“AND YE sfiALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE
1,1928.
VOL. L.
THE CHURCH AMD THE COMMUNITY
(Paper read at the Presbyterian Workers’ Conference held at
Haines Institute, Augusta, Ga., January 31st to February 3rd.)
By Rev. William Sample, Birmingham, Ala.
Since the church and tie
community are of souls that in
common need the atoning blood
of a crucified Saviour, the se
quence of thought is that they
are one, and in like manner need
a program that is common in
every respect. This common
< need is vital because it is im
possible for the church and the
community to be at sword?'
points respecting their pro
grams or to differ to a very
great extent and at the same
time blend their voices in giving
praise to the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the
world. But a correlated interest
pf the church and the commun
ity means that there will be a
spiritual concurrence of the two
—the church and the communi
ty/
The Church and the Community
as a Unit.
gfnce the church is in the com
inunity find is of the community
the great problem that confronts
110 is removing that visible line
of demarcation that has sepa
rated foe church from the com
munity for years and thereby
resulted in a dual, weak force
when unification would have
been the synonym of power.
The first approach to this
problem, namely, the removing
of the aforementioned danger
line of demarcation so as to
make unification of the church
and the community possible,
would be to train—just as the
every member canvassers are
uwiiu «**■»*»
of the eommunftyantf to fend
them out as a nucleus.
The next approach will be for
the church’s program to be
formed so that it will not only
feed and cause to grow its im
mediate communicants but reach
out to the community hillsides,
valleys and plains and feed the
wandering sheep and lambs, for
to be sure the Master meant
these when He said, “Feed my
sheep.” This program must be
such that it will not baffle the
many minds that represent the
church membership and the peo
ple of foe community. All of
tnege mfnds foat typre§en£ ya
gm Israel pf training fpust
i d^n pptyafd and UW*™
SP foa| foefr Ipye may pipe! at
foe P?ps§ pf Jesps.
Agajn, Xm PWaPt
JR
p^UfcH jfias Jopg §inee lest much
pf its power as a community
forge ^ecapge (t ha§ pffeyed the
community a dull, impractical
9PPCTam 0? 80 program at all.
gvery community ia qoinpesed
of people as a whole who know
but little about theory of every
day religion and care less. But
they—the community people—
are intensely concerned about
the practical problems that are
daily before them. When the
church becpjnegaWg tq fcelp thP
gojnp\}nity witp Qijse practical
pfohlejn§—<sufh a§ W.«»»
gducatmg the children and
thm wb h0w
U8S whatever little they may
have to the greatest advantage—
then there will no longer be a
question mark behind the
church's name respecting it as
a community force fqr gqc^
moral 8f 9 SRiptua) indentation
“‘11# Wff
t£ecjpui% ifee program must
W»t «nlp fee PfacM tot lmg
’s grays pppqe?: a
—^pr—
on tbeir way to some plage, ete,
And this program is flowed by
inviting all to the basement or
to some place of convenience or
inconvenience to be served with
a spoonful of dressing on a cab
bage leaf* ."two crackers with
salmon between, and a sip of
coffee, and home made cream
half frozen. This says to the
community that the church is a
cheap organ. When the church
will have real church banquets
where its members can become
acquainted with each other;
when the church will put dollars
rather thari dimes in their social
banquets, just as fraternal or
ganizations do, then will the
church attract the community.
The church courts ought to ta
boo cheap church suppers.
These programs must be at
tractive and appealing to the
development of the whole man.
This program can not be formed
by men jvho never, think of it
until they are m the church or
are asfced to serve m it§ gpm
mittee. Neither can it be draft
ed it} a call meeting oi tne ses^
sion immediately after the Sab
bath mprnmg geyvice fiien jnen
are anxious to get home; but it
must be the result of sane
thought , and prayer so that the
organizations that are tangent
to the community may be led
by the bgsf that the church has
for Christ. .
The Sabbath School Council
If the church responds to the
community’s programs, in turn
the community will respond to
the church’s. These immortal
words came. from the Master s
lips, “I must need go through
Samaria.” This need was urgent
to the Master because He real
presence. Me ma not gtr%© ine
churches of Samaria and pitch
a revival, but sat on the com
munity well ahd preached a
wonderful sermon to a commun
ity woman, wh°> in return,
caused many to be led to Jesus.
