The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Sheet 164

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

The Abandonment
of the Country Church.

The tendency toward abandonment of the small,
open-country church in many of our States is grow-
ing. The rural-church survey, for example, taken
in Ohio several years ago brought to light that 1,058

An Abandoned Rural Church.

country churches had been abandoned. And if a
survey were to be made to-day, this number very
probably would have to be greatly increased.

The problem of the abandoned country church
is not peculiar to any denomination. On the con-
trary, the 1,058 churches which had closed their
doors were to be found among all the various de-
nominations, though there were very few Roman
Catholic churches and probably not a single church
belonging to the Synodical Conference.

The directors of the survey reported 223 Meth-
odist Episcopal churches, 110 United Brethren,
91 Baptist, 45 Disciples of Christ, 57 Pres-
byterian, 36 Lutheran, and other churches
of various denominations. The wide de-
nominational distribution is taken as con-
clusive proof that the discontinuance of
these rural religious centers is not due
to any weakness in the programs of the
bodies represented, but must be attributed
to changing economic and social condi-
tions, strong forces, against which these -
institutions find it impossible to contend.

; That the rural congregations of the

_ Synodical Conference and the Roman

Catholic Church have not been affected by these
economic and social conditions in any marked degree
must, we feel, be attributed to the greater practical
interest which these bodies show in the religious in-
struction of the young. These bodies lead all others
in the maintenance of parish-schools, Saturday- and
vacation-schools for the religious training of their
children, and in the very nature of things the main-
tenance of these schools demands that the religious
educational center be within a reasonable distance of
the homes of the children. Where a church organiza-
tion has no other religious instruction for the chil-
dren than that afforded by the Sunday-school, the
need of a near-by religious center is not particularly
great, since old and young are drawn to that center
on Sunday and the children may be conveyed to
their place of religious instruction without incon-
venience and loss of time.

One Great Factor.

Within the past fifteen to twenty years the auto-
mobile has become a highly important factor in
rural social life, and its increasing use has been
accompanied by a wide-spread improvement of our
roads. The country resident finds it far easier to
reach town to-day than was the case a few years
ago. A farmer living within ten miles of town can
reach it quicker than many a suburban resident can
reach his place of work every day. The natural
result of this is that urban influence extends farther
into the country now than it did formerly, and the
community interests centering about the town cover
a much larger territory. The centralized school
with its efficient and convenient bus service has.
greatly helped to lead the growing youth to look to
the town as the center of social interest. Then, too,
it must be remembered that the town church gen-
erally has a better plant, more beautiful, more com--
plete, than that which the rural church can afford.
A good organ and an accomplished organist, a fine:

Type of Abandoned Country Church.