BUILDING FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE
The thesis that the church should provide building and equipment for
conservation of the social and recreational life of the church
introduces standards and objectives that do not find expression in the
great majority of church buildings now erected, nor even in the
majority of plans sent out by religious agencies or architectural
concerns bidding for contracts for church planning and building.
The traditional village and open country church was a one-room
structure erected for the sole purpose of providing a place for
worship. This amply met the needs of a pioneer time when social
activities were largely carried on in the homes. In a very large
number of communities this is still the only type of church building
to be found. As the idea of providing for Sunday school began to
prevail gradually side rooms were added to provide for extra Sunday
school classes. In the course of time the needs of a wider program for
the church began to be recognized, and then basements were added with
an occasional kitchen. Thus the entertainments for adults and of the
young people old enough to enjoy banquets and like amusement were
provided for. But the needs of the young people under sixteen years of
age and many other community needs were still uncared for.
The new program demands a building or buildings that will provide for
the threefold program of worship, religious education, and community
service. In view of the lack of standards for rural church building,
the present discussion is offered in the hope that it may contain some
practical suggestions in terms of the program demanded of the modern
open country and village church.
It is believed that the type of building suitable for an open country
community will be somewhat different from that needed in a village
center. The number of rooms will be less. Usually, two main rooms, one
for worship and the other for recreational purposes, with such side
rooms for kitchen and special clubs and classes as the community can
afford, will be sufficient. The recreation room should have stage,
lantern slide, and moving picture equipment, and a very simple
provision for games. Problems of plumbing and heating must be worked
out in accordance with local conditions.
In the larger centers, in addition to the facilities mentioned above,
other rooms may be added as a careful study of village equipment and
needs, present and probable future, indicate. Rooms for library,
committees, clubs, offices, shower baths, lockers, art center, and
similar interests should be provided for if other agencies have not
done so.
In building for community service the community should not make the
mistake of economizing because it imagines it cannot afford the best.
No community should build less than the best. If it does so, it
handicaps the community for a generation or more; and this is too
serious a matter to be lightly permitted. At the present time
religious organizations have national agencies which are serving to an
ever larger degree as a reserve resource for the purpose of aiding
local groups to build adequately. Thus the general organization aids
each year the limited number of local groups that find it necessary to
rebuild and renders unnecessary the maintenance of a replacement fund
by the local church for an indefinite period.
If it is impossible to build an entire building at one time it is
better to build by units, so that in the course of time a structure of
which the community may be proud will be completed. It should be
remembered that a community's solidarity and spirit are gauged largely
by the type of buildings it erects, and the church and community
building, representing as it does the deepest interests of man, should
be a living monument to community loyalty. Such a building becomes a
lasting inspiration to both old and young, pointing the way to the
highest and best in human life.
The building should be strategically located. As has been suggested,
people like to come to the center of the village for their social and
recreational life. The owner of a poolroom or a picture show that
would place his building a half mile in the country would not have a
large and enthusiastic patronage. The main street, near the center of
the village, is the place to be selected for the principal building of
the city, the community center.
Sometimes a well-meaning citizen will offer to a church a plot of land
far out on the edge of a village free of charge, provided the church
will accept it for the erection of the new structure. Sometimes the
Board of Trustees, thinking they will save a few hundred dollars,
gratefully accept the gift, thus violating the principle expressed in
the preceding paragraph. When a business man plans to put up an
expensive building he does not seek the cheapest land but the best
location regardless of the cost of the land. For illustration, a lot
on the edge of a village may cost but five hundred dollars, while a
lot in the center of the village may cost five thousand dollars. If
the proposed building to be erected is to cost fifty thousand dollars,
even the larger land cost is but ten per cent of the total; and the
value of the building to the community after erection on the more
valuable lot far more than justifies the extra expenditure.
Sometimes architects are inclined to sacrifice utility to beauty. They
are inclined to make the recreation room too short because a proper
length would not harmonize with other lines in the building. The good
architect accepts the beautification of a useful building as a
challenge and does not sacrifice utility because a useful structure
does not embody some feature of Gothic or Old English parish church
architecture. This tendency should be carefully guarded against.
Details as to the slope of ground best adapted to church building,
heating, plumbing, and other features can best be learned by
consultation with a trained architect. Care should be taken to see
that the recreation room is sufficiently large to carry on the simpler
games, such as basketball, when the community so desires. The limits
recommended are fourteen feet high by forty feet wide by sixty feet
long. Many communities, however, are getting along with rooms
considerably shorter and narrower than this. The ceiling should be
supported by steel beams instead of posts. In most sections of the
country it is recommended that recreation rooms be erected on the same
level as the church instead of in the basement, as has been the
practice.
In many sections of the country there is a distinct objection to
having the community service features and the house of worship under
the same roof. It is thought that the light-heartedness of play time
tends to lessen the sacredness of the house of worship and to lessen
respect for religious service. While this attitude is largely a matter
of custom, and while people who have caught the vision of God can
worship him any place, it is believed that wherever possible
consideration should be given to this sentiment and the community
service features of the church should be housed in a separate building
located adjacent to the church or attached to it by some smaller club
room. The two should not be located in widely separate parts of the
village, as the connection between the two may be lost and the service
of the church to the community in this way not recognized. Both house
of worship and community or parish house should be located near the
center of the village.
In villages where there is room for several houses of worship the
question of community service is much more difficult. The Young
Men's Christian Associations and the Young Women's Christian Associations
have made partial provision in some communities on an interdenominational
basis. But in the ordinary small town there is not room for a building
for each of these organizations. The rural Christian Associations have
been proceeding on the policy of using such buildings as are now
available, but it is evident that in the vast majority of small
communities, present buildings can at best be but a makeshift for
complete community service. It is hoped that the time will come when
the several denominations will find some way of pooling their financial
resources so that as religious organizations they can provide a common
building for community service. The writer knows of no village in America
where this has yet been done. One village in New York State,
Milton-on-the-Hudson, has a community club under the direction of a
Board of Trustees of ten members, two from each of the five denominations
represented in the village, the Catholic church included. This club has
been very successful in operating a community house and developing a
community program. It has been suggested that where property rights are
involved one denomination might make its contribution by providing
and maintaining the building, while the other denominations might
contribute the equivalent of interest on building investment, depreciation
and maintenance of building to cost of operation of the plant. It is
feared, however, that in the course of time, the original cost of
building to one denomination would be forgotten and the community
would demand that all groups contribute to operating expenses
according to their membership or some other agreed upon distribution
of maintenance expense. This should be the ultimate method of
maintenance.
In a number of communities one denomination has provided the building
and the operating force, while other denominations have cooperated by
acting on the Board of Control and contributing what they could to the
maintenance cost. Such denominational leadership almost invariably
leads in the beginning to interdenominational jealousy and antagonism,
but in some cases the community has accepted the situation and all
have cooperated, it being understood that such provision for community
purposes is not for the purpose of proselyting. Sunday school and
church membership is encouraged in the denominations from which the
young people come, and thus a contribution by one denomination has
strengthened the work of all the churches. Some form of cooperation
agreed upon for a common development is preferable and independent
action by one denomination should be undertaken only when the
different groups concerned are not in a position either by tradition
or financial ability to cooperate in a common enterprise.
The movement now is very strong in the direction of provision of
building and equipment for community service by the church. May the
church not fail in doing justice to its high obligation in the type of
structure it may erect!