1 
 
 
 V. 1. V'a \ 6. t. 
 
 
 ''M 
 
 CHRISTIANITY’S 
 SUPREME ISSUES 
 
 A STUDY IN PERSPECTIVE 
 
 BY 
 
 T. H. P. J^LER 
 
 A new plan for the cooperative study 
 of six supreme needs of humanity, based 
 on Bishop Francis J. McConnell’s book, 
 Human Needs and World Christianity, 
 and on the Report of the Jerusalem 
 Meeting, 1928 
 
 Price, twenty-five cents 
 
 Order through denominational literature headquarters 
 
 MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT 
 OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 
 
 New York 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 
MISSIONARY RESEARCH LIBRA'. 
 
 Union Collection 
 ’ 5041 Broadway, New York Oi*. 
 
 1 .. ■-.-I - | ■" " 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 1. THE PLAN—A New Method 
 
 Selection of Chairmen ..... 5 
 
 First Meeting of Chairmen .... 6 
 
 Recruiting the Groups ..... 7 
 
 First Meeting of All the Groups ... 8 
 
 Meetings Preparatory to General Sessions . 11 
 
 General Sessions of All the Groups . . .14 
 
 Subsequent Meetings of Groups Separately . 16 
 
 Inter-Group Consultation . . . .17 
 
 Practical Projects . . . . . .18 
 
 II. THE MATERIAL 
 
 Introductory ....... 22 
 
 Topics of the Course with Outlines and 
 References 
 
 Better Health . . . . . .26 
 
 More Wealth . . . . . .30 
 
 Sounder Knowledge . . . . .35 
 
 Larger Freedom . . . . . .41 
 
 Closer Fellow.ship . . . . .46 
 
 The Vision of God . . . . .50 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Suggestions to Sub-Committee Members 
 
 54 
 
 
 1 '•> 
 
 
CHRISTIANITY’S SUPREME ISSUES 
 
 I. THE PLAN—A NEW METHOD 
 
 This plan differs in several particulars from that which 
 has been generally followed in “Suggestions to Leaders.” 
 
 1. It is less dependent on a single textbook. While it 
 adopts the chapter headings of Bishop Francis John 
 McConnell’s book, Human Needs and World Christianity, 
 as its main topics, it uses the book as a commentary 
 together with other reference material. 
 
 2. Instead of a single leader for a course of meetings, 
 it organizes six sub-committees, each to have charge of a 
 session. 
 
 3. Instead of concentrating for the year on a single 
 field or topic of missionary work, it considers simultane¬ 
 ously six large aspects which relate to the whole world, 
 home and foreign. 
 
 4. Instead of regarding the general sessions as a cul¬ 
 mination of the work, it considers them rather as episodes 
 in an educational program. 
 
 5. It makes the sub-committees responsible for con¬ 
 tinued study and effort designed to secure for their respec¬ 
 tive subjects a more adequate place in the educational pro¬ 
 gram and activity of the local church. 
 
 The plan as a whole is more extended in scope, more 
 ambitious in aim, more elaborate in organization, than 
 that of the ordinary discussion group. It should not be 
 undertaken without careful study of what it demands. It 
 may be that many communities had better not attempt it. 
 On the other hand, it is open to modification. In some 
 
 1 
 
cases it may be simplified by omitting topics; in some it 
 may be strengthened by adding new features. It is not a 
 set program to be followed out in detail in order to secure 
 credit. It is only one of many possible ways of promot¬ 
 ing missionary education in the church and making it 
 fruitful. It should be used and revised in accordance with 
 this aim. 
 
 The dictionary defines method as systematic procedure 
 for the achievement of an end or purpose. Much of our 
 so-called method in missionary discussion has been defec¬ 
 tive in that it has had only a dim consciousness of any 
 large aims. We have been pushed from behind by the 
 exigency of immediate needs, rather than held to a straight 
 course by the vision of a definite outcome. Our groups 
 have gathered for discussion rather than achievement. 
 The mere consideration of the problems of the missionary 
 enterprise has been counted upon to create interest which 
 would find its own channels of self-expression. These 
 hopes have sometimes been realized. Individuals have 
 gained new insight and enthusiasm which has led to more 
 effective service. On the other hand, much of the steam 
 which has been generated has never done any work because 
 it was not brought to bear on something specific. The 
 results of many missionary discussion groups have been 
 disappointingly small. 
 
 We need to develop a method with more systematic pro¬ 
 cedure and more definite purpose. Bishop McConnell’s 
 recent book, Human Needs and World Christianity, fur¬ 
 nishes an excellent background and outlook for such a 
 method. Its six chapters treat in succession: Better Health, 
 More Wealth, Sounder Knowledge, Larger Freedom, 
 Closer Fellowship, The Vision of God. These are objec¬ 
 tives for all the world. It is proposed that our method 
 
 2 
 
shall take for its aim the integration of those objectives 
 into the educational program of the local church. 
 
 It is more than a coincidence that the first meaning of 
 the word parochial given in the dictionary is “pertaining to 
 a parish,” and that the second meaning is “narrow-minded.” 
 The average church is entirely too much like a religious 
 club whose main concern is its own welfare and internal 
 efficiency. Christian loyalty is too often devotion to local 
 ecclesiastical affairs or denominational standards, instead 
 of to the broad claims of the kingdom of God. The educa¬ 
 tional curriculum of most churches does comparatively 
 little to correct this tendency. Human needs as seen from 
 the standpoint of world Christianity are treated only inci¬ 
 dentally. No one would suppose, from an inspection of 
 the subject matter commonly considered in religious edu¬ 
 cation, that these needs were considered as supreme issues. 
 To enlarge the perspective both of adult church members 
 and the rising generation would be a great achievement, 
 a blessing to the individual, the church, and the world. 
 
 In substance the plan is as follows: 
 
 1. Six chairmen are secured, each to organize a sub¬ 
 committee which shall study and promote one of the issues 
 presented in Bishop McConneirs book. 
 
 2. These chairmen are called together for full explana¬ 
 tion of the plan, discussion of possible adaptations, and 
 canvass and apportionment of persons available for com¬ 
 mittee membership. 
 
 3. Each chairman invites the members assigned him to 
 join his groupand makes arrangements for substitutes 
 if any of them are unable or unwilling to serve. 
 
 ‘ Since the word sub-committee is somewhat cumbersome, the 
 word group will be used instead. The meeting of all the groups 
 is the general session. 
 
 3 
 
4. Each group meets to consider the plan in detail, select 
 aspects of it for individual study, and outline an initial pro¬ 
 gram for presentation to the other groups. 
 
 5. Groups study their respective assignments and inves¬ 
 tigate the needs of the church and community for further 
 education on their subjects through study and practical 
 effort. 
 
 6. Groups reconvene separately to set up and rehearse 
 their programs. More than one meeting may be necessary 
 for this. 
 
 7. A series of general sessions is held, at each of 
 which one group presents its issue as a subject claiming 
 large recognition in the educational program and activity 
 of the church. 
 
 8. The groups continue to meet separately to plan for 
 further study and for specific educational projects con¬ 
 nected with their issues. 
 
 9. There are combined meetings of the groups to ex¬ 
 change ideas and correlate effort. 
 
 10. Individuals and groups undertake in cooperation 
 with the local educational authorities projects to give the 
 several issues the place they deserve in religious education. 
 
 The plan is therefore not a labor-saving contrivance nor 
 a variation for the sake of mere novelty. It demands a 
 fair-sized number of persons, able and willing to work 
 and to report intelligently on their efforts. It is highly 
 desirable that the pastor should be a member of one of 
 the groups as a fellow-learner; also the director of relig¬ 
 ious education, if there is one, and those who are most 
 intelligent and active in shaping the educational policies. 
 
 Note that the center of gravity is not in the general ses¬ 
 sions, as is the case with the ordinary mission study class. 
 These sessions serve a real purpose, but are properly only 
 
 4 
 
episodes. They furnish practical motivation for the prepa¬ 
 ration of effective reports. Each group needs the stimulus 
 of having to be ready at a definite date with an adequate 
 presentation of its topic. The sense of fellowship with 
 other groups, or even of friendly rivalry with them, will 
 help in securing work from some who might otherwise 
 not exert themselves. The general sessions will enable 
 groups to test their ability to present their subjects in a 
 way that commands attention and to obtain sympathetic 
 criticism. The groups thereby publicly commit themselves 
 to responsibility for accomplishment. They deepen their 
 own interest by defending a cause, and they have an 
 opportunity to infect others with their enthusiasm. 
 
 On the other hand, there is danger that our customary 
 emphasis on meetings as ends in themselves, exercises 
 which have served their purpose when they have attracted 
 a creditable audience and held their attention, may become 
 a stumbling block. It must be clearly understood that the 
 general sessions are not swan songs, but rehearsals for 
 action; not occasions for the laying down of arms with 
 honorable discharge, but of girding for more efficient 
 service. 
 
 The plan we propose may be considered a failure if it 
 comes to an end with the termination of the general ses¬ 
 sions, and if each group dissolves as soon as it has made 
 its report. 
 
 The preceding steps will now be discussed in greater 
 detail. 
 
 Selection of Chairmen 
 
 It is important that the chairmen should have qualities 
 of leadership; that they should be persons who believe, 
 with Mr. Dwight L. Moody, that “it is better to set ten 
 men to work than to do the work of ten men.^’ It is equally 
 
 5 
 
important that they should be heartily committed to the 
 plan. It would be fatal if they undertook their work with¬ 
 out real enthusiasm. If suitable individuals are not avail¬ 
 able, it may be better to omit one or more of the issues. 
 As early as possible, a copy of this pamphlet should be 
 placed in the hands of each chairman. 
 
 First Meeting of the Chairmen 
 
 The need and value of some such plan should be dis¬ 
 cussed, together with any modifications or improvements. 
 Support by the pastor, the director of religious education, 
 and other leaders of the church will count for much at this 
 stage. The chairmen should have a clear perspective of 
 the function of each step, and should be helped to realize 
 the importance of a long stern chase in education in order 
 to give the church a world view of human needs. Not oni}^ 
 will others be stunted and perhaps lost without our efforts, 
 but we ourselves will become stunted and perhaps lost if 
 we do not exert ourselves to help. 
 
 Each chairman should select by agreement one of the 
 issues, and a list of members eligible for the different 
 groups should then be gathered. Apportionment must be 
 only tentative, as some may decline to serve and others may 
 prefer membership in some other group. It is desirable 
 that two persons besides the chairman should be secured 
 for each committee, but three or more would be better. 
 
 Copies of Suggestions to Sub-Committee Members' 
 should be provided for distribution, and ways of procuring 
 a sufficient amount of reference material should be dis- 
 
 ^ These Suggestions appear in full in the Appendix to this pam¬ 
 phlet (see page 54), and have also been reprinted separately in leaflet 
 form. It is very important that the chairmen secure enough copies 
 to enable each group member to have one, inasmuch as the leaflet 
 explains the scope of the plan, presents the main questions for 
 study, and furnishes references on each topic. 
 
