A Modern Church Pro-am 64 Albert F. McGarrah tihvavy of Che t:Keolo0ical ^tmi PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE REVEREND JESSE HALSEY, D.D. BV 652 .M33 1915 McGarrah, Albert Franklin, 1878- A modern church program navy 1 CiAX-^L A MODERN CHURG _ PROGRAM A STUDY IN EFFICIENCY '^^^^ui.AL %i:^:^ BY / ALBERT F. McGARRAH Lecturer on Church Efficiency in McCormick Theological Seminary New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 191 5, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave. Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street DEDICATION To the Church of Christ throughout the world. To the multitudes of her pastors and leaders, with the millions of her plain and untitled but none the less faithful Christian men and women, old and young, who during nineteen centuries have labored and sacrificed, in fellowship with Christ, for the Kingdom of God as they under- stood it, and the fruits of whose labors we now enjoy. May we of this generation be as loyal in our day to the truth and to the Kingdom goals as we understand them. May we be as faithful in the use of the vast God-given resources in our hands, and for which we are stewards, in hasten- ing the completion of their labors, as they were with their resources which were so small in com- parison with ours. FOREWORD A SERIOUS crisis confronts the Church and the churches of today. They are overwhelmed, not by a closing of the hearts of men to spiritual things but, by the mar- velously increased readiness of the world to re- ceive the things of Christ. A Day of Great Opportunities Not in many generations, probably not since Reformation days, has the Church been con- fronted by such grand opportunities for advance, for glorious conquests over the hearts of individ- uals, communities, and nations. From China and Japan, from India and Mo- hammedan lands, from the missions of Africa and of South America, the testimony is the same — unprecedented demands for Bibles and missionaries and greater harvests from the evan- gelistic, educational, and other missionary efforts. Equally inspiring is the new interest of Ameri- cans in the things of the spirit, to which all de- nominations testify. The annual accessions to our churches and the net gains in membership have suddenly leaped 50 per cent, 100 per cent, or even 300 per cent over previous years. The M. E. Church reports an average net gain of 5 6 FOREWORD i6i,cxD0 in the last two years, nearly 200 per cent over her average annual net gain of 56,000 from 1909 to 1912, and she is diligently aiming at a net gain of 250,000 during the present year. The Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., reports a net gain of 67,000 last year, or over three times her aver- age net gain of 20,000 from 1909 to 191 2. Her accessions on confession each year increased 60 per cent from 191 1 to 1915. Baptists, Disciples, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Congregationalists, and most of the smaller bodies, likewise report a rising tide of spiritual interest from Maine to California and from the palms of Florida to the wind-swept Dakotas. The Wall Street Journal and the Socialist daily do agree in recognizing the potential superiority of the Christian ideals, if in nothing else; while European warriors and American statesmen are discovering and re- emphasizing the fact that Christianity has not yet been tried, and are challenging Christian leaders to new efforts to establish throughout the world a Christianity which is twenty-four carats pure. The Serious Question — The Local Church Tidings come from every community in the land of a rich harvest awaiting those churches which go efficiently about their task; of millions of the unchurched who respond as never before to sane and definite religious messages, and of other millions within the Church who have hitherto FOREWORD 7 merely lent their names to Christianity and who can now be led as never before to put their Christian faith into practice, to follow and serve Christ instead of simply admiring Him afar off. Clearly American churches of today do not lack opportunities for winning new members or for leading their old members to higher and worthier Christian lives. The immediate lack of the average church is more easily met. It is the lack of an adequate policy and method ; the lack of a far-sightedness which shall appreciate and intelligently cultivate this new religious interest and shall clearly and convincingly interpret to it the satisfactions and blessings which Christianity offers ; the lack of a plan for utilizing all its new resources of money and equipment and of mobilizing and organizing every member into a Macedonian phalanx — or rather into a ' mighty * ' modern ' * army, ' which it shall deploy with military strategy to perform its share in the conquest of its community and of all the earth; the lack of a large program which shall comprehend the full meaning of the Kingdom of God, shall cultivate all its interests and hasten the enthroning of Christ in every in- dividual heart, in business and politics, in social activity and scientific progress. How shall each local church perform her duties as a church of Christ, in these days of oppor- tunity for which our fathers prayed and for which the world has been in travail ? How shall 8 FOREWORD she so formulate her strategy and employ and direct her forces as to drive back most rapidly the wavering lines of individual sin and selfish- ness, of organized evil and social injustice; and liberate the millions who long for the true Christ whom as yet they do not clearly appreciate? How shall she succeed in " killing two birds with one stone," in developing her present mem- bers more perfectly into the likeness of their Lord by setting them at work to strengthen their spiritual muscle by winning their unsaved brethren, by serving their fellows and friends and neighbors, by bringing blessing to the poor and needy of their ward or township as well as to their other neighbors on the far sides of the earth ? The Mighty Church Member *' Evangelists cannot save the world," says Dr. Biederwolf, Secretary of the Commission on Evangelism of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, himself a leading evangelist. He adds, " Evangelists have a part to perform but it is only a small part of the whole. Neither can ministers and missionaries save the world, indispensable and noble as their work is. The world must be saved by ordinary individuals, by lay Christians, who help save themselves by saving others." The fourth chap- ter of Ephesians tells how, under the leadership of pastors and evangelists, the saints, the ordi- FOREWORD 9 nary members, are to do the ministering, " till we all attain " more perfectly unto " a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the full- ness of Christ, that we may be no longer chil- dren," but " may grow up in all things." This is not the day for superficial doctrines nor for lengthy discussions, but for central truths and immediate action. Finely polished creeds are grand, but a simple statement of the Gospel of Christ, corroborated by practice, will serve in the present urgent crisis and there is no time to lose. A Lesson from Militarism Neither is this merely the day for detached methods and petty details. Tactics are fine, but it is the organizing intelligence of Europe that is guiding her vast armies to victories. Foresight, superiority of plans_, efficiency of equipment and training, and organizing and strategic genius are proven far superior to brute force or abstract knowledge or racial superiority. The Church likewise must remember that it is not dreams and emotions but equipment and brains, not theology but vitality, not large num- bers but the skill with which they are enlisted and organized and directed, which will win her victories. The children of this world are still proving by their efficiency in warfare that they are wiser than the children of light. Hand-to- hand work counts if the equipment is good, but 10 FOREWORD the problems and activities of even a modest- sized church in this complex age are too com- plex, and on too large a scale, to be solved in the day of battle. Back of every victorious church, as of every victorious army, there w^ill be found an organizer with skill and with strategic talent, an arsenal of supplies, complete plans for a long campaign, and a counselor in dealing with local situations and with special problems as they develop. Nearer home, the successful churches of to- day teach the same lesson of how God is on the side of the church which sets every member to work, which has a well-wrought-out program, a carefully unified organization, diligent and com- petent leaders in every office and committee, and efficient privates in the rear rank. They win the greatest and most permanent victories in the war- fare against the powers of darkness, even as the modern army, with its machine guns and tele- phones, its aeroplanes and submarines, its perfect organization and esprit de corps, is putting supe- rior numbers to disastrous defeat if they depend on antiquated equipment, and plans, and methods. A Modern Church Program A modern church must have an adequate mod- ern program. What must be the characteristics of such a program for a church of today? It must be far-sighted. Every church must have a definite policy instead of '' waiting for FOREWORD 11 something to turn up." It must look as far ahead as German "militarism" or British "naval- ism." Otherwise it is disloyal to the God who is the source of all business sense and the originator of all efficiency ideas and methods, and who wants them used for the promotion of Peace and Life rather than of Death and Destruction. It must be comprehensive. It must include evangelism and missions and education and com- munity welfare and human betterment. It must recognize that God is the creator of all men and of all of men and that He is concerned for all of these. It must forbid any of its members to think that God can give them His fullest blessing and approval so long as they are indifferent to the physical or intellectual or social or economic or moral and spiritual welfare of any of their weaker or less fortunate fellow-men, " God's other children." It must be well-balanced. It must recognize that Man is pre-eminently spiritual, and that, while his body and mind and home are to be re- deemed, yet the development of his spiritual powers is the supreme end of all these, and that all things are of value only as aids to this end. It must be complete. It must include and dominate and co-ordinate and give largest effi- ciency to the policy and program of each of its departments and societies. It must place the church first, insisting that all its member-organi- zations shall work in harmony with itself as the 12 FOREWORD body. Yet it must properly recognize and intelli- gently provide for the utmost welfare of all its parts, from the parish house and the Scouts to the women and the Sabbath School. It must be successful. Theories and prin- ciples are good but " results Count." " By their fruits ye shall know them " is as true of a church or of its program as of an individual. Many churches have secured and are securing most wonderful results along one or several lines. The programs and methods used by such churches must be diligently and patiently scruti- nized and the fundamental principles and plans combined into a workable and well-balanced whole. It must be flexible. In an incoherent and changing age, it must be capable of adaptation to any community or situation, and of constant re- adjustment to changing conditions and needs. It must be capable of inter-denominational adaptation. The Church, in every city or com- munity, is a unity. Team work will multiply results and power. Army divisions cannot co- operate properly with other divisions unless their policy and program are similar. Church organi- zation and methods must cease to be predomi- nantly denominational and must become rather predominantly community. Each church will gain greatly when a general program is followed simultaneously by all the churches in the same newspaper district. FOREWORD 13 In this manual, the writer has sought to in- corporate the results of years of study of the science of " Church Engineering," the fruits of personal visits and counsel to thousands of churches of every denomination and location and of every size and problem. It presents a com- prehensive but simple and workable program, every element of which has been tested and ap- plied with largest success, which can be used by any church or group of churches with great ad- vantage. It is not all new. Most of it is as old as Wesley, or Calvin, or the New Testament times. It is new chiefly because of its compre- hensiveness and of its presentation in such form as to be feasible for any community. May it help to hasten the day when, by Man's co-operation with God^ and by his faithful and efficient use of all the material and spiritual forces and resources over which Infinite Wisdom and Power has given him dominion, the prayer of our Lord shall be fully answered : " May thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." Chicago, A. F. McG. August, 1915. CONTENTS I. A Constructive Modern Church Year 17 II. Church Visitation and Efficiency 25 III. An Autumn Church Efficiency Campaign 33 IV. Efficient Preparation for a Cam- paign 43 V. Some Vital Questions Answered 52 VI. The Follow-up Campaign . . 61 VII. Federated City Efficiency Pro- grams T] VIII. Publicity Committee Activities . 86 IX. Six Essential Factors of an Effi- cient Church 99 Appendix A 115 Appendix B 118 A CONSTRUCTIVE MODERN CHURCH YEAR A CHURCH year is an essential basis for the most successful work of any church. -The old ideal of a "Church Year" as formulated in medieval times, and which gen- erally prevails even now — ^the observance of spe- cial seasons for traditional reasons — is far short of the church year needed today, and must be vastly transformed before it will conform satis- factorily to the present conditions and actual problems which confront the churches of this age. Yet a constructive " church year," as already clearly developed or dimly foreshadowed in thou- sands of churches, appeals to every statesman as a marked stride toward real church efficiency. We may confidently anticipate that almost every church will, within a few years, adopt a practical modern church year, harmonizing all its social and spiritual activities in a comprehensive annual program adapted to its local situation. (A.) Why a Church Year? Every institution is greatly affected by the sea- sonal interests and activities. — physical, social, in- 17 18 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM tellectual, and economic — of its constituency. Though factories and banks maintain certain ac- tivities at all seasons, yet even they have their rush and slack periods, while their seasonal activities supplement and greatly modify even their routine work. While churches are more successful today than ever before, yet no church can attain to its largest efficiency until it studies its seasonable opportunities and duties as care- fully as a department store studies the times for pushing school books and house furnishings, Panama hats and Christmas presents, garden tools and fruit jars. The Church learns the lesson from the farm, whence Christ drew so many parables. Farmers nurture corn and cabbages, while churches nur- ture immortal spirits ; but nurture presupposes times for plowing and subsoiling, for harrowing and seed-sowing, for cultivating the growing life and protecting it from its enemies, for gathering the harvests and conserving the fruitage of the year's labor before it becomes overripe or is de- stroyed by unfavorable autumn storms. The farm year begins with spring and ends with au- tumn. The church year, with equal distinctness, begins with autumn and ends with, or at least reaches its climax in, the spring. This does not mean that a church should sow seed only in the autumn or harvest results only in the spring. As the farmer uses part of his winter leisure to study his work, to do winter A CONSTRUCTIVE CHURCH YEAR 19 plowing, and to scatter grass-seed on the snow, so will the minister utilize part of his summer energies. As the agriculturist harvests asparagus and rhubarb before his corn is planted, or plants winter wheat while corn conservation is at its zenith, so the soul-culturist will carefully con- serve everything that ripens in the autumn, and will sow seed in the spring at every opportunity. But as there is " a time for everything under the sun," the Church must study the divinely or- dained seasonal laws which apply to its work and seize the providential times for all its activities. (B.) The Church Year in Outline (i.) The Autumn Instead of deploring the socially disintegrating and demoralizing forces of summer, the wise churchman rejoices in them. To his prophetic insight the wisdom and the goodness of the Almighty are revealed in the placing of latent church-workers in the midst of the unchurched, in the seasonal weakening of lodge and club and other ties which absorb spiritual energies as suckers absorb the vitality of growing corn. God gives the farmer a new chance each spring. He reduces the demands upon the growing stems that their overplus of branches may be pruned v/ithout danger before their new growth begins. He deepens and loosens and increases the fertil- ity of the soil by snows and floods and frosts and thaws. He saturates the ground with moisture 20 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM and the sun's heat so that seeds may sprout and root properly and plants may attain a reasonable growth before the summer heat which burns up seedlings while it blesses the maturer plants. So God grants to each church annually new opportunities for improved husbandry. The mov- ing seasons of spring and autumn, the broaden- ing experiences of summer vacations, the break- ing of old associations, the stimulus of new employments and surroundings and acquaint- ances upon each individual and each community, in the school and in the home, in economic and social affairs — these are to each church what win- ter and spring are to the farmer. They give her the chance to end and forget the mistakes of the past in a new and wiser campaign, to introduce new methods and ideals most effectively, to ap- proach the disaffected folk with new hopeful- ness, to prune away interests and associations and ideals which are hurtful to her members and to her community, to clear away spiritual thorns and briers and to break up the fallow ground more easily, to appropriate vast fields in the lives of members and non-members before they are fully occupied by other interests. Instead of autumn's necessary readjustments being hindrances to church work, they are as beneficial as are the storms of the vernal equinox to the farmer's spring work. The Church must simply revise her program, mobiHze her forces, and improve her methods, so as to take advan- A CONSTRUCTIVE CHURCH YEAR 21 tage of them to the full. Farmers must grub and plow and sow and prune and