To Measure Church Effectiveness
Add members contributing to the support of an organization to a probable
minister and possibly to a building and you have the ground-plan of the
average church in this Western country. What, then, is the church program?
How are the churches attempting to serve their members, and just how much
are they contributing through their program and activities to the life
about them, toward bringing about a genuine Christianization of a
community life? Religious values, it is true, are spiritual and cannot be
tabulated in statistical tables. This fact is as fully recognized as the
corollary that circumstances often limit ideals. What the churches are
doing, however, ought to be a fair test of their underlying purpose. In a
word, then, what do they consider their job and are they "putting it
across"?
Opportunities for Worship
All the churches have services for the preaching of God's word, but it has
already become evident in the preceding pages that in certain sections of
the Range country the Church, even as a social factor, is regarded rather
as a curiosity by the men. An amusing story with a Bret Harte flavor is
told of an early meeting in Beaverhead County. The hall in Glendale, a
busy place then, with banks, restaurants, even a paper, was filled with a
rough-and-ready audience of miners and cowboys listening to a lantern
lecture. Vastly delighted over the trick, one man after another quietly
rose from his seat and stepped out of the window. When the preacher ended
his talk and the hall lighted up not a soul remained but himself. The next
day, however, his audience made it right. They passed a hat and collected
$300 for him.
As has been noted, more than half of the church buildings are adapted to
preaching and nothing else, nineteen churches, of necessity, holding their
meetings in school houses. The frequency of services varies. The larger
centers have an abundance of church meetings. All but two of the town and
two of the city churches have two preaching services each Sunday. But only
three country and two village churches are so fortunate. Two additional
churches, one a village and one a town church, have the advantage of two
services a Sunday because they unite regularly with other churches near
them, both of which hold two services a Sunday.
[Illustration: NOT A STORE BUT A CHURCH
Christian Church at Des Moines, Union County.]
Forty-five of the seventy churches have less than two services a Sunday.
Of thirty churches, twenty-five country and five village churches, each
has less than four services a month. Those located in the larger
well-churched centers have an ample number of services, while the majority
of churches with less than two services a Sunday are country churches. Yet
most of these are holding the only service in their community.
Seventy-three and five-tenths per cent. of all the country churches have
less than four services each month, and 44 per cent. have only one service
or even less. All but one of the eighteen churches with only one service
or less per month are country churches. Ten churches hold special musical
services. Mid-week prayer meetings are held by sixteen of those which have
two services each Sunday, but by only one of the forty-five churches in
the group holding the fewer number of services.
Except in winter, the chief handicap to attendance in Beaverhead and
Sheridan lies in the rugged landscape. Country members in all the counties
have real difficulty in getting to church throughout the year. Most of
them have long distances to go, and the roads make travel difficult in
winter and early spring. In summer, haying is carried on very generally
seven days of the week, and church attendance is a problem even if the
church service is held at night. The aggregate monthly attendance is
18,337 and as the total number of services is 286, the average attendance
per service is about sixty-five persons, low enough, but higher than the
average active membership per church, which is about fifty-six. Average
seating capacity, active membership and attendance compare as follows:
[Illustration: CHART VII]
Country Village Town City
Churches Churches Churches Churches Total
Average seating capacity 129[5] 177[6] 285 436 233
Average active membership 18 36 91 196 56
Average attendance at
services 34 37 72 112 65
It is evident from the table above that the churches are only about
one-fourth filled on the average. Nothing is more disheartening than a
church three-quarters empty in which the echoes of the minister's voice
reverberate over the vacant seats.
Union Services
Tangible evidence of cooeperation and good-will among churches of different
denominations is found in "union" services, which thirty-eight churches
might reasonably hold in these counties. Just twenty-one of these churches
do unite, the majority for Thanksgiving Day services and in fewer
instances, for Chautauqua, Baccalaureate, Memorial Day, and summer evening
services. In two instances, two churches, Methodist and Presbyterian, are
uniting for services and Sunday schools, their other organizations meeting
separately. Since the time of the survey, two churches, located in an
overchurched hamlet, have also temporarily put this plan into effect.
[Illustration: A CASE OF COOePERATION
The M. E. Church at Blunt, S. D., which being pastorless joined with the
Presbyterian Church for preaching services.]
Evangelism
A greater portion of the evangelistic work is done through revival
meetings, although less than half of the churches hold them. Of all the
members admitted on confession of faith by all the churches during the
year, 76 per cent. were converted in revival meetings, and joined one of
the churches holding such a revival. Thirty-one of the seventy churches
held or united in thirty such meetings, one being a union meeting of two
churches. Pastors conducted fifteen meetings, in three of which a
neighboring pastor or evangelist assisted. Fourteen meetings were held by
visiting clergymen. The meetings were well attended, extending from seven
to thirty-five days, the average meeting lasting thirteen days.