In like manner will the commun
ity respond to the church if it
shows community interest. Just
a few months ago §ur church
took interest in the community,
and, to start with, was able to
procure the services of Miss Ju
lia Mae Kennedy, who is a very
fine mezzo-soprano, and was one
of the controling powers of the
Charles P. Williams Jubilee
Singers of Chicago. She organ
ized a community choir of 50
voices and gave them training 3
times a week. The record §hows
that theye was 'ap average pf 60
persons at each gathering for
practice. Three programs were
rendered, each to a capacity
house. From these programs
our names Were in every nook
and corner of Birmingham, for
both white and colored were
there,
Now there are tnree commun
ity organizations that meet in
our church: The Enon Ridge
Civic Club, the Shop Men, com
posed of men who work in va
rious shops and the Employees
and Officiate of‘the Frisco Rail
road. This is becai^se tjie
church sftoiy§ a gouununjty in
terest
Not ©nty is ©up ©hUFQil the
headquarters for these commun
ity products but the community
is responsible for the operating
of the Miller Memorial Presby
terian School that was disband
ed last year by the Board of Na
tional Missions. This school has
285 students a$d six teachers
who have been together since
last September. Every dol\ap
that it has taken thhS lap to
;run t^is school came out of the
community’s pocket book; yes,
the community will respond
the PP08^m the
church responds to the commun
ity, '.
The Church, The Community’s
Social and Recreational Center.
Before the community can be
redeemed for Christ,. “Back to
the Church for itg Sociaf a^
Recreational Center!” must be
the slogan of the Christian peo
ple. The inadequacy of the
present day institutions of reli
gion is from the standpoint of
social and recreational develop
ment for the youth. It is sad
to relate that the majority of
such institutions have no space
in their religious programs for
social and recreational develop
ment of the youth. Because of
this condition, this phase of hu
man development—social and
recreational—as carried on ac
cording to the world's idea be
yond the church zone. The af
termath is a moral and an ethic
al break down which chokes out
the Master’s (Spirit and contri
butes tq the defeat of the
church in her chief objective
raving souls, 0 church, awake
thou that sleepest and arise from
the dead and inculcate Into your
religious program specifications
for the social or recreational
development of our youth!
Then the community will be
glad to transform its powers in
to yours.
The dominating, hangful spir
it that has characterized the
church in its attempt to capture
the community for Chrigt, is
trying & d© gt th§ expense
of the clear-cut gospel. If the
community is to be won to
Christ the gospel must be
preached in no uncertain terms,
for it has no substitute. If the
chief objective of the church is
recreational and social develop
ment it wil| reduce jtgelf |g tjie
level of a community playground
instead of being an agency for
soul salvation. yye pannot
play children jnto tlpd's King
dom. We * must lead them into
it. When the cjijirph wins, fhe
community we c$n join Kipling
“Those that are goqd sha^l bo
happy,
They shalPsit in a golden chair.
They shall splash at a ten
league canvasg
With brushes of comet’s hair.
None but the Master shall praise
them,
None but tjie Master shall
blamg,
None shall work for fame.
All for the joy of working,
Each in its separate star,
Shall paint the things as he sees
them,
For the glory of Gqd as t^ey
are.” ''
MEN MORE UNHAPPY THAN
MfOME$.
It’s a sadder world for men
than for women—if 168 Cana
dian students who have taken a
test of the empfipnal stability
and fair sample^ of tfce sexe^.
The students angweped a long
list of questions? such as *‘€|an
you do good work while people
are looking on?” “Do ideas run in
your head so that you cannot
sleep ?” and “Is it easy tq get
you cross and gyqqGhy-?”’
Men appear to be more serious
and unhappy tfcan ^-opaep, ac
cording- tq By.; £. W, Btf4gei»
psychologist pf MoOiU Univer
sity, who conducted the investi
gation, and who has just report
ed his results. Contrary to pop
ular notion, men arc more trou
bled by hearts'thumping from
excitement and nervousness
than women.