cultivate, ac- cording to well-made plans, before the season is too far advanced, before the summer drouth bakes the ground, before great weeds and new thorns develop ; so each church must plan well in advance to undertake such timely and strenuous autumn activities as will pre-empt the unoccu- pied time and interest of her members, will gain her new neighbors before other associations have been made and their minds have settled into the unresponsive grooves of winter routine, will sow the seed of more worthy ideals and more ade- quate Christian purposes in the lives of all indi- viduals and of the community before all the space is occupied by social and economic and intellectual cares and before all their enthusiasm has been exhausted upon less important matters, she must provide activities and associations and nurture new affections which shall not only expel others that are inferior, but shall grow strong enough and root deeply enough to hold their own before they are overshadowed and choked by others which, even though proper, are but second-best. This is, in large measure, the peren- nial autumn duty and task of every church. (2.) The Winter Each winter reveals human enthusiasms for big business and cravings for social adventures; but these, instead of being a curse, vividly reveal 22 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM the vast undeveloped potentialities for winter achievements in spiritual lines if wise church- leaders will pre-empt and harness the hungers and forces thus disclosed for church programs of equal magnitude, made with equal wisdom and definiteness, brought to public attention with equal tact and effectiveness, carried through with equal bigness of enthusiasm and purpose and under equally competent administrative leader- ship. The popularity of university extension and other educational courses reminds us also that churches should have weekday religious educational work of real intellectual and social value. (3.) The Summer Instead of the summer season being an occa- sion for despair, the misunderstood auto and the auto-season are divinely offered opportunities. The autoist can be awakened to a social sym- pathy for those who cannot enjoy the open country and the glories of nature without his machine and his help. Auto-loads of men and women, speakers and singers, can be mobilized for the rural evangelization of an entire county if preparations are carefully made. The park season, the longings for travel, for ten-day ex- cursions, for week-end trips, for house parties, and for outdoor camps, can be wonderfully util- ized for spiritual retreats at country places, for character-forming camps for young people, for A CONSTRUCTIVE CHURCH YEAR 23 vacation Bible schools, for park services. Ten- day vacation time Efficiency Institutes for the present and potential leaders of every depart- ment of church work may be conducted at at- tractive spots in every county and community as regularly and successfully as the annual mid- winter Farmers' Institute, under denominational or interdenominational auspices. (4.) The Springtime The Lenten season, with the annual testimony of nature to immortality, with its world-wide em- phasis upon religion, and its newspaper reports of Lenten activities, with its partial cessation of worldly activities, is pre-eminently the season for crystallizing and conserving all those enlarged religious interests which a year of activity has developed among its members, and for the har- vesting into membership and to devoted lives of Christian service for the Kingdom of Christ of all those who have been in any way interested during the year. To these ends, rally days, Lenten campaigns, and many other seasonable activities have been pretty widely established, but the good results from their isolated and unrelated use are but faint illustrations of the multiplied results which are being gained by a few churches that have already grasped the possibilities through a com- plete church year and have properly worked out 24 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM and carried through a really comprehensive an- nual program. The Conclusion The time has come for the churches to recog- .nize these annual cycles of opportunity and to improve them by adopting constructive church programs of revolutionary magnitude — for twelve-month campaigns — which shall be peren- nially repeated, and which shall properly co- ordinate and enlarge and give multiplied efficiency to, all the social, educational, publicity, financial, missionary, administrative, and other activities of the Church as a whole and of each of its organ- izations. II CHURCH VISITATION AND EFFICIENCY TWO of the most serious problems of the average church are these: First, to en- list all its folks in such Christian work as is adapted to their spiritual and other attain- ments and will insure their most rapid maturity in spiritual health and strength, and, second, to get all the work done that ought to be done in and for and by the church. (A.) Every Member Needs Work to Do In the fields of physical and intellectual de- velopment, the primary importance of exercise is fully recognized. But there is no more folly in expecting to develop healthful young women by simply feeding and clothing them, while neg- lecting the matter of physical exercise, than there is in expecting to develop Christian strength simply by supplying church members with beau- tiful surroundings and fine sermons. Efforts to promote spiritual wisdom by con- ducting Bible study without assigning tasks which put every lesson into practice will be as 25 26 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM disappointing as efforts to make mechanics of boys who never used machinery or to develop master logicians without practice in conversa- tional or public debates. Highly polished sermons are best. But as bread and potatoes hold small attraction for the " indoor girl " whose tastes will run to spices and pickles and chocolates, so sermons filled with moral and spiritual food make little appeal to idle church members. Their chief concern will be with literary style and delivery, or with the relative merits of soloists, or with the minister's good taste in choosing neckties, and with the length of his prayers. A thorough study of the Bible and its doc- trines is fundamental ; but unless efforts are made to apply these doctrines to life the tendency will be to abstract discussions of the " ancient fathers " instead of *' present-day sons " of Jonah, instead of our personal sins and tempta- tions and how to meet them. As indigestion, nervousness, and ill-temper are likely to follow rich food with idleness, so criti- cisms of the pastor and church quarrels become serious problems in churches where spiritual in- activity has induced spiritual dyspepsia. As physical and mental athletes may be developed only by hard labor and exhausting intellectual activities, so hardy, wholesome, and red-blooded Christians can be developed only by diligent work for the Church and for their fellow-men. CHURCH VISITATION Ti Bible study and prayer and attendance on serv- ices are not Christian exercises, but preparation therefor. Christians whose church letters lie in trunks, who go motoring on Sunday morning, who feed church troubles, who emphasize orthodoxy or heterodoxy to the neglect of brotherly love, and who yield easily to temptation, are largely the church members whose spiritual diet was not accompanied by such attention to spiritual hy- giene and exercise as would enable them to secure pleasure and strength from very poor sermons. (B.) The Need of Workers On the other hand, abundant occupations can be assigned in looking out for new members and helping to develop present members, in develop- ing missions or Sunday-school classes, or in help- ing in many ways to meet the educational, social, financial, and other spiritual tasks of the church ; in providing athletics, camps, domestic science, manual training, and vocational counsel for boys and girls ; in helping inexperienced housekeepers and young mothers; in giving brotherly encour- agement to young men who are making a start in life, and to older men who lack suitable employ- ment; in making provision for the poor or the wronged, for the aged and the lonely, for stran- gers and new-comers, for the tempted and the 28 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM backslider, for any of the individual or social needs of members of the church and of the com- munity. If any member or adherent of any church lacks opportunity to exercise his spiritual powers, it is not for lack of tasks. Every wide-aw^ake pas- tor can find work for every man and woman, for every boy and girl, which will keep them out of mischief and obviate the danger of backsliding in morals or interest. (C.) Where Is the Remedy? But the problem has been to start the mem- bers to work and to develop in them the ability to undertake increasing responsibilities. Incom- petence and unwillingness among their members in the matter of service have been the despair of modem pastors. ^* The solution of this problem is being found, by the up-to-date pastor and his wide-awake offi- cers, to lie in the visitation idea, which is spreading so rapidly. The every-member can- vass for pledges proved a financial gold mine for the church, but it yielded by-products of even greater value. Thousands of canvassers for church pledges were like sheep-dogs — one taste gave them an appetite for, and the habit of doing, church work. Besides, their visits blessed the churches. New members were found and old ones reclaimed, the caste spirit tumbled, and a new social friendliness resulted, family prayers CHURCH VISITATION 29 and district prayer meetings were established, dis- trict prayer meetings and men's Bible classes were revived, and brotherhoods formed, etc. Hence the discovery : // men and woman who have hitherto avoided responsibility in and work for the church can be enlisted for a visitation, because it lasts only a half day, because they have a definite task to accomplish, because every- body is doing it at the same time, because they have the privilege of choosing a teammate and of going where they are willing to go ; and if such visitors are led to study their Bibles more regu- larly, to attend and to boost the church more and to volunteer for further service, and if folks are so hungry for church visits by ordinary folk of their own level, with whom they can become ac- quainted, why not arrange for visitations for other purposes than finance, in which every mem- ber, however timid or tactless or inexperienced, can be used and developed for larger tasks and greater responsibilities ? (D.) When Visitations Are Made The proposition usually takes this form: From 20 to 30 per cent of the members are asked to serve in a grand social and spiritual visitation on a Sunday afternoon three or four times a year. A definite purpose is developed. A letter is sent out to everyone that is, or might become, con- nected with the church, explaining the matter, and the visitors are trained in the light of the 30 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM purposes of each visitation. Large results are attempted and large things expected. The first visitation is usually made in the autumn, on the Sabbath before Rally Day. It is found most desirable to set aside the entire month of October for an autumn Rally and *' Go- to-Church " Campaign, in which the effort is made to secure the largest possible average at- tendance upon all the services of the church and of each organization, to arouse every former mem- ber of the church and Sabbath School, especially those who have grown indifferent, to the largest possible enthusiasm ; to interest in the church all the new-comers and as many of the old residents as possible; to establish the habit of regular church attendance; to enlist for church member- ship those who are prepared ; to enlist every per- son for membership in some Sunday-school class and in at least one other organization ; and so to perfect the machinery and arouse the loyalty of the members as to insure to the church its high- est possible efficiency for the year, especially for the intensive midwinter educational, devotional, and spiritual campaign, and for the Lenten evan- gelistic campaign. The second visitation will ordinarily be made on the first Sabbath of January, when a special effort is put forth to obtain the largest possible enrollment in special educational classes outside the Sunday-school hour, to insure a deep interest CHURCH VISITATION 31 in, and a large attendance at, the community prayer meetings during the following days, etc. The slogan has been used, " Start the New Year right. Go to church tonight and all this year. Give religion a pre-eminent place. Estab- lish a family altar in your home and the habit of daily Bible study and prayer in your life." The third visitation is made at the beginning of a Lenten Evangelistic Campaign, in which an effort is made to harvest all the results of the work of the church for the year, to bring all the members to the highest possible levels of Christian faith and faithfulness, and to lead all those who are prepared to a public acceptance of Christ and entrance upon lives of definite service as church members. Other special visitations may be made at suit- able seasons for the sake of the finances, for securing a complete spiritual or social survey of the community, for emphasizing the ideals of Christian citizenship just before an election in which moral matters are concerned, or for some other special purpose. (E.) Results To Be Expected If properly arranged for and followed up, such a visitation program will usually result in a veritable revolution in the spirit and life of a church and of all its people, in enrolling multi- tudes of new workers and new members. One Chicago church added over 300 per cent to its 32 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM attendance and over loo per cent to its mem- bership within six months, beginning with such a visitation and having a follow-up along these lines. Some classes increased tenfold in num- bers and attendance. In the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago more than lOO men and women are enrolled for regular visitation work, while the men alone average more than lOO calls per week. An Indiana church has district com- mittees which make four complete annual visita- tions before its communion services and which look after the sick and the poor, the disaffected and the indifferent, as well as the pastor could. When the visitation work is done so largely by his members, the pastor will not only have far larger and more attentive audiences, but he can take more time to prepare his sermon, to teach the necessary Bible and catechetical classes, etc. Any church will increase its efficiency from 25 to 100 per cent by such enlistment of its mem- bers in easy tasks, so preparing them for more difficult tasks. Ill AN AUTUMN CHURCH EFFICIENCY CAMPAIGN (A.) Making Definite Plans THE first step is to make plans. No effi- cient builder begins a job until he has made complete blue-prints, both in gen- eral and iti detail; so the efficient church man- ager. Blue-prints and church plans must be modified as work progresses, but inefficiency, if not disaster, will result unless they are made as a whole. The program for the entire year should be out- lined, providing for logical and strategic advance each month. The autumn rally and attendance campaign, for enthusing old members and en- listing new members in all branches of the work, will be launched early in September, will con- tinue under full headway until November i, when its demands as to time and enthusiasm will be somewhat relaxed. It will gradually merge into the winter campaign of intensive devotional and educational activities, which reaches full headway early in January and merges into the Lenten Evangelistic and Harvest Campaign about March i. 34 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM Of course the autumn campaign can begin several weeks later if full preparations cannot be made by October i. Detailed plans for the autumn campaign should be made early. One church of 1,300 mem- bers formulated its program for the year, and especially for the autumn, during the preceding May and June : including tentative sermon sub- jects for every Sabbath of the year, the different progressive steps to be taken during the year, with dates ; the appointment of an executive com- mittee, the preparation of full lists of the people to be visited, the names of the autumn visitors, the district boundaries, the appointment of spe- cial committees for every organization and de- partment for making plans and for conserving results ; the appointment of a chairman, with per- manent executive and general committees, for each district; the preparation of preliminary drafts of all advertising matter and of complete card indexes, arrangements for the necessary funds, the goals to be suggested for each organ- ization and department, etc. No wonder that church made, in that year, a net gain at every point, which was from 50 to 200 per cent greater than the corresponding net advances during the preceding year. Only general plans should be announced in the spring. An invaluable psychological effect is usually obtained by fostering curiosity, by de- laying announcements of details until their pub- AN AUTUMN CAMPAIGN 35 licity is essential. To announce many details at once may bewilder and discourage folks. Be- sides, the details, and even the general plans, should be subject to revision, if good reason ap- pears, even while they are in execution. (B.) The Heart of the Campaign The autumn campaign usually centers about what may be announced either as a " Go-to- Church" Campaign or as a Rally, lasting four or five weeks, usually through October. This should never exceed six weeks. It is difficult to hold attention at white heat, which is so essential, for a longer time, since the end will, to most folks, seem too far away and too difficult to reach. Besides, a long campaign borrows from the enthusiasm and energy which are demanded by the even more important winter and spring campaigns. Work should be continuously main- tained on a high level, as we shall see, but the tension should be voluntarily reduced before the inevitable reaction. Special campaigns, like ser- mons, are more stimulating and effective if short, (C.) The Purposes of the Campaign The definite aims in the autumn campaign should be: First, to give all church members the religious exercises which they need, at tasks suited to their talents and spiritual attainments, so as to de- 36 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM velop their spiritual muscle and to fit them for more difficult tasks, to deepen their sense of the real value of the church to themselves and to the world, to give a taste of the joy of religious service and to prove that they can be more use- ful and happy in such service than they had thought, to enlarge their mutual acquaintance with and esteem for one another and to promote the social unity