are thrifty farmers and fruit raisers, and about a dozen families living
there had for many years been connected with the Benzonia church, and
were among its most faithful supporters. For twenty-five or thirty years a
Sunday-school had been maintained in that community--one of the best
country schools in the state. A young people's society and a weekly
prayer-meeting had also been kept up for a long time. The special meetings
were held in the schoolhouse in the month of February, amid the stormiest
weather of the winter. But nothing could keep the people away. There was a
deep interest, and a number of positive conversions. It was thought best
to organize a church. Thirty members were dismissed from the Benzonia
church to enter into the new organization and it started with fifty
charter members. Practically all the religious elements of the community
came together in the new church and it was launched with much rejoicing
and enthusiasm. Under the efficient leadership of the assistant pastor, it
has gone steadily forward, and though the meetings held are in a
schoolhouse that is most inconvenient and inadequate for their needs, they
are as dignified and churchly as many that are conducted in more
appropriate surroundings. There is a full service of readings, responses,
well-prepared music by a faithful choir, and the presence and power of
God's Spirit is often strikingly manifest in the services. The recognition
services of the Eden church were most impressive. The schoolhouse was
crowded to its utmost capacity. Nearly fifty stood up together and entered
into covenant relations, a large number receiving the rite of baptism. The
communion service conducted by the pastor was especially solemn and
tender, and those present will long remember the influences of that hour.
In a number of cases the services have been held in schoolhouses that are
inconvenient and inadequate, and in one instance the only place where the
meetings could be held was a private home. A movement is on foot to supply
these places with chapels that will meet the needs of the community. Last
summer a neat chapel was built at Platt Lake. There is no schoolhouse in
that community. The children are taken in a bus to the Honor school, and
there was no settled meeting-place for more than two years, the services
being held in turn from house to house. Platt Lake is somewhat of a summer
resort, and the visiting people gave substantial help in the construction
of the chapel. It is a convenient little building, well furnished, with
organ and stove contributed by the Benzonia church. There being no
ecclesiastical organization in the place, the title of the building is
vested in the Michigan State Conference, with the understanding that when
a church is formed it shall be deeded back. Since the erection of the
chapel a fresh impetus has been given to the work in Platt Lake. At this
point no regular religious services had ever been held until the movement
of the Larger Parish began.
[Illustration: THE PLATT LAKE CHAPEL
A Typical Preaching Place in the Larger Parish]
The Eden church planned to erect a new building in the summer of 1914, in
the form of a comfortable chapel with basement rooms for social purposes.
Early in the spring of 1913 the farmers set apart a certain portion of
their land, the products of which should be given for a chapel fund. About
fifteen farmers entered into this arrangement, the children also setting
hens and cultivating garden patches for the same purpose. On Thanksgiving
night of that year they had a special service at the schoolhouse to bring
in the returns. A neat model of a church was made for the occasion and
placed on the desk, and after an interesting program the people filed past
the desk and dropped into the model church the proceeds of their summer's
toil. It was found to contain more than two hundred and fifty dollars--a
good starter for the new building. Though the resources of the community
are limited, they are all working together with such industry and
enthusiasm that it is probable that they will soon have a pleasant and
convenient church home.
At North Crystal where there is a flourishing Sunday-school and where the
services are held in a private home, the people are working hard to build
a little chapel. Here too the resorters, who have their cottages along the
shore of Crystal Lake, are very helpful. In the summer the meetings are
held under the trees, and large crowds come together to hear the gospel
and to join in the songs. The Ladies' Aid Society is working hard and
considerable progress has been made in collecting a chapel fund. Poverty
of resources can hardly prevent the accomplishment of such an enterprise
when all the people unite in the effort so heartily and with such a
willingness to make sacrifices for the desired end. The church at Benzonia
has also been building an addition to its house of worship, adding one
hundred sittings and numerous rooms for the accommodation of the
Sunday-school and social work. One would have been considered rash indeed
who should have prophesied beforehand that in two years in this community
of limited resources so large a sum could be raised for the purpose of
providing accommodations for the worship of God and for community and
social work.
