urches, and others are lacking in adequate facilities for religious
service.

The time has now come when it is believed that rural population and
agricultural tendencies are sufficiently well known to enable those
interested in rural life development to determine what are the most
suitable centers for community development. The Interchurch World
Movement, had it been carried to a successful conclusion, would have
gone far toward determining those centers for the entire United
States. As it is, the Movement made possible such determination for
about one fifth of the United States and the task of completing the
survey may be accomplished in the course of time.

When this task is completed, then the challenge to the churches of
America will be to so readjust the location of their church buildings
and to remodel them in such a way as to be adapted to the present and
probable future growth of communities so determined. This work is
scarcely begun, but it is believed that it has gone far enough to
insure its ultimate achievement. When this is done, then the local
church will be in a position to deal most effectively with the
community problems mentioned in preceding chapters.

The situation as to location of pastors' residences is even more
serious than that of location of church buildings. During the pioneer
period of church organization ministers were under the necessity of
dividing their efforts among a considerable number of small groups.
These were organized into circuits and the pastor's residence was
provided at the point either where the original church was established
or where it was most convenient for him to serve the preaching points
under his care. Each denomination developed its own work regardless of
other groups and in many cases from the same common center, so that we
now have in rural and village organization pastors' residences
centralized in the minority of rural communities and the great
majority of such communities without resident pastoral care.

In the State of Ohio, for example, in one county of twenty-four
communities but twelve have resident pastors and in these twelve
communities thirty-nine pastors reside. In another of sixteen
communities but eight have resident pastors. Yet in each county there
are enough ministers to supply each community with a resident pastor,
if readjustment were to be made. In the northeastern part of the State
on a single Methodist district are to be found two instance