Where the conditions are as unfavorable as they are in the Eighteen Counties, it is unquestionably the duty of the church as a whole, and especially of the churches of the prosperous districts, to assist the weaker churches not only with supervision and advice, but also by helping to provide well-trained and well-equipped ministers, thus guarding against the ravages of an ignorant and untrained or unworthy and insincere ministry.
The people of southeastern Ohio will undoubtedly be as responsive to good church work and as ready to follow good religious leadership as the people of similar regions elsewhere. Such work and leadership for many years, at least, they have not had. (See the next chapter.) Their ecclesiastical and religious conditions are such as afford no ground for expecting better social, moral, and physical conditions than those actually found to exist. Surely we cannot accept these conditions as inevitable until the church shall at least have made a serious effort to test the possibilities and learn the results of carrying out a live and modern program.
CHAPTER V
THE CHURCHES IN THE EIGHTEEN COUNTIES
In the Eighteen Counties of Southeastern Ohio some of the older and stronger denominations are well represented, as Table C shows. (See page [39].) No less than 526, or more than one-third, of the total number of churches are Methodist Episcopal. Nearly one-tenth are United Brethren in Christ, another tenth Baptist, one-fifteenth Christian, and one-fifteenth Presbyterian; while other powerful denominations are also present. It is evident that the failure of the churches in this area cannot be laid to the weakness or poverty of the denominations represented, for they are for the most part neither weak nor poor. Ohio, moreover, is a wealthy State, and its churches make large contributions for church work and church extension both in America and abroad.
It has been too commonly held in the past that missionary effort should consist largely in organizing and building churches. We do not believe that proposition is sound. In rural Ohio the worst moral and religious conditions are found where there are the largest number of churches in proportion to the number of inhabitants.
In 39 counties out of a total of 88 in the State, there is one country church for each 275 people or less. (See [Map 5] and [Table A], column 5.) Of these 39 counties, 17 are among the Eighteen Counties under our special consideration. Outside these Eighteen Counties and the counties contiguous to them, no county has an average of less than 228 persons to a church, but it appears that Washington has one church for 226 persons, Monroe one for 214, Pike one for 211, Gallia one for 197, Morgan one for 194, Jackson one for 193, while Vinton has one for 182, and Meigs one church for 178. In the rural sections of these Eighteen Counties there are 1,542 churches and 248 townships, or more than 6 churches to a township.
While the fact that this region is more difficult to travel, because more hilly, than many other parts of the State might constitute a reason for having many churches, it certainly cannot be held that the bad moral and religious conditions which exist are due to lack of a sufficient number of them. Nor is support here to be found for the contention sometimes made that religious work thrives best under competition.