VtXt 
 
 The Church in the 
 Community 
 
 Definitions ofi Christian 
 
 ALFRED WILLIAMS ANTHONY 
 
 EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF HOME 
 MISSIONS COUNCIL 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 156 Fifth Ave. 
 NEW YORK CITY 
 1919 
 
 Co-operation 
 
 BY 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 This little pamphlet is essentially a reprint, 
 somewhat recast and with additions, of a little 
 pamphlet published in 1916, entitled ‘ ‘ Inner 
 and Outer Circles of Co-operation.” 
 
 The author has been identified with move- 
 ments relating to co-operation and federation 
 for more than twenty-five years, first in the 
 State of Maine, connected with the Interde- 
 nominational Commission of Maine, the oldest 
 state federation in the country, and then with 
 the movements which have culminated in the 
 Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in 
 America, and kindred organizations. He was 
 the first Chairman of the Commission on State 
 and Local Federations of the Federal Council, 
 and portions of this pamphlet were embodied 
 in a report made by that Commission to the 
 Executive Committee of the Federal Council 
 of Churches at its meeting in Columbus, Ohio, 
 December 8-10, 1915. Several thousand copies 
 of the little pamphlet have been distributed 
 under its former title. It is available now 
 gratuitously to all who will be helped by it, 
 and will apply to the writer. 
 
 ALFEED WILLIAMS ANTHONY 
 
 156 Fifth Avenue, 
 
 New York City 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 
 
 https://archive.org/details/churchincommunitOOanth 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY 
 OR THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST 
 ORGANIZED WITH REFERENCE TO 
 GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS 
 
 New Testament Churches 
 
 New Testament churches appear to have been 
 geographical. The church at Corinth, for ex- 
 ample, was a Community Church. There may 
 have been separate congregations meeting in 
 the house of Stephanas, or in the house 
 of Gaius, or in the house of Phebe, or pos- 
 sibly in the house of Erastus, “the chamber- 
 lain of the city.” It is possible that when 
 some said, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; 
 and I of Cephas; and I of Christ,” they wor- 
 shipped in separate congregations; but it is 
 evident that in Paul’s mind, however much 
 the disciples may have been divided, either 
 because of convenience, or by reason of fac- 
 tions, they all constituted one church, the Com- 
 munity Church of Corinth; they constituted the 
 Church for a definite geographical area; for 
 Paul writes his first epistle “unto the church 
 of God which is at Corinth, to them that are 
 sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, 
 with all that in every place call upon the name 
 of Jesus Christ our Lord, both their ’s and 
 our ’s ; ” and in his second epistle takes even 
 a wider geographical range, writing ‘ ‘ unto the 
 church of God which is at Corinth, with all 
 the saints which are in all Achaia. ’ ’ 
 
 In like manner the church at Thessalonica, 
 the church at Colosse, the church at Laodicea, 
 and the church at Rome, appear to include all 
 of the Christians within these municipalities. 
 
 5 
 
Lineal Development 
 
 Because of the development of Christian de- 
 nominations, the consciousness of Christian fel- 
 lowship, now manifest in cities and towns, is 
 generally what may be called lineal, rather 
 than lateral. Most Christians, under the im- 
 pulses of denominational nurture and growth, 
 look backward, in terms of fellowship, unto a 
 John Wesley, or a Robert Browne, or a Roger 
 Williams, or an Alexander Campbell, or an 
 Emanuel Swedenborg, or an Ulrich Zwingli, 
 or a John Calvin, or a Martin Luther, — or back 
 to the Apostles, Peter preeminently, or to them 
 all, in ‘ ‘ apostolic succession. ’ ’ This conscious- 
 ness of fellowship has tended to cut channels 
 between rigid barriers, restricting the expres- 
 sion of fellowship to limited lines, through the 
 present unto the future. The primitive church 
 appears to have had no such restrictions. It 
 certainlv had no such inheritances from the 
 past. Its fellowship was lateral, including all 
 who “bore the Name,” or were “of the Way,” 
 within any area. This sense of lateral fellow- 
 ship is being recovered. It is the genius of 
 the present movement toward federation. 
 
 Lateral Development 
 
 The Federal Council is an expression of an 
 attempt to recover fellowship laterally in the 
 domain of the nation. The Commissions of 
 the Federal Council, notably those on The 
 Church and Social Service, on Federated Move- 
 ments, and on the Church and Rural Life, are 
 all engaged either in the more adequate ex- 
 pression of these lateral fellowships, or in the 
 active promotion of combination and coopera- 
 tion between Christians, geographically and lo- 
 cally approximated. 
 
