liidii?iikjiKjtow?xiJ«-a»^^n*R-^«-A VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHU RCH LEONIDAS W- CRAWFORD fegsj f^lttHiinijiiTtbiiiiittiiai m &&^R THIS BOOK IS THE PROPERTY OF THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION ITHACA, NEW YORK Cornell University Library BV660 .C89 Vocations withlri the church, by Leonidas olin 3 1924 029 331 729 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029331729 tEl^t Sbingbon l0leUgiou£( Cbucation tEtxti jBabtb &. Botonep, (General €bitat WEEKDAY SCHOOL SERIES. GEORGE H. SETTS, Editor VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH By LEONIDAS W. CRAWFORD THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK CINCINNATI i4- 0-?-^ Copyrigjit, 1920, by LEONIDAS W. CRAWFORD All Rights Reserved Printed In the United States of America First Edition Printed December, 192O Reprinted September, 1921 DEDICATED TO THOSE YOUNG MEN AND TOUNG WOMEN WHOSE TALENT AND ABILITY INVESTED IN THE SERVICE OP THE CHURCH WILL, IT IS BELIEVED, YIELD THE LARGEST MEASURE OP SATISFYING RETURNS BOTH TO THEM- SELVES AND TO HUMANITY. CONTENTS chapter page Editor's Note 9 Author's Preface 13 I. The Measure of a Vocation 17 An age of action — Labor a blessing — What kind of labor? — Importance of choosing the right vocation — How vocations are entered upon: typical methods — Chance or accident — ^Economic necessity — Line of least resistance — Deliberate choice — ^Factors involved in choice, hence advantages of a standard of measure- ment — ^A suggested standard — The standard simpli- fied — ^The standard applied. '11. Financial and Other Considerations 29 Money necessary for physcial and social reasons — The laborer worthy of his hire, for energy and time have monetary value — Money, however, not the sole criterion evidenced by varying monetary returns — Reasons therefor: the service motive, habit, personal- ity, law of supply and demand — Limitations of money — How much money should a vocation pay — No abso- lute standard — ^An estimate — Intangible values: nature and its values; cultural values; religious values — Furthering the interests of the higher king- dom. III. The World's Work and Workers 43 Number of vocations — Distribution of vocations — Division of labor — Alluring prospects in manufactur- ing and mechanical industries — Need for spiritual leaven — ^The legal profession — ^The Christian motive at work through the law — Opportunities in mining engineering — The privilege of the physician — ^Fields other than agricultural to cultivate — ^Value of open- mindedness in vocational choice. IV. The Church and Its Work 58 What the Christian Church is — Ministry of service the work of this church — Need for such ministry in spiritualizing the social process — Work of the church not fully appreciated — Reasons therefor — Work of church compared with the work of other institu- 6 CONTENTS CHAPTER VKGe, tions— The church's ideal and its pattern for work— What its ideal has meant to the world — Work of the church not completed, hence an imperial service call. V. The Church Organized for Work 7° Work of the church demands thorough oi^ganization and well coordinated machinery^Reasons for denomi- nations — Major denominational groups— Denomina- tional unity — ^Denominational organization — De- nominational boards — Boards at work — Board of Education and the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Church — ^A typical missionary organiza- tion — The church press — Vocations occasioned by complex organization. VI. The Ministry of Preaching 90 Preaching as a profession — The call to this profession — Why financial returns have not been larger — Big men demanded in the ministry — Not to be judged by mediocre men — ^A more adequate evaluation — tJigent need of men in the ministry of preaching — Opportu- nities — Compensations — ^Rewards — A crisis demands men — ^An appeal. VII. The Ministry of Education 104 An educational renaissance — Its significance — For the church a new function of education signified — Value of this function — Dependence of religious experience upon knowledge — ^Upon right attitudes — Upon carrying religious attitudes over into life — Hence educational responsibility of the church — This responsibility the weightier because public schools not teachers of religion: because the home is relinquish- ing its teaching function, because of the limitations of the Sunday school — How the church is meeting its educational responsibiUty. VIII. The Ministry of Education (Continued) 118 Religious education as a vocation and why — Director of religious education in a church — Duties — Not the task of pastor or superintendent — Not an easy task — Nevertheless a developing vocation — Director of religious education in a community — Opportunities — Organizing community training schools, week-day instruction, daily vocation Bible schools — ^Professor- ships and instructorships in college and university — Typical courses of instruction preparing for religious education as a vocation — A call to service. CONTENTS 7 CHAPTER PAGE IX. The Medical Ministry of the Church 134 The medical profession — Its relation to the church — Medical ministry of the church at home — Medical ministry in foreign fields — Examples of service in Africa — In China — In India — In the Near East — The present and future need in the Philippine Islands, Korea, Latin America — ^The service motive — ^Prepara- tion for medical ministry — Financial returns — ^Re- turns other than financial — ^Testimony of a medical missionary. X. The Church a Publisher 149 Journalism an outstanding profession — "Of making many books" — Denominational publishing houses — Urgent demand for creative work in curriculum material — ^Present types of curriculum material: un- graded Bible lessons, graded lessons, text books — Final results in curriculum material not yet realized — Influence of current periodicals oflEers career for writers — ^The church press in foreign lands opens up opportunities for creative ability — Other forms of publication calling for talent: advertising, illustra- tions, plays and dramas — ^The church seeking to dis- cover men and women with writing ability. XI. The Social Ministry of the Church in Home Lands 162 Budget estimates for social ministry — Meaning of the term social — Used in a personal sense — Its broader meaning — ^The church a social institution — Its broader social program — Its social program in rela- tion to missions — Types of social ministry — In cities: institutional church at work — In the rural fields: a typical survey showing needs — How these needs are being met — The American Indian — Migrant groups — Foreign population — Making our land Christian through social ministry. XII. Social Ministry in Foreign Fields 177 An example of social ministry — ^The missionary a social worker — Social achievements of missionaries: progress in non-Christian lands; educational contribu- tions; industrial training; breaking down the barriers of caste— Service enlistment and fields of service — Budgets for this service — What is yet to be achieved by missionaries — In Mexico — In Central America — In South America — In Africa — In China — In India — In unoccupied fields — ^Tj^e of men and women needed for sudi service. 8 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XIII. Other Forms of Service 196 Voluntary church service — In the church school as superintendent, secretaiy, librarian, teacher — In various church organizations and societies — In con- nection with the business and temporal affairs of the church — In giving moral and financial support — In promulgating the spirit of the church — Other avenues of service — Vocations within the church — How shall one decide? — The urge of a big, commanding task — "Go work to-day in my vineyard." Index 209 EDITOR'S NOTE Religion still remains the world's chief social and moral dynamic. And probably at no former time has the need for a vital, aggressive, clear-visioned church been as great as to-day. The very unrest and revolt of great masses of people such as characterizes the present has in it an element of promise. For dissatisfaction with things as they are is the first step toward making them as they should be. Antagonism is better than indiffer- ence, and active opposition than inaction. Stupendous is the task which confronts the church. More than half of the people of our own land neither belong to its membership, attend its services, nor sup- port its enterprises. Millions of children are wholly without religious instruction — religious illiterates in an age of educational enlightenment. Upon great sections of our population rests the blight of irreligion, of spiritual indifference. And all this while an increasing number of quasi-religious cults are preying upon the unstable. Nor is the church unaware of its problem. Without defending its past mistakes or shortcomings it is girding itself afresh for new effort. Not satisfied with an awak- ening to greater zeal, it is devising new and more effective methods. With increasingly clearer vision and AAdser statesmanship it is formulating great and worthy pro- grams and with painstaking care selecting agencies for their accomplishment. With rare courage and fore- sight it is asking for and receiving enormous ftmds for the carrying on of its enterprises. With a new sense of 9 lo EDITOR'S NOTE responsibility and power it is stimulating and organizing a rising tide of religious interest and devotion among its adherents. It is easy enough to raise money and plan enterprises. The really difficult problem which confronts the aroused church of the present is the problem of workers. The church must have more workers. It must have better trained workers — -men and women who have caught the vision and are willing to pay the price of time and effort invested in the preparation demanded for efficiency. It needs teachers, the best there are. It needs preachers, the finest intellect and heart of our day. It needs physicians and social workers and directors of reKgious education and recreational leaders and writers and editors and many other classes of workers. Because its task is so difficult and the issues at stake so vital the church asks for the very best young men and women of our generation from whom to recruit its ranks. And never was the challenge which the Church ffings out to its consecrated youth so inviting. Its doors to vocations open upon opportunities of the magnitude and quality which strong men and women always crave. The need it serves is so great that the very integrity of civilization is at stake. The fields of ac- tivity are so varied that individual aptitudes can find their setting. The projects involved include all parts of the habitable world. The rewards of satisfaction, personal growth, and the sense of joy from having part in a great work well performed are secure. All of this and much more has been clearly sensed and well presented by Professor Crawford in the present volume. He takes his stand with the serious minded EDITOR'S NOTE ii youth who is honestly seeking to determine where he can with best returns to himseK and his generation invest his powers. He sets forth the principles upon which the determination of a vocation should rest. He presents the claims of the church in a broad, con- vincing way. His pages are replete with interesting facts necessary to wise decisions. Avoiding any merely emotional appeal, he supplies the basic information which would be desired by all intelligent persons in determining their life work. Probably from no other volume of the day can young people receive so much dependable help in deciding whether their vocation lies within the church. George H. Betts. AUTHOR'S PREFACE In order to carry on its important and far-reaching work, the church is dependent upon a wide range of service. Some of this service is voluntary. Much of it, however, is not only remunerated, it is life-time service as well. There are, therefore, within the church dis- tinct vocations. It is the purpose of this volume to point out some of these vocations. In so doing the author not only hopes to contribute, in some degree at least, to the solution of the difficult problem of vocational choice, he hopes also to be instrumental in calling into the church that type of service of which the church stands in so imperative a need. The frontispiece suggests the method of treatment. Pointing out first that the church has a definite share of the world's work to do, this work is considered from the standpoint of ministry. Accordingly, the ministry of preaching, the ministry of education, the ministry of medicine, the ministry of publication, and the ministry of social service are discussed, together with the voca- tions to which each of these phases of ministry gives rise. Use has freely been made of the surveys prepared by the Centenary Movement of the Methodist Church and the preliminary surveys conducted by the Interchurch World Movement. Permission from publishers to quote from various sources is acknowledged on the respective pages as these quotations are used. Acknowledgment of valued criticisms and suggestions by members of the 13 14 AUTHOR'S PREFACE Seminar of Northwestern University is herewith cheer- fully and happily made. My chief indebtedness is, how- ever, to the editor of the series in which this volume appears. L. W. C. George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee. VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Assistant Pastors Bishops Curates Deacons District Superin- tendents Elders Evangelists Local Preachers Board Secretaries College Presidents Deans Departmental Superintendents Directors of Reli- gious Education Local Church, Community Conference Educational Secre- taries Educators Assistants Dentists Internes Matrons Missionaries Nurses Pharmacists Physicians Moderators Preachers Priests Presidents Rectors Vicars Field Promoters Instructors Lecturers Librarians Professors Research Secretaries Scholarship Secre- taries Secretaries Teachers Writers Superintendents of Hospitals Surgeona Cartoonists Secretaries Contributors Stenographers Dramatists Text-Book Writew Editorial, Staff Translators Writers Writers Editors Illustrators Managers Printers Publicity Agents Publishers Appointment Sec- retaries Deaconesses Language Pastors Nurses Parish Visitors Play Ground Directors Recreational Lead- SocisJ Workers Superintendents Orphanages Homes Charities Survey Workers Vocational Secre- taries Architects Treasurers Business Managers Trustees Chorists Clerks Executive taries Organists Pianists Sextons Stewards Secre- Vestrymen Wardens CHAPTER I THE MEASURE OF A VOCATION This is preeminently an age of action. As never before the world needs work — not industrial work alone, but work of heart and brain as weU. America especially feels this urge to work. Hence in America everybody works — everybody except the contented parasitic hobo at one end of the social scale, the equally contented rich parasitic idler at the other end, and the occasional undesirable citizen in between. Labor a blessing. — Labor is the law of life. We are compelled to produce or starve. The tropics have never figured to any large extent in the onward and upward march of civilization. Idleness has never given us a thinker or a producer. Because of the tasks he accomplished, Hercules got the job of holding the skies on his shoulders. Labor is a boon, a congenial job is gilt-edge stock, the right vocation is a gold mine increasingly yielding in wealth as the shafts of effort are sunk the deeper. Pity the man who does not have to work! Work turns the wheels of progress. Productivity feeds, shelters, and clothes the world. Our whole economic order rests down on the united effort of muscle and brain of one and aU alike. The social fabric is woven together in the loom of human endeavor. It is the ring of the anvil and the rhythm of the machines and 17 i8 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH the song in the heart of those who have achieved that make the music of the world. In the symphony of labor no part can be missing. Everyone must select Jiis instrument and play in tune, watching all the while the director who represents the need of the world. What kind of labor? — Accordingly, every red- blooded American, especially every young man and young woman blessed with the advantages of education, privilege, and training, is eagerly asking: "Upon what instrument shall I play? How may I best contribute to the need of the world? How shall I best catch step with the onward march of progress? On my shoulder shall I carry a pick or a transit? in my hand a compass, a blue print or a test tube? in my kit a brief, a prescrip- tion pad, or a sermon? After my name what letters shall appear? None at all or C.E. or D.D., M.E. or B.C.S., A.B. or M.D., E.E. or D.D.S. or Ph.D. or some other combination?" Few questions are more important than these, for these questions point toward a vocation. The question of the right vocation is a fundamental one. Few mis- takes have more tragic consequences, none are more difficult of correction, than the mistake of entering upon the wrong vocation. A vocation early develops habits of doing and thinking. In time habit becomes unyielding and inexorable. Habit marks out vocational pathways so straight and narrow that only with superhuman effort is one able to deviate therefrom. Hence to miss one's calHng tends later in Hfe, when one awakens to the full realization of the mistake, to engender disappointment, dissatisfaction, and even bitterness, and these are sure to minimize efficiency and to magnify discontent. One's best work MEASURE OF A VOCATION 19 never can be done other than through one's best vocation. How few problems, then, need more careful consider- ation than the problem of keeping square pegs out of round holes and round pegs out of square holes! One best form of labor. — It is perhaps true that one, especially one who is well educated and equally well trained, can do effectively a number of things. On the other hand, however, it is equally true that one can do best one particular thing. There is undoubtedly one field of endeavor in which each one of us can attain to the highest success, experience the greatest satisfaction, render the largest service. Shakespeare was a creditable actor. He became, however, the world's leading dramatist. Goldsmith failed miserably as a physician, yet the ' "Vicar of Wake- field" and "The Deserted Village" will live forever. As a teacher the resignation of Phillips Brooks was re- quested, as a preacher he achieved brilliant success. Peter was a successful fisherman. It was, however, as a "fisher of men" that he became a leader of men. Undoubtedly Paul could have achieved distinction as a tent-maker and manufacturer — he died with the full assurance that there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness. The Master excelled as a carpenter. He found his real work in the building and molding of character. How Vocations are Entered Upon Since the question of finding the right vocation is such a supremely important one, how, then, shall one go about making the right choice? How have others decided? Here are perhaps typical methods. Chance or accident. — A vocation is sometimes de- 20 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH termined upon by mere chance or accident. To be sure, many men have accidentally stumbled upon a line of work, winning therein both honor and distinction. Men have drifted into positions in which the demands of a task and the responsibilities thereby imposed have been as hard flints from which sparks were struck off setting fire to ambition and kindling latent energies. On the other hand, equally as many, if not even more men, stumbling upon or drifting into a trade, calling, or profession, have awakened later to the realization that they should have and might have done better. But it is then too late to change. A tendency to misanthropy sets in, and one's whole viewpoint and attitude toward life and work are colored. From all ill chosen vocations there is little satisfaction to oil the machinery of en- deavor, little happiness to offset the drudgery. Thus one becomes a slave to his job rather than its master. It is miming a big risk to let mere chance or accident decide one's hfe work and career. Economic necessity. — Economic necessity has de- termined the career of thousands. This pilot often and early gets his hands on the wheel as a youth begins his voyage on the sea of life. There are many derelicts upon the sea of life for which blind economic necessity is responsible. Necessity, on the other hand, has at times been a spur in disguise. Responsibility develops responsibility. Necessity necessitates effort. A good job has been the making of many a man. Under forced draughts records have been broken. Necessity is not only the mother of invention, among her children she points with pride to many leaders and thinkers of the world. The loss of father or mother, or the poverty of the MEASURE OF A VOCATION 21 family, has thrown countless numbers of young men and women early upon their own undeveloped resources. Necessity demanded the acceptance of the first oppor- tunity that came along. The years that might have been and should have been given to study and prepar- ation slipped by. There was no chance for choice and no wisdom to guide in making a choice. The demands of the task left little time or opportunity for further equipment. The mold was thus early set, an occupation determined for life. Some of these unfortunate ones to-day bend over a machine, follow the treadmill of automatic routine — slaves to an inexorable trade, eking out a scant existence on a bare living wage. Others have, by hard labor and dogged perseverance, worked into lucrative positions and occupations, but, alas! at the expense many times of limited outlook and distorted vision. Early economic necessity thus has limited the career of many a youth who otherwise might have played a larger part in the afifairs of the world. "But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page Rich with the spoUs of time did ne'er unroll; Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul." Marriage may limit the choice of a vocation. — There is the necessity imposed by early, hasty, and ill- advised marriage. Marriage brings with it responsi- bilities and economic demands not always carefully appraised beforehand. One has little chance then for the further choice of a position, nor can he afford to change an unsuitable position which he holds. The monotony 22 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH and the routine work like a steam shovel digging the rut all the time the deeper. In this deepening rut of the wrong vocation the unfortunate man and his more unfor- tunate wife and children must live. On the other hand, the responsibilities of marriage, and the fidelity, devotion, and sacrifice of a noble woman have injected courage and ambition into many a man and inspired a degree of achievement to which otherwise he would never have attained. Necessity, then, has its advantages and its disad- vantages. Did you ever stop to consider how fortunate you are in the fact that economic necessity is not driving you, before you are ready, to accept the first position that comes along, and that it is not compelling you to hold tenaciously to a position for which you are not adapted? For this very reason should you not give the more earnest heed to the selection of that vocation in which you can be of the greatest help and service to those less fortunate ones whom necessity has thus com- pelled without the exercise of choice so to choose? The line of least resistance. — Doubtless you have heard this kind of talk: "It's the easy job for me, the get-rich-quick kind, no preparation, no experience." It may be, perchance, that you have heard young men talk after this fashion: "Dad succeeded in this Une. Of course he will give me a lift. Promotion will be easy." Or it may be that you have heard this kind of argument. "My girl's father made a fortune dead easy. Surely the old man will not wish to see his business run down or his son-in-law fail. I'll go to the top hand over fist." There is a Hne of least resistance. It applies every- where, especially so in job-hunting. Men, however MEASURE OF A VOCATION 23 who find jobs by this method are apt never to be more than jobbers — often jobless. Men and women of ambition, talent and capacity- fight against the line of least resistance. Your share in the world's work is not to be determined by the easiness of that work on the one hand, nor, on the other, by inheritance. A prince destined by the law of succession to rule does not always develop into the sturdiest leader of his kingdom, nor is he always the producer of kingdom- building ideas and ideals. More frequently is the con- trary the result. Your share of the world's work should be determined by the need of the world which your trained and developed powers can best supply. Deliberate choice. — Here is one of the secrets that lead more often than any other to the worthiest success in finding the worthiest career. It is method tested and tried. Moses, choosing rather to suffer afiUction with his people, became the leader of his people. Solomon, in his youth choosing wisdom rather than wealth, became in his early manhood one of the wealthiest and wisest of men. Daniel, choosing not to defile himself with the King's meat, became the King's adviser. Lincoln, by mastering a few books, became the hero of many books. Grenf ell, accepting the rigors of a zone frigid rather than the ease of a zone temperate, has had his name pro- claimed throughout all zones. Lying beneath the soil of France are the bodies of young men who, in choosing to give their lives for the rights of mankind, have given of their spirit a heritage to mankind. Jesus Christ, choosing a cross rather than a temporal kingdom, became the King of a kingdom eternal 24 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Factors Involved in Choice Choice involves many factors. All choice, for example, involves discrimination. It implies a weighing of values. In the exercise of choice one must balance advantages over against disadvantages. Not only the present must be considered, but equally as well the future, nor is one's own viewpoint or inchnation or desire to be con- sidered, but the viewpoint and advice of others should be sought. What applies to choice in general applies especially to vocational choice. The choice of a vocation is not merely a personal matter; social factors are equally involved. A vocational choice is a lifetime choice. The future must therefore be considered. Vocations are not merely money-making schemes. They are service- rendering opportunities. Hence motives must be eval- uated, motives ranging from the greedy and selfish on the one hand to the altruistic and seK-sacrificing on the other; from the motive actuating one to seek material gain and profit to the motive prompting to moral and spiritual attainment. In view of these and other factors which are involved in choice, a standard of measurement may prove of value in the choice of a vocation. Such a standard is therefore suggested, not in the sense, however, that it is perfect, but, rather, in the sense that it may serve as a guide in a matter so fundamentally important as the right choice of a vocation. In considering a vocation, then, these questions regarding this vocation are sub- mitted: The Measure of a Vocation I. Is the vocation a man-size or a woman-size voca- MEASURE OF A VOCATION 25 tion? In other words, does it challenge the worthiest qualities of your nature and being, and call for the full exercise of your best powers? 2. Is it a Hfetime or just a young man's or a young woman's vocation? Will you, in other words, exhaust its possibilities by the time you arrive at full manhood or womanhood, or is it a vocation that will continue to challenge on through hfe your best growing and devel- oping powers? 3. What particular qualities does the vocation de- mand? (i) What physical qualities? (2) What mental qualities? (3) What social qualities? (4) What moral qualities? In how far can you measure up to these fourfold quality viewpoints? WiU the vocation tend to develop within you those qualities demanded? 4. How much and what kind of preparation will the vocation require? Can you afford to spend the time and money necessary to make this preparation? Are you willing to spend this time and money? 5. What are the opportimities? Is this vocation already overcrowded, with room only at the top, and is there cream enough in you to rise to the top? Is the vocation so fully suppHed with workers that the world's need for such service is being adequately met, or does the demand exceed the supply? 6. WiU the work which this vocation requires be congenial to you? WiU you be happy in it, content to give your life thereto? Can you undertake cheerfully all the hardships and disagreeable features which wiU necessarUy be involved? WiU the physical strain, or the long hours, or the possible monotony tend to injure your health and thus discount your efl&dency? 7. What type of men and women enter upon this 26 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH kind of a vocation? Who will be your business asso- ciates? What will be your social standing and the social standing of your family? Also, with what type of people will you have to deal? Will you be a producer or a product? Will you work with your hands or your head, your brains or your heart, or with what combina- tion of these? 8. Will the financial returns from this vocation be adequate to meet your present needs and the future needs of your family and the charitable and philanthropic demands of society? From what source wiU these financial returns come — a stated salary from a firm, corporation, institution, town, city. State, or nation? Or will the returns be in the form of a varjdng income coming direct from the public — an income determined by your individual effort, initiative, and efficiency? Will there be returns other than financial — compensa- tions, rewards, satisfactions, investments in others? 9. What type of service can you render through this vocation? Will the service thus rendered tend to improve, uplift, influence, change society for the better? Will your work through this vocation add to the thought, ideas, ideals of the world? Will it add to the happiness of humanity? 10. Will this vocation permit opportunity for growth and development in culture and in the finer values of life? Will it give you reasonable leisure — time with your family, a chance for wholesome recreation, opportunity to pursue an avocation, occasion to take active part in the affairs of your community, your church, your State and your nation? Will there be an incentive to lay up treasure where moth and rust do not corrupt? In this vocation can you best serve God and your fellow man? MEASURE OF A VOCATION 27 The standard simplified. — It may be of advantage to simplify this standard. Accordingly, a simpler form may be stated thus: Is the vocation 1. A man-size or woman-size one? 2. Is it a lifetime vocation? 3. Are your qualities adapted? 4. Can you prepare adequately therefor? 5. What developmental opportunities are presented? 6. WiU the vocation in all of its relations be congenial? 7. What type of men and women enter upon this kind of a vocation? 8. Will the financial and other returns be fully ade- quate? 9. Can you, through this vocation, help improve, uplift, and benefit society? 10. Can you grow in this vocation and thus better serve God and your fellow man? Is the standard a fair one? — Possibly you are ask- ing if this is a fair standard. If not, where does it fall down? Wherein is it faulty? What changes would you make? What eliminations? What additions? What improvements? Applying the Standard Application is a good test. Does this standard work? Does it offer any help or suggestions in finding your vocation? Try it with several vocations. Fill in the blank spaces below. Base your judgment on all that you know or can find out about the vocations thus considered. Ask several of your friends, perhaps some of your teachers, to judge by the same method the voca- tions you have estimated. 28 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Tg the man-size (or woman-size) vocation for which I am best fitted? Can I make adequate preparation for ? What are the opportunities in , the associations connected therewith and the financial and other returns therefrom? Can I through -grow and develop and therein best serve God and my fellow man? Perhaps you have difl&culty in deciding. Perhaps you are not ready to decide. You want more informa- tion and more facts. It is not the claim of this volume that this standard is complete or infallible. Neither is it claimed that the vocations which are presented in this volume are the only ones which measure up to this standard. It is believed, however, that within the church, an institution which exists for the service and welfare of mankind, there are vocations which call forth one's highest and best powers; vocations through which one can contribute definitely and effectively to the needed work of the world; vocations within which one can render a maximum degree of service to his fellow man and thereby render his highest service to his Creator. If this study is instrumental in helping yoimg men and women find the right vocation, the vocation which will yield most in aU true values to those who through it serve, while at the same time it enables them to repay most fully the debt they owe their generation, then this volume will have succeeded in its purpose. CHAPTER II FINANCIAL AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS What is the pay? In considering any form of work this is the first question which most of us always ask. It is a natural and a legitimate question and one, there- fore, which deserves careful consideration. That a vocation should, first of all, pay in terms of money no one will deny. That a vocation should also pay in other than monetary values every one will admit. Hence, these chapters do not, on the one hand, recom- mend moneyless vocations, nor do they, on the other hand, commend those which pay merely in terms of money. That money is a prerequisite in any vocation this chapter will endeavor to point out. It will consider also requisites other than financial. Money a Necessity Money is necessary for a number of obvious reasons, one of which is that money must supply certain physical and social necessities. Physical and social necessities. — Every form of work necessarily imphes a worker. A worker must have food, shelter, and clothing. These are essentials which money alone can buy. A worker, however, is entitled to more than mere shelter. Most workers desire homes. Homes are either rented or owned. If rented, rent falls due with unfaiKng regularity twelve months in every year, and nothing but money will satisfy a landlord. If a home is owned, 29 30 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH taxes are required to keep it and money to keep it up. Furthermore, homes, rented or owned, imply light, fuel, and furnishings. And these cost money. A home impKes a family, and a family piles up expense. Children must be wholesomely nourished, appropriately clothed, carefully trained and educated. To give such advantages is an investment. Like all other invest- ments, this likewise costs. Famihes are entitled to pleasures. Many pleasures are free, others must be paid for, and both kinds are needed. Furthermore, everyone, be he head of a family or otherwise, needs to look ahead. There will be unex- pected demands, unlooked-for obligations, possible sickness. A certain amount of money should therefore go into a savings bank or insurance protection or some similar form of investment. There always will be charitable organizations and institutions which should be supported, and in various other forms society will make demands upon us. The pay one receives, therefore , must not only enable one to hold down his job — a voca- tion should likewise pay enough to enable one to hold up his head. The Laborer and His Hire Money in return for service may be required because energy — physical and mental — has monetary values and because, in terms of money, time has a value. Energy has monetary value. — ^Work of any kind requires and consumes a certain amount of energy — physical or mental, or both. A vocation converts energy into a product — a toy perhaps, or a watch or an auto- mobile. Or it may be a poem, a picture, a sermon, or a book. Vocations, then, are the mediums of produc- FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 31 tivity, using energy as the instrument through which they operate. Every person's energy has a value, for energy is the substance of which Hfe is made. A man, therefore, or a woman has a perfect right to demand that what he or she does shall be paid for in money. How much money? That depends. Muscle in a ditch, for instance, is worth so much an hour; if a machine thinks for you, so much a week; muscle and energy may be hired for so much a year, depending on the job and the worker. There is, however, no financial limit set on mind and heart and brain effectively at work in the world's constructive enterprises. Here the opportunities and the returns are limitless. All of the world's constructive work has not been completed; only a beginning has been made. Time has monetary value. — In the second place, a vocation should pay in terms of money because time has a monetary value. A vocation takes one's time and turns it into an article of usefulness or a form of service. Every man and every woman has a certain amount of time inherently his or her own. This time is valuable. Its value is determined by the quality of usefulness and service into which it can be converted. The work in which one is engaged is this time converter. As a rule, time is paid for in proportion to the ends for which time is used. An hour of a railroad president's time is, for example, worth more than a day of a section hand's time. Again, a skilled surgeon's time is of far more value than the time of a hospital attendant. Perchance the difference is that the one works with his head and the other with his hands. This, however, is not always a safe criterion, for time spent in work of the highest value often receives the least financial reward. 32 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Your time is your own. Your time spent in work is worth money; how much, depends upon the vocation and what you put into it. It depends upon whether you invest your time in routine or creative work, whether you are an automaton or a producer, whether you shirk responsibility or shoulder it. In the last analysis much depends upon the vocation you select. AU jobs require time, and aU time is valuable. The vocation that will pay you best is the vocation that will use your time most valuably. Money Not the Sole Critekion Although any form of work must pay money, money is, however, not the only test. The money which goes with a position, whether it is much or little, does not always indicate the opportimity for service inherent in that position, nor the quaUty of brain and heart de- manded, nor the dignity and prestige attached. Examples of varying monetary returns. — For ex- ample, the President of the United States receives seventy-five thousand dollars a year. There are presi- dents of corporations who receive one hundred thousand. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in terms of money, is paid fifteen thousand dollars yearly, while many lawyers in private Ufe make, in the same length of time, fifty thousand. An operatic star may receive in one night thousands of dollars. There are laborers beneath the stars who never receive that much in a life-time of nights. College athletic coaches make more, or at least receive more, than college professors, a reviewer of books more than a writer of books, those who make us laugh more than those who make us think. Major-Leaguers are FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 33 paid more in four months than Major-Generals in twelve. Charlie Chaplin probably makes more than a hundred chaplains. There are records of high-school graduates who are receiving more money than college and university alumni. And so we might continue. Sxifficient comparisons have been given, however, to indicate that unless money is the sole test, big jobs and big money do not necessarily go together. Some of the biggest positions pay the least money, and some of the smallest the biggest money. The service motive. — ^Explanations for a situation so anomalous as this throw Hght upon the whole problem of jobs, money, and motives. Statute and budget limitations fix the salaries of certain positions. Despite these financial limitations big-brained and big-souled men accept judgeships for the justice they may admia- ister, professorships because of the youth they may stimulate, positions of research for the discoveries they may make, pastorates for the good to be accomplished, settlement work for the service to be rendered, calls to the mission fields for the opportunities presented. Prompted by patriotic motives, men and women, during the recent war, voluntarily gave up lucrative positions for opportunities of service paying barely a living wage, or no wage at all. In these instances the service motive is bigger than the money motive. Habit. — ^Again, there are men and women in voca- tions neither from the money motive nor the service motive. They are there as the result of habit. "Habit," writes Professor James in his Psychology,^ "alone prevents the hardest and most repulsive walks of life from being 'Psychology — ^Briefer Course. Henry Holt land Company. 34 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH deserted by those brought up to tread therein. It keeps the fisherman and deckhand at sea through the winter; it holds the miner in his darkness, and nails the country- man to his log cabin and his farm through all the months of snow; it protects us from invasion by the natives of the desert and the frozen zone. It dooms us all to fight out the battle of life upon the lines of our nurture or our early choice, and to make the best of a pursuit that disagrees, because there is no other for which we are fitted, and it is too late to begin again." Personality. — ^Again, the same positions may pay more to one man or woman than to another. The human factor must be taken into consideration — ^personnel and personality are job-transformers. There always has been and there always will be a premium upon hard- hitting perseverance, clockwork accuracy and precision, water-tight dependableness, push, vim, get-up-and-go qualities as over against vacillation, spinelessness of effort, mediocrity, a mere passing-grade of satisfaction. The former qualities always find money-making and service-rendering positions, the latter never. The man who can deliver the goods generally gets paid for the delivery. Personality that is back of the vocation has much to do with the money that comes out of the voca- tion. Law of supply and demand. — Then the law of sup- ply and demand operates in placing a higher money value upon some forms of activity and service than upon others. Where there is an immediate persistent demand with a Hmited number of men and women to fill the positions, there will be perforce an excessive monetary reward for the few who can supply this demand. A public, craving excitement and amusement-crazed, FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 35 demands the brilliant, the spectacular, the thrilling, the sensational, and such a public is accordingly willing to pay those who can satisfy the demand. Cleverness and unusual skill are thus called into command. Pro- fessional stars appear on the diamond, the stage, the screen, and the platform and they — many of them — are paid enormous sums. Such a demand, however, is not the normal demand — it is the unusual, and hence the unusual financial returns. The normal demand is for an everyday, safe-hitting type of plodding perseverance, and because there is a normal demand for this tjqpe of service there is, accordingly, a normal remuneration. Vocations through which one's service tends to cool the pubUc pulse, to regird the under- girdings of pubUc morals, to safeguard and perpetuate the ideals of the past, and to ennoble and to enrich those of the future — these kinds of vocations are less spectac- ular. The immediate demand for the type of service rendered through them is moderate, and hence the pay, in terms of money values, is correspondingly meager. Many men and women are doing well and honestly the real important work of the world in a modest, unassuming fashion, receiving therefor comparatively small incomes, living nevertheless contentedly and simply, on the corner of Sunshine Avenue and Economy Street, making, through their work, life sweeter and better and happier. There are, then, positions which will pay you big ready money. There are some which will give you, in addition, wide popular acclaim, especially if you can satisfy the intermittent demands for amusement, entertainment, or sensation. There are other vocations which will pay you reasonable ready money, and, besides this, rich satisfaction and everlasting fame if you wiU satisfy the 36 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH ever-present though not so pressing demands for the fundamental and the eternal. Money goes with every good position, but there are other values which should be considered. Money is not the sole criterion of a vocation. Limitations on the Money-Measitre of a Vocation That money may be put to noble uses no one will deny. To appreciate what service money may render one needs only to look upon the splendid libraries throughout our land made possible largely through the wealth of one man. Then there are scores of educational institutions which have been endowed and professorial pensions made possible through foundations and gifts and legacies. Art galleries and museimis have, through gift and deed, become a part of the public heritage. Everjrwhere in our land and in other lands there are charitable and philanthropic organizations supported largely by public and private generosity. One cannot enumerate nor can one be unmindful of the many vmheralded and unknown deeds of charity which have brought cheer and happiness to thousands. Money, rightly used, is one of mankind's best and most useful friends. The love of money has its dangers. — On the other hand, money has its dangers and its temptations. It is often a stimulator of ignoble motives. To gain money man has stooped and is stooping to every possible device — from petty larceny to hold-ups, safe-cracking, figure-juggling, kidnaping, blackmailing, profiteering — all the crimes of the calendar. Rarely does one pick up a daily paper without finding some record of crime growing out of a desire for or a lack of money. If love FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 37 of money is not the root of all evil, it is certainly the root of much evil. Literature, profane and sacred, displays the dangers of money, as well as the good which money may ac- complish. The Prince of Morocco, deceived by the lure of gold, discovered that "All that glisters is not gold." The Prince of Arragon, choosing silver, found "There be fools alive, I wis, Silver 'd o'er, and so was this." Bassanio looked beyond the gold and silver and found Portia. Cassius died a semi-suicidal death because he beheved his cause lost since the noble Brutus had rather "coin his heart, drop by drop" than accept bribes to pay his legions. Before the little cMld wandered into his home money had made a miser out of Silas Marner. Before he found the Holy Grail Sir Laimfal's castle of wealth "rebuffed the gifts of the sunshine free." Until he recognized that the quality of mercy was not strained avarice led Shylock to demand his pound of flesh. Earnest, with his true insight, lost little time in recog- nizing the fact that Mr. Gather Gold was not the image of the Face on the mountain. Petty, unscrupulous money greed has stigmatized forever the character of Uriah Heep. Love of money lost Gehazi his position and substituted in its place the leprosy of Naaman. Ananias and Sap- phira kept back a part of the price which was received from the sale of their land, and both fell down and gave up the ghost. The fertility of the plain led Lot to pitch his tent toward Sodom, upon which city fire and brim- stone soon thereafter fell. The yoimg man went away from Jesus sorrowfully, for he had great possessions. 38 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Jesus refused a kingdom of wealth that he might estab- lish a kingdom of ideals. How Much Money Should a Vocation Pay? We have conceded that in order to satisfy economic demands a vocation must pay in terms of money. We have recognized that muscle and energy and time have money values. And we have concluded that money is not the sole criterion in choosing a vocation. The question before us now is, How much money shall a vocation pay? No absolute standard. — On this point there are many reasons why one cannot well dogmatize. For example, standards of Hving vary. Not only so, but the cost of hving fluctuates. Again, the social demands of one position are not the same as those of another. It is true, too, that the tastes of one family may be simpler and more easily satisfied than the tastes of another family. With certain positions there may be accessories, as, for instance, opportimities for additional work, a bonus, commission, dividends, etc. Then again, living expenses in a city may be larger than living expenses in a smaller community or in the country. In view of these considerations one, rather than attempting to dogmatize, must follow general principles and deal with averages instead of individuals. Various estimates have from time to time been made. War came along, however, and shot to pieces these estimates. Soon after the war, when the high cost of living was probably at the crest of the wave, for this generation at least, an estimate was made by the chief of the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. This estimate reckoned that an unmarried man could "get along" on FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 39 one thousand dollars a year, and an unmarried woman on one thousand and eighty-three dollars. This esti- mate placed the minimum expenses of a family of five at twenty-two hundred and sixty-two dollars per year, divided as follows: Food. $773-93 Clothing 513-00 Housing, Fuel, Light 428.00 Miscellaneous 546.00 While this estimate is not submitted as a standard, it may, however, serve as a guide under present con- ditions. It wiU readily be seen that it is difficult and weU-nigh impossible to say just how much money a vocation must pay. One point, however, is clear, and that is that a vocation must yield an income within which one can live, for it is certain that one cannot, with justice to others, Uve without it. Intangible Values A vocation without money attracts few men. A vocation which pays in terms of money only should attract no real man. To be sure, money is a necessity. It does not always supply the real necessities. Money is a fundamental though there are some of the funda- mentals of life which it cannot buy. Money is b'ke oil: too little, and there is friction; too much, and the machinery clogs; just enough, and there are smoothness and efl&ciency. You cannot live by bread alone. You are more than a physical being. You have an aesthetic and a spiritual nature. You lose half of the value of life and two thirds of its significance and meaning if your higher nature is undernourished, dwarfed, and starved. Unconsciously 40 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH you may select a vocation which, through its very exigencies, may deprive you of some of these indispen- sable though intangible values. Some of these come through your contact with nature, through the culture of the past, and through the influence of religion. Nature and its values. — ^Wordsworth in one of his sonnets exclaims: "The world is too much with us; late and soon Getting and spending we lay waste our powers: Little we see in nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!" Nature is opulent with values. There is a wealth of meaning that ought to be yours. Directly nature may not put money into your purse. Indirectly it may, however, for its bounty and generosity should prove a stimulus to your productiveness as well as an incentive to serve. Nature too may help you conserve and further develop yoiu: sense of the aesthetic and the beautiful. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork." Nature is a model of work and a model for workers. Further- more, nature may soothe your tired and overstrung nerves and regird you for further creative effort. Bryant in his "Thanatopsis" interpreted thus one of nature's values: "To him who in the love of nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty, and she glides Into his darker musings, with a mild And healing sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness, ere he is aware." FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS 41 Beware of the vocation that so involves your time and saps your energy that you have little desire or inclina- tion to commune with the Infinite in the marvelous language of beauty and loveliness with which you are surrounded! Ciiltural values. — You are the heir of all the ages in the foremost files of time! The riches of the past are yours. Their dividends are more valuable than the dividends of stocks and bonds. Sell not, through some mediocre job or through some vocation unworthy of your opportunity and talent, your stock in the culture of the past! How bare and barren life would be without time and opportunity to read and to enjoy! Literature is like an immense vault into which the wealth of the past has been stored. You know the combination which unlocks this vault. Let not any vocation, with its material demands, cause you to forget or make you neglect to apply this combination. Literature is like a highway that leads into the remotest past. On this highway live the real kings and queens of the ages, and they are constantly at home to those who call. You have learned to travel this highway. Let not a vocation turn you too much in other paths. "Reading makes the fuU man," said Bacon. The printed page keeps you in touch with the thought of the world past and present, and thus you keep abreast with your profession or calling. Sculpture and painting and other forms of art repre- sent also the culture of the past. There is stimulus and inspiration in every form of artistic creation. In some mysterious way the highest forms of art play upon the inner urge and you are inwardly moved to redouble your creative energy and to improve your talent. Keep 42 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH unbroken, then, your connection with those values which come through culture and the immaterial wealth of the past. Religious influences. — ^A religious heritage is yours too. It is a heritage purchased not with gold but, rather, through martyrdom, sacrifice, and fideUty. How fooHsh and unwise it would be to choose a vocation through which you could not freely draw upon and reinvest a value more precious than rubies and with which the gold of Ophir is not to be compared! Beware that your vocation does not infringe upon the sacred rights of a God-given Sabbath day of rest and worship and service. Do not tie yourself down to the treadmill task which makes Sunday a day which must be given over wholly to physical rest and recreation. You caimot possibly do your best work or achieve your highest measure of success without the stimulus and the com- pensations and the motive-giving impulses which religion alone can yield. If your vocation is one through which you can advance the interests of the higher kingdom — the moral and the spiritual — you need have little fear for a lack of those things which constitute and make up the lower kingdom — the physical and the temporal. The Master recog- nized the value and necessity of money and the need of those things which money alone can buy. Never- theless he said, "Seek ye first the kingdom olE God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." CHAPTER III THE WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS In his book, How to Choose the Right Vocation, Hohnes W. Merton discusses fourteen hundred and six vocations made up of three hundred and sixty-two professions, arts, and sciences; three hundred and forty- four commercial enterprises and businesses; seven hundred trades and skilled vocations. The total number of separate classes of gainful occupations Usted in the Occupational Index of the United States Census totals nine thousand three hundred and twenty-six. One does not lack, then, a variety of vocations from which to choose. The question is, rather, out of such variety how shall one make a wise selection? With a view toward finding help in answering this question, let us consider briefly certain facts about the world's work and its workers. Distribution of Vocations To indicate the general types of work and workers a table showing the distribution of population in the United States, ten years of age and over engaged in gainful occupations, will be of service. This table is reproduced from the World Almanac of 1920, though the figures are based on the 1910 census. Doubtless the 1920 census will reveal relatively the same proportionate figures. The occupations listed in this table, it will be noticed, represent only classes of workers numbering 100,000 or over. 43 44 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH POPULATION lo YEARS AND OVER, IN GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS— 1910 (By Classes of Workers Numbering 100,000 or Over) Occupation Female AGRICULTURE On farms, gardeners, etc Lumbermen and raftsmen Stockmen EXTRACTION OF MINERALS Coal-mine operatives Other mine operatives MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES Blacksmiths Brick and stone masons Builders, building contractors Carpenters Compositors, linotypers, typesetters. . . Electricians, electrical engineers Engineers (stationary) General and not specified laborers Blast furnaces, rolling mills Other iron and steel works Saw and planing mills Machinists and millwrights Manufacturers Iron molders, founders, casters Painters, glaziers, and vamishers Plumbers, gas and steam fitters SEMI-SKILLED OPERATIVES Other iron and steel works Shoe factories Textile workers Total not otherwise specified Tailors and tailoresses TRANSPORTATION Draymen, teamsters, expressmen Laborers (steam railroad) Laborers (not otherwise specified) 10,325,999 113,999 "2,937 163,795 408,396 539,920 180,468 1.789.338 37 2.559 613,519 405 225,003 141 232,957 31 169,387 15 173.573 849 817,082 38 113,538 14,051 135.427 92 231,031 10 853,679 15.799 201,030 1,362 199.781 4.252 258,361 1,781 478,713 73 230,809 4,298 112,070 52 273.060 381 148,304 188,662 18,757 121,744 59.266 288,221 354.039 1,626,602 814,933 40.813 73 3,248 WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS 45 Occupation TRADE Clerks in stores Commercial travelers Real estate agents and officials Retail dealers Salesmen, saleswomen (stores) PROFESSIONAL SERVICE Clergymen Lawyers, judges, and justices Physicians and surgeons Teachers (school) DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE Barbers, hairdressers, manicurists Bartenders Boarding and lodging house keepers Launderers and laundresses (not in laundry) Nurses (not trained) Cooks Other servants Waiters CLERICAL OCCUPATIONS Bookkeepers, cashiers, accountants Other clerks (except in stores) Stenographers and typewriters Grand total gainfully occupied Total population lo years of age and over (1910) Male Female 275,589 "1,594 161,027 2,593 122,935 2,927 1,127,926 67,103 626,751 250,487 "7.333 685 114,146 558 142,117 9.015 118,442 476,864 172,977 22,298 100,984 250 23.052 142,400 13,693 520,004 15.926 110,912 117,004 333.436 102,151 935.849 102,495 85,798 299.545 187.155 519,641 120,504 53.378 263,315 30,091,564 8,075,772 37,027,558 34,552,712 Division of labor. — It will be observed that the forty-eight classes of workers Hsted in this table are divided into nine larger divisions of work. A wide range of human endeavor is thus represented. What per cent of these workers, for example, are producers? What per cent work with hands, what per cent with 46 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH head, what per cent with heart as well as with head or hands? These questions are asked, however, not with any intention of disparaging one class or magnifying another class of employment by comparisons. The world's work must be done. All honest labor is honor- able, and every honest laborer is worthy of his hire. In Browning's Pippa Passes, Pippa sings, "All service ranks the same with God — With God, whose puppets, best and worst, Are we; there is no last nor first.' There are, however, degrees of labor and of service according to capacities. Training, opportunity, advan- tages, aptitudes determine, to a large degree, service capacities. There is wastage when ten-horse-power- service capacity is harnessed up to one-horse-power opportunity. Talent buried beneath the wrong voca- tion will not yield interest compounded like talents at work through better adapted and more suitable caUings. The point of chief concern, therefore, is to find the right vocation. If the work which you are called upon to do through this vocation is the ordinary, commonplace, everyday work of the world, well and good. Should it be work representing a higher range of service in which workers are few, so much the better. The dignity of labor is in the spirit of the laborer. The quality of service is in the motive which prompts you to serve and the preparation which is back of your service. Let us examine now some of the main divisions of the forty-eight classes of vocations listed in the table. Perchance your field of usefulness may suggest itself through such a study. WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS 47 Mantutacturing and Mechanical Industries Vocations in the manufacturing and mechanical indus- tries are numerous, and they are inviting. In this field of endeavor there are steady jobs, convenient hours, regular pay, and a full dinner pail. Merit is recognized. The rungs in the ladder of promotion are not far apart for those who make good on the rungs on which they are already standing. Many of the heads of big business and the captains of industry have worked their way gradually up to such positions. A list of salaries for executive and managerial positions of an industrial enterprise employing thousands of employees is herewith reproduced from a recent number of the American Magazine: Range of Annual Position Salary General Manager $25,000 to $50,000 Sales Manager 15,000 to 25,000 Treasurer 10,000 to 15,000 Comptroller 10,000 to 15,000 Superintendent 6,000 to 10,000 Assistant Sales Manager 10,000 to 15,000 Field Assistants to Sales Managers 6,000 to 8,000 Factory and Office Supervisor . ... 4,000 to 6,000 Purchasing Agent 4,000 to 8,000 Patent Attorney 5.000 to 7,000 Employment Manager 4,000 to 6,000 Welfare Director 3,000 to 6,000 Alluring prospects. — ^Not only from the standpoint of money, but in the very process of manufacturing, pro- ducing, building, and constructing there is a fascination. The pull grips a young man especially. Here is the 48 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH chance to apply experiments tested out in the laboratory, to try out formulas of mathematics and the principles of physics. There is a demand for a better type of engine. An improved model quickly replaces an automobile already on the market. A perfected airplane will revolutionize transportation. There are fortunes yet to be made out of by-products. This is an industrial age. The call to ambition is loud and strong. Scientists tell us that we are just upon the threshold of the marvels of electricity. For indus- trial purposes over two hundred and four million tons of coal are consumed in a single year. Only thirty per cent of the water power in our land has been harnessed. Yet turbines are revolving and long distance wires are alive with power. In distant cities motors are being installed, transportation is speeded up and factories are driven to put on night shifts. Why should not such an age make its appeal? Why should not young men, as did the hero of Tennyson's "Locksley's Hall," desire to Join "Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping some- thing new; That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do." The leaven of the spirittial needed. — ^And yet we must not forget that there are values other than material. Nor must we lose sight of the fact that all machinery is not to be found in factory, shop, or mill. We must not be unmindful that there are products and fabrics other than those which are manufactured in the mam- moth industries of our land. There are by-products other than those which have a purely commercial value. WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS 49 To be sure, man's body is not a factory, nor is his brain an engme, nor his heart a niachine. The Scripture tells us, however, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- ness, temperance. After all, are not these qualities of the most worth and value? Is not the world in need of such qualities? Where else are they made other than in the human heart? Who other than the Creator has made these marvel- ous beings of ours, more delicate and intricate than any machine yet devised by the human brain? Where else throbs the dynamo of the universe other than in the heart of God? And has he not surrounded us with in- visible wires of his love and protection and care? How helpless the automobile without power, the engine without steam, the motor without electricity! How helpless man without God! Connect up the wires. Can the maximum efficiency of the mind and brain and heart be obtained other than through the help of Him who endowed us with these potentialities of power? Go in, then, if you decide this is your iield, for the manufacturing and mechanical industries. Remember, however, that there are moral and spiritual values and that there is a demand and a need for these in the world to-day. Remember, too, that these are products of human life touched by the power and the spirit of the divine. Become, then, the employee of those institu- tions which endeavor to relate the divine to the human. Our homes must be the producers of virtue and purity and innocence. Our schools must make for honesty and integrity and uprightness. Our churches must incul- cate into the heart and life of our nation the funda- mental principles of Christianity. Out of the enormous so VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH wastage of time and talent by-products of eternal worth must be fashioned. Choose that vocation in which you can be a producer in terms of values moral and spiritual! The Legal Profession Law is an honorable profession and a noble calling. It offers manifold opportunities for service. Law throws its protecting arms about defenseless widows and father- less children. Law defends the iimocent and punishes the guilty. Law safeguards property and protects individual right. To uphold the dignity and the majesty of the law is therefore to serve well one's fellow man. Furthermore, in the legal profession there are, in many instances, salaries sure and certain and fees large and frequent. Law, too, is a gateway into poUtics, a step- ping stone to leadership in affairs municipal, State, national, and international. The Senate and House recruit from the ranks of the legal profession. There always will be a demand and a place of honor in the annals of a nation or country for fearless and upright judges, for sincere and honest interpreters of the law, for the stanch defenders of sacred constitutions. The Christian motive at work through the law. — : The legal profession, then, always will take high rank with the other leading professions. On the other hand, however, must we not remember that we need to mini- mize as far as possible the necessity for law? Is not our pathway, individual and national, safer in propor- tion as we diminish the tendency to theft, hate, and crime? Is it not more advantageous to prevent trouble than to get men and women out of trouble? Is it not far wiser to preserve innocence than to prove guilt? Is it not more to our credit to change human nature for WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS 51 the better than, as is so frequently the result of certain interpretations of law, to encourage less worthy tenden- cies of human nature? In addition to the demand for lawyers who can inter- pret the civil law there is an equal demand for men and women who can interpret and uphold the moral law. The law of the Lord is perfect, and such law needs a wider and a larger interpretation. There are divine rights as well as human rights; the former needs as stanch defenders as the latter. Would not a better type of fathers and mothers tend to aboHsh our juvenile courts? If we could improve our homes, could we not the more easily do away with our reformatories? As we strengthen our churches would there not be a corres- ponding tendency to empty our prisons? As the funda- mental principles of morality and reUgion are taught and lived, could we not in an earHer future turn our peni- tentiaries into hospitals and do away with our jails? The test of a lawyer. — ^The advice of our Saviour to a lawyer upon one occasion is advice of the most wholesome character to men and women in every pro- fession and in every walk of Ufe. "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" asked a certain lawyer. Jesus "said imto him. What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." And Jesus "said unto him. Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said imto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?" Then followed one of the most beautiful of all parables, the parable of the good Samari- tan, concluding with this searching question: "Which 52 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said. He that showeth mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him. Go and do thou likewise." There is an overwhelming demand to-day for men and women not only in law but in every profession to practice Good Samaritanism. Beware of the vocation in which you cannot so practice. Mining Engineering Typical of another class of vocations is that of engi- neering, among the branches of which mining engineering stands out prominently. The extraction of minerals and ores from the earth is an important and fascinating calling. Mining engineering appeals especially to young men. It is distinctly a man's profession. It offers a vigorous and inviting career. It is a vocation that commands excitement on the one hand and on the other financial returns. Schools of mining engineering are crowded with young men studying the principles of acid reactions, heat, pressure, dynamics, hydraulics, eager to get into the field and to distribute over the earth that which nature has buried underneath its surface. Opening up other mines. — There are, however, un- discovered diamonds in the rough buried beneath the rugged exterior of humanity. There are rich veins of human nature yet untapped. There is an abundance of latent energy stored up in the lives of men and women waiting to be released, utilized and converted into human warmth and heat and power. There are forces here which once set at work will tend to dispel the moral and spiritual chiU in many homes and to hght up the dark places in our own and heathen lands. To discover and polish these diamonds, to open up • WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS 53 these rich veins of human nature, to release these dyna- mic human energies, engineers of the mind and heart are needed as well as mining engineers. Jewels and pearls of human nature — to find and discover such is to increase the real wealth of the world. The Medical Profession Few callings are worthier or more noble than the call to medicine in one of its various forms. Possibilities of the further growth and development of medical science make this profession appeal strongly to young men and women. In the seventeenth century Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood. In the eigh- teenth century Jenner determined the value of vaccina- tion as a preventive of smallpox. In the early part of the nineteenth century the use of anaesthetics as a specific against pain in surgical operations was tried and found to be safe. The science of bacteriology is now being carefully studied, and the profession generally accepts the germ theory of disease as proven. The X-ray has made further strides in medical science possible, while improved clinics and laboratories make the call to medical research even more inviting. The privilege of the physician. — ^To relieve pain and suffering, to bring back to health and strength the sick and the diseased, to restore bones broken and injured, to repair nerves shattered and overstrained, to remove obstacles that impair usefulness and service, to give life its best and fairest start in life, to exterminate disease, to destroy deadly germs and microbes — ^where is to be found a service more worthy or a laborer worthier of his hire? All honor to young men and women who, in order to render such service to humanity, are willing to undergo 54 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH the long and arduous necessary training. We admire them, for few of us would like to live in a land without physicians, nurses, and hospitals. One thinks, however, of the vast areas of territory in lands foreign where there are neither doctors, dispen- saries, nor hospitals. In our own, as well as in other lands, sin and disease go hand in hand. Healthy moral lives everywhere tend to insure equally healthy physical lives. If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, complete prevention is worth aU cures. There is a call, then, for physicians and surgeons and nurses in the moral and spiritual world. Men and women are needed who will be willing to prepare for this kind of service as faithfully as the regular physician prepares for his service. With our churches as weU equipped as our hospitals, and our training schools for the religious and moral nurture of our children on a par with our laboratories and clinics, would not the moral and spirit- ual life of our land be marvelously healthier, more robust and vigorous? "Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? Jesus answered and said unto them. Go and show John those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be ofEended in me." The demand to-day is for physicians and teachers and ministers with the spirit of the Master Physician, Teacher, and Min- ister. To possess this spirit is to insure a high degree of success. WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS 55 Agricultxire From this table it also wiU be seen that agriculture is the occupation in which the majority are engaged. This is not only true in our country; it is true in practically all countries. Agriculture is the oldest of occupations, especially so if we include pastoral occupations. Further- more, agriculture is the occupation which makes all other occupations possible. Indeed, Merton, in his book already referred to, makes it the chief occupation. Thus he writes:^ "But all of these vocations are, in the last analysis, of secondary importance compared with the great vocation of scientific agriculture-farming which includes gardening and fruit-raising. Civilization itself is dependent on the farmer's sticking to his job and making a success of it." Other fields to cultivate. — ^This study does not for a moment minimize or discount the value, the import- ance, or the necessity of agriculture. The soil must be tilled, man's physical body must be nourished. It is freely admitted that agriculture is the foundation upon which our economic life is builded. It is not the soil of nature alone, however, that must be tilled, nor man's physical body only that must be nourished. The soil of human nature needs to be tilled, subsoiled, enriched. Rocks of prejudice and selfishness must be removed. Weeds and briars of passion are to be dug up, seeds of kindness and good-will sown, the principles of honesty and uprightness and integrity implanted. "Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony 1 How to Choose the Right Vocation. Fourth Edition. Funk & Wagnalls. , 56 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixty- fold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear let him hear." Making yotir choice. — ^Agriculture is important, human culture equally as important. Twelve million people in the United States engaged in agriculture, how many in the culture of the mind and the heart? Is agriculture or medicine or mining iadustries the man-size or woman-size vocation for which you are best fitted? Can you make adequate preparation for agri- culture or medicine or mining engineering or law or manufacturing or one of the mechanical industries? Are the opportunities therein, the associations cormected therewith and the financial and other returns therefrom all that you desire? Can you, through one of these professions, attain unto your fullest growth and render to society your largest measure of service? If so, you will make no mistake if you prepare for the one of your choice and make that the medium of your contribution to your generation. Since, however, the issues are so far reaching, and since your whole future in a large measure hinges upon the right vocational choice, is it wise to come to a con- clusion before all of the evidence is in? Are not open- mindedness and the spirit of investigation important factors in every wise choice? Would it not be well, then, before coming to a final choice, to consider the vocations WORLD'S WORK AND WORKERS 57 which so important an institution as the church has to offer? Perhaps here you may