If the amount of money that people are willing to give for religious
purposes is an index of their interest in the Kingdom, one must conclude
that there has been a very significant revival in that respect throughout
the Larger Parish. More means for carrying on the work are now in sight
than any one would have supposed it possible to raise three years ago.
The salaries paid the pastor and his two assistants are two and a half
times as much as was paid to the pastor alone before the wider work was
undertaken. This, however, is made possible only through the help of the
Home Missionary Society. The contributions for home and foreign missions
have more than doubled during this period, and the number of contributors
has increased more than twofold. If there was any hesitation about
undertaking the wider work on account of the increased financial
obligation involved, experience has shown that it was unnecessary. More
than twice as much money is raised on the whole field now than was the
case before the wider work began, and it comes with just as little effort.
Nobody now objects to the work on financial grounds. It has paid for
itself in every way.
This experience leads me to believe that on almost every field there are
resources sufficient for carrying on all the work that needs to be done
there, if only they can be reached, and I am also convinced that an
active, aggressive program will be much more successful in developing the
resources than a timid and conservative effort can ever be.
In order to promote unity and fellowship throughout the whole parish,
occasional meetings designed to bring all the people together are held
with very good results. Two or three times during the year all the
services in the various points are omitted and the people come together on
the beautiful campus on the Benzonia hilltop and spend the day in worship
and in social intercourse. The services are held in the shade of the great
beech and maple trees that crown the summit of the hill. There is a large
choir and orchestra to lead the music, some noted speaker from abroad
preaches the sermon, and the congregation of four or five hundred is as
devout and attentive as can be found in any church building. At the close
of the service they assemble in groups to eat the lunch which they have
brought, the coffee being furnished by the Benzonia people, and they spend
two hours in delightful social intercourse, many old friends and neighbors
meeting there who might not otherwise see each other for years. In the
afternoon a platform meeting is held with a number of speakers, and as the
sun is sinking low in the west the people disperse and go quietly to their
homes, with a larger outlook, a quickened community consciousness, and a
fuller appreciation of the work of the Larger Parish. Last year we had on
one Sabbath "Larger Parish Sunday School Rally." Posters announcing the
meeting had been previously circulated. All the ten schools of the parish
assembled, holding in the morning such a service as I have described,
having dinner together, and in the afternoon occurred the Children's Day
services, with exercises by the various schools and an address by John E.
Gunckel, the famous Toledo newsboy man. These Larger Parish rallies have
proved to be a valuable feature of the work and are anticipated with
pleasure by all the people.
I wonder if any pastor ever felt entirely satisfied with the results of
his work? I certainly do not. I have fallen far short of my ideal. In
looking back I see failures enough to keep me humble and mistake enough to
make me cautious. The numbers that have not been reached are so great that
the thought of them mingles much of sadness with the gladness for those
who have come into the Kingdom. I am thankful for the results that can be
reported, and I consider them sufficient to justify the method of the
Larger Parish. If the method had been more efficiently worked there would
have been more to show. My hope is that some one may make a better use of
it and that such results may be evident that the Larger Parish method will
come into general operation, and that it may play a large part in the
spiritual and social rehabilitation of the rural regions.
II. COMMUNITY UPLIFT AND SOCIAL BETTERMENT
One of the convictions out of which the vision came that led to the work
of the Larger Parish was that the Church should minister to the _whole
man_; that nothing that goes to make a man a full-rounded man, or that has
a legitimate place in his life should be ignored by the Church; that it
should have something to say and something to do with his social nature as
well as his religious nature; that it should concern itself with the
affairs of the community and be an element of uplifting power in the
community life. Following this conviction, it was quite natural that, when
the work of the Larger Parish was undertaken, considerable attention
should be paid to that part of the life of the people that is often
thought to lie outside of the distinctive realm of religion. The effort
has been made to help the people in a social way and to make their
recreations healthful and wholesome, to stimulate and guide them in their
intellectual life, and by these broader aims to minister to all their
needs. It may be profitable to show how the methods used in the work of
the Larger Parish have contributed to these ends.
