Six Thousand Country Churches

by Charles Otis Gill; Gifford Pinchot

By the same method we find that in the suburban rural townships and rural sections of townships containing cities and towns of more than 2,500 inhabitants, 419 of the 582 churches have a membership of 100 or less; 325 of 75 or less; while 198 churches have a membership of 50 or less. We therefore calculate that of 6,642, or all the rural churches, 4,529 or 68 per cent have a membership of not more than 100; 3,641, or 55 per cent, a membership of not more than 75; and 2,425 or 37 per cent a membership of not more than 50.

TABLE II

Churches Classified According to Number of their Members

	Rural townships		Per cent		Other rural sections		Per cent		All sections		Per cent
No. churches whose membership is reported	4,941		100		451		100		5,392		100
No. of these whose membership is less than 101	3,351		67.8		325		72		3,676		68
No. of these whose membership is less than 76	2,704		54.7		252		56		2,956		55
No. of these whose membership is less than 51	1,817		36.7		153		34		1,860		36
No. churches whose membership data are not available	1,119		18		131		23		1,250		19
Calculated minimum number of churches whose membership is less than 101	4,110*		68		419*		72		4,529		68
Calculated minimum number of churches whose membership is less than 76	3,316*		55		325*		56		3,641		55
Calculated minimum number of churches whose membership is less than 51	2,227*		37		198*		34		2,425		37
No. churches reporting whose membership is from 1 to 25	651		13		45		10		696		13
No. churches reporting whose membership is from 26-50	1,116		23		108		24		1,274		24
No. churches reporting whose membership is from 51-75	887		18		99		22		986		18
*Note: Reckoned as follows:	3351 + .678 × 1119 = 4110 2704 + .547 × 1119 = 3316 1817 + .367 × 1119 = 2227				325 + .72 × 131 = 419 252 + .56 × 131 = 325 153 + .34 × 131 = 198
No. churches reporting whose membership is from 76-100	647		13		73		16		720		13
No. churches reporting whose membership is 101-150	757		15		62		14		819		15
No. churches reporting whose membership is from 151-200	375		8		32		7		407		8
No. churches reporting whose membership is more than 200	458		9		32		7		490		9
Calculated number of churches whose membership is more than 200	561		9		40		7		601		9

In 313, or 27 per cent, of the strictly rural townships, no church has a resident minister (see [Table III]); in 575, or 39 per cent of the villages, no church has a resident minister; and in 4,007, or 66 per cent, of the churches, there is no resident minister. Only 982 churches, or 16 per cent, have the full time service of a minister; 1,581 churches, or 26 per cent, have one-half the service of a minister; 5,026, or 83 per cent, have one-half time service or less; 3,445, or 57 per cent, have one-third time service or less; 2,320, or 39 per cent, have one-fourth time service or less; while 721, or 12 per cent of the 6,060 churches in the strictly rural townships have no regular service of a minister at all.

The percentages do not materially differ in the suburban townships. In the combined total of 1,343 rural townships and suburban townships which contain sections of open country and villages of less than 2,500 inhabitants, we find that 335, or 25 per cent, of the townships have no churches served by a resident minister; that in 634, or 40 per cent, of the villages there is no resident minister; that 4,431, or 67 per cent, of the churches have no resident minister; that only 1,065 churches, or 16 per cent, have the full time service of a minister; that 1,766, or 27 per cent, have one-half the service of a minister; that 5,521, or 84 per cent, have one-half time service or less; that 3,755, or 57 per cent, have one-third time service or less; that 2,518, or 38 per cent, have one-fourth time service or less; while 755, or 11 per cent, of the 6,642 country churches of Ohio, have no regular service of a minister at all.

TABLE III

Amount of Ministerial Service by Townships, Villages and Churches

	Rural townships	Per cent	Other rural sections	Per cent	All rural sections	Per cent
No. townships whose churches are without resident ministers	313	27	22	12	335	25
No. villages which have a resident minister	901	61	54	48	955	60
No. villages without a resident minister	575	39	58.5	52	634	40
No. churches with resident minister	2,053	34	158	28	2,211	33
No. churches without resident minister	4,007	66	424	74	4,431	67
No. churches with full time service of a minister	982	16	83	14	1,065	16
No. churches with ½ time service of a minister	1,581	26	185	32	1,766	27
No. churches with ½ time service of a minister or less	5,026	83	495	85	5,521	84
No. churches with ⅓ time service of a minister or less	3,445	57	310	53	3,755	56.5
No. churches with ¼ time service of a minister or less	2,320	39	198	34	2,518	38
No. churches with no regular service of a minister	721	12	62	11	755	11
No. churches with ⅓ time service of a minister	1,125	19	112	19	1,237	19
No. churches with ¼ time service of a minister	970	16	96	16	1,066	16
No. churches for which data are not available	52	1	4	1	56	1

Of the 6,060 churches in the wholly rural townships, 3,253, or 54 per cent, are in villages whose inhabitants number from 51 to 2,500 persons, while 2,807, or 46 per cent, are in the open country. (See [Table IV].) In the suburban rural townships 198, or 34 per cent, of the churches are in villages containing from 51 to 2,500 persons, while 384, or 66 per cent, are in the open country.