find the one supreme vocation through which you can reach your own highest development, attain to the fullest satisfaction, and render the supreme measure of service to others. CHAPTER IV THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK In the work of the world, which the preceding chapter has discussed, the church has an important and a definite share. Though different, perhaps, in many aspects from other phases of endeavor, the church's share in the work of the world is nevertheless work. Furthermore, it is work which must be done by men and women rather than by machines and machinery. Some of this work of the church is voluntary and un- paid. Much of it, however, is not only remunerative; it is work which demands the fuU time and thought of many men and women. There are, therefore, certain distinct vocations within the church. We come now, and for the remainder of these studies, to consider these vocations. It will be of advantage, first of all, to understand what is meant by "the church." We can understand then to better advantage the nature of its work. The Church There are to-day many churches. There is, however, one Christian Church. This church is the church of the Christian religion. This church had its origin in the first century. Pentecost was its birthplace. Its first leaders were the disciples of Jesus. Upon the principles which Jesus taught these disciples founded the church. Jews were its original members. In its membership, however, Gentiles were soon included. Under perse- 58 THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK 59 cution the Christian faith spread rapidly. Accordingly, the church, the exponent of this new faith, grew ii? proportion. At first, the church which gave expression to the teachings of Jesus, was a simple brotherhood, holding its meetings in private homes. In the second century churches were built and ministers were employed. With the growth of civilization the church grew. As the exercise of the freedom of the will developed creeds came into being. As individual judgment found wider range of expression, beliefs were molded and crystallized. Personal freedom of choice found expression in this faith and that. Denominations arose; churches multiplied. During this process of evolution and growth the church naturally has made mistakes. Errors have crept in. Dissents have arisen. Beliefs and doctrines have been disputed and fought for. The church to-day as a human institution is far from perfect. It has its frailties and its weaknesses. Nevertheless, the vmderlying funda- mentals of the Christian Church remain inviolate. Even though idealisticaUy perhaps, the Christian Church stands nevertheless for the fundamentals of Christianity, and it is this Christian Church rather than any particular church, creed, or denomination that is understood in these Chapters as "the church." Irrespective of denom- inations it represents that innumerable company of men and women throughout the world who, in loyalty to Jesus Christ, are banded together in the promotion of those principles which he came to teach. The Work of the Church The work of the church is on a vast scale. It is far- reaching in its intent and its content. It therefore 6o VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH assumes many forms. These forms of work find ex- pression through many kinds of ministry. Through its multiform ministry the church serves humanity. We consider, then, briefly this ministry of service. The ministry of service. — The work of the church is, in the first place, a ministry of service. Ministry is service. It is the rendering of service prompted by the highest altruistic motives wherever there is human need for such service. Its model of ministry is found in the earthly ministry of the Head of the church, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He went about doing good, ministering to the needs of humanity wherever he found humanity in need. Sometimes it was to the moral and spiritual needs of man that he ministered. Again it was to his physical needs, his intellectual needs, or his social needs. Accordingly, the church, in keeping with its example and model, does its work to-day through the ministry of preaching, the ministry of education, the ministry of medicine, the ministry of social service, as well as through the ministry of publication and other forms of ministry. The frontispiece of this volume illustrates these phases of ministry. Subsequent chapters wiU discuss each one in detail, pointing out the vocations to which each gives rise. The point that is stressed here is the fact that the work of the church is the work of ministering to man in terms of his deepest and most fimdamental needs. The Need foe Such Ministry Does the world need to-day the ministry of the church? Does our own land need such a ministry? Does the ministry of the church represent a distinct THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK 6i part of the world's work? Can you through one of the phases of its ministry do a man's full share of the work of the world? Let us inquire. Demand for ethics and morality. — In our business life we recognize that honesty is the best policy. Further- more, in advancing the social order we realize the neces- sity for the dependability of mankind. We believe, too, that in all of our life and activity the spirit of fair play should have undisputed sway. Again, that ethics and morality are demanded in every walk of life no one will deny. Accordingly, we have insti- tutions which stand for the promotion of honesty, integ- rity, and fair play. There are, besides, various organiza- tions whose aim it is to tone up and quicken the moral and ethical life of mankind. There are also agencies which place emphasis upon clean, wholesome Hving. Representatives of all of these may be mentioned — the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Salvation Army, ethical cul- ture societies, and the Kke. Not only so, but in order further to promote these values there are lodges, orders, brotherhoods, philan- thropic societies, Red Cross organizations, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, foundations, settlements, promotion and welfare agencies, leagues, and similar organizations. In addition, business and commerce are wonderfully strong forces in compelling obedience to high ethical standards. Then we have asylumns, eleemosjniary institutions, and charitable organizations. All of these agencies are working for the general good and for the advancement of pubhc welfare and happiness. They hold, therefore, important places in our social life. Emphasis upon spiritual values. — It is well that 62 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH we have all of these institutions and agencies. However, to respond to and to achieve the best and highest life, Hfe must be touched at points deeper than is the nature and power of many of these agencies to touch life. While we recognize that honesty is the best policy, we know that principle is better than policy. Although soimd morals represent a high order of development, we understand that spiritual values represent a higher plane than merely moral values, and that the highest morality comes only out of the Christian motive. Then again, there is prevalent a tendency to employ in our business and social life misleading phraseology. For example, cowardice is sometimes interpreted as suavity and tact; subtlety frequently masks under the guise of prudence; lust is looked upon as love; crooked- ness is called cunning, chicanery is labeled skill. Again we know that the State says that a man must not steal, that he must not kill, that he must not wreck the homes and happiness of others. We know, too, that the State does not say, and cannot say, that a man must not covet, that he must not hate, that he must not lust. We know also that these tendencies are present in our social order, and that unless they are checked inevitably such desires and passions lead to theft and murder and crime and adultery. Spiritualizing the social process. — In view of these considerations we are brought face to face with the fact that we need something which, by their very nature, these other institutions and agencies cannot supply, and this is neither to discredit nor to undervalue these institutions. We need something that will reach into the very roots of human nature, something that will strike into tike funda- mental principles of life, ^ouch the hidden springs of THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK 63 action, purify motives, motivate conduct, change attitudes. We need to inculcate a stronger adherence to divine law. We need to premiumize spiritual values rather than merely emphasize moral and ethical values. In other words, we need to spiritualize the whole social process, and how may this be better done than by holding constantly before society and by indoctrinating into society a holy ideal? Since the church, as no other single institution, is committed to a holy ideal, the church, therefore, more than any other single institution is responsible for holding such an ideal before society. Not always perfectly done.— The work of the church, then, is a work which involves the spiritual welfare of mankind. This does not mean to say, however, nor does it say, that the church always has accomplished to the best advantage its work, or that it is now fully doing so. Unfortunately, the church has, many times, failed. Because of this fact some of the institutions already referred to came into being. It does not necessarily foUow, however, that these institutions will tend to go out of being as the church measures up to its respon- sibility. These institutions are supplementary agencies depending for their success on the spiritual factors which the church represents. To magnify the church is, there- fore, to magnify aU agencies which exist for the best good of mankind and to minimize those which tend to thwart the best interests of mankind. Work of the Church not Fully Appreclvted The work of the church is not fuUy appreciated. In fact there is too frequently, on the one hand, a negative attitude toward the church, and, on the other hand, an 64 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH indifference with regard to it. There are many reasons which account for this attitude and indifference. Reasons why the church is not appreciated. — First of aU, the very fact that the church has not always measured up to its responsibility has much to do in accoimting for this attitude. Again, an indifference on the part of the church has fostered an indifference toward the church. Furthermore, other interests are crowding out church interests. Sunday is losing its erstwhile sacredness and holy significance. The Sunday news- paper, the automobile are among the interests which are drawing attention away from the church. Anotier reason touches directly upon our problem of certain modem vocations. Some vocations command all of one's time and energy for six days in the week and until late Saturday night, and hence, for these, Sunday comes to be a day of physical recreation rather than a day for spiritual re-creation. There are positions, too, which necessitate Sunday work. The interests of other callings are incompatible with church interests. Still other positions or professions pay good money, which in turn so satisfies all apparent desires and provides all material comforts that one tends to forget about the deeper desires and the more fundamental comforts. History testifies, and individual experience corroborates the testimony, that material prosperity has time and time again been at the expense of moral and spiritual bankruptcy. Even the wisdom of Solomon checked not the moral ravages of wealth, and prosperity and lasciviousness made the once boasted Roman legions cower before the sturdy barbarian. Not only do reasons account for this negative attitude toward the church, but eoccuses tend to encourage this THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK 65 attitude. Shallow minds find satisfaction in cheap criticism. It is easier to make excuses for nonchurch participation than it is to participate in the work of the church. One man argues: "I have everything that I need. Why concern myself about religion and the church?" Another man exclaims, "I am a whole sight better than many in the church, and I'll not be a hj^o- crite." But there is an additional factor. This is found in the fact that when we think of the church we have a tendency to think of a church rather than the church; of some local church rather than the xmiversal church; of the church as it is rather than the church which we might make it to be; of the church militant rather than the church triumphant; of the church of man rather than the church of God. And in so doing we naiss the wider vision of our own debt and responsibility to the church! Results of nonappreciation. — ^And so, as a result of this wholesale unappreciative attitude toward the church, the church has, on the part of many, come to be looked down upon rather than up to; its faults have been more freely magnified than its virtues exemplified, its human weakness emphasized more than its divine significance realized. To be sure, the church, like any other insti- tution, must submit to evaluation tests and take its rating according to these tests. In this evaluation not only must its shortcomings be considered, but the con- tribution of the church to human welfare and happiness, as well; its incentive to sacrifice and heroism and achieve- ment; its inner urge to devotion and duty and godly Kving; its inspirational appeal to poet, musician, and artist; its contribution to civilization and progress. The church compared with other institutions. — '66 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Let us freely admit that as a human institution the church is not perfect any more than is a bank, our school system, or even our state. Nevertheless, the church has its definite and indispensable work to do just as these institutions have their work to do. We carmot get on materially without money and so we need banks, even though a bank is sometimes mismanaged, and even though batiks frequently fail. We believe in education, and we are therefore forever constructively engaged in improving our schools, which are far from perfect. To be sure, our democracy is likewise far from perfect. Yet what red-blooded sane American citizen would be willing to exchange our government for Bolshevism on the one hand or socialism on the other? We know that money is most efiEectively handled through a bank, that education is more proficiently gained through a school, and that the highest type of citizenship is fostered by the state. In accordance with this same principle, we believe that the healthiest type of religion is nourished by the church, and that tiiie nearest approach to God may be made within the fellow- ship and cooperation of the chujrch. As we perfect the church the work of the world will be more perfectly done and men will rise to new levels of spiritual power and achievement. The Church and Its Ideal What is the pattern for the work of the church? From whence comes its motive power? What product is it giving to the life of the world? What is its controlling ideal? Its pattern for work. — Jesus Christ, the Head of the church, has furnished the model for the work of the THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK 67 church. Jesus Christ came to save, and the world to-day needs to be saved. He came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and mankind needs to learn anew how to minister and to serve. He came not to destroy but to fulfill the law, and the fulfillment of law civil and moral means happiness and prosperity. He came that we might have life, and life in its fullness and completeness is the highest end of man's being and existence. He came, in other words, to bring to the world the gospel of which the world in all phases of its work is in most need. The church is the divinely appointed medium through which the gospel of Jesus Christ is to be given to the world. The church is the communicating trench through which the messengers of the gospel, the soldiers of the cross, are to pass to the conquest of every man's land and to victories splendid over the common enemies of sin and ignorance and laziness and cowardice and everything that interferes with the fullest and com- pletest accomplishment of the work of the world. How- ever filled up or imperfect this trench may be, to the church as to no other single institution, nevertheless is committed the task of representing and standing for the ideal of Jesus Christ and of bringing this ideal to bear upon the life and work and happiness of the world. What this ideal has meant to the life of the world. — What has the ideal of Jesus Christ as interpreted and represented through the church meant to the life and thought and work of the world? How dare one in a paragraph, a chapter, in a book or even many books, try to enumerate? Only brief suggestions are given here. The coming of Jesus Christ into the world changed 68 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH chronology — it marked a turning point in world history. Since his coming and because of his coming the work of the world has been revolutionized. To woman dignity and prestige have been given and to mankind religious Uberty and freedom. The shackles of human slavery have been broken and the steellike bands of personal habit have been forged. Thus hberated the spirit of man and woman has been free to attain unto higher reaches of progress and development and add thereby to the more enduring work and achievement of the world. The ideal of Jesus Christ, more than any other single ideal, was responsible for the overthrow of feudaUsm and the abolishment of serfdom. More than any other ideal, too, it has championed the rights of democracy and exposed the viciousness of aristocracy. In heathen lands the ideal of Jesus Christ, as exemplified through his church, is substituting for debasing superstition, ignorance, and tradition, uplifting faith, hope, and en- lightenment. Through all of the modern ages the church has been sowing the seeds of the gospel. The Reformation, the Declaration of Independence, labor reforms, suffrage, brotherhood, and prohibition are a few of the outstand- ing harvests. Hospitals, dispensaries, orphanages, chari- table institutions — who will deny that these are the outcome of the ideals for which the Saviour stood, and that the church, more than any other single agency, has been the interpreter of these ideals? Work of the church not completed. — Has the work of the church been completed? Has the ideal of Jesus Christ thoroughly permeated the life and thought of the world? Has the work of human brotherhood and redemption been fully achieved? Has the gap be- THE CHURCH AND ITS WORK 69 tween capital and labor been completely bridged or closed? Are the extremes between poverty and wealth yet too far apart? Has man measured up to the highest degree of his spiritual achievement? Is the world as perfect a place in which to hve and work as it may be made to be? To ask these questions is but to reply in the negative. Win any one deny, however, that the surest and safest way to bring about an affirmative answer to these questions is through application to the life and thought of the world the principles and truths of Jesus Christ? As imperfect as it may be, the church is the best medium which is in existence for the transmission of these truths and principles to the needs of humanity. The work of the church is therefore not yet completed. Accordingly, there is an urgent and an imperial caU to men and women strong of heart, stalwart of spirit, vigorous of intellect, bold of faith to resolve here and now that Jesus Christ shall not have died in vain, and that they dedicate themselves now, through one of the phases of the ministry of his church, to carry on the work so heroically and splendidly begun, that his ideal shall not perish from the earth. CHAPTER V THE CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK The church touches Kfe and human relations at a multitude of different points. It works on a vast com- prehensive scale, and its enterprises are varied and highly complex. Naturally, therefore, thorough organization and well coordinated machinery are imperative. It is the purpose of this chapter to indicate some features of the church's organization for work. Denominational Organizations The Christian Church exists in two broad divisions, namely, Protestant and Catholic. In this country the Protestant Church is divided into denominations number- ing, in all of their subdivisions, about two hundred. Why denominations? — Why denominations — at least, why so many denominations? Why this separa- tion and disagreement on so vital a matter as religion, and especially the Christian religion, based as it is on so simple a foundation as the teachings of Jesus? Why not just one great Christian Church? Why not just one Protestant Church? First of all, we may admit that there are too many denominations. We may say that there are not two hundred different varieties of religion answering to the different denominations. We may also safely conclude that no one (nor few) of the denominations is the repos- itory of ultimate religious truth and that the others 70 CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 71 mistakenly rest on a foundation of error. We may rightly call attention to the fact that upon the great fundamentals of religion, the great religious concepts which make Christianity stand at the head of the world's religions, the churches are essentially agreed. We may likewise call attention to the fact that the points of difference which divide the churches consist, for the most part, of incidentals which lack significance as djTiamic elements in belief and practice. True, many of the present denominations owe their existence to causes which now appear trivial and rel- atively inconsequential. Splits have occurred because of differences in political beliefs, because of a controverted point of theology, because of different views as to ritual, because of petty squabbles of rival leaders, because of conflicting standards concerning proper modes of dress. It is due to such causes as these that we have some seventeen branches of the Methodist Church; seven- teen of the Baptist Church; ten of the Presbyterian Church; twenty of the Lutheran Church, etc. A number of the major denominations also are so similar to other denominations that there seems to be little reason for maintaining separate organizations. In spite of these facts we shall continue to have, and probably should have, certain denominational divisions within the church. This is because people differ fimda- mentally in certain things, because there are deep-seated human types based on lines of social cleavage not easily eradicated. Fundamental lines of cleavage. — There are such lines of cleavage in inharmonious mental types, one group being characterized by predominantly intellectual quali- ties and another by emotional warmth, or by the demand 72 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH for action and expression. Not less important are well- defined social groups. On the one hand the conserva- tism of tradition, wealth, and power, and on the other a radicalism untrammeled by tradition and uninfluenced by wealth and power, and looking, not always wisely, for progress and change. Racial differences also play a part in church preference, and therefore serve to main- tain differentiation. These and other such factors result in a demand for rituahstic and for non-ritualistic churches; for compre- hensive, detailed, and expUcit creeds, and for simple creeds allowing a maximum of personal responsibility and choice; for churches satisfied to serve as a haven for the elect, and churches which are militant instruments for soul-saving. The following table shows the distribution of the major denominational groups in the United States: V. S. CHtJRCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL STATISTICS (From a count made by the United States CensuB Bureau, afi of January 1, 1917) Denouinatios Chubcheg Or^ani- zations Members Min- isters SmjDAT Schools Schools Officers and Teachers Scholars All denominations Adventists (5 bodies) Baptist: North South Colored Other (14 bodies) Brethren (Dunkers): Church of the Brethren (Conserv.) Other (4 bodies) Christian Church Churches of Christ Congregationalists Disciples of Christ 228,007 2,694 8,178 23,692 21,764 6,166 1,004 287 1,274 6,698 6,844 8,266 42,044,374 118,226 1,227,448 2,711,691 3,018,341 279,270 105,649 28,724 117,853 319,211 790,163 1,231,404 191,722 1,463 8,631 15,946 19,423 4,992 3,054 682 1,213 2,607 6,040 6,938 196,276 2,396 8,291 18,438 20,333 1,196 1,288 209 1,076 3,456 5,680 7,762 1,959,918 18,986 112,260 169,733 125,474 8,656 12,726 2,666 11,021 16,303 81,690 85,036 19,961,675 99,225 1,024,125 1,656,324 1,204,328 70,445 112,287 24,789 89,858 168,154 664,102 963,618 CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 73 DraoimMTioii CHTntCHlS zations Members Min- iaters Schools SiwDAi Schools Officers and Teachers Scholars Eastern OrUiodox: Greek Church Russian Church Other (5 bodiee) Evangelical Association Friends: Orthodox Other (3 bodies) German Evangelical Synod Jewish Congre^tions Latter Bay Samts: Church of Jesus Christ Reorganized Church Lutherans: General Synod General Council Synodical Conference £^od for Norwegian United Norwegian Synod of Ohio Synod of Iowa Other (14 bodies) Mennonitea (16 bodies) Methodist: Methodist Episcopal Methodist Episcopal, South . . . Methodist Protestant Other white (5 bodies) African Methodist Episcopal. . . African Methodist Episcopal Zion... Colored Methodist Episcopal. . Other colored (6 bodies) Freebyterians: Presbyterian in IT. S. A I^esbyterian in U. S Tlnited Presbyterian Other (7 bodies) Protestant Episcopal Reformed: Reformed in America Reformed in U. S Other (2 bodies) Roman Catholic United Brethren: United Brethren in Christ United Brethren (Old Consti- tution) United Evangelical All other (81 bodies) 1S9 49 1,637 790 218 1,349 1,897 S65 1,845 2,339 3,617 981 1,399 827 965 1,893 840 29,377 19,122 2,464 2,505 6,454 2,738 2,621 256 3,368 991 1,805 7,426 708 1,731 272 17,621 3,478 403 954 7,850 120,371 99,681 30,288 120,766 94,111 20,603 342,788 359,998 403,391 68,941 370,616 636,108 777,438 112,773 177,463 166,116 130,793 103,958 79,591 3,718,396 2,108,061 186,873 79,334 562,265 268,433 245,749 16,875 1,613,056 357,566 160,726 126,091 1,098,173 144,166 340,671 48,619 16,742,262 348,490 19,130 90,007 647,868 125 164 67 1,061 1,232 50 1,078 719 4,790 1,200 1,614 1,664 2,918 447 698 667 686 938 1,398 18,642 7,498 1,340 2,184 8,175 3,962 3,402 598 9,299 1,820 995 1,488 5,544 756 1,242 214 20,287 1,912 407 610 10,462 18 128 22 1,673 723 115 1,243 700 1,064 568 1,806 2,383 1,583 465 897 717 808 1,621 665 23,542 16,668 2,104 1,073 6,373 2,565 2,643 203 9,713 3,258 1,019 1,463 790 1,712 248 12,761 3,294 381 943 6,812 28 153 44 19,914 7,998 863 14,331 3,682 18,026 6,061 30,656 33,622 10,214 2,817 6,787 5,650 3,546 11,276 8,029 391,922 152,651 20,695 15,038 45,490 19,058 18,890 1,156 145,196 32,264 15,089 11,801 55,241 12,716 28,909 1,772 69,641 41,181 3,782 13,922 47,587 1,123 6,783 1,291 172,129 65,554 6,540 146,081 67,035 162,924 28,222 311,291 306,785 110,098 24,313 44,646 66,867 38,120 96,698 79,621 3,872,200 1,683,129 177,674 111,824 312,922 136,930 167,880 9,119 1,387,938 312,952 156,072 96,683 493,080 122,111 302,200 26,757 1,863,245 402,666 24,219 129,717 390,997 74 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Integrating Forces at Work The church does its work, then through denominations. It is doubtless true, however, that while denominations have organized the work of the church, they have, on the other hand, in a measure, handicapped its work. Denominations have worked separately and independ- ently rather than together. It is now becoming more clearly recognized that the work of the church is one, and that this work may be better accomplished through cooperation and unity of effort. Accordingly, agencies and movements have been and are at work looking, on the one hand, toward unification within the family of similar denominations, and on the other, toward general denominational unity. Steps have already been taken, for example, to unite the Methodist Churches North and South; other denominations have similar movements under way. Prominent among the organizations whose purpose it is to promote denominational unity have been The Evan- gelical Alliance, The National Federation of Churches and Christian Workers, The Federal Council of Churches and the Interchurch World Movement. The Federal Council of the Churches in America is made up of the following: Constituent Bodies Baptist Churches, North. National Baptist Convention.^ Free Baptist Churches. Christian Church. Congregational Churches. Disciples of Christ. Friends. CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 75 Evangelical Synod of North America. Evangelical Association. Lutheran Church, General Synod. Methodist Episcopal Church. Methodist Episcopal Church, South. African Methodist Episcopal Church. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America. Methodist Protestant Church. Moravian Church. Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Presbyterian Church in the United States (South). Primitive Methodist Church. Protestant Episcopal Commissions on Christian Unity and Social Service. Reformed Church in America. Reformed Church in the United States. Reformed Episcopal Church. Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod. Seventh Day Baptist Church. United Brethren Church. United Evangelical Church. United Presbyterian Church. Welsh Presbyterian Church. The scope of the Interchurch Worid Movement is indi- cated by the following organization of the Survey Department: -j^i VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH DIVISIONS BRANCHES SECTIONS t— Africa -China -IndU -^eu Emplra ~Miilay«U>, Slam -Indo-Chlna, OcmMs -^Phllipplna litand* -NiarEart I— E*ani«UitIa -EduciUonal — Medlul -SocUl BRd IiMTuitrUt —Literature -Fhld Occu|»r>ey — Flfld OmdlUBiu -cTaphlc* —Editorial UftuMrrhandUbniy — Cltlaa —Town and Countrr -^*Ml iDdlW — Aluka — Hamll V H Fields J- FOREIGN H Mission Agencies | H CoovdiDQtion 1- D- H Fields H Agencies j - HOME MISSIONS - >- r-CU» — N«» York MitrapolItUI — Towp >nd C«inln» — N«iro AoMTlcan* _Nnr AmM^caiu — Amarkan Irtdian L^Ml(TUitCmipa ^ Coordioation SURVEY DEPARTMENT - >- r— RMMTdiandUbnnr H OntamzaUon Relations -IS.lJldt]f II — StatUtlca M C^u»ri.llUl.tIeas A Dcnomliutlonal anil \ liidep.nUHt» N - AMERICAN EDUCATION - >- ^SUDtUnbftiidNannt '\ Local Church J- "Sai"" - AMERICAN Reliliotu Ediatioil - H Community -i Special Groups -1 Special Fietd. ^ Field Orirantzation 1 DmomlnatlsMl and H Research and lostnictio H-tSSSSi-c^j-ii-. 3 1 - AMERICAN Hospibkud Homes i] F3S£w' i& i3-8 gt02 m 0. ■3"^ 4) ^ 2S CO I 3 -— "*- 1; O 3 g&.s s^ 55 ■So a •a O M "E'iSg can-" CO O OS (M o OflH •C.»."S sst .a otH S S t ri m ,3 IP .2 8 « o m S t- gcoo S.SJx u a .is .a B a 3 o o *< 5« MO II GO O O fJ o >.>< u ^ S o MS 43 o go o.a — c^ >■ o ^1 u : s.sa 8o VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Eg p 2 ■< m X as sa >. •tt s u o •a o a >- ^ fe O w a 2: O .3 'OFQ 32 o E •*-» o 6-a VI < •o o PQ K> m V Q nl u Q __, <4 o of CI td is Si IS 2: W.2 EJ E<; CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 8i g, ^ -a o a.S .a— +3 U P iS •^ o •g.s >- leg I •CiS s o 9 5 f J^ •5 z "01^ r' SCO „ pi l- l> J, s O O nl .« >.a 5 ^1 2 eg E o rt I -2 .iS » *■ d «io O *-t a o ISI fe o la S w 4» 4, S a S-" Z ^ « o -, s S c poo 6 ?i o 3 OS (4 ™ VI ^«2 ill St o*^ o o w 82 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH s„ w o S5 a o 5- •O.SJO ajd p, |.2 (3 g CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 83 Denominational Boards at Work The church, following the example of its Founder, seeks to fulfill its mission by ministering to those about it. The ministry of the church is performed through its pulpits, its schools, its presses, and its benevolent organ- izations and institutions. Accordingly, the church is a preacher, a missionary, an educator, a publisher, a social worker. Planning for varied forms of ministry. — Denomi- national Boards and similar organizations are largely responsible for these forms of ministry with the exception of preaching. The ministry of preaching is the specific work of active rabbi, minister, parson, deacon, rector, elder, curate, or priest, and this work is under the supervision of the denominational governing body as pointed out in Table 2, on page 77. The organization of a few of the representative boards responsible for the other phases of the work of the church will indicate some of the vocations within the church. As representative, the Board of Education and the Sunday School Board of the Methodist Church, the Foreign Missionary Board of the Baptist Church, the Church Periodicals of the Protestant Episcopal Church will be briefly considered. Two Boards of the Methodist Church That education is one of the functions of the church has long been recognized — that education is the chief function of the church is becoming more clearly recog- nized. Accordingly, each denomination, as Table 3 indicates, has its Boards of Education or Educational Commissions as well as its Sunday School Boards. Like other denominations, the educational ministry of 84 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH the Methodist Episcopal Church is carried on through two Boards, the Board of Education and the Board of Sunday Schools. The Board of Education. — The management of the affairs of the Board of Education is vested in thirty-six trustees, elected by the General Conference for a term of twelve years, one haK laymen, at least three bishops, and at least one resident member from each of the Gen- eral Conference districts. The officers of the Board are, president, one or more vice-presidents, a corresponding secretary, and a recording secretary, and other officers, paid or unpaid, as the Board may from time to time determine. The University Senate, an organization within this Board, is made up of one prominent educator from each of the fifteen General Conference Districts with one member at large, each appointed by the General Con- ference. Among its other duties the Board of Educa- tion stands in a supervisory relation to all of the educa- tional institutions, with the exception of the Sunday schools, of the Methodist Church. A classified list of these institutions with the numerical strength of the instructional staff and student enrollment is given in the table which follows (Methodist Year Book, 1920) . Class of Institution No. of Schools Faculty Students Colleges and Universities 44 32 34 20 2,566 938 391 333 38,441 8,007 6,491 6,006 Professional and Graduate Schools .... Secondary Schools Institutions for Negroes Total (less duplications) 103 3,230 51,068 CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 85 In the United States there are more than six hundred such denominational institutions. To be sure, every position in a denominational institution is not necessarily a vocation within the church, nevertheless, there are many presidencies, professorships and instructorships in the church schools which are distinct vocations within the church. The Board of Sunday Schools. — ^The Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church has its headquarters in Chicago. The Discipline of the church provides that this Board shall have "general oversight of all the Sunday school interests of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church." The Board is made up of three Bishops, nine members at large, fifteen district representatives, a corresponding secretary, and editor of Sunday school publications. Officers are as follows: president, first vice-president, second vice-president, recording secre- tary, treasurer, corresponding secretary, editor of Sun- day school publications, German assistant secretary, superintendent of adult work, superintendent of exten- sion, superintendent of finance, superintendent of foreign work, superintendent of institutes, assistant superintend- ents of institutes, superintendent of missionary education, superintendent of teacher training, superintendent of young people's work. Furthermore, under the direction of the Board of Sunday Schools there are one divisional director, thirteen special representatives, nineteen Sun- day school superintendents and missionaries in the home field and twenty-six in the foreign field. Publications under the Board of Sunday Schools. — The publications of the Sunday schools of this denomi- nation include between fifteen and twenty different 86 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH papers and uniform lesson periodicals, a series of graded texts for the departments of the Sunday school as well as texts for Teacher Training Courses and other general courses. In cooperation with other agencies of the Church the Board of Sunday Schools promotes the organization and development of week-day schools for religious instruction. It is estimated that there are under the direction of the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church sixty-one paid positions. What is true of this particular denomination is proportionately true of the Sunday school work in aU other denominations. A Typical Missionary Organization Perhaps the most complex of all denominational Boards are the Mission Boards, Home and Foreign, of the various denominations. The main or central ofl&ces of these Boards are centers of activity. The missionary work of the church, varied and complex, touching, as it does, and relating to all points of the globe, is conducted through specialized departments such as the Depart- ment of Finance, Department of Candidates, Depart- ment of Passports, Department of Publication, Depart- ment of Language, etc. It is estimated that in the employ of a representative mission board, there are, in the central offices alone, sixty-one workers. The organ- ization of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society will illustrate the general type of organization of missionary societies or boards. The Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. — The American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 87 the States of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York for the purpose of diffusing the knowledge of the religion of Jesus Christ by means of naissions through- out the world. Accordingly, this corporation has its by-laws and organization. Its officers are president, first, second and third vice-presidents, recording secre- tary, home secretary, assistant secretary, two foreign secretaries. There are thirty odd members of the Board of Managers in three classes according to the expiration of term of office. There are nine district secretaries, each with office headquarters and equipment, and eight States collecting agents. This Society is operating in eight mission fields as follows: The Burma Mission, the Assam Mission, the South India Mission, the Bangal-Orissa Mission, the China Mission, the Japan Mission, the Congo Mission, the Philippine Mission. In these eight mission fields there are one hundred and twenty seven mission stations. Counting those representing the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, there are more than five hundred missionaries representing this particular society in these fields. And this is only one of the missionary organizations in the Baptist denomination. The Christian Church is distinctly a missionary church, and therefore practi- cally every denomination has its mission boards and missionary societies. Already there are thousands of missionaries representing the church on the home and foreign missionary fields of the church. In addition, the estimates revealed by the preliminary Interchurch Surveys call for more than fifteen thousand new mis- sionaries. 