made to see that local conditions are
made such that the pastor can render the best service. It must be
recognized that the application for outside aid is in itself an
admission of local weakness. The people are poor, or indifferent to
the type of service to which they have been accustomed. There has been
unforeseen disaster, as the destruction of church property by fire or
in some other way. Sudden movements of population have temporarily
weakened the support of the church and new resources have not yet been
developed. Circuit systems must be broken up so that people will be
willing to support full-time resident pastors with efficient programs
for service. Customs of expecting the pastor to make his living in
outside work and attending to religious service as a side issue must
be overcome. The pastor's residence may be in such condition that
families cannot be sacrificed for the sake of missionary communities
and residences must be supplied by liberal outside aid as the
preliminary to effective service. Church buildings are inadequate, and
the trained minister must be given every assurance that aid will be
rendered in bringing physical equipment up to par. In each case the
problems that present themselves must be met. The demands of any one
charge do not compare with the demands of any other. And methods must
be adapted to meet the specific needs of each charge. These are
matters that must be left to those responsible for administration of
missionary funds.

When the religious forces of America learn their problems so that a
long-time organized program of religious advance can be worked out,
when they learn to cooperate in carrying out this program, then the
haphazard, wasteful, competitive missionary program that has
characterized rural religious work in the past will disappear and we
shall see one of the most marked advances in religious welfare the
world has ever known.

CHAPTER XI

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

In the preceding chapters the effort has been made to outline some of
the conditions and principles involved in organizing the rural church
for community service. The field has been limited by distinguishing
between that type of service which has to do with man's relation to
his Maker and that which has to do with his relations to his fellow
man. The latter service has been chosen as the field for the present
discussion, and the effort has been made to keep within the field,
regardless of the desira