On the, other hand, Dr. Bridg
es reports that women are more
subject to dreaming, aye jnere
abnormal ip sex life, have
more fears and , worries, are
more undecided, more sensitive
to pain and other uijftlaaaant ex
perience^ ^hey are perhaps
not such “good mixers” as men,
since they are more hashfnV Wd
have grater- difficulty in mak
ing friends. "
Students who, are superior in
academic workJhave more psy
cho-neurotic symptoms than av
erage and inferior students, h«
found. ' \ .
fORD TO GOODWILL
N
Mr. Editor:
am not hurt; no, not
nor hell-shocked;
-burned by the small
back by Elder Sanders
faithful dei* of the
r Goodwill Presbyterian
But I have had my
trailed on bigger game,
>w that Dr. James H.
i made a most successful
wgh two
of our colored
and «id Mrs. Am
' Capron, of Booneville,
ye finished a most sal
visit of inspection to
;ey Memorial Academy,
t a bit free to take an
md, I hope, final pistol
Goodwill situation,
what the good
to say* 1 am reminded
r familiar story which
Prof. S. B. Pride used
He said a certain pro
•ught to try his students
of concentration, so
them this story: there
in farmer who had a
of corn, and the squir-?
m went into the ham and
corn. tPhe farmer saw
On the barn one day
his shot gun and fired
barn at the squirrel,
lent called out : “Did he
set thi barn on fire?” Another
one, “I id the corn get burned ?”
A noth* c, “Did he call the fire
deparfi lent?” Another, “Did the
neighq r§’ houses get byrned?11’
But after nearly all of tfie class
had a§ ted like questions there
was obje small boy, whom the
professor noticed had not opened
his month, so he said, “V^eU,
Johnnie what fiaye you to say ?”
JohnnSS&iUecL “Well, I just
all Brother Sain has had to say-,
but still he has given me and
the public no reason why '‘It
would not be possible for Good
will church to entertain Presby
tery in March.” Don’t §ay so
much, but tell u§ why.
I was at the Presbytery which
met in Fgrt MiH, S. C., in March,
1926, and some one on the floor
of the Presbytery asked the
Goodwill church to take the
Presbytery at the Fall meeting
of Presbytery wh^h ffiet in
Camden, §. September, 1926.
At this time some one asked if
it were not Goodwill’s time to
entertain the Presbytery whWh
March, 192^, gtitf no invita
tion came from Goodwill. So
met with the Melina church,
when we met at the Hermori
church, Rgck Hill, September,
1927, the Presbytery not haying
an invitation from any of its
churches tQ hold tto nest meet
ing with them in accordance
with the law of the Church, vot
ed on its own adjournment to
hold its next stated meeting
with the Goodwill church, which
is the largest the Presbytery,
and which had not entertained
the Presbytery §iw?e. 4^1, -
The good elder is right when
he says, that the Presbytery
voted t© hold its next meeting
at the Goodwill church over the
pastor’s registered protest, This
is true, but I was sq ashamed of
the pastor’s position, under the
circumstances, until I just did
not want to tell the public about
it; but since the elder has told
it, why all I can say is, yes* it
I is true.
I might giv§ a little personal
experience here which can be
easily verified by many of the
ministers and elders of our Pres
bytery. I have invited the Pres
bytery on more than one occa
sion to meet on my field when
the Presbytery had no invita
I tfon, and my session and congre
gation were glad to entertain
l them, and did entertain royally,
i so that Cheraw Second Presby
terian church is often called the
‘Home of the Fairfield Presby
tery,’" and jny people are mighty
proud of me as their pastor,
isn't it strange what different
—
reasons people can have for be
ing proud of their pastor?
What the good brother has to
say about the Goodwill church
standing back and letting the
weaker churches entertain the
Presbytery so as to help them
and help to establish Presbyte
rianism to me is a real joke.
Now. yihat makes a church weak
or strong? Numbers surely have
something to do with it, but
certainly not all. Take, if you
please, the' matter of benevo
lence. It would be hard to find
a weaker church anywhere in
our Presbytery than the Good
will church. Not once since
1918, the first year we had a
Benevolence Quota, has this
strong Goodwill church raised
its full Benevolence Quota. You
have never seen their name on
the “Honor Roll,” yet many of
the smaller churches have raised
their entire quotas from year to
year. My own church happens
to be one of them.
I have been the Treasurer of
Fairfield Presbytery since 1920
and the Goodwill church has
only paid its full General As
sembly and Fresbyterial assess
ment^ twice since I heve. been
Treasurer, whereas most of the
smaller churches pay in full
every year.
