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 THF COUTTTRY CHURCH 
 
 9 * • 9 
 
 Volume 3 
 

 .01 
 
 V. 3 
 
Federal oouncil of the churches of Christ in 
 America, What every church should know about 
 its community. 
 
 General Association of Congregational Churches 
 of Massachusetts « Advance reports of various 
 committees, 1908 and 1909 
 
 McElfresh, F. The country Sunday school 
 
 MclTutt, M. B. Modern methods in the country church 
 
 McUutt , M^ B, A post-graduate school with a purpose 
 
 Massachusetts Federation of Churches, Quarterly 
 "bulletin. Facts and factors. Octoher 1910 
 '♦The part of the church in rural i^rogress as 
 discussed at the Amherst Conference." 
 
 Root, E» T. State federations 
 
 Taf t , A. B, The mistress of the rural manse 
 
 Taf t , A. B, The tent mission 
 
 Taylor, G, Basis for social evangelism with rural 
 applications 
 
 Wells, G« F» An answer to the ITew England country 
 church question. 
 
 Wells, G- F. V/hat our country churches need 
 
 Wilson, W. H» The church and the transient 
 
 Wilson, W. H* Conservation of boys 
 
 Wilson, W. H. The country church 
 
 Wilson, W. H. The country church program 
 
 Wilson, W, H. Don't breathe on the thermometer 
 
 Wilson, W, H. The farmers' church and the farmers* 
 12 college 
 
 t—i 
 
 CO Wilson, W. IT. Getting the worker to church 
 til 
 
Wilson, W, H» The giri on the farm 
 
 Wilson, VI » H* How to manage a country life 
 institute 
 
 Wilson, W. II, "Marrying the land." 
 
 Wilson, W. H. ITo need to "be poor in the country 
 
 Wilson, W. H. Synod's oi)portunity 
 
 Wilson. W« H« What limits the rural Evangel 
 
 94S94394 
 
 The church, and country life. Pamphlet issued 
 hy the Board of Home Missions of the Presby- 
 terian Church. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/postgraduatescho03mcnu 
 
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 j A Post-Graduate School j 
 I With A Purpose I 
 
 I By Matthew B. McNutt | 
 
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 THE country parson seldom meets a fellow pastor. He has 
 few opportunities to hear any one speak but himself. 
 His own library is scanty and he often has access to no 
 other. Travel is out of the question for him. It is little wonder, 
 therefore, that his sermonic material and inspiration run low, 
 thus, to be ever giving out to others and with such limited means 
 of getting spiritual and intellectual food for himself. City pas- 
 tors are away, from one to three months in the year, filling up and 
 fortifying themselves for the next year's work. Farmers have 
 their short courses in the Agricultural colleges. They have their 
 County Institutes, and their various fairs and expositions. Farm- 
 demonstration trains are sent out through many States by means 
 of which farmers have opportunity to hear experts in Agriculture, 
 Horticulture, and Animal Husbandry and to see what can be 
 done by scientific methods. If city pastors and farmers need 
 such helps it is even more necessary for the farmers' preachers to 
 have similar opportunities for becoming better and more efficient 
 leaders and pastors. 
 
 The Post-graduate Schools for Rural Ministers, such as have 
 been held the last three years with co-operation of the Depart- 
 ment of Church and Country Life of the Presbyterian Church, 
 U. S. A., under the direction of its Superintendent, Dr. Warren 
 H. Wilson, solve the problem. The teachers give the needed 
 help and inspiration. Their courses satisfy that long-felt heart 
 and soul and mind-hunger among country preachers, which none 
 know anything about except those who have served in country 
 churches. 
 
 A Manifold Purpose 
 
 These Post-graduate Schools, lasting about three weeks, serve 
 a manifold purpose. 
 
 (i) Instruction. The Post-graduate School is designed to 
 give up-to-date instruction in the English Bible, Rural Sociology, 
 Religious Education, Farm Economics, Farm Co-operation, 
 Country Church Administration and in other subjects related to 
 the welfare of country people. 
 
The lecturers and teachers are scholars, not amateurs, in 
 the subjects they teach. They speak out of actual experience 
 and thorough study of their respective subjects. The instruc- 
 tion given, therefore, is not only authoritative but it is of the 
 practical kind that every rural minister can take home with him 
 and put into operation on his own field, with such modifications, 
 of course, as may be necessary to fit local conditions. 
 
 Then the] discipline of this class-room instruction, for a man 
 who has been out of college and seminary for a long time is 
 highly beneficial. Country ministers are apt to become lax in 
 their methods of study. They need the stimulus that comes 
 from measuring up with others in class-room work. 
 
 (2) Perspective. No minister can do his best work, or even 
 good work, who does not sometimes get away from his parish, 
 that he may see it from a distance and give the elements a chance 
 to assume their normal proportions. A minister above all other 
 servants needs a clear head and to keep a perfect balance of mind 
 and temper that he may interpret life rightly to others. There 
 is nothing like a look through the eyes of a school such as this, 
 for enabling men in rural parishes to see things in their right 
 relations. 
 
 (3) Fellowship. Those engaged in the same occupation or 
 profession like to get together occasionally. In fact, this per- 
 sonal contact with men of the same profession is necessary to the 
 highest efficiency. A peculiar strength comes through it that is 
 plainly felt but can hardly be described. The rural pastor 
 craves fellowship with men of his profession but has little chance 
 to enjoy this boon throughout the whole year. The Post- 
 graduate School affords this opportunity. 
 
