he bounds of the country
community are determined by the length of the team haul or horseback
ride to which that population is accustomed. Within these bounds
religious life and expression are possible. Immersed in his own
community, the life of the minister and of his family attain immediate
religious value. The whole influence of the minister's home, the service
of his wife to the people, which is often greater than his own, and the
development of his children's life, these are all of religious use to
his people.

A recent speaker upon this matter said, "I doubt if even the Lord Jesus
Christ could have saved this world if he had come down to it only once
in two weeks on Saturday and gone back on Monday morning."

The pastor, then, is the type of community builder needed in the
country. The pastor works with a maximum of sincerity, while sincerity
may in preaching be reduced to the lowest terms. He is in constant,
intimate, personal contact. The preacher is dealing with theories and
ideals not always rooted in local experiences. The pastor lives the life
of the people. He is known to them and their lives are known to him. The
preacher may perform his oratorical ministry through knowledge of
populations long since dead and by description of foreign and alien
countries. It is possible to preach acceptably about kingdoms that have
not yet existed. But the work of a pastor is the development of ideals
out of situations. It is his business to inspire the daily life of his
people with high idealism and to construct those aspirations and
imaginations out of the daily work of mankind, which are proper to that
work and essential to that people.

An illustrious example of such ministry is that of John Frederick
Oberlin,[5] whose pastorate at Waldersbach in the Vosges consisted of a
service to his people in their every need, from the building of roads to
the organization and teaching of schools. It would have been impossible
for Oberlin to have served these people through preaching alone. Being a
mature community, indeed old in suffering and in poverty, they needed
the ministry of a pastor, and this service he rendered them in the
immersion of his life with theirs, and the bearing of their burdens,
even the most material and economic burden of the community, upon his
shoulders.

The passing away of pioneer days discredits the ministry of mere
preaching, through increasing variation of communities, families and
individuals. T