of the church, to reveal the inade- quacy of their present religious education and experience, and to increase their appetite for and their power to assimilate stronger and more nour- ishing spiritual meat. Second, to convince the young people and the unchurched masses of the real sincerity and real value of the church, of the breadth and pre- eminence and authority and virility and democ- racy of the church; to awaken their interest in eternal and infinite truth, especially in the teach- ings of Jesus ; to give them new and congenial friends, to prepare them for the more spiritual and devotional campaign of the winter, and for definite enlistment for church membership and for larger service during the Lenten campaign. Third, to quicken the interest of the com- munity in the things of the Spirit; to give a clearer understanding of the sovereignty of God, of the Lordship of Christ over all of life, of the broader aspects of Christianity and of its far-reaching social values, of the number and unity and power of the Christians of the com- AN AUTUMN CAMPAIGN 37 munity, of the business sense and practical brotherliness of the followers of Christ. Fourth, to give the church its proper pre-emi- nence in the thought and life of the community and in the affections of its members and a stronger claim and influence upon its children by proving its usefulness; to enlarge its social and financial and spiritual resources and to mul- tiply the number and efficiency of its workers, to enlarge greatly its constituencies in the Sab- bath-school and other societies and to delimit other new fields and opportunities for advancing the Kingdom, to develop the needed loyalty and vision and organization and leadership for its activities during the balance of the year, gen- erating such enthusiasm as will insure the utmost efficiency. Usually such enthusiasm for the church is not attained before November or Janu- ary, save by this method. (D.) Getting Started The autumn campaign must be brought to its climax by a grand visitation, which is prepared for with utmost care, which is made just preced- ing the campaign, usually on the last Sabbath afternoon of September. Enlist for it the aid of every member of the congregation who is at all fitted for such work or who could be helped by being coupled with a more competent visitor. A team visits every home, explains the plans of the church for the year, and especially for the 38 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM autumn, gives a cordial and urgent invitation to every service of the church and the Sabbath- school, and to membership in classes and societies suited to their needs. Special attention is given to special classes — the disaffected members, new families, parents of children v^ho are nov^ in the Sabbath School, boys and girls who feel that they have outgrown the Bible School, timid members, those who should become members or active workers in any organization of the church, etc. (E.) Attention to Details Throughout the campaign, the Publicity Com- mittee and the Visitation and Social and Mem- bership Committees of the districts and of each organization will be tireless in their activities. Utmost care will be taken that all strangers and new members are given hearty welcomes and handshakes both as they enter and as they leave each service, and that they are introduced to many others of their own ages and interests. New addresses will be obtained at every service by the ushers and by the use of information cards, and added to the mailing Hsts. Each service is followed by a " Friendly Half Hour " for social intercourse. Kindly pressure is brought on every one to attend church, and to enroll in and to attend regularly the Sunday School and at least one other organization. All who fail to attend are visited three or four times by suitable teams, usually of their own ages and AN AUTUMN CAMPAIGN 39 interests, and are stirred up by telephone calls and postcards. The congregation, as well as each district com- mittee and each organization of the church (each class, if possible), will give a social and enter- tainment free to all those whom it wishes to enlist. All services will be made as attractive as possible in every respect — music, seating, en- thusiasm, sermons, etc. Everything possible is done to emphasize the pre-eminence of religion and of the church, the brotherliness and Christ- likeness of the members, the breadth of the church's interests, etc. (F.) Careful Clinching At the close of the campaign a full report is printed, or read from the pulpit if the church is small, telling in detail of the campaign, of the number attending each of the various services and departments during the month, of the per cent of increase in attendance over the same serv- ices of the preceding year, of the results of the competitions between the various classes and de- partments and societies (and between all the churches if it has been possible to arrange for a simultaneous city-wide campaign), as to the average attendance, as to the per cent of attend- ance by members, as to the per cent of new mem- bers added during the month, and as to the gain in each respect over the same records in former years. 40 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM In addition to giving honors to such organ- izations as make the best records in each respect, suitable recognition should be given to all indi- viduals who attain to certain standards. For example, one church offered a white ribbon for attendance upon at least one preaching service each Sabbath, a blue ribbon for regular and prompt attendance at Sabbath School, a red rib- bon for the devotion of at least two hours each week to visitation or other church work (attend- ance not counted as work), and a red-white-and- blue rosette to those who qualified in all three respects. At the close of the attendance and membership competition there should be a " New Members' Recognition Sabbath." In addition to reports and recognitions as suggested above, a full printed list is distributed of all classes and or- ganizations, with all their members. The new names added to each department and class are printed in itahcs, while the names of old mem- bers, who deserve special recognition because of attendance and efforts, are checked with one or more stars. At the public service the secretary of each class and organization rises and reads the names of the newly enrolled members thereof, who rise in a body and receive a salute from the congregation. Thus each class is led to at- tend church in a body, each new member re- ceives a public welcome from the church, while all organizations and individuals are made to AN AUTUMN CAMPAIGN 41 realize the supremacy of the church as well as the importance to the church of each department and class and individual. Special souvenirs may be given to the new members who, during the following month, are honored by the organizations in which they have enrolled with special receptions, etc., where they receive definite instruction as to the meaning of, and the duties involved in, membership in these societies. It is better for such as have no real stability to be weeded out now than to burden the records with their names and cause depres- sion by erasing them later. Many new members will usually be received into the church at this time. But in the heat of such a campaign many can easily be induced to " join " who have gained no adequate conception of the duties involved — to whom church mem- bership means nothing more as to faith and as to responsibility for attendance and life than membership in a lodge or club, and who should rather be enrolled in special instruction classes, where they will be given full insight into the fundamentals of Christianity during the winter. They will thus become more valuable and re- liable as members when they are enrolled during the March campaign. But a permanent and stable gain of from 20 to 200 per cent should be made in the mem- bership of and attendance at each organization during such an October campaign if proper care 42 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM is taken to add efficiency to enthusiasm. Many- additional prospects will be found who can be intelligently cultivated during the remaining months of the year by the church and its de- partments, by sermons and literature and all kinds of activity. IV EFFICIENT PREPARATION FOR A CAMPAIGN THE first visitation should be most care- fully planned for, utilizing all the visita- tion experience of churches which have had the best success. We have suggested that the visitation be made in September and that every effort be made for a record-breaking at- tendance at every service on the first Sabbath of October. Whether October or a later month is set apart for the Attendance Campaign, public preparation should begin about three weeks in advance. (A.) An Ideal Schedule The preparation plans adopted in June by the officers of a Pennsylvania church of 1,200 active members, after conference with the writer, were as follows ; they should be studied most care- fully: Sunday, September 12: Sermon (" Making Re- ligion First"), with the first public intima- tion of a special campaign. All are urged to come to the mid-week service, where the matter will be more fully presented. 43 44 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM Monday : (a) Special letter will be mailed to 500 per- sons, urging attendance Wednesday evening. (b) Supper conference of all officers of the church and of all its departments will be held for final discussion of the general pro- gram for the year, and for the autumn, as presented by the special committees ; for the final revision of districts and district com- mittees, and of plans for follow-up work by the societies. Wednesday : Pastor and others present and ex- plain at the mid-week service : (a) General program for the year. (b) The outline of the attendance and mem- bership campaign to continue from October until December. (c) Detailed plans for the visitation on Sep- tember 26. Sunday, September ig: Sermon (" The Efficient Modern Church"), with special reference to the program for the year, and for the autumn, with an appeal for volunteer vis- itors in addition to those who have already received letters. The first issue of an enlarged bulletin distrib- uted (see Publicity), with names of com- mittees, district boundaries, and general plans. Monday: A conference is held of all chairmen and committees, district and departmental, followed by separate meeting of each com- mittee to perfect its plans. PREPARATION FOR A CAMPAIGN 45 Wednesday: Mid-week meeting devoted to (a) Discussion of details and answers to questions. (b) Special prayer for the visitation and for the entire campaign. (c) Followed by special meetings of district committees to group visitors into suitable teams and to perfect their plans. Thursday: General letter as to the year's pro- gram, and the visitation is sent to all who are to be visited, asking them to remain at home on Sunday p.m. until visitors arrive. Friday : Meeting in each district, in some home, of all visitors in that district, for assignment of homes to be visited by each team, for further instructions, etc. ( See " Instruc- tions to Visitors," in Appendix.) Sunday, September 26: (a) Preliminary Rally Day for all old mem- bers of church and Sunday School. (b) Brief addresses in all the departments, and in church services, by pastor and others, as to the campaign and what it is expected to accomplish. (c) Distribution of second issue of enlarged calendar boosting the church and announc- ing the general program, names of visitors in each district, etc. (See Appendix.) (d) At close of service the visitors are re- quested to rise as their names are read by their district chairmen, to stand during a final solemn charge as to their responsibility and opportunity, followed by a prayer for the work and the workers. 46 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM In the Afternoon: (a) At 2.00 (or 2.30) p.m. visitors begin their work. (b) At 12.30 P.M. (if possible) an old-fash- ioned basket or lap luncheon at the church for those who can remain, to save time and strength, to give further instruction to those not at preceding meetings, for prayers, etc. (c) At 2.00 P.M. (if luncheon is not feasible) have visitors gather at central points in their respective districts for a few moments of prayer, and arrange for reports to their dis- trict captain before 7.00 p.m. as to the num- ber of calls made and specific results. In the Evening: A specially attractive service of prayer and song, which is specially ad- vertised by the visitors, at which special speakers will make reports of their after- noon's work and stirring addresses on the possibilities through the plans for the au- tumn and for the year. Monday and Tuesday : Special effort is made to complete the visitation, where families were absent on the Sabbath, or where visi- tors were not able to complete their rounds. Wednesday Evening: (a) A report or testimony meeting. (b) Preceded by a supper for the visitors (or at least for the visitation leaders), to com- plete their reports and to agree on recom- mendations at the prayer-meeting hour. (c) After this meeting each district commit- tee meets as soon as possible to complete plans for follow-up and for perman organization for weekly visitation work. PREPARATION FOR A CAMPAIGN 47 Friday : (a) Ushers meet with Church Social Com- mittee to complete plans for the heartiest possible welcome at October Sabbath serv- ices. (b) Departmental and Class Committees con- fer finally, so that everything may be done for the welcome and enlistment of every person by some class and organization, and to co-ordinate their plans for socials, visita- tions, publicity, competitions, and other activities during the campaign. Sabbath, October j; The Special Attendance and Membership Campaign begins, with spe- cial services and activities by the church and by every class and organization. (B.) Other Essential Steps in Preparation FOR A Campaign In Chapter III (A.) the essential preparatory steps are mentioned. Some of them demand further discussion. (a) Three Hsts of the families to be visited should be prepared. First, a complete card index, a 4 x 6-inch card for each family ; with space for the address at the top, with the name of each member of the family and a concise history of their past and present relationships to the church, and for notes as to future pos- sibilities. (For sample card, see Appendix.) Sec- ond, duplicate cards for the visitors, that they may make intelligent notes of additional facts. 48 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM Third, an addressograph list, so that printed matter may be mailed each week, or at frequent intervals, during the year, with utmost economy of time. Of course, matter can be addressed by hand if no addressograph is available. The Sunday School may have its own card index. (b) Definite goals should be formulated for the church and for each department and class, setting forth the aims as to average attendance, number of calls, number of new members, etc., both for the fall campaign and for the year. Set high aims. From lOO to 500 per cent ad- vance is feasible for many classes and organ- izations. Almost every church and Sabbath School can advance from 25 to 50 per cent in attendance and membership. High goals will be a permanent stimulus, if not attained this year. (c) The church should be made as attractive as possible, both inside and outside, by paint, carpets, seasonable decorations, etc. The social and educational equipment should be brought up to date, to compare favorably with lodge and school rooms. (d) Make diligent effort to secure interde- nominational action. This will benefit your church at every point, and will be a godsend to other churches. (See Chapter VH.) (e) Secure a liberal expense budget. A con- structive program will increase results without additional expenditure, yet, for the sake of more PREPARATION FOR A CAMPAIGN 49 efficiency in publicity, etc., a considerable sum should be provided from one or more of these churches: (i) the regular church budget for the year, (2) special contributions by one or several individuals, (3) special collections during the campaign, (4) borrowing the money and paying it back out of the larger income next year. The nev^ members and the new enthusiasm will largely increase the number and the amount of the pledges during the following year, to say nothing of the larger loose offerings during the campaign or of the new and enlarged subscrip- tions which can be secured for the balance of the current year by aggressive action in November. Investments here will yield large dividends. (f) Appoint a strong publicity committee to begin work aggressively by September 15. (See Chapter VIII.) Much free publicity and free printing can be secured, but spend money freely but wisely. (g) Permanent district committees must be organized most carefully. (See Chapter V, [D.].) (h) Workers must be carefully trained. The " Visitation and Membership " committee and the district chairmen should meet frequently, to talk and pray over the matter until their visions are greatly enlarged. The co-operating commit- tee of each department should meet with them, and should prepare diligently to support the gen- eral program and visitation work, and to con- 50 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM serve the utmost of results for the church through their own societies. The visitors should be brought together for at least two training conferences, where enthusiasm may be imparted, each point may be fully dis- cussed, and all questions may be answered. (See Appendix for a sample letter of instruc- tions to visitors such as should be the text of these conferences.) The "Purposes" (Chapter III [C.]) should also be studied. Outside speakers will often bring large inspiration to the visitors. Do not try to teach the visitors too much at any one visitation, but teach thoroughly whatever is taught. (i) Assign visitors carefully — the tactless with the tactful, the inexperienced with the experi- enced. Those who are ineffective should be sent to call on one or two shut-ins or aged saints, who will do them good instead. (j) A strong Social Commission should be appointed representing each department of the church, to formulate a program of sociability, to arrange one or more free entertainments and socials for all members of the church and friends, to promote sociability in every way for every age and class; to see that adequate social committees are appointed by each department and to help such committees, especially those of less mature years, to arrange and carry out plans adapted to their societies and in harmony with the social program of the church, to arrange for PREPARATION FOR A CAMPAIGN 51 the proper equipment of a parish-house, with kitchen, games, social rooms, baths, etc.; to ar- range for those who have large homes to open them for the social Hfe of classes and organiza- tions, to arrange schedules so that parish-house equipment may be used most satisfactorily. It will continue