 6 
 
cussed. Bishop McConneirs book will naturally be used 
 widely for reference. Since it is addressed to those of a 
 more thoughtful type, it will need to be supplemented by 
 more popular presentations, as well as by further facts 
 and statistics. For serious study the eight-volume report 
 of the Jerusalem Meeting should be accessible; also A 
 Faith for the World, by William Paton; The World Mis¬ 
 sion of Christianity, a twenty-five cent pamphlet which 
 contains the findings of the Jerusalem delegates; and Basil 
 Mathews’ Roads to the City of God, which offers an inter¬ 
 esting sketch of the conference and its significance. More 
 specific references are given later in the sections dealing 
 with the several main topics. 
 
 Chairmen cannot begin too soon to read up on these 
 subjects. They can hardly hope to interest others in issues 
 of which they themselves are ignorant. They should sep¬ 
 arate with a feeling that if a considerable amount of work 
 is being demanded of each of them, it at least promises to 
 be invested at a higher rate of interest than much of the 
 service rendered to the church. At all stages the point must 
 be strongly stressed that the primary function of chairmen 
 is not to set up a report for the general session, but to secure 
 continuous study in order to give one of the supreme issues 
 of Christianity a new place in the educational program of 
 the church. 
 
 Recruiting the Groups 
 
 It would be remarkable if the membership of the groups 
 worked out just as planned in the preceding conference. ' 
 Further consultation between chairmen will probably be 
 necessary before all the groups are sufficiently recruited 
 and balanced. In inviting persons to join, care must be 
 taken not to demand too much. 
 
 The defective education which most of us have received 
 
 7 
 
has created a tendency to think of study as a committing to 
 memory of something in a book for future recitation. It is 
 important that group members should understand that they 
 are responsible not merely for a contribution to a program, 
 but for learning all they can about a great issue and the 
 need for it in the educational curriculum of the church and 
 community. They should try to become enthusiastic about 
 their topics so that they will really desire to interest others, 
 and should also, by conversation and observation, discover 
 whether children and adults know what they ought to know. 
 Some persons will be stimulated far more by practical 
 investigation than by reading. 
 
 Some may be only stimulated by the prospect of con¬ 
 tinued study and work; others who would simply refuse 
 to sign up for so much, may have their interest aroused 
 more than they anticipate by fellowship in the groups. It 
 should be understood that each group is at liberty to 
 strengthen itself by enlisting additional members tempora¬ 
 rily or permanently. Local physicians, social workers, or 
 other specialists may be drawn upon for advice. 
 
 First Meeting of the Groups 
 
 This should be held at least two weeks before the report 
 to the general session, but preferably should convene much 
 earlier in order to give plenty of time for investigation 
 and study. The groups who are to report first must there¬ 
 fore organize and get to work at once. The others will do 
 well not to postpone but to begin without delay the study 
 of issues so rich in content. If the members of each group 
 can be started reading and thinking on the subject even 
 before the meeting, discussion will be more to the point. 
 
 The amount of general explanation necessary will de¬ 
 pend on the understanding of the plan by the members and 
 their attitude towards it. It will be necessary to keep in 
 
 8 
 
mind the tendency of the average church member to think 
 of meetings as ends in themselves. All should understand 
 that the report to the other groups is only an important 
 preliminary. 
 
 Each chairman should bring all the explanatory and ref¬ 
 erence material available, together with slips indicating 
 where more is to be found. Some persons are quite able 
 and willing to hunt in libraries, discover the best books, 
 pick out the most useful material, and present it in effec¬ 
 tive form. Others will have to have specific directions given 
 them, or references actually placed in their hands. 
 
 It will be well to impress on members: First, that there 
 are five other sub-committees undertaking similar tasks; 
 the sense of cooperation and desire not to fall behind is a 
 great stimulus to some persons. Second, that the plan has 
 been discussed and approved by the pastor and some lead¬ 
 ing members of the church. Third, that study will introduce 
 them not only to Bishop McConnell’s book, but to discus¬ 
 sions on the Jerusalem Meeting and a survey of the sub¬ 
 jects considered there. Fourth, that the plan is a new 
 experiment so that it is always open to criticism and im¬ 
 provement. Fifth, that the plan is not a mere stunt but an 
 opportunity (a) to form intelligent convictions on a great 
 subject; (b) to discuss these with others; (c) to make 
 what is gained useful to others; (d) to secure expanding 
 achievement by incorporating the issues into the continuing 
 educational program of the local church. 
 
 The issue assigned to the group may now be discussed 
 to discover any relevant information or interest which the 
 members may have. Each of the six topics covers a tre¬ 
 mendous field which would afford scope for study for 
 several years. Since only limited aspects can be dealt with, 
 it will be well to select those which appeal most to the sub¬ 
 committee members, supplementing in such a way as to 
 
 9 
 
make an effective presentation. While the report itself will 
 serve as an initial stimulus, all should understand that 
 they are at work on a subject and an educational campaign 
 rather than a program for a meeting. The latter is only 
 an appetizer for continuous effort. 
 
 Since in many cases all the groups will not come together 
 preparatory to the first general session, it may be difficult 
 for each to furnish the members of the other groups in¬ 
 formation necessary for intelligent preparation. The Sug¬ 
 gestions to Sub-Committee Members, which should be 
 distributed to all taking part in the project, contain a gen¬ 
 eral outline of treatment, with a few references for each 
 session. This outline, focussing attention first on the im¬ 
 portance of the issue and its demands, next on the responsi¬ 
 bility of the Christian church for it, and finally on the 
 educational measures for meeting this responsibility—con¬ 
 tains nothing that could well be omitted, and yet is suffi¬ 
 ciently broad to afford scope for considerable variety of 
 treatment. Members should therefore be urged to keep the 
 outline before them in their study, and to relate the material 
 they gather to one or another of its heads. 
 
 The reference material should be distributed according 
 to the interests of members, and ways of obtaining more 
 discussed. Investigation by conversation and observation 
 should be recommended. On most of the issues charts or 
 posters will be a great help. Statistics for the former 
 should be furnished or sources indicated. The possibility 
 of enrolling additional members in the group, or of secur¬ 
 ing temporary help from outsiders, should be considered. 
 Originality in planning should be encouraged, provided the 
 aim of the whole project is thereby promoted. 
 
 In some cases it may be profitable to block out the pro¬ 
 gram for the general session pretty definitely at this meet- 
 
 10 
 
ing. In others it may be evident that some time must be 
 spent in gathering material before the form of its presenta¬ 
 tion can be determined. In the latter case it may be neces¬ 
 sary to have two or more meetings of the group before 
 the general session. Care must be taken not to dampen the 
 interest of members by overloading them with work, but, 
 on the other hand, the value of the results sought for should 
 be kept before them in such a way as to arouse the maxi¬ 
 mum of effort. 
 
 It is hoped that the experiences of study, investigation, 
 and the presenting of the issue to others will stimulate 
 initiative, not only along the lines suggested in this pam¬ 
 phlet but in other lines. Any modification of or supplement 
 to the plan here proposed is desirable if it achieves the aim 
 more effectively. Chairmen are urged to be on the lookout 
 for new ideas and methods, to suggest them to other chair¬ 
 men, and to report successful experiments to the Mission¬ 
 ary Education Movement. 
 
 Meetings Preparatory to General Sessions 
 
 The function of subsequent conferences of the group is 
 to rehearse the program for the general session. If any of 
 the general sessions have already been held when the group 
 meets, it will be well to begin by reviewing them, and dis¬ 
 cussing their strong and weak features from the stand¬ 
 point of their ultimate aim. Did they effectively promote 
 their purpose of winning for their issue an adequate place 
 in the educational program of the church, or did they 
 merely send their hearers away with the feeling that one 
 more missionary meeting had been attended? 
 
 In setting up the program the function of each part 
 must be clearly appreciated. How can we help those present 
 to form intelligent and deep convictions on the importance 
 of the issue? How can we help them to realize its just 
 
 11 
 
demands ? How can we help them to a sense of their per¬ 
 sonal responsibility as members of the Christian church? 
 How can we stimulate their enthusiasm for an effective 
 educational campaign? 
 
 The group will need to keep these practical objectives 
 constantly in the focus of their attention. Few character¬ 
 istics of human nature are more remarkable than the facil¬ 
 ity with which it loses sight of its major purposes. The 
 preacher, the teacher, the administrator, the builder of 
 programs, each speedily becomes so immersed in details 
 that he forgets what the details are intended to achieve. 
 With eyes fixed on the bow of the boat, he neglects to look 
 up to the stars to get his bearings. How many programs 
 we have heard presented, made up of exercises all fairly 
 interesting but altogether lacking in a unified purpose and 
 drive, any one of which could be eliminated without essen¬ 
 tial loss and some of which would be positively good rid¬ 
 dance. 
 
 To avoid this the group must weigh carefully the com¬ 
 parative contribution of every proposed item, omitting 
 those which do little or nothing to realize some main aim, 
 revising others to increase their momentum, and arrang¬ 
 ing all so as to cover systematically each objective. “What 
 are we trying to accomplish ?” “Is this feature worth the 
 time it will take ?” are the questions which should constantly 
 be asked. 
 
 The group now proceeds to take account of stock. The 
 various members may be asked to report on their study 
 and investigation. Against the background of the amount 
 of time available, exercises should be selected and 
 arranged. The major desideratum is not to work in some¬ 
 how everything that anyone has been able to gather to¬ 
 gether, but to decide how the objectives of the session can 
 
 12 
 
best be realized. Certain facts should be placed at the 
 disposal of the other groups. Some of these facts may be 
 most effective in logical statements, some in narrative or 
 description to stir imagination, and some in the form of 
 charts. Personal testimony as to what has been discovered 
 by investigation should be especially effective. On the 
 other hand, those of the other groups to whom the material 
 is presented should be given opportunity to react on the 
 basis of their general knowledge, of their reading of the 
 textbook or other references, and of the information just 
 laid before them. Where it is practical to get assignments 
 into their hands in advance, more specific questions for dis¬ 
 cussion may be suggested, together with other reference 
 material known to be accessible. Those who attend the 
 general sessions should assemble, not to listen to a pro¬ 
 gram, but to cooperate in a discussion. 
 
 It is highly desirable that the general session should last 
 more than an hour. An hour and a half or two hours 
 would be none too long. If it is impossible to secure more 
 than a single hour, features that contribute less to the main 
 aims, even though representing earnest and intelligent 
 study by particular members, must be regretfully omitted. 
 The point should be stressed that all this material may be 
 useful in the subsequent educational campaign, even if it 
 cannot be placed on exhibit at the general session. 
 
 A tentative timetable should be made out, and each 
 member who presents a statement or conducts an exercise 
 should be urged to practise it within the time limits. On 
 general principles all members of the group should have 
 some participation. The value to them of taking part 
 should be considered. On the other hand, if members 
 differ markedly in ability, it will not be necessary to insist 
 that all should have an equally responsible part. The group 
 
 13 
 
must use its judgment to decide whether a third confer¬ 
 ence is advisable to complete the setup. 
 
 General Sessions of All the Groups 
 
 At each of the general sessions there should be a secre¬ 
 tary appointed to record the transactions for future refer¬ 
 ence, including, of course, points of interest brought out 
 in the discussions. It may help to have a critic to note con¬ 
 structive suggestions of methods for the benefit of subse¬ 
 quent sessions. The whole outlook should be towards the 
 future, with primary effort for broadening and deepening 
 interest, and a desire to revise procedure and devise new 
 ways of getting results. 
 
