COUNTRY CHURCH AND PROGRESS 179 



trained to think, he is supposed to have broad 

 grasp of the meaning of affairs, he usually 

 possesses many of the qualities of leadership. 

 He is relatively a fixture. He is less transient 

 than the teacher. He is the only man in the 

 community whose tastes are sociological and 

 who is at the same time a paid man — all this 

 aside from the question of the munificence of 

 his stipend. Let us then have the social- 

 service rural church if we can; but let us 

 have the social-service rural pastor at all 

 hazards, as the first term in the formula for 

 solving the sociological problem of the country 

 church. 



3. Co-operation among rural churches. The 

 manifest lack of co-operation among churches 

 seems to many laymen to result in a tre- 

 mendous waster of power. Of course it is a 

 very hard problem. But is it insoluble? It 

 would seem not. One would think that the 

 plan of union suggested by Dr. Strong in The 

 New Era is wholly practicable. But the burden 

 of the suggestion at this point is this: Cannot 

 the churches unite sufficiently for a thorough 

 religious and sociological canvass? If they 

 cannot federate on a theological platform, can 

 they not unite on a statistical platform ? If they 



