THE COUNTRY CHURCH 421 



The greatest achievement of all, however, is the orderly, peace- 

 loving, enterprising community that surrounds the church, and 

 the lot of clean, sturdy, capable young people that are growing 

 up in the church. These are the fruits we covet most and by 

 which we wish to be known and judged. 



LAND TENURE AND THE RURAL CHURCH 1 



HENRY WALLACE 



THE prosperity of the rural church has in all ages and in all 

 countries been determined largely by the tenure by which farmers 

 hold their lands. A prosperous country church means a rela- 

 tively large rural population large enough to support a minis- 

 ter, to push the work of the church vigorously, to impress its 

 ideals of life and character on the community, and to do its part 

 in extending the gospel to outside sections and to foreign lands. 



It requires, second, that farming be on an economic basis ; that 

 is, that farmers are making money. For the church is always 

 and everywhere supported, not by capital, but by profits ; and if 

 the farmer is not making a comfortable living or is sinking his 

 capital, he does not have the means of supporting the church. 

 And if he does not have the means, his will to support the church 

 will be ineffective. 



In the third place, the prosperous rural church requires a rea- 

 sonably stable population. So much of the Christian life lies in 

 Christian relations with neighbors, with employees, with employ- 

 ers, with the whole community life, that a roving farm popula- 

 tion cannot, even if it would, develop Christian graces or impress 

 itself favorably on a community of unbelievers. The farm owner 

 who has moved to town and is renting his land cannot be expected 

 to be a real, vital force in the rural church. Nor can the tenant 

 who has a one-year lease, or whose tenure is uncertain, be ex- 

 pected to cultivate the Christian graces by intimate fellowship 

 with his neighbors and associates or fellow church-members; in 

 other words, to take root in the community and become a part 

 of it. 



i Adapted from "The Church and Country Life," pp. 232-242, Missionary 

 Education Movement of the U. S. and Canada, New York City, 1916. 