88 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Church Periodicals of the Protestant Episcopal Church The printed page is an important and indispensable religious medium. The church is, therefore, a publisher, and, accordingly, the church must have its presses, editors, business managers, writers, and correspondents. Not to mention books, devotional and theological, or Sunday School periodicals and curriculum material, the churches in the United States publish more than four hundred periodicals, the majority of them issued weekly. Practically each one has its editor, often an assistant editor, business manager, and office force. The church periodicals of the Protestant Episcopal Church will serve as an example of the number and general type of church periodicals. Type Number General Church Papers: Weekly 4 Monthly 4 Diocesan Church Papers 62 Foreign Papers and Magazines 5 Church Periodicals devoted to Church Interests 19 Periodicals of the Church Missions Publishing Company 3 Leading Foreign Church Periodicals 7 (The Living Church Annual, 1919, pages 182, 183.) This bird's-eye view of the church organized for work has indicated some of the types of vocations within the church. Later studies will place definite emphasis upon certain ones of these vocations. All of the vocations within the church are service vocations, for service is the watchword of the church. Its service of ministry is through the magic voice of the pulpit, on the inviting mission fields at home and abroad, in the vast and potential field of education, through the enlightening CHURCH ORGANIZED FOR WORK 89 printed page and in the wide field of social service and uplift. Such a range of service includes every talent for service. Surely, here is range sufficiently wide that you can find your place. "Go ye also into the vineyard," said the Master, "and whatsoever is right I will give you." CHAPTER VI THE MINISTRY OF PREACHING This chapter will discuss the ministry of preaching. This phase of ministry constitutes one of the outstanding vocations within the church. As a profession preaching takes rank abng with the other leading professions. The preacher is more than a preacher. He stands at the helm of his church. He must be a leader. The church was never in more urgent need of wise and far- sighted guidance, of stalwart and able leadership. There is to-day, therefore, a clear and an unmistakable ring in the call to the ministry of preaching. What a Life Work Should Be "The choice of a vocation should be such," writes Dean Brown,^ of the Yale School of Religion, "that the man will be content to have his work dominate all the minor interests of his life. His habits, his associations, his controlling interests, and his supreme purpose in life will be largely molded by his choice of a calling. "A man's life work should become the main expression of his spiritual life. He may utter his soul in worship, in direct religious activity, and in other forms of effort, but the main expression of his spiritual nature should be found in that work which claims six sevenths of his time and strength. "How clearly these demands are met by the choice of 'The CJhnroh School, May, 1920. 90 MINISTRY OF PREACHING 91 the ministry as a vocation! There are splendid rewards and honors to be won to-day in law, in medicine, in the work of education, in commerce, in manufacturing, in engineering. Into all these callings strong and wise men are going in such numbers that no cry of need comes back. "This is not true in the ministry. In every branch of the church and in every State of the Union there is an insistent demand for young men of sound health, good sense, trained intelligence, social sympathy, and genuine character to enter the ministry and furnish the moral leadership the country craves. In this day of disorgan- ization and in the face of the demand for social rebuilding, the pulpit stands up like the man of Macedonia, crying out, 'Come over and help us.' " Why are young men so reluctant in answering this Macedonian cry of the pulpit? Why a hesitancy to enter a profession which has played so conspicuous a part in the upward trend of progress and in the devel- opment of civilization? Perhaps one reason is the finan- cial consideration. Let us, then, consider this reason first. Financial Considerations Let it be clearly admitted at the outset that the min- istry of preaching never has been a highly paid profes- sion. For this fact there are a number of reasons. Among these may be mentioned reasons historical and traditional, the lack of a market value for such ministry, an individual and a personal standard of contribution to ministerial support. On the other hand, let it be observed that there are encouraging signs which clearly indicate a more adequate remuneration for this phase of ministry. 92 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Historical and traditional reasons. — Throughout the past money has not been associated to any con- siderable extent with the ministry of preaching. The Christian Church was launched wilii this injunction to its leaders: "Take with you neither pijrse nor scrip." Poverty and spirituaUty came early in the history of the church to be looked upon as twin companions. The preacher came to be regarded as a man set apart from other men, and hence with material and physical needs seemingly different from the similar needs of other men. Besides, since the preacher was especially the servant of God, God would therefore in a peculiar way care for and provide for him. That God has thus provided and cared for him the minister has often preached and testified, and this testimony became one of the treasured heritages of the church. Again, since the minister gave freely of his service, and since the gospel of salvation which he preached was something which could not be paid for in terms of money, the idea of remunerating adequately such service was slow in developing. Lack of market value. — ^Then there is an additional viewpoint. A market value has not been so definitely placed upon preaching and upon ministerial service as upon commodities and upon other forms of service. Though varying from time to time, a bushel of wheat has nevertheless always had a definite market value. So likewise with a cord of wood or a ton of coal, or any other commodity. The lawyer charges a fee, the phy- sician renders a statement, the merchant and the man- ufacturer and the farmer make a profit. The laborer receives a wage in terms of service rendered. A standardized medium of exchange, however, in regard to moral and spiritual values has not been so MINISTRY OF PREACHING 93 definitely agreed upon. How, for instance, in terms of money would you estimate the value of a sermon? Nor does the minister charge a fee for a pastoral call nor for the rite of baptism or marriage nor any of the other sacred rites of the church. An admission fee is not charged when he preaches. He is supposed to give freely of his service, though he receives, in terms of money at least, not so freely in return. Individual and personal standard. — Throughout the past ministerial support has therefore been largely an individual matter determined by personal interest. Human nature varies, and therefore this interest varies. With a varying interest and an indefinite measure for this interest naturally ministerial support has been irregular, and this irregularity accounts for much of its inadequacy. Then the principle of pay according to value received has likewise operated in bringing about a variance in the financial support accorded the church. To one to whom the church means little, his contribution to the church is accordingly small. Encouraging signs. — ^But a change is coming about. There is a definite and a decided movement looking toward a financial remuneration for the profession of preaching more nearly conunensurate with its impor- tance and its value to society. Careful surveys have been made and facts revealed in terms of graphic charts, comparisons, and illustrations. Through propaganda the public conscience is being aroused. Denominations are adopting minimum salary standards. Ministerial service is being more adequately appraised, evaluated, and appreciated. While a pecu- liar degree of satisfaction is to be derived from the ministry of preaching, this satisfaction, it is being 94 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH increasingly realized, cannot in this modern age take the place of a certain monetary reward. Let financial considerations therefore deter no real man from entering the ministry of preaching. God forbid that any man enter this ministry for financial reasons alone! Be it unmistakably understood there are peculiar compensations and satisfactions and rewards which belong to this profession as to none other, and these should be taken into account. They give to this vocation a unique and unmistakable halo of significance. The modem ministry of preaching guarantees to any worth-while man a comfortable living. In addition it has values which the world cannot give and which it cannot take away. Big Men Demanded Perhaps another reason which is keeping men out of the ministry is the mistaken idea that the ministry is not a man-size vocation, that it does not call for the strongest and ablest men. Let us look further into this point. Testimony of others.^ — "Religion must appeal to the biggest men," says Dr. Gordon, "because religion is fundamental and should not be allowed to rest in incom- petent hands." "The ministry," writes Bishop McDow- ell, "must appeal to men at their best; their choices must be made at the highest and deepest levels of principle and life." Theodore Roosevelt always spoke with conviction and insight. "Small, narrow, one-sided men," he said, "no matter how earnest, cannot supply leadership for moral and religious forces which alone can redeem nations. The strongest are needed — men of marked 'Thwimt. Tho Ministry — ^An Appeal to College Men. The Pilgrim Press. MINISTRY OF PREACHING 95 personality who to tenderness add force and grasp, who show capacity for friendship, and who to a fine character unite the intense moral and spiritual enthusiasm." Mediocre men in the ministry. — ^That there are men in the ministry of preaching who do not measure up to the exalted privilege and responsibility of the ministry is true just as it is true that there are such men in all other professions. Milton recognized this fact years ago, for he pointed out in his Lycidas that there are those who "Creep and intrude and climb into the fold! . . . Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook, or have learnt ought else the least That to the faithful herdsmen's art belongs! . . . The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed." But Milton recognized as well the bigness of men in the ministry. As did his Abdiel, so has many another servant of God stood behind the pulpit at home and abroad, in the city and on the frontier "tinmoved, Unshaken, unseduced, tmterrified. His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal. Nor number, nor example, with him wrought To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind Though single." A more adequate evaluation. — ^To evaluate the ministry of preaching one should consider the Ufe and work of the outstanding men in the Christian ministry and examine the progress of the church imder such man- sized leadership. Astronomers do not study the stars and planets with microscopes. Telescopes are necessary to appreciate the bigness and glory of God's heaven just 96 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH as telescopic men are necessary to reflect the magnitude and range of the work of his kingdom. Call the roU of just a few of these names: Paul, Justin Martyr, Augustine, Hildebrand, Francis, Thomas Aquinas, Wiclif, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Loyola, Fox, Wesley, Whitefield, Bushnell, Schleiermacher, Robertson, Beecher, Brooks, Spurgeon, Newman, Moody, not to mention any of those who are ministering to-day in a profession so sacred and in a calling so high and exalted. In what other single HaU of Fame are such worthies to be found? ApostoKc succession is in order. Elijah's mantle is ready to fall upon Elishas who are ready. Little men cannot worthily succeed big men. Men with selfish thought strides cannot walk in the footsteps of men who have walked with God. The ministry of preaching needs the help of the biggest men in order to supply adequately the fundamental needs of all men. Why bigger men are not in the ministry. — There are men of commanding stature in the ministry to-day. There are reasons why there are not more. The leader of any constituency rarely ever rises above the demand of his constituents. The supply of moral and spiritual pulpit leaders depends upon the demand for moral and spiritual pulpit leadership. Congregations which are easily satisfied make demands which are in turn as easily satisfied. The intellectual and spiritual limitations of a congregation tend to place similar limitations upon the leader of a congregation. Narrow- minded churches cannot long command broad-minded men; conservative churches do not want liberal-minded men. Dead churches cannot support live ministers, and Uve churches will not long tolerate ministers who are dead. MINISTRY OF PREACHING 97 But human limitations need not limit the power of divinity. There is an audience and a hearing and a following for the man of God with a message from God. There is efficiency and virility and vitality in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the sermon is one of the mediums for the transmission of its power. In the hearts of men there is a hunger for the bread of life. For the minister who imderstands this hunger and who can satisfy it there is a place of renown among his fellow men. For the minister who can awaken and appeal to the funda- mental needs of humanity there is a place high in the esteem of humanity; and who wiU gainsay that this place is equally as high, if not higher in the estimation of God? The ministry suffers, to be sure, because of mediocre men in its service. Conversely, it suffers because more big men are not wiUing to give to it their service. The Demand The demand for men in the ministry of preaching was never more acute. This demand in itseh should forever do away with objections and excuses. This demand, coupled with the opportunities and rewards, should sting men with a holy ambition to hold before humanity the flaming torch of Christian truth. Churches are the Hghthouses of our land. There are rocks and shoals and dangerous places ahead. The ship of state is in jeopardy. The lamps in the lighthouses must burn steadily! Churches without ministers. — It is estimated that there are less than two hundred thousand ministers ordained to preach from the two hundred and twenty- eight thousand churches in our land. 98 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH And a large per cent of these are ministering through other channels of service such as the press, offices of administration, secretaryships, chairs in educational institutions, fields of organization and promotion. In the rural sections and in the smaller towns is the shortage especially noticeable. Of the seventeen thou- sand coimtry churches of one denomination the majority are reported as without service every Sunday. An- other denomination has nine tenths of its rural churches served by absentee pastors, and three fourths of the churches have but one service per month. A recent survey revealed the fact that one town of two thousand inhabitants had had only an occasional service in ten years. One village, fifteen years old, of four hundred inhabitants, reports never to have seen a minister until the Interchurch made a survey. Seventeen counties in the Central and Far West are reported without any churches. Twenty-five thousand men, women, and children in a central southeastern State, a survey indi- cates, are without any religious supervision. What is the cause? Where is the remedy? Churches are helpless without ministers and men are helpless with- out God. Out of our one hundred million population the adult church membership of all denominations is esti- mated to be only about forty-three million. Church mem- bership, to be sure, is not the only indication of religious interest. It is, however, far from a wholesome sign that in our land more than one half of our population are nonchurch members. Men are not only needed in the pulpit, men and women are needed in the pew. The quality of men in the former has much to do with the quantity of men and women in the latter. All of the fault is not to be laid at the door of the church or of its MINISTRY OF PREACHING 99 ministers. Much of the remedy, however, lies within the divine power of the church, and this power can be transmitted only through men who are in touch with the Divine. Such men are the leaders in whom our age stands in such imperative need. The need in foreign fields. — ^But the demand for men in the ministry of preaching is not confined alone to our own coimtry. The world is the parish of the church. "Go ye into aU the world and preach my gospel" is the slogan of the church. The world's reHgions total in round numbers 1,000,000,000 adherents. Of these 546,000,000 are Christians, 171,000,000 Protestants. The work of the church is far from complete. The missionary preacher is the ambassador of Jesus Christ. The nature of his message gives him an inter- national passport. God's truth has universal applica- tion. The sermon is a truth-giving medium adapted to all tongues. The preacher's voice is heard round the world. The man of God with a message of God can find an audience everjrwhere and a pulpit an)rwhere. Few professions have a territorial range like the range of ministry of preaching. The need is universal. Sub- sequent chapters will further emphasize this need. Opportunities Opportunities abound in all worth-while professions. Perhaps there are no more in the ministry than in any other profession. There are different opportunities however. Only a few of the many are mentioned here. Appealing to needs. — The profession of preaching offers, on the one hand, an opportunity for an intimate study of human nature. Hand in hand with this is presented the opportunity and necessity of studjdng the loo VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Word of God— the Bible. From these two a third develops, that of adapting to the needs of men the truths of God. To appeal to man's deepest needs in terms of God's provision for that need is a supreme privilege, and such a privilege is offered to better advan- tage in the ministry of preaching than in any other single profession. Growth and development. — ^A developing life is a life in constant touch with the source of life. In any vocation which you enter you ought to keep unbroken this touch. If you enter the ministry, this privilege will be especially yours. Constantly confronted with opportunities "Which challenge all of the best in your past And demand the noblest of life to the last," your personality may become richer with the years, and the value of your counsel and admonition wiU be enhanced. Your service in the ministry, too, will place emphasis upon the fundamental and therefore upon the eternal values of life. Your influence given to eternal values will tend to make your influence progressively valuable to the world. As a minister you will be a giver of life unto Kfe. You will urge men and women to live the highest and best life by living day by day the noblest Ufe. You will, therefore, find the ministry of preaching not merely a lifetime vocation, but a lifemaking voca- tion. The ministry is not, as we have seen, an overcrowded profession. There is just enough competition to stimu- late you to your best and a demand that ought to urge you to your noblest achievement. The highest posi- MINISTRY OF PREACHING loi tions in the church are held by the men of vision and power who have served faithfully in the ranks. In the world at large, in proportion to his strength and the quality of his service, the preacher has a commanding place of influence and respect. The world is in urgent need of moral leadership. We are confronted with problems, national and international, complex problems of a complex social age, industrial problems, personal problems, problems seemingly beyond the solution of human intelligence. The voice of the prophet is in demand. For the one who can rightly interpret the oracle of God there is an unquestioned place of leadership. Your opportunity was never greater. Compensations. — ^There is an abiding satisfaction that goes hand in hand with the consciousness of co- operative service in making the world a better place in which to live. This should be one's compensation in any profession. It may be one's special compensation in the ministry of preaching, for therein you are cooperating with the Master in the most important of all the world's work — the work of human redemption and betterment. To be sure, as in any other professions, there are in the ministry of preaching hardships, privations, sufferings, sacrifices, discouragements, and failures. Work is de- manded, hard and conscientious. "If they have per- secuted me, they will also persecute you," said the Master. On the other hand, he said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." A Crisis America sent two* million weU-equipped men to France to fight and thousands of women to nurse and to I02 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH serve. And why? Because a crisis arose. In the hour of crisis men and women throughout the world's history always have responded. War brought miruster and pri- vate nearer together. The one saw the other in real action. Professional dress and civilian clothes were discarded by both alike. A common enemy and a common cause developed a common purpose. Man's need for religion.— A crisis confronts our nation. Materialism, greed, sel&shness, sin are our common enemies. The moral war is yet on. Through the church the nation is calling for men. The ministry is an opportunity to fight in the open with the big guns of argument and persuasion and eloquence on the one hand and on the other to develop throughout the ranks a subtle sense of spiritual morale. Surely, men will not fail to respond in this, the crisis of the world's moral need! "When one looks out," says Dr. Charles E. Jefferson, "across the North American continent thickly dotted with large and growing cities, sees the streams of human- ity pouring through the streets, notes how the multitude to-day, as of old, is scattered abroad like sheep which have no shepherd, and when one meditates upon the confusion of men's minds, the agitation of men's hearts, and the strenuous, down-pulling forces of modem society; and when he beholds the crying need for clear- eyed, high-minded, stout-hearted prophets of the Lord who are able to interpret to the multitudes the signs of the times and to apply the principles of the gospel of the Son of God to the tangled problems and compli- cated Hfe which modern civilization has created, he cannot help wondering why a larger number of the brainiest and most virile of our college men do not see MINISTRY OF PREACHING 103 the unparalleled greatness of the opportunity and hasten to enter fields which offer amplest scope for the exercise of every talent, for the gratification of every ambition, for the profitable expenditure of every ounce of energy with which the great and generous God has endowed the highly favored of his children." CHAPTER Vn THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Because of its importance and because of its intimate relationship to its other forms of ministry, two studies will be devoted to the educational ministry of the church. This chapter will consider the more modem significance of this ministry. The following chapter will consider the vocations within the church to which this educa- tional ministry so considered is giving rise. An Educational Renaissance As the thirteenth experienced so is the twentieth century experiencing an educational renaissance. A world war concentrated attention upon educational systems throughout the world. Within recent years practically all of the larger nations have turned eyes inward in a careful examination of matters educational. Nations seemingly have concluded that if war was largely the result of one educational system, especially since this one had influenced many others, then these other systems needed a careful looking into. On the other hand, if a system of education could so well pre- pare for war, education, therefore, could equally prepare for results more desirable than war. Scarcely, then, had the war been half waged when England sent an educational commission to the United States. It was the purpose of this commission to look into our system of education if, peradventure, in the light of ours England's might be improved. France 104 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 105 likewise began a careful scrutiny of her system. Even in Russia the various forms of government, seizing the reins, advocated education for the masses. Japan under- took the further perfection of her own highly modernized system of education. From us, as well as from European nations, China has been seeking educational help and guidance. Perhaps our own country never has experi- enced such a wholesale outburst of interest in education. Enlarged federal and State appropriations clearly bespeak this interest. The pending Smith-Towner Bill is additional evidence. The Meaning of this Educational Renaissance The renewed interest in education means, among other things, that through education must be replaced that which war has destroyed. Hungry nations must be fed, shelter and clothing must be provided for the homeless and destitute, and the waste places need to be rebuilded. Accordingly, land yielding fif t3rfold must yield a hundred- fold. The output of mine, forest and stream, without wastage, must be multiplied. Likewise must the product of mill and factory be augmented. Educational effi- ciency along all lines, it is recognized, must bring about these desired results. As another age discovered that necessity is the mother of invention, so is this age real- izing that in an educational home and environment is this child of invention best reared. Education a means of utilizing human resources. — More important than this, this educational renaissance means that manhood must be replaced and that likewise it must be conserved. Professor James called attention to the fact that there are deeper levels of human power yet untapped. Larger deposits of human sympathy io6 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH are waiting to be mined. There are, in human nature, richer veins of emotional values, broader reaches of intellectual vigor, unlimited treasure in terms of loftier heights of idealism, truer types of devotion and loyalty, moral and spiritual experiences of a more profound and rarer import. Education is the shaft, it is being more clearly realized, that reaches deeper into the human heart. The educa- tional process is the process by which the highest values are to be developed. This educational awakening is giving added recognition to the fact that education best understands the combination which unlocks the inner vaults wherein human nature's most valuable treasures are stored. Again, this educational renaissance is reemphasizing the fact that the qualities which make for a democracy are the quahties which must go into the schools of the democracy. At the expense of manhood war has emphasized again the value of childhood. Accordingly, the ideals desired by a nation in its citizens are ideals which, like pillars of cloud by day and pillars of fire by night, must guide the children of a nation through all the stages of their intellectual development. Meaning for Religion and the Church This educational renaissance has its meaning also for reUgion and the church. To such a movement the church cannot be nor is it insensible. In fact, a new reformation is at hand, a reformation which is placing the religious education of the child at the center and core of the church as the Reformation of the thirteenth century placed there the open Bible. For the church, therefore, education has a new function. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 107 The new fimction of education. — ^With the reli- gious education of the child at its center the church is awakening to the fact that its supreme duty and most strategic opportunity are not the care or reclamation of adults but the rehgious education and nurture of children. The conviction is becoming clear that this obHgation stands out above all other claims whatsoever upon the energy of the church, its consecration and its resources, and that the relative lack of vital power and constructive influence of the church can be traced to its past failure or indifference to the religious training of childhood. This new vision promises to carry the church back to the effective use of teaching which prevailed among the early Christians before expository preaching had come to dominate. This newly awakened church sees in education its chief means of evangehsm, both for the young of its own membership and for those less favored peoples of other lands to whom it would bring the gospel. The Value to the Church of this New Function of Education If the ideals which a nation demands of its citizens are first of all to be put into its schools, what are the ideals which the church demands of its members who are citizens as well? How are these ideals to be attained through the schools of the church? The church desires on the part of its members, first of all, a vital religious experience. How can religious education, the new function of education as understood by the church, be instrumental in furthering such an experience? Religious experience depends upon three factors, namely, knowledge, attitudes, and applied skills, attained through the process of slow spiritual growth — io8 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH that is, through education. Let us consider briefly these factors. Religious knowledge. — "Ye shaU know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." If the child is to love God and desire him as Father and Friend, he must come to possess a true, rich, and an appealing concept of God. He must know about God. If the child is to feel drawn to Christ as the revealer of God to men and of man to himself, he must know in rich and fruitful detail what Jesus did and taught when he was among men. In other words, the child must know about Jesus. Again, if the child is to be interested in the Bible and come to look to it as a source of guidance and inspiration^ he must come to know the Bible. Likewise, if he is to beheve that God works through the hves of men and nations toward the consummation of a great plan, he must have brought to him evidences of God at work in these ways. He must learn about the lives of men and the history of nations. If he is to be effectively loyal to the church and its program, he must come to know about the spirit and enterprises of the church. Furthermore, all of these different forms of religious knowledge must come to the child as a normal part of his education. The various rehgious concepts concerned must grow by the slow process of an unfolding experience, just as other concepts must grow. The rehgious truths taught and facts learned must come one by one through the months and years of childhood and youth, line upon line and precept upon precept, so that they may be built firmly into the general body of knowledge as it develops from experience and instruction. If fruitful knowledge comes to the child in this natural and gradual way, it wiU so become a part of the mental MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 109 constitution of its possessor that it cannot be cast aside, but will inevitably function in shaping purpose and action. But if the acquisition of rehgious knowledge is passed over until the most favorable stage of learning is passed, and until the general body of information and knowledge about the world is well formed, then whatever religious truths are gathered and whatever religious con- cepts are finally developed will be a thing apart from everyday experience and therefore fail to become a true functioning part of conduct and character. New reh- gious concepts can no more be grafted successfully on a mature body of general knowledge than a fresh shoot can be grafted on an old tree. Religious attitudes. — Knowledge alone, however, even of the most vital reUgious truths, does not constitute rehgion. It is possible to know much about religion without becoming rehgious. One may have a knowledge of the Ten Commandments and yet not be obedient to the precepts therein contained. One may know the general principles laid down in the Sermon on the Mount without having his life controlled and governed by these principles. To knowledge, therefore, must be added rehgious attitudes, interests, ideals, loyalties, appreciations and emotions, vohtions, and the expanding consciousness of God in the Kfe. These values come not in a day. It is as impossible to take a person who has grown to matu- rity unresponsive to spiritual values, and then some day, by a sudden act of reconstruction, create in him a fully developed religious nature as it is to take a person who has grown to maturity ignorant of music or literature and then some day make him musical or Uterary by having him Usten to an oratorio or read a literary no VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH masterpiece. Only that which grows up with one ulti- mately becomes a part of his inner constitution and a true dynamic in his life. It must be imderstood, however, that this is not an attempt to substitute mere growth for a divine influence acting upon the life. It is, rather, to urge that the grace of God be given free access to the heart all the way from the beginning. The ideal is to provide a way which will prevent the Ufe from ever breaking connection with the Divine rather than to require the Divine Power to reclaim a soul that should never have been allowed to go astray. Religious education, by supplying the young Hfe through its formative period with religious direction and stimulus, builds its program on conservation rather than reclamation. Parallel with growth in the child's knowledge, then, his interests are taking root, his standards are being determined, his ideals are forming, his appreciations are developing, his loyalties are being grounded. These processes inevitably go on because life itself is a growth and a development. The question of paramount concern for the church, then, is whether through guidance — that is, through religious education — it shall be able to say what attitudes shall arise and what motives shall come to rule. Long ago was it pointed out that as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. As one looks upon life so does one come to appreciate and value life and thus make his best contribution thereto. Carrying religious attitudes over into life. — Even reHgious knowledge and religious attitudes do not con- stitute rehgion. Shakespeare reminded us that if to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches and poor men's cottages princes' MINISTRY OF EDUCATION iii palaces. Not until the knowledge and the attitudes have found expression in the complete range of one's decisions, acts, and habits is the cycle complete and the product religion. Hence, again, the value and necessity of religious education — of keeping constantly before childhood and youth the pillar of cloud aflame with divine truth and significance. It alone leads surely into a promised land of well-formed religious habits, for Hfe is a great and unbroken unity. We do most naturally and effectively what we have grown accustomed to do. We easily and of necessity fall into routine. Habit is the pilot at the wheel of the most of our actions. To ground childhood and youth in right religious habits is, therefore, to go far toward insuring worthy character and achievement. The person who has con- tinuously through his earher years been led to think and act in tferms of Christian standards will hardly lay these standards aside in later years. "Train up a child in the way that he should go : and when he is old, he will not depart from it," said the wise man in the book of the Proverbs. One who has formed the habit in childhood of naturally and inevitably turning to God for help, strength, or comfort will not fail to seek this source of help as he comes in conflict with the demands of mature experience. To give to its members, then, a vital rehgious experi- ence the church must give to its children that which makes for religious experience. That which makes for religious experience is, as we have seen, knowledge — knowledge of God and of his Son Jesus Christ; knowledge of the Bible, knowledge of hfe and of nature — all knowl- edge of worth-while value. Religion and the religious experience rests down upon knowledge. It is not a mere ri2 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH matter of sentiment or emotion quixotic and evanescent. Knowledge is the trellis over which religion climbs and blossoms into fragrance and beauty. To knowledge must be added right attitudes — right attitudes toward God and his Son, toward the Bible, toward life and the reality of life as a divine gift. Such attitudes fimctioning in life give value to life and shape conduct in hfe. These ends are to be obtained through religious education, and therefore through religious edu- cation the church is contributing to its own upbuilding and to the sure and safe building of democracy. No democracy is safe imless it rests down upon religion and religious values. Educational Responsibilities of the Cecurch The educational renaissance, discussed in the first part of this chapter, with its new meaning for the church and religion, places a heavy responsibihty upon the church as a teacher of religion. This responsibility is the heavier because of three facts : first, the public schools cannot directly