its activity in behalf of all interests, throughout the year and perennially. (k) Letters will be sent to all those to be vis- ited (unless the movement is city-wide) an- nouncing the " Cordial Social Visitation." (1) A social and religious survey or census of the community will help very greatly in preparing the way for any visitation or other campaign. It will help each church to secure that much needed " Constituency Roll " of families and individuals for whose religious welfare it is responsible, giv- ing it a sobering sense of its duty and opportunity. V SOME VITAL QUESTIONS ANSWERED (A.) Shall We Introduce the Full Program the First Year? DO not try too many new ideas at once, lest you bewilder and dishearten many and absorb too much energy in making adjustments, leaving none for securing results. The number of new ideas and plans which can be introduced at once will depend upon the in- telligence and loyalty of the leaders of the church, on the harmony and enthusiasm of the people, on the experience and resourcefulness of the pastor, on the responsiveness of the com- munity to new ideas, and on the adequacy of the existing organization and equipment. Three or five years may be necessary to introduce the full program. The first year take only those steps which the best leaders can be induced to support heartily. The net gains may be greatly increased, pos- sibly 50 per cent, by securing the aid of an ex- pert in presenting the matter, in securing moral and financial support for the new program, in SOME VITAL QUESTIONS 53 organizing the forces and launching the cam- paign. You may begin any time in the year to put what you can into practice and to get ready most fully for the next year. Is not this program too complex? On the contrary, it is the simplest kind of program. It must be adapted as well as adopted, but when carefully modified to suit local conditions and problems it will almost work itself after the first year or two. The same objection was formerly made to the duplex-envelope and every-member- canvass system by those who were so confused by the complex traditional finance methods that they could not appreciate the simplicity of the new until they had actually tried it, or it had been introduced by most of their neighbors. (B.) How Shall the Work Be Organized? All of the church committees, both district and general, should be organized on a business- like basis, even if some reorganization of the church as a whole is required. (See Chap- ter IX [C.].) The essential elements here are: (a) A church "Visitation and Membership" committee or commission, constituted of an executive committee (which will consist of the district chairmen and the chairmen of the perma- nent educational, social, social service, mission- ary, devotional, publicity, and finance commis- 54 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM sions of the church, with the pastor and Sunday-school superintendent), with one addi- tional representative from the " Visitation and Membership " committee of each department of the Sunday School and of each other church or- ganization. (b) District committees, consisting of all the possible workers of every age living within their territory; the district executive committee in each district consisting of the chairman and two or three vice-chairmen, with a representative of each of the departments named under (c). (c) A *' Membership and Visitation " com- mittee should be appointed by each department of the Sabbath School, each Young People's Society, each organized class, etc., consisting either of the organization's cabinet or of its representa- tives on district committees, or of a special com- mittee with one member each from its social, devotional, finance, missionary, publicity, and social-service committees. (C.) How Many Districts? A church of 500 members would ordinarily be divided into from four to six districts. The smallest church should have at least two or three districts, for the sake of competition. A church of 2,000 members might be divided into ten or fifteen districts, or into a smaller number of districts, with such sub-districts as are needed. SOME VITAL QUESTIONS 55 (D.) How Make the District Organization AND Visitation Work Permanent? The September visitation should be but the beginning of such activity. Showing how any- one can visit, giving folks a taste, and getting them into the swing of it, the way is opened for large permanent activities. Three times each year a similar evangelistic Sunday-afternoon vis- itation should be made, and the momentum thus developed will carry regular visitation work on a high tide through the intervening periods. Permanent district committees are absolutely essential, not only to follow up the September visitation and to enlarge and clinch the results of the October campaign, but to undertake the permanent pastoral oversight of the new mem- bers, the sick, the indifferent, the young people, and of all the interests of the church, in their districts. Such committees have failed in the past, but they will not fail after the stimulus of a church-wide visitation, if properly organized and operated along the lines herein suggested. The district executive committees must be chosen for popularity and tact, as well as for spirituality and diligence. A vice-chairman should be appointed to supplement the weak points of the chairman, to prod him when neces- sary, and to serve efficiently in his absence. As on every other church committee, one or two women and one or two young people should be 56 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM appointed who will prod the men and help them, to see that everything is thoroughly done and done on time — a sure cure for inefficiency. Each district committee, or its executive com- mittee, should meet regularly. Frequently dis- trict committees all meet at homes on the same evening, and then meet together at the church to compare notes. Or all committees or chair- men can meet with the pastor at the church be- fore or after prayer meeting. Or committees can meet separately at the close of prayer meet- ing. One pastor had four district committees, meeting one each week after prayer meeting to hear reports as to visits made and other work and for assignment of work through the chair- man. Ten minutes used for reports from dis- trict committees at the opening of each mid- week meeting would be most stimulating, and would give definiteness to the prayers. Each district committee, with the help of its representatives from the various organizations, will plan to use every individual in the district, from the eight-year-old boy who carries messages to the oldest inhabitant. Frequently workers are assigned to districts outside of which they live, in which their societies would not otherwise be adequately represented. The district committees organize community Bible classes and prayer meetings when feasible, and hold district or community socials. They should keep complete records of the attendance SOME VITAL QUESTIONS 57 at church services and other meetings of all from their district, even of non-members, reporting quarterly to the pastor. They may keep the rec- ords also of communion attendance. (E.) How Enlist Visitors and Workers? Contrary to tradition, plenty of people can easily be secured to help in the visitations. If properly presented, it is far easier to enlist folks for this than for any other form of church work. " You cannot get a dozen folks to serve as visitors," said a millionaire officer of a city church, when I met his board for conference. He continued : " Our folks do not do work. We men have not made a dozen calls in the name of the church during the past ten years, except for money. Scarcely half a dozen men will help in our financial canvass, which must be made. How then can you secure visitors for ever so good a cause which is less urgent ? " I asked him if such a visitation was worth while, and if he would help if we could enlist 50 of the 500 members. He agreed. By following the method which I outlined we actually secured over 100 visitors, who made 400 calls in one afternoon. Sometimes 50 per cent of the members can be enlisted. Do not depend on volunteers. Make a list of all who should help, and expect to get them. About two weeks before the visitation, present in a sermon the work the church should be 58 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM doing, how it has been relegating some of its social duties to clubs and lodges, how '' this church has determined on a more aggressive and Christian policy for the coming year, to promote fellowship among the members, to interest new folks in the church," etc. Announce that this big advance movement will be presented in de- tail at the mid-week service by the officers, and urge everyone to come. On Monday send to each one a personal letter, such as this: Dear Brother: As was announced on Sabbath, the pastor and officers have outlined for the church a new and businesslike program of great importance. You have been appointed on one of the committees, of which Mr. is chairman. It is essen- tial that every committee member be present on Wednesday evening to hear the matter fully ex- plained. Your committee will be organized at the close of the service. You are an important MEMBER. We count ON YOU. No MONEY ASKED. Come at 7.45, if possible. If you are late, come anyway. (Signed by the Pastor and Executive Com- mittee.) Supplement the letter with telephone calls by the pastor and district chairman, but do not say that any visitation work is expected. On Wednesday evening explain the importance of the social and publicity campaign and its sim- plicity; emphasize the absolute necessity of the SOME VITAL QUESTIONS 59 visitation, of doing it all in one day, and of hav- ing the help of everyone. Emphasize " only three hours," "only six to twelve calls," "the printed folder to be left at each home explains the matter fully, so that much talking is not necessary " ; " each visitor can choose his team- mate and the homes he will visit," " on Sunday it will not interfere with your business," " we expect to add per cent to membership and attendance in the church and in such and such societies," etc. If needed work is still refused, follow up with kindly personal calls, urge one's example to others, and " Can you not give the church your perspiration and shoe leather for a single after- noon? Go out and invite your friends or stran- gers to this grand October rally." Usually no trouble is experienced. These sug- gestions will be needed only in exceptional cases. If your folk have never done any visiting or other church work, so much the more need of enlisting them now. Many a religious dyspeptic and critic has been so benefited by the religious exercise of one afternoon's visitation as to forget his complaint and to have a better appetite for the sermons and Bible classes to which he had been indifferent. Says one pastor : " I could not get my people to do any visiting; few of them would do any church work. Our church-wide visitation was our first big success, and broke down the preju- 60 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM dice against church work. Its bigness, as well as its simplicity, appealed to all. Being on Sun- day, they could not refuse three hours' time. Being heartily welcomed everywhere, all were glad they worked, and were easily pledged to help in regular visitation. Trying to enthuse others, they enthused themselves." This is the simplest and most stimulating sort of church work for a beginner. By the time one has boosted religion and his church to several other people, he thinks more of it himself and becomes anxious to benefit by the good things he has been talking about. He is led to feel that he is a vital part of the church, and says " Our church " instead of '' Their church." At the close of the visitation a free social or supper for the visitors and committees, for testi- mony, will be found most valuable for perpetuat- ing their enthusiasm and for crystallizing their willingness to work. At the mid-week service, after the visitation, each district chairman should report the number of visits made in his district, the number of new families discovered, the number of members en- listed for the church, the boy scouts, the men's classes, the women's society, etc. VI THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN THE follow-up work will be in three inter- ests — first, of the church as a whole ; sec- ond, of the Sunday School; third, of the other societies. It will be as varied as the inter- ests of all these departments. Each organization will attend largely to its own interests under the supervision of the general church committee, co- operating with the district committee. It will include visitation, literature, postcards and let- ters, telephone calls, bulletins of progress in the papers and the church magazine, etc. These have been largely discussed in Chapter HI and elsewhere. Each society should make a complete " Con- stituency Roll " of all its possible members and follow each one up most persistently and tactfully until they join, having the full co-operation of the various district committees. The visitation aim in September is to visit all homes on one day. In October the plan is to visit, in season and out of season, wherever re- peats are needed. In one case fourteen teams visited a single new family during one month — two teams visited the father, the mother was wel- 61 62 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM corned by teams from the organized women's class, the home department, and the women's so- ciety. Several similar visits were made on each of the young people and children. Boys and girls greatly appreciate calls from older men and women, whom they respect. A personal visit to each individual is far more effective than a single visit upon a whole family. The October sermon subjects of one pastor were: (a) " The Pre-eminence of Religion in Life and in the World " — enlarging upon the past 1,900 years of moral, social, political, intellectual, economic, scientific, and spiritual advances due to Christianity. (b) " What Christianity Can Yet Do for the World " — text : " Thy Kingdom come ; as in heaven so on earth." (c) '* The Pre-eminence of the Church " — not as a sect, but as a divinely instituted organism for the redemption of individuals and the leaven- ing of society. (d) "Why Join the Church and Its Or- ganizations ? " — ^you need them, and they need you. November and December Activities In Chapter III, (E) and (F), we have already given many important suggestions. Every effort is made to assimilate those who have been newly enrolled, to bind them perma- THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN 63 nently to the church and its interests and ideals before Christmas; also to follow up the un- clinched "prospects" with socials, musical and literary programs, repeated visits, brotherliness and kindliness, economic and social services. Careful thought should be given to the social and intellectual and athletic tastes and to the spiritual and moral needs of each individual, both by the church as a whole and by the members of such organizations as they have joined or may join. The autumn sermons should contribute con- structively to an education in Christian character and doctrines and social principles. As Jesus began His revelations with the Sermon on the Mount and gradually prepared the way for those higher spiritual truths which He unfolded during the last months of His life, so each pastor might well devote his autumn sermons primarily to the history of Christianity and to its social and moral phases, the home, the school, the state, economic principles, etc., advancing after Christ- mas to the more doctrinal and devotional sub- jects. In addition to special activities already re- ferred to: (a) Decision day should be observed in the Sabbath School and the children enlisted until Easter in classes for training for membership. (b) Effort should be made to enlist every member for some sort of service — leadership of 64 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM " scout " and " campfire " organizations, teaching classes, teacher training, and other social, educa- tional, and committee activities. (c) Home and foreign missions, moral and social reforms, Christian citizenship ideals, char- acter building, etc., should be emphasized in every department. (d) A new type of Christmas celebration should be promoted. (e) Plans for the mid-winter campaign should be perfected. (f ) A " Home Coming " day, a '* Church Roll Call Day," A " Win-My-Chum " day and other special features can be used if desired. The Mid-winter Campaign The second clearly marked campaign of the year begins about Christmas. We take for granted that the autumn campaign has been prop- erly carried through, has enlisted many new mem- bers in all departments, and has developed many " prospects " for church membership and church leadership. Their loyalty to the church is now assured, they feel perfectly at home, and are familiar with the social and moral ideals of Christ. The next step is to give them a thorough train- ing in the more fundamental spiritual truths, to lead from the simple to the complex, to make re- ligion real, to bring them into vital touch with a God who is near at hand, to help them to the THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN 65 higher planes of Christian life and experience. These phases of church responsibility have been wofully neglected. The Christmas and New Year's ideals lend themselves to these ends. Classes should be organized for the study of missions, of church history, of the social teach- ings of Jesus, of present-day problems, of methods of church work, of personal evangelism, of fundamental doctrines, etc. Weekday classes after school for the children and young people of each grade should be organized, with the pastor as teacher, and he should be relieved as far as possible of all visitation and routine work by the various committees. The sermons and prayer meetings will be devoted to educational subjects. A definite effort is made to enlist all members of the congregation in weekday study classes suited to their needs, in addition to their Sabbath-school work. Of course, some of these classes, as the weekday Bible class for women and the catechetical and mission study courses, will have begun in October. Special Bible classes may be organized for women only, for men only, for working girls, for professional classes, for young married cou- ples, for the choir, in factories, in downtown of- fices, etc. A large Bible Class was organized in the state legislature in Pennsylvania, and one in the government prison at Atlanta. District prayer meetings should be organized 66 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM and prayer groups developed among these classes. The pastor of a strong church declares : *' The Men's Praying Band, which met at a cer- tain office at 5 p.m. each Friday, and whose mem- bers were pledged to pray for one another and for the church each day at the same hour, wher- ever they might