Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 49:195 (Jul 1892)
Article: The Institutional Church
Author: Charles S. Mills

BSac 49:195 (July 1892) p. 453

The Institutional Church

Rev. Charles S. Mills

The phrase “Institutional Church” is only a few years of age. Its genealogy is shrouded in the mist which so often gathers about the children of our modern philology, but behind its coining lies a movement pregnant with help for the solution of the most serious problem of to-day. That problem is the correction of the acknowledged defects of our modern social life. To this the best thought of this generation has been given. Many present-day tendencies have been deplored. Their menacing import has been clearly shown. Relief is eagerly sought. The church is asked to help, and the inquiry is earnestly made, whether it should limit its function, as it has so largely in the past, to the provision of public worship and the ministry to the spiritual nature.

The Christian heart responds to this appeal. It catches with eager welcome such words as those of Canon Free-mantle describing the church as “a moral and social power, present, universal, capable of transforming the whole life of mankind, and destined to accomplish that transformation.” We, as followers of Christ, accept this definition as voicing our hope and faith. But when, in the spirit of this hope, we investigate present social needs, we find ourselves facing a thorough readjustment of our ideas as to the sphere of the church and its equipment for work. Nothing makes the necessity of this change more apparent than the direct, practical examination of the conditions of life for the aver-

BSac 49:195 (July 1892) p. 454

age young man in our great cities, where, it is well known, these social needs centre. This average young man we find living in an unattractive home or a cheap boarding-house, where there is little or no provision for pleasant society and recreation. It is evident that the strong young life has a natural and justifiable desire for these things. We cannot expect him to repress it. But where has he an opportunity to gratify it? He will not stay in his little room, hot in summer, unheated in winter. He has no talisman by which he may open the doors of some beautiful home, and, even if he had, he would not feel in place there. He sees many churches, but their doors are locked. He cannot enter if he would; or if, perchance, he finds one open, it is for the religious service, which does not attract him. He wants fun, not preaching or prayers. The library, the Central Christian Association Building are too far away for him to walk to them, and he cannot afford to ride. But at every turn he meets the invitation of the evil one. Here is the low theatre, with its blazing lights, its brass band, its exciting plays, its merry-making crowd. There is the saloon. Many of his own age are entering it. It is warmed and lighted, and within he...