CHART VII

Country
Churches		 Village
Churches		 Town
Churches		 City
Churches		 Total
Average seating capacity 129[5] 177[6] 285 436 233
Average active membership 18 36 91 196 56
Average attendance at services 34 37 72 112 65

It is evident from the table above that the churches are only about one-fourth filled on the average. Nothing is more disheartening than a church three-quarters empty in which the echoes of the minister’s voice reverberate over the vacant seats.

Union Services

Tangible evidence of coöperation and good-will among churches of different denominations is found in “union” services, which thirty-eight churches might reasonably hold in these counties. Just twenty-one of these churches do unite, the majority for Thanksgiving Day services and in fewer instances, for Chautauqua, Baccalaureate, Memorial Day, and summer evening services. In two instances, two churches, Methodist and Presbyterian, are uniting for services and Sunday schools, their other organizations meeting separately. Since the time of the survey, two churches, located in an overchurched hamlet, have also temporarily put this plan into effect.

A CASE OF COÖPERATION

The M. E. Church at Blunt, S. D., which being pastorless joined with the Presbyterian Church for preaching services.

Evangelism

A greater portion of the evangelistic work is done through revival meetings, although less than half of the churches hold them. Of all the members admitted on confession of faith by all the churches during the year, 76 per cent. were converted in revival meetings, and joined one of the churches holding such a revival. Thirty-one of the seventy churches held or united in thirty such meetings, one being a union meeting of two churches. Pastors conducted fifteen meetings, in three of which a neighboring pastor or evangelist assisted. Fourteen meetings were held by visiting clergymen. The meetings were well attended, extending from seven to thirty-five days, the average meeting lasting thirteen days. Eighty-seven per cent. of the 385 converts and the thirteen who were reclaimed joined the churches holding the revival. This gain amounted to 72 per cent. of the total gain in membership made by these same thirty-one churches during the entire year. Forty-four per cent. of all the churches held revivals, and while they represent only 45 per cent. of the total harvest by confession and letter, yet three-fourths of all the gain made by confession of faith were obtained by these churches.