those in the rest of the Conference. A close observer of this effort to know Pittsburgh, as a great call for cooperative Christianity applied locally, comments upon this united effort as follows: "Our campaign has been abundantly worth while, and we are glad we had it. It did much to show to our people the nature of the job that confronts them, tasked as they are with making our community into one dom- inated in all its relationships by the principles of Jesus. What is perhaps more important, it helped many of us to lift our eyes beyond the hills that shut in our little parishes; it broadened our outlook till we could see the city in spite of the nearby houses ; it taught us to think in community terms ; it stressed the duty of the churches, regardless of denomination, to work on community lines ; it drove home to our hearts that the Kingdom of God and my own little church are not necessarily the same thing." The two greatest fields of interchurch work are social service and evangelism. Such marked success has been attained along these lines of effort and the principles that have been developed are so important that they wiU be dealt with in separate chapters. They alone justify all the attempts which have been made to mobilize the churches for united service. The entire field of cooper- ative effort in social betterment work, as that work concerns the Church, cannot be dealt with in this volume. Only enough can be reported to indicate what is being done and can be done. CHAPTEE II SOCIAL BETTEEMENT THEOUGH INTEE- CHUECH WOEK Christian leaders do not now discuss the advisability of the Church's engaging in social work. They ask: How can the churches most efEectively do such work? Only so can they be true to the teachings and practices of Jesus. In the increase in the curricula of our theo- logical seminaries in the number of hours devoted to the study of the principles and methods of social Chris- tianity, and in the increase in the number of books that have been written during the last twenty years upon this subject, we have abundant evidence of the change that has taken place. This gain has not come by a propor- tionate neglect of evangelism, but it has resulted in re- statements of the principles and methods of evangelistic work. The two are more nearly balanced in the program of the average minister than ever before. He does not argue for one over against the other. With aU his soul he preaches both love of God and love of man, without trying to put the two messages into separate compart- ments of mind and heart and life. The local church has not been the power for good in the community which it might have been, because it has been too intent upon promoting denominational interests and not serving the community. Secretarianism and community welfare have been antagonistic. We have 16 INTEECHUECH SOCIAL BETTEEMBNT 17 become accustomed to the common tests of a successful pastor: Did he increase the membership of the church? Did he secure the money to pay the bills? On these two things the possibility of promotion to a larger church depended. Officers and pastors did not think in terms of the city, but in the terms of the local church and the denomination of which it was a member. They have regarded preachers too much as mustard plasters, to be applied locally and retained as long as they could draw. The community existed for the church, not the church for the community. We have followed the strategy of rivals, not of partners. This attitude is being changed because of the dis- satisfaction with such standards on the part of those within the Church, as well as those who are without. Slowly but surely we are coming to realize that the right attitude is the attitude of Jesus, whose praise should be the criterion of the Church — He came "not to be min- istered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ran- som for many." In spite of the faults of the Church, it has been in all times the most active influence in changing social condi- tions. The gospel of service, of love, of sacrifice pro- claimed from the pulpits, taught in the Bible schools, and read in the homes of the members, has continually aroused men and women to consecrate their lives to the good of the community. To realize this one needs only to ask those who give much time to social work whence comes the desire to be helpful to one's neighbors. The magnitude of this service cannot be expressed or measured. It is the triumph of the Church. 18 PEACTICING CHKISTIAN UNITY Not content with the good that has thus been done. Christian workers are seeking most earnestly how to do the best. It is most encouraging to note how the churches are changing from being rival ecclesiastical groups to becoming cooperating community agencies. This has come about gradually. For a long time we have been accustomed to city-wide revival campaigns in which most of the churches participated, generally imder the leadership of a professional evangelist. The general effect of such cooperative efforts has been good. Chris- tians learned that they can work together and that they are in agreement in the teachings and practices that are most fundamental. The temperance movement has been a good trainer in this fellowship. In the attack upon the common enemy, churches for the time being forgot their differences. The undertaking of a definite task was the best teacher of cooperation. Charitable organizations have harmon- ized the efforts and the attitudes of religious agencies. The poverty, the sickness, the distress of the unfortunate caused the kindly disposed church members to band themselves together. They solicited the support of the churches. In a similar way, the Young Men's Christian Associations and the Young Women's Christian Associa- tions promoted fraternal relations between the church members in the effort to meet a community need. Helpful as all these experiences have been, the Church has not been continuously a strong social force. It has acquired the reputation of being addicted to spasms of reform. It has moved only when someone from without has lined it up for action. The Anti-Saloon League had INTEECHUECH SOCIAL BETTEEMENT 19 to appeal to the churches, the charitable organization had to appeal to the churches, so did the hospital associa- tion, the visiting evangelist, the secretary of the Young Men's or Young Women's Christian Association, the secretary of the American Playgroimd and Eeereation Association, and many other recognized civic, social, and religious organizations. The response has been gener- ous. Strike the names of church people from the list of contributors to these organizations and you will fully realize how true this is. But the Church, which should have been first to act, has taken part only through in- terested members being enlisted and enlisting it. We have come to a new stage in the progress of the Church toward eflBcient community service. The Church is mobilizing its forces through its own initi- ative, that it may not only furnish men and money, but accept its share of the responsibility for directing the use of the men and money given and to be given. The time is coming when one can go, telephone, or write to a central ofiBce in any of our large cities and be at once in direct touch with the Protestant church life of that city. It will not be necessary to solicit the churches for the good cause you represent. The Church will seek you, if you really have any wisdom to offer about the task which the Church should perform in "spiritualizing the social forces and socializing the spiritual forces." At the outset let it be clearly understood that the genius of the interchurch movement in engaging in social work is not the creating of new organizations, but the coordinating of the churches with those already ex- isting and initiating others that may be needed, which is 20 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY not often the case. The executive secretary thinks of the needs, the interest, the problems of the whole com- munity as the Church is related to those problems. So real has this coordination become that one of the ezecu- tive secretaries found he was a member of over one hundred committees of different city organizations, because the religious interests in that city are unified and this unity is made concrete in a person. The people are becoming accustomed to speaking of the Church of that city instead of the churches. In the city this unifying of the Protestant church life has revealed the best way to secure favorable action in civic, social, and religious affairs. In the effort to form an interchurch federation there is always someone who proposes that we organize Protestants, Koman Catholics, and Hebrews into one city body. They must be com- bined in certain civic and social bodies, but success has not followed the effort to unify them in an interchurch body. The successful plan is to recognize the present lines of division and organize along these lines. When the Protestant forces are thus unified, the groups can cooperate easily, normally, and effectively in matters that are of common interest. An illustration of the possible success of the Church in reform work, because of such unification of all forces, is to be found in Duluth, Minnesota. Ever since the Men and Eeligion Forward Movement there has been an interchurch council in that city, composed of representa- tives from nearly all the churches. The solidarity of the Christian forces thus developed made possible the most cordial cooperation with other groups. In the spring of INTERCHUECH SOCIAL BETTERMENT 21 1916 the late Bishop MeGk>lriek of the Eoman Catholic Church and Mr. W. L. Smithies, president of the Inter- church Council, joined with other forces in forming a dry campaign committee. The victory ultimately won in Duluth was the result of a series of undertakings by the Interchurch Council. After it was formed in 1913 Christian unity soon began to express itself through initiating and cooperating in successful reform movements, such as the housing law, the new charter of 1913, with commission form of gov- ernment, the rigid regulatory and restrictive liquor ordi- nance (1913), the red-light abatement law in Minnesota, and the establishment of the St. Louis County Work Farm. Through these efforts eflBciency in team work between churches and between community organizations was de- veloped. When a few in a conference decided in March, 1916, that the city was ripe for a fight against the liquor trafBc, the Interchurch Council set about to make its contribution of strength. The Union Labor forces were ready for the fray, so were the leaders of fhe Eoman Catholic Church. The Duluth Dry Ordinance Committee was formed. An election was held as the result of a petition. The most approved methods of political organization were followed, so as to have every voter registered and informed. The Church has gone to the school of practical politics. On election day the '*Drys" won by a majority of 350. The issue was the granting of no new licenses after July 1, 1916, thus giving the saloons one year in which to close out their business. A second fight was precipitated by the 22 PRACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY "Wets," who initiated an ordinance to limit the saloons to 100 and increase the license fee. The "Drys" won again April 3, 1917, with a majority three and one-half times that secured in the former election. Enlarging the organization, the St. Louis County fight was brought on. . St. Louis County voted dry September 10, 1917, by a majority of 3,600. All saloons in the county were closed March 15, 1918. The closing of the saloons of Duluth, June 30, 1917, helped greatly to win the county fight. It also helped the dry forces of Superior, Wisconsin, just across the bay, to win a notable victory in the April, 1918, election. The uni- fication of the Protestant forces simplified the work of coordinating all good forces. The tactics that have brought about national prohibition must be followed to insure enforcement of that law. No city has greater reason for congratulation on the "work-together" spirit than Pittsburgh. Here is the Council of the Churches of Christ, composed of fifteen denominations. These religious bodies appropriate pro rata from their treasuries $5,000 a year to maintain the central office. Money is secured from individuals to carry on the work in the departments of evangelism, social service, and comity. In grappling with the prob- lem of civic betterment, the slogan of the church council of Pittsburgh has come to be, "Civic Eighteousness through Civic Officials." The Eev. Charles E. Zahniser thus characterizes the situation which confronts the churches that wish to help bring about better conditions : "The trouble with the churches is that they never do anything practical and the preachers haven't the courage INTERCHUECH SOCIAL BETTERMENT 23 to hit straight at the evils in their city. The churches are impractical and the preachers are cowards ! Every- one has heard that again and again. We heard it in Pittsburgh. Then there came a time when preachers and other churchmen organized to go after social con- ditions in the city in earnest. We began with the vice situation. Immediately there was a protest. A leading city official came out in the papers declaring against the preachers, who are presuming to do things for which we have paid officials, and a leading minister came out in protest against 'making thief catchers out of the Church.' In these two experiences I believe you will find the Scylla and Charybdis of the organized religious forces in the matter of promoting civic righteousness. We are damned if we undertake law enforcement and we are damned if we do nothing." Pittsburgh churches have not been content to remain between the horns of this apparent dilemna. When they tried the do-nothing policy they found the situa- tion becoming intolerable. They had to do something. When they tried to take matters into their own hands, they ran into all sorts of difficulties both within the churches and within the city. Corrupt police officials welcome such action, as they know that the non-civic bodies cannot maintain an adequate force to do what they set out to do and they can block the way on every hand. Then, too, it gives an excuse for not acting themselves, for shirking their responsibility in dealing with ugly conditions. It is not the business of