Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 64:254 (Apr 1907)
Article: An Answer To The New England Country Church Question
Author: George Frederick Wells

BSac 64:254 (April 1907) p. 314

An Answer To The New England Country Church Question

George Frederick Wells

The first essential in the solution of the so-called problem of religious and moral decadence among the byways and hedges of what has been America’s truest Utopia is a sufficiently broad, unbiased, and practical interpretation of all the facts and factors concerned. The purpose of a fresh discussion of the New England country church question is to present such an interpretation.

The strenuous and too often tragic experience of country churches in meeting the changed conditions and needs of our times is important, and many strong men have treated it in various ways. But in spite of this, and the wide-spread enterprise of social and religious workers, there is danger that, even yet, we may come short of success, because our standpoint of interpretation is too small and narrow, or because it is inconsistent with the facts of the field or with a true idea of the Christian church.

When we look at the expert work which has already been done in this field, whether it be evangelical or liberal in theology, revolutionary or constructive in design, scientific or fragmentary in form, we find that the mass of material properly related forms almost a distinct science in itself.

Rollin Lynde Hartt has been of great service in arousing interest in the situation as it has appeared to him. No more

BSac 64:254 (April 1907) p. 315

scholarly man has pondered the problem than President De Witt Hyde, but his work is not yet fully appreciated. Dr. Samuel W. Dike has blazed the trail in a truly scientific manner, but he has called himself only a beginner. Pioneer statistical work of great merit has been done by Dr. Henry Fairbanks. Dr. Josiah Strong and Wilbert L. Anderson have made valuable contributions as interpreters of the industrial phases of the environment of our changing church life. The rapidly developing sciences of rural sociology and economics, under such men as President Kenyon L. Butterfield and Professor G. N. Lauman, promise to be of great help in the near future. It is devoutly to be hoped that the statistical work of the denominational home missionary societies and the Sunday-school associations, and the researches of the Young Men’s Christian Association in country territories, are about to emerge into their scientific stage.

Before taking up the leading seemingly inadequate interpretations of the country church problem, the Christian church itself must be defined.

It is not enough to say that the Christian church is simply the social institution of the religious life: there are religious social institutions that are not churches. Neither is it always true that the most s...