American Agriculturist, January 12, 1924 
25 
The Winning Powers of a Rural Church 
An A. A. Wednesday Evening Radio Talk Broadcast from WEAF 
O VER fifteen years I have been traveling 
and studying the country churches, and 
I am going to tell what sort of churches 
are the best. 
First, there are a few churches of the old-time 
[ountry gentlefolk. These are family churches 
By WARREN H. WILSON 
Director, Presbyterian Department, 
Town and Country Church 
several years of service, during which there were 
no large additions to the Catholic Church from the 
fhe leading men have a sense of responsibility, people in the village, he was called to a general 
rhey expect to live in the place for good. Their administrative position and the Protestants in the 
lomes are quiet, old-fashioned and permanent, town presented him with a gold watch which he 
gut these churches are losing ground because carries with pride. His successor was elected 
rcntlefolk of the aristocratic sort ate 
D 1 
lisappearing from the country 
Second, there are churches of for¬ 
eign population and foreign speech. 
[ S s aw in Wisconsin in the summer 
beautiful Catholic and Lutheran 
Churches near Madison standing in 
the open country, with a rectory for 
the minister beside the church and no 
tillage near at hand. On Sunday 
these churches are largely attended 
md all the days of the week the 
minister is the leader of his people. 
Iliey have no fear of change and they 
seem to hold their ground. All the 
interests of these German or Nor¬ 
wegian or Italian churches of foreign 
speech are of concern to the minister. 
Their people live a kind of alien life, though they 
are good Americans. 
Third, Community Churches are the new sort. 
You find them in every denomination. They 
minister to the new kind of farmer. The modern 
farmer is a worker and business man. He does 
not expect to stay in the country forever. He is 
looking after himself. Therefore, the church has 
to be a practical organization. The modern 
farmer wants a minister for funerals and weddings, 
to comfort him in sorrow and to tell him about 
eternal life while he is struggling with the things 
that perish and trying to keep himself above 
water. He wants a* church that gives him joy 
when he is depressed, which teaches his children 
the eternal story of God and Christ. He wants a 
church that understands economic 
cooperation; he wants a minister that 
believes in good roads. He expects 
his parson to take a hand in every 
business that concerns all the people, 
but he expects him also to keep from 
meddling in politics or troublesome 
questions. There is a church of this 
sort at Lingle, Wyoming. Rev. H. E. 
Bicksler is the minister. All around 
him are groups of soldier farmers 
settled on land given them by the 
Government. The minister is. a 
hustler and the people like him. 
Whether they join his church or not 
he gives them something to do. He 
is building a community house for 
every interest in the community to 
meet in. He expects every man to 
get off his coat and go to work. It is 
now nearly completed. 1 he director 
is a volunteer; the electrician gives 
his time for nothing; the architect 
worked free. And every morning 
there are men waiting at breakfast 
time for the minister to put them to 
work. He keeps account of the num¬ 
ber of hours they work and none of 
them is paid for this kind of .work. 
This house will be dedicated in the 
last of January. 
Father Kelly, who is now a highly- 
placed official in the Roman Catholic 
Church, was priest in a little town in 
Illinois. Among four hundred people 
he had only thirty members and some 
of the people hated the sight of a 
Catholic priest. But he visited every 
one in their home; he called on the 
other ministers and made plain that 
he wanted to be their friend. He 
convinced them so well that after 
Is The Rural Church Coming Back? 
R. WILSON, whose radio speech on the rural church is 
printed on this page, is a great believer in the doctrine that 
the farmer is coming back to the church, and that the church is 
coming back to the farmer. American AGRICULTURIST be¬ 
lieves that Dr. Wilson is right, at least to some extent. More and 
.more it is becoming apparent, even to the non-churchgoer, that 
the church properly organized and supported is the greatest 
asset that any community, whether in town or country, can 
have.— The Editors. 
This man was a community 
mayor of the town 
minister. 
Fourth, there are missionary churches. The 
best one I know is in Buckhorn, Kentucky. It 
is supported by a rich church in an eastern city 
which takes great pride and joy in the investment. 
Buckhorn is now a big settlement of log houses, 
and those built in recent years are very beautiful, 
artistic buildings erected out of the native oak and 
maple—priceless materials but cheap in Buck¬ 
horn, for no railroad comes near Buckhorn and 
no highway touches the place. The best way to 
get there is on mule back. Dr. Harvey S. Mur¬ 
doch, the minister, has a school of two hundred, 
an orphanage, a hospital, and a splendid play 
body in Buckhorn is his friend and parishioner. 
He is a great missionary who serves them because 
they are poor. ' He enriches them with his own 
life. 
If you ask me what are the winning powers of a 
country church, I think they are these: First, that 
a minister of real piety, fearlessness and passion 
stay with the people of a parish for at least five 
years. Second, I think it necessary that he live 
among his people. You cannot minister to farmers 
unless you live among tin? farmers or 
. go among the farmers. My minister 
has a church in the open country and 
when I drive from my farmhouse to 
church, four miles, I like to see the 
same man in the pulpit and I like to 
pass his house nearby the church and 
to think of his family, for they all be¬ 
long to the neighborhood. He keeps 
a horse and a flivver. Recently in 
church, he said quietly one Sunday 
morning, “ 1 have been here as your 
pastor seven years and all I have to 
say is, my highest hope is to stay here 
seven years more.” Some men will 
be surprised when I tell them that 
he has a family of five to support and 
his salary at that time was not more 
than $1,400. Third, a minister to win many 
country people must be ashamed of nothing and 
afraid of nothing that concerns his people. He 
must milk and plow and dig in the ground, or be 
ready to do so. He must get off his coat anc^ work 
on an important piece of road with the rest of the 
men. Everything in the country must be sacred 
unto the Lord, if the church is to thrive. For the 
church is the altar where not, the people only but 
the cows and the hogs and the poultry are offered 
to God. Fourth, the thing that wins now in the 
country with few responsible families who expect 
to live there forever is a Community Program. 
The church must extend in at least five directions 
if there is need. These directions are health. 
ground, all attached to his church. Arid every- education, play, agriculture and worship. Every 
one of them is religious. Each one is 
something to pray for and whatever 
the people ought to pray for is some¬ 
thing the minister ought to work for. 
Last of all, there is needed in al¬ 
most every village a community 
house. Many farmers in the West 
are building a community house out 
in the open country at a place where 
the roads meet. This house is open 
to all without charge on ordinary 
nights. It is a warm and pleasant 
meeting place where neighbors can 
assemble and do any business that 
ought to be done as well as have any 
enjoyment that good people ought to 
have, like the business of the church, 
that is a large enterprise. 
The country church is changing 
its character like the country people 
themselves. It needs men who are 
ready to work, and no field offers to 
a young man a happier life or a bigger 
usefulness than the ministry of the 
country church. 
Glad to Be of Service 
AM a subscriber and like your 
American Agriculturist very 
much. You once collected and saved 
me the price of a case of eggs. 
Eastman’s Chestnuts are very fine, 
but I read everything in the paper and 
only wish there was more to read. 
Thanks for the list of licensed and 
bonded commission men. It is very 
nice of you to do so much for your 
subscribers and I am sure all appre¬ 
ciate it as much as I do.—T. R. H., 
Cattaraugus County, New York. 
