216 KUEAL LIFE IN CANADA 



country ministry is just at the pass where the country 

 community stands — eager to escape to the town. Be- 

 fore the ministry can correct this state of affairs in 

 general country life, the same tendencies must be cor- 

 rected in the ministry itself. 



The Christian Conservation Congress held in New 

 York in April last went about its work in the same 

 effective way as the Edinburgh Missionary Conference 

 of a few years ago — by the appointment in advance of 

 commissions to study and report upon each phase of the 

 subject. One of these commissions dealt with the rural 

 church. Among its findings is the following: "We 

 need a permanent country pastorate. We can hardly 

 expect that every man who takes a country charge shall 

 remain there all his life. . . . Many strong men 

 who succeed in country parishes will inevitably be 

 called to city parishes. Nevertheless, there should be 

 developed a rural clergy as a professional group that 

 tends to specialize itself and that tends to induce other 

 men to make this their life work. The idea of the 

 country pastorate as a distinct vocation should be pro- 

 mulgated among young men. The need and feasibility 

 of such permanent service should become a part of 

 the common thinking and talking about the country 

 church."* 



For we live in an age of specialization. Not only so, 

 but specialization is one of the chief of the forces which 

 have made this progressive, successful age. And there 

 is place for specialization in the ministry as in any other 

 profession. There are indeed deprivations involved in 

 country life, but they must be looked upon from the 



* " Men and Religion Messages," Vol. VI, p. 77'. 