 The first thing is to enlist for the undertaking the sup¬ 
 port and cooperation of everyone present. Many dismal 
 failures occur at this point. The chairman opens with a 
 prayer for general guidance and then announces an exer¬ 
 cise, leaving it to the hearers to infer the intention of the 
 latter. The first speaker proceeds to get something off his 
 chest and sits down with visible relief. The chairman next 
 calls for discussion, ignoring the fact that those present 
 have not the slightest motive given them for discussing 
 anything. 
 
 The business of the chairman is to help all present to 
 attain the greatest mutual profit. His group has given 
 some weeks of study to a highly important subject. It 
 wishes to lay information and tentative conclusions before 
 the other groups for their sympathetic and constructive 
 criticism, and to help them in forming intelligent convic¬ 
 tions. The considerations that should control selection of 
 material are: (1) How may our presentation be enriched 
 and balanced by the contributions of the others present? 
 (2) How may we help them to reach for themselves such 
 clear and deep convictions as are warranted on this issue ? 
 
 14 
 
The chairman should therefore begin by stating clearly 
 the purpose of the meeting, inviting cooperation and sug¬ 
 gestions at every stage; indicating that his group, on the 
 one hand, desires the contributions of the whole gathering 
 and their support in such conclusions as may be agreed 
 upon, and, on the other, hopes to contribute to their out¬ 
 look by presenting the results of its study. He may then 
 introduce a statement of the importance of the issue under 
 discussion. This should lead everyone to realize the large 
 significance of the subject for the welfare of the world 
 and the educational program of the church. This is propa¬ 
 ganda in its best sense, without the insincerity or exaggera¬ 
 tion which would ultimately defeat its own ends—merely 
 a sober and earnest setting forth of facts which every 
 intelligent Christian must admit. Unless the opening min¬ 
 utes of the session succeed in generating momentum and 
 giving it direction, all proceedings that follow will be 
 severely handicapped. 
 
 If the group proposes to limit discussion to some par¬ 
 ticular phases of the main issue, it will be well to post 
 questions on the blackboard so that all may understand 
 just what matters are before the house. Summaries of 
 conclusions will also be helpful. The chairman should 
 indicate the bearing of each exercise and hold those who 
 participate to the point in a spirit of cooperation. Digres¬ 
 sions should be judged on their merits. Occasionally it may 
 be well worth while to spend a few minutes on some fresh 
 suggestions. Diversions by those unable to think consecu¬ 
 tively should be courteously ruled out of order. 
 
 Since the main objective of the general session is to 
 arouse interest and aid in giving the issue in question a 
 large place in the curriculum of the church, there should 
 be a strong appeal for further study of it and spread of 
 
 15 
 
information in every way possible. Specific projects for 
 meeting community needs should be presented, and the 
 most urgent world needs demanding support indicated. 
 Naturally, the primary responsibility for responding to 
 these appeals will fall upon the group in charge of it, but 
 the cooperation of all should be solicited. 
 
 An important function of the general session is to cir¬ 
 culate literature. Books and pamplets should be on hand 
 and should be advertised as attractively as possible. Mani¬ 
 folded list of references on the issue will also help. The 
 effort should be to send everyone away with a realization 
 of past neglect and future opportunity, a desire to know 
 more and to awaken the interest of others. 
 
 Subsequent Meetings of Groups Separately 
 
 In some cases the groups may reconvene soon after 
 making their reports, to plan further action. From the 
 great wealth of material which could not be treated at the 
 general session they may make up several similar pro¬ 
 grams to present to various organizations of the church. 
 Each member should become an enthusiastic specialist on 
 the issue assigned to him or her, with the resolve to be 
 its active promoter. Individuals should work out talks 
 or papers or charts, and should undertake to read a number 
 of the best books on their particular subject. Some 
 may have ability to work out short courses for children, 
 young people, or adults. All should plan projects for meet¬ 
 ing local needs and study the agencies most worthy of 
 support which are promoting their respective issues in all 
 the world. It will be profitable for each to face at stated 
 intervals the question: What have I accomplished for my 
 issue that I would not have done if I had not been a mem¬ 
 ber of this group? 
 
 16 
 
Inter-Group Consultation 
 
 Meetings for consultation should be held as there is 
 need for them. In some instances a gathering of all the 
 groups may be desirable at the very outset in order to 
 develop interest through contagion. Explanation of the 
 plan and an inspirational address might be followed by the 
 first session of the groups meeting separately. After the 
 general sessions are over, another joint meeting might 
 take place for inspirational purposes. In other cases it 
 may be hard to find time for joint group meetings. But 
 it is important that at least representatives of the different 
 groups should get together to exchange ideas and plan a 
 correlated campaign. Those in charge of the various 
 educational organizations of the church should be invited 
 to attend, and the services of the groups offered to them. 
 
 At this point some real problem may emerge. There are 
 churches with large hospitality for volunteer effort, 
 where anyone willing to contribute an attempt at edifica¬ 
 tion is welcome. There are others for whom the ways of 
 the past have a halo of sanctity, and who resist anything 
 that savors of novelty. Some churches are loaded with 
 programs to the breaking point, and must dislodge some¬ 
 thing already undertaken in order to admit a new feature. 
 Others, while traditional in content, are fairly efficient 
 from the standpoint of method, and may decline any 
 proposals that seem lacking in technique. 
 
 It may be quite true that the issues which the groups have 
 been studying are very inadequately represented in the 
 church curriculum, and that both children and adults would 
 be more useful Christians if they learned about these things. 
 Theoretically, it ought to be a great blessing to any church 
 to have a score or two of intelligent members so much 
 interested in the human needs of the world that they want 
 
 17 
 
to share their knowledge with others. But some of us can 
 probably imagine places where we would not receive much 
 encouragement from those in charge of religious education. 
 
 Such situations demand tact. In any event, friendly con¬ 
 sultation is in order and may help to avoid friction. A 
 movement representing half a dozen groups which as a 
 result of study have arrived at real convictions, ought to 
 have weight. If they can make a good case for the issues, 
 they may obtain assurance for the coming year if not for 
 the current one. It may be that in order to do effective 
 work they will require several months for preparation. 
 
 Practical Projects 
 
 These are the real fruit of the undertaking. What does 
 it profit if we have able chairmen, responsive groups, hard 
 study, interesting general sessions, careful carrying out of 
 all the suggestions up to this point, and nothing further is 
 done? ‘‘To know good and to do it not is sin.” We 
 organize our work and promote our study, not in order to 
 make members of groups sealed depositories of informa¬ 
 tion, but that they may become active agents in educating 
 the church. 
 
 It is desirable that the group members should face their 
 own responsibilities before beginning to educate others. 
 The latter work will be far more effective if based on per¬ 
 sonal experience. 
 
 Practical projects are of two kinds, those permitting 
 direct contacts, and those which may be executed by proxy. 
 Both afford unlimited scope. All about us there are de¬ 
 mands for personal helpfulness which Christian people 
 should be the first to meet. Most of us are greatly restricted 
 in our contacts by social, economic, educational, or even 
 religious barriers. Our daily routine and the tastes we 
 have cultivated throw us into certain groups which supply 
 
 18 
 
the great bulk of our associations. American community 
 life in small towns and great cities suffers greatly because 
 Christians who have been commissioned to be the salt of 
 the earth and the light of the world do not mix sufficiently 
 with those who need help. The bulk of effort in the 
 Christian church is spent on internal organization rather 
 than on influencing surroundings. 
 
 We need therefore just such an incentive as this course 
 aims to provide in the study of our communities, to deter¬ 
 mine what are their problems connected with better health, 
 more wealth, sounder knowledge, larger freedom, closer 
 fellowship, and the vision of God. Especially we ought to 
 cross the boundaries of race and class with a desire for 
 mutual acquaintance. Most of us have no difficulty what¬ 
 ever in discovering improvements to institute in our own 
 households. If we could view our larger surroundings in 
 the same interested way, we should find no end of scope for 
 effort. 
 
 These first-hand contacts are personally stimulating and 
 are essential for our best development. They cover, how¬ 
 ever, only a very small part of our responsibilities. Much 
 that needs to be done even in our own communities de¬ 
 mands organization and expert service. We must discharge 
 a large part of our obligations by proxy. The necessity for 
 this becomes more clear when we look out over the world. 
 It would be ideal if resources were so evenly distributed 
 that each locality could look after its own needs. As a mat¬ 
 ter of fact, some places have one hundredfold the resources 
 of others. Therefore we must export aid. No Christian 
 responsibilities are more difficult to estimate accurately 
 than these. Imaginations are weak, so that it is hard to 
 realize conditions that are ten thousand miles away. Preju¬ 
 dices are strong, so that we fail to sense our obligations 
 
 19 
 
to those of other races. Appeals come to us in remote, im¬ 
 personal terms. As a result, most of us do far less than 
 we should, certainly in proportion to what we devote to our¬ 
 selves. To keep a true perspective and just sense of relative 
 human needs is one of the supreme tasks of the Christian. 
 
 All our study should reach out into this active service. 
 Merely to pass along knowledge is not sufficient. A self- 
 contained community for mutual edification would be as 
 bad as the desert island community whose inhabitants sup¬ 
 ported themselves by taking in each other’s washing. 
 
 On the other hand, intelligent direction of effort and the 
 disposition to expend it call for study. The groups should 
 plan a systematic educational campaign in the church. 
 What they can do will depend upon the character and con¬ 
 tent of their study and investigation, their own abilities, and 
 the needs and opportunities of the local situation. The 
 simplest types of projects would be presentations of facts 
 illustrating present conditions. Charts or posters would 
 help to make these much more effective. Sunday school 
 classes or departments, young people’s or adult organiza¬ 
 tions, might welcome such statements as a supplement to 
 subjects being studied. The church should always have 
 before it the great facts of world need as to health, wealth, 
 education, freedom, fellowship, and evangelization. A sim¬ 
 ilar project would be a description of some situation in the 
 world today, presented so as to stir the imagination, or a 
 narrative of some incident or contribution of an individual 
 or organization. Material along these lines that has been 
 found inspiring should be made available to others. Some 
 group members will be competent to deliver effective talks 
 combining these features. A whole group may set up a 
 program to occupy one or more meetings. 
 
 Still more useful would be a systematic short course 
 
 20 
 
worked out and led by someone with the requisite ability. 
 There is a trend in religious education today towards elec¬ 
 tive courses for young people and adults. Groups often 
 meet during Lent or at.other times for a brief series. Even 
 in the Sunday school, teachers are substituting projects of 
 their own for quarterlies or textbooks that are found un¬ 
 satisfactory. In such cases a short course on one or more 
 great world needs would be right to the point. 
 
 Persons who feel unable to address audiences may or¬ 
 ganize reading circles or distribute books and pamphlets. 
 They may organize an exhibit of charts and posters which 
 can be used repeatedly and will probably be remembered 
 much longer than the ordinary address. They may arrange 
 trips to discover conditions. 
 