 A striking feature of the literary output of 
 the last score of years has been the discussion 
 of unity, not within denominational lines, but 
 out.side of, aTid inclusive of, denominations. 
 A sense of brotherhood has taken hold of the 
 Christian church. This is an outstanding 
 characteristic of the day, and must be reck- 
 
 6 
 
oned with. No Christian, no church, no de- 
 nomination can hold itself aloof from other 
 Christians, other churches, and other denomi- 
 nations, in the old spirit of sectarianism. 
 None are sole receptacles of the divine gifts; 
 no one is the single agency through which the 
 spirit works; all are required, for the recogni- 
 tion and the proclamation of the “many-col- 
 ored ’ ’ Gospel. This consciousness has been 
 emphasized by the world war. 
 
 The Two-Fold Problem, Lineal and Lateral 
 
 The problem before Christians to-day is 
 double — (1) How to preserve the inherited fel- 
 lowships, organizations and possessions from 
 the past which are largely in denominational 
 organizations; and (2) How to re-establish, in 
 the spirit of the New Testament, the conscious- 
 ness of fellowship and unity which may dom- 
 inate a single community. 
 
 The Federal Council and Federation 
 
 The Federal Council of the Churches of 
 Christ in America, organized in 1908, ‘ ‘ more 
 fully to manifest the essential oneness of the 
 Christian Churches of America, in Jesus Christ 
 as their Divine Lord and Saviour, and to pro- 
 mote the spirit of fellowship, service and co- 
 operation among them, ’ ’ cannot, and does not, 
 advocate any form of federation which is de- 
 structive of, or hostile to, denominational life 
 and existence. It safeguards the autonomy of 
 denominations. It defines its own function, 
 “not so much to do things, as to get the de- 
 nominational bodies, and the interdenomina- 
 tional movements, to do the work of the churches 
 in cooperation. ’ ’ It “ seeks to find the will 
 of the constituent bodies and their departments, 
 and to interpret and expre.ss it in common 
 terms. ’ ’ 
 
 Toward Local Federations the Federal Coun- 
 cil assumes no organic relation, and takes no 
 directive control. It is ready to initiate, in- 
 spire, advise and aid by bringing to bear upon 
 
 7 
 
any local situation the accumulating experience 
 of other federative enterprises. It advocates 
 no standard forms or phrases by which federa- 
 tions must be moulded, named or described. It 
 recognizes that the mere mechanics of feder- 
 ation, easy to note and easy to report, are 
 of the least importance, — that ideals, atmos- 
 phere and spirit alone are significant. 
 
 Distinct Types of Federation 
 
 The kinds of federations, and their differing 
 functions, must be more clearly recognized than 
 they hitherto have been. The following dis- 
 tinct forms appear with their varjing charac- 
 teristics: — 
 
 1. National Federations. The Federal Coun- 
 cil of the Churches of Christ in America is 
 essentially an expression of the Protestant 
 Evangelical Church in the geographical area of 
 the nation. 
 
 “A World conference on Faith and Order”, 
 which originated in the General Convention 
 of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1910. 
 seeks to bring all communions, Eoman Catholic, 
 Greek Catholic, and Protestant alike, into a 
 united fellowship, so as to recover the unity of 
 original Christianity. This movement makes 
 the world its geograpliical unit. 
 
 In different nations of the world there are 
 State Churches. These, however, are so named 
 because of political relations rather than be- 
 cause of geographical bounds and limits. 
 
 In America the tendency has been to or- 
 ganize religious bodies, national in extent, but 
 limited to special phases of work, such as for 
 young men, for young women, for Sunday 
 schools, for education, for home and foreign 
 missions, and for similar specialized interests. 
 
 By some of these organizations, especially 
 under the stress of war, ministries have been 
 rendered to a greater variety of interests than 
 was proposed, or is involved, in the organi- 
 zation and the name it bears. 
 
 The Home Missions Council, altho not itself 
 a missionary agency, coordinates the home mis- 
 
 8 
 
sion agencies of different denominations in the 
 field of common interests, throughout the en- 
 tire nation and in the dependencies of the 
 nation, such as Alaska, Porto Rico, Cuba, the 
 Philippine Islands, and in part the adjacent 
 nations to the South. 
 
