“He has never given me a mouthful of bread nor means to gain it. What have I to do with your God?” This was the answer of an immigrant woman to an appeal made by the church visitor, and it strikes nearer the heart of our modern life than it appears upon first thought. Why indeed should a person acknowledge kinship to a God who allows suffering, sorrow, and want in the world? It is not enough to answer such a question by pointing to the ultimate ends God has in view, for with hunger gnawing at the very vitals it is difficult to be philosophical or to meet the problems of existence in a quiet frame of mind. It is undoubtedly true that a large part of the misery and suffering of this world is caused by the sins and incompetency of the individual; but it does not help one to bear misfortune to know that he is to blame for his own condition. Is it any easier for the mother to teach her hungry little children to say their prayers asking the heavenly Father to feed them when she knows that her husband has brought the suffering and want through his evil conduct? But suppose she knows that her husband has tried as hard as possible, and in spite of all his efforts and all her care there is not enough bread for the little ones. She is very likely to grow impatient with the religion that talks about love, and yet allows bad social conditions to exist in the community that robs children of their childhood, destroys manhood, and makes women slaves in their own homes.

We have studied certain groups of the workers, and great as is the contribution made by these workers, it is only a small part of the story. The world of the workers is a very large world. Within this world things are produced that enrich mankind to a degree that has never even been dreamed of in any other age of the world’s history. The men who are producing these things are the true servants of the world.

Social Salvation and the Wage-Earners. The church, in order to retain its ascendency in national life, must lay increasing emphasis upon the importance of social salvation. The importance of social salvation as contrasted with individual salvation was seen by the great spiritual teachers of the past; but modern civilization, with its marvels of intercommunication, has placed a new emphasis upon mutual dependence of associated human beings, and has made self-realization a possibility only in connection with the salvation of the social group. The social group consists mainly of wage-earners, two thirds of those gainfully employed in the nation being dependent for food, shelter, and clothing upon a daily, weekly, or monthly wage. Therefore, social salvation is largely a question of the salvation of the wage-earner. The problem is a dual one. It is material and spiritual. It is material, because the higher purposes of the Eternal cannot be attained in an atmosphere of inefficiency, disease, unemployment, vice, crime, and general destitution. It is spiritual, because the elimination of inefficiency, disease, unemployment, vice, crime, and general destitution will not regenerate character. The salvation of the wage-earner must, therefore, be achieved by the combined efforts of three important agencies of social reconstruction: religion, education, and government. Religion furnishes the motive, education the method, and government the mechanism of social reconstruction; each of these three is impotent without the other two.

Religion from this view-point must be personal and social in order that regenerated individuals may work for the material and spiritual regeneration of national life. Education from this view-point must be technical, scientific, moral, and universal so that all may have the opportunity to become skilled workers, progressive thinkers, and efficient citizens. Government from this view-point must be controlled by the religious element of the community and equipped with a program of economic and social reform based on scientific investigation. Scientific studies of the wage-earners’ communities show that a family of five in a large American city requires a minimum income of $900 in order to maintain its physical equilibrium, and that three out of every four adult males, and nineteen out of every twenty adult females in the United States, receive less than $600 a year. No one can longer doubt that the hardships and depravity of the poor are more economic and social than personal; and that the responsibility for human misery is put squarely upon the more fortunate members of society. The way of salvation for the poor and helpless lies along the path of the educated conscience of the rich and powerful.

Workers and the Church. Much has been written and said in criticism of the church. Many statistics have been given to prove that the workers are not members of the church. For the most part the figures quoted are mere guesses. It is sheer folly to assume that the working people of our nation are not religious. Religion is as natural to all people as is breathing. The belief in God is well-nigh universal. It is a fact, however, that comparatively few of the mass of workers of our country are connected in any way with the church, or have any part in carrying on the functions of organized religion. There are a great many working people in the churches, but in proportion to the large number of wage-earners in each community there are comparatively few of the actual producers in the churches.