Eighty-seven per cent. of the 385 converts and the thirteen who were
reclaimed joined the churches holding the revival. This gain amounted to
72 per cent. of the total gain in membership made by these same thirty-one
churches during the entire year. Forty-four per cent. of all the churches
held revivals, and while they represent only 45 per cent. of the total
harvest by confession and letter, yet three-fourths of all the gain made
by confession of faith were obtained by these churches.
The country churches held seventeen meetings, averaged four new members
each, and made 20 per cent. of the total gain. The village churches held
five meetings and the town churches held four meetings, both averaging
five new members each, the village churches making 8 per cent. of the
total gain and the town churches 6 per cent. The city churches held only
four meetings, averaged about fifty-seven new members each and realized
one-third of the total gain made.
Children and the Churches
Sunday schools are the big hope of this country. Young people and older
people are not so much interested in the Church and religion because so
many have grown up without it, but the children have had more chance to
know the Church. Sunday schools are to-day the most frequent form of
church work in these Western counties. They are especially hopeful because
so many of them over-ride denominational lines and unionize; also because
they persist when all other church spirit seems to be dead.
Fifty-six churches have Sunday schools of their own, and one city church
has a mission Sunday school in addition to its own. Two groups of two
churches each combine their Sunday schools. Only three churches neither
maintain their own Sunday schools nor help with a union school.
Thirty-seven union Sunday schools are being carried on in the four
counties, nine of which have the assistance of church organizations
meeting in the same building. Three are located in mining camp villages,
the rest in small hamlets or open country. These union schools have a
fourth of the total Sunday school enrollment. People on ranches and far
from town start Sunday schools under local leadership without waiting for
churches to be organized. When a newcomer sends his children to Sunday
school it is often the only contact made with religious activity in the
new country. The independent Sunday school has, therefore, in a sense, a
greater responsibility than the church Sunday school.
The importance of the Sunday school is brought out in a comparison between
Sunday school enrollment and resident church membership.
Country Village Town City Total
Number of churches 34 14 13 9 70
Number of Sunday schools 56 14 12 10 92
Total resident church membership 745 563 1,389 2,272 4,969
Total enrollment of church
Sunday schools 897 731 1,430 1,475 4,533
Total enrollment of all Sunday
schools 2,373 829 1,430 1,475 6,107
Average enrollment of all
Sunday schools 42 59 119 147 67
Average attendance of all
Sunday schools 28 40 79 104 50
The enrollment of church Sunday schools is larger than the total church
membership in Union County, and larger than resident church membership in
Beaverhead, Hughes or Union. The total enrollment of all Sunday schools is
23 per cent. higher than the total resident church membership. Without the
Union County Sunday schools this enrollment equals only 91 per cent. of
the resident church membership. Thirty-five churches have a larger Sunday
school enrollment than resident church membership; all nine churches
helping with Union Sunday schools have a smaller membership than the Union
school enrollment. This discrepancy is high in some churches. For example,
a country church has thirty-five enrolled in the Sunday school and only
eight church members; a village church with sixty-five enrolled in its
Sunday school has seven church members; a town church has fifteen church
members and 150 enrolled in its Sunday school.
Country and village Sunday schools show the best record. The total
enrollment of all country Sunday schools, including the Union schools, is
more than three times as high as church membership. The enrollment of all
village Sunday schools is about 47 per cent. higher than village church
enrollment. There are no Union Sunday schools in the towns or city. Except
in the city the average Sunday school enrollment exceeds average resident
church membership, the advantage being twenty-two for the country schools,
nineteen for the village, and twelve for the town schools. The average
city church membership, however, exceeds average Sunday school enrollment
by 105.
When Sunday school enrollment is higher than church membership, it is
ordinarily encouraging as a promise of future growth. But the large
discrepancies between village and open country church membership and
Sunday school enrollment, coupled with the low percentage of young
people in their church memberships, show that these churches are not
recruiting new members from their Sunday schools as they might. Nor are
the churches relating themselves to any extent to the separate Sunday
schools in outlying sections. This _can_ be done, and is most successful
in a few cases. For example, the Apache Valley Sunday School, which meets
on Sunday afternoons at a schoolhouse in Union County, is being "fathered"
by two ministers from Clayton, six miles away, who go out on alternate
Sundays. This Sunday school is live and flourishing. It maintains a high
percentage of attendance and carries on various activities.
Attendance in general is good. The percentage of enrollment represented in
the attendance on a typical Sunday varies from 66.7 per cent. for the town
to 70.8 per cent. for the city schools. Yet only twenty-five schools make
definite efforts to increase their attendance. The various methods used
are contests such as a competitive Boys' and Girls' day, a fall Rally Day,
cards, rewards and prizes, a Banner Class, a Look-out Committee and the
Cross and Crown System.