 2. A State Federation. This is not a com- 
 bination of entire denominations, nor of local 
 churches. It is a federation of fragpnents of 
 denominations organized as state bodies. Some 
 of these state bodies are so related to their 
 national, denominational organizations as to be 
 unable to enter into relations with other bodies, 
 unless the plan and policy has the approval of 
 the denominational headquarters. Others have 
 an independence of their national denominations 
 which permits them, as state organizations, to 
 enter into any alliance of their own choosing; 
 and yet, even in such cases, the sanction and 
 cooperation of the denominational leaders, at 
 the national headquarters, are needful for full 
 and satisfactory expression of the principles of 
 fellowship and cooperation wdthin the state; 
 for the function of a state federation is for 
 the most part in the domain of the larger 
 aspects of home missions, such as: — 
 
 a. The bestowal of home mission grants 
 with reference to the life and activities of 
 churches. These grants not infrequently reach 
 back into the denominational home mission 
 treasury, and must be in harmony with the 
 plans at headquarters. 
 
 b. The assignment of pastors, or the ar- 
 ranging of preacliing circuits, or the support 
 of ministers. Here again national, denomi- 
 national policies are involved. 
 
 c. The occupation of new territory, whe- 
 ther by one denomination under agreement, 
 or by several, with due regard each for the 
 other, or by all in the old-fashioned way of 
 scrambling for precedence. 
 
 d. The resuscitation of waning churches, 
 either by adequate aid of men and money, 
 
 9 
 
or by combination and consolidation with 
 other churches. 
 
 e. A ministry to certain classes, tempo- 
 rarily conditioned, as in the initial days of 
 constructing new industries, or in lumber 
 camps, or along sea coasts, or in the mines, 
 or for foreign speaking peoples of different 
 nationalities. 
 
 Sometimes the functioning of a state feder- 
 ation is on the plane of common, social or po- 
 litical ends, in the advocacy of certain legis- 
 lation, or as the exponent of definite reforms. 
 
 But however functioning, only a partial and 
 unsatisfactory career can be expected of a state 
 federation which does not embody, within its 
 utterances and its acts, the principles common 
 to the denominations of whose state organiza- 
 tions it is composed. As an expression of the 
 common Christianity within the geographical 
 unit of the State, it needs to manifest a lateral 
 fellowship, inclusive of all Christians in the 
 state, but also to preserve the lineal inheritances 
 of the different denominations. 
 
 3. A City Federation. This is a combina- 
 tion of local churches, within the limits of a 
 municipality. Not all churches are independent 
 in their forms of organization and government; 
 many can act only in harmony with and by 
 approval of, their national, ecclesiastical au- 
 thorities. 
 
 A city federation will have too large a pro- 
 gram if it undertakes to remedy all the evils 
 incident to city life. A review of the city 
 federations now in existence reveals amongst 
 them a great diversity of ob.iects, and even 
 wider disparity of achievements. 
 
 a. Some city federations restrict them- 
 selves to purely religious and churchly func- 
 tions. They conduct Go-to-Church Cam- 
 paigns; they manage union revival services 
 and evangelistic campaigns; they promote 
 common missionary meetings and missionary 
 study classes; they district the city into 
 parishes, and bring the responsibility of each 
 
 10 
 
local church to bear upon definite streets, 
 and homes, and individuals ; they counsel 
 with each other, and support each other in 
 the occupation of defined territory, either in 
 the developing suburbs, or in the congested 
 areas. 
 
 b. Some city federations devote them- 
 selves almost exclusively to the philanthropic 
 and benevolent features of the church ’s 
 work ; they maintain reading-rooms, homes 
 and shelters for different classes and condi- 
 tions ; they inaugurate playgrounds, and su- 
 pervise recreation and amusement ; they co- 
 ordinate the charities and the philanthropies 
 of the city, supplementing where there is lack, 
 rectifying and reforming where there are 
 abuses; they may devote their attention al- 
 most wholly to the drink evil, or the social 
 evil, or the problems of poverty, or iniquities 
 in the treatment of labor, — concerning wages, 
 kinds of emplo;\Tnent, hours and housing. 
 
 c. Other city federations give themselves 
 almost wholly to the political and legal as- 
 pects of communal life, with a view to se- 
 curing the enforcement of law, the discovery 
 and prevention of corrupt practices, and the 
 passage of needed ordinances. 
 
 It may bo that in the larger cities denomina- 
 tional interests in the broader, national sense 
 are infrequently involved, save in those mat- 
 ters which relate to the assignment of respon- 
 sible territory, and the establishment and main- 
 tenance of mis.sion enterprises. Nevertheless, 
 the interests and the obligations of denomina- 
 tions may at any moment arise, indirectly, if 
 not directly, and in unanticipated ways, and 
 they must not be overlooked or overridden. 
 