the churches to police the city. It is their business to see that it is policed. The biggest, the most irresistible policeman in America is public opinion and the churches can create this public opinion. It may be a slow, but it 24 tEACTICIIfG CHRISTIAN UNITY is a sure, way to secure civic righteousness. It is in the effort to thus escape from a dilemma that the Pittsburgh churches are winning yictories and helping other cities to do the same. Dr. Zahniser and his associates took the position that the duty of the Church today is that of God's prophet : it is to stand on the wall and cry aloud, to warn the people of the enemies within as well as without, some- times to go as far as to say to someone in public, "Thou art the man," but to go no farther. Even if a guilty official continues his course and then wins in the next election, the charges should be continued, with this added, "You, the People, by your endorsement or lack of opposition, have become particeps criminis in the evil." It is not right to do the official's duty for him, neither is it right to do that of the citizen for him. The fine slogan of the Massachusetts Federations is "Keep the facts before the people, till the people change the facts !" The Social Service Committee of the Council of which Mr. H. D. W. English is the chairman, has pounded away with a persistent, pitiless publicity, and appealed to conscience and to the community's own self- interest in its own welfare. This has been the one weapon of attack. Means have been developed for securing the actual facts, so that the enemy long ago learned they could not fool the committees and that the committees are determined that they shall not fool the people. They found that in pulpits there is an avenue of publicity they can neither scare nor buy. The churches generally enjoyed fine support from the daily papers, in good part because, while they have been INTERCHUECH SOCIAL BETTERMENT 25 courteous to them, they have never begged their support. They gave them to understand that they have their own means of reaching the people, whether the papers come along or not. They poured out the facts through the pulpits, through bulletins, through letters, and through the official paper published monthly by the Council. In an organized way the people were aroused to deluge officials and others with resolutions, petitions, and especially with personal letters. Dr. Zahniser has given a graphic report of the way in which the churches have applied the above principles with success and dealt concretely with two evils which generally go hand in hand. It is here recorded : "As already stated, we began as most cities do, with the vice situation. Six years ago, Pittsburgh was in the deplorable vice condition common theretofore in most cities of its size. There were hundreds of houses of prostitution and other vices, flourishing \mder pro- tection. Investigation showed that the community was paying an average of $2,000,000 a year for the support of prostitution, and the vice interests were entrenched on every side. As a result of some revelations connected with a graft trial, we succeeded in securing, in 1912, the appointment of a quasi-public 'Morals Efficiency Bureau,' which was in service a little over a year and made a survey of conditions, the results of which were published in a report. This report was scattered broad- cast, particularly through the churches. A mayoralty campaign was on at that time, and by means of these revelations we secured public promises from both candi- dates that they would clean the town. We also secured the passage of a bill in the legislature providing for a 'Morals Bureau' as a function of the city government. An attempt was made to fool the better element, in 26 PRACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY the characteristic politician's way, by a pretense of sup- pressing vice while in secret protecting it. For three months this was continued. But we had our own ways of securing the actual facts and giving them to the public, to the constant embarrassment of the administra- tion. Finally, in April, the community was worked up to such a pitch that the mayor was told by his most trusted political adviser, that the only thing there was for him to do was to 'surrender to that church bunch' if he didn't want to be impeached. He did surrender and appointed a Morals Bureau, which was practically of our choosing. The bureau proceeded to close the entire red-light district and to hunt out commercialized vice in all its forms. At every step it was hampered by the vicious interests, but persistent publicity gave it victory after victory, till when, in March, 1915, it was over- thrown by a court decision on the ground of ■unconstitu- tionality, Pittsburgh had become the cleanest city in its history. Then started a determined effort to reopen the town. Again we attacked with publicity, so that they did not dare open up in more than a very small way. "In the meantime, we had started another reform movement with which the vice fight now became joined. That was our fight for reform of our police courts. For years these had been a disgrace to the city, a travesty on justice, a pliant and powerful tool in the hands of the most unscrupulous politicians, wherewith they were able to browbeat the poor and make terms with the vicious. When we started this fight from our office, men of experience told us that it was immeasurably the toughest proposition we had yet tackled, that cleaning out prostitution was child's play compared with it, that the malign political interests would fight with every possible means. And their judgment was right. We began with a public hearing, in which we presented a petition for reform of the system to the mayor and council. This petition bristled with specific charges, INTBECHIJECH SOCIAL BETTEEMENT 27 and caused a sensation. Our charges were challenged, and we rejoined with publication of evidence. We issued a bulletin with more charges and held a mass meeting on a Sunday afternoon in a downtown theater in which we made still more. Efforts were made to break up this meeting, the lights were turned out on us so that we had to resort to candles, but of course that all helped. Then members of the city council demanded that we enter legal proceedings to oust the men accused. We replied, 'That's not our job. You and the mayor put these men here, and it is your duty to clean out these evils. You can't shoulder the responsibility ofE on to us.' Under the stress of the indignation we had aroused, the most notorious of the accused magistrates resigned. The city council was won over to our side, but the mayor was held in the power of the vicious political interests, so that he did not dare discharge the men. Every day the mayor became more unpopidar as a result. Some time after the Morals Bureau had been put out of commission, we held another mass meet- ing in which it was shown that the police magistrates were now the center of the protection of vice. The mass meeting raised a committee, which tried to impeach one of the magistrates. The impeachment proceedings were before a political board that refused to remove the magistrate, but the evidence impeached the entire political combination before the public. Then came another mayoralty and councihnanic election — 1917. The newly elected mayor tried to please both sides by reappointing the magistrates and telling the better ele- ment that he would see that they did better. We went in before the council in January, 1918, and the council refused to confirm any of them. The mayor then found himself in a worse fix than ever. The old political gang threatened dire punishment if he should discharge the magistrates, the council stood firm with us in refusing to coi;firm them. 28 PEACTICING CHKISTIAN UNITY "We then came forward with the first and most im- portant proposal in our constructive program, an ordi- nance establishing a Morals Court. The ordinance was enacted and this court we now have estab- lished, presided over by one of our friends who had been a leader in our whole fight. It has jurisdiction over all sex offenses, all illegal liquor selling, all gambling, all offenses of women, and all offenses of persons under twenty-one years of age. This court is now in opera- tion and is working out along the most modern scientific lines. A committee is working on further steps in the program, which include additional legislation in Harris- burg and the specializing of all the police courts and taking the appointments out of politics. Today the mayor is enthusiastic over our Morals Court and giving it every support. "Pittsburgh is convinced from its experience, covering about eight years, that the only proper way to enforce public righteousness is through the properly constituted public oflBcials. There may be circumstances which require a law-and-order agency to enforce the laws temporarily, but when viewed in the large and the long, it "will ordinarily be found better to let a community suffer a little longer those ills it has, rather than to have them cured for it by others than the officials it has set over itself." CHAPTEB III EVANGELISM BY HOME TALENT Gipsy Smith was conducting an evangelistic campaign in the city of Chicago, Noonday meetings for men were held at the Great Northern Theater. Though the time for the service was limited to one hour, the Gipsy insisted that some Chicago clergyman divide that time with him. The clergymen invited to speak were not at all reluctant to do so. It was a thrilling experience for them to sit on the stage and see the great auditorium crowded to the last seat ten minutes after the doors were opened. It is doubtful whether they ever spoke with greater power than they did in that inspiring pres- ence, in company with an evangelist whom all had quickly come to admire and love. Day after day we heard the Gospel proclaimed with power and persuasive- ness by men who were known as Chicago's greatest pulpiteers, but had not been characterized as being evangelistic. On Friday of the first week the "pilot engine," as Mr. Smith once designated those who preceded him, spoke with such quiet passion and conviction that it seemed as though nothing better could be said. When the message was concluded Mr. Smith did not arise but began to sing softly one of his favorite hymns, "I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord, No tender voice like thine can peace afford." 39 30 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY The audience joined in singing this prayer. The hymn ended, the Gipsy came forward drawing from his coat pocket a handful of letters. "These letters," he said, "are from some of the men in this congregation. Their common burden is the re- quest that I take all of the noon hour. You write that you can hear your Chicago preachers at any time, but you cannot hear me. This affords me the opportunity to tell you why I followed this plan. In the first place the Lord did not send me to America to commit suicide. In the second place I wish to bring a great fact to your attention. You realize what a wonderful message we have just heard. Our hearts have burned within us. The whole Gospel has been preached. This is the fact I wish you to consider. If you Chicagoans will be as loyal to your own preachers as you are to a poor Gipsy, you will not need to send to England for one to proclaim the evangel." The Simultaneous Pastoral Evangelistic Campaign, which is rapidly becoming the most prominent feature of the program of federations of churches, is simply the carrying out of the suggestion made that noon in the Great Northern Theater in Chicago. The federation plan of community-wide evangelism is no new discovery. Again and again large and small communities have had campaigns in which entire de- pendence was placed upon the local ministers. Such campaigns were often unsuccessful because the ministers tried to follow the tactics of the professional evangelists, in which tactics they were untrained. They were Davids trying to wear some Saul's armor. The results that were secured were permanent. The simultaneous evangelistic campaign is answering EVANGELISM BY HOME TALENT 31 a great need in the Christian churches. It has been thoroughly tested, not as an occasional spasmodic re- vival, but as an all-the-year-round, year-in-and-year-out plan. Por six years it has been used by the Indianapolis Federation with increasing confidence on the part of pastors and church members. For this reason it has come to be known as the Indianapolis Plan. During the first year 3,500 members joined the churches. Dur- ing the three succeeding years the numbers were 7,000, 8,000, 8,000. In the year 1917-1918, under war condi- tions, 7,500 names were added to the church rolls. This is not a case of counting signed cards. In aU over 33,000 persons have joined Indianapolis churches by letter, on confession of faith, or by confirmation in five years. It all came about in this way in Indianapolis. Some six years ago when the federation which developed out of the Social Service Committee of the Men and Ee- ligion Forward Movement wished to put forth some evangelistic effort, the evangelistic committee tried to secure the services of the Eev. William A. Simday. His time was taken for a year and a half in advance. The committee carefully surveyed the situation. There was at hand a strong interchurch organization, which had already established itself in the esteem of the public. The secretary, Eev. M. C. Pearson, who had been called to that position from the leadership of the Friends' Society in that city, was able to give all his time to organizing the work, that the churches might act in harmony in local church and interchurch plans. The ipipisters ^ere able preachers and pastors, The ipeij 32 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY and the women of the churches to be enlisted for work were the same ones upon whom an evangelist would have to depend. Indianapolis decided, therefore, to make use of home talent in recruiting the Christian forces of the city, using the most approved methods of organization and publicity. The Federated Churches of Cleveland have followed the plan with equal success. During the last three years over 30,000 persons have become members of the Cleve- land churches. The annual program of the department of evangelism is a fixed factor in the religious life of the city. It is made out in the