During the year preceding the survey, 168 pupils joined the churches from
the Sunday schools, and there were seven probationers at the time the
survey was made. Decision Day was held in four country, one village, five
town and four city schools. The results were meager. Only thirty-five
declared for church membership. Nine town and city schools have classes to
prepare for church membership, eight schools have sent twenty scholars
into some kind of Christian work during the last ten years. A country
Sunday school in Hughes County has shown what can be done in this respect.
It has sent five young people into Christian service during the last ten
years, and five more in the whole history of the school. It is significant
that one consecrated pastor has served this Sunday school and church
during this entire time.
Cradle Rolls are another excellent method of enlistment. Yet these are
kept in only twenty-six schools. The total enrollment is 473. One of the
greatest needs of this country is more local and better trained
leadership, not only for Sunday schools but for the community at large.
The only definite training for leadership is eight Teacher Training
classes, held in two city, four town, one village and one country school.
Mission study is carried on in seventeen schools more or less frequently,
several additional schools annually presenting the cause of missions. One
city school has a four-day institute for the study of Sunday school
methods and missions. Twenty-nine schools make regular missionary
offerings, and seven take them once a year. Twelve schools have libraries
with an average of seventy-three volumes each. Eighty-three schools give
out Sunday school papers. There are 507 classes, an average of about
twelve per class.
Proper preparation is one of the greatest needs of the Sunday schools in
these counties. Much of the instruction is haphazard and indifferent. Men
teach 123 classes and 26.6 per cent. of the total enrollment. Ordinarily,
the man teacher, if there is one, takes the adult class at the expense of
the growing boy who needs him more than the adults. Graded lessons are
used exclusively in ten schools and twenty others use them in some
classes. Seventeen schools have organized classes. Sixty-six schools are
open throughout the year. The pastor is superintendent in six schools,
teacher in fifteen, substitute teacher in one, "helps" in nineteen, is a
student in two, and in one reports his job as "superintendent; teacher and
janitor."
Social events for the Sunday schools mean picnics, class parties, and
sometimes a real ice cream sociable. About one-third of the schools have a
reasonable amount of social activity, while sixteen report a great deal.
Fifty-seven schools have picnics, and great events they are, too, with
more cakes and pies and goodies of all sorts than the community is likely
to see again for another year. One or more classes have socials, parties
and "hikes" in seventeen schools (four village, nine town and four city).
The "Anti-Kants" is an interesting class of young women. Every time one of
the class becomes engaged, there is a party and a shower, called a
graduation. Twenty graduations have taken place in the history of the
class. About half of the schools have programs for special days,
especially for Children's Day, Christmas and Easter. One Union school has
an Easter picnic and egg-hunt. Nineteen schools have mixed socials, such
as parties, indoor picnics, ice cream suppers and entertainments. One town
school has a weekly social. The only special Sunday school organizations
are a Choir Association and Sunday school athletic teams in three town
churches which play competitive games. Twenty report no social life of any
sort in connection with their schools. They do not even have a picnic to
liven things up.
[Illustration: HAPPY LITTLE PICNICKERS
The Baptist Mission at Kleenburg, Wyoming, does good work for the
kiddies.]
[Illustration: A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL
A Sunday School class picnic in Union County.]
Other Church Organizations
Various other organizations have been developed within the churches for
business, educational and social purposes. Women have a great many, men
have very few. Fifty-six women's organizations are carried on in
thirty-seven churches, of which nine are village and nine country
churches. There are twenty-eight Ladies' Aids, thirteen Missionary
Societies and various Guilds, Circles, Auxiliaries, a Manse Society, a
King's Daughters, an Adelphian and a Dorcas. The total enrollment is
1,682, or about 70 per cent. of the total female resident church
membership over twenty-one, and 17 per cent. of the total female
population aged from eighteen to forty-four, in the four counties. The
attendance averages about twenty-one to each organization.
In sorry contrast to this array, men's organizations number only seven,
and all are connected with city or town churches in Pierre, the county
seat of Hughes County. The enrollment is 300, or 27 per cent. of the total
resident church membership in city and town of males over twenty-one years
of age, and only 3 per cent. of the total male population between the ages
of eighteen and forty-four in the four counties. Men and women have two
organizations in common. One is a missionary society which, contrary to
custom, shares its endeavors with men, the other is a dramatic club for
any one old or young who has dramatic ability. This interesting
organization gives a splendid amateur show every year. A former
professional actor, who also coaches dramatics in the high school, is the
coach.