 None of these forms of service need be restricted to the 
 congregation to which the groups belong. In many local¬ 
 ities churches are very unevenly supplied with workers. 
 Those which are better provided should be willing to pool 
 resources. Interchange of effort should be more general 
 than it is. Many persons who fail to find adequate scope 
 for service in their own church may be of real help else¬ 
 where. The responsibilities that face us are the task of 
 the whole Christian church, and the whole church must be 
 mobilized to meet them. 
 
 21 
 
II. THE MATERIAL 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The following sections suggest some of the topics that 
 might be taken up under each of the six main headings of 
 this study in preliminary preparation and in the presenta¬ 
 tion to other groups. 
 
 The first aim in dealing with a group should be to arouse 
 clear and deep convictions as to the importance of the issue. 
 A natural method would be to begin by summing up the 
 loss occasioned in the world today by the neglect of this 
 issue, a loss which usually falls most heavily on those least 
 able to bear it. Health, wealth, knowledge, freedom, fellow¬ 
 ship, vision, are all inadequately and unevenly distributed 
 among mankind. We who are privileged are likely to fail 
 to realize the extent to which others are deprived of these 
 blessings. We need to face the facts. 
 
 It is well to take up first a study of local conditions and 
 those accessible communities where special needs exist. 
 This will help to make the issues concrete and practical. 
 Supplementary reading should be suggested to guide this 
 investigation and make it more significant. A survey of 
 national conditions should follow, noting what needs are 
 most acute and why, and the fact that recent changes are 
 operating to make our social and religious problems more 
 difficult. Members should be encouraged to pursue any 
 topics which may especially interest them, such as condi¬ 
 tions among Negroes, employment for women, rural com¬ 
 munities, the idle rich, etc. Those without particular inter¬ 
 ests should be assigned topics on which investigation is 
 practicable and attractive reference material accessible. 
 
 22 
 
Conditions among the backward nations of the earth 
 should receive special attention. While recognizing sym¬ 
 pathetically the fine qualities of these peoples, we must 
 admit that the poverty and illiteracy of their masses, to 
 mention nothing more, have deprived them of many priv¬ 
 ileges and complicated the problems of their progress. 
 Without great care on our part. Western civilization may 
 become a liability to these peoples rather than an asset. 
 
 Studies of constructive eflPort will have inspirational 
 value. Attention should be directed to the accomplishments 
 of individuals or organizations in world uplift, and the 
 response to opportunities of individual lives or communities. 
 
 All the groups should be urged to sidetrack other reading 
 as much as possible during the course, in order to con¬ 
 centrate on their respective issues. From the first the prac¬ 
 tical uses of the study should be kept in mind. Suggestions 
 as to projects are always in order. The more detailed dis¬ 
 cussion of action will naturally come after the importance 
 of the issue is more fully realized. The members should 
 consider themselves as having been designated, by virtue 
 of their study, trustees for practical accomplishment. They 
 should organize plans for direct help and for the effective 
 education of the church. 
 
 These subjects have close relationships, with many sub- 
 topics in common. It will be better to treat the more im¬ 
 portant of these topics twice, from different angles, rather 
 than to omit them. Some of the overlappings are as follows: 
 
 Better Health overlaps with More Wealth in that poverty 
 affects health; with Sounder Knowledge in that health edu¬ 
 cation, sex education, research, and mental hygiene pro¬ 
 mote health; with Larger Freedom in that industrial and 
 social conditions and political oppression affect health; 
 with Closer Fellowship in that race discrimination may 
 
 23 
 
affect health; with the Vision of God in that health has a 
 place in the ideal life. 
 
 More Wealth overlaps with Knowledge in that vocational 
 education and research promote wealth, and poverty hinders 
 opportunities for study; with Freedom in that low wages 
 and economic imperialism affect freedom; with Fellowship 
 in that class consciousness and race antagonisms are largely 
 based on economic causes, and that relations to nationals 
 and to other churches are often prejudiced by economic 
 differences; with Vision in that both poverty and wealth 
 often handicap Christian development. 
 
 Sounder Knowledge overlaps with Freedom in that 
 underprivileged groups are afforded less educational oppor¬ 
 tunity, that classes are educated differently, and that social 
 revolt is often caused by demand for new experiences; 
 with Fellowship in that education is needed to promote 
 international, interracial and interclass goodwill; with 
 Vision in that religious education is needed for Christian 
 development. 
 
 Larger Freedom overlaps with Fellowship in that indus¬ 
 trial, political and social disability will be removed by 
 closer fellowship, while elements hindering the demand for 
 larger freedom may obstruct it; with Vision in that the 
 denial of desirable freedom hinders religious development. 
 
 Closer Fellowship overlaps with Vision in that it pro¬ 
 motes the vision of God. 
 
 The references which accompany each subject consti¬ 
 tute a very small part of those that might easily be men¬ 
 tioned. It was felt that lists should not be so long as to 
 be confusing, but that they should afford some suggestion 
 for the study of a variety of sub-topics. Moreover, except 
 where large libraries are within reach, a portion of each 
 list will probably not be obtainable. Each leader should 
 
 24 
 
therefore (1) look over his list with care and select from 
 it what would seem to be an adequate working book shelf; 
 (2) discover whether the references are accessible in pub¬ 
 lic or private libraries; (3) supplement from other refer¬ 
 ences on the list or from other available sources; (4) have 
 on hand, to be distributed at the first meeting of the group, 
 these references or instructions how to obtain them. While 
 many groups may be able to consult only a few refer¬ 
 ences, the value of the project will be greatly increased by 
 thoughtful collateral reading. 
 
 25 
 
•rOPICS OF THE COURSE 
 With Outlines and References 
 
 BETTER HEALTH 
 
 Purpose, To discover to what extent health conditions 
 are short of ideal all over the world, to learn of preventive 
 measures, and the responsibility of the Christian church 
 for improving conditions. 
 
 Some persons consider health a more or less secular sub¬ 
 ject. They think that the physical should not be placed 
 on the same level with the spiritual. The Jerusalem Meet¬ 
 ing did not make this one of the main issues to which it 
 gave its attention. But— 
 
 1. This issue was evidently of large importance in the 
 mind of Christ, as is seen from his works of healing, the 
 story of the Good Samaritan, and the parable in Matt. 
 25 :31 ff. Christ did not consider that physical ills were to 
 be let alone as the will of God. 
 
 2. There is in the world today a tremendous amount 
 not only of physical pain but of inefficiency resulting from 
 ill health. Individuals are unable to render the service they 
 otherwise might. They are a tax on their families, and a 
 loss to the organizations with which they are connected. 
 The amount of loss due to temporary absence from work, 
 premature death, and lessened efficiency, has been esti¬ 
 mated at three billion dollars per annum in the United 
 States by Davis and Barnes in Introduction to Sociology 
 (page 736), and by Dublin in Health and Wealth at twice 
 this amount. About half of this loss is preventable. We 
 
 26 
 
must add the money spent by individuals and institutions in 
 efforts to aid the restoration of health. While illness may 
 sometimes be a means of grace, on the other hand it may 
 also have unfavorable effect on the patients themselves or 
 on those taxed with their care. Children are frequently 
 deprived of opportunities for development, either by their 
 own illness or by the illness or disability of their parents. 
 
 The burden of ill health is especially borne by those 
 without knowledge of hygiene or sanitation or diet, under¬ 
 nourished, oppressed by superstition or evil social cus¬ 
 toms, engaged in injurious occupations, forced to live in 
 unfavorable surroundings, too poor to obtain medical aid 
 or other means of building up health. 
 
 There should be investigation of local health conditions, 
 knowledge and practice of sanitation and hygiene, and 
 location of the most urgent needs. The information and 
 interest of church members on this subject should be 
 canvassed. 
 
 The backward regions of the world and the less favored 
 races and classes in our own country come under this 
 head. Apart from anything that could be called illness, 
 multitudes are far below their maximum efficiency on 
 account of inadequate physical development. Many whose 
 opportunities are normal, lower or waste their physical 
 vitality from lack of exercise or over-exercise, unwise 
 diet, ignorance of sex hygiene, use of drugs, stimulants, 
 or narcotics, disregard of hygiene and sanitation in other 
 ways. There is also the factor of unnecessary mental 
 abnormality which has an injurious effect on health. 
 
 There should be study of comparative conditions in the 
 world today to determine where remedial and preventive 
 health work is most needed. This study should include 
 statistics as to comparative infant mortality and death 
 
 27 
 
rates of different localities, as affected by differences in 
 incomes, occupations, medical and hospital facilities, oppor¬ 
 tunities for knowing and practising the laws of health. 
 These facts may be presented by means of charts and 
 descriptions that will appeal to the imagination. 
 
 A summary of conditions of modern life making for 
 the improvement or impairment of health and affecting 
 different groups will be in order. 
 
 The conditions in backward countries should be studied 
 in some detail, with the help of the references given below. 
 
 The constructive effort being made all over the world 
 should also be studied, especially the work of medical 
 missions, famine relief, government and private agencies, 
 and research. 
 
 It will be evident from this study that privileges are 
 very unequally provided. Where can we find the motive 
 for redressing these inequalities, if not in the spirit of 
 Christ ? 
 
 References 
 
 ON CONDITIONS IN THIS COUNTRY 
 
 Moore: Public Health in the United States. 
 
 Moore: American Medicine and the People’s Health. 
 
 Dublin: Health and Wealth. 
 
 Davis and Barnes: Introduction to Sociology, part IV, ch. 3, 
 giving important facts with charts and a bibliography. 
 
 Queen and Mann: Social Pathology, part III, which also contains 
 a bibliography. 
 
 ON OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES 
 
 Douglas, Hitchcock and Atkins: The Worker in Modern Eco¬ 
 nomic Society, ch. 15. 
 
 ON HEALTH CONDITIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES, AND MEDICAL 
 
 AND MISSIONARY WORK 
 
 Moorshead: The Way of the Doctor. 
 
 Schweitzer: On the Edge of the Primeval Forest. 
 
 28 
 
Pennell: Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier. 
 
 Neve: A Crusader in Kashmir, chs. 7-15, 
 
 Report of the Shanghai Conference of 1922, index under Health, 
 Medical Program and Work. 
 
 Balme : China and Modern Medicine. 
 
 The Christian Movement in Japan, 1924, Korea section, ch, 4; 
 
 1925, Korea section, part IV; 1926, Korea section, part V. 
 China Mission Year Book, 1924, part VIII; 1925, part VIII; 1926, 
 part VII; 1928, part VII. 
 
 Gamble and Burgess: Peking, A Social Survey, ch. 6, Health. 
 Fleming: Building With India, ch. 2. 
 
 Mears: Modern Turkey, ch. 7, Public Health. 
 
 Laubach: The People of the Philippines, ch. 28. 
 
 International Review of Missions, October, 1927, Preventive Medi¬ 
 cine and Medical Missions; January, 1928, The Work of Medi¬ 
 cal Missions; January, 1929, The Battle Against Sleeping 
 Sickness in the French Cameroun. 
 
 PAMPHLETS 
 
 Gruenberg: Sex Education. Child Study Association of America. 
 The following published by the American Social Hygiene Asso¬ 
 ciation : 
 
 Exner: The Sex Factor in Character Training. 
 
 Armstrong : Sex in Life. 
 
 Gruenberg: The Teacher and Sex Education. 
 
 Gardiner: Your Daughter’s Mother. 
 
 Edson : Training Youth for Parenthood. 
 
