A SOCIAL SERVICE CATECHISM Prepared by THE COMMISSION ON THE CHURCH AND SOCIAL SERVICE of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America NATIONAL OFFICES 612 United Charities Building 106 East 22nd Street New York. This Catechism was prepared by a Committee of the Federal Council Commission, consisting of Samuel Z. Batten, Walter Rauschenbusch, Jacob Riis, Geabam Taylor, Harry F. Ward, Charles S. Macfarland. It is based, in the main, on the original Social Service Cate- chism prepared for the Social Service Commission of the Northern Baptist Convention, adapted for interdenominational use. A Social Service Catechism 1. What is Social Service? Social Service is that form of effort for man’s redemption which seeks to uplift and transform his associated and community life. As such it is the social application of Chris- tian principles, and is a new name for that spirit of philanthropy and service which is as old as Christianity. 2. Why do you call it Social Service? Because it deals with man as a social being in his social relations, and with social causes and conditions ; because it demands social and collective action, and seeks not only to save men but to embody their Christian life in so- cial institutions. 3. What warrant is there for social service in the Scriptures? Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor : He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and re- covering of sight to the blind, to set at lib- erty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Above all is the example of Jesus himself, who went about doing good, helping the needy, adjusting the relations of men, and seeking to establish justice among men. 4. What is the fundamental idea of social service ? The idea of the kingdom of God, which in the Christian conception of things may mean much more than a human society on earth, but can never mean anything less. 5. How is social service related to other forms of Christian activity? In the complete program of the kingdom there are four chief items : Evangelism — win- ning men unto Jesus Christ; missions — making the good news known to the nations; educa- tion — ^training lives for the kingdom and build- ing them up in Christ-likeness ; and social serv- ice — serving the whole life of man and build- ing a Christian social order. 6. What is meant by social salvation ? The deliverance of human society from dis- ease, poverty, crime, and misery; the develop- ment and perfection of the institutions of man’s associated life, and the construction of a social order that is the city of God on earth. 7 . What are the chief items in the social service program? The relief of need and distress, the preven- tion of poverty and crime, the provision for all of the conditions of a clean, healthy, moral and spiritual life, the creation of a social at- mosphere which shall induce a right course of conduct, the adjustment of men’s relations in justice and brotherhood. 8. Why should Christians be most active in social service? For the reason that social service works in line with the Lord’s Prayer, in that it seeks to create such conditions that every life can earn its daily bread, that needless temptation may be removed from men, and boys and girls may be delivered from evil. 9. What are the methods of social service ? It seeks to relieve distress and need in such ways as to help men most effectually; it also seeks to discover the causes and conditions of poverty, sickness, crime, and misery, and then to remove bad causes and conditions and create good causes and conditions; it believes that the church, the family, the school, the state are all means and agencies through which these ends may be sought. 10. Does social service seek to create an- other organization? It seeks rather to aid the agencies of human uplift that now exist, to infuse into them the religious spirit, to co-operate with them in every way, and to use them as channels through which the efforts of Christian peo- ple may become effective. 11. What can one person do who is inter- ested in social service? He can study social conditions, help other people to see things as he sees them, seek to unite men in behalf of practical measures, join with those who are engaged in some form of helpful service, and be an active and intel- ligent citizen in his own community. 12. What can a pastor do to promote social service among his people? He can be a careful student of social ques- tions in the light of the Scriptures; he can teach and illustrate the doctrine and example of the Master, and he can arouse and organ- ize his people in behalf of social service, and he can take a sympathetic interest in the vari- ous uplifting agencies of the community. 13. What can a church do in behalf of so- cial betterment? It can have one or more classes engaged in social-service study; it can have committees studying the various agencies of social uplift in the community; it can have a positive and constructive program and can organize their efforts for effective work. 14. What can be done in a united way in behalf of community betterment? Have a Federation of the Churches, which shall secure unity of purpose and mass the conscience of the people at any one point. The Federation should have a Committee on Conciliation and Arbitration for industrial dis- putes ; it should support all righteous and faith- ful officials; it should voice the conviction of the men of good will in the community. Every community should thus have in some visible form not only churches, but a united church of Christ in common service. 15. Name several immediate and practical things that can be done. Secure for every worker one day’s rest in seven ; have a censorship committee of all mov- ing-picture and other shows; equip a play- ground within half a mile of every home in the city; make efficient the agencies seeking to suppress gambling, the social evil, alcohol, and all habit-forming drugs; see that there is a good child-labor law and that it is enforced ; have regular inspection of tenements and rooming houses; support the Juvenile Court; have a systematic canvass of the community. 16. What is the ultimate purpose of social service ? It seeks to create such a social order in the world as shall realize the Christian ideal of human society, to give each soul a true in- heritance in life, to develop a perfect life in a perfect society, and to make Jesus Christ a fact in the universal life of the world. Authorized and distributed by: The Baptist Department of Social Service Brother- hood; Rev. Samuel Z. Batten, Secretary, care of the American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, Pa. Social Service Commission of the Congregational Church ; Rev. Henry A. Atkinson, Secretary, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. The Methodist Federation for Social Service; Rev. Harry F. Ward, Secretary, 2512 Park Place, Evans- ton, 111. The Protestant Episcopal Joint Commission; Rev. Frank M. Crouch, Field Secretary, The Church Mis- sions House, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York. The Federal Council Commission; Rev. Charles S. Macfarland, Secretary, who also represents in the Secretarial Council the other co-operating denomina- tions in the Federal Council. Readers should also become intimately familiar with the publications qf their own denominational social service agencies and of the Federal Council, which may be obtained through the above-named members of the Secretarial Council. Bibliographies and Reading Courses will be sup- plied on application to the above representatives. Lire