issue.

Let us grant at the start that churches which have no real field, in a
community that is over-churched, need not expect to get our college men
for pastors. If they have only a fraction of a field, let them have half a
man. Likewise the church which is too selfish to offer the minimum living
wage in return for faithful service must not expect a self-respecting,
educated minister to serve it and at starvation rates. Even a martyr has
no license to starve his wife and children to gain his starry crown. The
church which gives no liberty to its pastor, but treats him like a hired
man, and dictates his professional policy and perhaps even his pulpit
messages, will of course not hold, if it ever should gain, a man of
ability and initiative. And, lastly, the church which lacks the modern
spirit, is hopelessly behind the times in its dogmatic teaching, rails at
modern science as ungodly, and denies the social gospel of Jesus and the
prophets, such a church will neither deserve nor desire the services of a
college-trained man. His reverence for truth as well as loyalty to his own
ideals would forbid his serving them.

_Large Tasks Awaiting Real Leadership_

While there are some small men with little training serving churches under
the above conditions, there are also thousands of other churches striving
to do God's will in the service of men, many of them with earnest, able
pastors. These men usually win the respect and confidence of their
community and are given great opportunity as community builders when their
leadership proves equal to the task. As the new rural civilization has
developed, the title Country Minister has become once more a title of
honor, just as the term Country Gentleman has again come to its own. In
the readjustment of country life to the new agriculture and the new social
ideals of cooperation, a new and brighter day has dawned for the country
church. It is a day of new prosperity and of widening service.

This means a new opportunity for the right sort of a country minister
sufficient to claim the life service of strong men. In fact, the task of
readjustment is too difficult for any but strong men. Broken-down
ministers, or men who have failed in the city, must not look to the
country parsonage to-day as a refuge from toil or a temporary harbor for
repairs. The insistent needs of the Kingdom of God in the country to-day
demand strong, efficient men, specifically trained for country service an