early summer season, that all necessary preparations may be completed to launch the campaign in the autumn. During the last year other cities, having well-organized federations and employing secretaries, carried out well-devised plans with inspiring success. Toledo and BufEalo both passed in number of new members the goal which had been set for the year. The goal set for Buffalo was 4,000. The additions to membership amounted to 5,633. The Buffalo federation sent the chairman of the evangelistic department to Indianapolis and Cleveland to study the principles and methods employed in these cities. The present year promises to establish this method of doing evangelistic work upon a permanent basis, as more than thirty cities having federations of churches with em- ployed secretaries are conducting such campaigns, besides many smaller communities which have adopted this course. There are variations in the programs that have been adopted in different cities to fit the local conditions, but EVANGELISM BY HOME TALENT 33 the main features are practically the same. The methods that have heen successful in personal, pastoral, taber- nacle, shop, and outdoor evangelistic work have been employed. It is not necessary to affirm that the chief dependence is not upon methods, but upon the power of God to establish or to reestablish a vital living fellowship with every human being. The greatest miracle of all ages is the creation of a new heart, unless it be the development of a life that has never known estrangement from God. Evangelistic methods have to do only with maintaining or opening the way by which the divine life may be merged with the human and both be truly eternal. As to methods followed in the federation evangelistic campaign, the fundamental feature is dependence upon the local church. This church is not condemned, be- littled, ignored, suspected, but is exalted by having more expected from it. Each church is called to do its part by the more intensive, more earnest, more confident use of those processes by which each church can develop the Christian life of the children entrusted to it and help to reconstruct those lives that have been broken. At the same time the local church joins in the extension of its work by being related to the other churches in such undertakings as demand cooperative efforts. It is with these cooperative features of the campaign that this chapter deals, not with the great field of intensive work in the local church. The streams of interest are not turned from the local church, in the hope that later they may be diverted to it. They are caused to flow into it and through it to join those of other churches, until they 34 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY become the deep and quiet current upon which may be borne all the soul needs of a great city, the river of life. The cooperative features of the city campaign are simple, so simple that many failures have resulted from the assumption that the campaign would run itself when once the initiatory resolutions had been adopted and proper committees appointed. This assumption is fatal. The success of the tabernacle plan of campaign is ac- counted for in the way in which it is worked from the time the advance man reaches the city or the city committee reaches the evangelist until the collection is taken on the last night and the last converts are gathered and the signed cards given to the pastors. The federa- tion campaign demands as great or even greater thoroughness in the attention given to every major and minor detail. The campaign begins at the close of the season's work. Before the miaisters go on their summer vacations, they are brought together by the evangelistic committee to hear the report on the work of the past season and to approve the plans for the next. After following this plan for five years in Indianapolis, it was suggested by Secretary Pearson that it might be advisable to change for the next season and major on a tabernacle campaign. The verdict was unanimous that they could not afford to have an extended period in which there would be the relaxation of the efforts of the local churches and the customary confusion. The same amount of energy and money spent in the regular work would bring larger results. Of course, if the people will not work as hard and give as mi;ch money under local leadership as in $ EVANGELISM BY HOME TALENT 35 great tabernacle campaign, then bring in the ablest evangelist who can make a stirring of the dry bones. Indianapolis churches have developed local initiative and ability to work under local leaders and other cities are forming the same habits. Early in the autumn the ministers spend a day in conference and prayer, having some one or more bring great inspirational messages to them. This gathering is made the occasion not only of inspiration and of in- formation as to the details of the work for the coming season, but also for the development of a personal fellow- ship, for the touch of elbow to elbow that helps each man to do his part. A fine morale is as important to ministers as to soldiers. The setting apart of certain Sundays for certain pur- poses is being overworked in these days. The request of every type of organization — ^from the government of the United States to the youngest infant among the world uplift societies — is a tribute to the pulpit as a power in forming public opinion, yet these requests are leaving scant time for the common interests of the Church. Possibly it is the emphasis upon the needs of the local church that has made the suggestion that certain Sundays be especially observed. The BufEalo program for 1918-19, as announced by Secretary C, McLeod Smith, is typical : Simultaneous Chuhch Campaign, 1918-1919 Introductory Statement: Last year ninety-two churches cooperated in whole or in part in the Simul- taneous Church Campaign. The aggregate increase in church membership was 5,632 persons. This addition 36 PRACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY was 1,632 beyond the goal that had been set for the year. Our gain, as compared to that of other cities that conducted similar campaigns, is highly satisfactory. With the experience of the past to guide us, we are confi- dent that tiie coming year will record for us a most encouraging result. Aims for the Year : 1. Definite training for service in each church, directed by the pastor. 2. An instruction or catechetical class of prospective members, conducted by the pastor. 3. The promotion by the pastor and church officers of some definite form of family religion in the homes. 4. Six thousand new members added to the cooper- ating churches by May 1, 1919. Plan of Cooperation: It is understood that each church is free to use its own methods in carrying out the program. In no way will the committee in charge attempt to dictate the method of evangelism to be used by the individual church. Monday, September 30th, Buffalo Ministers' Associa- tion all-day retreat and conference, when the program of the year will be prayerfully considered and finally passed upon by the pastors. Enlistment Months — October, November, and De- cember. It is suggested that pastors and officers utilize each midweek service to enlist and train the people for definite Christian service. Special Days : 1. Church School Rally Day, October 13th. 2. Visitation Day, October 30th. Carefully selected teams should visit the homes of members and adherents. EVAHGELISM BY HOME TALENT 3^ 3. AU-Buffalo-At-Church-Day, October 37th. This should be a great rally day for the entire church con- stituency. 4. Bible Day, November 17th. Suggested that pastors preach in the morning on "The Bible in the Home"; and in the evening on "Eeligion in the Public Schools." November 17th to November 24th is the National Home Missions Week. During the ■week the Mis- sions Department of the Federation and the American Bible Society will cooperate in making a survey of certain needy sections of the city, the immediate object being to place some portion of the Word of God in every home where it is not now found. It is estimated that 175,000 persons in our city are without the Bible. 5. Foreign Missions Day, Thursday, December 5. In the forenoon a meeting of the ministers, with speakers from the Laymen's Missionary Movement will be held. One of the visitors will address the Eotary Club or Chamber of Commerce at noon. A dinner of missionary leaders will be held at 6:30. A mass meeting will be held in the evening. In this part of the year's program the Missions Department of the Federation and the Laymen's Missionary Movement will cooperate. Intensive Period: Special meetings in the churches January 5 th to January 19th; simultaneously, theater meetings January 6 to 17, omitting Saturday, January 11th, the speaker at the theater meetings to be some man of national or international reputation. January 19th to Easter: Personal follow-up work in each church, based on a prospective membership list. Easter Ingathering: Special meetings preceding Easter; a time to recruit and deepen spiritual life. 38 PRACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY Instruction Classes: It is hoped that eommimicant classes conducted by the pastors will be held all or part of the year. Certainly these should begin not later tiian the first of the year. The observance of certain days makes it possible to secure good publicity. Advertisements in the Saturday editions of the daily papers can be of such a character as to turn the minds of the people toward the churches, when all unite in meeting the expense of the publicity. What is of such great importance in a tabernacle campaign is of still greater importance in the quieter, more ordinary campaign. The evangelists have taught the churches some valuable lessons which must not be forgotten but must be, if possible, improved upon. Federation bulletins, church bulletins, street-car cards, bill boards, and other means of attracting the attention of the public and awakening interest are used. Before the opening of the year's work a simple but thorough religious census is taken each year and con- scientiously followed up. Where this is an annual event it is done quickly, the city being divided in such a way as to place a limited parish responsibility on each church. A significant feature of the work in Cleveland is the organizing of a group of at least twelve laymen in parish visitation in the community under the direction of the pastor one or two evenings a month. By going in pairs these men can reach others in such a way as to make the invitation to come to church amount to something. Because of the responsibility that is placed upon the laymen for winning men, a number of cities now have each autumn some kind of personal workers' courses. EVANGELISM BY HOME TALENT 39 Union noonday meetings at the beginning of the season or just after New Year's, or more commonly dur- ing Lent, are now held by most federations. The speakers are local ministers or ministers from other cities who have great messages. Groups of churches in different sections of the cities have similar noonday or evening meetings. Great attention is given at this time to such newspaper publicity as will create widest, most sympathetic, most serious interest in Christian living. There are a number of elements in the federation plan of evangelism which appeal strongly to ministers and laymen. First: It is not expensive. When Mr. Sunday went to Duluth, Minn., the churches had to raise $45,000 before the meetings began. Other sums were raised later. The Federation of Indianapolis was financed for six years on less than that amount. By this plan the men who are already employed to do the work do it. Second: Ministers and church officers accept their heaven-given opportunity. Evangelists have rendered a great service in forcing them to do this. Unfortunately people have come to look upon evangelism as the voca- tion of a few eccentric men who can create a great deal of public discussion — an injustice to those who are not of this type as all are classed together. The ministers of an eastern city were being urged to adopt the Indian- apolis Plan. It appealed to them. But a special com- mittee had been appointed to secure a popular evangelist. He had given some encouragement. He might be able to come in eighteen months, therefore nothing should be done in the meantime that would seem to use up the 40 PRACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY latent interest of the public. This was not the fault of the evangelist. He could be in only one place at a time. It was the fault of the churches. In this way we have become religious slackers. This federation plan is for everybody for every year and for all the year. Third: There is no disastrous reaction. Those who join the churches do so under the influence of men who remain with them as neighbors or pastors. These can help them as they grow stronger by Christian living. More time is devoted to nurture and careful instruction and less to mob excitement. It is not so spectacular as the great tabernacle meeting, but it is more permanent. Pourth : It strengthens the bonds between pastor and people. It is a notable fact that, after a great revival campaign conducted by a professional evangelist, most of the ministers leave the city within the following year. The greater the revival, the quicker the removals. There may be many explanations, some of which are not favorable to the pastors, but the simple fact remains that it is deemed advisable to sever the pastoral relations. Not so when pastor and people work hand in hand for friends and neighbors. There is also a closer fellowship between the ministers. Like toilers in the same trench they are more sympathetic with one another. The harvest is gathered all during the year, so there is no unseemly grabbing for converts out of the tabernacle hopper. In such cases the church members judge the efficiency of their ministers by the number he can secure. Three months after the evangelist is gone it is not wise to have the ministers talk about one another, unless the evangelist won souls by the very method that EVANGELISM BY HOME TALENT 41 the minister must use who labors in the same field year in and year out. Fifth : It develops the evangelistic ability of the local minister. He feels that something is expected of him along this line and he strives to meet those expectations. It develops the same ability in the church members, whether they seek results in Bible school, homes, or places of business. "The actual test of holding revival services in the local church," says the Eev. Charles L. Goodell, "is the greatest possible development of the Christian life of the pastor. Thousands of ministers who said they could not do it have found such success and such Joy in the doing as has revolutionized their ministry. The winning of one soul has given them such delight that all other work seems but tame, and they are speedily 'out of breath pursuing souls.' " Sixth: The publicity in such a campaign is not of personality but of Christianity and the Church. Most remarkable has been the cooperation of the daily press in federation evangelism. While the simultaneous campaign occupies the atten- tion of the churches mostly from October to May,- the federations are now giving much attention during the summer months to bringing the Gospel to those who do not go to the church. A few years ago there appeared a scathing editorial in one of the morning papers of St. Louis, Mo. It stated that on the court house steps, the open forum of the city, men were ready to give every sort of a message to those who gathered there. Social- ists, Anarchists, I. W. Ws., hoboes, all were there except the Church. The editorial closed with the question. 