be, was the beginning of the greatest spiritual movement in the history of our church." These groups should be so small as to be informal. The first meeting or two should be only for the more spiritual, others being brought in more gradually. During the first week of January cottage prayer meetings might be held each day for the women and each evening for the men, except on the regular prayer-meeting evening, in each dis- trict of the church. During the second week a series of sermons might be given on such great themes as " God's Sovereignty," " In the Beginning God . . .," "Man's Divine Possibilities," ''Thou Madest Him a Little Lower than God," " Man's Im- perfection and Sin, and His Possible Perfec- tion," ** Christ the Divine Saviour — Why and How," " What Is Expected Socially, Morally, and Spiritually, in Private and in Business Life, of a Church Member — of One Who Bears the Name of Christ and Calls God ' Father,' " etc. The autumn sermons deal with practical problems and these with great principles. Fill the first weeks of January with activity, THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN 67 prayer meetings, and special services, gaining power for the intensive campaign of education and service, which lasts until March. If only one week of activities is feasible, one or two evenings should be devoted to district prayer meetings, with services at the church on other evenings. In some cases district prayer groups meet first on New Year's eve, before the ' watch- night ' services, and continue until Sabbath, and the services of the following week are all at the church. The church must pre-empt the closing days of the old year and the opening days of the new year, and reclaim them from dissipation. The possible spiritual influences of these days are superior to those of Easter, as our fathers felt who instituted the '' week of prayer." A communion service in each church might well mark the closing hours of the old year or the first morning of the new. A sermon on " The Proper Observance of Christmas," weeks before the Christmas activi- ties, should prepare the way. Christian-giving should be substituted for heathen-getting. Gifts to the poor by individuals and organizations, which may be delivered in person, with hearty greetings, will emphasize Christian brotherhood. A community Christmas tree in the city square will be a sermon to all. The campaign should be definitely launched 68 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM with a church-wide visitation either on New Year's Sunday or New Year's Day. The first Sunday or two of the new year should be " Go-to-Church-and-Sunday-school " days. If the September visitation was interdenomi- national, all churches should at this season simply visit their own families or those who might be interested in their work and services. Fre- quently pledge cards are used asking individuals and families to pledge themselves to attend all church services, to conduct family worship, and to engage daily in private prayer and Bible study throughout the year, or until Easter, or at least throughout the month. An attractive church calendar should be dis- tributed bearing a tasty picture of the church or pastor, or both, a list of the services of the church, and perhaps various other features, such as a plan of Bible readings for a year or a weekly prayer cycle. The district committees will be responsible for the success of this visitation, for inaugurating the district prayer meetings, and for promoting the various study classes ; but the enlistment and special training of the visitors will be similar to the autumn campaign. A slogan has already been suggested. (See Chapter H [D.].) Some churches make the visitation on the Sabbath pre- ceding New Year's, using the slogan, '' Close the old year right; go to church tonight." The THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN 69 social, publicity, and other features of the Oc- tober campaign will be repeated, but more quietly. The various activities will be put before the pub- lic reverently, but efficiently. Kindly rivalry will be stimulated between the districts as to the number of visits made, the attendance at services, etc. "Strip tickets" (see Publicity [R]) may be used to special advantage during January and February. (If no visitation and membership campaign was conducted in the autumn, many of its special objects and features should be added in this campaign.) The Spring Harvesting Campaign The season ending with Easter should be most carefully planned. The entire campaign since September has prepared the way. The fruits must be gathered and conserved before they are dissipated during the summer. Besides many new members, great gains should be made at this time by pledging to larger service the old mem- bers who have had new visions. Definite voca- tional pledges should be secured, enlisting the young people for the ministry or for missionary or other religious life work. Everybody should be definitely pledged to specific service during the next year. The success of Billy Sunday's campaigns de- pends largely on the efficiency with which pre- liminary Bible study and prayer meetings have been organized. This campaign — being less spec- 70 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM tacular and more normal — will depend even more largely on the efficiency of the social and re- ligious activities of the preceding month. The Lenten campaign begins with a church- wide or city-wide visitation, usually on the first Sabbath of March, the slogan being, " Volunteer now," or " Become a naturalized Christian." Special efforts are made to promote attendance at all services during the month and to enlist members for the church. A definite list of individuals to be reached is prepared. They are led into the district prayer meetings, if possible, and are made special ob- jects of prayer and personal work by their asso- ciates and friends and by the district committees. A personal worker's class or conference, or a series of prayer-meeting addresses, with the pre- vious visitation work, has developed many capable and willing workers. They may have special leaflets, such as " The Win One Fellow- ship," by Dr. Conrad, or *' One to Win One," by Dr. Todd. "Recruiting for Christ," by Dr. Stone, and " Taking Men Alive," by Dr. Trum- bull, are volumes which should be read and studied. Special sermons each evening for one or more weeks are very desirable, but meetings for the workers — morning, noonday, afternoon or even- ing — for men alone, for women, for young peo- ple, or by districts, are even more important. THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN 71 Daily Union noon-day services should be con- ducted in at least one center in each city — at least in Passion Week. In many churches only the regular services are held, but these have an evangelistic and devo- tional spirit. The evenings are free for com- munity and group meetings and for personal work. As during the autumn campaign, many addresses should be made in the services by lay- men and women. The mid-week meetings are made far more prominent than usual. On the last Sabbath of the campaign the new members are received. Many churches use Easter as " Reception Day," or the preceding (Palm) Sabbath, that it may add to the triumph of the Easter service. Other things being equal, it is better to wait until the Sabbath after Easter, so that the results can be more fully harvested, and that the preliminary education for member- ship may be more complete. The church should imitate the lodges by carefully preparing folks for membership and by making the service of reception most impressive. The church year should not close until May or June, so that the follow-up work may be unin- terrupted. If there is a let-down now to make up reports and hold business meetings, it is im- possible to bring enthusiasm up to the same level again, and much valuable power is, therefore, wasted. 72 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM A conservation program should be carefully prepared and carried out. Efforts should be made to assimilate all the newly recruited mem- bers and friends. Each district and organiza- tion and the church should have special welcome services. Suitable indoor and outdoor activities for the spring and summer — educational, athletic, social, and evangelistic — should be arranged for. Special opportunities for advance and harvest, such as Children's Days and Commencement Day and Mother's Day, should be taken advan- tage of. Workers should be registered now for the au- tumn and winter activities of the church and all its departments, and far-sighted plans should be laid. A finance and missions campaign should be pushed in February or April, — see Chapter IX, (D.). During the Summer The suggestions under (B. 3), Chapter I, should be carefully studied. The summer activi- ties will depend largely upon the equipment, the local needs, and the year's program. Loose ends from the preceding months should be tied up. The autumn work should be fully planned and prepared for. The love of outdoors should be catered to by picnics, auto and boat excursions, pageants, lawn services on Sabbath evenings, out- door meetings of the various societies and classes. THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN 73 tennis and baseball and croquet and other ath- letic sports, etc. An Iowa church, in a small town, organized a garden club, a canning club, a corn club, a poul- try club, a cooking club, a potato club, and other industrial and economic activities, having the business men offer prizes, which kept the children out of mischief and helped to prepare them for the honest business of life. ** Daily Vacation Bible Schools " for all chil- dren under i6 have been spreading with great rapidity. One denomination which had only 600 children in 6 schools in Chicago in 1912 enrolled 4,700 in 24 schools this summer. They were just as successful in the wealthy neighborhoods as in the factory districts. Such schools should be opened in every community. The daily pro- gram consists of one hour for industrial work — basket and raffia work, sewing, carpentering, etc. — a second hour for literary and patriotic ex- ercises, calisthenics, etc., and a third hour for religious training. One hour a day for six weeks devoted to explaining and memorizing Scripture passages and stories means more time and more religious education than the average Sunday School gives in a year. Frequently summer Bible classes meet on lawns and porches with great success. The vari- ous organizations may take the mid-week serv- ices for two or three months, each in turn pre- senting its work for the past year in one meeting 74 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM and its plans for the following year in another, that all may make them a matter of prayer. The evening services, even the morning services, may be conducted by the brotherhood or other organ- ization. A brass band or choir, in a park or on the lawn, will attract people to the Sunday- evening services or to a special service on Wednesday or Saturday night. The pastor and several promising members of each organization — Sabbath School, young peo- ple's and men's and women's work — should be sent to summer training conferences, where they will receive spiritual inspiration and the best of ideas for their present and future church work, the church and societies meeting much or all of the expense. During their summer vacations college and seminary students can be secured to do special work among the young people along athletic and social lines and to conduct vacation Bible-school and other classes for one church or for a group of churches. Doctors and lawyers have more leisure in the summer, and can be enlisted for social and com- munity services in the name of the church, such as free legal advice, free treatment for cripples, or for poor children with tonsils, adenoids, eye troubles, or summer diseases. One church ar- ranged to have autos carry the shut-ins to church each Sabbath in the summer. Another had " Old- fashioned Services " with a basket lunch between THE FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN 75 the morning sermon and an afternoon musical service. Make every effort to minimize the loss of mo- mentum and enthusiasm during the summer. Publicity suited to local conditions and needs should be continued. A restroom at the court- house or the Chautauqua grounds bearing the name of the church, a refreshment booth on the fair grounds, an outdoor pageant, a lawn fete, and other special features will win friends for the church, as will an outdoor graphophone concert on the church lawn one evening each week. Union church services should be held in the parks or tents, if possible, especially in the even- ing, and a special religious lecturer may be se- cured for a series of popular addresses, after the manner of a Chautauqua. Sabbath Schools may dispense with the regular class lessons, each de- partment meeting in one large class for more popular religious class studies, for special music, map drills, historical reviews, etc. Frequently churches and Sunday Schools have received great satisfaction from using simple cantatas, readings from religious classics, indoor or outdoor stereop- ticon lectures, and notably the new " sacred stories in song." The Sunday School and the preaching service may both be shortened and consolidated on hot days. Give special attention to the campers near by, to the tourists at hotels, especially to the country 76 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM folk who can be visited more easily and induced to come to church while the roads are good. In one town, while the four churches united their evening services for twelve weeks, each pastor taking his turn, the other three pastors, except during their vacations, went to the coun- try schoolhouses. Entire counties have been wonderfully revived in a single summer by auto parties of laymen, who conducted religious serv- ices in every weak church and in the schoolhouse of every neglected district. VII FEDERATED CITY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS (i.) Why Federated Campaigns? THE annual efficiency program for the in- dividual church should be adopted inter- denominationally in every city and com- munity. The writer's experience is that this can be done everywhere, at least where the matter is presented by an expert. Already all denomi- nations have federated in many cities and coun- ties to carry through such a program annually on a comprehensive scale. Each individual church, in a federated move- ment, benefits greatly by the experiences and plans of others. Every home in the city or county can be visited in one day, each church being responsible for a certain area. The most indifferent officers and members can be aroused to help, so that their church may not be at the bottom of the list. The campaign gives incalcu- lable aid in manifesting the unity and power of Protestantism to those who feel that CathoUcism and Christian Science and Russellism, or in- fidelity, are growing at the expense of the 77 78 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM Church; in emphasizing the pre-eminence of re- ligion throughout the community; and in arrest- ing the attention of those who would ignore a single church. Parades and Sunday afternoon or evening mass-meetings; union training conferences for district committee men, visitors, publicity men, personal workers, and other special groups; Bible conferences and church efficiency insti- tutes, and the aid of outside experts, can all be arranged much more satisfactorily. A liberal budget can be secured more easily. The plan always appeals to business men, who will respond liberally. The local press, where a constructive, city- wide educational and visitation and evangelistic program is carried out, will use bold headlines both to announce each simultaneous step and ser- mon subject on Saturday and to report them on Monday. One church is a small fraction, and makes small appeal to an editor, but a united Protestantism with a big program can get abun- dant space, enthusiastic co-operation, and editorial notices, both because it is so businesslike, because of the size of its constituency, and because such religious unity benefits all community interests. Such a campaign will usually result in a better Church Federation, and in perennial co-opera- tion along all religious lines, blessing all the churches and hastening the millennium of Chris- tian unity. FEDERATED PROGRAMS 79 The publicity especially can be handled on a more effective and economical basis since one typesetting and one distributing agency will take care of all the billboard, street-car and store-win- dow cards, door-bell hangers, downtown banners, buttons, parades, etc. The largest city can be stirred to its depths by effectively made announcements on billboards, in the press, by public mass-meetings, and other- wise, to the effect that all Protestant churches have united for a great campaign, that every home in the city will be visited, that all pastors will preach on the same subjects. It will be still more influenced as the program for each new month manifests the same practical unity of the churches. A broadside of sermon reports, covering half or all of a page each Monday morning, all on " The Pre-eminence of the Church " or any other one subject, will set the city to thinking and talking that subject. A column or half-page weekly devoted to comparative reports of the attendance in all the churches, starring the most successful, will stimulate the sporting enthusiasm of the public, which has hitherto been offered newspaper reports of competitions only in the political and athletic fields. The success of Billy Sunday is largely due to daring operations on a city-wide scale, with all churches co-operating, with vast Bible and prayer group activities, with an adequate force of 80 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM workers, and adequate publicity. Proportionate results can be gotten from a city-wide campaign without an outside evangelist if handled effect- ively. (2.) How TO Organize a Union Campaign (A) Win several key pastors and laymen to the plan by personal conferences and by loaning or giving copies of this manual. (B) Secure the adoption of the plan in tentative form by the Ministerial Associa- tion, the Church Federation, the Adult Bible Class League, and other groups of religious leaders. (C) Decide on a headquarters, usually the Y.M.C.A. (D) Secure the services of the most "com- petent counsel " available for enlisting and or- ganizing the entire community, for raising the necessary funds, and meeting peculiar problems. The Church Efficiency Bureau can furnish special experts for this work. (E) Secure adequate funds for the campaign — for publicity, mass-meetings, institute speakers, etc. This can easily be secured by one or more of the following methods: (i) Pro rata sub- scriptions from churches. (2) From the budget of the Church Federation or Y.M.C.A. (3) From liberal individuals. (4) From special collections, etc. Usually each church