teach religion; second, the home is relinquishing its function as a teacher of religion; third, the Sunday school has its Umitations. Let us look briefly into these three considerations. Public schools not teachers of religion — Though ethical instruction of a high order is given in the public schools, it is nevertheless a well-recognized fact that religion as a regular curriculum study is not being taught in the public schools. In fact, as a whole, the public schools are scarcely teaching reHgion at all. Certain conditions inherent in our social and national life do not make the teaching of religion desirable in the public school. The separation of church and state is MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 113 complete. Accordingly, in many States statute limi- tations prohibit religious instruction in these schools. In reality, therefore, it is not the function of the public schools to teach religion. Nevertheless, in many of the schools the Bible is read. Textbooks also include selections from the Bible. Thou- sands of conscientious and spiritually minded teachers have exercised consciously and unconsciously a whole- some religious influence and they will continue so to do. In the matter of religious instruction the public school will undoubtedly cooperate, as in many cities it is already cooperating, as the next chapter will point out. It is, however, not to be expected that the public school will assume the needed responsibility in religious traiiung. The church must take the lead. Under a wise and an intelligent leadership the moral public sentiment of our land is ready to support the church in the further exten- sion of religious instruction. The home relinquishing its teaching function. — The home, as a rule, is not teaching religion as effectively as it did earlier in our history. In fact, religious instruction has disappeared entirely from many of our homes. Not so often to-day is the scene thus pictured by Burns in his "Cotter's Saturday Night" enacted in our homes: The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face They round the ingle form a circle wide; The sire turns o'er with patriarchal grace The big ha'-Bible, ance his father's pride. The priestlike father reads the sacred page — How Abram was the friend of God on high. 114 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Perhaps the Christian volume is his theme — How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed: How He, who bore in heav'n the second name, Had not on earth whereon to lay his head. Then kneeling down to heaven's Eternal King, The saint, the father and the husband prays. From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs That makes her loved at home, revered abroad. With changing conditions the home has changed. Social, industrial, and economic factors have entered in to modify its former status. In tenements and apart- ments scores of families live under one roof. Individual home life and identity thereby suffer. Business de- mands, social interests, cafeterias and restaurants, outside activities and amusements — these are distracting interest away from the home. Then the type of Sunday observance formerly main- tained in the home is undergoing a change. In bringing this about both automobile and Sunday newspaper have had a share. Other agencies too are assuming home obligations. Especially is instruction, both secular and religious, being turned over to the schools. Though the home will and must cooperate, leadership is, however, not to be looked for from this source. Limitations of the Sunday school. — ^The Sunday school is one of the leading agencies for religious instruc- tion. Through its instruction to thousands a knowledge of the Bible has been given. Equally as many has the Sunday school brought under the contagious influence of some magnetic personality and the impact of this per- sonal contact has been, in many instances, of incalculable MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 115 character-making value. The Sunday school also has been not only the recruiting oflSce of the church but its proving ground as well. The Sunday school has been, as it were, a stream from the mountain pouring into the larger stream its fresh, pure, and sparkling water. Lessons in devotion the Sunday school has instilled. Training in systematic giving it has encouraged. A knowledge of missionary lands and an appreciation of missionary needs it has furnished. Strong effective les- sons in temperance it has presented. It is not so much a question of how much the Sunday school has accomplished or how well. The question is, rather, in order best to play its conspicuous part in the modern educational ministry of the church, how much more can and must the Simday school accompUsh? How much better can it furnish fruitful religious knowl- edge of the highest and best type? How much more effectively can it estabhsh religious attitudes, deepen loyalty to the church, inspire a sense of God-consciousness and an unbroken communion with the Divine? How can the Sunday school make its instruction carry over into life, producing in the life of its boys and girls a better type of conduct and a larger outlook upon life? Evaluated in terms of modern educational standards the Sunday school is not measuring up to the degree of efficiency which the urgent needs of the hour and of the future demand. Meeting only once a week, with less than an hour given to actual instruction, the Sunday schools suffer in comparison with the regular, frequent and drilled instruction of the public schools. And yet is religion any the less valuable as a subject of instruction? Did we not conclude earlier in our study that if religion is to play a part in our national and democratic life — ii6 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH and it must— religion must be instilled into the heart and life of our childhood and youth? Does one hour a week give sufficient time for instruction so vital? Again — and this is not said in the spirit of criticism — all honor to the two milUon Sunday school teachers of our land! They have rendered a faithful and noble service. Many of them, however, are poorly prepared. Instruction on their part is entirely voluntary. Like- wise is attendance on the part of students voluntary. Nor is instruction adequately supervised. The public school has one supervisor to every eighty-two teachers. The Sunday school has one supervisor to every two thousand seven hundred teachers. Attendance on the part of the twenty million Sunday school pupils and students averages about sixty per cent of the total enrollment. Furthermore, the Sunday school is not as far-reaching (n its influence as the stanch believers in a safe democracy desire. It is estimated that there are twenty-six miUion Protestant children and youth in the United States under twenty-five years of age who are not enrolled in any Sunday school or other institution for religious training. Only recently has a better tj^e of lesson material been introduced into the Sunday school, and even then only to a limited extent. The Sunday school as it is cannot solve the problem of rehgious education. Meeting its Educational Responsibility In view of the new responsibilities which an educa- tional renaissance has imposed upon the church, and in view of the considerations which we have just ob- served, how is the church to meet its educational respon- sibility? MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 117 As nations have endeavored to improve their educa- tional systems so is the church endeavoring to improve its educational system. This improvement must mean a thoroughgoing program of religious education. This means in turn a better t3T5e of church school with more adequately trained teachers and a better adapted curriculum. It means an extension of religious instruc- tion into the week days, and even throughout the summer months. It means a type of preaching adapted to the needs and understanding of children and youth. In other words, the church can measure up to its educa- tional responsibility only in proportion as it recognizes that education is its chief function as relates to its youth. How can you best help the church meet its educational responsibihty? Perhaps through one of the vocations to which its educational ministry gives rise. These our next study will consider. CHAPTER VIII THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (cONTINtrED) The modern educational ministry of the church, as the preceding chapter has indicated, occasions a com- paratively new vocation — religious education. To con- sider this vocation is the object of this study. Religioits Education as a Vocation Religious education is the rehgious nurture and training of childhood and youth. Surely, such training is as important and as essential as any other form of training. Why does religious education not make the universal appeal, then, which the general field of education makes? One reason is the fact that religious education has not been taken as seriously as general education. It has not been a paid profession. Religious education has been an avocation rather than a vocation. Service in this field has been occasional rather than professional. Religious education has largely been intrusted to the Sunday school, and the Sunday school, as we have seen, is a voluntary institution with voluntary teaching service and volimtary attendance. Another reason Hes in the fact that religion has not been conceived of as a subject which could and should be taught just as any other subject is taught. The idea has been prevalent that religious experience comes through channels other than those of instruction and ii8 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 119 knowledge. Religion has been conceived of as a dessert rather than as a vital part of the daily meal, as a matter for Sunday rather than something to be taken into every hour and every day of the week, as a preparation for a future life rather than as a means which helps one live at his best in this life. A new field of service. — But these ideas are chang- ing. Religious education is becoming a distinct vocation. The church is awake to its responsibility, as the previous chapter has indicated. The public conscience is aroused. Religion, it is realizefl, is not a leaven that is to work itself unaided into the Kves of our children and youth. It is, rather, a leaven that is to be kneaded through a process of education into the heart and life of every boy and girl until the whole lump of human personality is permeated with those religious values which give to life its highest significance and meaning. "In the United States and Canada," writes Dr. Richardson in his pamphlet Religious Education as a Vocation,^ "a major emphasis is being placed upon religious and moral education. This widespread and typically democratic movement is creating an imperative demand for a new vocation. Religious education is rapidly becoming recognized as a distinct calling and lifework. The movement is in great need of the serv- ices which only thoroughly trained leaders can give. To such leaders it guarantees adequate financial support and unlimited opportunities for service." Religious education presents wide fields of service. Two of these will be considered: directors of religious education and professorships in colleges and universities. A director of religious education may serve in a local 'Occasional Papers No. i. Northwestern TTniversit/. I20 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH church or in the community. Let us consider these types of service first. Director of Religious Education in a Church What are the duties of such a director? What type of director is in demand? What are his opportunities for service? Duties of a direetor. — Can you conceive of a large successful industry or business without a managing head? Such a manager has a general oversight over the entire plant or business. He is in close touch with every department and with the working details thereof he is thoroughly familiar. Under his direction, like clock- work, the entire plant operates or the business is carried on with a maximum degree of efficiency. To be sure, a church is not an industry or a business concern. It is, nevertheless, a complex organism, made up of various departments each with its own organiza- tion and machinery. The church has its Simday school made up of seven or eight departments; young people's societies like Leagues, circles, guilds, unions, and many others; Home and Foreign Missionary Societies for children and adults. There are also probationers classes, gymnasiimi classes, clubs, Scouts, and other forms of activity. All of these are not primarily educa- tional in their function. All together, however, they constitute the educational forces of the church, each one, supposedly, at least, contributing something toward the social and expressional, and therefore the educational, ministry of the church. Like the industry, doubtless if organized, correlated, and unified, the educational work of the church could be more efficiently accomplished. As in an industry so in MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 121 the church it would be of advantage to obviate over- lappings, to avoid dupHcation of effort, to redirect tendencies toward cross purposes, to develop a maximum of efficiency. Or, to seek another analogy, what public school or system of schools would undertake to operate without a superintendent whose time and thought is to be given completely to the task and whose professional training fits him for his position of responsibility? In similar way, the church school must have professional oversight and direction. Why not the task of pastor or superintendent? — Perhaps you ask if it is not the task of either the pastor or the church school superintendent so to direct the educational forces of the church. A natural question this is. It deserves a careful answer. Such a task requires the services of a trained speciahst. Such training neither the average minister nor the average superintendent has had. Besides, as head of the local church, the demands upon the time and thought and energy of the minister are urgent and insistent. Preaching, with the necessary preparation therefor, performing the sacred rites of the church which only one ordained for that purpose can perform, ministering to the varying needs of his congregation through visi- tation, counsel, and advice — these are a few of the many demands upon his time. The superintendent of the church school is generally a man of business and naturally to his business he gives the greater part of his time and thought. Usually his training, as might be expected, has not been along educational Hues. This does not mean to say, however, nor does it say that there are not many able and well- prepared men who are directing efficiently the affairs of 122 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH the church school. It means to say, rather, that both pastor and superintendent, in so important and so vital a matter as the educational ministry of the church, need help; they may even need expert guidance. It is im- perative, at least, that both shall have the advice and cooperation of one who is well trained in educational theory and practice. A director of religous education should be the right-hand ally of pastor and superin- tendent, the expert person upon whose counsel and leadership in education the whole church depends. Churches are employing executive secretaries, business managers, and office assistants, and this is well. Choirs are admirably directed and trained, and to this no one will object, for music is an essential part of worship. Childhood and youth, however, are the golden assets of the church, the rainbow promise of the future, the shapers and makers of a nation's democracy. The Church of God must be made and can only be made up of the children of God. The primary function of the church is, therefore, the religious education and training of its children. The one who can help the church in the realization of this function deserves a high place in the ranks and the hfe of the church, and it is here that the opportunity of the director of religious education presents itself big with challenge. The principles of reUgious education outlined in the preceding chapter are prin- ciples which in their thoroughgoing application give a commanding place in the church to the one who can apply them. Not an easy task. — The work of such a director is not an easy one. Traditions will need to be overcome. Strong opposition will be met with. Pioneer work will need to be done, educational traUs blazed, leadership MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 123 assumed. Accordingly, such a director must be famil- iar with educational methods. A knowledge of the church's fundamental textbook, the Bible, is prerequisite. Likewise is familiarity with curriculum material an essential, and hand and hand with this is required a knowledge of the needs of childhood and youth that curriculum material may be adapted accordingly. A developing vocation. — It will perhaps be some time before the church will take as seriously its educational ministry as it does its preaching and other forms of ministry. A definite beginning is, however, being made. The worth and value of a director of religious education already has been recognized. Churches are calling for directors as rapidly as directors are becoming available. Universities and theological schools are offering courses for the training of directors. One of the departments of the ReUgious Education Association is maintained for and by those persons whose vocation is that of rehgious education. This department has its office in Chicago and its regular ofl&cers. Its membership includes the names of men and women representing the majority of the States in the Union. "The director of rehgious education," writes Dr. Richardson,^ "readily receives the recognition which his personahty deserves. His profession is not a social handicap. . . . Siace the bona fide calls for professionally trained religious educators are far in excess of those who are available, no one need hesitate to make serious prep- aration for fear that positions will not be open or that permanently embarrassing conditions will have to be faced. . . . The call for professionally trained religious educators is a call to take care of a growing concern. >0p. oit. 124 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Adequate financial, institutional, and moral resources are becoming available. Immediate results can be achieved." Here is a vocation then which makes its appeal and issues its call to men and women alike. Education in any of its nobler forms is a time-honored profession outranked by none other. Religious education is destined to take its place as one of the very noblest forms of education. Where can you find a vocation more worthy of your best talent or more in need of your trained service? There is a future for the religious educator and a better and brighter future for our State and nation through his service. Director of Religious Education in a Community Not only in the church is there a demand for directors of reUgious education, there is a similar increasing demand for such leadership in many communities. Religious potentialities. — In every community there are scores of agencies and influences which make for moral and civic righteousness. The best public senti- ment stands for religious values. Business recognizes the value of religion alive and active in a community. Most parents desire for their children a religious atmos- phere. In every community there are influential and representative citizens who, under wise and intelligent leadership, are ready to give substantial backing and support, moral and financial, to a thoroughgoing move- ment which looks toward the realization of a deeper community religious consciousness. Here is not only an opportunity but a definite chal- lenge to the church to extend the range of its educational ministry. There is a pressing demand for directors of MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 125 religious education who can correlate and coordinate the religious potentialities of a community. Such direc- tors are successfully at work in cities, to mention only a few, like Maiden, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; and Evanston, Illinois, and in communities in which, among others, Stoneham, Massachusetts, and East Chicago, Indiana, constitute centers. Community interest in rehgious education is manifest- ing itself in three especial phases of activity: first, com- munity training schools; second, week-day religious in- struction, and third, in the further extension of daily vacation Bible schools. Let us consider these briefly. Community Training Schools.— The church long ago has recognized the need of better-trained teachers. Accordingly, practically every denomination maintains its Teacher Training Departments and many local churches provide teacher training courses. The Inter- national Sunday School Association also has maintained and encourages such courses. With the stress, however, which is being placed upon rehgious education there is a more insistent demand for better-trained teachers in the church schools. It is recognized too that a community by cooperating can provide a better training school than can any one church or denomination in that particular community. Hence within recent years Community Training Schools have come into being. These schools are schools for the training of teachers of religion and social workers. They are maintained for the community and by the community. Not sup- ported by any one denomination, they are free to work in the interest of all denominations. Not controlled by any one church, they prepare teachers for all church 126 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH schools alike. These schools are under the direction of a council or committee of religious education made up of representative men and women of the community both lay and clerical. For the courses which are offered, for which credit is given, the best educational talent is employed. These courses are generally grouped in three departments as follows: Bibhcal, Departmental, and Professional. Courses actually offered in a rep- resentative school of this kind will be typical. These courses are as follows: Biblical: The Life of Christ; Old Testament History, Prophets and their Message; The ApostoUc Age. Departmental: Beginners (Kindergarten) ; Primary Meth- ods; The Junior Child and His World; Intermediate- Senior; Young People. Professional: Organization and Supervision of the Church School; Method in Teaching Religion; Childhood Religion; Religious Education of Adolescents; Psy- chology and the Daily Life; Standards of Social Service. Such schools not only bespeak a renewed interest in religious education; they bespeak as well a more thor- oughly trained corps of teachers for the church schools in the community. To estabUsh and build up such schools is one of the big, inviting tasks of a director of religious education in a community. Cities and com- munities are looking for and they are ready to pay trained men who can come into a community and put in operation such schools. Religious education lacks not for a ready field of service; it lacks for those who are ready to serve. Week-day instruction. — ^To extend religious in- struction into week days is also a part of the complete MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 127 program of religious education. The short time on Sunday given to religious instruction is not commensu- rate with its importance. A recent survey pointed out that the average Protestant child has only twenty-four hours of time provided annually for religious instruction. A matter so vital as religion demands instruction not only on one day in the week but throughout the week. Religion is not like a Svmday garment to be worn only on that particular day and on special occasions. Re- Hgion is a fundamental everyday matter. It must be made an integral part of our inner selves, an inseparable quality which permeates our entire being and which can- not be put on and off like a garment. Adequate fruitful religious knowledge, right attitudes and applied skills discussed in the preceding chapter caimot come through Sunday instruction alone. Rapid headway, therefore, is being made in inaugu- rating programs of week-day instruction. In some communities such instruction is given in the various churches at hours convenient for the boys and girls of the public schools. In other communities the public school buildings are being used. The Gary, Indiana, week-day schools, which have been established for a number of years, use buildings owned or controlled by the organi- zation carrying on the instruction. In Van Wert, Ohio, public school buildings are being used in part. In Hobart, Indiana, where one school is maintained, the Methodist church is used as the school building. Indi- ana Harbor, Indiana, maintains two schools, one in the Community House owned by the Baptist Church, and the other in the Methodist church. The Board of Religious Education in Evanston, lUinois, after making a survey of the situation, deemed it best, for the present 128 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH at least, to use public school buildings, and this is being done in all cases. The Protestant churches of New York are confronted with the problem of caring for more than two hundred thousand children released to them for week-day religious instruction. Dr. John E. Stout, in discussing "Week-day Religious Instruction" in Occasional Papers, Number Three, issued by Northwestern University, writes: "The out- look for a more effective program of religious instruction is indeed encouraging. The churches are becoming awakened to the importance of the task, and fortunately they are not alone in this awakening. Public school officials and teachers, and other citizens who are viewing the matter primarily from the standpoint of education in general, are coming to realize that the absence of the distinctive religious element in the public schools makes it imperative that this defect in our educational system be in some way corrected. Some agencies other than the public schools will have to be relied upon to do this. Naturally, the responsibility rests heavily upon the church at large. ... It is the conviction of this writer that community week-day schools of religious instruction constitute one of the most important means of attaining this objective. These schools, where established, are securing results, in most cases, far beyond the expecta- tions of those responsible for their organization and maintenance. The response of both parents and chil- dren to the opportunities provided, the cooperation of the churches, the public schools, and the people in general is most encouraging." If you wish to enter a field of service big with oppor- tunity and large with significance, enter the field of reli- gious education. Some one must be prepared to inau- MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 129 gurate programs of religious education. Get ready. Communities are looking for you. They need you. Daily vacation Bible school.— Why should religious instruction take a vacation! It gets enough as it is. Forces that make for religion cannot afford to rest — there is too much competition. Accordingly, for a number of years, daily vacation Bible schools have been established. Something for the growth of the movement in the years preceding the war is indicated as follows : YEAR SCHOOLS ATTENDANCE TEACHERS CITIES 1907 19 5,083 70 4 1908 29 7,8S3 112 6 1909 SI IS. 036 209 II I9I0 82 19-S78 336 IS I9II 102 26,886 S09 16 I9I2 160 39.306 707 24 I9I3 2IS So,S28 1,003 34 I9I4 297 64.S3S 1,940 67 The present outlook is for a great forward novement in this line of educational endeavor. Such schools are now included in any complete community program of religious education. Who will say that with an improved church school meeting regularly on Sundays, with high grade commu- nity training schools equipping and preparing church school teachers, with directors of religious education in church and community, with a type of aggressive week- day religious instruction supplementing the public school curriculum, and with daily vacation Bible schools at work throughout the summer months, the future of our country does not loom up the brighter? What more inviting task, what larger opportunity could you I30 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH desire than to have a part in perfecting such a program of rehgious education? Where can you find a vocation with larger opportunities for genuinely constructive upbuilding work and a quaUty of service more far reach- ing and significant in its extent? But how shall one prepare for such service? This brings us to a consideration of another feature of the program of religious education and to another type of vocation within the educational ministry of the church — the part which the college and the university are to play in this program and the instructorships and professor- ships in these institutions. Instructorships and Professorships Every worth-while vocation necessarily demands preparation. The legal profession presupposes the law school; medicine, the medical school; religious education, schools of rehgious education. The educational minis- try of the church must provide training for those who are to minister through this channel of service. The program of rehgious education is therefore not complete without the instructor and the professor, the college and the university. The American college and the American university are especially the product of the church. Harvard, Wilham and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, in fact, with the exception of nine, all of the colleges of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were founded and conducted as denominational institutions. It may be stated too that pubhc school education in the United States owes its origin largely to the influence of the church. The early college trained for the ministry of the church. The ministers of the church were in turn MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 131 leading factors and in many instances actual teachers in the early schools. As we have seen in a former chapter, however, the trend of education has been toward the secular. This has been true even in the denominational institutions. With the new emphasis upon religion a new tendency is, however, developing. State institutions are offering courses in biblical Hterature and interpretation, as for example, the University of Michigan, the University of Peimsylvania, and the University of Virginia. State institutions, as well as institutions on foundations other than State or denominational, are establishing depart- ments of religious education. Vocations within the professional field of religious instruction are therefore taking equal rank with professorships in other fields of education. The church and the church schools, however, must assume the leadership in preparing its educational leaders. Accordingly, in the colleges and universities of the church, departments of religious education are rapidly being established — as rapidly as trained men and women can be found to fill the necessary chairs of instruction. Boston^ University, The Yale Divinity School, Columbia University in connection with Union Theological Seminary, Northwestern University and George Peabody College for Teachers are among the leading institutions offering special courses of training. The Department of Religious Education in North- western University may be cited as typical of other departments of religious education. This department offers to students who are candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree an undergraduate major or minor in reKgious education. This department also 132 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH provides graduate courses, seminars, research work, and literary projects which make it possible for candi- dates for advanced degrees to do major or minor work in this field. Furthermore, this department maintains a system of laboratories in which students are given opportunities of active participation in the organization and administration of substantial programs of religious education in several distinct types of communities. These programs include training schools for religious and social workers, week-day religious instruction, daily vaca- tion schools, various Americanization projects in indus- trial centers and among foreign-speaking groups. Courses offered in such a department are in part as follows: principles of religious education; the psycholo- gical basis of conduct; the history of rehgious education; method in teaching reUgion; the curriculum of moral and religious education; the religious education of children; the religious education of adolescents; prin- ciples and methods of recreational leadership; the psy- chology of the rehgious life; problems of religious psy- chology; content and organization of lesson material; the organization of a national program of rehgious education; the organization and administration of reli- gious education; advanced principles of rehgious educa- tion; seminar for writers in the field of rehgious educa- tion; seminar for directors of rehgious education; seminar for instructors in rehgious education. Religious education not only offers an inviting field for service, it ofiers preparation for service in this field as well. Rehgious education is not a panacea; it offers to the church, however, a medium through which it can more adequately discharge its educational responsibility. Teaching is one of the noblest of professions — to teach MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 133 as the Master Teacher taught and for the same purposes for which he taught is the highest form of teaching. So to teach is the object of the educational ministry of the church. "Religious education is a call," writes Dr. Richardson,^ "to share with fathers and mothers the spiritual respon- sibiKties of parenthood. It is a call to guide the church in the most important phase of its divine task. It is a call to cooperate with public school leaders in building the most complete and morally trustworthy system of education the world has yet known. It is a call to help arouse public sentiment stiU further, both within and without the church, to the challenge of the coming gener- ation. It is a caU to patriotic service at a critical moment in the nation's history. It is a call to present with pedagogical skill, prophetic insight, and apostoKc fervor the truths contained in the Holy Scriptures. It is a call to share the work of the Holy Spirit in fostering intimate companionship between both children and adults and the Divine Saviour of Mankind." To such a call should workers fail to respond? 'Occasional Papers No. i. Northwestern University. CHAPTER rX THE MEDICAL MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people." The Head of the church set the standard for the work of the church. The ministry of teaching and of preaching have been considered. This chapter will discuss the ministry of healing, or the church at work through its medical ministry. Medicine as a profession makes a distinct appeal to men and women alike. It is a service profession of a high and distinguished order. The physician is a friend to humanity, the surgeon a benefactor, the nurse an angel of mercy. The Christian ideal includes soundness of body. — The Christian ideal stands for happiness, health, vigor, robustness of body, mind, and spirit. Disease is the enemy of mankind, physically, morally, spiritually. Disease retards progress, sickness thwarts human en- deavor, pain and suffering add to the misery of the world. On the other hand, medical science is a liberator, a shackle-breaker. It brings hope and cheer and happiness to the race. It not only heals and cures- more important still, it prevents and forestalls. The church is the promoter of the Christian ideal. Medical science is therefore an ally of the church. The ministry of the church must include the physical as well 134 THE MEDICAL MINISTRY 135 as the moral and spiritual needs of man. The Master not only said, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee," he also said, "Take up thy bed and walk." Medical Ministry op the Church at Home In the United States there are more than six thousand hospitals, and more than one hundred and fifty thousand physicians and surgeons — one physician to every five hundred of population. Because our own land is so well supplied with the benefits of medical science and skill, the medical ministry of the church concerns itself largely with those lands not so blessed with the gifts of medicine and healing, and whose people do not know so well the advantages of public sanitation and the virtues of per- sonal hygiene. Hospitals supported by the church. — ^This does not mean, however, that there is not need for the medical ministry of the church in our own land. The hospitals in the United States supported by Protestant churches number four hundred. These are not entirely charitable institutions. The charitable motive, however, frequent- ly and often makes possible medical treatment for those who otherwise could not be so treated. In one denomi- national hospital, for example, in a recent year, 5,340 patients were cared for, including 1,000 children. Dur- ing this year 800 children were born in this hospital. Free services amounted to over $14,000. Another denominational hospital is purely charitable. Another did $15,000 of free work. StUl another $33,705 of such work without pay. In the crowded and congested districts of a number of our larger cities many churches maintain dispensaries. 