42 PRACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY "Has the Church no message for the man on the court house step?" That night the secretary, Rev. Clair E. Ames, now secretary of the St. Paul federation, was on the steps. He preached under great difficulties, as he was heckled by the crowd. When he finished, the secre- tary of the Hobo Association attacked him bitterly. Mr. Ames was on hand the next night. Some of the ablest preachers of St. Louis were enlisted. Instead of leaving the proclaiming of the greatest truths in all the universe to those who in most cases are "peculiar," the best hearts and heads in the city were drafted. Some men tried it once, but never finished and never returned. By the end of the summer the weekly bulletin of the Hobo Association paid one of the finest compliments ever given to the Federation of Churches. So interested had this audience become and so appreciative of the service rendered, that if any transient ranter uttered the thread- bare criticisms of the churches, he was called down by the crowd. The best the Church has is none too good for the man and the woman who are still to be found where Jesus found them. In summarizing the report on the outdoor campaign in the summer of 1918, Secretary Culbreth of St. Louis writes : "From observation and experience, it is clear that there are three simple things necessary to success in street gospel work. The first is a volume of singing by a chorus of good voices. More than solo or quartette, the crowd appreciates lively and hearty singing by a group. This is because the crowd itself will sing if it has the right sort of encouragement. The next simple thing necessary is the right kind of talks. Not every EVANGELISM BY HOME TALENT 43 time does the selected speaker make good. Too often lack of successful preparation for the task in hand has been evident. Many speakers, uniformly successful in the orderly environment of a pulpit, completely fail to make connection with the irresponsible crowd which as- sembles at a street gospel meeting. In order to over- come this difficulty, it may be necessary to select and train a group of men in this particular sort of outdoor work. The third and last essential that needs to be mentioned is a staff of personal workers, to help carry the message home to the hearts of individuals in the crowd. At every gospel meeting there should be several persons scattered through the throng who have been taught how and will be eager to impress upon individuals the appeal of the living message. 'Tiet this conclusion, then, be taken to heart by the ministry of this great city. An adequate and effective program of street meetings demands the strongest speakers that can be secured and the best groups of singers that can be gathered together. Let the pastors of our great churches keep this need in mind as they make their plans for next summer's vacations." The federation evangelistic campaign depends in a very large measure upon the services of one man who can do for the city what is done by the organizer of an evangelistic party and the executive secretary of the evangelistic party in the city when the campaign is under way. Whether employed or unemployed, some one person must see that publicity is constructive, con- tinuous, and corrective, that all the details of cottage or neighborhood meetings, noon theater meetings, and per- sonal work training classes are attended to. The pre- liminary survey must be thorough but simple, and the facts thus secured must be used. The evangelistic 44 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN TJlSriTY department of a church federation alone more than justi- fies the expenditure of all the money it costs to do all the work of a federation. A number of cities have attempted to carry out this program and have failed because of the lack of leadership every day, everywhere. For the city that will pay the price in men and money, there will be the sanest and surest revival of true religion that is possible. CHAPTER IV ONE OEGANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS It is no longer a question of whether, but rather a question of when, the churches of a city will form an interchurch organization that is permanent, compre- hensive, and effective. The growth of the community spirit is making more demands upon the churches, com- pelling them to do things together. When the church leaders become community-minded, they start out to make the city a better place in which to live. Seeking a common objective, they go the same way and coopera- tion becomes a matter of course. Instead of a new organization for each piece of work, one wiU be secured which, with slight variations, can be used for all. The attendance upon committee meetings where the very same persons meet as members of differently named groups to do different things, with a different time for each meeting, has become a weariness to body and soul. A prominent pastor of Indianapolis moved to a Pacific coast city where the nearest approach to an interchurch organization was a ministerial union. When asked whether he would help form a federation in that city he replied with some feeling that he was already urging it, declaring that it took all his time to go to all sorts of meetings, to do all sorts of things which were given proper attention in Indianapolis by the departments of the federation charged with those tasks. The best 45 46 PEACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY propagandists of the interchureh plan of work are the ministers who move from cities that are well organized. The very multiplicity of demands upon the wide-awake clergymen of any city makes a division of labor necessary. Mr. William Jennings Bryan recently addressed the ministers of Baltimore upon the subject of cooperation. A thousand men, he said, are more than a thousand times one man. They may be ten thousand, a himdred thousand, a million times more. All the citizens of the United States might have walked across the Isthmus of Panama and not one of them have started to dig the canal. But forty thousand of them, thinking and acting together, performed one of the greatest engineering feats of all times. Not only the multiplicity of demands, but the magni- tude of possible and desirable accomplishments, requires adequately organized forces. Many a good deed for a city has been left undone in the past because no church had any thought of performing it alone and no one had suggested that they all do it, because there was no harness in which they could or, possibly, would pull to- gether. Times have changed. The law of Captain John Smith about working and eating is being applied in a quiet but effective way to churches, with the slight change of insistence on serving or dying. The law of the survival of the fittest is in operation. Evangelism and social betterment are the two most outstanding reasons for cooperation and the most glorious proofs of the variety of work that can be per- formed through a single organization. Belated to these ONE OEGANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS 47 in one way or another are many other lines of activities by which the churches can move unitedly to render com- munity service. In the preceding chapters reference has been made to publicity as playing an important part in different campaigns. The churches have not yet realized what a powerful ally of the pulpit the press can be. Never was this truer than during the terrible epidemic of influenza. For weeks the churches were closed on Sundays. Im- mediately the secretaries of the federations assisted the editors of the daily papers in preparing special services to be published in the Saturday afternoon papers. "Home Worship for Churchless Sundays" was the popular caption. Where there was no federation many editors called upon local pastors to assist them in pre- paring short sermons, selecting scripture readings and prayers. A Toledo paper had a full page call to wor- ship signed by the Bishop of the Eoman Catholic Church and the secretary of the Toledo Federation of Churches. Since the books on church publicity by such writers as the Eev. Charles Stelzle and the Eev. Christian F. Eeisner were written, since the Advertising Clubs of America included a Church Publicity Section in its annual meeting, and since federation secretaries made religious publicity more than a matter of denominational propaganda and the boosting of personalities, the press has been giving much more space to the affairs of the Church. There is scarcely a reputable daily paper in the country which does not have at least once a week a church page. In a score of cities one of the regular tasks of the interchurch secretary is to prepare, or have 48 PEACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY prepared, signed articles for Saturday evening papers and to furnish local, national, or world religious news of paramount importance. One of the prominent features of the Saturday Indianapolis News is the editorial written by Secretary M. C. Pearson. It has not been used for the churches so much as by the churches in supporting aU good undertakings and opposing evil ones. Vocational evangelists have made large use of the press and all forms of publicity. The Church must fol- low their example. The publicity and advertising work in the interchurch evangelistic campaign has been of many kinds which can not even be named here. In Milwaukee the churches in the campaign of one year used thirty-four forms of publicity, thus making it clear that there are many ways for the churches to reach the people as well as to urge the people to reach the churches. The basis of good publicity is exact information, just as it is the basis of good preaching. Possibly the first undertaking of a newly formed federation of churches is the beginning of a survey of field, forces, and resources — a survey which goes forward constantly. The most difficult thing for a good newspaper reporter to do today is to get the social and religious facts in the life of a great city. In the office of the Chamber of Commerce he can get at the physical and financial facts of the city without trouble. The city editor of a prominent Saint Louis, Mo., daily paper said that the best reporter he had on his paper and the best aid to all his reporters was the office secretary of the church federation, who had gathered in that office a great deal of social and religious data which were kept alive and available to all. ONE OEGANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS 49 On the very day the newspaper man made this state- ment the pastor of one of the churches called up the oflBce by telephone and asked a long series of questions. He had been requested to give an address that evening before a mass meeting. He wished to be specific in his statements, not to deal in beautiful generalities. At four o'clock that afternoon he had the desired informa- tion by special delivery. The Eev. Charles H. Parkhurst relates how, when he made his first great announcement concerning vice con- ditions in New York City, he knew that what he said was true, but when he was called upon by reporters and police ofiicials to furnish definite information he was helpless. "Then," said Dr. Parkhurst, "I went to work, gathered my data, and had them supported by evidence so that the next time I opened my mouth it was loaded with facts." The Lexow investigation followed. The churches of any city cannot deal successfully with wrong social or religious conditions without such a bureau of information, whether those conditions have to do with vice, housing, industry, city government, or the old- fashioned method of locating churches. When a group of community-minded Christian work- ers come together the first question to be asked is, "What needs to be done?" Such a group came together in Topeka, Kansas. Some were entirely satisfied with con- ditions, giving expression to the usual boasting which is characteristic of shallow thinkers. One real estate man scoffed at the idea of the need of looking after housing conditions. Immediately another agent re- ported a visit he had made that morning to a house 50 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY where nearly every principle of good housing was vio- lated. As a result of that discussion a few men went out to find what the facts were. When the group met again, the photographs secured and the facts gathered made it clear that more must be known. There were present those who contended that it was disloyal to the city to say unpleasant things about it, even if true. Others said that we must arouse the city so that the citizens would remedy existing evils, making it impossible for any one to point out glaring defects. Being true Kansans, the latter group prevailed. The oflBcers of the Church Federation secured the ap- pointment of a city survey committee representing many interests. Funds were raised and arrangements were made with Mr. Shelby M. Harrison of the Eussell Sage Foundation to survey the city as to sanitary, industrial, administrative, and penal conditions. The