ly better farmers because they are real
Christians. It will help to make more efficient homes and schools, to give
every boy and girl a fair chance for a clean life, a sound body, a trained
mind, helpful friendships and a useful career.

The efficient country church will definitely serve its community by
leading, when possible, in all worthy efforts at community building, in
uniting the people in all cooperative social endeavors for the general
welfare, in arousing a real love for country life and loyalty to the
country home; and in so enriching the life of its community as to make
"country living as attractive for them as city living, and the rural
forces as effective as city forces."

_Its High Responsibility: Spiritual Leadership_

The inaugural program of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 suggests the business of
his followers: to minister to the vital necessities of needy men. Broadly
speaking, every work for human betterment is "our Father's business," yet
the supreme function of the church is spiritual. It stands in a material
world for an unseen God and an eternal life. It must constantly furnish
spiritual vision and inspiration to weary men and women for the living of
their lives. To do this, the church must provide the opportunity for
public worship, in sincerity, impressiveness and truth. It must somehow
bring the life of God into the lives of men.

Surely the church owes the community a prophetic service also, bringing
God's great messages to human lives, throbbing with divine sympathy for
all human needs, courageously challenging the man to whom the vision
comes, to live the better life, and offering practical and immediate help,
the help of Christ, to live that life. The spiritual service of a vital
church will include a vivid portrayal of the Christ, his person, his
teachings, his radiant character, his saving power, the dynamic for life
which flows from him into every life which accepts his comradeship. All
this and more.

We should avoid however the dangerous distinction between the sacred and
the secular. The superficial exaltation of the spiritual function of the
church is sometimes merely a cloak for laziness. Often a well conducted
church social has spiritual results and a boys' camp becomes a "means of
grace." Unless a man is pure spirit, the work of the church is more than
"saving souls." Soul and body are in this life inseparable and
interdependent. A saved man must be redeemed soul and body, in mind a