Show 2 ai M SION OF T H E RURAL 0 H SHOULD BE university 0 OF F RE LEARNING duty of christianity to evangelize tho the world by rev jno A rice D D pastor st john M E B church Sout li st et louis sio alo some years ago tho the question was asked what la in a college the attempt to answer it shook the educational world in america froin center to circumference another question la is now noi beginning to bo be asked what la Is a church without undertaking to give a definition of it let me a ask sk in tha initial paper what tho the church Is tor the new testament reveals three distinct tasks taska to which it Is committed first that of 0 evangelization the church la Is divinely commissioned to reach for tho the lowest and tho the least man in the least land and 0 offer him to the eternal god utter offer him a divine power which lifts him bilm out of the bog and places him upon the highest levels of human life where god and tho the soul are in follows fellowship this alono alone were an immense privilege wi teaching the art of living tho the church Is commissioned also to teach and train those who are rich with its evangelistic message the term religious education has come to moan mean a specific thing in our country namely the training ot of the people in tho the local church in those deep matters which pertain to the art of living I 1 am not nov speaking pekin of the work of education in schools chol colleges and universities but the work of education at our doors in the congregation gre gation every agency in reach should be employed to the utmost in this important mission indeed tile the local church could be made a sort ol of university tor for all tho the people in which the simple practical arts and virtues of everyday life should be taught and enforced only recently lias has this special phase of the churchs churche work received anything like adequate attention the rho mew testament word for it 19 14 edification school of religion needed of 0 course the sunday school Is the center tor for all this work although the activities of the church should extend through tho the entire week and tho the sunday school should cease to be sr so named it should bo be called the school of religion or the church school or something else that indicates it to be an all the week activity during this time various and sundry clubs cluba classes musical organizations culture courses an aa well as distinctly religious meetings should be held thickly settled neighborhoods bo as we shall see offer fine opportunities for the development ot 0 things spiritual the third task to which the church Is committed la is that of christianizing the social order that of infusing the spirit of jesus into every nook and corner comer of our life nothing la Is foreign to the interest of the church neighborly love essential if religion pervades and colors the whole life then ours Is serious business for it will let no corner of t the be world escape its influence the sooner we learn that christianity Is not a thing to be practiced in a corner the better tor for the world the question of the eighteenth century touching christianity ti anity antty was can it be made to square with the human reason of the nineteenth can it be made to square with the results of scientific research of tho the twentieth what can it do wo must learn to enforce not only love of god whom we cannot see but love to our neighbors with whom we are living in n constant contact neither without the other la Is christianity whatever else it may be everything that interests neighbors must interest him if he be la Is a genuine follower ot of the christ it la Is the mission of the church the rural as well as the city to evangelize the whole world to train to the highest degree of effi efficiency clenry those whom it evangelizes evangelides evang elizes and to seek to make the spirit of jesus the absolute rule in all human relations |