work was thoroughly done. The information was given to the public in a very striking exhibit, which was visited by over ten thousand citizens. Before that week had passed real estate agents offering lots in "sewered" sections of the city employed the word "sewers," printing it in the largest type used in the advertisement. Pupils in the public schools wrote essays about the conditions revealed in the exhibit. Clergymen preached about it and the newspapers featured it. That survey was made five years ago. The results of it are summarized in a letter written at the present day by the secretary of the Kansas State Board of Health, S. J. Crumbull, M. D., the originator of the phrase, ONE ORGANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS 51 "Swat the Ply." The Topeka survey was most em- phatically worth while for the following reasons which he points out : "The city conscience was aroused in relation to the whole municipal problem of betterment relating to the moral, social, and public health conditions. For many years Topeka knew that there was something radically wrong, but was unable to make a diagnosis; she had sufficient civic and municipal pride to call in expert physicians to make that diagnosis and, after it was made, had the good judgment and wisdom to take the medicine prescribed — notwithstanding the fact that the dose was a rather bitter as well as an expensive one. Some of the things that might be mentioned as a direct result of the Topeka survey are: Better working conditions by the inauguration of safety devices in manufacturing and industrial establish- ments. The inauguration of a full-time health organization for the city. The organization of the Topeka Public Health Nurs- ing Organization, with eight nurses. The extending of the city sewers on the east side to a population of 10,000 that for years had been imsewered — ^which, in efifect, means the abolition of thousands of outside toilets. The extension of the city water service to portions of the city that had had to depend upon shallow wells for their domestic supply. The inauguration of an efiBcient milk inspection system, including a city laboratory for frequent and con- tinuous milk examination. That the expense incident to the creation of these 53 PRACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY various city activities has been justified has been re- flected in the reduction of the city's death rate, particu- larly the infant mortality rate. Surely the Topeka survey has been one of the most productive investments that the citizens of Topeka have ever made." "Get the facts, and get them straight" is the first requisite of successful interchurch work, whether in a rural community or in a world-wide movement. The second requisite is, "Keep getting them." The meat packers of America do not do business today on the information about live stock which was gathered a year ago, much less on the information of five years ago. Their men are continually sending in reports. It is the same with those who deal in wheat and corn and cotton. So it should be in dealing with human beings. As a result of surveys and investigations, the churches become better acquainted with the various organizations and institutions within and without the city with which there should be effective cooperation. Prominent among such organizations is the Alliance, or Association, or Federation, or Bureau of Charities. In the old-fashioned charity and relief work the Church dealt directly with the one in need. While this resulted in much imposi- tion, confusion, and inefiBciency there was one important element, personal contact. There was some religious as well as material ministration. In the new plan worked out in the interest of the needy there has been the loss of the good that came from establishing personal rela- tionships. The greatest need now is that to all the benefits that have come by better plans there be added the plan that makes Christian influence vital. In the ONE ORGANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS 53 rehabilitation of character, religion is still the mightiest factor. It is not possible for the secretary of the charities organization to establish the desired companionship of beneficiary and church. In St. Louis the federation becomes the go-between. When help of any character has been given to an individual, the name goes to a joint committee representing Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religious agencies. The names that are given to the representative of the first group are immediately fol- lowed up. The Church and the unfortunate are brought together in the most normal way possible. In many cities the most earnest advocates of an interchurch organization have been the secretaries of organized charity. Cooperation of church with charity organiza- tion and of charity organization with church has helped to eliminate overlapping and to make possible a well balanced measure of aid. When mobilized, the churches can quickly bring their support to any undertaking. Previous to the War the Churchmen's Federation of Louisville, Kentucky, de- veloped a plan by which the Roman Catholics and Jews joined in a great vice campaign. Pressure was brought to bear upon the mayor, who appointed from these groups a vice commission. A survey of local conditions and of methods pursued in other cities was made. When Camp Zachary Taylor was located near Louisville the officers of the federation, under the leadership of the executive secretary, the Rev. W. S. Lockhart, were able to throw the full support of the churches back of the officers of the Fosdick Commission. The most expert investigators in 54 PKACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY the country were procured. In the beginning of the determined fight many of the good citizens were timid about giving their support and the press opposed. But as the battle went on these became allies and in the end some signal victories were won. It has long been a custom in large cities for repre- sentatives of churches to go to hospitals and public institutions for religious work. As a rule such service has been irregular, often in the charge of earnest but not most helpful individuals. The result has been that these visitors have come to be looked upon as nuisances who had to be tolerated in the name of the Church. In some cities, notably BufEalo, all this work is systematized, dignified, and made most desirable on the part of patients or inmates, nurses, or attendants. The Chicago Federation is now making plans for such cooperation on a large scale. .One great gain that has come in dealing with such problems is the elimination of denominational confusion. Through the presence of the representative of all the churches the chief emphasis has been on spiritual need. At the same time all the sacred ties and influences of an earlier church affection can be preserved by this representative bringing to the institution the clergyman whose denominational relationship makes his ministration peculiarly beneficial. During the War cities having interchurch organiza- tions properly led realized their value. Instead of hav- ing to organize the churches to secure cooperation in great community-wide and nation-wide undertakings the churches were at the front. So appreciative were those concerned with this cooperation in Indianapolis ONE ORGANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS 55 and in Erie, Pa., that the budgets of the federations were included in the war chests of the respective cities. The same ability to cooperate is being manifested in the plans for reconstruction. The possibility of cooperation with national organiza- tions desiring to function in local communities is of in- creasing importance. Most notable is the cooperation with the Laymen's Missionary Movement. When the first series of campaigns were carried on ten years ago, it was necessary to send organizers to every city to pre- pare for the campaign. First, these organizers had to secure the consent of the ministerial association. A group of capable laymen had to be discovered, interested, convinced, and organized. The value of this movement to interchurch work has not yet been fully realized. It paved the way for the Men and Religion Forward Move- ment and others that followed, including the coming Interchurch World Movement. But how these leaders had to toil to get the churches together so that something could be done! This still must be done in many cities. Where the churches have a central ofiBce and a secretary the machinery is now ready at hand. In the first campaign held in Cincin- nati, Ohio, some ten years ago, the total registration of delegates was less than nine hundred. When the next campaign was held after Rev. P. L. Eagley had become secretary, with far less effort over 3,000 delegates were registered and the conservation work was simplified. No more striking illustration of the value of a work- ing interchurch organization in a city has been given than that which is contained in a report made by the 56 PRACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY Kev. Henry A. Atkinson, who had charge of the national wartime campaign known as "The Church a]jd the Moral Aims of the War." "During the year 1918 I had a splendid opportunity of testing the value of the federation of churches in a local community for the purpose of getting concerted action and arousing community interest. The National Committee on the Churches and the Moral Aims of the War was created as a wartime organization with the spe- cial commission of interpreting the moral aims of the War to the people of the United States, and arousing the consciences to the point where the contest could be con- cluded in a decided victory for righteousness. The days in which this committee was organized made it necessary to speed up the work, because so many demands were being made on the communities that unless a matter was presented vigorously and continuously it was pretty certain to fail. This committee sent its speakers into over 300 cities and organized conferences among ministers and mass meetings for the general public. Sir George Adam Smith, Bishop Gore of Orford, and Dr. Arthur T. Guttery of Liverpool came to this country at the special invitation of the committee. Their itineraries were arranged for them covering the entire nation. Besides these men, the committee used in its campaign fifty or sixty of the leading laymen and ministers of the United States. Altogether, it was a huge undertaking and one that required for its execution constant attention and painstaking care. ONE OEG ANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS 57 The invariable experience of our committee was that everywhere that we found a federation of churches it was easy to organize a ministerial conference and arrange mass meetings. Without a single exception, the secretaries of the federations responded to the suggestion that such meetings be held and immediately took the initiative in carrying out all the details incident to or- ganizing the local community. A concrete example illustrates the manner in which we were able to work with the federations and the efficiency with which the mind of the community was mobilized when the churches had an organization charged with the task of leading in all matters requiring cooperative action. In Louisville, The Churchmen's Federation was the organization to which we first ap- pealed. It stands in that city as the leading organized religious force. The secretary immediately took the matter up and became responsible for the campaign. The representative of our committee who visited Louis- ville felt when he left the city that the arrangements were secure. Nor were we disappointed. Our speakers met a large and enthusiastic reception. The same thing was true in Cleveland, where under the leadership of Secretary E. E. Wright, the entire city was aroused. Later on, this same organization was charged by the Liberty Loan Committee with the responsibility for opening that campaign. This was done under the direc- tion of our National Committee and a series of most important conferences and mass meetings were held. Our experience was duplicated in Chicago, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and a 58 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY dozen other places that had federations. In every place where there was even a nucleus of a federation our meetings were a success. On the other hand, when we went into a community where there was no organized cooperation among the churches, we had a most difficult task on our hands and it was almost impossible to arrange a suitable hearing for our speakers, no matter how distinguished they might be. The only way we could succeed was to get into a community of this kind and set to work to create a nucleus of a federation. It may be safely said that in every city where we held successful meetings in our campaign, we found a federation to begin with or left one when we were through. We found the same thing true in the state field as we did in the local community. An illustration of this is found in California, where the Eev. E. Guy Talbott was able to arrange a series of conferences extending from Los Angeles to Seattle. He worked through the Cali- fornia State Federation of Churches. This gave him not only his starting point, but it gave him the ma- chinery for securing splendid results. Sir George Adam Smith, on his return from the west, spoke of the very great efficiency and satisfaction he felt in the arrange- ments that had been made. The churches represent a very significant fact in our common life. They hold the key position in every com- munity. The only difficulty is that so often the best efforts of the local church are wasted because there is no coordination of effort with the other churches and agencies of good will in the community. The federa- ONE ORGANIZATION BUT MANY TASKS 59 tion is a business-like arrangement for the advancement of the Kingdom of God and the creation of those things we hold most precious. Every community should have a federation of churches." It is neither possible nor necessary to continue relat- ing the cases of effective cooperation with social, civil, charitable, educational, and religious agencies, both local and national in scope. Enough information has been given to point the way for true Christian unity. Having tested the principle so thoroughly along so many differ- ent lines, it is now certain that when men of the right type become the Christian leaders of a city. Christian unity will be the most common practice of the churches. CHAPTEK V THE PHILOSOPHY OP UNIFIED ACTION The victory of the armies of the Entente Allies in the Great War was assured when the cooperation of all forces became a reality. Until the spring of 1918 the operations of these armies could have been likened to the game between a powerful football team, without a captain, and a team not so powerful, but thoroughly trained and under a captain. The establishment of the Versailles Council and the appointment of General Foch resulted in the coordinating of all forces, and in the synchronizing of all efEorts. When General Pershing placed the divisions of the American Army completely under the direction of the commander-in-chief, coopera- tion became a fact and the day of victory dawned. The weak point in the attempted cooperation of the Christian churches has been the same as that of the Entente Allies during the first three years of the War. On November 13, 1917, Premier Lloyd George made a notable address at Versailles, in which he used words that not only explained the failures of the armies of Belgium, France, England, Italy, Serbia, Eoumania, and Eussia, but also explain the failures of the churches. His words so fully describe the experiences of those who have striven during recent years to mobilize the Chris- tian churches that we can now read them with more than passing interest if in our minds we substitute churches for armies. 