 Galloway: The Part of the Church in Social Hygiene. 
 Brown: Child Questions and Their Answers. 
 
 The Boy Problem. 
 
 Edson: Choosing a Home Partner. 
 
 Edson: Love in the Making. 
 
 The following published by the National Health Council: 
 
 Minor: What You Should Know About Tuberculosis. 
 Bacon: What Bad Housing Means to the Co?nmunity. 
 Veiller : Housing and Health. 
 
 Pratt: Your Muvd and You. 
 
 Campaign Against Malnutrition. 
 
 Team Work for Child Health. American Child Health Asso¬ 
 ciation, 
 
 Better Houses for Negro Homes. Federal Council of Churches, 
 Statistical bulletins of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. 
 
 29 
 
MORE WEALTH 
 
 Purpose. To discover the ways in which poverty and 
 the concentration of wealth are affecting mankind today, 
 and the responsibility of the Christian church for con¬ 
 structive effort in this field. 
 
 Why is this a supreme issue? 
 
 Because so many individuals and nations suffer from 
 the pressure of poverty, and because multitudes are sub¬ 
 normal in health for lack of the proper nutrition, medical 
 care, and recreation which wealth would supply. Multi¬ 
 tudes in the more backward nations are deprived of school¬ 
 ing because their governments are too poor to provide it 
 for more than a fraction of the population; many others 
 all over the world receive only the most elementary educa¬ 
 tion because they must go to work as soon as they can. 
 Poverty hampers freedom in that it separates races and 
 classes and deprives them of many privileges which others 
 enjoy. It hinders fellowship for the same reasons. In one 
 sense poverty cannot impede the vision of God; in another 
 it may prevent many experiences that would stimulate 
 Christian growth. 
 
 We may sum up by saying that the majority of the 
 world’s population are living below what are considered 
 normal standards, and that a very considerable part is 
 habitually undernourished: indeed the bulk of mankind is 
 intensely preoccupied with mere subsistence. Poverty 
 often results in the stunting of physical, mental, moral 
 and spiritual growth, leading to disease, vice, crime, super¬ 
 stition, illiteracy, social isolation or herding, inferiority 
 complexes, class antagonism, and lack of spiritual stimu- 
 
 30 
 
lus. On the other hand, great wealth often leads to indul¬ 
 gence, extravagance, luxury, unwholesome standards of 
 living, fashions in dress which react harmfully on other 
 classes, exaltation of profits, class prejudices, and cal¬ 
 lousness as to the lot of the less privileged. 
 
 Wealth has been defined as goods which satisfy human 
 wants, are limited in supply, and are external to man. 
 From these goods satisfactions flow. Income is this flow. 
 
 We should first note incomes in the United States and 
 compare them with those in other countries (cf. Incomes 
 in the United States, Mitchell, King, et al., ch. 2, especially 
 69-80, 81 ff.). 
 
 What should be the Christian attitude towards such a 
 world situation? 
 
 Note how incomes are distributed in the United States 
 {Incomes in the United States, ch. 3). In 1918-1919 the 
 most prosperous one per cent of the population received 
 fourteen per cent of the total income, and the most pros¬ 
 perous ten per cent received thirty-five per cent of the 
 total income. In 1918 only fourteen per cent of persons 
 gainfully employed were estimated to have incomes of 
 two thousand dollars per annum, while eighty-six per cent 
 had less (p. 146). Only one per cent received eight thou¬ 
 sand dollars per annum or more (p. 147). 
 
 Some of the principal characteristics of present-day 
 wealth production are power-driven machinery, specializa¬ 
 tion of labor, large-scale production, an intricate exchange 
 mechanism including railroads, credit, middlemen, etc.; 
 and competition based on the profit motive, the primary 
 aim being to make money rather than to make goods. 
 
 Resulting disadvantages from this system are as fol¬ 
 lows : (1) specialized mechanical processes of manufacture, 
 so that workers are mere machines; (2) inequalities of 
 
 31 
 
opportunity for those without capital; (3) unemployment, 
 especially severe in cycles of depression; (4) tremendous 
 waste of industry in the exploitation of resources, adver¬ 
 tising, useless middlemen, etc.; (5) complexity of modern 
 organization, rendering correction of abuses difficult; (6) 
 control of the profit motive which undertakes to sell 
 goods rather than serve customers; (7) diversion of capital 
 to luxuries rather than necessities; and (8) wild specu¬ 
 lation. 
 
 These conditions will not solve themselves. While they 
 demand prolonged study by experts, they demand also con¬ 
 stant cooperation of men of goodwill. Christian people 
 must very much more generally recognize their responsi¬ 
 bility for the production of goods most necessary, with 
 the primary motive of service; for distribution in the form 
 of reasonable profits and just wages; for consumption in 
 the form of the wise expenditure of money. 
 
 The study should begin with local conditions. Knowl¬ 
 edge of the actual incomes on which some families are 
 forced to live may create a new perspective. Typical situa¬ 
 tions in the United States should be taken up, and finally, 
 those in other countries, especially those which are most 
 oppressed by poverty. These last should be made real by 
 appeals to the eye and the imagination—statistical charts, 
 descriptions, narratives. The great rural problems of the 
 Orient and Africa should be studied. 
 
 In this connection the subject of economic imperialism 
 should receive special attention. Western capital, repre¬ 
 senting the product of power-driven machinery, applied 
 science, and a highly developed credit system, seeks raw 
 materials and new markets. In so doing it enters regions 
 densely populated by poverty-stricken and illiterate popu¬ 
 lations who invite exploitation as cheap labor. 
 
 32 
 
There should be a study of various forms of construc¬ 
 tive social measures: labor legislation, organized philan¬ 
 thropy, vocational education, income and inheritance 
 taxes, profit sharing, etc. 
 
 Great numbers of professing Christians, well disposed 
 and anxious to do the right thing, are ignorant of the 
 conditions that exist, convinced that things are as well as 
 could be expected, borrowing their ideas and practice from 
 tradition and from their own ill-informed social group. 
 The church must stir itself to help these people to educate 
 themselves. It must correct the noxious prejudices that 
 our young people acquire all too soon, and try to create a 
 social attitude worthy of the Christian name. The group 
 should formulate specific plans along this line. 
 
 References 
 
 GENERAL SURVEYS 
 
 Recent Economic Changes in the United States (The report of 
 President Hoover’s conference on unemployment). 
 
 Davis and Barnes: Introduction to Sociology, part IV, ch. 5, 
 bibliography. 
 
 Douglas, Hitchcock and Atkins: The Worker in Modern Eco¬ 
 nomic Society, chs. 9-10. 
 
 Clay (revised by Agger) : Economics for the General Reader, 
 chs. 24-25. 
 
 Tawney: The Acquisitive Society. 
 
 Queen and Mann: Social Pathology, part H, bibliography, 
 Tugwell, Monro and Str3'-ker: American Economic Life, books 
 I and 11. 
 
 Hobhouse, ed.: Property, Its Rights and Duties. 
 
 Lynd: Middletown, chs. 7 and 8. 
 
 Martin: Christ and Money. 
 
 Rowntree: Poverty. 
 
 Hunter: Poverty. 
 
 Williams: Mainsprings of Men. 
 
 Fitch: Causes of Economic Unrest. 
 
 Devine: Misery and Its Causes. 
 
 33 
 
ON THE PRODUCTION OF WEALTH 
 
 Tugwell: Industry’s Coming of Age, chs. 1-2. 
 
 Ogburn, ed.: Recent Social Changes, pp. 43-53. 
 
 Taylor: Making Goods and Making Money. 
 
 Chase: The Tragedy of Waste. 
 
 ON DISTRIBUTION 
 
 Mitchell, King and Macaulay: Wealth and Income of the People 
 of the United States, pp. 69 ff. 
 
 Fairchild and Compton: Economic Problems, ch. 7. 
 
 Foster and Catchings: The Dilemma of Thrift. (Pamphlet of 
 the Poliak Foundation, free.) 
 
 ON CONSUMPTION 
 
 Hoyt: The Consumption of Wealth, especially chs. 1, 9, 13, 22, 
 26, 27. 
 
 Chase and Schlink: Your Money’s Worth, especially chs. 1, 3, 6-8. 
 Chase: The Tragedy of Waste. 
 
 ON FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS 
 
 Tugwell: Industry’s Coming of Age, ch. 7. 
 
 Ward: Our Economic Morality, ch. 8. 
 
 ON OTHER COUNTRIES 
 
 China Mission Year Book, 1927, pp. 297-308. 
 
 Hodgkin: China in the Family of Nations, ch. 9. 
 
 Report of the Shanghai Conference of 1922, pp. 164-167. 
 
 Gamble and Burgess: Peking, A Social Survey, ch. 9. 
 
 Fleming: Building With India, ch. 2. 
 
 Chirol: India, ch. 10. 
 
 Phillips: The Out caste’s Hope. 
 
 Higginbottom: The Gospel and the Plow, ch. 2. 
 
 Zimand: Living India, ch. 9. 
 
 Kelman: Labor in India. 
 
 34 
 
SOUNDER KNOWLEDGE 
 
 Purpose. To discover how sounder knowledge may con¬ 
 tribute to the welfare of all the world, and the responsi¬ 
 bility of the church for promoting it. 
 
 Why is this a supreme issue ? 
 
 Because education is so fundamental. All the other 
 objectives that we are discussing—health, wealth, freedom, 
 fellowship, vision—fail of their best realization unless 
 they are promoted by educational methods. Consider the 
 health and efficiency loss in the world today for lack of 
 adequate knowledge of hygiene and sanitation, and of 
 research for dealing with unconquered diseases; the eco¬ 
 nomic loss due to lack of vocational education and gui¬ 
 dance and of the scientific study of economic problems; 
 the loss of freedom on account of social and economic 
 ignorance, and the prejudice which an ideal education 
 might remove; the loss of fellowship between races and 
 classes due to the same causes; the loss in the vision of 
 God because our religious education has been so inadequate. 
 
 When the word education is mentioned, most persons 
 still think of something that goes on in schoolrooms and 
 ends with commencement exercises and a diploma. Be¬ 
 cause this process recalls drudgery over tasks remote from 
 life and soon forgotten, many regard it as a merely con¬ 
 ventional preliminary to the real business of living. But 
 in the first place, education is much broader than school¬ 
 ing. It begins before we enter school, and should continue 
 as long as our mind can function. It comes through any 
 channel v/hich helps us to profit by our experiences. With- 
 
 35 
 
out it we are cases of arrested development. The bulk of 
 the mistakes in this world are made because people lack 
 the training to manage their lives and to meet their respon¬ 
 sibilities. 
 
 In the second place, all schools are not so poor as the 
 ones we attended. During the last few decades educational 
 theory has attracted some of our best thinkers, and their 
 ideas are more and more being translated into practice. 
 We have three types of schools: the traditional, which 
 make only the changes that they must; the progressive, 
 which welcome new ideas but are restricted by the demands 
 of the large system of which they are a part; and the 
 experimental, which are free to consider all ideas and any 
 methods which may in their judgment promote the indi¬ 
 vidual’s development. The last two types are viewing 
 education not as a mastery of formal facts and processes, 
 but as the agency for helping to fulfil life’s opportunities, 
 present and future. There is a pretty general consensus of 
 the leading educational writers that the following five 
 headings would cover the principal objectives of educa¬ 
 tion : physical health; vocational efficiency; wise use of 
 leisure; effective social cooperation; moral and spiritual 
 idealism. These points are differently arranged and worded 
 by different writers. 
 