will finance its own activities, but the general budget should FEDERATED PROGRAMS 81 sometimes include aid for the weaker congrega- tions. (F) Secure a full understanding of the cam- paign and public encouragement for it from the editors, the Chamber of Commerce, the Federa- tion of Women's Clubs, lodges, and other com- munity organizations. Have the Mayor or City Council issue a proc- lamation concerning the " Go-to-Church " Cam- paign and other phases of the movement. (G) Secure a strong executive committee of ministers and laymen, with special committees on ** publicity " and on '' finance " who will go to work at once. Appoint also committees on the training of workers, missions, social and com- munity service, parades and pageants, theater and other mass-meetings, district prayer meet- ings and Bible classes, factory meetings and classes, meetings for high-school students and children's meetings, work for women, Adult Bible Class co-operation, rural evangelism, ex- tension to neighboring communities, etc. (H) Work out in detail a plan of campaign. No matter what season, it is wise to begin with a special attendance and membership campaign of one month, as outlined in Chapter III, unless it is after the middle of February, when this may be combined with the Lenten evangelistic cam- paign. (I) Some churches will "want to be shown.'' Allow full freedom to each church to co-operate 82 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM only so far as it finds best. Small co-operation brings better results than no co-operation, and prepares the way for large co-operation. Hos- tility and indifference will be disarmed by a year's experience or by a reading of this manual. (J) Prepare sermon topics covering the entire year, in harmony with the campaign outlined, urging all pastors to use these uniform subjects, either in the morning or evening, on the days suggested. These sermon topics will vary from year to year. Of course, all churches should observe the same visitation and reception days so far as possible. All church socials, brother- hood banquets, and financial canvasses should be on the same day in all the churches, if possible. Thus, all the Young People's Societies of one city had free socials on the same evening, issuing a general invitation to all the young people of the city to go to the reception or " open house " or entertainment at the church of their choice. This arouses competition, prevents ** rounders," and supplements the individual invitations. The men's organizations should do likewise, also the women's, boys', and other organizations. (K) If a city has 100,000 population, district it for training conferences. Even small cities should be divided into districts, with an inter- church committee responsible for promoting dis- trict Bible classes and prayer meetings and visi- tation in each district. Districts may be divided into sub-districts and sub-districts divided where FEDERATED PROGRAMS 83 necessary. Have full co-operation between the federated committee and the denominational committee in each district. Usually the denomi- national districts correspond to the federation districts, being also sub-divided where necessary, and all denominational chairmen in a district are members of the district federation committee. (L) Eliminate sectarian and divisive ques- tions. Avoid all discussions. Emphasize the fundamentals. (M) Arrange union mass-meetings, with themes appropriate to the day, with outside speakers, if possible, for five or ten successive Sunday afternoons, or for one afternoon a month. Specialists on the questions of church finance, missions, women's and men's and boys' and young people's work, religious education, so- cial service, etc., should be secured from time to time for Sabbaths and weekday conferences, to help all the churches of the city. Or a Church Efficiency Institute of a week or ten days can be arranged, with several simultaneous speakers, (See Chapter IX, [F.].) (N) All possible united effort should be given to movements for civic righteousness, com- munity betterment, social reforms, etc. (O) During the mid-winter campaign an inter- denominational Bible institute might be arranged, with one or more able leaders, each of whom will conduct, say, two courses each day for from 5 to 20 days. One will speak at mass-meetings in the 84 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM afternoon and in the evening. Another will con- duct classes for special groups at the Y.M.C.A., the Chamber of Commerce, or the central high school. (P) During the evangelistic period, or at any season, a tabernacle campaign, with a carefully selected evangelistic party, may be arranged. Or groups of churches can unite in evangelistic serv- ices, with local or outside pastors conducting the services. Noonday services should be held at the Y.M.C.A., in a public square, in rented halls or stores, in shops and factories, in the public school chapel, for the high-school students, etc. Special services for the school children may be held just before or after school. (Q) Competition should be aroused between churches as to gifts, and in many other matters such as Bible question competitions similar to old-fashioned spelling bees. Develop emulation also between the men's, women's, young people's, Sunday School and other organizations and Bible classes, and the corresponding departments of other churches, having them federate for the study of their common tasks and to promote Christian unity and fellowship. (R) Of course, it will be impossible to secure perfect co-operation and perfect results the first year. But all will be satisfied and larger co- operation will come each year. The employment of an expert for enlisting FEDERATED PROGRAMS 85 and organizing and enthusing the churches and their forces, and for solving problems out of his wealth of experience, will be well justified by still larger results in unity and co-operation, in attendance and membership, in constructive results. VIII PUBLICITY COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES THE publicity committee for the campaign, whether for one church or for a city, should be carefully selected. If a church already has such a committee, add a live wire from each organization, who is a member — pref- erably the chairman — of the special campaign committee of that department. Include any editor or advertising manager of store or factory who is available. Of course, the pastor is a mem- ber, ex officio, of this as of all other commit- tees. For permanent use the committee should have constant references to the three fertile books on church advertising — '' Publicity and Progress," by Herbert H. Smith ; " Church Publicity," by Dr. Reisner ; and '' The Principles of Church Advertising," by Dr. Stelzle. The advertising campaign will, of course, depend largely on the available funds, on the past and future policy in this respect, on the number of churches engaged, etc. Printers' ink should be regarded as ** first assistant " in the campaign, and should be used liberally both in the newspapers and in special printed matter, while Uncle Sam's mail PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES 87 carriers, as *' second assistants," should not be far behind. Some publicity points of special value for the campaign : (A) Publish throughout the year a carefully prepared, printed or multigraphed, weekly bul- letin. During eight weeks beginning the Sabbath before the Visitation, and at other special sea- sons, it should be greatly enlarged. (B) Furnish to the local newspapers plenty of good live material in such form as will claim good space and attentive reading. (C) In every window of every church home place a window card, with pictures of the church and of the pastor, with an announcement such as this in suitable type form : " Grand October Rally and Go To Church Campaign, First Presbyterian Church — Our Church. We are going, and urge you to go, to the services, espe- cially during October." Announce the various services of the church and its organizations, with hours of meeting and some token of the welcome awaiting them. (D) In every business house, street car, and public building, place window cards : " Go to Church Next Sunday and All Next Month at the First Methodist Church, etc." In a city- wide campaign the invitation would begin: " The undersigned churches of this city especially invite you and your friends to attend the church and Sabbath School of your choice each Sabbath 88 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM morning and evening during the month of Oc- tober." The heading, *' Go to Church Cam- paign," and a list of the participating churches, should be printed in red. (E) Prepare a handsome four-page folder for distribution by the visitors. On the first page, an announcement of the campaign in large, tasty type, with a hearty invitation. On page 2, a catchy article, " Why Go to Church ? " On pages 3 and 4 — a sort of directory of the church and its activities — the names of the officers, hours of meetings, ages and classes welcomed, being given in connection with each organization. A suggestive form for the first page is given at the close of this chapter. Each page should have one or more attractive pictures, such as " Our New Building," " Our Officers," " Some of Our Husky Boys," " Our Big Men's Class" " Our Fine Summer Camp," *' Our Kindergarten at Work," etc. If the campaign is interdenominational, the folder may have from 8 to 30 pages, one page for each participating church or denomination. If the city is large, include a map of the city, with the churches in red, for the sake of the new- comers. (F) On each Thursday during, and just pre- ceding, the campaign, a colored postcard with a picture of the church, or a multigraphed letter can be sent to each individual, at least to ab- sentees. An attractive motto, an announcement PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES 89 of attendance on the preceding Sabbath, or of the subject for next Sabbath, may appear. The cards may be signed by the Sabbath-school teacher, the class secretary or president, the pas- tor, the congregational or Sabbath-school visita- tion committee, etc. A different signature may be attached each week. Use an addressograph to address the material, or volunteer help can be secured. Personally written letters should be sent by all teachers to their pupils at the open- ing, and all new pupils at the close, of the campaign. Of course, letters and postcards are only supplemental — they must not displace visits. (G) Special ribbons, badges or buttons may be provided for all members, or for visitors, to wear during the month, bearing the picture and name of the church, or *' I go to the First Lutheran Church," or '' Go to Church Campaign, First Christian Church," etc. (H) Hang special banners over the pulpit and the Sunday-school desk before visitation Sunday and through the campaign, also on the church, over the street in front of it, and over down- town streets, worded, '* Go to Church and Mem- bership Campaign." " Come to the First Congre- gational Church — the Friendly Church — Every Sabbath, and Bring Your Friends." " A Hearty Welcome." " We Expect to Double Our At- tendance." " We Have i,ooo Members, but We Want 500 More," etc. 90 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM (I) Arrange a parade of all the officers and members of the church and all organizations for the first Sabbath afternoon of October ; or autos and trucks and floats may be used on a weekday. Each organization marches together and carries banners bearing its name. Various slogans and transparencies advertise the church and each feature of the movement. (J) Theater, street, and park meetings, per- haps with a brass band, on Sunday afternoons and evenings before and during the campaign will be very helpful. Suitable stereopticon slides or moving pictures may be used as a prelude to, or to illustrate, each Sabbath evening address. (K) Prizes and other special recognitions, free boat or auto rides, free dinner or entertain- ment or '' movie " tickets, may be given to the classes and departments and individuals which make the best records. (L) The attendance at the previous service of the church and of each class organization and the number of calls made should be announced each Sabbath on a blackboard ; better still, in the weekly bulletin, with effective comparisons with the same period or day of the preceding week or month or year, showing the gains in membership and attendance week by week in each depart- ment. Ribbon or blackboard thermometers should keep the goals in mind and show how nearly they are attained. An outdoor clock can be used for the church, and one for each class PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES 91 and department — one hand indicating increased attendance and the other showing gains in mem- bership. (M) Blue and red competitions within organ- izations, or between them, are very helpful, and reports should be made weekly. (N) Make weekly reports to all the local newspapers of the progress in numbers, and of the various social and other meetings by the vari- ous organizations. (O) In federated campaigns the attendance at similar services and organizations in all the various churches will be reported and compared in each church each week, also in the Monday newspapers. Take care that accurate figures be used. With the actual attendance, the ratio of at- tendance to membership should be computed in ranking the different churches and men's classes, etc. (P) In a federated campaign the weekly bul- letin may be standarized, from 4 to 24 pages of similar matter being used in all the bulletins. One page gives a comparative statement of the progress of all the churches and departments, several pages give religious extracts or sermons relating to the sermon topic of the week, and each church will have 2 or 4 cover pages specially printed about its own activities. (Q) A bulletin board outside the church should announce each week : " We had 400 at church, 500 at Sabbath School, and 300 at the 92 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM evening service last Sabbath. Help us make the figures larger next Sabbath." Care should be taken that the campaign is not all froth. There will of necessity be much froth, but a determined effort for permanent results must underlie every activity. (R) Special attendance strip tickets, like " movie " tickets, can be used, numbered and dated like duplex envelopes, one for each Sab- bath of the campaign, to be detached and placed in a receptacle each Sabbath only if present. In the fall there will be four or five in a strip. In the winter campaign, one for each Sabbath from New Year's to Easter. For the Sabbath School a different colored strip is used, if desired. (S) Paid advertisements in the Saturday papers are invaluable where funds are available and sufficient free space cannot be secured. These and other advertisements should be changed weekly. (T) Leave invitation cards at hotels and res- taurants each Saturday evening. Inclose each card in an envelope addressed to a guest, to be delivered on Sunday morning. A printed an- nouncement of all church services should hang in hotel lobbies and other public buildings. (U) A homeopathic motto or text might be tastily printed in good type on good cardboard and distributed in show-windows each week, or neatly lettered on the bulletin board in front of the church. PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES 93 (V) Special effort should be made to secure adequate reports of the sermons in the Monday- papers. Sometimes a sermonette on the theme for the next day is furnished to the local papers each Saturday by the pastors in turn, and printed with the announcements. Sometimes an entire sermon is printed on Monday. (W) Circulars can be inclosed in envelopes and an army of boys enlisted to distribute them each Saturday, or plain invitation cards can be used instead. " Russellism " makes much of this plan. (X) Use cartoons. The following ideas will be suggestive : " The Church Upholds Society " a block of granite labeled '* The Church " and upholding a building or several blocks, labeled '' The World," with such terms as " Commercial Prosperity," " Science and Education," " Morals and National Life," etc. '* Go to Church Sunday — Everybody Will Be There " — a picture of a church, with vast crowds, old and young, pushing in. " All One Army, We " — several columns marching abreast, each column headed by a ban- ner bearing the name of one of the denomina- tions co-operating in the campaign. " The Church Is Growing " — a diagram showing 7 persons out of each lOO belonged to the Church in 1800 in America. Today 24 out of each 100. (Y) Furnish the heads of families where dis- 94 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM trict prayer meetings are to be held with invita- tion cards like that below. Sometimes they are made out in the name of the committee instead of an individual. / earnestly invite you to meet with our neighbors in my home for a little while [time] (Name) (Address) Parlor Prayer Meeting (Z) Use electric signs over the streets and advertise by slides thrown on screens in movie theaters. Announcement in Church Bulletin OF September 19 Hurrah for Our Church! The pastor and officers have adopted plans for a " grand forward movement " campaign, to con- tinue one year. Our first purpose in this campaign is to put our church " on the map," to let everybody in PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES 95 the community know who we are and where we are, that we are doing business, and that we ex- pect to do a far bigger business. The officers have voted to try to add 25 per cent to the membership of both the church and the Sunday School within the year, and to in- crease the average attendance at all meetings of the church and its organizations at least 50 per cent — 100 per cent where possible. The men's class will try for an increase of 300 per cent. The month of October is to be a " Go to Church and Rally " campaign. We expect to break all records for attendance at every meet- ing on the first Sunday of October and to keep the attendance growing throughout the month, until everyone has the habit. On Sunday, September 25, a visitation, church- wide, is to be made between 2.30 and 5 p.m. At least 25 per cent of our members will go out in teams of two, to call at the. home of every family which is, or ought to be, connected with our church ; to advertise the campaign, and to urge attendance and membership by leaving printed literature and by personal explanations. Let every member of the church and congre- gation pray earnestly and give all the time they can to help make this visitation, and the autumn attendance and membership campaign which will follow, the most successful work in the history of the church. Christianity is the greatest thing in the world. It is the foundation of morals and 96 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM ideals, and so is the foundation of intelligence and prosperity, as well as the way of salvation for the individual and the world. First Page of Folder To Be Distributed by THE Visitors The churches of Springfield, whose names ap- pear below, extend to you and to all your friends a hearty invitation to attend all their services. You will always be most welcome. But we are ready and anxious to give you a special wel- come at every service and in special socials and entertainments during the month of October, which has been set aside as a go-to-church month by vote of the Ministerial Alliance and the Church Federation. The newspapers, the com- munity leaders, the Masonic Fraternity, and other agencies unite with us in urging you to re- call, now that vacation is over, the primary im- portance of religion. It is the basis of morals and ideals, the primary essential of civic right- eousness, social progress and economic pros- perity. As a good citizen, will you not show your in- terest in the Church by attending the church and Sabbath School of your choice each Sabbath throughout October? You will lose nothing. You will gain much. The accompanying folder tells you something of the work and plans of the various churches, which never before were so united in their pur- PUBLICITY ACTIVITIES 97 pose. Throughout the year they will all work together on the same program. " Come thou with us next Sunday, and we will do thee good." Come tonight, too — special music ! Announcements in Church Bulletins of City- WIDE Campaign Hurrah for the Churches of Our City! The churches of Springfield are entering upon the greatest religious campaign in the history of our city. A businesslike, city-wide, church-efficiency cam- paign has been arranged for upon the recom- mendation of the Ministerial Association by a committee of leading laymen representing churches with over church members and over Sabbath-school members. Every church belonging to the Evangelical Alliance will join in it. Why this Campaign Now? Because religion is the greatest thing in the world. Because an unprecedented revival of interest in the moral and social and spiritual teachings of Christ is sweeping over our land, such a move- ment is especially timely. Because there is room in our churches for a vast increase in membership and attendance in every department. 