380 RURAL MICHIGAN 



socretcary associated with a county committee of 

 twenty to twenty-five residents, and, when practi- 

 cable, local associations were also estal)lished. As de- 

 scribed by the state secretary in charge of rural 

 work, "county Avork of the Young Men's Christian 

 Association is an effort on the part of an organized 

 group of Christian men to develop Christian char- 

 acter in the lives of men and boys in the various 

 communities of the county. It works with the home, 

 the school, the church and otlier constructive agen- 

 cies. ... Its aim is to stimulate boys and young men 

 to be physically fit, mentally alert, socially straight, 

 and religiously definite." The "Christian Citizen- 

 ship Training Program" is employed, being carried 

 out under local leadership supported by public 

 opinion. 



Undoubtedly, the migration of young people from 

 the rural to the urban districts has adversely affected 

 the condition of the rural church. "The loss to the 

 country church," writes Eev. C. H. Harger, "is as 

 real, and as great as is the loss to the farms and to 

 the country towns; for among these young people 

 Ayere the coming constituents and members of the 

 small town country churches. It has taken many 

 of the small town churches twenty years to overcome 

 the inherited indifPerence of parents, the influence of 

 early environment, and develop in some of these 

 young people an interest in religion. Those who took 

 with them to the cities a Christian experience and 

 the purpose to live clean and useful lives, it is notice- 

 able, benefited by the change. Not a few of this 