 Moreover, in these days when home and community life 
 is often less educative than it should be, the school under¬ 
 takes to make good its deficiencies. In localities where 
 homes neglect physical oversight, the school provides 
 lunches, medical examination, baths and dental care, etc. 
 Since recreation facilities are often lacking, it stresses 
 athletics, entertainments, clubs, etc. Since the intellectual 
 atmosphere of the home is frequently listless, the school 
 stimulates reading, debates, and hobbies. It is wrestling 
 
 36 
 
with the difficult problems of vocational education on the 
 one hand, and moral and religious education on the other. 
 Persons whose own education was mainly old-fashioned 
 and academic are surprised to learn of all the new ideas 
 that have been thought out and put into practice in the last 
 thirty years, and especially in the last fifteen. 
 
 Contrast the present educational opportunities with those 
 of one hundred or even fifty years ago (cf. Moore, Fifty 
 Years of American Education; Cubberley, History of Edu¬ 
 cation, Readings in the History of Education, Public Edu¬ 
 cation in the United States, Changing Conceptions of 
 Education; Reisner, Natiofialism and Education Since 
 1789; Kandel, Twenty-five Years of American Education). 
 It will be apparent that the modern world is turning more 
 and more to education as the main agency in social progress. 
 But at the same time that the value of education is being 
 more demonstrated and appreciated, there is no assurance 
 that it is materially catching up with its job. New things 
 to learn emerge faster than old things are mastered, so that 
 in some respects the present generation is less competent 
 to guide itself than the one that is past. This is especially 
 true on the side of ideals and insights into our more com¬ 
 plex problems. (Cf. Middletown, chs. 13-17, inclusive, and 
 27, for a picture of the sort of education which great multi¬ 
 tudes of Americans are getting today; chs. 20-23, inclusive, 
 for an estimate of how far we yet are from providing 
 effective religious education.) 
 
 In this country the provision of educational facilities 
 varies greatly in different regions (Finney, A Sociological 
 Philosophy of Education, p. 516). Moreover, poverty or 
 lack of leisure hinders many from taking the fullest advan- 
 tage of the educational opportunities that exist. A com¬ 
 parison of local taxes and other expenditures for secular 
 
 37 
 
education with the money spent on religious education 
 may be interesting. 
 
 When we turn to the backward countries of the earth, we 
 find on the one hand an appalling mass of poverty, illiteracy, 
 and ignorance (cf. statistics in such references as the 
 Statesman's Year Book, World Almanac, etc.), and on the 
 other a great stirring of enthusiasm for education as a 
 means of solving national problems. The study of the 
 present educational situation in the Orient is a fascinating 
 task. When in 1905 the yellow nation that had most con¬ 
 spicuously cultivated education, Japan, defeated the white 
 nation that had most conspicuously neglected education, 
 Russia, an electric thrill shot through the darker masses of 
 mankind. Here was demonstrated that a tinted skin did 
 not condemn people to a position of inferiority. By means 
 of education they might beat the white race at their own 
 game. Since that time Asiatic leaders have been keen for 
 education. In many ways their problems are immensely 
 greater and more complex than ours and deserve our most 
 earnest Christian sympathy. Their health, wealth, free¬ 
 dom, fellowship, and vision are all largely dependent on 
 the right sort of education. 
 
 On some such basis as this let the group determine the 
 responsibility of the Christian church in promoting desir¬ 
 able forms of education in all the world, also practical pro¬ 
 jects that might be undertaken, and an educational program 
 for the local church that will make them effective. 
 
 References 
 
 GENERAL SURVEYS 
 
 Chapman and Counts: Principles of Education, especially part III. 
 Peters: Foundations of Educational Sociology. 
 
 Kilpatrick: Education for a Changing Civilisation. 
 
 38 
 
BRIEF POPULAR TREATMENTS 
 
 de Lima: Our Enemy the Child. 
 
 Lewis : Democracy’s High School. 
 
 ACCOUNTS OF INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS 
 
 Hinsdale : Life of Horace Mann. 
 
 E. Dewey : New Schools for Old. 
 
 Collings ; Experiment With a Project Curriculum. 
 
 Rugg and Shumaker : The Child-Centered School. 
 Tippett: Curriculum Making in the Elementary School. 
 Campbell : The Danish Folk School. 
 
 ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
 
 Coe: A Social Theory of Religious Education. 
 
 Soares : Religious Education. 
 
 Barbour : Making the Bible Desired. 
 
 Shaver : The Project Principle in Religious Education. 
 The Teaching Work of the Church. (Association Press.) 
 
 ON MORAL TRAINING 
 
 Neumann : Education for Moral Growth. 
 
 Charters: The Teaching of Ideals. 
 
 ON ADULT EDUCATION 
 
 Peffer : New Schools for Older Students. 
 
 Fisher: Why Stop Learning? 
 
 ON NEGRO EDUCATION 
 
 Washington: Up From Slavery. 
 
 Peabody : Education for Life. 
 
 ON CHILD STUDY 
 
 Gruenberg : Outline of Child Study. 
 
 Johnson: Children in the Nursery School. 
 
 Chave: The Junior. 
 
 ON ADOLESCENCE 
 
 Hollingworth : Psychology of the Adolescent. 
 Burt: The Young Delinquent. 
 
 39 
 
ON EDUCATION IN AFRICA AND THE ORIENT 
 
 Christian Movement in Japan, 1924, part III, Korea section, ch. 3; 
 1925, ch. 14, Korea section, part III; 1926, ch. 8, pp. 95-99, 
 Korea section, part IV; 1927, part III; Japan Mission Year 
 Book, 1928, part II, pp. 272-284. 
 
 Burton: Education of Women in Japan. 
 
 Report of the Shanghai Conference of 1922, pp. 112-121, 288-310, 
 369-399. 
 
 China Mission Year Book, 1924, part VII; 1925, part VII; 1926, 
 part V; 1928, part V. 
 
 Gamble and Burgess: Peking, A Social Survey, chs. 7 and 9. 
 
 China Today Through Chinese Eyes, Second Series, chs. 3, 5, 7, 
 8, 9. 
 
 Christian Education in China. (The report of a commission repre¬ 
 senting British and American missionary agencies.) 
 
 Burton: Education of Women in China. 
 
 Mayhew: The Education of India. 
 
 Fleming: Schools With a Message in India. 
 
 Village Education in India. (The report of a commission of 
 British and American mission board representatives.) 
 
 Olcott: Village Schools in India. 
 
 Chirol: India, ch. 8. 
 
 Monroe: A Survey of the Educational System in the Philippine 
 Islands. 
 
 Laubach: The People of the Philippines, book 3. 
 
 Jones: Education in Africa. 
 
 Jones: Education in East Africa. 
 
 Loram: The Education of the South African Native. 
 
 Christian Education in Africa and the East. ' Student Christian 
 Movement. 
 
 International Review of Missions: January, 1928, The Outlook of 
 Christian Education in China; July, 1928, The Jerusalem Meet¬ 
 ing and the Man in the Pew; January, 1929, The Teaching 
 Method of Jesus and That of Today; April, 1929, Training 
 Village Teachers in Africa. 
 
 40 
 
LARGER FREEDOM 
 
 Purpose. To discover the limitations, social, economic 
 and spiritual, under which people labor, and the respon¬ 
 sibility of the church for knowing about them and helping 
 to prevent or remove them. 
 
 Why is this issue important? 
 
 There is a greater demand for freedom on the part of 
 individuals than ever before. The necessity of free choice 
 for moral growth is recognized, but by many this doctrine 
 is pushed to extremes. Self-expression is considered an 
 end in itself; repressions are declared to be injurious. 
 People value life for the kick they can get out of it. 
 
 Socially, there is a reaction against paternal authority, 
 personal restrictions, class differences. We have a revolt 
 of youth, impatience with social codes, demands for demo¬ 
 cratic treatment. 
 
 Economically, standards of living are rising, but this has 
 always only increased discontent with conditions that seem 
 unreasonable. Abnormal surroundings and clever adver¬ 
 tising stimulate artificial wants. Labor demands larger 
 recognition, and nations and classes resent the exploitation 
 which their position invites. 
 
 Politically, enfranchisement has advanced rapidly in the 
 last half century, so that it is being taken for granted as 
 a right. Self-determination has become a universal ideal. 
 
 Religiously, the power of authority is waning. There is 
 more appeal to individual judgment based on evidence and 
 experience, and to an individual desire for the highest 
 satisfactions. 
 
 41 
 
This great tidal wave of human urge represents more 
 than abnormal craving. It stands for impulses which Chris¬ 
 tianity has in some cases helped to create, and with which 
 it must sympathize. Many are being cramped in their best 
 development and opportunities for service today by the 
 social, economic, political and spiritual barriers which have 
 been created by status or circumstances and have resulted 
 in limitations of health, social mobility and contacts, earn¬ 
 ing opportunities, and spiritual growth. These barriers may 
 impede the individual either as an individual or as a mem¬ 
 ber of a class, nation, or race. Social barriers are parental 
 repression in the family, discrimination against women, 
 class exclusiveness, race prejudice. 
 
 Economic barriers are those of individual poverty (which 
 under our present system shut out poor people from many 
 privileges), restrictions arising from modern business reg¬ 
 ulations and incident to the contests between capital and 
 labor, economic discrimination against other races or 
 classes, exploitation of them. 
 
 Political barriers are those of repression of political 
 heterodoxy, race disfranchisement, restriction of immigra¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Spiritual barriers are those of intolerance, and segre¬ 
 gation of denominations and of races. 
 
 Some of these barriers have a certain amount of justifica¬ 
 tion. Some derive their standing mainly from inherited 
 tradition, others from present urges. Freedom is not mere 
 license, and those incapable of wise self-control may need 
 restrictions; therefore some difficult problems arise. On 
 the other hand, many of the present barriers are unneces¬ 
 sary. Those who have never been trained or permitted 
 to exercise normal freedom are on the one hand perma¬ 
 nently stunted, and on the other tempted to crude and 
 
 42 
 
extreme reactions which lead to further loss. The evils of 
 license are largely due to lack of that true freedom which 
 involves self-control. 
 
 Study and personal investigation will reveal many illus¬ 
 trations of all this. Such study should include comparison 
 of the conditions in which different classes and races live. 
 The most severe burdens rest on the poor, especially on 
 nations and races living under lower economic standards. 
 Compare in detail the barriers encountered by a poor Negro 
 boy and by the son of a wealthy and prominent family who 
 has no greater individual ability. 
 
 Conditions of modern life are in many ways tending to 
 remove the various barriers. In some cases, however, stress 
 of competition is making them greater. In any event an 
 enormous amount remains to be done. 
 
 The situation in backward countries needs special study. 
 Conditions cannot be accurately estimated by the status 
 of the progressive leaders, who form as yet only a tiny 
 fraction of the population. How fast and under what cir¬ 
 cumstances can these nations abandon their race traditions ? 
 How can they obtain the capital necessary for economic 
 development without subjecting themselves to exploita¬ 
 tion? 
 