60 PHILOSOPHY OP UNIPIED ACTION 61 "No," he said, "the fault has not heen with the armies. It has been due to the absence of real unity in the war direction of the allied countries. We have all felt the need of it. We have all talked about it. We have passed endless resolutions resolving it. But it has never yet been achieved. In this important fact we have never passed from rhetoric into reality, from speech into strategy ! In spite of all resolutions there has been no one authority responsible for coordinating the conduct of the War on all fronts, and in the absence of that central authority each country was left to its own de- For nineteen centuries the divisions of the Church have explained the defeat of Christianity. In all ages those who have most earnestly striven to serve the city of their love have me.t their greatest dis- appointments through the divisions of those who should have been their best aides. Jesus knew the bitterness of such disappointment. Like every other Jewish lad, he loved the city of Jerusalem. The message that resulted in his rejection at Nazareth was more fully and fear- lessly proclaimed at Jerusalem, arousing more de- termined enmity. In the great city the loyalty of the common folk made his antagonists cautious. At last he put the preaching into practice by driving the pious profiteers from the temple. They abominated the preaching. They hated the practice and immediately brought the opposition to a cliniax. They put Jesus to death. Twice before his death Jesus revealed the burden that was on his heart io expressions which manifested his despair and his hope. The first is similar to the crjy of 62 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY despair which has burst from the lips of many devoted men and women whose efforts have been defeated by the hopeless division of those who should have been their greatest helpers. The religious forces were divided into three great sects, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians. The leaders of these groups were too much concerned about their organizations and their own leadership to look with pleasure upon the popularity of Jesus. They saw in this, and in the evident righteousness of his atti- tude to all questions, their possible downfall. For this they hated him. Looking upon Jerusalem, mindful of the divisions, he cried out, "0, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often would I have gathered thy children to- gether . . . and ye would not!" Finally the common hatred of this champion of the right and the good brought together the religious sects of Israel. The hope of Jesus for the end of such divisions was voiced in the prayer offered before he went out to Gethsemane. In the upper room with his chosen friends, he knew what was soon to take place, and why. But he was looking out into the future. He prayed for all that would believe upon him through the faithful- ness of his disciples. The same burden that was re- vealed by the lament was the cause of the earnest petition. The divided city was the doomed city. There- fore, looking to the future, he cried out to God, "I pray . . . that they may all be one . . . that the world may believe." Five times in that prayer in one way or an- other, Jesus expressed his longing for the unity of the children of the Father of us all. Jn a common hatred of the one who wejit 9,bput dping PHILOSOPHY OF UNIFIED ACTION 63 good, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, manipTi- lated by the temple grafters, put Jesus to death. Has not the time come when the common love for those we would serve should more strongly unify the religious forces of all communities in service than others are uni- fied in hatred of the good we would do? Or will the divisions of the religiously minded defeat the cause of humanity to which we stand pledged? Shall it be the lament or answered prayer? The churches must give the answer to the community in this present crisis. The terms on which the reign of Jesus will become world- wide are set forth in those oft repeated words, "That they may all be one, that the world may believe." Disasters are great levelers. In flood or fire or cyclone, our common humanity comes to the front as the mere incidents of our life are cleared away. The one standard becomes, "What is your needs ?" So the War, the great catastrophe of human history, has brought to the front the great common essentials of human life and caused us to strive for these. Changes have come about in our national life, financial, social, and political, which might otherwise have come only after generations of striving. Whether they will be permanent or not de- pends on our ability to appreciate their significance, and our determination to maintain what is worth while. All these changes are being discussed and will be dis- cussed in conferences on religious and social work in press and in pulpit. The chief interest to the Church is in the religious changes that are taking place and must take place if the Church is to be greatest of 4U gprvants, 64 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY Those who come to us from the battlefields of Europe never refer to religious matters without speaking of the spirit of unity which was everywhere evident. The "Piping Parson," so-named because of his ability to play the bagpipes. Chaplain Watt of the Gordon High- landers, the Black Watch, declared in an address in New York that the soldiers did not care for the various religious shibboleths. The chaplains of all faiths fraternized with one another and ministered alike to the wounded and the dying of all creeds. Similar testi- monies come from Y. M. C. A. secretaries, soldiers, and correspondents. Gipsy Smith declares that our soldiers are now ecclesiastically scrambled and he defies any one to unscramble them when they return from the trenches to villages and cities. As the religious forces seriously face all the problems at home, will they be able to unite in community service which will correct our social wrongs and establish every- where the social right, as men of many nations and every creed fought shoulder to shoulder to correct world wrongs? Shall we be able to make these communities in which we live fit habitations for the returning soldiers ? When this war is all over, shall we have lived so that we shall be worthy neighbors of men who have offered their all in army and navy? Eemember that these men have met the supreme test of a man in the task of eliminating from the realm of world politics that for which the Kaiser and the Potsdam gang stood. He wished to be the world's political boss and they his ward heelers, with nations as their wards. To be rid of this thing was our reason for entering the War. Jt was PHILOSOPHY OP UNIFIED ACTION 65 the menace of our most cherished political institutions, and of all the institutions related to them. While we are so hitter and so eloquent in our de- nunciation of Kaiserism in Berlin, let us remember that nearly every city has its man or its men who are tarred with the same stick, who are of the same stripe, about whom gather the political gangsters who menace the city's life. We are nothing short of hypocrites if we cheered our soldiers as they marched forth to eliminate the Potsdam gang and as they return victorious and yet have not the courage of our convictions to purge from our cities every influence which menaces the physical, moral, and spiritual welfare of our boys and girls. The city that complacently endures these conditions in these days and does not have its Ypres, its Sommes, its Verdun, and its Chateau Thierry, however the battle may turn, is not worthy of the men who have gone to France, nor noble enough to welcome such as return. In that day the judgment upon the religious forces will be final. To do this the churches must get together. We can get together. We are getting together. We still have a long way to go, but we have started. We will go clear through if we are determined enough to have a Versailles Council in every city and wise enough to choose the right leaders of our forces and Christian enough to play the game under them so as to win the victory forgetful of personal fame. The answer of the churches to the explanation of their failure to accomplish much that might easily have been accomplished is the organization of some kind of an int;ereburc}i committee, federq,tion, or coipicjl. For 66 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY more than a generation there has heen a steady evolution in the development of this method of doing things to- gether. We have been accustomed for many years to city-wide evangelistic and reform efforts. The very fact that these efEorts were sporadic, poorly organized, and transient often brought reproach upon the Church instead of approval. After the evangelist left the city the desire to secure as many church members as possible resulted in scrambles that were unchristian and in enmities that drove the churches farther apart than ever. In the end, however, the good that came from these co- operative efEorts outweighed the evil. Instead of band- ing ourselves together to deal with a single situation for a brief period, the appointments usually being miade by the Ministerial Association, the churches represented officially by pastor and lay members now form a permanent comprehensive organization, to meet the many responsibilities placed upon the churches. This body is commonly called a federation of churches. Possibly there is no better way to describe a federa- tion of churches than to compare it with a Chamber of Commerce. The reason for forming the latter organiza- tion in a city is the fact that there are certain needs and problems common to all lines of business. For in- stance, the business men's organization of Duluth spent a great deal of time and money to have the shipping rates to their city changed. No one firm could have done this single-handed, but when all joined forces under exceedingly wise leadership the rates were changed and Duluth is in a much better condition to compete with other cities of the northwest, PHILOSOPHY OF UNIFIED ACTION 67 In every community there are bad conditions that militate against the influence of the churches, as there are good conditions that help — conditions which can be corrected or improved only by all the churches working together in united efforts. The call of the community of interests brings the churches into line. A business firm or corporation does not change its business to be- come a member of the Chamber of Commerce, neither does a church change its denomination, to join a federa- tion. The firm does not surrender the control of its affairs. There may be some limitations or restrictions, but these are more than offset by the enlargement of the field of opportunity and the reenforcements available in particular undertakings. The churches surrender none of their autonomy, the federation has no authority over any local church. In participating in a statesman-like scheme of comity in the locating or re-locating of churches, limitations of one character or another are more than counterbalanced in the esteem that comes from showing good Christian sense. One other point of comparison is especially appropri- ate. The Chamber of Commerce is successful in pro- portion to its ability to secure a strong secretary and to maintain him adequately. If he is able to be the busi- ness strategist of the entire city he will not only bring greater prosperity to merchants, manufacturers, and customers, but wiU bring a certain prestige to the city which is a very valuable commercial asset. So the federations will succeed in proportion to the abiKty of the executive secretary or chief administrative officers. This has been fully proven by the cities, now numbering 68 PRACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY nearly forty, which have employed such secretaries. A federation of churches is to the religious life of the city what the Chamber of Commerce is to the business life, and, we can add, the religious future as well as the re- ligious present is more important than the commercial and the industrial. Or, if one is interested in political terms, a federation or council of churches is a Versailles Council, where is brought to a focus all the authority that can be delegated by the churches in dealing with their common tasks. At Versailles the representatives of the associated nations agreed on policies, perfected plans to put those policies into action, and chose a chief executive to direct the forces that were voluntarily put under that council. Denominations can be likened to nations and churches to armies. The Versailles Council has been a success because, above all other good leaders in all fields of interests involved, there was a General Foch who could wisely use