A study made in city after city shows that the churches are largely made up of the well-to-do, middle-class people. In one typical city of 75,000 people there were found to be approximately 30,000 members of all the religious organizations, Protestant, Catholic, and Jews. Of this total number approximately 1,000 were wage-earners, that is, men and women working in shops and factories; 500 of these were members of the Catholic Church, and the other 500 were distributed among the sixteen Protestant churches. There were a great many persons in these churches who were dependent upon their wages; such as clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, and others who should be classed as belonging to the industrial group. But as some one has said, the distinction between people who are in the churches and those untouched by the church can be drawn in this way: those who refer to the remuneration received for their work as a salary, and their work as a position, are in one group and they attend church; the other group is made up of those who refer to their work as a job, and the remuneration received as wages, and but few of these go to church. The conditions found in that instance are the same that would be found in most cities of the same size in America. The total membership was a little larger, perhaps, for in most places only about one third of the people are connected with the churches.

The Makers of Things Outside the Churches. Communities in which the church has failed are the communities where may be found most of the workers who are the actual producers of the things that go to make up our life. The men who run the lathes and other machines, the day-laborers on the street, in the factory, and on the railroads; these men and their families are the ones untouched by the church. The foremen, the better class of skilled mechanics, and those workers who are doing the more congenial kinds of work are the ones found in the churches. I asked one of the leading labor leaders of the country why it is that the laboring man is opposed to the church. “Opposed?” he answered. “He is not opposed. The average laboring man living under average conditions does not know that there is a church in town.” In other words, the church moves in an orbit that is totally removed from the life of the mass of the workers.

When Nineteen Men Last Went to Church. During the last year I took occasion to ask different men that I met at various times what they thought of the church. I have the record of the conversation of nineteen men on this subject. Not one of these men had been to church with any degree of regularity during the past five years; three of them had attended the Billy Sunday meetings in the various cities. They went to see the evangelist, however, just as they would visit Barnum & Bailey’s circus, and they professed to having come away from the meetings in the same frame of mind as if they had been attending such an entertainment. Five of the men were Jews, nine were Roman Catholics, and five were Protestants. They gave various reasons for not going to church, but all agreed on three things: they had no especial criticism or complaint to make regarding the church; it was easier to stay at home on Sundays than it was to go to church; the church had very little to do with the things that they were interested in. One of the men said, “The minister stands in a pulpit over my head and talks down to me about things that I am not interested in.” They also agreed that they could see no special reason why they should be influenced or moved to live according to the requirements of the church.

The church has no especial authority and a life of piety did not appeal to these men. My conclusion was that the church had lost its grip upon these men because of the innate selfishness of the individual and the unwillingness on his part to pay the price demanded of a true follower of any religion. These men were living under false impressions as to what the church required and knew nothing of the quality of the church’s message. The fact remained, however, that the church failed to reach them, and if we define religion as the giving of one’s self to the group, these men had no religion, for they were each living their own lives in their own selfish way. Of these nineteen men three were skilled mechanics, five worked in a cottonseed mill, four were traveling salesmen, and the remaining seven were business men. This would seem to prove that the church has failed to reach other groups in the community as well as the groups of laboring men.

The Church and the Age. The new social order must be based upon righteousness, and the church must furnish the power that will carry forth the plans of reconstruction to ultimate victory. It must supply the regenerating social influences for our generation in order to live up to its privilege and fulfil its function in the world. It is the will rather than the intellect of men that is primarily influenced by religion. The doctrine of the church attracts only a few people; speculation on theological questions, and arguments regarding life and its problems are futile in the face of the bitter experiences that lead the majority of the working people to view life from the standpoint of the pessimist. What men want to know about the church is, does it make people better neighbors? Is there more kindness in the community because of the church? These are the things that are of paramount importance. A boy passed by three churches on his way to attend a certain Sunday-school. A neighbor said to him, “Why do you go so far? why don’t you come to my Sunday-school?” “I do not care how far it is,” he replied; “they like me down at the other church.” This is the secret of the success of much that is being done to-day by different churches.

A prominent pastor desiring to discover how his preaching would affect different classes of people had a friend invite some persons from different parts of the city; and then after the service these people were invited to meet with others in one of the classrooms to discuss the sermon. It was almost impossible to draw any expressions of opinion from them as to the value of the service, but they agreed that they did not feel at home in the church. Yet none of these visitors could tell what he meant by “feeling at home.” The fact is, however, more people go to church to-day because of the friendships that they find within the institution than because of their desire for religious instruction. A large proportion of the people who are outside of the church are outside because to them the institution seems cold, narrow, and unattractive, and fits the description given by Robert Louis Stevenson of many churches that he had known, “A fire at which no man ever warms his hands.”

