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
5. One more way of working has proved to be valuable, and well worth
while. Like nearly all small towns, we have a weekly newspaper which finds
its way into most of the homes of the parish. The pastor and the editor
work together in the effort to make it an organ of helpful power in the
community life. For the past three years I have had each week a
column--usually a column and a half--in this paper. It is my regular
Monday forenoon work to write that column. I put into it whatever I think
will be useful to the people, bringing them many a message that would
hardly come appropriately into the pulpit, and reaching in that way many
whom I would not often come in touch with otherwise. The themes are
various, a few may serve as specimens. "How to Keep One's Religion and
Make It Pay," "The Back Yard," "The Test of the Summer Time," "The Man You
Happen to Meet," "The Utility of the Yell," "The Wedding Bells and Funeral
Knells," "Dr. Charles M. Sheldon and His Ideas of an Educated Man," "Be a
Columbus," "The Keen Zest of Living." Any local topic of general interest
is taken up and discussed, and the activities of the church and the social
and literary doings in the various out-stations are brought before the
people. So they are kept constantly aware that something is going on that
is worth while throughout the parish, and I have an opportunity to keep my
ideas before the whole parish. This I consider one of my most valuable
ways of working, and I find that the Pastor's Column is eagerly looked for
and widely read.
This suggests the question whether in the past the pastors of our churches
have sufficiently appreciated the value of printer's ink as an adjunct in
carrying on religious and community work. If the pastor can speak through
the press as well as the pulpit, he is duplicating his influence.