 4. Local Federations or Community Chur- 
 ches. Federations within villages and towns 
 are usually wholly ecclesiastical, that is, they 
 are concerned with the combination of chur- 
 ches, or the realignment of churches. The fol- 
 lowing types of community churches are clear- 
 ly recognizable. 
 
 11 
 
a. The Denominational Church may be a 
 community church, for it may receive into 
 its membership all Chrisians of every name 
 and faith, and may serve all of the inter- 
 ests of the community’s life and welfare. 
 
 b. Two or more churches, each preserving 
 its distinctive organizations and affiliation 
 with its own denominational organizations, 
 may unite in common, local church functions, 
 under the ministrations of one pastor, and 
 be, for purposes of worship and community 
 service, a single congregation. 
 
 c. A single society may be organized, 
 called a church or otherwise, which receives 
 to its membership members of many churches, 
 without requiring them to sever existing re- 
 lationships, and, in that community, per- 
 forms, all the functions of a local church, 
 when, in fact, it is an organized body of 
 individuals who are members of other 
 churches. 
 
 d. A church may be formed as the only 
 church home of all its members, into which 
 may come every variety of faith and expe- 
 rience, with no obligations to any other ec- 
 clesiastical organization. 
 
 These four types of community church have 
 been called (a) the Denominational Church, 
 (b) the Multi-Denominational Church, or dis- 
 tinctively, the Federated Church, (c) the In- 
 terdenominational Church, or the church of 
 Federated Christians, and (d) the Undenomi- 
 national Church, or “Union Church,” long so- 
 called. 
 
 The Community Church Tested 
 
 1. The Union Church has been tried and 
 tested for many years. It seems in many in- 
 stances the easiest to form, and undoubtedly it 
 should be formed, provided it be the only t 5 q>e 
 possible within the community. But it is not 
 ideal ; its deficiencies are too numerous. It 
 lacks associational fellowship ; it lacks out- 
 side supervision, from Bishop, Superinten- 
 
 12 
 
dent, Secretary, or other denominational 
 leader; when without a pastor, it can 
 turn to neither an adequate nor ap- 
 proved source of supply; it has no approved 
 literature, and helps create none. It is con- 
 nected with religious education in no respon- 
 sible way; it is not large enough to maintain 
 home mission, or foreign mission, enterprises of 
 its own, and without denominational connec- 
 tion, has either no alliance, or the uncertain 
 alliance of ‘ ‘ free-lance ’ ’ missionary move- 
 ments, and, if deprived of the world vision, it 
 is impoverished in its Christian ideals ; fre- 
 quently it lacks an adequate system of truth; 
 denominational churches may be deficient in 
 this respect, but the Union Church necessarily 
 fails of it; and experience has proven that un- 
 happily the I^nion Church, with its serious de- 
 fects, has become socially not a place of 
 tmity, but oftentimes of discord and dissention. 
 
 When the effort is made, as sometimes it 
 has been, to supply associational fellowship, 
 outside supervision and the other benefits which 
 inhere in denominational churches, then arises 
 a tendency to create a new denomination, the 
 genius and characteristics of which are creedless- 
 ness, purely local service, the severance of his- 
 toric ties and lineal descent, and thereby the 
 repetition of the schism of Protestantism, 
 against which the Union Church itself stands in 
 protest. A state organization of Union Church- 
 es. or a national organization of Union Chiirch- 
 es, would be equivalent to the creation of a 
 new denomination. 
 
 2. The Interdenominational Church, or the 
 Church of Federated Christians, is adapted to 
 communities in which residence is transient. In 
 Christ obal, the Canal Zone, such a church has 
 been for several years useful. Such a church 
 has been tried in several European cities, under 
 similar conditions, where Christians from many 
 churches in the United States come and find 
 membership during a period of studv, or other 
 pursuits, without severing membership in the 
 churches of the home land. Such an organiza- 
 
 13 
 
tion may be useful in many communities in 
 which there are people who, for a variety of 
 considerations, desire to retain connection with 
 the home church in distant places, and yet en- 
 ter into the fellowship of a local body for the 
 purposes of worship and local service. This 
 is essentially the ‘ ‘ Liberty Church ’ ’ which, 
 during the war, was organized by the Joint 
 Committee on War Production Communities in 
 new industrial centers. Eeasons which jus- 
 tify this type may be stated as follows: — 
 
 a. A brief period of residence. 
 
 b. Convictions and customs too positive 
 and too sacred to permit severance from 
 the church of early choice, which adequately 
 embodies these preferences and beliefs. 
 
 c. Lack of time for the development of 
 appreciation and sjunpathy for new forms 
 unto which soul-commitment would be neces- 
 sary in case of entire transference to a new 
 church body, or into a new group of eccle- 
 siastical associations. 
 
