tt'r b'YT ovi A Plan qf Social Work f Ihe Federal Council qf the Churches qf Christ in America Prof. Shatter Mathews, President Rev. Charles S. Macfarland, Secretary The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America is a National Feder- ation, of 30 Denominations and Com- munions, united for Common Service The Fed eral Council Commission on the Church and Social Service Rev. Josiah Strong, Chairman National Offices, 612 United Charities Building 105 East 22d Street, New York Cfje Commission on tlje Cimrtl) anb Coital iserbtce Rev. Josxah Strong, Chairman Prof. George W. Richards, Recording Secretary Committee of Direction Prof. Edward T. Devine Rev. Henry A. Atkinson Rev. Samuel Z. Batten William F. Cochran Rev. Frank M. Crouch Miss Grace H. Dodge Shelby M. Harrison Miss Louise Holmquist Rev. J. Howard Melish Rev. Frank Mason North William B. Patterson Gifford Pinchot Rev. Josiah Strong Rev. Charles L. Thompson Charles R. Towson Rev. Harry F. Ward Secretarial Council Rev. Henry A. Atkinson 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. Rev. Samuel Z. Batten 1701 Chestnut Street Philadelphia Pa. Rev. Frank M. Crouch 281 Fourth Avenue, New York Rev. Charles O. Gill Hartland, Vt. Rev. Harry F. Ward 2512 Park Place Evanston, Illinois Committee on Church and Country Life Gifford Pinchot Prof. Ihomas N. Carver Pres. Kenyon L. Butterfield Rev. William I. Haven Henry Wallace Rev. Warren H. Wilson Rev. Charles O. Gill Field Investigator Rev. Ernest H. Abbott Rt. Rev. C. P. Anderson Roger W. Babson Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum Bishop William M. Bell Bishop S. C. Breyfogel Pres. Franklin E- Brooke Pres. George C. Chase Rev. Orrin G. Cocks George W. Coleman Harris R. Cooley William K. Cooper Pres. Boothe C. Davis Rev. Jonathan C. Day Rev. Edwin Heyl Delk John J. Eagan Prof. Edwin L- Earp Richard H. Edwards Pres. H. L- Elderdice H. D. W. English Prof. Daniel Evans Bishop Joseph S. Flipper Homer Folks Rev. Samuel M. Gibson Rev. Levi Gilbert Rev. Washington Gladden John M. Glenn Prof. Ihomas C. Hall Rev. W. H. Hamblin Rev. W. F. Heil Prof. C. R. Henderson Prof. James R. Howerton Prof. C. H. Johnson Prof. Rufus M. Jones Rev. O. F. Jordan Paul U. Kellogg Howard A. Kelly, M.D. Rev. J. H. Kendall Rev. William E- Lampe John B. Lennon Owen R. Lovejoy Prof. F. E. Lumley Bishop Francis J. McConnell Rev. J. E. McCulloch Mrs. R. W. MacDonnell Miss Mary E. McDowell A. J. McKelway Pres. David McKinney Rev. H. H. McNeill Rev. H. H. Marlin Rev. J. W. Messinger Rev. Alfred E. Meyer James Alexander Miller, M.D. Frank Morrison Pres. S. K. Mosiman Rev. C. J. Musser Rev. H. H. Peters Rev. John P. Peters Rev. O. W. Powers Rev. H. H. Proctor Pres. H. F. Rail James A. Rath Prof. Walter Rauschenbusch Rev. John A. Rice Rev. Peter Roberts Mrs. Raymond Robins Miss Helen J. Sanborn A. M. Scales Rev. Doremus Scudder Miss Florence Simms Willard L. Small Rev. Samuel G. Smith Prof. Edward A. Steiner Rev. Charles Stelzle Chancellor D. S. Stephens Rev. Paul M. Strayer Rev. Carlyle Summerbell Very Rev. W. T. Sumner Rev. E. Guy Talbott Fred E. Tasker Prof. A. W. Taylor Prof. Graham Taylor Rev. John A. Thurston Rev. Worth M. Tippy Rev. A. J. T'urkle Rev. Samuel Tyler Rev. T. Wl Wallace Bishop Alexander Walters Rev. George T. Webb Rev. A. E- Webster Pres. Herbert Welch Rev. G. Frederick Wells Rev. Gaylord S. White John Williams Rev. Leighton Williams Rev. G. B. Winton Rev. Edward S. Wolle Miss Carolena M. Wood Rev. E. S. Woodring Rev. James F. Zwemer Rev. Charles S. Macfarland, Secretary A Plan of Social Work The Federal Council is a federation of the churches, in unity of spirit, and with union of action upon matters of service in which all the churches are in common agreement. Its national office is the educative and administrative center, both guiding and expressing the common sentiment of the churches on na- tional and international issues, and also providing a common program for the State and local federations which are organized for community service. The various forms of social uplift which are before the church offer one of the most vital and permanent of reasons and opportunities for federation. On the other hand, the opportunities for social services are of such a nature that they can be fulfilled, in large measure, only by the churches acting together. Social Service is thus in part the basis of the Federal Council, and the Federal Council offers the basis for Social Service. It becomes the duty of the Commission to carry out the recommendations unanimously adopted by the first Federal Council in Philadelphia, 1908, as con- tained in the Report of its Committee, published under the title, “The Church and Modern Industry,” and by the second Federal Council in Chicago, 19x2, embodied in the Report of the Commission to the Council. Both of these documents, of which the following are typical utterances, should be read in order to see the meaning of this program. “The Churches of Christ in this Federal Council accept without reserve and assert without apology the supreme authority of Jesus Christ.” “Christ’s mission is not merely to reform society, but to save it. He is more than the world’s Readjuster. He is its Redeemer.” “The Church becomes worthless for its higher purpose when it deals with conditions and forgets character, relieves misery and ignores sin, pleads for justice and undervalues forgiveness.” “The Church’s doors open upon the commqn levels of life. They should never be closed. Its window's open toward the skies. Let their light not be darkened.” “At no time have the disadvantages of the sectarian divisions of the Church been more apparent than when the call has come for a common policy or a united utterance concerning such problems as modern industry