alone is enough to account for much of the
decline in country life, because under the present system only a small
fraction of the normal influence of the ministry can be exerted. And it
is a needless waste, for it is fully within the power of the churches
through their officials to correct it. The minister must be given a field
of such a character that it is possible for him to do his work, and he
must be given that adequate support which proper church administration can
most assuredly secure for him. Only when these readjustments have been
made will it be fair and right to appeal to the young men of education and
ability to enter the rural ministry, and stay in it.

The thing can be done. We have in mind a rural township with less than
2,000 inhabitants, lying in a hill country, which has six resident
ministers in its five villages, while the term of service of the minister
of each of the parishes is nearly always long. To establish at least one
resident minister in every township is not too high an aim. The people can
and should be brought to understand that the value of a successful
minister rises in increasing proportion with his knowledge of the
community and the length of his service.

(7) _Interchurch Cooperation_

To substitute cooperation for competition is an essential condition of
rural church progress, at least in Ohio. Whenever the new program is
adopted by a community it will discover that interchurch competition is
hostile to community prosperity. Many rural communities already know that
interchurch cooperation is desirable. But the great question is how to
secure it. Nearly every community is aware that it has too many churches,
but the task of reducing the number or securing interchurch comity is a
problem beset with difficulties. These difficulties, however, are by no
means insuperable. Many communities have already found ways to overcome
them.

In every community which really requires more than one church or pastor,
there should be a federation of churches; that is, a joint committee of
pastors and delegates officially appointed by the several churches to
learn and meet the needs, religious, or social, which require concerted
action. While such federations, which are carefully to be distinguished
from federated churches, are common in our cities, comparatively few are
found in the country. One of these is in Shiloh, Ohio, a description of
which may be found on page 75. There appear to be no very