The Evolution of the Country Community: A Study in Religious SociologyWilson, Warren H. (Warren Hugh)
Religion
The Evolution of the Country Community: A Study in Religious Sociology
Wilson, Warren H. (Warren Hugh)
Christian sociology; Country life
The community made up in a degree of new families and the community in
which the newcomers are young men and women, children of the residents,
are bound to educate these invaders of the community, whether they come
from without or whether they come by "birthright membership," in the
spirit of benevolence. The giving of money to public uses is one of the
cherished social forces of our time. The country community is just
entering into the day of cash. The period of barter is over. The farmer
therefore needs in his ethical and his religious training, to have
definite culture as a philanthropist. The future of the farm-hand in
America is still very hopeful. The tenant farmer expects to be an owner.
The farmer's son believes himself to have a future. These hopes from
earliest years should be disciplined by the practise of giving. For this
end the church is a rarely well fitted means. The financial system of
the church must be made democratic. The custom of renting pews belonged
in the land-farmer period. The writer does not suggest that it be
abolished because it can often serve a more democratic purpose in its
mature forms under careful supervision than any substitute, but it is
all important that the country church be a training-school in the
consecration of money to the uses of the community and of the kingdom of
God.
For the average countryman the kingdom of God should be embodied in the
country community. This is not to say that his vision should be narrow.
On the contrary his vision is often of the spread-eagle sort. He
overlooks the opportunities for benevolence which are near at hand. He
believes in foreign missions sometimes, and contributes impulsively to
the support of men in China who are paid a better salary than the pastor
in his own community. He applauds the gifts of millionaires and of city
people generally to hospitals, but he ignores the ravages of disease in
his own community. The divine imperative is that the country community
be first organized, by those who live there, for local well-being. For
this, contributions of money are necessary and they must be made by all
in the community.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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