The Making of a Country Parish: A Story — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Making of a Country Parish: A Story
John Stuart Mill · en
Nothing has been finished. The work is a growth, and is still in the
process of development. We are all the while finding something more to do
for the people, and larger possibilities of service are opening up before
us continually. But it may be said to have passed beyond the experimental
stage. Nobody looks upon it any longer as simply an experiment. It is a
practical plan in successful operation. The church has come to have a
well-defined policy. The people have accepted the idea of the Larger
Parish and are coöperating heartily in carrying it out. The work has been
organized in respect to various community human interests, and is moving
on with a fair degree of satisfaction. We are now in a position to deliver
_some_ goods--at least enough to prove that we are working a practical
scheme; enough, as we believe, to be a sure prophecy of greater results in
the future.
I. RELIGIOUS AND EVANGELISTIC PROGRESS
First, I will speak of some methods used and some things done that show
religious advance. This must be the crucial test of any church work. It
must be work for the kingdom of God. It must bring people into harmony
with God and his truth, it must line them up on the side of Jesus Christ,
or it cannot be said to be successful, however many other desirable things
it may accomplish. It is not easy to tabulate spiritual results. Any
showing that can be made on paper may be more than the truth or less than
the truth. Reports of organizations and methods and activities may be
misleading. The most that they can do is to approximate the truth. And
yet, that is the only way we have of reporting spiritual results. The
results of religious work must appear in the lives of the people, in the
Christian sentiment of the community, in the upward trend of all things
that make for righteousness and for the establishment and prevalence of
the kingdom of God. These things cannot be definitely reported, but some
things can be mentioned that will indicate progress.
The work has been fairly well organized throughout the whole parish and is
moving steadily forward in definite directions. There are now twelve
points where regular Sunday services are held in this territory, which
comprises one whole township and portions of five others. These services
are held in one church, six chapels, four schoolhouses, and one private
home. Other points are asking for services, but with our present force no
more work can be undertaken. These preaching points are so arranged that
no family, with the exception of a few who live in one remote corner of
the parish, need go more than a mile and a half to find a place of
worship. The aggregate attendance on these services will average not far
from six hundred, in a population of twenty-five hundred--about one fourth
of the inhabitants of the parish being present with some degree of
regularity.