the power entrusted to him. A Church Council will succeed or fail, not because the idea is right or wrong, but because of the way in which the program is carried out by the chosen leadership, whether em- ployed or unemployed or both. Under such a leadership in such a plan each church, while preserving its integrity, is greater than it was before, because of the touch of elbow to elbow with other churches and because of the greater field of battle where it holds one point on the entire battlefront. The athlete familiar with the workings of a federation of churches may prefer to compare it with a baseball or football team. The different denominations present a PHILOSOPHY OP TJNIPIED ACTION 69 variety of accomplishments, so that all the positions in the team can be filled. As the team is no stronger than the poorest player, so each church must strengthen itself locally, not by lessening the efficiency of the neighboring churches through any kind of proselyting, but by gains that are truly gains to the Kingdom of God. Then each church thus developed must perfect its game by steady, unselfish, team-work with other churches. The finest development and the most fun come from playing the game with all the intensity of a world series against every opposing team of the forces that menace the phys- ical, moral, or spiritual welfare of the boys and girls, as well as the men and women, of the city. Such team-work must be the very genius of the cooperation of churches. A game of baseball is not played in order to give nine men or a single man a chance to play to the gallery or to make a great record individually. Each game is played and each player works to win the pennant at the end of the season. The crowd admires the man who goes in to make the sacrifice hit, lessening his average to increase the average of the team. The team that thus accepts the direction of the captain teaches the Church the beauty and the power of unified action. Since the year 1914 there has been more discussion — more in volume and more in earnestness — of Christian unity than there has ever been before. The time has passed for making any argument about the need of Christian unity. On every hand sincere men and women are asking, "How can we have such unity?" Definite proposals looking to the organic unity of differ- ent denominations are being made in some circles where 70 PEACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY they would have been tabooed a few years ago. Dis- satisfaction is almost universal. To meet this condition we must follow the injunction of the Et. Rev. Charles Gore, Bishop of Oxford. In an address at Oak Park, Illinois, Bishop Gore referred to the many divisions of the Church in the British Isles and the resulting in- ability to minister most effectively to the armies and to the nation in the time of a great crisis. He said that after the War was over, if the churches were to do their part by being a strong factor in the days of reconstruc- tion, even though they are divided along certain lines, "we must at least act as a unit." When the churches of Denver, Colorado, were organiz- ing a federation in that city the Et. Rev. Irving P. Johnston, Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, spoke of the work being done by the Com- mission on Faith and Order of Episcopal Churches. Expressing the hope that the unity for which this com- mission is working may some time be realized, he said, "Let us in the meantime work together on our agree- ments." The federation of churches is formed to do this very thing. The spirit of unity does not depend on form, or polity, or creed so much as it does upon a common desire and willingness to do together what most needs to be done and to make real the rule of God here on the earth. The Eev. Arthur T. Guttery, pastor of the Primitive Methodist Church of Liverpool and president-elect of the Free Church Council of England and Wales, recently visited America to help establish a more cordial relation between the two nations and likewise among all de- PHILOSOPHY OF UNIFIED ACTION 71 nominations. He often told the story of two members of a life-saving crew who became engaged in a heated altercation over a button on the sea jacket of one of the two. One insisted it was not sewed on properly; the owner of the coat insisted it was. There was a fair prospect of their coming to blows when the patrol sounded the call to the life boat, as a vessel was in danger in the offing. Immediately the button was forgotten. The two men rushed to the rescue of those in danger. While they pulled on separate oars, they pulled to- gether in time and direction. Such unity comes very near to being an answer to the prayer, "that they may be one that the world may believe." A federation of churches, then, is the coordination of the Christian forces and resources of a commimity in such a way as to make it possible for these churches to work together most effectively in making that which is good for the community better, and in eliminating that which is bad. This covers the whole program of inter- church activities which form the subject matter of this book. Those who are accustomed to participation in interchureh undertakings in cities in which the Chris- tian forces are well mobilized, sing with new fervor the hymn which has been more prophecy than fact. "Like a mighty army Moves the Church of God; Brothers, we are treading Where the saints have trod; We are not divided. All one body we. One in hope and doctrine. One in charity." CHAPTEK VI Elements Essential to the Success op Interchuech Woke No two church federations are just alike, yet it has been demonstrated that there are certain elements es- sential to the success of the interchurch organization which have been referred to in the preceding chapters and which are described in the "Manual of Interchurch Work" as follows : "By a federation of churches is meant the churches themselves as churches, consulting and cooperating officially through accredited delegates, for all accepted common tasks." The years of experience since the first federation of churches was thus formed, have made it clear that the following elements must be present : First: There must be a strong conviction that com- munity conditions demand Christian cooperative thought and action. The poorest reason for organizing federa- tionfe is the fact that they exist in other cities. Those interested in this project should carefully survey the needs of the community that are the concern of the churches. The farmer makes sure that he has fields of ripening grain to be cut before he buys a reaper. The needs can be listed under two heads, the conditions which militate against the influence of the churches and those which strengthen that influence. The former call for correction or elimination, the latter for creation or support. The Church is justly criticized because it has 73 ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS 73 shown greater zeal in attacking that which is wrong than in succoring or substituting that which is right. It has a reputation for shutting up bad places more than for opening good ones. It must do both. The ministers of a thriving city in the middle west were called together to discuss the advisability of trying to organize a federation. The first one to speak sug- gested that the proposal should be carried out that they might prevent the building of new churches where they were not needed. Now it happened that at that time the town was growing very rapidly. Most of the de- nominations were securing options on desirable sites in all the new districts, as though there were no other de- nominations in the field. The one who made the sug- gestion represented the only denomination that had not entered into this rivalry. That was the end of the proposed federation, as the rest of the men had convic- tions which prevented concord. In six months that city had grown so rapidly and become so prosperous that vice was attracted to it from aU parts of the country. The policemen were not able to cope with the situation. Two of their number were shot down in the streets in the attempt to enforce the anti-gambling laws. The social evil was rampant. Again the ministers were brought together. Again the question was asked, "Are there tasks for the churches which demand cooperative thought and action?" For an hour and a half those men named and discussed the had conditions which menaced the young and the old in their city, and the good institutions and influences which needed to be built up. When they were fully convinced U PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY that these things could not be altered by the mere presence of seventy unrelated churches, they acted with unanimity and determination. In a short time the organization was completed, the money was raised, and a very capable secretary employed. To come to a right decision it is not necessary to make an exhaustive survey of work and workers, though the thorough investigation makes it possible to plan more wisely. A group of clergymen and laymen who have tried for a few years to make the city Christian will not have much difficulty in securing the first requisite of a successful federation. Second : There must be an organization that mobilizes the churches and the allied Christian agencies for con- tinuous and effective action. We have become accus- tomed to having all sorts of groups and individuals mobilize the forces and resources of the churches for the good of the community, while the Church has ap- parently been impotent to organize itself for these and other purposes. Charity workers, hospital guilds, pro- fessional evangelists, reformers, ofiScers of the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, Sunday School Associations, Eed Cross Chapters, and kindred bodies, are given much praise for all that they do, while the Church, the source of their men and women and money, is passed by unannounced and unnoticed. If the springs that feed all these streams are to abound more and more, the Church must take up the burden in its own name and by its own right and direct its own forces. For the sake of all these allied agencies as weU as for its own sake the churches must use the language of ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS 75 the apostle Paul, "grow up in all things into him, who is the head even Christ: from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love." The churches must become the Church, the body of Christ. The form of organization adopted must first be adapted. The foreword in the suggested constitution sent out by the Commission on Interchurch Federations is the result of much experience. A score of executive secretaries prepared the final draft of it. "A federation must fit its environment. Local leaders must discover their own local conditions, needs, limita- tions, and some of the possibilities. Then the constitu- tion should .simply phrase the accepted modes and methods to which all parties agree as adapted to local conditions; while suggestions come from without, and much can be learned from plans which have been tried elsewhere, yet the communities must be thrown upon their own initiative, their own inventiveness and their own responsibility. The more originality that can be awakened in a community of Christians, the more vital is their Christianity." The basis of organization is usually that of the pre- amble of the constitution of the Federal Council. "In the providence of God, the time has fully come more fully to manifest the essential oneness of the Christian Churches of America in Jesus Christ as their divine Lord and Saviour, and to promote the spirit of fellow- ship, service, and cooperation among them." The plan of organization is usually simple. A council 76 PEACTI-CING CHEISTIAN UNITY is formed of representatives from all the churches par- ticipating, each church selecting its pastor and two or more lay delegates, according to size of the church. In some very large cities the unit of organization is the regional denominational body, such as the presbytery, the conference, the classes, the association. The council does its work through an executive committee composed of the oflQcers, the heads of the different departments, and a few members elected at large to insure the repre- sentation of all denominations. Such departments or committees are organized as the needs of the work may require. The authority of such a body is limited to undertakings that are of common interest to all and does not reach to the management of the local churches. At once the influence of such a body as compared with most of the voluntary interchurch groups, such as the association of ministers, is appreciated. It is an ofiBcial body. It is permanent. It includes the whole Church. It is a federation of the churches, not of individuals. It will have attained the acme of success when, after doing a worth-while thing, the humblest member of the small- est church says, "We did it." Such an organization gives assurance of continuous attention to evil and to good conditions. Epidemics of re- form and epidemics of revival have marked the progress of the Church in times past. The politician did not fear the Church because he was sure the storm would soon blow over. Even the good politician was fearful about the support of the Church, because he knew that when the election was over the church people would forget him but his enemies would not. Now instead of scrapping a ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS 77 piece of macliinery that had been used but once for a fight on the saloon, or for a serieg of revival meetings, or for a laymen's missionary campaign, or for a pre- election emergency, it is carefully preserved, steadily improved, and kept in running order by frequent and different uses until it is a terror to the eorruptionists and a comfort to the constructionist. Third: There must be capable executive leadership, employed or unemployed. There must be some one who will see to it that the plans which are adopted are worked. Not that such a one is to do all things — is to be the federation — but he is to see to it that individuals and committees perform their assigned tasks. He is the captain of the team. He does not carry the ball himself, but he makes sure that the right man, according to the objective to be reached, carries the ball and that all the rest give him adequate support. As has already been stated, the employed interchurch executives now constitute a new religious order and have formed an association of executive secretaries. This secretary must be the Christian strategist of the city. He must think through the problems in the terms of the entire city and the terms of the entire Gospel. Several cities which have recently completed the organization of a federation are determined to find as a secretary the man who will be leader of the religious forces, not be- cause of his position but because of his ability. Bishop Francis J. MeConnell said recently: "The man who occupies the position of executive secretary of a federa- tion in a large American city is in the position of supreme religious opportunity." 