COUNTRY CHURCH 141 



to the special church organization, and there 

 is likely to be no sense of social responsibility 

 for the entire community. 



In the rural villages there are generally several 

 or a number of churches of different denomina- 

 tions, one or more of which are likely to be weak. 

 The salaries range from $400 to $1,000. Among 

 Protestants there is considerable denominational 

 competition and consequent jealousy or even 

 conflict. United effort for cooperative activity 

 is likely to be perfunctory rather than sympa- 

 thetic and vital. The pastor is often overloaded 

 with station work in neighboring communities. 



It is not the purpose of the Commission to 

 discuss the difficulties of the rural church at this 

 time nor to present a solution for them, but, in 

 the interests of rural betterment, it seems proper 

 to indicate a few considerations that seem to be 

 fundamental. 



(1) In New England and in some other parts 

 of the North, the tremendous drawback of 

 denominational rivalry is fairly well recognized 

 and active measures for church federation are 

 well under way. This does not mean organic 

 union. It means cooperation for the purpose of 