98 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM Because the churches can accomplish so much more when united. Because such a campaign has been so success- ful in other places, and because our churches should use up-to-date methods. General Plans for the Campaign It is not intended to employ an outside evan- gelist or outside plans, but to follow comprehen- sive and efficient plans adapted to local condi- tions. All churches will, so far as they can, conform loyally to the standard programs and do the same work simultaneously. An unprecedented effort will be made to exalt religion in our city, to emphasize the funda- mentals of Christianity rather than doctrinal differences, to bring the greatness of religion and the urgency of its claims home to every indi- vidual in the city — rich or poor, old or young, old resident and new-comer. IX SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS OF AN EFFICIENT CHURCH THE adoption of an annual program of evangelism and education, of social and spiritual activities, such as is presented in this manual, is essential to church efficiency. But this is only the beginning of church efficiency. Every church should study the question from the modern viewpoint and from all angles. Efficiency is not a matter of theory. It is common sense and knowledge carried to the highest degree. It is the science of securing the utmost of results, under given conditions with a minimum expenditure of time and money, by the most scientific study of the goals to be at- tained and of the tools and methods and equip- ment available. Scientific management, which is a very large element of efficiency, is yet in its infancy but already, by its use, banks and stores, factories and railways, are increasing their dividends from 50 per cent to 1000 per cent. Men have been laying bricks for thousands of years but a modern scientific study of brick- laying enables a bricklayer to place three bricks with the expenditure of time and energy formerly 100 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM required for one. The laborer who could load thirteen tons of pig iron per day a few years ago, in the Homestead Steel plant, can now load forty-five tons with the same labor. Christ was the first efficiency expert. By studying His work, we find that He observed all of the principles emphasized by modern efficiency experts. Surely His Church should use the best of methods and of common sense in the service of God who is the source of all modern methods and plans and efficiency ideals .and ideas. We cannot here discuss all the essential elements of church efficiency. We can touch on only a few of the most important. (A.) A Large Outlook The greatest element of inefficiency in the average church is its limited outlook. While its condition is rapidly improving, it is still piti- fully lacking in vision and ambition. It is con- tent with the past. It fails to make the best use of its resources. Like the ten spies, it sees the giants and problems in the way and prefers re- maining at Kadesh-Barnea with its disadvantages to making the effort for larger opportunities. While it succeeds in many of its undertakings, it forgets that " not failure but low aim is crime." Like the Israelites at the Dead Sea, it prefers to return to the traditions of Egypt rather than to seek freedom through a difficult advance. " It refuses to walk by faith, prefer- SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS 101 ring to walk by light in the sight of past achievements." " Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it," is one text which the church of today greatly needs. In this age which seeks large leadership in the solu- tion of its moral and scientific and political ques- tions, in this day of the world's unrest in Chris- tian and in heathen lands, in the light of men's hunger for satisfaction for their physical and social and intellectual and spiritual needs, God says to the Church, "Feed my sheep." As Christ "grew in wisdom (intellectually) and stature (physically), and in favor with God (morally) and man '* (socially), so the Church is to see that every individual and community and nation has full opportunity for complete religious development and life. But as the disciples could only see that the Five Thousand were "so many " when Christ commanded, " Give ye them to eat," so the average church of today protests that a broad social and missionary policy is im- possible, forgetting that it is their first duty to obey and to trust God for adequate resources to carry out His plans. The Church is not to do all things. The State and the business world, the schools and the newspapers, all have their part to do. The Church is not primarily an athletic or a scientific or a political or a commercial agency, but it must claim and perform its duty to be the teacher and inspirer of all these since Christ is to be King and 102 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM Teacher of all. It is to teach by message and example. It is to lead by imparting a vision which comprehends all these and by training leaders for all. (B.) A More Comprehensive Program The average church has an incomplete and inadequate program. Too often it has no pro- gram. Many a pastor who says, ■" I have a program," simply refers to a program for his young people or for his women, to his sermon course, or to his plans for his men. Each church should adopt a definite and broad and far-sighted program ; which shall include the performance of all its duties to its members, to its community, and to the world; which shall unify and co-ordinate and comprehend all the programs and activities of all the societies. Such a program should be outlined, not simply for one month or one year, but for five years ahead — ^yes for fifty years. The Church should look far in advance, foreseeing the religious and social problems of tomorrow and their dangers, taking special care to train future leaders to meet the former and formulating policies to minimize the latter. Of course any program will be modified and perfected constantly in the light of experi- ence and changing conditions. SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS 103 • (C.) Efficiency in Organization and Administration No church can attain its maximum power and efficiency until it is organized along modern lines in accordance with the principles of efficiency. A special committee on Efficiency should be ap- pointed in every church to discover ways and means of improving the existing organization and its organizations and management ; to recommend definite changes, both minor and major. On this vast and important subject, we can simply touch on a few of the most essential points. A manual will be issued in 1916 on "The Efficient Management of a Modern Church " by the same author as, and uniform in style with, this volume. The first essential of organization is unity of purpose. Too often the various societies of a church have no unity of aim or goals, and the activities of one interfere with or nullify the activities of others, or of the church itself. All heads of organizations and departments should confer frequently. It has been found most de- sirable to require written reports from each de- partment at a quarterly conference of the offi- cials of all departments, or at a prayer meeting, concerning work accomplished during the quar- ter, together with a verbal statement of plans for the next quarter. Another essential is democracy. The women 104 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM and the young people should have representatives on every congregational board and committee for the sake of their consecration, of their larger enthusiasm and persistent efforts for results, of their influence on their associates, and as under- studies for leadership. Another essential is unity of plan. Each or- ganization from the Junior Band to the Men's Brotherhood should be organized along the same lines as the church. Every department should have the same committees as the church, per- forming the same functions, so that the child will be perfectly at home in each new organiza- tion that he joins, and will master church man- agement as he works on his ' primary ' com- mittee. We must use what manufacturers and experts know as the unit system. To illustrate : we have already suggested that every standard church should have " Publicity " and " Social " and " Visitation and Membership " committees which will secure the appointment of corresponding committees by each organization and will aid such committees to plan and perform their work, co-ordinating all their activities so that there shall be no overlapping or overlooking, but every member of the congregation shall be fully looked after in that regard. Carefully selected com- mittees organized along similar lines, with sim- ilar church-wide responsibility, should be ap- pointed by the pastor or official board on " fi- SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS 105 nance," " social and community service/' " de- votional life," " religious education " in all its phases, " buildings and equipment," etc. Each district committee might well have similar sub- committees. All such congregational com- mittees should be Commissions with large powers of initiative. Usually each is constituted of an executive committee of three or six (perhaps two men, two women, and two young people), together with the chairman or other representa- tives of the corresponding committee in each society and department. To convert the leaders of a church to modern ideals and methods of church management, to induce them to reorganize the official machinery and plans, it is often necessary for those who have a large vision to employ a church efficiency expert to aid in inspiring and converting the others and to give counsel out of his wide ex- perience in the reorganization and reconstruc- tion of churches with pecuHar conditions. (D.) Modern Equipment and a Liberal Financial Budget In former days, the question of finance was of slight importance to an American church. The members lived cheaply and the pastor could wear homespun and raise potatoes. Their log churches were still better than the homes of the members. Sunday Schools and church organs were universally regarded as heresies. Today, 106 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM an adequate educational and social program for a modern church demands a parish house with gymnasium and dining and social rooms; and a modern Sunday-school plant with separate class- rooms, maps, charts, the expense of sending Sunday-school leaders to training institutes, etc. Church buildings should be in keeping, inside and out, with the homes of their members. Every church should own a manse. When the '' simple life " prevailed, and each church had a membership of only 50 or 75, with officers who visited each family in the parish quarterly, and when all community interests were simple, no paid assistant was needed by the pas- tor. But the pastor of today who has 400 mem- bers or more, must each year get acquainted with more faces and names and receive more members than did his grandfather in ten years; must compete with the publicity power of many lodges and clubs and " movies " ; must direct a dozen organizations inside his church, and keep in touch with scores of civic and social and economic interests outside in order to under- stand his people as his grandfather-preacher did ; and must prepare two weekly sermons while a hundred other matters claim his attention. He must have an assistant to attend to correspond- ence and to keep the Church and Sunday-school card indexes up to date each week; to help look after the boys and girls and manage the visita- tion and educational programs; to operate the SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS 107 multigraph and addressograph essential to proper educational and publicity activity, to send out financial statements and follow-up letters. Office equipment and a stereopticon (better still, a moving-picture outfit), an athletic field, and much other equipment should be secured. A weekly or monthly magazine should be issued, bearing the name of the church, such as can be secured from Revell and Co.'s " Church Maga- zine Service." To make it fully efficient, the average modern church needs a much larger budget. A small per cent can be so added to the expenditures of any church as to vastly increase the quality of the members and the number added each year. The interest on an investment of $25,000 or $100,000 in buildings amounts to a good sum, and in view of this investment and of the fixed overhead expense in its present budget, it is cer- tainly good business for a church to add from 20 per cent to 50 per cent to its budget when it may add from 50 per cent to 500 per cent to its efficiency. The leaders of every church should make dili- gent effort to enlarge the local church income, and the appropriations for salaries, publicity, equipment, etc. ; while missionary gifts should usually be doubled or quadrupled. Debts should be promptly paid and deficits eliminated. Money making by suppers and fairs should be reduced to a minimum. 108 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM Adopt the modern duplex envelope system of finance, with a paid bookkeeper (or at least an efficient treasurer), with business-like plans for the prompt collection of arrears in pledges, for financial publicity, audits, and especially for a thorough every-member canvass. Include the local expenses of the Sabbath School and all other organizations with the pastor's salary in one complete budget and avoid that multiplicity of appeals which hinders liberal giving. Strive to secure the utmost of liberal pledges on the weekly basis from every member and adherent of the church, from 4 years old to 84, to be paid as a part of the weekly worship. Have a definite place in your church program for a thorough annual finance campaign, at the close of the October or Mid-Winter or Lenten campaign, while enthusiasm is at flood tide, in- cluding one or more sermons on Christian Stewardship. Have the matter presented at every service for two or three weeks by the pastor and officers, after which the canvass will be made on a Sabbath afternoon by sufficient teams to complete it in three hours. Full suggestions as to organizing such a cam- paign most successfully, inspiring the members to give, training the canvassers, conducting the canvass, collecting pledges and otherwise follow- ing up the work, or where the financial problem is peculiarly difficult, expert personal help can be secured from your denominational boards or SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS 109 from the " Church Efficiency Bureau " of Chicago. Results can always be greatly increased where all churches of a community push the finances simultaneously, having mass-meetings for the in- spiration and education of their officers and can- vassers and members, with expert assistance. (E.) Businesslike Methods A church should be as businesslike as a factory. All boards and committees meet regularly to transact their business just as in a bank. •Vouchers should be required in every financial transaction. Audits should be made, at least annually, of the accounts of every treasurer of every organization, both to remove that tempta- tion which comes both to church treasurer and to bank cashier on whom no check is kept and to insure confidence in the church. Deeds, insurance policies and all church rec- ords should be kept in a safe place. In too many cases, such records are not made in legal form and the organization is in danger of serious loss. A clear title should be insured when property is bought, while building contracts and all other matters should be attended to with scrupulous promptness and care. A church should pay all its bills promptly at the first of each month, even if it is necessary to borrow at the bank. Occasionally a church is found with no record of its members or baptisms and many a new 110 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM pastor has wasted hundreds of dollars' worth of time and energy trying to secure the information which the officers should have had in a complete card index. A printed annual manual will be worth many times the cost. (F.) The Spirit of Co-operation and Federation Not only should the utmost of harmony be maintained between all organizations within a church, but earnest effort should also be made to secure the utmost of co-operation and unity in program and method between all the local churches. The religious forces of a community, of all denominations, should be as united as the forces of the saloon. A properly organized and sup- ported Church Federation will be a tower of strength to all the churches and moral forces of the community. If it is not feasible, strengthen the Ministerial Association and organize Fed- erations of the men's classes, of the women's