ministerial union of which he is apt to be made
secretary or executive; and in some places he is able to federate most of
the churches of many sects into a working federation for the religious and
moral welfare of the county. Because he is a neutral, not working for the
aggrandizement of any special church, though vitally interested in all and
consecrated to the larger interests of the whole Kingdom of God, this man
has the best possible leverage on the country church situation. He can
advise weak churches about their difficulties; and when two or more local
churches ought to be gradually united, he can often tactfully and
successfully bring them together, as no other individual or group of
individuals could possibly do. He can with the grace of God develop the
spirit of cooperation among the people without which any hasty or
mechanical plan for union of diverse churches would be but a temporary
experiment.

Under the direction of his County Committee, which includes some fifteen
to twenty of the most influential Christian men of the county, this
Association Secretary is often able to set scores of local leaders at work
and train them for the special service to which they are best adapted;
thus utilizing local leadership which has been largely going to waste
through modest self-depreciation.

Gradually the office of the rural secretary becomes a sort of clearing
house for all the popular interests and organizations in the
county,--churches, schools, granges, farmers' institutes, boards of trade,
medical societies, Sunday schools, boys' clubs of every sort, athletic
clubs, civic associations and village improvement societies. Thus these
various agencies are brought together for cooperative service of the
countryside, learning to work together harmoniously with modern methods of
efficiency.[36]

_The County Work of the Young Women's Christian Association_

So successful has been the work of the Rural Young Men's Christian
Association, it has encouraged the National Board of the Young Women's
Christian Association to begin Christian work among women and girls in the
country villages. There is unquestionably a wide field and a great
usefulness for this branch of the Young Women's Association work. It ought
to be rapidly promoted and doubtless will be as fast as consecrated young
women can be trained for it and their challenge met by people of wealth to
consecrate their money for this purpose. Efficiency would be gaine