tutions must be economic, for the securing
of prosperity to country people, social institutions which shall build
up their moral character and life, educational institutions whereby the
problems of country life shall be understood in the light of all human
life, and religious institutions which shall crown the life of country
people with hope and animate the individual with the spirit of
self-sacrifice on behalf of all the people of the community and of the
world.

The church should be a community center. There may be other centers of
the community where other functions are assembled, but the church should
lift up her eyes to the horizon in which she lives and comprehend all
the people in her service and affection. This does not mean that they
shall all be members of that church. The community spirit is itself
growing. Frequently the country community has attained a unity which the
churches ignore. For the church to become a community center means that
it represents in itself the united life of the people. Whatever be
their common interest that interest dwells in the church.

In Hernando, Mississippi, the people are united. The interest of one is
the concern of all. Under the leadership of the families of old
land-owners the whole community responds to common impulses and is
organized under common ideals. No poor child of either a white or a
negro household is neglected or is overlooked. Yet in this community
churches have no federation and ministers have no regular means of
working together. A charity organization was recently formed in this
community as an organ by which the community should care for its poorer
members. This society was formed outside of the churches, no one of
which had the right to be a center for the community. It is true that
ministers and members of these churches were leaders in this community
enterprise, but the churches as organizations were not a part of it,
although its purposes are purely Christian.

Prof. Alva Agee insists that "The country church does not serve the
community's needs as the community sees those needs." His meaning is
that when a community enterprise is to be launched the promoter of it
finds it necessary in the country to avoid the churches, lest his
enterprise be entangled in their differences. He is embarrassed also by
their lack of a community spirit. Frequently the same persons who to the
church contribute no community spirit are in the community itself
leaders of c