 Among constructive measures the work of the Inter¬ 
 national Labor Office at Geneva should be noted. In 
 attaining larger freedom, constructive education and not 
 mere removal of restrictions will be necessary. 
 
 References 
 
 ON CONDITIONS IN THIS COUNTRY 
 
 Davis and Barnes: Introduction to Sociology, part IV, chs. 2, 
 
 4, 8. 
 
 Williams: lVhat*s on the Worker’s Mindf 
 
 43 
 
Williams: Mainsprings of Men. 
 
 Fitch: Causes of Industrial Unrest. 
 
 Parker: The Casual Laborer. 
 
 Steiner: The American Community in Action. 
 
 Douglas, Hitchcock and Atkins: The Worker in Modern Eco¬ 
 nomic Society, chs. 11, 17-21. 
 
 McKenzie: Oriental Exclusion. 
 
 Minis: The Japanese Problem in the United States. 
 
 Cohen: Out of the Shadow. 
 
 Wembridge: Other People’s Daughters. 
 
 Moton: What the Negro Thinks. 
 
 Du Bois: Souls of Black Folk. 
 
 ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 
 
 Buell: International Relations. 
 
 Moon: Imperialism and World Politics. 
 
 Donaldson: International Economic Relations. 
 
 ON CONDITIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES 
 
 The Christian Movement in Japan, 1924, ch. 21; 1925, chs. 3-4; 
 1926, chs. 12-14; Japan Mission Year Book, 1927, chs. 3 and 11, 
 pp. 289-296. 
 
 Faust: The New Japanese Wo'tnanhood. 
 
 Williams: China Yesterday and Today, chs. 3-6. 
 
 Hodgkin: China in the Family of Nations, ch. 10. 
 
 Anderson: Humanity and Labor in China, ch. 3, pp. 96-98, chs. 
 6-7. 
 
 Women in Industry in the Orient. (Womans Press.) 
 
 Burton: New Paths for Old Purposes, chs. 2 and 3. 
 
 Report of the Shanghai Conference of 1922, pp. 329-346, 461-479. 
 China Mission Year Book, 1924, ch. 5, part IX; 1925, part I, 
 chs. 3-6, part IX; 1926, part VI; 1928, ch. 3, part VI. 
 
 Gamble and Burgess: Peking, A Social Survey, ch. 10. 
 
 China Today Through Chinese Eyes, Second Series, ch. 2. 
 Phillips: The Outcaste’s Hope. 
 
 Holland: The Goal of India, chs. 4 and 6. 
 
 The Indian Outlook, chs. 2, 4-5. 
 
 Zimand: Living India, chs. 5-6, part III. 
 
 Mears: Modern Turkey, chs. 16, 17, 6. 
 
 Toynbee and Kirkwood: Turkey, chs. 8-9. 
 
 Harrison: The Arab at Home, ch. 4. 
 
 Mott, ed.: The Moslem World of Today, chs. 5, 14-16. 
 International Review of Missions, October, 1927, Eastern Indus- 
 
 44 
 
trialism and the Christian Mission; October, 1928, Turkish 
 Women and Pioneers; also Economic Development and the 
 Welfare of Natives. 
 
 PAMPHLETS 
 
 Barnes: Militarising of Youth. Committee on Militarism in 
 Education. 
 
 Child Labor Facts. National Child Labor Committee. 
 
 The Coal Strike in Pennsylvania. Federal Council of Churches. 
 Page: Collective Bargaining. Doran. 
 
 Youmans: Kindergartens of Crime. Juvenile Protective Asso¬ 
 ciation. 
 
 Eddy: Religion and Social Justice. Doran. 
 
 Laidler: Public Ownership. League for Industrial Democracy. 
 Thomas: What is Industrial Democracy? League for Industrial 
 Democracy. 
 
 45 
 
CLOSER FELLOWSHIP 
 
 Purpose, To discover the implications of Christianity 
 as bearing on the closer fellowship of all races, nations, 
 and classes, and the responsibility of the church for leader¬ 
 ship in this field. 
 
 This subject is closely connected with the preceding one. 
 For practical purposes the division may be made between 
 the negative and positive aspects of human intercourse. 
 Under Larger Freedom we considered mainly the hin¬ 
 drances that need to be removed; under Closer Fellowship 
 the constructive effort needed to bring people together. 
 Even where no external barriers exist, our associations 
 tend to become stereotyped and narrow. Many families 
 are close corporations, and the same is true of social 
 groups and vocational and church organizations. Preju¬ 
 dice of locality, nationality, class, or race keep apart people 
 who might and should mingle. Moreover, fellowship will 
 be necessary for the removal of barriers. Only as these 
 are approached from both sides in a spirit of trust and 
 cooperation can they be successfully attacked. 
 
 Among the types of fellowship that are needed are those 
 based on residence, with neighbors and other members of 
 the community; on vocation, with those in the same occu¬ 
 pation or plant; on membership in an organization, with 
 fellow members and other organizations; on church mem¬ 
 bership, with other churches and denominations; on 
 national and international citizenship, with other classes, 
 races, and nations. 
 
 The loss from lack of fellowship is less easily appre- 
 
 46 
 
dated than that from actual barriers, because people often 
 suffer no discomfort from and may even find satisfaction 
 in their isolation. But the loss is none the less real—possi¬ 
 bilities of growth through enlarged interests, sympathies, 
 exchange of ideas and friendships. Other lives lose the 
 service that we might render them. The world loses the 
 helpful results that can come only through cooperation. 
 What is true of individuals is also true of groups of all 
 sizes. Fellowship may expand possibilities in geometrical 
 ratio. We can understand what is lost only as we study 
 what has been gained through cooperation. 
 
 We need comparison of conditions in which different 
 groups live. Those persons frequently have most fellow¬ 
 ship who need it least. The privileged in other ways are 
 likely to be privileged in this also. Those who have least 
 to gain may have most to give and may gain most in giving. 
 A study of the community will reveal instances of great 
 disparity in fruitful fellowships. This difference will be 
 still more marked throughout the nation and the world. 
 
 Especially conditions in backward countries indicate 
 more acute needs. Other races have become exasperated 
 at the superiority complex of the white race. Such inci¬ 
 dents as those of Denshawi, Amritsar, Shanghai, and 
 Nanking have increased the tension. The fact that some 
 of these countries have internal antagonisms does not 
 excuse an unsympathetic attitude on the part of Western 
 peoples. 
 
 There are influences in modern life which render the 
 situation more difficult. Race prejudice is more apparent 
 than it was a few centuries ago. The recent revival of 
 nationalism has given it reinforcement. Fear of lower 
 economic standards intensifies the prejudice of the white 
 
 47 
 
races, and fear of economic imperialism the prejudice of 
 the colored. 
 
 The organizations, national and international, for pro¬ 
 moting fellowship need our study and support. They fur¬ 
 nish opportunities both for enlarging our personal con¬ 
 tacts and for helping others by proxy whom we shall never 
 meet. We all have responsibility for creating fellowship 
 with all sorts and conditions of men. The best construc¬ 
 tive service we can render may be with individuals. 
 
 References 
 
 ON THE GENERAL FIELD 
 
 Oldham: Christianity and the Race Problem. 
 
 Miller: Races, Nations and Classes. 
 
 Hankins: The Racial Basis of Civilisation. 
 
 Davis and Barnes: Introduction to Sociology, part IV, ch. 7. 
 Mathews: The Clash of Color. 
 
 Speer; Of One Blood. 
 
 Leiper: Blind Spots. 
 
 Bate: Faith and Order. 
 
 Ellwood: Reconstruction of Religion. 
 
 ON NEGRO EDUCATION 
 
 Jerusalem Report, vol. IV. 
 
 Reuter: The American Race Problem. 
 
 Moton: What the Negro Thinks. 
 
 Du Bois: Souls of Black Folk. 
 
 Haynes: The Trend of the Race. 
 
 Hammond: In the Vanguard of a Race. 
 
 ON SPECIFIC COUNTRIES 
 
 The Christian Movement in Japan, 1924, part VH; 1926, chs. 6, 
 11-13; Japan Mission Year Book, 1927, pp. 265-272, 288-289. 
 Murao and Walton: Japan and Christ, chs. 7-8. 
 
 Stauffer, ed.: Japan Speaks for Herself. 
 
 Sugimoto: A Daughter of the Samurai. 
 
 Hodgkin: China in the Family of Nations, ch. 11. 
 
 Burton: New Paths for Old Purposes, chs. 4-6. 
 
 48 
 
Report of the Shanghai Conference of 1922, pp. 538-602. 
 
 China Mission Year Book, 1925, chs. 11, 4; 1926, Part I, chs. 10, 
 14, 19; 1928, chs. 1, 14. 
 
 Stauffer, ed.: China Her Own Interpreter. 
 
 Gamble and Burgess: Peking, A Social Survey. 
 
 Fleming: Building With India, ch. 4. 
 
 Holland: The Indian Outlook, ch. 3. 
 
 Stauffer, ed.: An Indian Approach to India. 
 
 Stauffer, ed.: Voices from the Near East. 
 
 Buell; The Native Problem in Africa. 
 
 Evans: Black and White in Southeast Africa. 
 
 Leys: Kenya. 
 
 Cotton: The Race Problem in South Africa. 
 
 Stauffer, ed.: Thinking with Africa. 
 
 Stauffer, ed.: As Protestant Latin America Sees It. 
 
 Laubach: The People of the Philippines, chs. 25-27, 30. 
 
 PAMPHLETS 
 
 Christianity and the Race Problem, Oldham. (Abridged.) Doran. 
 Church Women at Work on the Race Problem. Federal Council 
 of Churches. (Free.) 
 
 International Review of Missions, January, 1928, Church Union; 
 October, 1928, The Younger and Older Churches. 
 
 49 
 
THE VISION OF GOD 
 
 Purpose. To discover what is involved in the vision of 
 God, and how the church can help to realize it and trans¬ 
 mit it more effectively. 
 
 What do we mean by the vision of God ? 
 
 We cannot have a direct vision of God, who is invisible. 
 If it would do us any good to have such a vision, God 
 would become visible. But we can have in an increasing 
 degree the vision of God in another sense, a sharing of his 
 outlook, a fuller understanding of what he sees and how 
 he sees it. By this we come to a comprehension of the 
 most essential elements of God’s character, his purpose 
 and love for all mankind. The mere greatness and power 
 of God without these would be only a cosmic and not a 
 moral or spiritual revelation. The vision of God has most 
 significance when it represents not looking at God, but 
 looking with him and in his spirit at the world. 
 
 Why is this issue important? 
 
 Because if God’s kingdom is to come and his will be 
 done on earth, it must be through us. We are the lips 
 and hands of God, on whom he is depending for the real¬ 
 ization of his kingdom and the execution of his will. It is 
 therefore absolutely essential that we should have this 
 vision of the ideal kingdom and of the content of God’s 
 will, of the specific tasks and the hindrances. This is dif¬ 
 ferent from the view of Christianity which thinks of us 
 as passive recipients of God’s grace, vessels instead of 
 channels, terminals instead of way stations. We are 
 dependent on the grace of God for impulse and power, but 
 
 50 
 
we profit by it only as we become its instruments in serv¬ 
 ing the world. 
 
