354 PRINCIPLES OF RURAL ECONOMICS 



conduct that pays, or the kind of life that succeeds, the economic 

 law stated above is the strongest argument. 



If the kingdom of God is a kingdom of service, these efforts 

 are quite consistent with the mission of the church. If it will 

 seek to serve the community in this way, seeking first to be 

 of service, all the other things that is, sufficient wealth, mem- 

 bership, esteem, etc. will be added unto it. If, however, it 

 seeks first merely to make proselytes, to increase its member- 

 ship, or to get money, it will have no reason to expect or 

 deserve permanent success. 



Organized efforts in the churches for the study of parish econ- 

 omy, for gaining more and more scientific knowledge of agri- 

 culture, for the practical kind of Christian brotherhood which 

 shows itself in the form of mutual helpfulness and cooperation, 

 in the form of decreasing jealousy and suspicion, in the form 

 of greater public spirit, greater alertness for opportunities of 

 promoting the public good and building up the parish and the 

 community, in helping young men and young women to get 

 .started in productive work and in home building, in helping the 

 children to get the kind of training which will enable them to 

 make a better living in. the parish, efforts of this kind will 

 eventually result in better support for the churches themselves, 

 because the community will then be able to support the church 

 more liberally, and, what is more important, it will then see 

 that the church is worth supporting. 



This ideal of a church which makes itself a factor in building 

 up a community, even in 'material things, is not an impossible 

 ideal. It has been realized in the past and it can be realized 

 again. An illustrious example is that of Jean Frederic Oberlin, 

 the pastor of the Steinthal. Numberless other examples can be 

 found in the religious orders of the medieval church, examples 

 of communities which were made rich and prosperous by the 

 teachings and the example of self-sacrificing leaders. This ideal 



