00 was raised, $1,000 for the minister's salary, $540 for ordinary
expenses, while the rest went to the permanent repairs on the church
buildings.

As in Ashley, so in Springfield Township; the pastor regarded his church
as a community church and thought of himself as a Christian rather than as
a sectarian. The attendance more than doubled both at the church services
and at the Sunday school, while the real membership increased from less
than 100 to 315. When the Presbyterians saw the manifest good that could
be brought by united Christian action, they became members of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, while later on they made a Christmas present
of their building to the Methodist community church. It is now used as the
house of worship, while the Methodist Church has become a gymnasium and
parish house.

Under the leadership of the new resident minister a genuine cleaning up of
the gross indecency was made, some of the most harmful characters left,
and the place became comparatively orderly. The village has been
transformed from a rural slum to a very decent community,--a safe place to
bring up children. This better state of things will undoubtedly continue
as long as the present system of church work prevails.

The plan of this church's work did not differ from that of many other
modern country churches. It included Sunday school classes organized for
social service, athletics, including basket ball, a full program of social
activities, lectures to promote an intelligent interest in agriculture,
and active interest on the part of the minister in cooperating with the
day schools and providing opportunities for intellectual advancement.

The pastor declares that the work in Springfield Township was made
possible only because he could live in the community, because he could
give his whole time to this field, and because of the program of country
church service with which, through the Conference of the Commission on
Church and Country Life which was held in Columbus in 1915 and through
modern country church literature, he had become familiar. He asserts that
without the modern program and conception of the function of the country
church, success would have been impossible.

5. _The Church as a Force for Righteousness_

In the work at Ashley and Ontario we have seen the adoption of a good
program accompanied by improvement in the moral tone and religious
atmosphere of the communities. There are many other communities