membership, and their traditions
and methods have largely shaped the religious life of our rural
communities.

During the century in which the United States west of the Alleghanies
has been settled conditions have changed with such rapidity that the
religious life is still largely dominated by its development during the
days of early settlement and the present generation is faced with the
problem of readjustment of its religious institutions to meet the
present situation. In the days of the pioneer the circuit rider made his
rounds over a large district, preaching at school houses and private
homes and in the few country churches at intervals of one to three
months. As the country became more thickly populated, country churches
sprang up and several of them were joined together in the employment of
a resident pastor with preaching at the larger churches every week and
at the outlying stations once in two or three weeks. Doctrinal beliefs
were strong and theological differences were frequently bitter. The
preaching was practically the only service of the church, except for an
annual "protracted meeting" or revival. The main emphasis was upon the
personal salvation of the sinner. Sunday schools had not become a
recognized feature of the church and but little thought was given to
religious education and training by the church. The minister christened
the babies, married the young people and buried the dead, but otherwise,
with numerous preaching services, he was unable to do much pastoral
work. A large proportion of the rural churches were located in the open
country and like the district school were largely neighborhood churches,
for bad roads and horse-drawn vehicles made it difficult for people to
go over two or three miles. In many cases several churches were
established in a single village or in nearby neighborhoods by different
denominations and were largely supported by home-missionary aid
contributed by the older churches in the East and the wealthier city
parishes. Prior to the Civil War when most of our population was engaged
in farming and before the exodus of the last half century to the towns
and cities, most of the rural churches were fairly well attended, but
with the recent decline in rural population, many of them, and
particularly those in the open country, have faced the same situation as
the district school in that there are now too few people to make
possible the economic support of a pastor and churc