THE COUNTRY CHURCH PROGRAMME 197 



Other institutions, notably the school, are being called 

 on to provide centres for social life, and are doing so. 

 In many parts of the United States legislative sanction 

 has been given for the use of school grounds and build- 

 ings for such purposes when not required for class work. 

 The meetings so held are not solely nor chiefly for socia- 

 bility, but for untrammeled discussion of community 

 problems and a purposeful programme of activities. 

 But so far as used for purely social gatherings they lay 

 an additional duty upon the church. It has been found 

 that where schools were thrown open without provision 

 for guidance in such social work, where it was supposed 

 that attractive social surroundings without supervision 

 would make for character-building, such gather- 

 ings became a blot on the community rath : 

 than a help. Even more imperatively than dots 

 recreation, social centres require supervision. Thi< 

 would seem a task too delicate and too respon- 

 sible for our public school teachers, immature as they 

 so often are. The call is for leadership in numbers 

 sufficient and in strength adequate to supply a distinc- 

 tively character-building atmosphere. In other words, 

 this widespread movement in regard to the schools is but 

 an additional call to the church to provide social centres. 



In this form of service, as in others, material equip- 

 ment is no panacea. The Spokane Chamber of Com- 

 merce in a recent utterance calls for a Country Life Hall 

 in every community in the State. But the real leaders 

 in the rural life movement are emphasizing leadership 

 as the prime necessity and manifest diminishing concern 

 over fullness of equipment. 



Beyond that of adopting new agencies of service an- 