 It is altogether likely that regular denomina- 
 tional churches would be wise to receive into 
 their membership, as ‘ ‘ associate members, ’ ’ or 
 otherwise, pei'sons who could not see the way 
 quite clear to sever, all at once, connection with 
 home churches. While this practice would 
 materially swell the list of non-resident mem- 
 bers, a list already far too large, yet it would 
 have a double advantage. (1) It would permit 
 a kind of trial membership, in which acquain- 
 tance and fellowship might have time to ripen ; 
 and (2) in small communities it would enable the 
 denominational church readily to make trial of 
 that breadth of fellowship and inclusiveness 
 w'hich would fit it the better to serve as a 
 Community Church. 
 
 3. The Federated Church, or the Multi-Deno- 
 minational Church, has been proven well 
 adapted to many communities all across the 
 continent, in increasingly numerous instances. 
 This is a union of two or more ec- 
 clesiastical organizations under one pastor, 
 
 14 
 
usually in one meeting-house, as one congrega- 
 tion, with common local functions, but with 
 separate denominational associations and alle- 
 giances. The following variations and charac- 
 teristics appear: — 
 
 a. It is a form of federation, when one 
 pastor serves two or more churches in the 
 same, or adjacent, communities. The prin- 
 ciple of federation is the more marked when 
 the churches are of different denominations. 
 
 b. In some communities the congrega- 
 tions of different churches unite in the sup- 
 port of one pastor, and combine as one con- 
 gregation meeting in rotation in the different 
 meeting-houses. The period of rotation may 
 be week by week, month by month, quarter 
 by quarter, or, in some eases, determined by 
 the condition of the church property or the 
 ease of heating, the winter season over 
 against the summer season, moving from 
 meeting-house to meeting-house as the sea- 
 sons change. 
 
 c. In some instances all services are held 
 in one meeting-house and the other house, or 
 the other meeting-houses are sold, or are 
 used for parish purposes. In one communi- 
 ty an unused meeting-house was given over 
 to work for young people, and soon a Young 
 Men’s Christian Association, not previously 
 existing in the town, was organized and domi- 
 ciled in the unused house of worship. 
 
 d. When jiropcrty is sold or transferred, 
 the federation takes some permanent form, 
 for the sale or transfer of titles usually in- 
 volves stops which cannot be retraced. Ei- 
 ther the denominational churches, one or 
 more, legally organized, hold the property, 
 or the federation itself, properly organized, 
 may become incorporated under the laws of 
 the state, as owner of, or custodian of, the 
 property. 
 
 e. Associational relationships are kept up, 
 each cnurch with its own higher body, 
 through delegated representation, regular 
 
 15 
 
statistical reports, and regular contributions 
 for denominational benevolences; for each 
 church retains its own distinct organization, 
 holds its own annual and other stated meet- 
 ings for ecclesiastical and legal purposes. 
 
 f. Statistical returns are equitably ad- 
 justed, either by dividing total attendances 
 by the number of churches federated, or by 
 the continued ratios of the numbers attend- 
 ing before federation took place, or by an 
 actual poll of the individuals, with an expres- 
 sion of denominational preference. Of 
 course membership returns are simple be- 
 cause of official action in the enrollment of 
 members. 
 
 g. In the accession of new members cour- 
 tesy and comity must prevail. There have 
 been instances in which new members were 
 received into the federation, and not into 
 either of the separate churches of which the 
 federation was composed. This, however, is 
 a practice not to be commended, for such 
 a federation tends to become an entirely new 
 ecclesiastical organization; and thereby mul- 
 tiplies the competing church bodies, which it 
 was designed to reduce in number. The kind- 
 ly spirit of Christian consideration usually 
 discovers the proper way for adjusting mem- 
 bership on the basis either of preference, 
 family ties, or acquaintance and alliance. 
 
 h. Benevolences for the separate denomi- 
 national treasuries may be apportioned by 
 designation of the individual donors, or in 
 accordance with a percentage of distribution 
 agreed upon, or by being taken upon differ- 
 ent days, or at different times in the same 
 service, or by being placed in separate recep- 
 tacles, — envelopes, baskets, or boxes, denomi- 
 nationallv inscribed. The spirit of fraterni- 
 ty usuallv discovers the most acceptable 
 method, best adapted to local conditions. 
 That such contributions be kept up is most 
 important, for otherwise, in the federation, 
 individual members will lose the sense of 
 
 16 
 
obligation, and consequently the sacrificial 
 fellowship in the mind of Christ, which 
 makes the church of Christ a messenger of 
 the Gospel ‘ ‘ to every creature, ’ ’ will disap- 
 pear. 
 
