ew country church program has not been an essential
factor of success. Lakeville is a case in point.

In the village of Lakeville, as in a large proportion of Ohio rural
communities, opportunities for wholesome recreation were few. The church
not only felt no responsibility for providing a better environment for the
young people, but looked upon matters which have to do with recreation,
entertainment, and physical development as foreign to it. To give them
attention was regarded as beneath its dignity. This attitude, both here
and in a large proportion of the rural churches, has been responsible in
no small degree for a general moral laxness in communities, and often for
the separation of the young people from the church.

The moral and social conditions in Lakeville have been revolutionized by a
resident minister in three years. His conception of his work and the
methods he used did not differ materially from those of the pastors of
Ashley, Ontario, and Old Fort. Every wholesome feature of community life
was regarded by him as a matter of interest to the church. Thus, to
promote a deeper interest in agriculture, lecturers and demonstrators upon
various phases of it were invited into the community.

Under the leadership of this minister a wholesome, normal, interesting
life, leading to the high development of the young people, and a marked
increase in the general happiness of the community, has been brought to
pass. The excellent auditorium of the consolidated school was made the
social center of the community. The pastor and the members of his church
were the initiators and chief supporters of the program of recreation,
instruction, and entertainment which was carried out largely in this
building. Although in Lakeville the church wisely kept itself in the
background in much of its work, its activities were none the less
effective, while this policy also reacted favorably upon the church
itself.

Although there were two churches yoked together in this field, they were
but a mile and a half apart, and the parish was therefore compact.
Consequently the pastor could and did make much of his pastoral work. The
close touch of the minister with the members of his church and community
greatly added to the effectiveness of the evangelistic services which he
held, for he befriended those who had need of friends. Hence there was not
only a large increase in membership, but the results of it promised to be
of a durable characte