Recognizing the tendency of country life to isolation and extreme
individualism and the danger of its becoming barren and monotonous, we
have thought it important to provide for social and literary functions,
and for wholesome recreation and healthful pleasures. This was thought
desirable, not only for the young people, but for all the people, and we
have sought to bring together in these activities the old and the young,
and the children as well. It has been our effort to make all our
out-stations, where services are held, social centers, and to encourage
frequent meetings of the people where they might mingle together in a free
and friendly manner. The people have responded to these efforts and have
appreciated very much the opportunities that have been afforded them in
this direction.
1. Neighborhood Clubs have been formed in some of the out-stations whose
function it is to provide for these social necessities. The name,
"Neighborhood Club" quite well defines their object. They are to serve as
social centers. There is a simple constitution and by-laws, and the usual
officers. But the work is carried on under the direction of three
committees in three departments. First, there is a Social Committee, whose
business it is to arrange for picnics, parties, sociables, excursions,
etc. Then there is a Literary Committee that provides for literary
entertainments, lectures, debates, and the like. After that comes the Team
Work Committee, which leads out in any movement in which the people need
to cooperate, such as helping an unfortunate neighbor to harvest his
crops, planting trees by the roadside, plowing out the roads in winter, or
mending a bad place in the highway. Often many kindly deeds are omitted,
and many desirable things for a community are left undone, not because the
people are selfish, or wanting in public spirit, but for lack of leading.
There is no one to lead out in such things, and so they are neglected.
Not long ago one of the neighborhood clubs spent the day in helping to
raise a barn, having a dinner together and enjoying a jolly social time.
One of the clubs offered a prize for rat-killing, getting out some posters
that were a curiosity. From time to time various matters of local interest
are taken up and discussed by the club, and considerable talent in debate
has been developed in unexpected places. Occasionally the various
neighborhood clubs get together for a day of sports and recreation. They
have in the forenoon games and contests, then a picnic dinner, followed by
a program of music and addresses. These gatherings promote neighborliness
and afford the farmers and their wives and children a little break in the
monotony of their toilsome lives.
The first winter a lecture course was organized, consisting of five or six
numbers, mostly by home talent. All these lectures were given before the
various clubs. The pastor gave an account of his travels in the Holy
Land. The principal of the Academy talked about "The Farm and the School."
A doctor from a neighboring town spoke about "Farm Sanitation," and an
expert horticulturist about "Better Orchards." A layman spoke about "Some
Legal Principles That Should be Generally Known." Much interest was taken
in these lectures, and the people turned out well to hear them. The next
winter the clubs arranged their own programs and carried on a lively and
interesting campaign. One of the clubs had a series of Special Topic
nights. One night was devoted to "The Pilgrims," with a varied and
interesting program. Another to "Abraham Lincoln," another to "Michigan,"
with a program full of information, historical, statistical, and
otherwise, about the state of which the community was a part. One of the
clubs organized and maintained an Old Fashioned Singing School under an
instructor from the village, that was a fair success. These neighborhood
clubs have proved to be very popular and very valuable, and it would seem
that they are well adapted to almost any country community, taking the
place of the old lyceums and literary societies of a former generation
that did so much to sharpen the wits, inform the minds, and increase the
friendliness of those who went before us.
2. In some of the neighborhoods where it has not yet been thought best to
organize clubs, some attention has been paid to this side of life and some
provision made for social diversions. During Thanksgiving week, festivals
were held in three different places that were very successful and
profitable. The description of one of them will be typical. Three
communities, East Joyfield, Demerley, and the South Chapel, united in
holding a festival in the Joyfield Town Hall on Thanksgiving Day.