A Ministry to All. The Morgan Memorial Church of Boston touches a wide community and is carrying on a very extensive work. It has enlarged its plant from time to time until it occupies almost a solid block. There has recently been erected a new building to be operated in connection with this institution known as the Church of all Nations. Here is the gathering place of the multitude from every land who now live in the south end of Boston. In addition to the regular religious services there is a rescue mission for the “down and outs,” and dormitories for men and women where clean beds can be secured at a reasonable price. There are workshops, employment bureaus, a restaurant, a reading-room and, in fact, under one roof this church houses a community of interests, economic, industrial, social, educational, and religious. On the front of the building there is a lighted cross, and to all of the south end of Boston this cross means hope.

Story of Twenty-five Years. The church has not accomplished all that might have been accomplished, but when we study the history of the last twenty-five years and take stock of the results that have been achieved, we find that there are countless things that indicate a real life interest, and a purpose toward achievement in the church.

Twenty-five years ago the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was just beginning, and a Social Service Commission for the churches would have been considered as something having no part in the churches’ work. In fact, at that time the men who were the prophets of the new social order were looked upon as dangerous leaders. There were only a few books that dealt with the social aspects of the teachings of Jesus, and these were theological and theoretical rather than practical. At that time institutional churches were novelties, and the efforts that were being directed toward the solution of the social questions by the church were very often efforts in the wrong direction. The institutional church was not a complete success because it attempted to do for people instead of inspiring people to do for themselves. The institutional church and the modern socialized church have the same relationship to each other as the old alms-giving societies have to the modern charitable organizations. Legislation in the interests of women and children was considered totally out of the realm of Christian interests. “The church was put in the world to save souls and not to dabble in politics,” was a favorite definition of the church’s sphere. There was little church unity or coordination of effort. The churches were more busy fighting each other than they were fighting the common foes of the community. There were only one or two professors in our theological seminaries who were teaching sociology, and of one of these men an eminent authority in the church of that time said: “He ruined a lot of good ministers and made a lot of poor socialists by turning the attention of the young men who came under his teaching to merely humanitarian interests.” The church leaders knew nothing about the labor movement; in fact, at that time, the modern labor movement as represented in the American Federation of Labor was just beginning to gain strength. The church made no special efforts to interpret the spirit of Christ in terms of international relationship.

The Present Situation. Now, when we compare the present situation with these facts, there is every reason to be encouraged. Never in the history of the world was there a time when organized religion was more efficient. When was there ever such interest in religious education? so much cooperative effort among Protestant bodies? such an eagerness to discuss ways in which men of widely different views may work together? The money given for missions and social reconstruction reaches proportions that were never dreamed of before. Jesus Christ is recognized to-day as the friend of all men and his salvation is recognized as applying to social, industrial, and educational relationships as well as to individual needs. He is the Savior of the individual and also the Savior of the world in which the individual lives. It is true that the individual cannot enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again, but it is equally true that the whole social fabric must be recast and social relationships regenerated, else the kingdom of God cannot come in this world.

Nearly all the parables of Jesus have to do with the idea of mutual helpfulness. The parable of the Good. Samaritan will always stand first as the exemplification of the life that bears another’s burdens. The teachings of Jesus sums itself up in supreme love for God and for one’s fellow man. At the marriage feast the multitude were invited and they came from the highways and the hedges. According to Jesus’ teachings all material possessions are to be counted as nothing when compared to the use and helpfulness of these possessions. His bitter denunciation and burning wrath were turned against the hypocrites who made long prayers, took the widow’s mite, paid their church dues, forgot mercy, and used harsh measures against the defenseless. In every instance where Jesus referred to future punishment, it was to be visited upon the individual because he failed to live according to the law of love and was making burdens harder to be borne rather than helping men to bear them. His law was the law of cooperation.

The early church began among the very poor; and all through the Apostolic Age the slave and the owner, the poor man and the rich man, met on the plane of equality. There was only one interest for all and that was the life of the Master. It is said that Napoleon and several of his aides were one day walking along the country road. They met a peasant carrying a load of fagots who did not get out of the path as quickly as one of the emperor’s companions thought he should, so stepping up to the rustic he took him by the shoulders and started to push him out of the way. “Stop,” said Napoleon, motioning to his companions to step out of the road while he did the same. “Messieurs, let us respect the burden, even if you do not respect the man.” In the community there are a multitude of burden bearers. The church must be filled with the desire to do what it can to improve the conditions in the community life, and to add to the good of all the people, so that the community relationships will no longer be regarded as matters of indifference to be taken up or laid aside without faithfulness to the gospel. The success of the church must be measured in terms of the community life.