Boys Left Out
There are only eight organizations for girls in seven town or city
churches. Two hundred and twenty-two, or 42 per cent., of all the girls
under twenty-one in the town and city resident membership are enrolled.
One is a Friendly Society, and the rest are various kinds of guilds. But
boys are the most shabbily treated of all. There are only four
organizations especially for them, all in town churches and two in one
church, so that only three churches have special clubs for their boys. The
enrollment is sixty-nine, or about 21 per cent. of all the boys under
twenty-one enrolled in city and town church membership. Boys and girls
together have two organizations in two town churches with a membership of
seventy-three. One is a Junior League, and the other a Junior Baptist
Young People's Union. Young people have twenty-eight organizations in ten
country, three village, nine town and six city churches. Eight of them are
Epworth Leagues, eight are Christian Endeavors and the rest are various
Young People's Societies, Baptist Young People's Unions, Mission
Volunteers, Young People's Alliances, two Choir Organizations and one
Purely for Fun Club. Their total enrollment of 834, together with the
membership of the mixed boys' and girls' organizations, equals 84 per
cent. of the total church resident membership under twenty-one.[7]
More people in the community are reached through the meetings of these
organizations than by any other single church activity, with the exception
of the celebration of special days. These meetings are often community
affairs, especially in the case of the women's organizations. In twenty
organizations, the attendance exceeds the enrollment. The men's clubs work
for the church, and several do practical community work. Their programs in
all but two cases include dinners, either at every meeting or at special
banquets during the year. One club puts on a Father and Son banquet every
year.
Men's Forum and Ladies' Aids
The most interesting outcome of the work of any of the men's organizations
is the Men's Forum, recently developed in Sheridan by the combined Men's
Clubs of the Congregational and Protestant churches. This was the first
open forum held in Wyoming. The attendance at the meetings averaged 400.
The principles of the forum are as follows:
The complete development of democracy in America.
A common meeting ground for all the people in the interest of truth
and mutual understanding, and for the cultivation of community spirit.
The freest and fullest open discussion of all vital questions
affecting human welfare.
Participation on the part of the audience from the Forum Floor whether
by questions or discussion.
The freedom of the Forum management from responsibility for utterances
by speakers from the platform or floor.
Among the subjects presented have been "Community Problems," "The Church
and Industrial Conflict," "The Golden Rule in Business: Is It
Practicable?" "The Farmers' Movement in America," "Bolshevism," "Feeding
the World: Is It America's Job?" There is no more encouraging sign of
community interest in public questions, and a conscious effort on the part
of the Church to develop a public opinion on social, economic and
religious problems.
[Illustration: PROGRAM OF A COMMUNITY RALLY]
The Ladies' Aid is often the only woman's organization in the community.
Most of these clubs meet once or twice a month, with regular programs for
Bible study or missions, organize sewing and quilting bees, and bazaars,
etc. The help they give in church finances has already been appreciated.
Any such common interest and responsibility holds many an organization
together. Several promote social welfare work. One organized a Teachers'
Training Class to improve material for Sunday school teachers. One village
has a community Ladies' Aid which works for the church, although only a
few are church members. The community woman's club in a small hamlet is
studying missions as a part of its program. In one community, the Ladies'
Aid of the only church, which is pastorless, meets regularly and holds a
yearly bazaar to pay the occasional supply preacher and keep the church in
repair. At the "Frontier Day" given by a Dude Ranch, the Ladies' Aid from
a nearby hamlet had a booth for selling hamburgers and lemonade. In one of
the mining camps, the Ladies' Aid of the Mission church sent out
invitations for an afternoon tea to raise money for a new piano for the
Kindergarten. It turned out to be a great social event attended by women,
many of them foreign, from all the camps in the vicinity. Here is another
Ladies' Aid, the only organization in all that part of a sparsely settled
country, and many miles from town which holds eight socials a year and
every social is a supper. Those suppers bring out whole families, and are
the biggest annual events. Is it any wonder? The woman on the Range has a
lonesome time of it. Ranches are far apart. She rarely sees her neighbors
and less frequently goes to town. This woman needs social activities more
than her town sister. Yet only nine out of thirty-four country churches
have women's organizations.
Young People's Meetings are generally held Sunday nights, and the majority
hold an occasional social. One town Young People's organization has a
successful Bible Study Class. The Purely for Fun Club, as its name
implies, is purely social and meets twice a month. It has a special garden
party once a year. This club is one of the activities of a M. E. community
church located in a new dry-farming community which is having a struggle
to make both ends meet, but is doing good work in that community. The
people are loyal, even enthusiastic. There is not, however, even a church
building, let alone any equipment for social activities. A building is
desperately needed for church and community center, nor can the members
provide it themselves. Cases of this kind represent possibilities for the
most effective sort of home mission aid.