Thorough preparations had been made. Various committees were appointed,
the teachers in the four school districts included in that territory
trained the children, a program of games and sports and contests was
arranged, and all the people took much interest in getting ready for the
event. At three o'clock a religious service was held in the hall and the
pastor preached a Thanksgiving sermon to a large and attentive
congregation.
While the ladies were preparing the supper, the program of sports, a part
of which had been previously given in a large barn near by, was finished
on the lawn. Various races were run and stunts of different kinds were
performed, including a tug of war and wrestling matches, that took up the
time till the call to supper came. Two long tables extending the whole
length of the hall were filled twice, not less than one hundred and fifty
sitting down to a sumptuous feast. When all had satisfied the wants of
the "inner man," there were supplies enough left to feed another crowd
almost as great, so lavish are the country folk in their hospitality.
As soon as the tables could be cleared away and the people could get
seated the evening's entertainment began. The hall was crowded to its
utmost capacity, the people were jammed in like sardines in a box, and
some could not find entrance, but the utmost good nature prevailed, and
they sat, not patiently, but delightedly, through a program of
recitations, dialogs, songs, and like exercises given by the children
occupying two full hours. Then came the distributing of the prizes to the
winners in the games, and the happy crowd dispersed, feeling more kindly
toward each other and realizing more fully the joy of neighborliness
because they had come together in their Thanksgiving festival. Similar
festivals were held at Grace the day before, and at Liberty Union the day
after. They were all conceived and carried out by Mr. Huck, the assistant
pastor, just from England, thus proving his efficiency and his
adaptability.
3. On a snowy Saturday the men of East Joyfield, under the lead of the
assistant pastor, arranged "A Community Rabbit Hunt." They met with their
guns and went in pairs in different directions, scouring the woods and the
fields in search of game. They were measurably successful, and a heap of
forty-five "cotton tails" rewarded their efforts. They were distributed
among fifteen families, who were to prepare them with other good things
for a "Rabbit Social" on the next Tuesday night at the chapel. Though the
night was stormy, the chapel was well filled, there was a fine program of
music and games, and then a feast of rabbit pie that was appetizing and
abundant. So the "cotton tails" served the community better by being
eaten themselves than they would if they had been left to eat the bark
from the young fruit trees on the surrounding farms.
4. Since the pursuit of athletics has so large a place in the minds of the
young people in these days, it has been thought worth while to do
something in this field. One of the assistant pastors having had some
training when in school organized Athletic Clubs among the boys and young
men in six or seven different neighborhoods. These clubs met from time to
time for practise. They were combined into an Athletic League for the
whole parish and occasionally held Field Days. They would come together on
the Academy campus at Benzonia and spend the day in sports and games and
contests in which a previously prepared schedule of events was carried on.
There were junior contests for the boys and the girls too had a part in
the last field-day sports. Occasionally they have a banquet with toasts
and an opportunity for social intercourse. These athletic clubs have not
only done much to encourage clean and healthful sports, but they have
given the assistant pastor large influence over the young people, and most
of them are noticeably regular in their attendance on the services he
conducts on the Sabbath.
Ladies' Aid Societies are organized in the various neighborhoods and they
bring together in a social way, not only the ladies, but also the men in
the winter season, who then find time to enjoy the good dinner that the
ladies provide and to spend part of the day in social intercourse. These
Aid Societies are ready to take hold in a helpful way of any enterprise
that is for the good of the community, and any enterprise to which they
devote themselves is bound to go.
