THE I'UTUKE OF THK (OL N TRV ( HIIU H. 



BY KOBEKT PHILLIPS. 



During the last few years, public attention has been attraeteil to a 

 newly developed socio-religious subject of discussion, now known as 

 "the problem of the country churcli." There had previously been little 

 mention made of the country cliurch as presenting a problem distinctly 

 its own. It had always been identified with the church as a whole. And 

 while many perplexing questions had frequently arisen regarding the 

 place of the Christian church in society, there had been no differentiation 

 made between the rural and urban branches of the institution. 



Recently, however, there has appeared a wealth of literature, treating 

 the distinctively rural side of church organization. The general impres- 

 sion seems to be that the country church of today is facing an alarming 

 situation, a situation that bears no close anology to conditions within the 

 cities. And suggestions for improvement apparently imply that its 

 jjlight is the natural consequence of social changes peculiar to rural life. 

 That it may be the consequence of a transformation of the whole social 

 structure, involving equally the cities is not so clearly apprehended. 

 Hence the widespread speculation as to the problems and future possi- 

 bilities of the country church as distinguished from the city church. 



It must be admitted that the institution is in some respects suffering 

 seriously throughout rural United States. This is attested by the annual 

 reports of most of the Protestant denominations for the last thirty 

 years. Since the days of the circuit rider thousands of church edifices 

 have been closed. Thousands of others are lingering on at tiie point of 

 exhaustion, it being only a question of time before they, too, will be 

 closed. The attendance has been dwindling away, until the congregations 

 are now only a shadow of wliat they were in former years. The salaries 

 paid to jjastors show as a whole no increase, rather a decrease, especially 

 in proportion to the higher cost of living. And contributions made to 

 benevolences are smaller; for the majority of these organizations are 

 finding it more than ever difficult to maintain the salaries of their pastors. 

 Gill and Pinchot making, under the auspices of the Commission on 

 Country Life, a survey of Windsor County, Vermont, and Tompkins 

 County, New York, reported a slight increase in rural church member- 

 ship, but a signal decrease in attendance. The situation in these counties 



1 9th Mich. Acad. Sci. Rept., itflT. 