Inspiration for Social Effort. The church is not merely a reform agency. It is not primarily interested in housing, ventilation, sanitation, and labor questions, but is completely interested in the moral aspects of these questions, and their effect upon the life of the community and the life of the individuals in the community. Any church which fails to educate its members to look at all such matters from the moral point of view, and fails to make effective the principles of Jesus in relation to the social life of the community, is falling far short of its duty. It is no wonder that the men and women who are struggling with the evils of society grow impatient with the churches that do not undertake to help humanity. One worker expresses it thus: “The trouble with all social effort is that we have no inspiration for the task. The churches that should be helping us by supplying this inspiration are apparently afraid to take hold of the job.” This is too sweeping a criticism, for there are hundreds of churches that are doing just this thing.

The Church and Other Organizations. Instead of institutional churches, however, we are substituting the socialized church, and it is not what the church is doing as an institution but what it is inspiring others to do in the community that counts most. When the church cannot get any one else to do a certain task, then the church must shoulder the responsibility itself. The church ought to cooperate with the united charities of the community. It will not be enough for it to have merely a member or two on the boards of these organizations; the church as an organization must be in close touch with them, furnishing money and workers, and helping to plan and carry out the plans of the organization. Above all, it must supply the proper spirit of love which will offset that professionalism which is to-day a growing evil in all charitable effort.

The Church and the Outcasts. The church ought to be organized so that the sick and the poor, the unfortunate and the people out of work, would find it a friend and champion. There was a preacher in one of our churches in a certain city who was greatly disliked by all the so-called “respectable” people who knew him. As one man put it, “He has long hair, a long tongue, and is a trouble-maker.” But among the outcasts in the city he was known as the “Chaplain for the nobody-knows-who.” By this term those who loved him meant that he was a friend of the neglected people of the great city. After he died men who had no use for him before began to tell of little illuminating incidents in his life, and thousands of people testified to the fact that he had been an inspiration and a help.

The early Christians were not a very respectable lot of people nor would they have been very congenial. Probably some of our modern churches are so fine that these people would have been considered out of place; but it was to these people that Jesus preached his gospel in the first place, and from them the influence of Christianity spread until the whole life of the Roman world was brought under the control of the new gospel. Now, of course, all the laboring groups that we have been considering are not made up of the poorest people in the community. The heart of the great mass of the people is sound to the core; their principles are strong and their morals are uncorrupted. We are very likely to measure morals by social customs. Just because a man shaves every day and wears a white collar is no sign that he is a gentleman; while the man who wears blue overalls, who shaves once a week, whose face and hands are grimy with toil, is not by these things made an uncouth barbarian. The reverse is very often true. The unions have been educating their members; and the men gathered in these organizations have a fund of common sense and a breadth of judgment that would put to shame men who have had much larger experiences and wider opportunities both for education and travel. The son of a man with a salary of twelve to fifteen thousand a year was expelled from one of our universities a few years ago; and in the same year the honor man in the class was the son of a blacksmith who worked for one of the Western coal-mining companies. This boy was one of a family of six children. With the help and efforts of no one but himself he was able to go through the university and graduate at the head of his class. All the forces of our time are at work leveling the fictitious and mischievous barriers that have been raised between men, and which divide society into groups and classes.

Wider Use of the Church Plant. The church building can be used for very much wider service than at present. The church is usually one of the best-equipped buildings in the community. It has light, air, and heating facilities and can take care of a large number of people. In the Maverick Church, East Boston, they are using the church for club purposes. Just at present plans are being devised whereby this property will be used much more extensively for meeting the new needs put upon the community by the old ship-building industry that has just been revived. Plymouth Church, Oakland, California, is a veritable beehive of industry. Every night different groups gather in the social clubs, sewing classes, cooking classes, and other organizations. The community looks upon this church as the natural meeting-place to discuss vital problems. During the past winter in one of the Baptist churches on the east side of New York different nationalities met night after night and were instructed concerning patriotism and the moral issues of the war by men who spoke the tongues of the men attending.