136 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH These are rendering a service of far-reaching value. The church perhaps has no medium through which it can give more practical expression of the principles of Christianity than through the various avenues of its medical ministry, and in no phase of its activities are trained workers more needed than here. Then, too, the church in our land has an important mission in pointing steadily and constantly to the ideal of a strong and vigorous mind in a sound and healthful body. The physical examination prescribed for our soldiers in training for the recent war revealed astounding and disturbing results. A crusade resulted — a crusade against venereal disease, that invisible enemy which is taking so large a toll of the manhood and the womanhood of our land. This crusade must be continued. Therein the church must continue to take a prominent part. It must enhst the advice and cooperation of its leading physicians, of parents and teachers, of every one. The answer to the question of the psalmist, "Who shall ascend into the hiU of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" is forever the same answer: "He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, or sworn deceitfully." An oxmce of Chris- tian preventive lodged in the moral nature of youth is worth all the pounds of cure that may be applied to his physical being. This chapter does not, then, by any means underesti- mate the need and the value of the medical ministry of the church in our own home lands. Regardless of where they may serve, men and women cannot be too strongly urged to prepare for this important phase of ministry. The Christian physician or nurse has a rare opportunity anywhere and everywhere. THE MEDICAL MINISTRY 137 Medical Ministry of the Church in Foreign Fields Obviously, aU of the foreign fields of service cannot be treated in this discussion, nor is this necessary. The service spirit asks not where but how it can best serve. The needs in a few of the foreign fields will represent the needs of all. Examples of the actual work of medical missionaries meeting and ministering to these needs should prove an inspiration to men and women to con- tinue such ministering. Africa. — ^When Dr. Catherine L. Mabie, of Illinois, applied for appointment to the Woman's American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, she was asked if she would be willing to go where her services appeared to be most needed. She wrote frankly in reply: "With the Master's clear call to Africa ringing in my soul, I cannot, dare not, go elsewhere." To Africa and into the Congo she went in 1898, and there she is laboring for her Master. Her biographer thus speaks of her service:^ "Dr. Mabie has done her part in driving out smallpox, which was once a dreadful scourge everywrhere in the Congo land. She has done her part in teaching the natives that the sleeping sickness, which carries off millions of people in Central Africa, may be avoided if one escapes the bite of the tsetse fly. She has done her part too in teaching the people how to combat tubercu- losis, and, with a woman's heart, she has done a great deal to relieve persistent skin disorders in little children. "But," continues her biographer, "her chief interest in these people is in their deliverance from their spiritual disease and bondage. To make God near and dear to those afraid of him is the object of her service. Medicine Ministers of Mercy. Franklin. Missionary Education Movemeu1». 138 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH . and surgery are parables through which she seeks to interpret the love of Christ. What could be better than to teach these children of the hiU and jungle that God is love, and that no one should be afraid of him?" Here is inspiration to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Mabie and of many others. Africa is an immense con- tinent of nearly ten million square miles, in which the areas of India, Europe, China, and Mexico could be easily engulfed. Scattered throughout this continent are between one hundred and thirty and one hundred and fifty millions of people, many of them still in dire need of medical service. In the Nile valley, for example, it is estimated that ninety-five per cent of the people are suffering with ophthalmia. In other districts of Northern Africa epi- demics and sleeping sickness are carrying off thousands of natives annually. And this could be largely prevented by the work of medical missionaries. At present, how- ever, in these districts the evangelical churches report only five hospitals and twenty-seven dispensaries. Eight hundred and fifteen foreign missionaries, which number includes only six medical missionaries, are working among the eighty millions of people of Northern Africa. A recent report points out that second to no other form of material help, the people of Central Africa need medical service and care. The stuffing of infants with strong foods, the mistreatment of the diseases of child- hood, the utter ignorance of proper treatment and care of fever, pneumonia, smallpox, and other diseases, lack of knowledge of germs, of the laws of hygiene, of the value of sanitation — these result in a heavy toll of life and a low efficiency for those who survive. THE MEDICAL MINISTRY 139 In South Africa eight and one half million of the ten million population are Bantus, or native Africans. In sickness the Bantus have to depend largely on witch- doctors and herb-doctors. Only twenty-three European and American missionary doctors are serving these millions of Bantus. There are three missionary doctors in all of Portuguese Africa, a country nearly two hundred thousand square miles in area and with a population of three million. Disease, according to the belief of the African, is due to evil spirits. The African admits that the Good Spirit made the world. He believes, however, that this Spirit has withdrawn himself far away and that he has no further or present contact with or concern for the people on the earth. Only by coming to accept God, Creator and Ruler of the world, as one who is mightier than all the evil spirits in which he believes, can the animistic African be freed from the terrors of the world of malignant spirits which have hemmed in his life on ^very side. And who can do this to better advantage than the medical missionary through whom Christianity speaks its mes- sage in so potent and so practical and visible a manner? China. — Dr. George E. Vincent, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, and director of the China Medical Board, points out that "the missionaries in China in 1914 had established three hundred and fifty foreign trained nurses in the field. They had during the years established firmly the foundations not only of hospital and dispensary service, but the foundations that are indispensable to the establishment of medical edu- cation." Dr. Vincent further points out, "The outlook in China is very encouraging for hospitals and centers where medicine can be taught, where graduate work and I40 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH research work can be carried on, and, most important of all, one's largest responsibility to one's fellow men can be realized in a sane, tangible, concrete way." China offers an opportunity, then, both for the teacher of medicine and the medical practitioner. There is, on the one hand, the financial foundation indispensable to the establishment of medical education; on the other there is the giant nation of China yet ignorant of surgery and sanitation. Only in certain centers, according to surveys, have people awakened to questions of public sanitation. Cities the size of Boston draw water from polluted rivers and wells, while every city and vUlage has open sewers. In one province it is estimated that there is but one doctor to five millions of people. The further need of physicians and siu-geons in this awakening country, whose population, it is estimated, will, by the end of this century, total one billion, is the fact that, including all Chinese who have medical training, there are only something like one thousand doctors in China, about half of whom are connected with missionary work. This is an average of one doctor to every four hundred thousand people. Compare this with the average in our own land. It is probably safe to say that ninety-nine per cent of aU the people who become iU in China are entirely without competent medical attention. There is a ringing challenge of need and of oppor- tunity for men and women to follow in the footsteps of Parker, Allen, and MacKenzie. What would the con- dition in China be without the service of the medical missionary? What may it be if the disciples of the Great Physician continue to preach his truth through the medium of modern medical science? THE MEDICAL MINISTRY 141 India. — ^Because of his distinguished service as a medical missionary, the government of India decorated Dr. Theodore Leighton Pennell, in 1903, with the Kaisar- i-Hind silver medal, which is bestowed in recognition of public service to the country, and in 191 1 presented him with the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal. When Dr. Pennell died, in 1912, crowds surrounded his house. All were anxious to see again the form of him who had been to them a friend and brother. "He lay in his Pathan dress, in aU the serenity of death, while they filed silently by — ^Hindus, Mohammedans, rugged war- riors from over the border, women and children, school- boys, beggars, patients, the lame, the halt and the blind, old and young, foe and friend, all united by the common sorrow that bowed all heads ahke." A great multitude assembled at his open grave, many pressing forward to touch the doctor Sahib's coffin. "He is not dead," they said. "Our Doctor Sahib could not die. He lives !"^ And so he does live. Largely as a result of the medical missionaries, medicine has made rapid progress in India. In 1916 the British India Medical Service reported 3,000 hospitals and dispensaries with a record of nearly 35,000,000 patients treated in a year. There are 5 government medical colleges which in the same year enrolled 2,100 students, including 79 women. Five hundred and seventy-two missionary hospitals and dispensaries are reported in India and Ceylon, 202 of which are under American societies, treating in all over 1,000,000 patients every year. The foreign medical missionary force numbered about 400 physicians and nurses, of whom 47 men and 104 women represented American societies. > Ministers of Mercy. Op. dt. 142 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Christian medical missions have wrought marvels in saAnng countless lives, in teaching the value of human life, in demonstrating sane and effective methods of treatment, in stimulating other practitioners to better work, and in expressing powerfully the Christian spirit of brotherly kindness. But India is a country of dimen- sions and of people. One fifth of the human race, or about three hundred and fifty millions of people, live in the region lying between the Himalayas and the equator, and between the borders of Persia and that of Siam. There is yet a vast work to be done in continuing the establishment of hospitals, dispensaries, sanitariums, and laboratories, in founding schools for the training of Indian physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, and nurses, and in maintaining popular instruction in hygiene. George B. Archer, in an account of his work in India,^ gives this vivid description: "In the dispensary in one year we had sixty thousand out-patients, and to all of the patients the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached before treatment. Our plan of work was this: The patients who come to us early in the morning are first of all gathered in a preaching-hall or veranda. Very often, in the un- healthful season of the year, the preaching-hall, which holds two hundred, is full at six o'clock in the morning. Sometimes as many as sixty or seventy patients come the evening before. We are always glad of this because it gives us the opportunity to have special preaching for these patients. "The subject selected for the gospel address is usually one of the parables of our Lord, the story of Naaman, the leper, the futihty of the works of merit to give salva- tion, Jes us Christ our surety. Any day in the dispen- 'Proceedings Student Volunteer Convention, Kansas City, 1912. THE MEDICAL MINISTRY 143 sary you would find high-caste Brahmans and low-caste men sitting side by side on the floor. You would find the blind and the halt, the lame, the fever-stricken, sometimes also the leper — ^just such crowds as came to Jesus when he was here on earth. Every patient receives a prescription paper, on the back of which is an outline of Christian teaching printed in the ver- nacular." The Near East. — ^The Near East includes Turkey, Syria, and Palestine, Arabia and Mesopotamia and Persia. To these countries many medical missionaries from America have gone. Dr. Joseph Plumb Cochran, for example, was appointed in 1878 as missionary to Persia by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. His wife gives this .picture of Dr. Cochran:^ "Joe is so beset with people that he had to lock his doors to-day while preparing for the mail. Some- how I never realized before how the sick thronged and crowded upon Jesus during his whole life wherever he went. People do just so in this country. A few Sab- baths ago Joe went to a village some distance from here. He had not taken off his boots before the sick began to come to the house where he was. Before and after the service it was just so. The next morning he went to the next village, and as they heard of his coming, by the time he arrived the sick were all out in the streets, on beds, on donkeys, and on people's backs. Was it not like the time of Christ?" One particularly urgent call from Persia asks for forty-five physicians — ^forty-five men and women to live in this land as did the Great Physician in the land of ' Ministers of Mercy. Op. cit. 144 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Galilee. The gospel of healing needs no interpreter. It speaks a universal language. Dr. and Mrs. Bennett gave their lives in medical ministry to the Arabs, for both were physicians. Mrs. Bennett was born in Denmark. At the age of twelve she emigrated with her parents to America, settling on the plains of South Dakota. She went to school at Chamberlain. "WhUe there," she said upon one occa- sion, "I read a book. The Post of Honor, a tale of mis- sionary life in Madagascar. It made a great impression on me and I became filled with the ambition to become a missionary." She entered the University of Michigan to take up her medical work. Prominent teachers declared that no brighter woman ever graduated from the medical department of that University. Her Phi Beta Kappa key went with her to the mission field. She married Dr. Beimett. To the Arabs both husband and wife gave the full measure of service until, ministering in Lansing, the Memorial Hospital at Busrah, to the wounded soldiers of a world war, both fell at their post of duty. Mrs. Bennett was a woman among women. She could mingle with the best Turkish and Arab women and could sympathize with the most lowly. No one was ever turned away. Finding so many people suf- fering from eye trouble, she performed unaided as many as several hundred operations in a single year. Women sought advice from the beloved woman physician con- cerning their delicate babies. Others, suffering from tuberculosis, were advised how to Uve in order to combat the disease most successfully. Patients with diseased bones, terrified at first by the suggestion of surgery, were won in time to confidence in the skill and tenderness of THE MEDICAL MINISTRY 145 the woman doctor. As many as a hundred lepers were treated by the two physicians in a year, huts being erected for their use near the hospital grounds. According to recent reports aU of Arabia has been profoundly affected by the world war. Mesopotamia has been transformed. Moslem attendants are con- stantly increasing wherever Christian services are held. Each service demonstrates that people are realizing that Christ is the better prophet and that the Christian rehgion is the better rehgion. Schools are the open doors. Doctors are urgently needed. Last year, the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in America resolved to reiterate to the board of trustees the pressing need of Arabia for medical men and women. Its finest hospital is standing empty and unused, while opportunities for service cannot be embraced because present resources are limited. The present need of workers. — So one might con- tinue to cite illustrations from the medical missionaries of the past as well as from more than 800 Protestant medical missionaries now in foreign fields in charge of 698 hospitals and 970 dispensaries, treating approxi- mately 10,000,000 patients yearly. It is, however, the further need that is of vital concern. The call for addi- tional help and service is urgent. In the Philippine Islands, for example, outside of Manila and Hoilo there are no hospitals at all save three small ones. There are a few doctors scattered throughout the Islands, but otherwise the people are at the mercy of quacks and venders and nostrums. In Korea there is one medical missionary to every 345,000 Koreans. In Colombia in South America there is one doctor to every 6,000 people. In the Island of 146 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Java, Sumatra, and Borneo the Methodist board is planning to erect sixteen new hospitals. From whence will come the necessary doctors and nurses to staff these institutions which are the life-giving exponents of the Christian faith? Even in so large and so modern a city as Valparaiso in South America, the infantile death rate is from seventy-five to eighty-five per cent. Further- more, in Latin America there are states without a resident physician. Country districts are almost entire- ly destitute, while trained nurses and public clinics are unknown except in a few large cities. We need not further argue the urge or the call. Response is imper- ative, opportunity awaits! The Service Motive Perhaps in no other vocation within the church as in its medical ministry in foreign lands does the service motive play so conspicuous a part. For several reasons is this motive the predominating one. The cost of medical preparation. — In the first place, both in point of time as well as expense, medical preparation is costly. As a rule, a medical course includes six years of study after the completion of a high school course. A careful study of a number of records made in 191 7 has led to the conclusion that the cost of a medical education must be considered, at the least, three thousand dollars more than the cost of preparing for a skilled trade. For the medical missionary available scholarships and other sources of help reduce this cost somewhat. But even so, the expense of medical prep- aration is an item to be carefully considered in choosing a field of service. Financial returns. — Furthermore, the financial in- THE MEDICAL MINISTRY 147 ducements are not especially inviting. The medical missionary receives from five to fifteen hundred dollars with professional and living expenses. In comparison with this, an estimate of the financial rewards of medicine in our own land may be gained from the table of average total earnings in medicine compiled in 1914 by Harvard University from answers to inquiries sent to graduates: YEARS OUT OF PROFESSIONAL AVERAGE EARNINGS SCHOOL MEDICINE I $623 2 909 3 1,301 4 1,681 5 2,00s 6 2,410 7 2.935 8 3.227 9 3,636 10 3,789 Add to these facts the hardships and privations attendant upon the medical missionary, life amid strange people and customs, and it is clear that the impelling motive must be the big, predominating passion for helpfulness to one's more unfortunate fellow man. And where is a finer motive to be found? Return on which value cannot be estimated. — Upon one occasion, when Dr. Grenfell was working on the shores of Labrador, he was carried out to sea on an ice floe. The ice carried him to and fro in every direc- tion. Finally, however, the wind changed and the ice came back. After describing this and other experiences in connection with his work, a lady in Philadelphia 148 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH remarked to Dr. Grenfell: "Dr. Grenfell, how beautiful it is of you to sacrifice yourself in this way in Labrador." "You do not understand," replied Dr. Grenfell. "I am having the time of my Ufe in Labrador." "I believe," says Dr. George E. Vincent, previously quoted, commenting on the work of Dr. Grenfell, "that these days present the greatest, most inspiring oppor- tunities that ever have come to young men and women in the United States of America, and that this is a time when one calls upon them not for the sacrifice of dearly regarded petty, personal, narrow interests, but when one opens up to them great, glorious, satisfying, joyous service and says to them, 'Come into these fields which give you opportunity to have the time of your lives.' " All honor to the young men and women of our land who are willing to pay the price for this opportunity to serve and who are wilHng to re-Uve in other lands the hfe of the Great Physician. He alone can inspire the ideal — he alone can give the real reward! CHAPTER X THE CHURCH A PUBLISHER Journalism is one of the outstanding professions. Editors and writers are men and women who mold public sentiment, stimulate thought, instruct, and entertain. The book, the periodical, the newspaper — • these are indispensable in our intellectual, social, and everyday life. Likewise in our religious life the press plays an equally indispensable part. Religious journalism is, therefore, one of the distinct vocations within the church. To discuss this vocation, or, in other words, to consider the church as a publisher is the object of this study. "Of making many books." — Out of the 175,000,000 copies of books printed in 1914, 51,000,000, in round numbers, were educational, 39,000,000 were classed as fiction, and 24,000,000 were grouped under the heading of religion and theology. Many of the 22,754 periodicals of all classes, including dailies, pubhshed in the United States in the same year, were reUgious periodicals. This does not mean that every book dealing with religion and theology is necessarily a book published by the church. Nor does it mean that every reUgious periodical is a church publication. A large part of the work of the church is, however, done through the medium of publication. This medium gives rise to vocations within the church and employment to an army of workers. One large denomination in its pubhcation interests employs more than eleven hundred men and women. In 149 ISO VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH connection with the publishing interests of all the churches, many thousands of men and women are employed. Every denomination has its main publishing house with various branches thereof. These are beehives. They are radiating centers of influence. They are light- houses disseminating through the printed page the mes- sage of the church. Some of the leading church pub- lishers and their denominations are as follows : Publisher American Baptist PubKcation Sodety Baptist Sunday School Board National Baptist Publication Board Seventh- Day Baptist Sunday School Board Brethren Publication House Pilgrim Press Covenant Book Concern Disciples of Christ Standard Publishing Company Christian Century Eden Publishing Co. United Evangelical Publication So- ciety Evangelical Association Friends Lutheran Publication Society The Methodist Book Concern Smith & Lamar Methodist Protestant Publishing House Presbyterian Board of Publication Presbyterian Committee of Publica- tion United Presbyterian Board General Board of Religious Educa- tion Denomination Northern Baptist Convention Southern Baptist Convention National Baptist Seventh-Day Baptists Brethren Congregational Swedish Congregational Disciples Disciples Disciples Evangelical Synod United Evangelical Evangelical Association Friends Lutheran Methodist Episcopal Methodist Episcopal, South Methodist Protestant Presbyterian Southern Presbyterian United Presbyterian Protestant Episcopal Books and Curriculum Material Books published by the church are of various types, devotional, informational, theological, textbooks, and the like. Certain of these books defend and explain the THE CHURCH A PUBLISHER 151 dogmas of the church and the creeds and faiths of the churches. Devotional books appeal to the spiritual and emotional Hfe. Books of information enlighten and inform. Textbooks constitute the medium of definite religious instruction. Back of every book must of necessity be a writer. Book writing is, however, a Umited profession; it is, nevertheless, a profession of dignity and prestige. The creative author is a leader taking high rank in the realm of spiritual production. Religious textbooks. — ^While all forms of reUgious journalism demand workers, perhaps the most urgent call for creative ability at present is in the field of text- book or curriculum material. Without textbooks, modem education is helpless. Textbooks are the means toward educational ends, the stepping-stones toward intellectual growth and develop- ment. While the main objective of all teaching is, of course, the learner, this objective can be reached only through suitable curriculum material. The better the material, other things being equal, the more effective is the teaching. For schools, colleges, and universities a wealth of splendid texts have been prepared. So likewise has the church for its instruction texts and lesson material. These texts, however, do not compare favorably with the texts used in the general field of education. In fact, there is not available to-day a standardized and satisfactory curriculum of reUgious education, even for our Sunday schools. For the week-day church schools which are rapidly springing up and which are frantically calling for material, we have still less organ- ized curriculum ready to offer. 152 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Types of church school material. — The present day curriculum of religious education consists of three broad t3T)es of material: (i) a series of imgraded Bible lessons, (2) a series of graded lessons taken principally from the Bible, (3) several series of textbooks containing both biblical and extrabiblical material.. The basic material presented in the first two of these series is determined by the International Lesson Com- mittee, which comprises a membership of forty, made up as follows: eight from the Sunday School Council of Evangelical Denominations, eight from the Interna- tional Sunday School Association, and one from each of the twenty-four major denominations. The material prescribed by the International Lesson Committee may be used without restriction by any reUgious organization or by independent pubhshers. Each of the denomina- tions which pubhshes its own lesson material employs writers to supply the lessons with pedagogical helps for teacher and pupils. The material is then issued under a denominational name, as the Keystone Lessons (Bap- tist), the Westminster Lessons (Presbyterian), the Pil- grim Lessons (Congregational), the Berean Lessons (Methodist), etc. Several independent, commercial pub- lishers follow the same plan as the denominational, placing on the market competing lesson material. The third group of curriculum material, that repre- sented by series of textbooks, uses a wider range of subject-matter than that provided by the International Lesson Committee. The Bible supplies the core of material, but other sources are also freely drawn upon. Certain denominations, as notably the Episcopal and the Unitarian, have developed a graded series of texts for their own use, the former under the title, "Christian THE CHURCH A PUBLISHER 153 Nurture Series," and the latter under the title, "Beacon Course." Independent publishers are also entering this field, the University of Chicago "Constructive Studies in Religion" and Scribners' "Completely Graded Series" being well-known examples. The Abingdon Press has in preparation a comprehensive series of "Religious Edu- cation Texts" for week-day instruction in religion. Some form of this curriculum material, especially the graded and ungraded lessons, is in use in practically every Sunday school. It is, however, the opinion of leading educators that no one of these curriculums attempts, nor all of them together constitute the final word in curriculum making. All earnest attempts, therefore, to produce a better type of curriculum are welcomed. Here is a distinct and attractive vocation. Such a challenge should awaken the gift of writing slumbering, perhaps, in many young men and women, leading them to prepare for creative, constructive work in such an important field of useful service. Of the making of books there is no end is an observation hoary with age. A good book, however, often makes a man or a woman. Of the making of such books there should, therefore, never be an end. Magazines and Periodicals Not only is the church a pubUsher of books and of curriculum material; a longHstof magazines and period- icals are also included in its publications. As Chapter V pointed out, there are, according to the Yeaf Book of Churches, almost five hundred such publications in use by the various churches in the United States. This means editorships, business managerships, pubUshing 154 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH agents, ofl&ce force, printers, and the like — talent of a high order requiring a host of skilled workers, including both men and women. Influence of ctirrent periodicals. — These periodi- cals are alive with facts, general and denominational. Items of connectional interest are therein given publicity. Such periodicals serve as clearing houses for the respect- ive denominations. To keep well informed on the affairs of one's church one must read the publications thereof. The prime purpose of such periodicals, however, is to quicken the spiritual life of the church. Like any other growth, spiritual growth is dependent upon nourishment. This the church supplies in part through sermons, lectures, and talks; through participation in worship; through opportunities of service. Equally as well, and perhaps even more so, is the printed word a spiritual- izing factor. Such a word speaks its message in the quiet of the home hour. A poem, a quotation, an illustration, an editorial, an article — these, one or all, may touch the springs of emotion, kindle devotional fires, stimulate to service conquests. Conceive, if you can, of a productive, vital religious Ufe apart from contact with wholesome and stimulating reading! A career for writers. — It would be far beyond the mark to claim that church papers contain the only periodical reading matter of rehgious value. Nor will one claim that in the average church paper the material presented is all of the most wholesome and stimulating type. The point is that such reading material does play an indispensable part in developing and conserving reli- gious values. Accordingly, the best trained and ablest men and women of the church are in demand as writers as well as to fill editorships. There is a definite and THE CHURCH A PUBLISHER 155 permanent place and a future career in the church for the young man or the young woman who has something well worth while to say and who can say it in a well- worth-while way. The Church Press in Mission Lands The church through its missionary representatives has been responsible for publications of significant and far- reaching value in many different tongues. Largely through the instrumentality of the missionary, for example, the Bible has been translated into approxi- mately five hundred distinct languages and dialects — language ranging from the ancient Sanskrit to the modern Zulu. In the South Sea Islands scores of dia- lects have, through missionaries, been provided with alphabet, grammar, and printed literature. Two hun- dred African languages and dialects have been illus- trated by grammars, dictionaries, vocabularies, and translations of the Bible. Writing in other languages. — Where are to be found more splendid acts of devotion and heroism than those exemplified in the Hves of Dan Crawford in Africa, Carey and Martyn in India, Judson in Burma, Morrison, Williams, and Richard in China? These men, and scores of others, through sacrifice and toil and patience, beset by difficulties well-nigh insurmountable, mastered and created languages that the waters of life might flow into the hearts of men and women through the medium of their own speech. But there is additional work of such nature yet to be done. At a recent Student Volunteer Convention it was authoritatively stated that linguistic talent was never in such demand as it is to-day in the great cities 156 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH of the Near and Far East. Linguists are needed for the preparation of Christian literature in the leading languages of the world, and, for the translation of the Scriptures into languages and dialects which have never yet received the imprint of the message. There is the gantlet clearly thrown down to American talent, devo- tion, and ability! The call from over seas. — In the Philippine Is- lands, Christian literature and propaganda material in the sixty-eight different languages are essential. In Central Asia the Bible is available in such current tongues as the Arabic, Turkish, and Russian, but several new versions and many new books and leaflets will at once be needed. Both the Turk and the Armenian are especially open to the influence of a strong, ably edited newspaper. In Africa literature of almost every kind is sorely needed. Even scraps of paper, if only there be writing or printing on them, are eagerly prized by the Central African. The emancipation to mind and soul which books, the mere beginnings of literature, work for the African, is hard to exaggerate. In every language area there is urgent need for writers to be set apart, on part or fuU time, to prepare manuscripts for these rapidly developing races. The need is urgent for the establishment of union book-stores in every capital in Latin America. There is need also for the employment of colporteurs for country districts and for the organization of central boards of publication with sufficient capital to publish the necessary material for the rising churches in these districts. Books on the spiritual Hfe and character-building are in demand. Likewise children's books and periodicals for church THE CHURCH A PUBLISHER 157 leaders, families, and the intellectual classes are urgently- called for. The invention of a phonetic system in China of thirty- nine simple symbols now enables all characters in the language to be presented. This system offers an unu- sual opportunity to the Christian Church to overcome the handicap which widespread ilhteracy offers to the work of the church. Church presses are merely machines, and, like all other machines, are, without men and women, helpless. Nor can Kterature, the written thought, be conceived of apart from personality. Literature is personahty speak- ing in terms of living words. All of this is but to empha- size again the strong and insistent appeal to young men and women to consider with seriousness rehgious journal- ism as a field of service and usefulness. Other Forms of Publication But the church is not only a pubHsher of books and periodicals and translations at home and abroad. There are other t)rpes of creative abDity which the church is ready to employ. Some of these are church publicity, plays, and pageants. Church publicity. — ^This is an age of advertising. In the newspapers and in the magazines, on billboards and posters, in trolley cars and subways, in glaring, flaming electric signs — everywhere we behold advertise- ments. Advertising is the secret of commercial success. Progress in business is largely in proportion to its effectiveness. The advertising manager of big business holds a position of importance and power. EarUer in its history tall spires pointing heavenward advertised the church and symbolized that for which it IS8 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH stood. Bells and chimes issued the Sunday morning invitation to divine worship. Sunday, in its simplicity, offered few diversions other than worship and praise. By word of mouth notices of church events and occasions were spread. Advertising, as we understand it to-day, was too secular a term to be used in coimection with so sacred an institution. But times have changed. Tall bmldings hide church spires. City noises limit the appeal of sweet-toned bells. Modern churches are, for the most part, spireless and bell-less. Sunday has been robbed of its simpKcity. Life and life's interests are complex and varied. The biggest of all business— the business of human redemption — is experiencing keen competition. ReH- gious advertising is legitimate, it is vital, it is imperative. The church must be up to date or it will be out of date. The Centenary movement of the Methodist Church spent thousands for posters, charts, cartoons, graphs, bulletins, movie-filnis, surveys. For these the Inter- church World Movement also spent milUons. Spiritual values are, to be sure, not to be bought and sold, traded in and bargained with. Nevertheless, the fact that the church is on the job must be kept before the public. The church of the future will continue to advertise. It must. Hide not, therefore, your creative talent under a bushel. Neither give it all to business and commer- cialism. Give your church its share. Illustrations. — A church publisher was recently asked why a certain religious book was not illustrated. "We are willing to pay for first-class illustrations on a par with the publishers of magazines and books in other fields. We simply cannot, however, find the illustra- tors." THE CHURCH A PUBLISHER 159 The most famous of ancient artists dealt with religious themes. Churches were the art galleries of the past. The Bible and devotional literature was highly illus- trated. Why should the rehgious field of art be so neg- lected to-day? Surely the rehgious motive has not been exhausted! Have you the artistic gift within you? Cultivate it! The church of to-day is placing a higher premium upon illustrative art. Undoubtedly the church of the future will place even a higher premium. Plays, dramas, and pageants. — The modern drama had its birth in the church. Miracle and mystery plays presented bibUcal themes. Morahty plays emphasized the virtues at the expense of the vices. That to which the church gave origin the playhouse and the theater secularized. Accordingly, the gap between the play- house and the church has been, through the years, widening. The theater has developed the art of acting on the one hand and a constituency on the other. It is not desirable that the church should enter into com- petition with the theater on its own level. This does not mean, however, that the drama has lost its religious value. Nor does it mean that the church cannot make use of the dramatic technique and prin- ciple. It can. In not so doing to greater advantage the church is undoubtedly losing an opportunity. Youth is eager and anxious to take part in the dramatic. In so doing the part which he enacts temporarily is apt to leave its impression eternally. If the church had more high-grade rehgious drama in its literature and on its platform, it would probably have more loyal men and women in its ranks. Who is going to add to the growing list of spirited plays, alive with the religious motive and throbbing with rehgious vitality and action? Again a i6o VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH challenge is thrown down to the artistic, creative genius of young American manhood and womanhood! Religious Liteeatitee for Youth Regarding the importance and necessity of religious literature, especially for the youth of our land, the address of Bishops at the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held in 1920, spoke not only for this particular denomination alone, but for the entire church. These are the words: The church and the reading of youth. — "The problem of youth runs into the question of litera- ture. Youth reads. It reads what appeals to it. The church has probably never had, and certainly has not now, a Uterary grip upon even its own youth. The people in the movements now so seriously disturbing society are largely young.. Probably no less than four or five hundred papers that openly or subtly preach anarchy in some form constantly circulate among America's youth. Many other papers with enormous circulations are of low moral standards, false social and ethical standards, irreligious or nonreligious, and in- creasingly profane. They set youth on the wrong side of every good thing. Repressive measures and mere denunciation are not effective. "The Christian Church must lay hold of, must furnish a periodical literature, a book literature, educational, in- structive, and attractive, in the interest of to-morrow This General Conference has no higher privilege than the privilege of discovering and enthroning additional men and women who can make such a Uterature for the youth of the world. The profits wiU lie in the lives that are created, the dividends in human character." THE CHURCH A PUBLISHER i6i The church is seeking to discover and is ready to enthrone men and women who possess writing ability. Here is a field not overcrowded. Success therein gives you an unlimited opportunity for usefulness. If God has endowed you with creative gifts, do you not owe it to him to cultivate such a gift and to use it in his name? CHAPTER XI THE SOCIAL MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH IN HOME LANDS Two hundred million dollars and more! And for what purpose? This is the recent budget estimate of the leading denominational boards for the purpose of carrying on the social ministry of the church in the United States. Why so large a budget? What does the social ministry of the church mean? Who is to carry on this work? To answer these questions is the object of this study. Meaning of Social Ministry First, what does the term "social" mean? This word has various connotations. It is not easily defined. It is used in a narrowly personal sense. Man is a social being. His social nature craves social intercourse and fellowship. Living in a social world man has social obligations and responsibilities. None of us live unto ourselves. Consciously and unconsciously we are our brother's keeper. The term "social" also has a broader meaning. "This is an age," writes Paul M. Strayer in his book, The Reconstruction of the Church,^ "of a new social conscious- ness. Literature throbs with it. The daily press with its record of contemporary history reflects it. It has made its way into the curriculum of college and univer- ^The Macmillan Company. 