In 1922 the Goodwill church
reported 600 communicants to
the General Assembly. But in
1927 they reported only 5QQ,
These facts would seem td indi
cate that, after this churfeh
is not SQ strong as possibly she
imagines herSelf to be, and the
Presbytery might be & good
thing even for Goodwill. Yes,
Brother Gain, I think it is time
your church was entertaining.
rou say you nave quite a
large congregation, and that it it
growing numerically, spiritually
and hnaneiatty. What do you
mean? How do you count? Last
year you reported 576 commun
icants to the General Assembly
and this year you report only
500. What have you t© aay for
yourself ? "Guilty" or “Not
guilty V If you do not believe
me look in your General Assem
bly Minutes. What did you do
with the sQuia you gathered in?
Wq added 52 to our church roll
last year and hope to add 100
this year.
I quite agree with you when
you say wise men make their
speeches after they have in
quired into facta and know what
they are talking about. Do the
above facts convince you that I
know what I am talking about?
If they don’t I have a few more
I can pass in, but since thia is
only my “pistol” and not my
“cannon” I think, 1 have aaid
enough*
T wish, finally, to plead guilty
to the insinuation that I do make
a little noise sometimes and in
cidentally attract some atten
tion. I am inclined to believe
that Colored Presbyterians in
general ought to make a little
more “noise” and “attract” a
little more attention by under
taking real, big things for God
and the Church. •
Now, Mr. Editor, remember
that this is my first newspaper
“scrap.” T submit my case to
your readers. I do not think I
shall have more to say on the
subject.
I G. W. LONG.
Cheraw, S. C.
NOTICE.
The annual meeting of Yad
kin Presbytery will be with the
Pine Street Presbyterian church,
Durham, N. C., April 11, at 7 :S0.
P. M. Every church is expected
to pay its General Assembly as
sessment in full. All chufth
records must be hand fhr ex
“ffrand
Our Sunday school sent? ten
dollars to the Board
Missions as their
offering. Considering the
dition of J&e students from a
financial
health of the,students
continues to be very good. The
past week we had only one girl
sick for tvp days.
The musical department has
began to show the results of the
intensive training it has been
undergoing. It is an evident
fact that the colored student is
inherently Constructed to be mu
sical. -V ..
Wepiad as our very pleasant
visitor' from /the Board of Na
tional Missions office Jfiss Ro
berta Barr, of Los Angeles, Gal.
The President and Miss Barr
visited the class rooms while
they were in session, the dormi
tories of both boys and'girls, the
kitchen, store rooms, campus,
and all other places which we
used for the work. She made a
very inspiring talk at the lunch
hour. Dr. Tucker arranged a
nice musical program for her at
the music appreciation period at
which time she spoke to the
whole student body. In her
message she spoke of the many
places she had been and the
general tendency to a lethargy
in Christian work* She ap^etitd
to the students •* to - prepare
themselves tp do a greater work
than their parents were doing
and'said the training Of the
mid- heart is necessary to
accomplish it. She- showed by
the censuses taken in
jority- of the students were from
other denominations and that
they received the same intensive
intellectual training without
trying to be coerced in their re
ligious choice. This is tp be one
of the redeeming features of a
religious institution for world
good, because, she said, ::If you
are a good Christian in your
own denomination and nothing
else, you fail to be a twentieth
century Christian, but you must
be a Christian of the world."
She spoke of the work in Alas
ka, the Navajo Indians, India,
China and Africa and the moun
tain districts as well as among
the colored people of the South*
In the evening Miss Barr met
the women of the St. Mark's
Presbyterian church and gave
them an outline of the work of
missions and the part they have
to play to put the program over.
The church was well filled and
the women seemed to be inspired
with the remarks of the speak
er.
All of the auxiliaries of the
school met with Miss Barr and
outlined the work of the Bgard
to them.' The school, the com
munity and the whole town
seamed to be lifted up by this
good ambassador of the King.
CREAM FROM SUGAR CANE
Washington, Feb. 18,—Cane
cream, a new sugar by-product
developed by the bureau of
chemistry, has proved to fee
such a popular delicacy in the
South that the government is
now introducing it to Northern
cookery experts. A deep brown
in color, the new offering is more
or less of a medium flavor . be-,; ^
tween the Canadian Maple, k
cream, s.thick spread made from
maple sugar, and the molasses
syrup popular for use on pan
cak^: .:‘2M; j|, .;.,iy,,
Experts aajr the flavor retains
to an unusual degree the taste
of the original sugar juice. Mo
lasses is the juice remaining
after the making of sugar by
juice, thick, creamy And syrupy.