 4. The Denominational Church is the best 
 type of community church, when it can receive 
 into its membership all the Christians of the 
 community. The federation of Christians in 
 their own hearts has no superior form. 
 
 a. The denominational church is best, be- 
 cause it preserves, as no other can, the in- 
 heritances of the past, and is allied, as no 
 new organization can be, with the agencies 
 for all the varied and far-reaching ministra- 
 tions of the church, in this and other lands. 
 
 b. A denominational church is more te- 
 nacious of life than any other kind. Be- 
 cause its roots reach into the past, because 
 it bears a name which others in other 
 places know and cherish, because its 
 absent members, in other churches of the 
 same name, can retain connection with it 
 through denominational associations, because 
 of oversight and supervision, and fellowship 
 and inspiration, from denominational agents 
 and agencies, it has helps and encouragement 
 for life and development which no other en- 
 joys. 
 
 c. In many cases members of different de 
 nominations have willingly enrolled them- 
 selves under the standard of one denomina- 
 tion, for the sake of uniting all Christians 
 in a small community for common tasks and 
 common worship. This, if a sacrifice, is the 
 sacrificial spirit which has great reward. 
 Doubtless one of the greatest needs to-day 
 is that individual Christians should forego 
 many of their personal preferences, for the 
 sake of that unity which will strengthen the 
 testimony and the service of the Christian 
 church. 
 
 d. Many denominational churches, situ- 
 ated in the small community, awakening to 
 
 17 
 
the sense of responsibility to the community, 
 in which not more than one church can proper- 
 ly, flourish, have reconstructed themselves, vol- 
 untarily, both as regards spirit, and as re- 
 gards forms, in order to make themselves a 
 church home for every individual Christian 
 in the community, and in order to make 
 themselves an effective instrument for the 
 welfare of all within the communit}’. 
 
 Reciprocal Exchanges 
 
 In some states denominations, for the sake of 
 establishing single denominational churches 
 within small communities, have entered into an 
 agreement to exchange partial interests in cer- 
 tain communities, for the sake of acquiring ex- 
 clusive interests in certain other communities. 
 Under this agreement denomination “ A ” sur- 
 renders to denomination “ B ” in town “ X ” 
 all its church interests, and denomination “B” 
 surrenders to denomination “A” all its church 
 interest in town “Y”, so that, in consequence 
 of this reciprocal exchange, denomination “ A ” 
 has the entire field in Town “ Y ”, and de- 
 nomination ”B” has the entire field in town 
 ‘‘X”; and from that time on town “Y” 
 and town ‘ ‘ X ” each have a single denomina 
 tional church, which then undertakes to serve 
 the community as a Community Church. 
 
 This plan of reciprocal exchanges, first pro 
 posed in the State of Maine in 1905, and con- 
 spicuously approved in the State of Utah in 
 1915, has received many trials, and is coming 
 now into much more clearly recognized and com- 
 mon use. 
 
 This principle of ‘‘give and take” esta- 
 blishes a sense of fair play, of equitv and 
 justice, which makes the task easier for all 
 concerned. Those who suirender, do so the 
 more readily, when they realize that by their 
 sacrifices members of their own order gain an 
 equal advantage in some other community. 
 Benominational leaders and agents more readi- 
 Iv yield advantage at one point, when they un- 
 derstand that they acquire advantage at another 
 
 18 
 
point; and that denominational statistics will 
 receive compensations in gains to offset the 
 losses. 
 
 Common Social Functions 
 
 The element of justice in reciprocal exchanges 
 is not overlooked, for all churches, of what- 
 ever denomination, have certain common func- 
 tions within a community. 
 
 1. The local church is a social center for 
 acquaintance and friendship, where the human 
 touch prevails. 
 
 2. The local church, however small, is never- 
 the-less a great educational institution, in 
 which the proclamation of truth, the explana- 
 tion of the principles of life, and the inculca- 
 tion of personal duties are constant themes. 
 
 3. The local church, however meagerly 
 equipped it may be, is yet a place of wor- 
 ship, where the deepest and most profund emo- 
 tions are stirred, in the sense of awe, and in 
 expressions of adoration and praise. 
 
 4. The local church is a means of ministry 
 and service unto the community, — the combi- 
 nation of Christians in united good will and 
 good deeds. 
 