organizations, of the young people's societies, of the Sabbath Schools and of all kindred organi- zations of all the churches. Correspond with the Federal Council of Churches, Associated Chari- ties Building, "New York. The Young People's Societies might hold a union monthly service, likewise the men's and women's societies. A city rescue mission, park services, a tent or tabernacle campaign, a per- SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS 111 manent inter-denominational religious weekly, a Sunday afternoon or evening Forum, institutes along educational and financial and social and other lines, a community survey, a community social center and club-house, a boys' work di- rector, a restroom, an athletic field, a normal training class, a Bible institute, and many other activities have been most successfully carried on under such auspices. In a Connecticut town, all churches united in financing a " Church office " with complete equipment, stenographer, etc., to serve all the co-operating churches. In an Iowa community, the Methodist Parish House was used for the athletic and social ac- tivities of the women and girls of the community while the Presbyterian Parish House was simi- larly used for the boys and men. In a New England town, a Union Men's Bible Class with a Baptist teacher met in the Congregational Church each Sabbath morning while the Union Women's Class met in the Baptist Church with a Congregationalist teacher. In smaller cities and towns, two or three churches frequently federate, usually with one pastor who is paid a good salary, selected for five-year periods in turn from the denomina- tions represented. In other cases, using one building, they have two pastors who alternate in preaching in town and in the country districts. In other communities, they unite to form one church,~as where a Methodist and a Presby- 112 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM terian Church united, using the Methodist build- ing and the Presbyterian manse and calling a Congregational minister. One illustration of how such Interdominational Federation will aid in promoting church effi- ciency in all lines : in a Michigan city of about 50,000, the writer, as secretary of the Church Efficiency Bureau, has aided in perfecting plans for a city-wide efficiency campaign to cover three years. In addition to simultaneous visitations, evangelism, etc., activities planned include a Mis- sionary Conference under the auspices of the Laymen's Movement ; a conference conducted by the Religious Education Association; a Bible Institute continuing 19 days with two Bible teachers ; a stewardship and church finance cam- paign to increase the budgets and salaries; a Church Efficiency Institute on methods of church organization and administration. During the three years, visits will be secured of specialists on church architecture, church music, and on boys* and men's and women's and young people's activities. A social and religious survey of the community will be made as the basis for " City Planning — Social and Religious." A series of ten Sunday afternoon mass-meetings will be held each year with prominent speakers from a dis- tance (an ex-governor and many other promi- nent laymen, college presidents, etc., are already engaged), some of whom will remain to address the ministers of the city and county on Monday SIX ESSENTIAL FACTORS 113 morning, for a mass-meeting on Monday evening, and in some cases for special parlor or dinner conferences with men or women of wealth or with other groups. A teacher training course will be conducted by a specialist who visits this, as one of a circuit of six cities, weekly through- out the year. Most of these activities could be developed in any city. They can be financed easier in a large program than separately. They should be scat- tered through two or three years. Experts will remain from a day to a week as necessary. All denominations will be represented among the speakers, and editors and theological leaders will be included. The author will be most happy to help plan and finance such city-wide campaigns. A visiting speaker secures a better hearing than a local pastor, for " distance lends enchant- ment." The stranger can be advertised more aggressively and there is only one chance to hear him. The " big guns " of European armies illus- trate how one or two addresses by men of special ability and training can accomplish in a certain line what a score of addresses by local men would not. Especially is this true among the intellectual and social aristocrats who must be successfully evangelized in some way, and who think themselves superior to the local pastors. APPENDIX A INSTRUCTIONS TO VISITORS In addition to the general inspiration and training given in various ways, at the prayer meetings, training conferences, etc., a special instruction sheet should be put in the hands of each visitor before the visitation, and carefully studied. It might be used as the basis of the conference training. The following is sugges- tive ; and copies can be secured from the Church Efficiency Bureau at a trifling cost: Purposes of the Visitation 1. To promote acquaintance and Christian fellow- ship, both for the visitors and the visited. 2. To commend our church to everyone as a friendly church. 3. To boost religion — to give a new emphasis to the importance of spiritual things. 4. To boost our own church — her pastor, her music, her methods, her plans, her societies, her Sunday School, and all her interests. 5. To revive those who have grown cold through vacation. 6. To tell of the " go-to-church " campaign and to arouse such interest as will secure the attendance of everyone at all the church services, and in the Sab- bath School and other organizations. 7. To enroll as many new members as possible in each organization. 115 116 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM 8. To secure information concerning possible new- families, new members, etc., who might be placed on the calling and visitation lists. 9. To enroll in the Home Department or the " Week- day Women's Class " those who cannot attend the Sabbath School at the regular hour. 10. To demonstrate the enthusiasm and the loyalty of our church people. Instruction to Callers ,\ 1. Co-operate with your captain in every detail, especially by attending the training conferences and making the calls promptly. 2. Make calls between 2:30 and 6:00 p.m. on Sun- day afternoon. The earlier the hour the better. If some are out return at a later hour. Complete your list if possible. Those whom you do not find on Sunday call on before Wednesday evening so that a complete report may be made. 3. Report to your captain, not later that 6 :oo p.m., the number of calls made and the results, that as complete a report as possible of the day's work may be made at the evening service. 4. Tell how our church mortgage was burned re- cently. 5. Tell of the results of our work last year, es- pecially 6. Tell all about our fine Sabbath School, its organi- zation, its workers, and its splendid growth. 7. Induce as many as possible to enroll in one of the organized Bible classes, — for Men, Women, Young People, etc. Tell of the competition between the various classes and the various churches. 8. Tell of the warm welcome awaiting them in the APPENDIX A 117 church vestibule and of the social half-hour at the close of the service. 9. Tell of the free church entertainment and social on and of the free socials for the various organizations to which all are invited. 10. Tell of the work of the Woman's Society and of the Brotherhood and of the various young people's societies, and secure members. 11. Secure all information possible concerning pro- spective new members and families, as to calls which ought to be made and questions that ought to be an- swered. Note all the information gained, as well as changed addresses, on the back of each card as soon as secured. It must be in written form to be of any value. Do not fail to invite everyone to the special serv- ices on Sunday evening, telling of the special music and addresses, and especially urge attendance next Sunday morning. 12. Do not fail to attend the supper for all the visitors; and the Visitation Echo Meeting on Wednes- day evening. Notes: At the holiday season the instructions should em- phasize the various district prayer-meetings, Bible classes, socials, and all the classes and services, and urge family worship, personal prayer and Bible study, etc. At Lenten visitation, suitable suggestions as to the Campaign would be made. On every call, emphasize to the utmost the pre- eminence of religion and of the Church, the pre- eminence of the Church over its organizations, the obligations of each individual to the Church because of what it has done for society, the need of every individual for the Church, etc. APPENDIX B SOME BLANK FORMS These are not complete — merely suggestive. All forms should be worked out to suit local conditions and permanent plans. TO SECURE VOLUNTEERS FOR PERSONAL EVANGELISM (Do not ask volunteers — draft them — for visitations) Please sign this enrollment card and either hand or mail to the minister. Desiring that my life shall count the most possible in the progress of Christ's Kingdom, I cheerfully sub- scribe myself a member of the " Win One " Fellow- ship, and ask my minister's co-operation in securing personal commitment to Christ, and membership in His Church. (Write here the name of the person you seek to interest) (Address) Yours in the "Win One" Fellowship, (Sign your own name here) (Your address) 118 APPENDIX B 119 For an Interdenominational Religious Census, a standard card follows. For ordinary visitation work, a much simpler card should be used, adapted to the ends involved. Often it is better to ask no informa- tion — to simply give a warm invitation. HOME VISITATION CARD Block Number Street ; and House Number Name Nationality White Name of Church Attended House Vacant Not at Home. Roomer Servant Colored. CLASSIFICA- TION Und'r 3 3 to 12 13 to 18 Over 19 Boys Girls Men Tng W'mn Men W'mn Total Number in Family Give Name of s S Communicants of Local Church Comm.unicants of Not Communi- cants REMARKS CHURCH PREFERENCES Put X opposite Church preferred Baptist Catholic, Greek Catholic, Roman . . , Christian Science. . . Church of God Congregational . . . . Disciples of Christ. Episcopal Evangelical Friends Jewish Synagogue . . Lutheran Methodist Episcopal . Methodist A. M. E., New Jerusalem Presbyterian Presbyterian, United. Reformed Church. . . . Unitarian United Brethren Universalist United Evangelical. . . Unclassified None Visitor's number. Date. 120 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM A BRIEF FORM TO BE USED BY VISITORS A more elaborate form should be used where possible AN INVITATION We come today with a cordial invitation to you from every Church and Sunday School in this com- munity. If you attend the services of the Church and Sunday School of your choice regularly, all extend greetings; if you do not, all join in a most earnest request that you do so. We want to assure you a hearty welcome. In Behalf of all Churches and Sunday Schools in this Community. This card can be prepared in many different forms. Different colored paper can be used — as well as dif- ferent headings — to distinguish non-members, children, students, sex, etc. "INDIVIDUAL" CARD INDEX Name Date received From Where Phone, Home Ofifice Home Address Business Address Birthday Marriage Anniversary Occupation or Need Special Interests Special Friends Remarks Offices held.... Work assigned. When called on. APPENDIX B 121 A GOOD VISITORS' ASSIGNMENT BLANK M.. during the week (or month) of will you please call on the persons or families whose names are given below? Kindly fill in the dates of your visits, give any re- marks you think would be helpful, and hand to the district chairman (or pastor) or place on the collection tray before If, for any reason, you cannot make the calls, report the same at once. EACH CARD MUST BE RETURNED WITH FULL DATA FOR FILING AT THE CHURCH OFFICE. In calling, you will do well to have love, courage, cheerfulness, and tact. Boost for the church and get enthusiastic for the Kingdom of God, Make friends. Do not be afraid to smile. If done faithfully and in the spirit of Christ, this will prove one of the richest blessings you have ever enjoyed. It will help you to answer our Lord's prayer which we should daily pray : " Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth." Yours in His Service, Pastor or District Chairman. Note — ^With each name should be printed a space for address, date, data, remarks, etc. (Obverse of above) CALLS TO BE MADE Name Address Information Visitor's Report 122 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM PERENNIAL CALLING ASSIGNMENT CARD FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Battle Creek, Michigan OMce Telephone 825 191— Dear Fellow-Worker : Will you, at your earliest convenience, call on Street Information and Suggestions. Confer with. Report in writing to District Chairman or Office Assistant the result of your visit, with any suggestions. George E. Barnes, Minister LuciLE Honey, Office Assistant {Obverse of above) .^_ APPENDIX B 123 Others in Family Date of Birth or Approx. Age Baptized Church Member When Received Bible School Young Peo. Soc Missionary Soc. Ladies' Aid Boys' or Girls' Club Brotherhood Contributor 124 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM A POST CARD KEPT IN SEAT RACKS FOR STRANGERS This church has a welcome for all strangers. We are glad you are here today. We want to know you and we want you to know us. All Traveling men, Transients, Visitors in the city, Newcomers to or any person who is unidentified with a church and would like to have a church home — can help us realize our aim by writing address (in the city or elsewhere) as indicated below. Drop this card in the collection plate, hand it to an usher, or put a one cent stamp on the other side and mail it in the first convenient mail box. The Pastor and Social Committee invite you to tarry at the close of service and make yourself known. When you are next in , worship with us again. Name Town or Street Date State "Let Us Know Each Other." {To use in March Campaign) ARE YOU A NATURALIZED CHRISTIAN? SIGN YOUR APPLICATION NOW. I take God to be my Father. I take Jesus Christ to be my Saviour. I take the Holy Spirit to be my Guide. I take the Bible to be the rule of my life. I take Christian people to be my associates. I take Christian work to be my duty. I dedicate myself to the Lord, and this I do freely, deliberately, sincerely, and forever. I wish to unite with the Church. Name Address APPENDIX B 125 PASTOR'S INFORMATION CARD {To keep in Pews) Name Address. Kindly fill out the blanks, check proper item, and drop in the offering plate. Stranger at the services. Prospective member. Prospective S. S. members. Moved to the above address. Desires a call. Not at church lately. Not at Bible School lately. Disaffected — and why. Sick Needy Neglected Lonesome Interested Newcomers Can Sing Can Play Over for additional information, names, and remarks. Sign 126 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM AN "ENROLLMENT FOR SERVICE" CARD Can be used at any visitation. It might include a pledge to family worship, to private Bible study, and prayer, etc., as well as pledges to specific service. The following was used in one church: "To each one his work" — Mark 13:34. As a member of the Church of I con- fess myself in need of fellowship with Christ's people, and re- sponsible in a measure for the life and growth of the Church local and the Church universal. I therefore cheerfully promise that, so far as earthly means and strength will permit, I will co-operate with my fellow-members in carrying on the work of the Church to the extent, and along the special lines, indicated below. If I find myself with increased strength, means or opportunity, I will add accordingly to the obligations which I herewith express. 1. I will attend the regular church services, A. M P. M Prayer-meeting 2. I will attend and participate in the work of the Sabbath- school The Ladies' Missionary Society The Chapel S. S The Y. P. S. C. E The Junior C. E The Men's Brotherhood The Society 3. I will attend every Communion Service, unless providentially prevented 4. I will try to bring each week to a church service at least one person who has not accepted Christ or who has apparently become indifferent 5. I will try to lead at least one person to an acceptance of Christ and membership in His Church during the year APPENDIX B 127 6. I will pray daily for a blessing from God upon the preach- ing and teaching of the Word and the faith and efforts of all Christians 7. I will subscribe for at least one of our denominational papers or magazines, with a view to keeping informed of the Church's work and needs (Only the head of the family need sign this.) 8. I will visit the sick , call upon newcomers furnish flowers for the church , serve as sub- stitute S. S. teacher , greet strangers at serv- ices , do any work assigned 9. I will contribute as I believe Christ would wish me to do, to the current expense and the benevolent funds of this church [o. I will keep a list of the obligations I have here recognized, as a help to faithfulness and regularity in discharg- ing them NAME ADDRESS. NOTE — This blank is authorized by the officers of this church to be sent to all our members, in the confident hope that it will be a means toward securing a greater degree of co-operation and efficiency in promoting the work of the Kingdom. It is to be filled out, signed and RETURNED TO THE PASTOR for the information and use of the Session only. To each family will be sent as many copies as there are members of the church in it. Every member is expected to fill out and return one. Please at- tend to the matter upon receipt of this communication, which contains an addressed return-envelope for your convenience. First, prayerfully consider whether you have been doing all that could reasonably be expected from you in the use of spiritual privileges and the discharge of religious obligations. Then mark a cross in as many of the blank spaces as you would feel under obligation to do with Christ sitting by your side. RETURNS ARE EXPECTED FROM ALL WHO CONSIDER THEMSELVES COMMUNICANT MEMBERS OF THIS CHURCH. 128 A MODERN CHURCH PROGRAM POSTCARD— TO ABSENTEES TRINITY CHURCH Dear Friend: We missed you last Sunday at our services. We hope it will be possible for you to be with us next Sunday to enjoy and be helped by the fellowship and worship. We will look for you. Yours cordially, (Signed by Pastor or District Chairman.) POSTCARD— TO STRANGERS AFTER FIRST ATTENDANCE TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Pastor Home Phone 5058 — Bell Phone 2236 Dear Friend: We are glad to have had you present with us in our church services on Sunday. We hope you found them helpful and that it will be possible for you to worship with us again, — this Sun- day, and regularly. Yours sincerely, PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 012 01091 4861 DATE DUE j'r •* Wmm^ DEMCO 38-297