now presents.” “The Church does not stand for the present social order, but only for so much ©f it as accords with the principles laid down by Jesus Christ.” "We recognize the complex nature of industrial obligations, affecting em- ployer and employee, society and government, rich and poor, and most earn- estly counsel tolerance, patience and mutual confidence; we do not defend or excuse wrongdoing in high places or in low, or purpose to adapt the ethical standards of the Gospel to the exigencies of commerce or the codes of a con- tused industrial system.” “Our problems, nearly all of them, at least, go back to the fundamental one of Industry. We are not unaware of its confused ethics or of the difficulties in the way of securing an industrial equality which shall ameliorate our social wrongs, but this need not daunt us in our faith that the Gospel professed by the Churches &i Christ in America is equal to the task.” “The Christian Church has thus the three-fold vocation of conscience, in- terpreter, and guide of all social movements. Her viewpoint is from above; she Approaches life from within; she guides it toward its spiritual ends.” “Two things the Church must gain: the one is spiritual authority; the other is human sympathy. And be her human sympathy ever so warm and passionate, if she have not her spiritual authority, she can do little more than raise a limp signal of distress with a weak and pallid hand. But if, on the other hand, she as- sume a spiritual authority without a commensurate human sympathy, she becomes what her Master would call ‘a whited sepulchre filled with dead men’s bones.’ ” PRINCIPLES ADOPTED BY THE FEDERAL COUNCIL IN CHICAGO, DECEMBER 9, 1912. “The Churches must stand: 1. For equal rights and complete justice for all men in all sta- tions of life. 2. For the protection of the family, by the single standard of purity, uniform divorce laws, proper regulation of marriage, and proper housing. 3. For the fullest possible development for every child, especially by the provision of proper education and recreation. 4. For the abolition of child labor. 5. For such regulation of the conditions of toil for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral health of the community. 6. For the abatement and prevention of poverty. 7. For the protection of the individual and society from the social, economic and moral waste of the liquor traffic. 8. For the conservation of health. 9. For the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases, and mortality. 10. For the right of all men to the opportunity for self-main- tenance, for safeguarding this right against encroachments of every kind, and for the protection of workers from the hardships of en- forced unemployment. 11. For suitable provision for the old age of the workers, and for those incapacitated by injury. 12. For the right of employees and employers alike to organize; and for adequate means of conciliation and arbitration in industrial dis- putes. 13. For a release from employment one day in seven. 14. For the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practicable point, and for that degree of leisure for all which is a condition of the highest human life. 15. For a living wage as a minimum in every industry, and for the highest wage that each industry can afford. 16. For a new emphasis upon the application of Christian prin- ciples to the acquisition and use of property, and for the most equitable division of the product of industry that can ultimately be devised.” ORGANIZATION, PLANS AND WORK. The National Office of the Commission, in association with the Federal Council, will be developed as a CENTER FOR INFORMA- TION, INSPIRATION AND GUIDANCE, in the social work of the churches. Through INTERDENOMINATIONAL ACTION, the Commis- sion will bring about CO-ORDINATION AND CO-OPERATION among the denominations composing the Federal Council, including, so far as may be possible, the adoption of A COMMON PROGRAM, the use of common literature and the presentation of the united appeal of the Gospel in its application to social problems and opportunities. Through this interdenominational co-operation will come THE DEVELOPMENT of this aspect of the work OF THE CHURCHES, the EDUCATION OF THE MINISTRY and the churches for it, and THE EQUIPMENT OF THE CHURCHES for carrying it forward. Representing the churches of the Federal Council, the Commission will co-operate with THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES, so far as invited and permitted, in the formulation of a policy with regard to instruction and practical training in this important subject. The same co-operation will obtain with the various SCHOOLS FOR the preparation of SOCIAL WORKERS, that they, upon their side, may also come into a proper working relation with the Christian churches. THE INSTRUCTION in Social Science and Ethics IN OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, imparted to young men and women who should be leaders of the church life of the nation, will be the subject of investigation and mutual consideration, through con- ferences and inquiry. The relation of the churches to the multitude of AGENCIES FOR SOCIAL REFORM and betterment is an important problem before the Commission. Its influence, together with that of the denomina- tions and churches which it represents, will be brought to co-operate, so far as possible, with such societies and movements, in relation, especially, to those measures which affect THE MORAL AND SPIRITUAL WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE. This will include such matters as Child and Woman Labor, Occupational Disease, Sun- day Labor, Seven Days’ Labor, the Reduction of Hours, the Better- ment of Wages, Housing Conditions, and many other