-five years, and still others
asserted that no minister had ever entered their homes. From the reports
of eighteen pastors in one denominational district it appeared that on an
average each one made only six calls a year upon non-church members,
although these were more than 60 per cent of the people. "Our minister
does not know the people of this community" is common testimony everywhere
in the country parishes.

The country minister's influence is still further reduced because his term
of service is short--usually but a year or two, rarely three years.
Moreover, his efforts are commonly divided among several communities and
thus are spread too thin to produce results. Add to that the fact that in
each community the people whom he serves are intermingled with the
parishioners of ministers of other denominations. Under these
circumstances how can he become efficient in community service, and how
can he get to know the people of his charge? Ordinarily he does not even
attempt it. Under present conditions the country minister who does,
generally accomplishes little and wears himself into discouragement.

(5) _Rearrangement of Circuits_

The old circuit system under which many of the denominations developed
their work and which is now the system employed in nearly all the larger
denominations in the State, was of undoubted value in the beginning of
their work in pioneer days. But like many other efficient methods of
early times it has ceased to be the best method for present needs, in the
form in which we now find it at work. This is true except in a few
instances where it appears in such a modified form as to be adaptable to
present conditions.

Under the circuit system it has often been accepted as a policy by church
officials that every church must have a minister and every minister a
church. The advantages accruing both to the churches and ministers from a
reasonably cautious and not too consistent application of such a rule are
obvious. But failure to use such caution and too great insistence on its
universal application too often have resulted in the employment of
unequipped and uneducated ministers and sometimes even of men whose
character was questionable, which in turn, has helped to bring about a low
standard of pay for the minister. The pay of the skilled has fallen to
that of the unskilled, and the total result has been to cheapen the
ministry. The standard among farmers for the support of both church and