162 SOCIAL MINISTRY IN HOME LANDS 163 sity. Political parties are being realigned because of it. Legislators are grappling with it as with some new and mighty force with which they are unfamiliar. Not only the agitator and the demagogue but statesmen and all thoughtful citizens are occupied with social problems. . . . Far-reaching social movements are near- ing their peak, and whether they be toward destruction or fulfillment is the question of the most vital import- ance. The social revolution is on! It cannot be stopped. It may be guided." The church a social institution. — ^The church is a social institution. Like the individual, it has social responsibilities and obligations. How is the church discharging these responsibilities? The church has a broad and general social program. Resolutions adopted by the Presbyterian Church in Canada are typical and representative of such a program. These are the resolutions: Believing that it is the duty of the church to show that Christian principles apply to human affairs, the General Assembly of the Pres- byterian Church in Canada declares itself in a program: For the acknowledgment of the obligations of wealth; for application of Christian principles to industrial associations; for a more eqxiitable distribution of wealth; for the abolition of poverty; for the protection of child- hood; for the safeguarding of working people from dangerous machinery; for compensation due to indus- trial accidents; for the regulation of working conditions in other ways; for one day's rest in seven; for concilia- tion and arbitration in industrial disputes; for proper housing; for proper care of dependents and criminals and the prevention of crime and vice; for pure food and drugs; and for international peace. i64 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Such a program is broad and comprehensive. For our present study, we are, however, interested in the more practical work of the church in the actual carrying out of this program. We are interested in the social ministry of the church from the standpoint of vocations, in order that we may see wherein we can help the church in the discharge of its social responsibility and obliga- tion. Perhaps this cannot be better pointed out than by associating the social ministry of the church with its missionary ministry, for, indeed, in many respects these two forms of ministry are one and the same. Let us see wherein the likeness exists. Social ministry and missions. — Service in any field of human need is, in its broadest sense, missionary service. One who goes to those in need, bringing to them benefits of which they would otherwise be deprived, is a mission- ary. In this sense one is a missionary, whether, like Grenfell, he goes to Laborador with a chest of medicine; or, like Jacob Riis, into a city slimi to open up a public park; or, like Gorgas, into the Canal Zone to fight malaria. Service of this type is social. It involves the happiness and welfare of others. One who goes in the name of the church to minister to those deprived of the benefits of the church is a mis- sionary of the church. Such a ministry is a social min- istry. It involves human relationships, it touches com- munity welfare, it promotes civic righteousness. Be- tween the missionary and social ministry of the church there is therefore httle difference. Social ministry has been defined as that form of service for human better- ment which seeks to upUft and transform man in his associated and community life. To uplift and trans- form man in his associated and community life is the SOCIAL MINISTRY IN HOME LANDS 165 object of the missionary ministry of the church, in fact of its entire ministry. Its transforming agency is the gospel message, and this message is distinctly social. It has to do with life at its best, and life at its best cannot be lived apart from one's fellows. The social fields of the church, as they will be con- sidered in this and the next chapter, are the missionary fields, and they are two: the home fields, under the supervision of the Home Mission Boards, and the foreign fields, under the supervision of the Foreign Boards. This chapter will consider the home fields, the following chapter the foreign fields. Types of Work est Social Ministry The tjTJes and fields of work in the social and mis- sionary ministry of the church in home fields and the estimated budgets therefor are shown in the Preliminary Interchurch World Movement Survey as follows: i66 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH I w C^oo « 00 fO CO 00 r-t^o t~tf> 00 rr-^t-'OO M o inoo o o o ro fOOO ro ■^O lO O 00 a H "d-o dloo o'oo •O Oi n t^ OO O. I- o> >o t- O O ^ ^ t— m o o >o ■^ M Oi "-■ CO Ol Oi'+OMOOOrO •O ro t- N C\ N \0 t~- I- N O (^"O (^ m^o N %o 00 o ro m Bl (fl Q O < J fc-i o ^ M is ID ?< t/) i2 oi > H D o <: o o o o o_o O Q O N o in o o o o o o o_ q^ o_ o" o'o o oo o O M o o o o o o o o o o o o o_ o q o" o t> O O w N O 01 ZO (O cs lo r~o O >-i\0 lo O OO m Oioo woo (^ o -o 'J-oo ^ a oo-o M vo r- Ol CO 0\ ^t-\0 ^ CiNOCftOOOiO M O lOOO O O O M rooq fo "^o lo ooo O " '* -^ OiOO O 00 '^ ^ "^ "^ '^'^~ ^ '^ 0.>0 r- O O Tj- ■rt M Ol M oo Ov Oi'^roi-'ooofo M OiiOOWO Ot- o M-Trt~fOM o w O Ol r- Tj- Ol O "^ o" M ci lO OQO M M Tj-iO CO t^ o 00 o tm N OOOOO "lO N OOO CIO-*-*© o mo I SOCIAL MINISTRY IN HOME LANDS 167 A consideration of a few of these fields will illustrate the general need and the opportunities within all. The Social Ministry of the Church in Cities This is an age of teeming cities. In the United States there are nearly three hundred cities each with a popu- lation of over twenty thousand as against forty-five such cities fifty years ago. Since 1870 New York city has increased in size 270 'per cent; Toledo, 660; Chicago, 830; Los Angeles, 3,750 per cent. In the last census decade urban population increased 35 per cent. Practically one tenth of our population Uve in New York city, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Growing cities give rise to many problems. One that especially concerns us in this chapter is the problem or problems due to overcrowding and congestion. To the cities foreigners are especially attracted. Magnet- like, too, many are drawn from the rural sections. Men, women, and children are crowded into narrow and close quarters. Sunshine and fresh air are limited. The play of children is restricted. Unsanitary conditions develop. Immorality, crime, and vice tend to flourish. Home life suffers. Indifference to moral and religious influences develops. Poverty abounds. Actual want and suffer- ing in many instances are experienced. In the very heart of many of our cities there are, therefore, real mission fields. Especially is this true since it is the tendency for the downtown church to move uptown, leaving the more congested city districts churchless. Certainly here is abimdant opportunity for the social ministry of the church. How is the church ministering and how can it better minister to these needs? i68 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Institutional churches, — One method of ministry is through the institutional church. Such churches are churches like the Morgan Memorial Church in Boston; Saint George's and the Church of AH Nations in New York city; The Abraham Lincoln Center and the Halsted Street Church in Chicago; the Broadway Methodist Church in Cleveland; the Helping Hand Mission in Sioux City; the Church of aU Nations in Los Angeles. The social work of one of these churches is typical of all. To illustrate the nature and scope of this phase of work the Morgan Memorial Church in Boston is selected. The Social Work of the Morgan Memorial Church. — This church is located in a section of the city of Bos- ton known at one time as the red-light district, with saloons and places of vice abounding. The area which this particular church serves covers about one hundred and thirty acres. The estimated population of this area is twenty thousand. Ninety-seven per cent of this popu- lation is foreign-bom or of foreign-born parentage, rep- resenting thirty different nationalities. In various ways is this church ministering to the social needs of the community in which it is located. Poverty, for example, abounds in this as in all other similar city locaUties. Accordingly, this church organ- ized and incorporated Cooperative Industries and Stores. Discarded articles of wearing apparel, furni- ture, and the like were collected, and the poor were given employment in putting these various articles in repair. These in turn were sold, and from the receipts thereof the workers were paid. As a result begging has practi- cally been eliminated and thousands have been given temporary help, saving them thereby from almshouse and jail. SOCIAL MINISTRY IN HOME LANDS 169 For the industrial work a six-story workshop is used — the gift of a layman who recognized the social value of such ministry. In connection with the industrial work a school of handcraft has been established. To those who are capable this school offers to teach a trade. Cooking, sewing, and home-making classes have done much to transform the community — ^mothers have been led to put in practice in the home what the children learned in the school. To minister to the men of the community, especially the so-called "down and out" type, a seven-story build- ing has been erected. On the upper floors are rooms for students who help in the work. Below are dormitories for men who are seeking to live clean wholesome lives. The building contains parlors, lavatories, barber shop, cafeteria, and a mission hall in which religious services are conducted practically every night in the week. As the heart and center of all the work of Morgan Memorial stands the Church of All Nations with its rehgious and educational program. In addition to the regular Sunday morning and evening programs in English, the gospel message is preached in the native tongue of many of the foreigners in the community. Besides, mission services are held every evening and on Sunday afternoons open forums are conducted. The church has its educational committee and its minister of education, who is the executive ofl&cer of the committee. The minister of education has for his cabinet a secretary of educational work, four division superintendents, supervisors of industrial classes, music classes and recreation and play, a physician, a psycholo- gist and a director of parish welfare. The psychologist endeavors to ascertain, by certain approved tests, the 170 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH mental status of those who are admitted into the dor- mitories. In addition to the regular church school with all of its departments, Morgan Memorial keeps its doors open every day after school and every evening, that the chil- dren may receive that training which makes for good citizenship. The value of such training is all the more appreciated when one remembers that for aU the four thousand children and more in the community there is less than one fourth of an acre of legitimate play- ground. Through story-telling hours, clubs. Boy Scouts and Camp Fire organizations the social life of the child is developed. In the gymnasium, with the counsel of the physician, right standards of physical living are inculcated. In order that mothers who must work during the day may have a safe and well-appointed place to leave their little ones, Morgan Memorial maintains a day nursery. The children thus left in the care of the nursery are not only fed, they are given religious in- struction as weU. In the summer vacation schools are conducted in the city and summer camps are maintained elsewhere. In these camps the program includes rest, pure food, exercise, wholesome entertainment, and industrial training. The gospel of helpfulness. — It is then through such work as this that the church is attempting to perform its social ministry in the crowded centers of cities. It is a work of far-reaching value and importance. It is not surprising, then, that the denominational budgets for the social ministry of the church are large. One denomination alone, the Methodist, is through its Centenaiy asking for one hundred and seventy-eight SOCIAL MINISTRY IN HOME LANDS 171 workers among the downtown, polyglot masses. Other denominations are making similar calls. The further enlarged program of the church for such ministry in cities alone includes day nurseries and kindergartens, dispensaries and clinics, free baths and showers, milk stations, dining rooms for children, dormitories for young women, laundries and drying rooms, cafeterias for working girls, church parlors and club rooms, systematic community visitations by deaconesses and nurses, lodging houses for young men, coal and ice stations, saving banks, legal advice, fresh air camps and farms, employment bureaus. The city presents its problems. Even city problems may be solved. The social ministry of the church is endeavoring to do its part in the solution. As in all other phases of its endeavor, in this particular phase as well the church is dependent upon the help of men and women. Help solve the problems of the city and you help solve the problems of the nation. In American- izing foreigners you are making for a better America. In serving these needy ones you are carrjdng on the work begun by the Master. RxmAL Fields Not only cities but rural sections as well present problems and opportunities for the social ministry of the church. The rural fields may be classified as follows: 1. The more favored agricultural sections, Uke the corn belts, the wheat-producing sections, irrigated regions, drainage areas, and the cotton belt. 2. The less favored agricultural sections, like the hill land and the pine belt. 3. The frontier — a territory embracing twelve States 172 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH with a million and a quarter square miles and with a population in 1910 of less than six and one half million, approximately five people to the square mile. 4. Rural industrial communities, coal and other mining camps, small manufacturing towns, and summer resorts. 5. The mountain section, including especially the southern portion of the Appalachian range. Problems and needs. — Perhaps the problems and needs of the rural sections may be best illustrated by a recent typical survey of a representative county. Ac- cordingly, findings of the survey are reproduced as follows: I. Area of county, 473 square miles; population, 64 per square mile; level, rich agricultural county; chief products, cattle and grain; 67 per cent of farms operated by owners; no farmers' cooperative enterprises; approx- imately two thirds of road mileage is hard-surfaced or otherwise improved. Social agencies : 9 dance halls, 7 moving picture houses, 29 pool rooms, 5 bowling alleys, 3 public libraries, 4 granges, 30 lodges, 4 bands, 7 orchestras, i community chorus; schools are good. II. Population, 30, 400 in 1910 — ^practically stationary. County seat has population of 7,200, leaving 23,200 for the remainder of the county covered by survey; 90 per cent of population has lived in county over 15 years. III. Churches number 63 outside of county seat. There are 13 abandoned churches, 12 of which were closed during the last three years; 11 of the abandoned churches are in the open coimtry; i in a village of 750 with 2 other churches. Resident membership of rural churches is 5,770, or 24.8 SOCIAL MINISTRY IN HOME LANDS 173 per cent of population; 38 churches have lost 902 mem- bers in 4 years. Rural Sunday school average attend- ance, 3,540 — 15.2 per cent of population; no provision for leadership training; only 8 Sunday school pupils have entered Christian work in 10 years. Other organi- zations: 47 for women, 4 for men, 3 for girls, i for boys. Thirty pastors minister to county; one fourth of county has only i resident minister, remainder has 29; salaries average $1,045 3- pastor, $589 a church; four pastors receive $700, $450, $364, and $45 respectively without parsonages; 12 churches have one fourth of minister's time; 6, one third; 14, one-half; 4 are pastorless; 19 full time; five pastors travel 100 miles, 55 miles, 40 miles, and 22 miles respectively to reach their churches. IV. Needs: (i) At least 10 rural church centers with adequate plants. This would insure proper pro- vision for religious education, social gatherings, and recreation; (2) such a distribution of ministers as will give the responsible churches in each community full- time resident pastors, with assistants when necessary; (3) provision for needed modern parsonages and increased pastoral support; (4) a unified program to apply prin- ciples of Christianity to social, economic, educational, and recreational life in every community; (5) training conferences for pastors and laymen to provide leader- ship for a cooperative campaign to reach the unchurched majority. Meeting the needs. — In these rural fields the church is busily at work. The religious educator with pen and chart and compass is making careful, painstak- ing, and accurate surveys. In the fight of these surveys needs are being studied with a view toward meeting these needs. Home Mission Boards are launching 174 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH far-reaching and consecutive programs. Rural church centers are multiplying. Educational literature is being carefuUy prepared. Chairs of rural sociology are being established and eager students are studying a new and fascinating science, preparing to approach a complex rural problem in a scientific and religious manner. Various denominations are holding summer schools and institutions for the purpose of developing rural leadership. Cooperation is being given by agricultural colleges and the goveniment. The rural fields present both a challenge and an oppor- tunity. Funds are available; the need hardest to fill is that for men and women. The harvest is ripe. Labor- ers skilled in moral culture are in demand. A spiritual irrigation system is needed that wiU flood these rural districts with living waters from the Stream of Life! The American Indian. — Not including Alaska, there are in the United States over three hundred thousand Indians. Less than forty per cent of these are Chris- tians and only one half of these are Protestants. About forty thousand are unprovided with missionaries or church facilities. The Indian is degenerating physi- cally. Tuberculosis is making relentless ravages. We learned much from the Indian and we took much from him. We ought, therefore, to give him of our best. At its best what is better than our religion? Religion, however, does not go of its own accord. It must be taken through a personahty. The red man needs the religion of the white man and so here is another oppor- tunity for service provided through the social ministry of the church. Migrant groups. — "Nature's prodigality is neces- sarily seasonal." Accordingly, it is estimated that at SOCIAL MINISTRY IN HOME LANDS 175 least a million and a half men in the United States are seasonal workers, shifting from harvest fields to lumber camps, from mining towns to farms, from the task of crop-raising to the job of crop-moving. And this army of workers is unorganized and unskilled. It is at the mercy of the radical on the one hand and the exploiter on the other. Then without either home ties or church ties restraints are removed. The best camp life furnishes few incentives to clean, wholesome living. Insidious temptations are legion. The harvest fields and the lumber fields and the mining fields are distinctly unique social service fields with vital human problems equally as unique. The program of the church for its ministry among these nugrant groups calls for over six thousand workers. Here is a man-size opportunity to give to your fellow man the full measure of your manhood. Foreign poptilation. — ^As typical of the foreign popu- lation let us consider briefly the Italians. In every State in the Union there are Italians. In aU the States, including children of foreign parentage, there are more than four million of these people from the romantic peninsula of poetry, painting, and song. New York city has the largest Italian population of any city in the wqrld. The majority — seventy per cent — of these sons and daughters of Italy came from Italian farms. Here the majority are crowded into congested, inartistic city tenements on the one hand or into unsanitary, uninviting shacks on the other hand. Lacking the sunshine of their own land, Christianity needs all the more to supply the sunshine of our Christian land. For the church and for our citizenship there are, in 176 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH the artistic temperaments of these gifted people of the Mediterranean, enormous possibilities. Here is a field for the social ministry of the church, promising, if reli- giously cultivated, a hundredfold harvest; if not so cultivated, tares with baneful and dire results are apt to thrive. Where finds Christian social service a more challenging, ringing service call! Other Types of Service But why point out further the need? Every red- blooded, loyal American wants his land and country to be the best that it can possibly be made to be. Our constitution recognizes the inherent and fundamental value of religion. Nominally we are a Christian people and a Christian nation. In reahty, however, both as a people and as a nation we are far from the Christian ideal. Materially, we have made enormous strides and progress. Other nations are looking to us for leader- ship and example. The church, however imperfect it may be, is the best-organized representation of religion actually at work to which we can point. The social ministry of the church is an effort to apply the Christian leaven in the neglected places of our land and country. Some of these neglected centers and areas this chapter has briefly considered: the crowded and congested portions of our rapidly growing cities; the rural fields with their pecuUar problems and needs; the Indian and what we ought to do for him; noigrant groups and one of the foreign races within our borders. And these are only a few of the fields of service. The church can easily find the place if you are willing to serve. CHAPTER Xn SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS On a great rock beside a beautiful river stands a picturesque Buddhist temple. The scenery from the balcony would lift any receptive soul to realms of the sublime. It was the cleanest temple, the most charming setting, and the most intelligent priest I had seen. And the reception was courtesy and dignity personified. After formalities, discussion veered around to matters of faith, and when Buddha and Christ had been dis- cussed, the priest shrugged his shoulders and remarked: 'Oh, well, what is the use? We all sin, and human nature cannot be changed. Why trouble further in the matter?' "In the same city stand two large mission schools, a good church, a community house, and a leper mission, all busily engaged in changing human nature. Later on, when the native official had absorbed modern ideas from the mission and had raised funds to provide clean streets, running water, and sewerage, he went to the mission to secure superintendency of the work." This quotation from George A. Miller's book Mis- sionary Morale presents an example of the social min- istry of the church in foreign fields. With this phase of ministry this chapter is to deal. The method of pro- cedure will be, first, a consideration of the missionary at work. Then will follow a brief account of some of his social achievements. The call of the various boards for men and women will come next, followed by some 177 178 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH of the achievements yet to be recorded and the type of men and women needed to further a work ahready so successfully under way. The Missionary at Work In modern times there is a tendency to discount tne word "missionary." Rightly understood and appre- ciated, however, there is magic in this word. Heroism, valor, intrepidity lurk therein. The missionary is a pioneer, a trail-blazer, a civilization builder. He is God's ambassador sent to negotiate terms of human betterment and uplift. He represents the ideal Democ- racy, the Kingdom on earth. A heroic figure. — As President W. H. P. Faunce, in his volume The Social Aspects of Missions, has pointed out, the conception of the modern missionary is quite at odds with the traditional and conventional picture. At one time, in words or wood-cuts, the missionary was represented as a gentleman in a frock coat, standing under a palm tree, discoursing Western doctrine to Eastern savages, who declined to assimilate it, but, rather, each moment threatened to assimilate him. That sohtary, incongruous figure imder the palm tree still represents the noissionary enterprises to many who fail to realize the immense change brought about by world politics, world commerce, world consciousness. The missionary is, however, still a heroic and some- times a lonely figure. Yet a truer picture would present him not only making addresses, but, like John G. Paton, digging wells in the New Hebrides; or, like Dr. Robert Moffat, planting cereals and fruits in Africa; or, like John Williams, building ships in the South Seas; or Dan SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 179 Crawford creating a language, or John R. Mott touching student life. The missionary is a teacher of carpentry, blacksmithing, and printing. He acts as explorer, engineer, editor, physician, or diplomat. Christianity applied. — George A. Miller pictures a business-loving missionary organizing a credit associa- tion among Christian merchants and carrying them thereby through a crisis when heathen shopkeepers failed on every hand. Another picture presents a skilled organizer, who, getting control of a tract of land, placed a thousand starving famine refugees on modern farms, making them self-supporting. This was the first installment of an agricultural scheme which resulted in the revolutionizing of the lives of several millions of people. Another picture is that of a young architect who reUnquished a promisiong career at his drafting board to become a missionary. Pagan opposition cut off self-support, whereupon he opened a school in archi- tecture and brought in a group of young men for inten- sive training, while the earnings supported the work. In this way one of the unique missions of the Orient was founded. One thinks of the missionary to-day, then, not as the frock coat under the pahn tree. The message of the missionary is, however, the same message — it is the method of preaching and living this message that has changed. That message under a palm tree has become a message "built into homes and churches, cut into canals and wells, woven into rugs and carpets, ham- mered out in brass and iron and silver, and translated into all the arts which mean self-support, seK-respect, and the moral discipUne of daily toil."^ iPaunce. Social Aspects of Foreign Missions. i8o VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Social Achievements of Missionaries We turn now from a picture of the indiAadual mission- ary to a brief consideration of some of the larger achieve- ments of missions. These will be considered from the standpoint of progress, exploration and discovery, educa- tion, industrial training, medicine, and social status of woman. Progress in non-Christian lands. — As President Faunce has clearly pointed out in his volume already referred to, it would be idle to claim that the Christian missionary enterprise, or even the Christian faith itself, has been the sole source of recent progress in the non-Christian world. Other factors have had a large and determining share therein. Traders, for example, from Western lands, with no altruistic motive, have carried the tools of civilization far and wide. Commer- cial companies have sent thousands of plows into Africa, looms into India, oil into China, sewing machines into the South Sea Islands, Sheffield cutlery into Bombay and Calcutta, automobiles into Java and Borneo. It was the United States government behind Com- modore Perry that compelled the opening of Japan in 1853. It was the British government that, by the building of the immense dam across the Nile at Assuan, and the introduction of better methods of tilling the soil, Kfted the Egyptian peasant out of his poverty centuries old. Better roads, bridges, railroads, canals, telephone and telegraph Hnes — these and scores of other results of applied science and industry have contributed to the marvelous progress in non-Christian lands. Yet, when this has been freely admitted, the fact still remains that for twenty centuries the Christian SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS i8i faith has been in all lands the mainspring of progress. It was the moral dynamic that transformed our wild forefathers, the Saxons, Celts, and Scandinavians, into civilized nations. Likewise, the power that has in the last one hundred and fifty years aroused Asia and Africa and Oceania from the sleep of ages has not been commer- cial or governmental, but Christian. Specific achievements. — The missionary as an ex- plorer has added enormously to the known area of the globe. Livingstone alone added about one million square miles to the known land surface. Men of intrepid minds and dauntless courage have faced malaria, poi- soned arrows, flooded streams, deadly sunlight, or the tsetse fly, to open up regions where no white man without the Christian motive would ever go. The four great African rivers — the Congo, the Nile, the Niger, and the Zambezi — ^with all their vast and populous valleys, were made known to the world largely through the cease- less urge of the missionary motive. The unique work of Dr. W. T. Grenfell, sailing year after year with his medicine-chest along the icy shores of Labrador, has given us a wealth oj knowledge in geology, as well as in the psychology of a most interesting people. The volcanic eruptions of the Hawaiian Islands were chronicled for a half century by American missionaries. Quinine, one of the most useful of all drugs, is due to the Jesuit nnissionaries of South America. Sorghum, which is now a valuable American crop, was introduced into this country by missionary enterprise. The missionary as engineer, builder, planter has transformed whole sections of the globe. In the South Seas he has been the pioneer, carrying sheep and grains and tools to islands that had never seen them. He has 1 82 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH carried looms and cotton-gins, spades and wheelbarrows to people who had done all of their work with bare hands. He has invented typewriters for Burmese and Chinese — ^in the latter case putting four thousand characters on a single machine. He has carried thous- ands of plows into the valley of the Zambezi in Africa. In Turkey and China the potato is known as the product of missions. Practically all that is known of scientific methods of farming in Africa, in the islands of the Pacific, and in the wide areas in Turkey, India, and China originated in missions. Educational contributions. — Even though to-day less than one half of the human race can read and write, yet how much smaller would the percentage be but for the services of the missionary as teacher and educator? The map of every non-Christian land is to-day dotted with Christian schools, and from these schools flows steadily a stream of manhood and womanhood; and it is the men and women from these schools who are shaping Oriental civilization. Ignorance and superstition hold with chains and bind with shackles social progress. Education is the emancipator and liberator, the friend of government, the benefactor of humanity, the ally of Christianity. Training to industrial skill. — Through industrial training given in many of the schools under missionary auspices the vital problem of economic inefficiency is in parts of many countries being successfully solved. Such schools as the StUlman Institute in the Philippine Islands, the Ewing Christian College at Allahabad, India, the Basil Mission experiment in the same country, and the Central Training School in Rhodesia are examples of this type of school. Christian teaching touches not SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 183 only the head and the heart, it trains the hand as well. To develop self-expression, to create a sense of the dignity of honest labor, to promote skill and efficiency and the ability to do and to achieve, to utilize and con- serve a wealth of natural resources in the native is to render him one of the highest forms of social service. Bulletin No. i, "The Silo and Silage: A Method of Protecting India's Cattle from Starvation," issued by a missionary college, is, for example, the practical message of Christianity speaking in terms of conversa- tion and helpfulness. Breaking the barriers of caste. — ^The missionary too has been instrumental in undermining the caste system and in removing the veil from Oriental woman- hood, giving to her a more worthy social status. Like- wise has the ministry of the church helped in doing away with the long-standing practice of cruel f ootbinding and the wanton sacrifice of infants on the altars of tradition, superstition, and custom. Only a beginning, however, has been made in dealing with the age-long and religion-sanctioned injuries to womanhood. The complete remedy is in difiusing in all these lands the Christian conception of the value of personality. "To lop off one evil custom after another is like cutting off thistle-tops, while the roots remain. The root of the customs of foot-binding and infanticide, of child marriage and child widowhood, of the 'marriage' of girls to the temple gods, of polygamy and concubinage, is every- where the same — the degrading anti-Christian concep- tion of woman as a thing rather than a person. To change not merely the laws and customs but the concep- tion out of which they grew is the tremendous and i84 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH summoning task of Christian faith in Eastern lands."^ The Friend of the woman at the well in Samaria, the Friend of the woman taken in adultery, the Friend of the woman out of whom the seven devils were cast, the Friend of Mary and Martha, is also the Friend of Oriental womanhood. A realization of this fact has an inesti- mable social import and significance. Service Enlistment Even so brief a survey of some of the social achieve- ments of the missionaries should constitute a clarion call to service enlistment in these fields of additional opportunity. Work so splendidly and heroically begun must be equally as heroically and splendidly carried on. Further achievement and progress yet await the Chris- tian Church. The call for additional men and women is therefore urgent and imperative. The Preliminary Survey of the Foreign Division of the Interchurch World Movement sums up the call of the various boards of the church and indicates the fields of service as follows: iPaunce. Social Aspects of Foreign Missions. SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 185 1920 5 Years Fields g 1 1 s •3 Africa 434 544 238 28 146 87 57 133 259 278 491 270 20 148 32 40 106 171 712 1-035 508 48 294 119 97 239 430 1,243 1,422 675 85 397 226 112 390 754 926 1,209 640 68 425 118 83 308 647 2.160 China 2,631 1-315 153 822 344 195 698 India Central Asia Japanese Empire Southeastern Asia*. . . . Philippine Islands Near East Latin America Europe 1,401 Total 1,926 1.556 3,482 5,304 4-424 0,728 * Southeastern Asia includes Malaysia, Siam, Indo-China, and Oceania. The boards of the various churches making these calls are as foUows: Baptist Northern Baptist Convention American Baptist Foreign Mission Society American Baptist Home Mission Society Seventh-Day Baptist Seventh-Day Baptist Missionary Society National Baptist Convention Foreign Mission Board Brethren Church of the Brethren General Mission Board Christian Christian Church Foreign Mission Board Congregational Congregational Churches American Board i86 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Disciples Disciples of Christ Christian Woman's Board of Missions Foreign Christian Missionary Society Evangelical Evangelical Association Missionary Society Evangelical Synod of North America Board of Foreign Missions Friends Society of Friends American Friends Board of Foreign Missions Friends Foreign Missionary Society — Ohio Board of Missions of the Friends Church — Califomia Lutheran Norwegian Lutheran Church of America Board of Foreign Missions Mennonite General Conference of Mennonites (A) Board of Foreign Missions General Conference of Mennonites (5) Board of Missions and Charities Methodist Methodist Episcopal Church Board of Foreign Missions Woman's Foreign Missionary Society Methodist Episcopal Church, South Board of Missions Methodist Protestant Church Board of Foreign Missions Free Methodist Church of North America General Missionary Board African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Foreign Missions Moravian Moravian Church Society of the United Brethren (Foreign) Pentecostal Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene Foreign Missionary Board Presbyterian Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. Board of Foreign Missions Presbyterian Church in the U. S., South Executive Committee of Foreign Missions Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod Board of Foreign Missions SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 187 United Presbyterian Church Board of Foreign Missions Reformed Reformed Church in America Board of Foreign Missions and the Arabian Mission Reformed Church in the U. S. Board of Foreign Missions United Brethren Church of the United Brethren in Christ Foreign Missionary Society United Evangelical United Evangelical Church Board of Missions Universalist Universalist Churches Foreign Mission Board The proposed budget of the Foreign Survey Division of the Interchurch World Movement relating to salaries for this work is as follows: Field Foreign Salaries Native Salaries 1920 (I) 5 Years (2) 1920 (3) 5 Years (4) Africa $1,536,305 2,100,351 1,170,740 100,000 810,900 265,500 207,500 482,875 895.320 $14,959,486 19.539.000 8,330,060 943.500 6,197,040 3,142,400 1,641,500 5,014,625 7,736,250 $402,310 2,412,095 602,742 30,000 396.317 82,240 89,395 327,722 354,231 $4,065,955 China 14,677,620 India 14,160,024 Central Asia Japanese Empire. . . Southeastern Asia.