Men and Things

by Henry A. Atkinson

Board of Home Missions. Church Extension. Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Church of All Nations, Boston, provided a sleeping place in its hall for over five hundred of the unemployed in the winter of 1915.

Inspiration for Social Effort. The church is not merely a reform agency. It is not primarily interested in housing, ventilation, sanitation, and labor questions, but is completely interested in the moral aspects of these questions, and their effect upon the life of the community and the life of the individuals in the community. Any church which fails to educate its members to look at all such matters from the moral point of view, and fails to make effective the principles of Jesus in relation to the social life of the community, is falling far short of its duty. It is no wonder that the men and women who are struggling with the evils of society grow impatient with the churches that do not undertake to help humanity. One worker expresses it thus: “The trouble with all social effort is that we have no inspiration for the task. The churches that should be helping us by supplying this inspiration are apparently afraid to take hold of the job.” This is too sweeping a criticism, for there are hundreds of churches that are doing just this thing.

The Church and Other Organizations. Instead of institutional churches, however, we are substituting the socialized church, and it is not what the church is doing as an institution but what it is inspiring others to do in the community that counts most. When the church cannot get any one else to do a certain task, then the church must shoulder the responsibility itself. The church ought to cooperate with the united charities of the community. It will not be enough for it to have merely a member or two on the boards of these organizations; the church as an organization must be in close touch with them, furnishing money and workers, and helping to plan and carry out the plans of the organization. Above all, it must supply the proper spirit of love which will offset that professionalism which is to-day a growing evil in all charitable effort.

The Church and the Outcasts. The church ought to be organized so that the sick and the poor, the unfortunate and the people out of work, would find it a friend and champion. There was a preacher in one of our churches in a certain city who was greatly disliked by all the so-called “respectable” people who knew him. As one man put it, “He has long hair, a long tongue, and is a trouble-maker.” But among the outcasts in the city he was known as the “Chaplain for the nobody-knows-who.” By this term those who loved him meant that he was a friend of the neglected people of the great city. After he died men who had no use for him before began to tell of little illuminating incidents in his life, and thousands of people testified to the fact that he had been an inspiration and a help.

The early Christians were not a very respectable lot of people nor would they have been very congenial. Probably some of our modern churches are so fine that these people would have been considered out of place; but it was to these people that Jesus preached his gospel in the first place, and from them the influence of Christianity spread until the whole life of the Roman world was brought under the control of the new gospel. Now, of course, all the laboring groups that we have been considering are not made up of the poorest people in the community. The heart of the great mass of the people is sound to the core; their principles are strong and their morals are uncorrupted. We are very likely to measure morals by social customs. Just because a man shaves every day and wears a white collar is no sign that he is a gentleman; while the man who wears blue overalls, who shaves once a week, whose face and hands are grimy with toil, is not by these things made an uncouth barbarian. The reverse is very often true. The unions have been educating their members; and the men gathered in these organizations have a fund of common sense and a breadth of judgment that would put to shame men who have had much larger experiences and wider opportunities both for education and travel. The son of a man with a salary of twelve to fifteen thousand a year was expelled from one of our universities a few years ago; and in the same year the honor man in the class was the son of a blacksmith who worked for one of the Western coal-mining companies. This boy was one of a family of six children. With the help and efforts of no one but himself he was able to go through the university and graduate at the head of his class. All the forces of our time are at work leveling the fictitious and mischievous barriers that have been raised between men, and which divide society into groups and classes.

Wider Use of the Church Plant. The church building can be used for very much wider service than at present. The church is usually one of the best-equipped buildings in the community. It has light, air, and heating facilities and can take care of a large number of people. In the Maverick Church, East Boston, they are using the church for club purposes. Just at present plans are being devised whereby this property will be used much more extensively for meeting the new needs put upon the community by the old ship-building industry that has just been revived. Plymouth Church, Oakland, California, is a veritable beehive of industry. Every night different groups gather in the social clubs, sewing classes, cooking classes, and other organizations. The community looks upon this church as the natural meeting-place to discuss vital problems. During the past winter in one of the Baptist churches on the east side of New York different nationalities met night after night and were instructed concerning patriotism and the moral issues of the war by men who spoke the tongues of the men attending.

A Presbyterian church in Du Page County, Illinois, became famous because it made its buildings available for all social activities and interests of the community. A report of this work says: “The older people often attend and engage in play with the young people. Refreshments are served free at these gatherings. Special attention is given to strangers and to the backward boys and girls, and a few of the leaders have always upon their hearts those who are not of the fold of Christ. The people become well acquainted, and such fellowship, such friendships, such companionships are created—all centering around the church!” The writer, telling of the work in another progressive church, says: “This church has learned the value of the inspirational meetings. Two principal ones are held each year. One takes place on New Year’s eve when the whole community, old and young, gather at church as one family to watch the old year out and to welcome in the new. This is no common watch service. The evening is filled to overflowing with good and interesting things. The other great inspirational meeting is held at the close of the church year. It is an all day meeting, and the whole countryside turns out to help round up the year’s work. The ladies serve a banquet at noon free of charge. There is always good music on this occasion and two or three talented participants from outside supplement the home talent. These big meetings are of benefit to the country people. They promote friendship and good fellowship, and the dead level gait always receives a big jolt.” These are just a few of the churches that are making good use of their buildings, and there are hundreds of others all over the country. Whenever you feel that the church is failing, just turn to the record of some church that is really doing what it ought to do. You can easily find some such church, and what is being done in one place can be done in another. People are the same the world over, and all groups can be brought together upon a common level of interests and good fellowship.

A Program of Action. The war has emphasized the necessity of making our communities 100 per cent. American. We are thinking in terms of nationalities and races now because of the present world crisis. We need each community to be not only 100 per cent. American, but 100 per cent. democratic and neighborly. This involves the study of the questions of the relation of the foreigner and of his Americanization; the problems of the housing of the community, and the questions of the eight-hour day and union labor. The charge that the church speaks for the employer rather than for the workingman must be completely answered, so that every workingman in every community will come to realize from practical contact with the churches that he knows that they are not capitalistic institutions. He must learn that they stand for all men; and that they speak fairly and unreservedly for the cause of humanity and champion the rights of men against the encroachment of everything that would crush the spirit of man. The church must interest itself in the problem of recreation. People used to work for a living; now they work for profit. Playtime was formerly not such a problem as it is to-day, for industry was not geared up to the same high pitch of efficiency. To-day the margin of play is about the only margin of an individual’s life when he is really himself. In our cities especially the problem of play is a real problem. The questionable forms of amusement are patronized, not because young men and young women are inherently bad, but because they are the only means of recreation offered. The motion-picture theater is popular because the best of the drama has been put within reach of the average person. Public health should be a vital consideration of the church. In fact, every line of effort that involves the welfare and happiness of human beings is of interest to the Christian church.