THE COUNTRY CHURCH 419 



Symbolical of this new life in Du Page Church and one of our 

 greatest achievements is the new church-home recently dedicated. 

 It cost, including furnishings, $10,000. This building enter- 

 prise was a good test of the confidence and the interest which 

 the community has in the church. Everybody gave to the build- 

 ing-fund Protestants, German-Lutherans, Catholics, and men 

 of no church and they all helped willingly to haul the ma- 

 terials. A new pace was set in church building by this people 

 when they subscribed all the money before the work of building 

 was begun. No collection was taken at the dedication for build- 

 ing or furnishing purposes. 



The new church, with a maximum seating-capacity of 500 peo- 

 ple, is a model of neatness and comfort. It has a separate Sun- 

 day-school apartment (with a number of class-rooms), pastor's 

 study, choir-room, cloak-rooms, mothers' room, and vestibule 

 all on the first floor. These floors are all covered with cork car- 

 pet. In the basement are the dining-room, kitchen, toilet, and 

 furnace-room. The building is equipped with lighting-plant, 

 water-works, and hot-air furnaces. We entertained the Chicago 

 Presbytery last fall, and the city brethren all said that they had 

 never seen the like of this church in 1 the open country. And, by 

 the way, more yellow-legged chickens entered the ministry that 

 day at Du Page Church than ever before or since ! 



Three doors in the old structure and twenty-one in the new 

 that is an intimation of the increased efficiency and of the 

 greater number of avenues of usefulness which this modern 

 country-church seeks to enter. It aims to be of service to the 

 whole man body, mind, and spirit. It seeks to surround him 

 with an atmosphere that will stimulate him to live his own life 

 and to cultivate a harmonious development of all his faculties 

 and powers. 



With all this practical work, the spiritual has not been neg- 

 lected nor minimized. In fact, more attention has been given to 

 it in training the youth and in making the public worship at- 

 tractive and helpful. The people have not grown less religious 

 or less reverent. Quite the opposite. The Sunday services have 

 never been so largely attended nor the interest so well sus- 

 tained. The membership of the church has increased from 80 to 

 163, and the Sunday-school from 100 to 300. And, in addition 