similar causes. The relations between LOCAL Charity ORGANIZATIONS, So- cial Settlements and similar local work will be taken up and considered from the viewpoint of the churches, by conference and inquiry. Our HOME MISSION work involves many social problems and includes the WORK OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. Indeed, the churches in Home Mission fields are often, if not generally, the initia- tors of the social and community institutions. This work will be studied, published, encouraged and developed. This Commission and the Commission on Home Missions will work in co-operation to this end. In the FOREIGN MISSION field, this branch of Christian serv- ice has in some cases developed more fully than in our own land, espe- cially in INDUSTRIAL, MEDICAL and EDUCATIONAL WORK, which has lifted foreign nations to a higher social level. This work will be made the subject of careful research and continued develop- ment, by a working relation between the Commission and the Com- mission on Foreign Missions. By the constant issuing of LITERATURE in Leaflets and Hand- books for serious study, and the use of the religious, daily and weekly press, the growing accumulation of material RELATING TO SO- CIAL UPLIFT and social causes will be put into such shape as to BE USED BY THE CHURCHES for education and incitement to service. The Labor and Trade Journals will receive bulletins informing industrial workers and managers of the deepening interest of the church in their common problems and duty. Lists of Speakers, Lecturers and Instructors will be prepared, and a Lantern Slide Bureau established and developed. The Bureau of Research will undertake INVESTIGATIONS AND SURVEYS in relation to the whole social problem, especially as it relates itself to the duty of the Christian Church. Bibliographies will be issued. The Commission will co-operate, in its sphere, with the Field Sec- retaries of the Federal Council and their associates in FEDERATING THE CHURCHES and will endeavor to provide its share of a pro- gram for State and community federations. Working partly by direct access, and partly through denomina- tional agencies and State and local federations, the work of LOCAL CHURCHES and communities will be developed, and successful en- deavors set before the churches in general for emulation and en- couragement. The Commission will confer with LABOR REPRESENTA- TIVES and will send its delegates to their gatherings. Similarly it will confer with Groups of BUSINESS MEN and send delegates to their gatherings. It will confer in joint meetings of both of these elements in mod- ern industry and issue its challenge to both of them to unite with the church in a common service. INVESTIGATIONS will be made IN various large and import- ant INDUSTRIES, similar to the investigation of the steel industry by a special committee of the Commission in 1910. Similar investiga- tions in local communities will be made through pastors and other local agents. A nation-wide CAMPAIGN will be carried on, endeavoring to cover all the States of the Union, FOR ONE-DAY-IN-SEVEN FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS. The Commission will continue to preserve and increase the observance of LABOR SUNDAY in the pulpits and by the churches of the nation. Co-operation in the work of FORWARD MOVEMENTS IN PERPETUATION OF THEIR SOCIAL RESULTS will be carried out, in association with the Field Secretaries of the Federal Council in their work of community federation for the same purpose. This includes the Men and Religion Movement. While all the departments of its program should relate equally, so far as applicable, not only to cities, but to suburban and rural com- munities, it is necessary to recognize that, in many ways, RURAL BETTERMENT has its own peculiar problems. The Commission will help to co-ordinate those churches and religious agencies which offer leadership in this work. It will endeavor to provide a clearing- house of bibliographic lists for the aid of rural helpers, instruction as to social surveys by local churches, programs for community service for rural churches, and a bureau of public service, relating to all rural studies, methods and problems. A special committee has been appointed on the Church and Country Life and a field investigator has been given the task of initiating and de- veloping this department. In addition to these efforts, the Commission will stand ready to take up ANY SPECIAL TASK that may seem to fall to its lot. While at some points, its action will need to be direct and im- mediate, its chief purpose is to work through and for the denomina- tional bodies and to place itself at the service of their agencies. There- fore, the Commission will endeavor, at every possible point, to bring about its ends through interdenominational co-operation in this work which is common for all the churches. Approved and adopted by the Commission, October, 1911. Frank Mason North, Chairman. Charles S. Macfarland, Secretary. This Program was considered as a general plan for interdenominational work and unanimously approved and adopted, at a conference made up of repre- sentatives from 17 denominations, at Chicago, November 8, 1911. Frank M. Crouch, Recording Secretary. Approved by the Executive Committee of the Federal Council, December 13, 1911. Rivington D. Lord, Recording Secretary. Approved and adopted by the Quadrennial Session of the Federal Council at Chicago, December 9, 1912. Rivington D. Lord, Recording Secretary. Adopted by the Commission, March, 1912. George W. Richards, Recording Secretary. Literature interpreting the various elements of this Program may be obtained on application to the Secretary. The full Report of the Commission, especially, should be read.