 Note what the vision of God meant to the Hebrew 
 prophets, to Christ, and to the apostles. It was a commis¬ 
 sion for service, a new vision of the world as God sees it. 
 Study the things that seem to attract the special notice of 
 God as set forth in the Bible, and observe how he regards 
 them. Consider how the world must appear to God today, 
 what things most arouse his approval and disapproval, 
 what needs most excite his sympathy, in the success of 
 what things he is most concerned. Persons whose vision 
 and discriminations of these things is not keen have not 
 truly a vision of God. 
 
 Seeing amounts to nothing unless we have norms and 
 standards of values. What we'see shows what we are. 
 We tend to measure by our own limited experiences and 
 the public opinion that surrounds us. We need a sense of 
 perspective, of the dramatic (cf. Hankey, A Student in 
 Arms, ch. 12), an idea of how the situation would look 
 to an unprejudiced outsider. The ideal witness would be 
 one whose knowledge was thorough, whose insight was 
 keen, whose standard was high, and whose sympathy was 
 deep. Through such qualities the vision of God is attained. 
 
 There is great loss to us all in that we lack this expert 
 vision, in that we are not able to see our needs in true per¬ 
 spective from the highest standpoint, in that our aims ter¬ 
 minate in better health, more wealth, etc., without our 
 relating these ultimately to the kingdom of God. Health 
 made an end in itself results in well-groomed animals find¬ 
 ing their main satisfactions in physical enjoyments. Wealth 
 made an end in. itself results in complacency over eco¬ 
 nomic prosperity.^^nowledge made an end in itself results 
 in mere erudition. Freedom made an end in itself makes 
 
 51 
 
for license. Even fellowship misses its best without God’s 
 vision of what is most worthy to be exchanged among 
 mankind. 
 
 Individuals without this vision will not be highly efficient. 
 Many are content with innocuous commerce with God, 
 something that will demand little and change them little. 
 Great advances have followed every invention of su¬ 
 perior optical instruments. A surgical operation that would 
 confer keen vision on Christians would make a different 
 world. 
 
 How are those without this vision to acquire it? 
 
 Try to estimate the relative opportunities which different 
 groups in the community and nation have had in coming 
 into personal contact with winsome examples of the depth 
 and breadth of the sympathy of God. Study such cases as 
 those mentioned by Mrs. Wembridge in Other People's 
 Daughters. Consider the instances of practical spiritual 
 starvation among those with large privileges. In view of 
 this, would you call Christianity an efficient religion and 
 the Christian church an efficient agency? 
 
 Consider conditions in backward countries. Although 
 many types of Christianity have produced no fruits worthy 
 of the vision of God, the Christian religion as a whole has 
 been richer in this respect than have been the other religions 
 of the world. Fruit-bearing as a result of fellowship with 
 God is written into the constitution of Christianity as it is 
 not into those of other faiths. Stanley Jones gives many 
 testimonies from Hindus as to their lack of that first-hand 
 consciousness of God which transforms the individual life. 
 Christians who have attained the vision of God will have 
 something to share. Those who have not will neither desire 
 nor be able to share it. 
 
 Study cases of those of every race who have come into 
 
 52 
 
the splendor of this vision, and have had their lives trans¬ 
 formed by it. Note such books as: 
 
 Fraser: The Autobiography of an African. 
 
 Burton: Notable Women of Modern China. 
 
 Laubach: Seven Thousand E^neralds. 
 
 Axling: Japan on the Upward Trail. 
 
 References 
 
 Much of the literature on the subject of this section 
 concerns itself more with the mystical approach to God 
 than with sharing his attitude towards the world. The 
 importance of the latter is being increasingly recognized. 
 All the references of the preceding sections bear on this 
 latter aspect. 
 
 ON THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Jerusalem Report, vol. I. 
 
 McConnell: The Christlike God. 
 
 Streeter: Reality. 
 
 Morgan: The Nature and Right of Religion. 
 
 Underhill: The Life of the Spirit and the Life of Today. 
 
 Raven: A Wanderer’s Way. 
 
 Glover: The Jesus of History. 
 
 McAfee: The Christian Message and Program. 
 
 Fleming: Marks of a World Christian. 
 
 ON THE SITUATION IN OTHER COUNTRIES 
 
 Christian Movement in Japan, 1926, pp. 100-106; Japan Mission 
 Year Book, 1927, chs. 3-6, 12-16, pp. 259-265, 308-315. 
 
 Anesaki: Religious and Social Problems of the Orient. 
 
 Murao and Walton: Japan and Christ, chs. 3, 9. 
 
 Report of the Shanghai Conference of 1922, section VIII, ch. 1; 
 section IX. 
 
 China Mission Year Book, 1926, ch. 11. 
 
 Mott, ed.: Vital Forces of Christianity in Islam. 
 
 Mott, ed.: The Moslem World of Today, ch. 21. 
 
 International Review of Missions, January, 1928, The Christian 
 Message; July, 1928, The Jerusalem Meeting and After; also 
 The Jerusalem Meeting and the Christian Message. 
 
 53 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Suggestions to Sub-Committee Members on the 
 Course, “Christianity’s Supreme Issues” 
 
 Note. These Suggestions have been reprinted as a separate leaflet, 
 and may be secured from the Missionary Education Movement, 150 
 Fifth Avenue, New York City, at 25 cents per dozen, postpaid. 
 
 You are asked to join in a cooperative study of the 
 responsibility of Christianity for the great human needs 
 of the -world. The plan has derived its original impetus 
 from the great missionary conference held in Jerusalem 
 in March, 1928, and more particularly from a book by 
 Bishop Francis J. McConnell, Human Needs and World 
 Christianity. Its six chapters are called “Better Health,” 
 “More Wealth,” “Sounder Knowledge,” “Larger Free¬ 
 dom,” “Closer Fellowship,” “The Vision of God.” These 
 represent the most important of human needs and as such 
 are supreme issues for Christianity. 
 
 The aim of this study is to help our local church to face 
 its Christian responsibilities for these world needs and 
 in particular to adopt an educational program which shall 
 prepare for continuous improvement along these lines. 
 
 The plan herewith presented is a result of considerable 
 criticism and experimentation. Six sub-committees are 
 being appointed, one in charge of each of the main topics 
 mentioned above. You are asked to serve on Sub-Commit¬ 
 tee Number-for the special study of- 
 
 -. The chairman of your committee is 
 
 -who will call you together. If 
 
 54 
 
you prefer membership on some other sub-committee, 
 please notify your chairman as soon as possible and 
 arrange for transfer. Each sub-committee will meet at 
 least twice to prepare for a meeting of all the groups of 
 which it will have charge. These general meetings will 
 
 begin on -. The date of the 
 
 one which your group has in charge is- 
 
 • 
 
 It is suggested that the following four questions be made 
 a general basis for study and for discussion in the general 
 sessions. The study should be broad and practical in its 
 outcome. 
 
 1. Why is this subject a supreme issue in the world 
 at the present time ? The answer to this may be presented 
 in the form of a logical statement, of concrete narrative or 
 description, or of statistical charts presented so as to bring 
 out perspective. 
 
 2. To what extent is the Christian church in general 
 and are we in particular responsible for meeting these 
 needs ? 
 
 3. How should we supplement the present educational 
 program of our church in order to meet our responsibilities 
 more effectively ? 
 
 4. What specific projects can we undertake, local and 
 worldwide ? 
 
 The purpose of the first meeting of your sub-committee 
 will be to discover what ideas and information are avail¬ 
 able, and to prepare for study. Each member will be 
 assigned something to look up. At the second meeting 
 more specific preparation will be made for effective dis¬ 
 cussion at the general sessions of the four questions stated 
 above. It may be that an additional meeting of the group 
 
 55 
 
will be found desirable in order to prepare for the general 
 session. 
 
 The aim of the general session of which you have charge 
 will be to create adequate convictions of the place your sub¬ 
 ject should have in the thought and educational program 
 of the church, and to enrich your own thinking by the dis¬ 
 cussion. 
 
 After this meeting your group should continue to study 
 and begin to prepare for specific educational projects in 
 the church or community. 
 
 References 
 
 The following references are suggested for members of the 
 different groups, as furnishing an introduction to their respective 
 subjects. 
 
 BETTER HEALTH 
 
 The World Mission of Christianity, ch. 9. 
 
 Jerusalem Report, vol. IV, pp. 63 ff.; vol. V, pp. 23 and 73; 
 
 vol. VIII, ch. 12. 
 
 McConnell, ch. 1. 
 
 MORE WEALTH 
 
 Roads to the City of God, ch. 6-7. 
 
 The World Mission of Christianity, chs. 6-7. 
 
 A Faith for the World, ch. 7. 
 
 Jerusalem Report, vol. IV, pp. 50 ff.; ch. 3; vol. V, especially 
 chs. 1, 3, 5, 6; vol. VI, especially chs. 4, 6, 10. 
 
 McConnell, ch. 2. 
 
 SOUNDER KNOWLEDGE 
 
 Roads to the City of God, ch. 8. 
 
 The World Mission of Christianity, ch. 2. 
 
 A Faith for the World, ch. 6. 
 
 Jerusalem Report, vol. II; vol. Ill, ch. 7; vol. IV, pp. 22, 38, 
 165; vol. V, p. 81; vol. VI, pp. 20, 40 ff., 151, 169, 197 ff., 248. 
 McConnell, ch. 3. 
 
 LARGER FREEDOM 
 
 Roads to the City of God, ch. 6. 
 
 The World Mission of Christianity, ch. 6. 
 
 A Faith for the World, ch. 7. 
 
 56 
 
Jerusalem Report, vol. IV, pp. 58, 93 f¥., 120, 140, 185; vol. V, 
 five statements, especially that by Tawney; vol. VI, pp. 10, 
 128, 147, 186; vol. VIII, chs. 6 and 17. 
 
 McConnell, ch. 4. 
 
 CLOSER FELLOWSHIP 
 
 Roads to the City of God, chs. 4-5. 
 
 The World Mission of Christianity, chs. 3-5. 
 
 A Faith for the World, chsj 4, 5 and 8. 
 
 Jerusalem Report, vol. I, pp. 80, 228, 338; vol. Ill, general 
 statement by Warnshuis, summary by Silcock, Indian view by 
 Philip; vol. IV, Race Problem in the United States, In South 
 Africa; vol. V, many constructive statements in connection 
 with the criticism of present conditions; vol. VI, pp. 14 ff., 
 122, 134, 248. 
 
 McConnell, ch. 5. 
 
 THE VISION OF GOD 
 
 Roads to the City of God, chs. 3 and 9. 
 
 The World Mission of Christianity, ch. 1. 
 
 A Faith for the World, introduction and chs. 1-3. 
 
 Jerusalem Report, vol. I, The Christian Message—note the 
 special obstacles which other religions present today to the 
 acceptance of Christianity, especially ch. 7 on secularism. A 
 variety of views, some more conservative, are expressed in 
 parts II-IV. Vol. VIII, chs. 9-10. 
 
 McConnell, ch. 6. 
 
 57 
 
I 
 

 
 d'.’ 
 
 1 .’. 
 
 '•5 
 
 'V-