ituation very
similar to that of the neglected communities of southeastern Ohio, were
bad. But the response to the work of a church which gave good service was
all that could have been anticipated. Even the economic conditions were
notably improved as a result of the church's work, while the moral change
in the community was striking, rapid, and enduring. Men familiar with home
missionary work regard such results as normal.

Where the conditions are as unfavorable as they are in the Eighteen
Counties, it is unquestionably the duty of the church as a whole, and
especially of the churches of the prosperous districts, to assist the
weaker churches not only with supervision and advice, but also by helping
to provide well-trained and well-equipped ministers, thus guarding against
the ravages of an ignorant and untrained or unworthy and insincere
ministry.

The people of southeastern Ohio will undoubtedly be as responsive to good
church work and as ready to follow good religious leadership as the people
of similar regions elsewhere. Such work and leadership for many years, at
least, they have not had. (See the next chapter.) Their ecclesiastical and
religious conditions are such as afford no ground for expecting better
social, moral, and physical conditions than those actually found to exist.
Surely we cannot accept these conditions as inevitable until the church
shall at least have made a serious effort to test the possibilities and
learn the results of carrying out a live and modern program.

CHAPTER V

THE CHURCHES IN THE EIGHTEEN COUNTIES

In the Eighteen Counties of Southeastern Ohio some of the older and
stronger denominations are well represented, as Table C shows. (See page
39.) No less than 526, or more than one-third, of the total number of
churches are Methodist Episcopal. Nearly one-tenth are United Brethren in
Christ, another tenth Baptist, one-fifteenth Christian, and one-fifteenth
Presbyterian; while other powerful denominations are also present. It is
evident that the failure of the churches in this area cannot be laid to
the weakness or poverty of the denominations represented, for they are for
the most part neither weak nor poor. Ohio, moreover, is a wealthy State,
and its churches make large contributions for church work and church
extension both in America and abroad.

It has been too commonly held in the past that missionary effort should
consist largely in organizing and building churches.