A Presbyterian church in Du Page County, Illinois, became famous because it made its buildings available for all social activities and interests of the community. A report of this work says: “The older people often attend and engage in play with the young people. Refreshments are served free at these gatherings. Special attention is given to strangers and to the backward boys and girls, and a few of the leaders have always upon their hearts those who are not of the fold of Christ. The people become well acquainted, and such fellowship, such friendships, such companionships are created—all centering around the church!” The writer, telling of the work in another progressive church, says: “This church has learned the value of the inspirational meetings. Two principal ones are held each year. One takes place on New Year’s eve when the whole community, old and young, gather at church as one family to watch the old year out and to welcome in the new. This is no common watch service. The evening is filled to overflowing with good and interesting things. The other great inspirational meeting is held at the close of the church year. It is an all day meeting, and the whole countryside turns out to help round up the year’s work. The ladies serve a banquet at noon free of charge. There is always good music on this occasion and two or three talented participants from outside supplement the home talent. These big meetings are of benefit to the country people. They promote friendship and good fellowship, and the dead level gait always receives a big jolt.” These are just a few of the churches that are making good use of their buildings, and there are hundreds of others all over the country. Whenever you feel that the church is failing, just turn to the record of some church that is really doing what it ought to do. You can easily find some such church, and what is being done in one place can be done in another. People are the same the world over, and all groups can be brought together upon a common level of interests and good fellowship.

A Program of Action. The war has emphasized the necessity of making our communities 100 per cent. American. We are thinking in terms of nationalities and races now because of the present world crisis. We need each community to be not only 100 per cent. American, but 100 per cent. democratic and neighborly. This involves the study of the questions of the relation of the foreigner and of his Americanization; the problems of the housing of the community, and the questions of the eight-hour day and union labor. The charge that the church speaks for the employer rather than for the workingman must be completely answered, so that every workingman in every community will come to realize from practical contact with the churches that he knows that they are not capitalistic institutions. He must learn that they stand for all men; and that they speak fairly and unreservedly for the cause of humanity and champion the rights of men against the encroachment of everything that would crush the spirit of man. The church must interest itself in the problem of recreation. People used to work for a living; now they work for profit. Playtime was formerly not such a problem as it is to-day, for industry was not geared up to the same high pitch of efficiency. To-day the margin of play is about the only margin of an individual’s life when he is really himself. In our cities especially the problem of play is a real problem. The questionable forms of amusement are patronized, not because young men and young women are inherently bad, but because they are the only means of recreation offered. The motion-picture theater is popular because the best of the drama has been put within reach of the average person. Public health should be a vital consideration of the church. In fact, every line of effort that involves the welfare and happiness of human beings is of interest to the Christian church.

No church ought to have at first too intricate a program. More can be accomplished by an active pro-virtue program than by one that is all anti-vice, but the church must also be a fighting organization. We must fight evil of every kind. The great struggle of the church against the liquor traffic and against vice has resulted in a vast amount of good. The thing to remember, however, is that the church must not stop simply with its protest and its fight.

The Ultimate End of All Effort. Nothing material or physical is final. We are not to provide social rooms, good healthful surroundings, playgrounds, and other social good things just for themselves, but because these things are essential to the best and highest moral development of individuals. In the last analysis the work of the church is the salvation of men and women. Its work, as has been said, is to put a sky over men’s heads. You cannot save individuals by giving them good physical surroundings, healthful conditions, and by supplying all their physical needs. These are merely the steps to the temple of the spirit. The weakness of most of our schemes for social betterment is found in the fact that many of them would put a man in a fine room, with good light, splendid furnishings, serve a sumptuous meal to him and then start a force-pump and pump all the air out of the room. A man may die in the midst of the finest things with which we can surround him. People must grow, and growth demands atmosphere, and if we give everything else and fail to create the right kind of atmosphere we are failing. “Seek ye first his [God’s] kingdom, and his righteousness; and all the other things shall be added unto you.” By this Jesus did not mean that we were to put less emphasis on right conditions, but that if we get conditions right, then we can work for the things that really are of greatest interest. Above all, he was warning of the danger that faces us to-day, of becoming so much interested in a man’s social welfare that we lose sight of the emphasis which the great Teacher would put upon the qualities which make up humanity.

We must recognize man as a spiritual being, and everything that goes to make him better physically ought to make him better spiritually. The best work of the church, and the work which God alone can do for the community, is to carry humanity beyond physical betterment into the realm of spiritual idealism. This is our task. This is the church’s goal. When this is realized in all society then the kingdom of God will be realized on earth; and the things that men create will be set in right relationship to the men themselves; that is, they will become the adjuncts of every man’s life and will minister to all human happiness.