Six Thousand Country Churches

by Charles Otis Gill; Gifford Pinchot

It has not been possible to collect full data as to the length of the rural minister’s service. But the Conference Records give these data for the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal churches. The terms of service of these ministers are not more brief than those in most of the other denominations.

In the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ohio there were, at the time of the Annual Conference in the autumn of 1917, 664 pastors of country churches (see [Table VI]); 490, or 74 per cent of them, were about to begin their first or second year’s service in their charges; only 174, or 26 per cent, had had two years’ acquaintance with their parishes; 318, or 48 per cent, were beginning their first year of service in their charges; 172, or 26 per cent, were beginning their second year; 110, or 16 per cent, were beginning their third year; while there were only 64, or less than 10 per cent, who had been as long as three years in the parishes they were serving. Only 8, or a little more than 1 per cent, had served as long as five years in their parishes, while only one man had served more than seven years.

TABLE VI

Terms of Service of Methodist Episcopal Country Ministers, 1917

	State of Ohio	Per cent	Ohio Conference	West Ohio Conference	Northeast Ohio Conference
Total number of ministers	664	100	144	226	294
No. beginning 1st or 2nd year of service in their charges	490	74	115	161	214
No. beginning their 1st year of service in their charges	318	48	78	97	143
No. beginning their 2nd year of service in their charges	172	26	37	64	71
No. beginning their 3rd year of service in their charges	110	16	20	37	53
No. who have been two years or more in their charges	174	26	29	65	80
No. who had served three years or more in their present charges	64	10	9	28	27
No. who had served four years or more in their present charges	18	3	3	2	13
No. who had served five years or more in their present charges	8	1	2	1	5
No. who had served six years or more in their present charges	3	Less than one	0	0	3
No. who had served seven years or more in their present charges	1	"	0	0	1
No. who had served eight years or more in their present charges	1	"	0	0	1

In Table VII it appears that in 2 of the 1,170 strictly rural townships there is a church for each 99 persons or less; that in 227 townships there are from 100 to 199 persons to a church; that in 446 there are from 200 to 299 persons; that in 270 townships there are from 300 to 399; that in 122 townships there are from 400 to 499; that in 53 townships there are from 500 to 599; and that in 45 townships there are 600 persons or more to a church.

In other words, in 675, or 58 per cent, of the townships, there are less than 300 persons, men, women, and children, to a church; in 945, or 81 per cent, of the townships, there are less than 400; in 1,067, or 91 per cent, there are less than 500; while in 103, or only 9 per cent, there are more than 500 persons to a church.

TABLE VII

Average Number of Persons to a Church in 1,170 Rural Townships