5. One more way of working has proved to be valuable, and well worth
while. Like nearly all small towns, we have a weekly newspaper which finds
its way into most of the homes of the parish. The pastor and the editor
work together in the effort to make it an organ of helpful power in the
community life. For the past three years I have had each week a
column--usually a column and a half--in this paper. It is my regular
Monday forenoon work to write that column. I put into it whatever I think
will be useful to the people, bringing them many a message that would
hardly come appropriately into the pulpit, and reaching in that way many
whom I would not often come in touch with otherwise. The themes are
various, a few may serve as specimens. "How to Keep One's Religion and
Make It Pay," "The Back Yard," "The Test of the Summer Time," "The Man You
Happen to Meet," "The Utility of the Yell," "The Wedding Bells and Funeral
Knells," "Dr. Charles M. Sheldon and His Ideas of an Educated Man," "Be a
Columbus," "The Keen Zest of Living." Any local topic of general interest
is taken up and discussed, and the activities of the church and the social
and literary doings in the various out-stations are brought before the
people. So they are kept constantly aware that something is going on that
is worth while throughout the parish, and I have an opportunity to keep my
ideas before the whole parish. This I consider one of my most valuable
ways of working, and I find that the Pastor's Column is eagerly looked for
and widely read.
This suggests the question whether in the past the pastors of our churches
have sufficiently appreciated the value of printer's ink as an adjunct in
carrying on religious and community work. If the pastor can speak through
the press as well as the pulpit, he is duplicating his influence.
6. The Benzonia Christian Endeavor Society purchased a stereopticon for
use in the Larger Parish. It was equipped with electrical apparatus to be
used in the villages, and with acetylene light for the schoolhouses and
country places where there was no electric current. It could be easily
carried from place to place, and became a very practical and useful
instrument in the work. Slides on various subjects were easily obtained,
and the effect of lectures and talks was greatly increased. The people in
these days want to see things as well as to hear about them, and the sight
helps out the hearing. They never get tired of looking at good pictures.
It became easy with the help of the lantern to provide an interesting and
profitable evening entertainment, and the people showed their appreciation
by their presence in large numbers and their careful attention. "The
Panama Canal" was thus presented and illustrated, and "The Other Wise
Man." Some lectures by the pastor--"On Horseback through the Holy Land,"
"A Week in and about Jerusalem," "Three Months on an Ocean Steamer"--were
made more vivid and attractive by views from photographs taken on a
foreign trip. In many ways the stereopticon has proved a valuable
acquisition, and especially in a country parish can it be used with great
profit and satisfaction.
7. In a local option campaign the influence of the Larger Parish made
itself felt in an effective way for the banishment of the saloon. Debates
were arranged on the question in the neighborhood clubs.
The pastors preached on the subject and made addresses at the meetings
held throughout the county. One of the assistant pastors gave valuable
service on the Central Committee. In all such movements that have for
their object the purifying of the community and the establishment of
righteousness the forces that are active in the Larger Parish are lined up
on the right side, ready to cooperate and promptly available for practical
work.
An Every Member Canvass for home and foreign missions is carried on
throughout the whole parish. Each year a letter is prepared, giving
briefly the progress of the work for the year past and setting forth its
present condition. These letters are sent by mail to nearly all the
families in the parish, with small collection envelopes for the different
members of the household, with the request that they bring the offerings
to their accustomed places of worship. The children as well as the older
people are encouraged to bring in their offerings, and we have found this
an effective way of cultivating in them the spirit of benevolence. There
is much gain in leading them to feel that they have a part in the work.
VI
THINGS YET TO BE DONE
Their name is legion. Everything is to be done. Only a beginning has been
made. Nothing is finished. What has been accomplished is only a prophecy
of the larger and completer work that lies before us in the future.
Religious and community work is not mechanical. You cannot finish it up
and store it away as the carpenter finishes a box, or the housewife a
garment. Life is a development, a growth, and those who deal with life
must always be content with beginnings. "Nothing that has life is ever
finished." Life in its larger unfolding and its fuller meaning must always
be in the future. A life that is finished and complete would better end,
and a community that has reached perfection should be translated to
another sphere. We must ever be content to spend our labor upon
beginnings, thankful for such fruitage as may appear from time to time.
The real ingathering must always be in the future. What has been
accomplished in the Larger Parish gives us confidence in the methods
employed, and encourages us to expect larger things from the better and
completer application of those and similar methods in the days to come.
In may be well to mention some of the things that have not as yet been
fully done, but that we hope to see accomplished in the Larger Parish in
the future.