* Philippine Islands.. Near East Latin America Europe 340,680 3,951,798 931,118 994,916 3,132,400 4,036,351 Total Advances . . $7,569,491 $67,503,861 $4,697,052 $46,290,862 * Southeastern Asia includes Malaysia, Siam, Indo-China, and Oceania. i88 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH What is Yet to be Accomplished? What remains yet to be achieved by these thirteen thousand men and women called by the church into its foreign fields of service? To conserve what already has been done on the one hand, and, on the other, to win, in the name of Christianity, additional triumphs. Even a brief and limited glance at some of the fields win reveal, in general, the future needs of all. An appreciation of a need is one of the first requisites of a call to serve. To discover some of these needs, then, is our next objective. Mexico. — ^Beginning nearest home, there is Mexico, a republic which ought to be further underwritten in terms of popular education, sound democratic ideals, vigorous Christian faith. And now is the appointed time. Roman Catholicism is loosing its hold on the people. To this religion the government is hostile, while to Protestantism it is favorable. Mexico leads the world in silver, chicle, and henequen. In other natural resources and agricultural products it is rich. On a par with its natural wealth might its moral wealth and health be if popular education reduced its eighty per cent of illiteracy, and if Christianity could unravel the complex skein of immorality and superstition in which so many of these twenty-five millions of people are meshed, one third of whom know not the name of God and four fifths of whom cannot read his Book. Mexico is our nearest neighbor in a double sense — ^in physical nearness and spiritual need. "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 189 Central America and Panama. — Central America is a country of five repubKcs, rich in natural resources, repubKcan in government, densely populated by five and one-half million of people. Yet Central America is one of the most neglected mission fields of the world. Steeped in ignorance are its people. Nowhere, it is claimed, has the repressive influence of the Roman Church upon popular education made itself more effect- ively felt. In the interior there are numerous tribes of Indians living in savagery and paganism — about one million in Guatemala alone. No effort is being made to civilize these Indians other than by a small force of Moravian missionaries working in eastern Nicaragua. Through the heart of Panama, so nearly like the countries of Central America, we dug a canal joining the waters of two oceans. Is not our next task to dig into the hearts of these neglected peoples, that the waters of hfe may flow therein and thereout? The church is undertaking the task — Goethalses are needed to see so important a work completed. South America. — South America, with its eleven republics, is a country of vast and enormous possibilities. Herein is the largest stretch of undeveloped fertile land in the world. Likewise in South America is the greatest stretch of unevangehzed territory in the world. This stretch of territory includes the interior of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay. An irregular territory, some two thousand miles long and from five hundred to fifteen hundred miles in width, would only include two or three mission- aries. In northern Brazil there are seven states, with populations ranging from that of Maine to that of New Jersey, with no foreign missionary. 190 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH In the northern half of Peru, a stretch of territory larger than our own thirteen original States, there is not one evangelical missionary. There are ten provinces in this historic republic where there is no evangelical work. Great areas of Chile and Argentina are still untouched by evangelical missionaries. In Ecuador there is practically no established missionary work, and no evangelical church building ever has been erected in that territory. However, the mission work already established has been so successful that Brazil has asked the missionaries to take charge of two of its large industrial schools. Paraguay offers to turn over its agricultural school to the missionaries. Bohvia has heavily subsidized missionary education. In every southern republic missionaries are honored, and both officials and people are demanding a great and immediate enlargement of their services. The presidents of at least five countries have asked that Protestant mission work be carried on in their respective countries. Practically every mission school in Latin America is overcrowded and could be filled immediately to twice its present capacity. Preachers, teachers, physicians, nurses, men of business — for each and all of these there is abundant opportunity in this land of oppor- tunity and a hearty welcome as well! Africa. — In Africa there are eighty millions of black pagan peoples without the gospel. From the north, Mohammedanism, forty million strong, is steadily marching southward, crying, "Africa for Mohammed!" Christian education and Christian medicine are the strongest foes to Islam and the emancipating friends of the African. These clearly demonstrate to the Africans the superiority of Christianity over Mohamme- SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 191 danism. Teachers and physicians are therefore the hope of Africa. Central and South Africa are threatened, on the one hand, with conunercialism and materialism, and on the other, strange to say, by the progress of civiHzation itself. Industrial and commercial agencies under American and European control are exploiting every nook and corner of Central Africa. Ninety to one hundred per cent of all natives of Central Africa are involved directly or indirectly in this industry and commerce. Evil forces accompany these agencies and seek profit in the demorahzation of the African. The African is hungry for education. The high schools for boys and girls cannot meet the demand for those seeking admission. Commercialism is interested in rubber, cocoa, oil-bearing seed, copper, tin, gold, and diamonds. The church is interested in the hf eblood which flows in the heart of these simple people, in the gold of their undeveloped nature which Christianity can refine, in the diamonds which a keen, sympathetic eye can dis- cover and which the touch of the Master can poKsh. China. — ^According to estimates there are six thous- and five hundred and sixty-one missionaries assigned to China. This staff is inadequate. It is estimated that if the entire number were distributed in direct rela- tion to population, it would mean one missionary — man, woman, educator, doctor, evangelistic worker, business agent or administrator — ^for each sixty thousand people. Illiteracy in China averages ninety-five per cent. It is estimated that the church could enroll one million children in the village primary schools if it had the teachers and the equipment. Christianity has given to China its modem civilization 192 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH — ^who will doubt that Christianity alone can make China the nation which it ought to be? Who wiU be one of the four thousand representatives asked for by the Christian church to join with the missionaries of the past and present in making this ancient nation realize the fullness of her untold possibilities? India. — ^India is in the midst of changes afifecting every phase of her national Ufe. Next to Russia, India is experiencing the greatest social upheaval of the age. The British government is already preparing to grant liberal extensions in the privileges of self-govern- ment. High castes are more accessible than ever before. There is widespread desire for popular education. There are mass movements toward democracy on the part of the fifty million outcasts. The church, through its missionaries, is in a large measure responsible for these improving conditions, looking toward a better social order. Christian leader- ship and guidance is now especially in demand. Oppor- tvmities for service are larger than ever before. Evange- hsts from many different provinces unite in testifpng to the readiness of the people, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, Hindu and Moslem, to listen attentively to Christian preaching and conversation when approach- ed in a tactful, friendly way. One denomination refused in a recent year to baptize a hundred and fifty thousand people for lack of missionary supervision and Indian pastors and teachers. The British government will pay practically half of the cost of mission schools provided these are well equipped and maintain high standards. The new demand for Western goods and the appre- ciation of American mechanical devices turn the popular mind toward the United States. The prominent and SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 193 idealistic part taken by the American people in the World War, in which the people of India also accomplished so much, has further opened the way for American mission- ary societies to help in the spiritual sphere. The un- selfish and successful work of American missionaries for generations past is being more and more appreciated, and new efforts will be welcomed because of past services. The Call to Service And so one might continue a review of the mission fields, finding everywhere need and opportunity for the social ministry of the church. Territorial and racial differences are of Httle concern when the fundamental needs of life are involved. It is not human want — that is everyTvhere. It is the divine at work through human beings changing human beings for the better that is the prime social need. It is not so much the place of service that counts — the spirit of service is the determining factor. Men and women ready to serve humanity through the church are in supreme demand. Mission boards can determine qualifications and suggest the place and sphere of the largest usefulness and service. Opportunities are legion. Dr. A. M. Zwemer,^ at the 1920 Student Volunteer Convention, declared in a spirited address that the "unoccupied mission fields and many isolated stations in the occupied fields are waiting for men and women who have physical courage. The heart of Asia and of Northern Africa are still awaiting missionary explora- tion. Arabia has never been crossed by a messenger of the gospel, although Dr. Paul W. Harrison has twice » "Students and World Advance" — ^Report of Des Moines Convention. Student Volunteer Movement. New York. 194 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH visited the capital of the central province of Nejd. Indo-China, Tibet, Nepal, Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Abyssinia, Darfur, and other lands stiU offer the glory of the untrodden path, the achievement that lures the explorer back again and again to his unfinished task. "More than the highest honors on the athletic field, more than the rigors of war, more than the lonely watch in the trenches, is the challenge of the difficulties that face the pioneer for the imoccupied fields in the world. Here are peril of climate and isolation and foe. Here is scope for such adventures as will attract the boldest spirits, men who desire to walk in the footsteps of Liv- ingstone and Moffat, Paton and Hannington, Chalmers and Pattison." At this same convention Dr. Charles R. Brown, dean of the School of ReHgion at Yale University, proclaimed that when men and women "think about the obhgations of the foreign field, they are not going out to snatch a few brands from the burning; they are going out to work with these people in putting the fires of evil out. They are not going out to rescue a few souls from a sinking ship and get them safely aboard the gospel ship; they are going out to work with those people in making the ship seaworthy and learn how to sail it on all the high seas of human interest. They are not going out to carry aside a few handfuls of meal to receive the leaven; they are going out to put the leaven down into the whole lump of educational and domestic, industrial and poUtical life until the entire lump of human relation- ships shall have been renewed. It is to that larger task of saving the world that men and women are being called." "And for that great task we are praying that God may raise up men and women, competent, consecrated, SOCIAL MINISTRY IN FOREIGN FIELDS 195 effective, for the furnishing of that necessary spiritual leadership. We want college men and women! We want men and women who know something of history, so that all the foolish experiments which have been made and failed will not have to be attempted again. We want men and women who know something of the sound economic principles that must underlie all human well- being. We want men and women who know something of the psychology of the human mind, so that they will be able to anticipate and rightly to appraise those thought movements which are destined to become controlling. We want men and women who have the scientific habit of mind, so that they will be able to draw the thing as they see it for the God of things as they are. And, coupled with all that skill in the use of the materials of civilization and advance, we want men and women who wiU labor for human betterment with their eyes and their minds upon that social order which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. If we can raise up a generation with spiritual vision, we shall see the kingdom of God coming with power and great glory in all the lands of the earth." The Head of the church gave expression to the prin- ciples underlying the social ministry of the church in these words recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came imto me. . . . Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." CHAPTER Xm OTHER FORMS OF SERVICE This study so far has been concerned largely with paid vocations within the church. In the church there are also numerous forms of voluntary service. Further- more, there are forms of Christian service which may be rendered through organizations and institutions closely allied with the church. To consider these is the object of this chapter. VOLITNTARY SERVICE WlTHTN THE ChURCH In the church there are many forms of volimtary service. The church school offers an especial opportu- nity for service of this kind. Also in the different churches there are many organizations in urgent need of voluntary leadership. Likewise the business and tempo- ral affairs of the church need careful oversight. In addition to aU of these the church needs moral and financial support. A more detailed consideration of these forms of voluntary service may suggest an oppor- tunity for your talent investment. The church school.— For the most part service in the church school is voluntary. At one time, however, its ofi&cers and teachers were paid — at least a nominal sum. In some churches to-day remuneration is offered. In the future paid service in the church school may become universal. The best type of instruction and oversight must be obtained, cost what it may. The 196 OTHER FORMS OF SERVICE 197 fact remains, none the less, that, as a rule Sunday- school officers and teachers are at present unremunerated. This fact need not, however, and must not detract from the quality of service rendered. A financially unrewarded service motive may develop a larger human personality and power than mechanical, humdrum paid service. Enthusiasm and devotion and loyalty plus training and ability may represent a higher order of success. In the organization of the church school there are various officers — superintendents, departmental super- intendents, secretaries, treasurers, choristers, librarians, and the like. A live and active superintendent means a live and active Sunday school. A man or a woman in touch with modern educational theory and practice and with keen organizing ability and insight, can lift a Sunday school into the front ranks of efficiency. Look over the list of progressive, flourishing church schools. Who stands at their head? A successful lawyer perchance, a man of business, some one from the ranks of the professions. On the other hand the unpro- gressive, backward Sunday schools are frequently those superintended by men conscientious enough, but men lacking vision, training, and aggressiveness. Such men, although they do their best, hold nevertheless to worn out, cut-and-dried, lifeless programs. This is not to criticize and find fault. That everyone can do. It is, rather, to urge yoimg men and women of ability to get into the work of the church school and improve it. Fran klin reminded us that there will be time enough to sleep in the grave. Many a golden opportunity awaits the young man or young woman who spends the Sunday morning hour in service rather than, as the wise man of 198 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH old so represented, in a little more sleep and a little more slumber. ¥ What applies to the superintendent applies all through the list of officers. There is httle reason why a trained private secretary should not handle the affairs of a Sunday school as efficiently as he or she handles the affairs of an office. The finances of the Sunday school need to be cared for in the same methodical and intel- ligent manner as the financial affairs of a bank or a business concern, and in the best of Sunday schools this is the case. Why not in yours? A trained libra- rian has an unusual opportunity to direct and stimulate the reading of Sunday school scholars. So has the musi- cian the opportunity to spiritualize the life of youth through harmony and song. Too much ragtime is time wasted. You are going to give your best to some form of business or professional activity. Why not give in a similar way of your best for at least an hour or more a week to a work as important as the work of the church school? It is in the realm of teaching especially that oppor- tunities for conquest lie. Too frequently the only question asked of a teacher is, "Will you take the class?" Imagine this as a test given the teachers of our public schools! But again this is not to criticize. All honor to the two million Sunday school teachers in our land! Many of them represent superior talent and training. Able teachers are giving freely of time and ability. The call for this tjT)e of teacher is urgent. A burning shame it is that so many well-trained high school and college young men and women refrain from taking active part in the religious training and nurture of the childhood and youth of our land! Recent surveys show OTHER FORMS OF SERVICE 199 the percentage to be embarrassingly low. To be sure, not every one can teach. If the teaching gift is yours, however, why not make use of such a gift in the name of the Giver of all good gifts? Church societies and organizations. — ^Another form of voluntary service is offered in connection with the various societies and organizations of the church. Here leadership is in demand, for leadership is the secret of success, especially in group organizations. The church has a number of organizations-^too many perhaps. There are, for example, adult and juvenile Missionary Societies, Leagues, unions, clubs, Endeavorers, circles guilds, brotherhoods and the like. AU have a purpose, either to develop religious and social life, or offer outlets for expressional activity, or both. Whatever the objec- tive may be, progress thereto is determined by leadership on the one hand and loyal support on the other. One of these forms of service — ^leadership or support — every member of such a group can and should render. Why should not the boy or girl who is or who has been a leader in high school or college be likewise a leader in church activities? Why should not the same type of loyalty given to fraternity, sorority, or team be given to one or more of the organizations of the church? Why not get your hands on the steering gear of some church organization? Be not stingy with the gas either. The divine supply of spiritual power is unKmited. There are no speed limits on the highway that leads to a larger and more useful religious life. Business and temporal affairs of the church. — Like any other business the business of the church demands careful, thoughtful consideration. Lax and slipshod business methods have crippled many churches. 200 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Minimum budgets and ninth-hour whirlwind campaigns to break even belittle the church in the eyes of progres- sive thought. A wholesome, healthy spiritual life caimot rest down on inefl&cient and dishonest business method and practice either by the individual or a group of individuals composing a church. The business affairs of the church are largely in the hands of laymen, and rightly so. It is an honor to be a vestryman, a deacon, a trustee, a steward or a warden! Here you have an opportunity to shape the financial poUcy of your church. Make that policy strong, businesslike, and safe. The church is in need of sound judgment and advice in matters material and financial. Give not all of your time and thought to the success and building up of your own business, or your own profession. Share with the church. Moral support. — ^With so large a membership it is obvious that there is not for everyone a place of active prominence either on boards, committees, in the work of the Sunday school, or even in the various organi- zations. The church nevertheless needs the moral support of every individual member and friend. The church is not perfect. No sane man makes that claim; nor will destructive knockers and disgruntled critics ever make it perfect. All constructive criticism is welcomed. One shoulder to the wheel is better than a thousand backs which are turned. When linked up with positives, negatives are essential — live wires result, and of such the church is in need. There is something good in the church. Improve the good, eliminate the bad, help make your church perfect, and in so doing further perfect yourself. Financial support. — ^The church is not subsidized. OTHER FORMS OF SERVICE 201 Few churches have productive endowments. Men and women are its assets. Its constituency is its dependence. Financial support is volimtary. Generous and whole- hearted is this support on the part of some, niggardly and miserly on the part of others. The average per week is pitiably low — less than twenty cents. Pros- perous America should be ashamed. Make up your mind that throughout your career, whatever it may be, the church shall have a definite and regular proportionate part of your income. This is stewardship, and who is not a steward of that which has been given to him? Tithing is the giving of a tenth. The testimony of tithes is an inspiring one. Experience alone, however, can prove its value for you. Representative of the spirit of the church. — Though one may not hold a high ofl&ce in the church, though one may not be in an exalted position of influence, nevertheless, upon one and all one thing is incumbent. It is important. It is vital. It is this: carry over into the home, info the community, and into business the moral principles for which the Christian Church stands and the Christian truth of which it is the sponsor. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewithal shall it be salted? ... Ye are the Ught of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men hght a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light vmto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Other Avenues of Christian Service In addition to the church there are other agencies and 202 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH institutions engaged in Christian work. There are, for example, among a long list of others, the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association; the Salvation Army; the Inter- national Sunday School Association; the Sunday School Council of Evangelical Denominations; the Sunday School Union; the American Bible Society; the American Red Cross; rescue missions; social settlements; philan- thropic organizations; charitable institutions; welfare agencies, and the like. Agencies related to the church. — Some of these are by-products of the church. Others have grown up to supplement the work of the church or to do work which the church has not done or could not do. A large pro- portion of the leaders in these organizations are church members. Directly or indirectly the service motive has been inspired by the church. All, in greater or less degree, are closely related to the church. We are not now, however, so much concerned with the closeness of this relationship. To spiritualize the social order is the one common end, and that is, after all, our chief concern. To bring this about churches and all other agencies are dependent upon men and women. And what kind of men and women? Those in whom wells of living water have been dug. The waters of the Mississippi enter into the Gulf through various outlets. So likewise will the waters of life find a way into the social order. Service deltas are numerous. If the Christian service motive has touched the springs of your life, serve you will and must somewhere and in some way. On the other hand, if the church has not inspired the Christlike motive of service, it is not likely that such a motive will ever be so inspired. OTHER FORMS OF SERVICE 203 Special lines of service. — Under the direction of the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Association there are, according to the latest available figures, 2,007 Y. M. C. A's., with 5,076 paid officers, 7 2, 7 79 directors and volunteer committeemen, and 739,438 members. The home work of this committee is divided into eleven departments: city, county, student, railroad, army and navy, colored, industrial, boys', physical, educational, reHgious; and six bureaus: building, busi- ness, secretarial, records. Association Press, and Associa- tion Men. In the Y. W. C. A., there are nearly one thousand paid employees, and a number of these are teachers receiving remuneration. For capable young men and women these organizations are constantly on the outlook. During the recent war persons without rank employed wholly in Salvation Army work totaled over six thou- sand. The normal strength of this Army is almost as large. During the war, paid and unpaid Red Cross workers totaled over eight millions. The latest figures show 12,704 paid and 1921 volunteer Red Cross workers. The International Sunday School Association, which is engaged in the promotion of the work of the Sunday school in the various denominations, uses in its paid service practically half a thousand men and women. The Sunday School Union, which established Sunday schools in unchurched areas, employs likewise a number of workers. The American Bible Society has agents in practically every land and colporteurs in most of the Conferences and church districts. In every large city there are numerous rescue missions and social settlements. The Commissioner of Charities of New York city receives a 204 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH salary of $7,500, while deputies and secretaries and inspectors receive $3,200. There are similar offices in all of our larger cities. Avenues of Christian service are therefore numerous. This service may be paid or voluntary, vocational or avocational, rendered through full or part time. That the world is in urgent need of such service is not to be questioned. That you, in some measure and in some capacity, can render your part of this service is also not to be questioned. Beware of the vocation that will make your influence in the world of spiritual life and reality negligible. Seek, rather, that avenue of service through which you can render the highest good to the greatest number of your fellow men. And where shall such a vocation be found? How Shall I Decide? As a guide in choosing a vocation Chapter I presented a standard of measurement. Subsequent chapters pointed out some of the vocations within the church. It is not claimed that this standard is a perfect one, nor that the vocations within the church are the only ones which measure up to this or even a more perfect standard. Thequestionis, rather, this: Does the church equally as well as other fields of endeavor, offer to you a career in which you can render your maximum of service? Stands not the church in more urgent need of your service than many other fields of endeavor? What, then, is your duty? Qualifications. — ^Perchance you say that you are not quaUfied. Perhaps not. That does not mean, however, that you cannot qualify. One measure of a man is the OTHER FORMS OF SERVICE 205 profession to which he can measure up. Big tasks not only call for big men — they make big men. The voca- tion to which you are called is the vocation that calls out the best that is within you. A worthy job in behalf of humanity does a worthier job for you. When you go out for the team the coach directs your train- ing. What better does he ask than promising raw material? When Hegel left the University his certificate stated that he was of middling industry and knowledge. Pas- teur "belonged merely to the category of good average students." At Eton, Gladstone gave no evidence of unusual ability. Napoleon Bonaparte stood forty- second in his class at the military school. So little ability did Isaac Newton show that at fifteen he was taken out of school and set to work on a farm. Lord Byron succeeded in reaching the head of his class only by inverting the proper order. Henry Ward Beecher was a poor writer and a miserable speller, with thick utterance and a bashful reticence that seemed like stu- pidity. It was the urge of a big, commanding task that reached the deeper levels of power in these men and lifted them from the ranks of mediocrity to places of eminence and renown. Do not, therefore, select a voca- tion because of what you may be now — select, rather, the vocation that will tend to make you, if you do your part, what you ought to be. It is not the voca- tion that will fit your present qualification, but, rather, the vocation that will demand your best qualifica- tions. Nor is it altogether the vocation that will make you a living — it is the vocation that will make you live. 2o6 VOCATIONS WITHIN THE CHURCH Argue not, therefore, your unfitness. Argue not in a circle, either, as Dr. Cabot has thus illustrated:^ so I it must st^nd find can't some I work. ing. But Vill- am is I liness fit Lone- for any? unfit. the How of one be lone- ly it to IS Consider, rather, the words of the Master of all good workmen: "Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." The harvest is truly plenteous, but the labor- ers are few. Looking on the fields of service with wide open eyes means eyes free from prejudice, bias, preconceived ideas, immature decisions. A vocation selected in the light of facts and of needs is a vocation wisely entered upon. What Men Live Bjr Permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. OTHER FORMS OF SERVICE 207 "A certain man had two sons. And he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father?" INDEX Action, age of, 17 Advertising, need for, 157 Africa, service in, 137; needs of, 156, 190 Agriculture, importance of, 55 American, red-blooded, 18, 176 American Bible Society, 202 Attitudes, religious, 109; toward life. III; right kind of, 1 12 Bible, basis of curriculum, 152; fundamental textbook, 123; need of knowing, 108; use in public schools, 113; trans- lated, 155; word of God, 100 Bible lessons, graded and un- graded, 152 Browning, quoted, 46 Bryant, quoted, 40 Buddha vs. Christ, 177 Bums, quoted, 113 Caste system, undermined, 183 Central America, needs of, 189 Childhood, asset of church, 122 China, medical missions in, 139; opportunities in, 157, 191 Choice, factors involved in, 23; made by Daniel, Grenfell, Jesus, Lincoln, Moses, Solo- mon, 23 Church, business affairs of, 199; educational function, 107; fi- nancial support of, 200; its ideal, 66; its work, 59; its work compared with bank and school, 65; moral sup- port, 200; organized for work, 70; periodicals within, 88; rural churches, 98; schools within, 84, 85; the Church, 58; vocations within, frontispiece. Church school, nature of, 120; voluntary service in, 186. (See Sua day school) College, product of church, 130; vocations in colleges, 84, 130 Community training schools, 125 Conservation, program of, no Courses, in community training schools, 126; in departments of religious eiducation, 131 Crisis, moral, loi Crusade, against disease, 136 Cultural values, 41 Degrees, kinds of, 18 Denominational boards, 79, 82, 185; budgets prepared by, 162, 1 65; publishers for, 150 Denominations, distribution of, 72; organization of, 77; why so many, 70 Divine influence upon life, 1 10 Education, board of, 84; minis- try of, 104; religious educa- tion, iioff. Educational renaissance, 104, meaning of, 105 Ethics, demand for, 61 Evangelism, through education, 107 Experience, religious, 107; de- pendent upon, 107 Federal Council of Churches, 74-5 Foreign fields, 165; social mmis- try in, 177 Franklin referred to, 197 Grace of God, upon life, no Habit, influencing vocational choice, 18, 33; a pilot, in Home, the, a teacher of religion 113; changing conditions of 114 209 210 INDEX Hospitals, supported by church, 135; Christian work in, 142 Ideal, of the church, 66; of church members, 107 India, Basil Mission in, 182; Ewing Christian College, in, 182; medical ministry in, 141; opportunities and needs in, 192 Instructorships, in colleges and universities, 168 Interchurch World Movement, budgets prepared by, 166, 188; reference to surveys conducted by, 98, 165, 166, 172-3, 184; survey department of, 75-6 International Lesson Commit- tee, 152 International Sunday School As- sociation, 102, 152 James, quoted, 33; referred to, 105 Journalism, profession of, 149 Knowledge, of most worth, 107; of God, III ; a trellis, 112 Korea, opportunities in, 145 Labor, a blessing, 17; dignity of, 46; division of, 45; one best form of, 19 Law, a profession, 50 Lawyer, test of, 51 Leaven of the spiritual, 48 Lesson systems, 152 Life, a growth, no; a divine gift, 112; a unity, in Literature, like a vault, a high- way, 41 Manufacturing industries, 47 Marriage, may limit vocational choice, 21 Master, the, builder of charac- ter, 19; quoted, 42, 51, 54, loi, 135. 195. 206, 207 Medical missionaries. Dr. Archer, 142; Dr. Bennett, 144; Dr. Cochran, 143; Dr. Grenfell, 23, 147, 181; Dr Mabie, 137; Dr. Pennell, 141 Medicine, a profession, 134; cost of preparation, 146 Mexico, needs in, 188 Migrant groups, 174 Milton, quoted, 95 Mining engineering, 52 Ministry, tiie work of the church, 60; educational ministry, 104, 118; medical ministry, 134; preaching ministry, 90; min- istry of publication, 149; so- cial ministiy: at home, 162; abroad, 177 Missionaries, achievements of, 180; at work, 178, 179; exam- ples of, 164 Missionary organization, a typi- ical example of, 86 Money, dangers of, 36; how much, 31, 38; like oil, 39; not the only criterion, 32; neces- sary, 29 Morgan Memorial, work of, 168 Motive, the Christian, 50, 202 Nature, its values, 40 Near East, opportunities in, 143 Necessity, economic, 26 Opportunities, in agriculture, 55- in foreign fields, 188; in home fields, 171; in education, 118; in law, 50; in manufacturing industries, 47, 48; in mining engineering, 52; in medicine, 53. 137; in preaching minis- try, 99; in writing, 149 Panama, needs in, 189 Periodicals, value of, 154 Personality, influence of, 34 Pillar of cloud, 106, no Population, engaged in gainful occupations, 44, 45; foreign, 175 Preaching, ministry of, 90 Public schools, not teachers of religion, 112; relation to church, 130 INDEX 211 Qualifications for vocations, 204 Reclamation-conservation, no Red Cross, workers in, 203 Religion, influence of, 14; funda- mental, 127; man's need of, 102 Religious education, a vocation, 118; directors of, 120, 124 Renaissance, educational, 104 Rockefeller Foundation, 139 Roosevelt, quoted, 94 Rural fields, divisions of, 171 Sabbath, day of rest, 42 Salaries, in industrial plants, 47; in medicine, 147; in ministry of preaching, 93 Salvation Army, workers in, 202 Samaritan, parable of the good, 51 Schools, in foreign lands, 182 Service, motive for, 146; quality of, 46 Shakespeare, quoted, 37; re- ferred to, no Social process, to spiritualize, 62 South America, opportunities in, 145, 156, 189 Standard of measurement, 24, 27 Sunday School Council, 202 Sunday School Union, 202 Sunday Schools, Board of, 85; Umitations of, 115; opportu- nities in, 196; statistics of, 72, 73 Supply and demand, law of, 34 Teachers, need of, 198 Tennyson, quoted, 48 Textbooks, need for, 151 Vacation Bible Schools, 129 Values, spiritual, 61 Vineyard, go into my, 207 Vocations, classified by Melton, 43; listed in Occupational In- dex, 44; distribution of, 43-45; within the church, 16 Week-day instruction, nature of, 126; inaugurated in Evanston, Gary, Hobart, Indiana Har- bor, Van Wert, 127, 128 Wordsworth, quoted, 40 Y. M. C. A., 61, 202, 203 Y. W. C. A., 61, 202, 203 iia iijiiiiiiiSi