 Practical Steps Toward Community Interests 
 
 Each movement must fit its own area. Mere 
 imitation entails failure. Community churches 
 cannot be imported ready-made. They cannot 
 be imposed from without; they must grow up 
 from within. 
 
 1. The initiative may begin with an indivi- 
 dual, who invites others to a conference, or who 
 proposes in his denominational gathering that 
 a committee be appointed to confer with repre- 
 sentatives of other denominations, invited there- 
 to. 
 
 2. Several conferences may be needful. In 
 them may be determined the wide sweep of 
 the movement or its self-imposed limits, its 
 
 19 
 
personnel, its constituent membership, and, in 
 general, the main objects to be attained. 
 
 3. The official endorsement of the bodies 
 concerned must usually be secured. A federa- 
 tion in a large area is not the voluntary organ- 
 ization of individuals acting upon their own 
 responsibility, but a respresentative body com- 
 posed of delegates appointed by churches, de- 
 nominational organizations, or their duly au- 
 thorized officers. 
 
 4. So many objects are desirable, so many 
 good achievements seem possible, when Chris- 
 tians are united, that the danger constantly 
 confronting a newly formed organization is 
 to lay out a too extensive program, and un- 
 dertake to accomplish all at once too many 
 worthy tasks. Parsimony in aims should be 
 practiced, else disappointment and discourage- 
 ment soon ensue. 
 
 5. The question of expense at once arises. 
 The entire time of a special representative ap- 
 pears desirable. Central offices, with suitable 
 equipment, and an office staff ; printed liter- 
 ature in great variety; classes and lectures, 
 and other means of awakening and guiding 
 public sentiment, all of which involve expense, 
 occur as needful. But desirability and need 
 are not the only considerations. The resources 
 of a federation must not be too heavily taxed, 
 lest they be drained. The history of federa- 
 tions shows failures and wrecks due to an ex- 
 cessive burden of expense. Federations should 
 seldom incur expense for work which other or- 
 ganizations are doing, or may do. 
 
 6. To home mission treasuries state federa- 
 tions should save expense by reducing need- 
 less competition and wasteful appropriations. 
 In local communities, served by Community 
 Churches, the principle of federation is eco- 
 nomical, for it eliminates duplication of ef- 
 fort, concentrates congregations, and saves 
 wasteful rivalry. The economies of federation, 
 however, are not its highest justification; but 
 the spiritual ends, which are attained through 
 efficiency, inspiration, and power. 
 
 20 
 
Some Local Adjustments 
 
 Within a local community in the formation 
 of a Community Church, the questions most 
 frequently occasioning pause, and even occur- 
 ring as obstacles, relate to the place, the name 
 and the man. 
 
 1. The place. Custom and habit, records of 
 spiritual conquests within the sub-conscious self, 
 hold men tenaciously to fixed places, and even 
 to definite attitudes and postures. Many a 
 saint finds it dififtcult to worship at all in a 
 strange place. The very pew, and the end of 
 the seat, after a while seem sacred. It is not 
 easy to change and resort to an unaccustomed 
 place of prayer. 
 
 2. The name. To many people names are 
 more than symbols. Not only are inheritances 
 and associations represented by the name, but 
 also creeds and convictions; and, consequently, 
 a change of name often seems to be the un- 
 settlement of faith. 
 
 3. The man. Most of our religious expe- 
 riences are associated with others. Mother, 
 Sunday School teacher, and pastor, have 
 brought to us counsel and guidance in moments 
 of spiritual need; and have pointed out paths, 
 and held aloft ideals, which have claimed our 
 deepest consecration. The faithful pastor of 
 a Christian church stands in peculiar relations 
 to all its members. No easy thing is it to re- 
 linquish his leadership, and turn to the care of 
 a stranger. 
 
 In the adjustment of local church relations, 
 looking toward the formation of a single com- 
 munity church, these three considerations, more 
 often than any others, arise to block progress. 
 Questions of creed are seldom as important as 
 are these: — Where shall we worship? What 
 shall be our name? Who shall be pastor? Usu- 
 ally the church which makes concession as to 
 place reasonably expects a reciprocal conces- 
 sion in regard to the name, or the selection of 
 a pastor. A middle ground, frequently accept- 
 able, in the case of two churches, is for one to 
 
 21 
 
yield its place of worship, the other to make 
 the greatest concessions respecting the new 
 name, and for them both, letting former pas- 
 tors retire, to unite in calling a new pastor. 
 
