eighboring cities. A room in
the upstairs of the town hall was opened up and fitted for basketball.
Leadership for clubs was provided by college students training for
community service. The result was that this group of young men, of
exceptionally good native qualities but spoiling morally for want of
adequate provision for recreational life, came to the community center
and for the time being avoided the lower forms of social and
recreational activity.

These illustrations prove three things: first, the need of such
equipment; second, the fact that young people prefer and choose the
better when it is provided for them; and, third, that the church can
solve many of its most serious problems most readily by attacking the
source of corruption of the morals of young people through caring for
recreational interests. The minister who neglects this powerful force
in attempting to build a Christian civilization is failing to take
advantage of one of the greatest instruments God has placed in his
hands. Yet it is the sad fact that in too many instances ministers are
failing to take advantage of the forces at hand, and that even those
who have caught the vision of the possibilities of these other forces
are not trained to use them safely.

The number of village communities that have organized social and
recreational life is still so small that when such movements are
discovered they receive widespread comment in the public press. One
can drop into almost any village in America and make inquiries as to
what is being done for conserving the recreational life by the church
or any other community agency, and the answer will be that nothing is
done either in providing leadership or buildings and equipment. Much
good work has been done for specific groups by the Christian
Associations, and now the American Playground Association, the Red
Cross, and other organizations are applying themselves to the task of
bringing about a better condition in smaller communities. But the work
accomplished by all of them is still, as compared with the task in
hand, scarcely more than a beginning. The church with a paid community
leader in each community offers the solution for most rapid and
permanent progress; and the outlook for rapid development under
religious auspices is most hopeful.

CHAPTER V

BUILDING FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE

The thesis that the church should provide building and equipment for
conservation of the social and recrea