78 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY The failure of many splendid eomiminity plans made by the churches has been due to the absence of this type of leadership. The responsibility has been placed upon some already over-burdened pastor. The busiest minister is too busy to do much more than attend to the affairs of his own church. The one who is not thus burdened does not as a rule have the ability to be wisely busy about what is the business of the community. A federation in a large city that does not regard the failures of other cities will sooner or later disappoint its members, because the results will not be commensurate with the forces that are available. In the largest cities this secretary will eventually have associated with him secretaries for each of the most important departments, such as Evangelism, Social Work, and Eeligious Educa- tion. The number of persons employed must be kept at the minimum, as the genius of the federation is to use to the limit as the members of the staff the ministerial and lay members of the council who are qualified. When federations begin to buUd up staffs, the staff, not the churches, will do the work. The chief requirement is leadership. Because of the wealth of information that is now at hand, very much can be accomplished in smaller cities by unemployed leadership, which divides the tasks and directs the departments, with the least possible expendi- ture of time. The Eev. Eockwell H. Potter, pastor of Center Church, Hartford, Conn., has, as secretary of the Hartford Federation, shown what can be done in what he has termed "A Self-Directed Federation." .Whether leadership is employed or unemployed, the sue- ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS 79 cess of the federation will be in proportion to the effectiveness of that leadership. Dr. Potter thus de- scribes a Self-Directed Federation. "Few federations in towns of a hundred thousand people or less are likely to command sufficient resources to make possible the employment of an executive secre- tary with the office expenses and clerical service neces- sary to make such a secretary effective. The expense in- volved must be between five and ten thousand dollars and, while a small city might raise that amount for a limited number of years, it is doubtful whether such a budget could be assured for a long enough term to make progress that is secure and continuous. "Therefore the problem of the federation in the towns and the smaller cities is the problem of self-direction. Can a federation operate effectively without a salaried executive? If it cannot, then the federation work as applied to local communities is limited to the greater cities, and cannot make progress in the smaller com- munities which, taken together, constitute the real strength of the church life of the country. "The experience of the Hartford Federation in de- veloping a plan of self-direction may be suggestive. It caimot be held up as a model because there is much that we have failed to do, which we ought to have done. But it may be suggestive, because we have accomplished some things and we think we have developed a method by which we can and will accomplish more things and better things. "The Federation in Hartford comes to expression through its council, a delegated body, constituted of the pastors and five lay delegates from each of the constitu- ent churches. This gives a representative body, with a possible total membership of about 150 and an actual membership at any meeting not too large for real de- 80 PEACTICING CHRISTIAN UNITY liberative and consulting work. The council meets monthly. "The work of the Federation as determined by the council is committed to the several committees of the council. The names of these committees will indicate the directions of the Federation's effort, on Parish Plan (including religious census and advice as to new work) ; on Community Extension (including street meetings, shop meetings, institutional meetings, and special evan- gelistic campaigns); on Bible Study; on Missions; on Men's Organizations; on Boys' Work; and the fol- lowing group of committees, which might be known together as committees on social service, namely, on Sunday Observance; on Public Amusements; on Temperance; on Social Hygiene; on Sanitary Condi- tions; on Industrial Eelations; and on Publicity (in- cluding ordinary advertising). "These committees vary in their efficiency from year to year, as might be expected with the changing person- nel, with changing conditions, and with the changing tides of community interest in the several objectives. Some continuity is sought each year in appointments to the committees and some new blood is sought each year in making such appointments. Members of commit- tees are not necessarily members of the council of the Federation, but any person appointed to service on any committee is ex officio a corresponding member of the council, with the right to sit in its meetings and share in its discussion. "The chairmen of the committees, together with six members at large, constitute the executive committee of the council, and, in the interim between meetings of the council, may be quickly assembled to consider current matters and to take action in the name of the council. "An important feature of the Hartford plan has been the fixing of the report of one or perhaps two committees ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS 81 as the order of the day for each monthly meeting of the council. This brings it about that each committee knows when its report is expected and knows that when the report is given there will be time for its considera- tion. When the order of the day has been passed at any meeting, other committees may present matters which seem to them too urgent to wait for their formal report. "It is beyond the scope of this sketch to undertake any outline of things accomplished under the plan here set forth. We believe that a plan drawn along these lines will make it possible for any community of two or more churches to form and operate an eflEective federation, provided there are in the churches men and women, or men or women, who are really interested in common Christian service." Fourth: There must be a carefully thought out and constantly revised program for the present and the future. Some of the features of this program are dealt with at length in other chapters in this book. A religious plan for an entire city reaching out into the future is a novelty. Chambers of Commerce are everywhere in- terested in city planning. Experts are employed, sur- veys made, developments are forecast, and the physical lines of the cities determined. Until quite recently our cities just "growed up." Those which have not made provisions for the future are not boasting about the fact. In like manner provision must be made for the religious future. There are Methodist plans and Baptist plans and Presbyterian plans and Episcopal plans, but upon an outsider the results make a crazy-quilt impression. Cleveland is known far and wide for its municipal plans. The religious leaders are not one whit behind. Twice a 82 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY month the officials of the different denominations meet in the office of the federation, studying the present con- ditions and making plans for parish responsibility and the occupation of new residence sections. The poorest way in which to make out a program is to adopt one that has met with success in another city. Such a program is only one item in the survey of the situation. This program must deal at first with such phases of work as press for immediate attention and are the common concern of the greatest numbers of churches. Confidence will come by doing a few great things in a thoroughgoing fashion. Cooperation, not duplication, and when needed initiation will be basic principles in making out the program. Fifth: There must be serious participation in the work by the laymen. The federation offers an unlimited field for the employment of the talents possessed by the laymen. The Young Men's Christian Association has been most successful in enlisting the help of men because it has given them something to do. They had come to feel that nothing remained for men to do as churchmen after the officers were elected. As the kingdom of heaven is to come not by what we do on Sundays but by what we do between Sundays, the organization that has the entire community for its field of labor and seven days a week for its working time can use all the men who will enlist. It can call them to concrete tasks. Too long the field of interchurch activities has been monopolized by the ministerial association. The mem- bers of this body try to get the men of the churches to carry out the plans they have made. Eight there is the ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS 83 trouble. If the business men are to pay the bills and help in the work, they must have a voice in the very beginning in making those plans. Again, most of the social work to be done in a com- munity deals with conditions that have developed during decades or even generations. The minister is usually a transient. The average pastorate is about three years. In that time he has just begun to understand the upper- most currents in the social and political life. When he takes up any line of reform work, he is looked upon as an outsider. If he contends for improvements that in- volve expenses, he is thought of as one who does not pay taxes. His handicap, whether right or wrong, is a serious one. The laymen are not thus hindered. They are usually fixtures. Like Tennyson's brook, ministers may come and ministers may go but the laymen stay on forever. There is a marked tendency on the part of federations to elect the strongest Christian layman in the city as president. It is easier than formerly to pre- vail upon such men to accept that ofiBce, as they realize that it offers to a man the opportunity to be engaged in the most constructive piece of work being done in the city. There is also a tendency when such a man is found to keep him in oflSce, that the people may know that the presidency is not merely an ecclesiastical honor to be passed around from denomination to denomination or that the president is not an ornamental figurehead. Effective participation by strong laymen prevents the federation from becoming a sort of glorified ministerial association. Sixth: There must ie an adequate financial iudget. 84 PEACTICING CHEISTIAN UNITY This does not need to be large, as the federation is not a new organization but the coordination of those already existing. The churches and other religious buildings constitute the equipment. The only addition is an ofBce with simple equipment. There is, as has been stated, no need of an expensive stafE as in a Young Men's Chris- tian Association. The workers are in the churches. The process is the simple one followed in the industrial world where, by a relatively small overhead expense, the work of several great plants is coordinated. The economy thus brought about more than offsets the addi- tional expense. Except in cities of more than 250,000 population, one capable executive secretary with a good ofiSce assistant is equal to the task. The budgets in most cities having a population of 100,000 or more average from $5,000 to $7,000, the larger part of which is to cover the secretary's salary. Finance committees are finding it easier to raise the larger funds, which are to be expended for and by a thoroughly competent man, than a small sum which makes it possible to employ a man of mediocre ability or part time of a man who must make the balance of his living in some other line. The budget will be determined by the size of the city, the ability to secure volunteer leadership, and the character of the program that is carried out. Up to the present time most of the funds have begn secured from personal subscribers, the subscriptions be- ing credited to the church of which the givers are members. In this way the burden is distributed. In some cases churches put their share of the federation expense upon the budget of the local church. If such ELEMENTS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS 85 action should accompany the election of delegates to the council, the whole movement would be strengthened and dignified. Seventh: There must, above all things else, be the spirit that puts the welfare of the Kingdom of Ood first. A federation that is worth the forming can not be formed by those whose first inquiry is, "What will our church get out of it ?" The time is at hand when even churches are considering following the Pauline injunction, "Let no man seek his own, but each his neighbor's good." Candidating committees and ecclesiastical officials have sought so earnestly for men who can build up a church that we have come unconsciously to regard as the chief end of a church the building up of itself out of the com- munity. This is contrary to the example of the Head of the Church, who "came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many." The chief end of the Church is to build up the com- munity out of its very life. A federation of such churches, whether in a city of one thousand or of one thousand thousand, is an irresistible force. The churches then truly become the Church, the body of Christ. The full success of the federation ultimately depends upon the presence of this one element. The other six vrill depend on this as the great motive power. This spirit in wise operation in any village or city will make it possible to bring that community a little nearer to being a fragment of the Kingdom of God on earth.