 Sometimes the agreement is made to alter- 
 nate under the pastoral care of ministers of 
 the different denominations, each for a fixed 
 period of service, — one year, or more, as agreed 
 upon. This plan has the disadvantages of 
 keeping an unsatisfactory man too long, and 
 of arbitrarily dismissing a good man too soon. 
 In some cases a pastor is sought from a de- 
 nomination not represented in the federation, 
 so that all the members of the cooperating 
 churches shall be equally related to the new 
 pastor. But all these adjustments of details 
 must be determined by each community with 
 due regard to its own conditions and peculiari- 
 ties. Where the spirit of charity and courtesy 
 most largely prevails there the adjustment 
 will be easiest and most harmonious. 
 
 Acquaintance and Experimentation 
 
 In many communities, in which the form of 
 procedure is not immediately plain, it is often 
 desirable to hold union services, either of the 
 mid-week meeting or of the Sunday evening 
 meeting, or even of the Sunday morning ser- 
 vice, — union services for a period of time, pos- 
 sibly the winter through, or for a single month, 
 or for three months. Such union services may 
 be regarded purely as an experiment, with no 
 defininte commitment on the part of any cliurch, 
 or any individual. 
 
 The experiment may go farther and take the 
 character of an agreement to hold all Sunday 
 services in one meeting-house, and all week day 
 services in another house, for a month, three 
 months, or even a year, with the distinct un- 
 derstanding that, if the plan is not agreeable, 
 at the end of the period, each church may 
 resume its former separate activities, without 
 disturbing good will and mutual esteem. In- 
 deed the experiment may do more, or less, than 
 indicated, exactly as local conditions may war- 
 
 22 
 
rant. Whatever promotes acqaintance, respect 
 and good will among Christians, and an earnest 
 consideration of the problems of social welfare 
 in the co mm unity, will bring Christians into 
 closer cooperation, and will the better enable 
 them to extend the borders of the Master’s 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The Scope of Consultation 
 
 Local Federations have failed oftentimes, 
 even to obtain a good beginning, for one of 
 these reasons: — (1) Too great haste. En- 
 thusiastic advocates of federation may push 
 the project too fast, so that time has not been 
 allowed for everyone, particularly those who 
 move slowly, to think out and understand the 
 project from all sides, its disadvantages, as 
 well as its advantages (2) Selfishness and 
 lack of fairness. Sometimes it has happened, 
 imder the cloak of forming a federation, that 
 one church, or some person, undertakes, by a 
 clever trick, to gain denominational or per- 
 sonal advantage. Such a spirit, if even once 
 suspected, vitiates and nullifies the whole move- 
 ment. (3) Outside parties. Sometimes for- 
 mer residents, who do not now know present 
 conditions, interject irrelevant and disturbing 
 considerations. Sometimes denominational agents 
 mindful of denominational claims, resist and 
 bring to naught a movement, which has not 
 duly recognized their rights. 
 
 It is wise to take time; it is wise to con- 
 sult outside parties who may be interested; it 
 is particularly wise to consult with denomina- 
 tional agents, when planning for a community 
 church. If they are not consulted early, and 
 if they do not approve it, the plan, which may 
 have been agreed upon within the community 
 itself, may be upset by their influence and con- 
 trol, and rightly too. The approval of Super- 
 intendent, or ^cretary, or Home Missionary, 
 having jurisdiction, is essential because it is 
 desirable to retain all of the denominational 
 ties, in order to keep the Christians of the 
 community true to their honest ecclesiastical 
 
 23 
 
obligations, and vitally cooperating with all 
 of the great missionary enterprises of their 
 denominations. It is well to take time for all 
 of these conferences and consultations. It is 
 better to confer first, than afterward ; and 
 it is better to have no federation at all than 
 to have one which fails of its purpose, re- 
 sulting in discord and discontent, rather than 
 harmony and good will. 
 
 The Great Desideratum 
 
 The great desideratum indeed the only wor- 
 thy motive for the formation of federations, 
 is to promote spiritual life, to spread the King- 
 dom of Christ, and to make manifest its real- 
 ization among men, and in all human relations. 
 The task of promoting federations is larger 
 than simply winning consent to a formulated 
 program, however ideal. No standardized 
 names or forms are needful. Ideals and 
 finished products, of inestimable value as 
 visions and aims, are nevertheless, for prac- 
 tical and permanent results, not so important 
 as may be some crude, and but partially or- 
 ganized federation, which fits its community, 
 enlists the support of the people, and grows 
 up out of a conscious recognition of local needs 
 and possibilities, accompanied with the conse- 
 crated determination to serve God and man 
 well in that locality. 
 
 24