 (4) Team Work. Rural pastors as individuals may be doing 
 excellent work in their respective fields. But the game of 
 building up the country church and the country community is 
 weak and ragged, as a whole. The ground is not covered. The 
 work is not properly connected. The players do not know each 
 other. There is no better place for country preachers to get 
 acquainted with each other and with the principles and methods 
 of successful country church work than in the Post-graduate 
 School where they can rub elbows in the class room, break bread 
 together, or cross bats on the baseball diamond. 
 
 (5) Clearing House. The rural ministers who attend these 
 Post-graduate Schools come with a fund of valuable information 
 pertaining to the rural church and rural life. They have a great 
 variety of experiences and methods of work, some successful 
 some unsuccessful. Every man is bubbling over with something 
 to tell and more to ask. Sometimes the lecturer can hardly 
 proceed, for the questions which the ministers want to ask and 
 for the instances and experiences they have to relate. Oppor- 
 
tunity is given in the classes, of course, for discussion and for a 
 free interchange of ideas, methods and information, all of which 
 is most profitable. Then the men have opportunity to talk face 
 to face with each other in their rooms, or as they walk or eat 
 together. The school thus becomes a clearing house for methods, 
 ideas, facts, and experiences bearing upon the church and 
 country life. 
 
 (6) Vision. "Where there is no vision the people perish." 
 Much less can they grow without vision. A country preacher 
 constantly working alone is apt to reach the limit of his ability. 
 He sees no further possibilities in his church and community 
 and in himself. He begins to feel that his work is done in that 
 place and is tempted to get out and turn it over to another. He 
 is not especially discouraged, but he just comes to the con- 
 clusion that he has "reached the end of his rope." What he 
 needs is a new vision. He gets it by viewing his work in the 
 light of what other country pastors are doing. He sees it at 
 many new angles. His imagination has new materials upon 
 which to play. He returns to his church from the Post-graduate 
 School full of new and bigger plans for his people, possibilities 
 of which he had never before dreamed. 
 
 (7) Inspiration. The Post-graduate Schools are a source of 
 inspiration to rural ministers. They are real mountain-top 
 experiences. The new and strong expositions of the Scriptures, 
 the devotional meetings, the fellowship, the instruction, the 
 discussions, and the new outlook upon the work all tend to 
 revive the spirits of men. The very atmosphere is laden with 
 stimulating influences. To breathe in it is to feel like pushing 
 out into bigger undertakings and more vigorous service for the 
 Kingdom. 
 
 It is well worth going a long journey to meet and hear Dr. 
 Warren H. Wilson, the head of the Department of Church and 
 Country Life, who lectures at nearly all of these schools. No 
 rural minister who hears this champion of the country church 
 and of the country people fails to realize that a more abundant 
 life is coming to the tillers of the soil. There is something 
 about Dr. Wilson's enthusiasm and victory-achieving spirit 
 that is contagious. He thrills his hearers. He is full of his 
 subject and he speaks with conviction. 
 
 (8) Rest and Recreation. They give rural pastors the 
 needed rest and recreation. People grow weary ever doing the 
 same things and continually looking at the same faces and ob- 
 jects, no matter how much they enjoy their work or love their 
 companions and associates. Rural ministers are no exception 
 to the rule. A change of work and of scenery and coming in 
 touch with different people, even for a short two weeks, is 
 restful and invigorating. 
 
(9) Efficiency. The ultimate Purpose of the Post-graduate 
 School is to help the men to efficiency. This age requires work 
 done well. The great business concerns are more and more 
 exacting in the administration of their affairs, and in the quality 
 of the service rendered by their employees. They are ex- 
 pending large sums of money to secure efficiency. It is good 
 business. Men everywhere are becoming less and less tolerant 
 of inefficiency. If the rural church is to hold her own she must 
 do her work well. She must be efficient. The time is past 
 when people will bear with loose, slip-shod service in the church 
 just because it is the church. Efficiency is demanded here the 
 same as everywhere else. 
 
 It ought not to be true that "the children of the world are 
 wiser in their generation than the children of light." The 
 church should lead the world in doing her work in the best 
 possible way. 
 
 In the summer of 1913 the Department of Church and Coun- 
 try Life will co-operate by special arrangement with the follow- 
 ing Summer Schools, on the dates named: 
 
 The Summer School of the South, at the University of Ten- 
 nessee, Knoxville, June 24-July 15. 
 
 The Summer School of Theology, at Auburn Theological 
 Seminary, Auburn, N. Y., July 7-19. 
 
 The Summer School at the State College of Agriculture, 
 Ames, Iowa, July 7-19. 
 
 The Summer School of Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 
 July 20-25. 
 
 The Summer School of the University of Missouri, Columbia, 
 Mo., July 23-Aug. 7. 
 
 Estes Park Summer Schools of the Young Men's Christian 
 Associations, Estes Park, Colo., July 23-Aug. 7. 
 
 Summer School of Alma College, Alma, Mich. 
 
 In addition the Department will be represented at the 
 following summer conferences and institutes by a speaker on 
 the Country Church and Community: 
 
 Student Conference, Y. W. C. A., Eagles Mere, Pa., July 
 24-Aug. 3. 
 
 Silver Bay Conference, Missionary Education Movement, 
 July 1 1-2 1. 
 
 Rock River Assembly, Dixon, 111., July 28-August 3. 
 
 Summer Conference, Westminister, Md., Aug. 4-8. 
 
 Summer Assembly, HoUister, Mo., Aug. 5-17. 
 
 University of West Virginia Summer School, Morgantown, 
 W. Va., July 7-18. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF CHURCH AND COUNTRY LIFE, THE BOARD OF HOME 
 
 MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A., 
 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York 
 
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