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Protestant cooperation in American cities

H. Paul Douglass · 1930 · Scanned text

185,639 words · about 13 h to read

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About this book

Author
H. Paul Douglass
Language
English
Published
1930
Length
185,639 words · about 13 h
Sections
29 reader sections
Text
Scanned text, read from page scans by OCR; may contain errors
Rights
Public domain · PD-US by publication date

 

Contents (29)

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Front matter

Pere es

2 fo . ee ~ pat eens

Vas av & te | Md - i as

Preface

For nearly a decade the Institute of Social and Religious Research has carried on studies in the field of the city church; and these have given it extensive contacts with church federations and councils of churches. Its first urban study, the St. Louis Church Survey, was made in formal codperation with the federation of that city. In nearly all its urban projects the federations have constituted a chief source of existing data concerning organized religion, and local contacts have usually been arranged through them. All told, a great deal of assistance has been received from federation workers, and exceedingly pleasant relationships have been established with them.

From these contacts, the Institute acquired a considerable understanding of the federation movement. It discovered, for example, that it is much more difficult to set up and carry out a survey in a city that has no federation than in one in which the federated churches are accustomed to respond to common leadership, where the machinery of common action already exists, and where considerable amounts of information concerning the total Protestant situation are likely to be found. And very early it discovered a wide-spread desire on the part of federation workers to have a critical study of their movement made by some impartial outside agency.

Communications from the field to the office of the Federal Council of Churches had urgently voiced this desire before the present inquiry was undertaken. These quotations from one of them fairly represent the general attitude.

I should like to make this suggestion which you can pass on to the Committee if you think best; that the whole field of church coéperation is badly in need of research and investigation. * * * We are squarely up against the problem. We cannot much longer put off facing the problem of effective church codperation. I realize that no doctrinaire method or system is going to prove sufficient; but what are we going to do about Councils of Churches, Councils of Religious Education, Young Men’s Christian Associations, and Young Women’s Christian Associations all covering the same field in large part and in many places competing with a positively institutional, if not selfish, spirit? Are our Councils of Churches functioning? Is it possible for the Young Men’s Christian Association to lead off in church codperative work? If so, where does the Young Women’s Christian Association come in?

Vv vl

Preface

What about Councils of Religious Education which are created by delegates from churches and with budgets about as big as the churches together will raise, yet with purely specialized programs?

It would be an immense task to have a thorough survey of the whole field of church codperation, but I do not see how we can go along much farther without the confusion increasing unless we face this issue squarely. The Federal Council is doing nothing about it, so far as I am able to see. * * *

This is the subject which weighs the heaviest with me. I shall be glad to hear what your conference decides upon,

Similar suggestions for a study of the movement had been actively canvassed in meetings of the Association of Executive Secretaries of Church Federations prior to 1926; and the demand was focused in the 1926 meeting of the Federal Council’s Executive Committee in Minneapolis. The Information Service 2 reported upon that occasion as follows:

This year’s meeting was organized on a conference basis, the general subject being church federation in the local community. The several phases of the Federal Council’s work were successively discussed in their bearing upon the program of the local church federations. It became evident that a thorough study of the local federation or church council in its relation to denominational bodies, codperating agencies, and other community resources is very much needed. Among the points developed in conference were the following:

The organization of the religious forces in a community should proceed, not in accord with stereotyped procedure, but in accord with the situation encountered, and advantage should be taken of leadership already established no matter what organization may have it—the church council, home missions councils, the Young Men’s Christian Association, the council of religious education or some other agency.

Women’s missioi. ary organizations are in general remote from understanding of and participation in federation work. It was reported that the strongest women’s work is found where their organizations are separate and autonomous, but there is a tendency for them to relate themselves more clearly with councils of churches. It was reported also that the Council of Women for Home Missions is shortly to be affiliated with the Federal Council of Churches.

A Young Women’s Christian Association representative pointed out that the churches frequently ignore the body of experience and technical knowledge which that organization has gained. * * * She pointed out that competitive enterprises and duplication are not only unfortunate but are becoming difficult because Money is getting scarce for such undertakings and we should be thankful that money is not so readily available as to encourage unnecessary and competitive work.

1Issue of December 18. 1926.

Preface vil

These quotations suggest the character of the concrete problems on which it was believed a fresh study of the codperative movement would furnish light. The Institute was asked informally whether it might undertake responsibility for the desired investigation; and consultation with national religious leaders, especially with officers of the Federal Council of Churches, showed that such a study would be welcomed in the most responsible quarters. That it would be timely was indicated by the fact that the federations as a group were just completing two decades of existence, which might well be regarded as constituting an experimental period. Besides, nearly a decade had elapsed since the end of the World War and the collapse of the ,- Interchurch World Movement, with which one era of cooperation obviously culminated. This, it was believed, afforded sufficient time to determine the general character of the present era. Finally, it was hoped that all persons seriously concerned for the welfare of the Church would be vitally interested in an attempted reappraisal of the cooperative movement. |

CHARACTER AND LIMITATIONS OF THE PROPOSED STUDY

The proposal, as it was formally brought before the Institute, was for an investigation of organized Protestant codperation limited in the following ways:

It was to be confined primarily to the larger cities, but was to draw incidental illustrations from other communities.

It was to center upon fully organized church federations and councils of churches employing paid executives, but to give incidental attention to other types.

While other agencies of organized Protestant codperation as well as federations were to be studied, these others were to be approached on the side of their contacts, codperative or competitive, with the federations.

The investigation was to take account of temporary codperation in specific projects, as well as of organized forms of continuous cooperation. It was not to be concerned with national agencies of codperation, such as the Federal Council, except as they should be found operating directly in local fields and affecting the programs and activities of local federations. It was not to culminate either in a “boosting” document, even though the conclusions should turn out to be conspicuously favorable to the federations, or in a practical manual on “How to Run a Federation.” The report was to be an objective and dispassionate vill Preface presentation and analysis of the facts discovered, with such generalizations as might seem to be Justified.

A NARRATIVE OF THE PROJECT

The project was approved in principle by the directors of the Institute in January, 1927, and money was appropriated for an experimental case-study. The Philadelphia Federation was chosen for this purpose, and was studied in the spring of 1927. The results were formulated in a report which was approved by the Institute staff. It was also informally referred to the Association of Executive Secretaries of Church Federations, which voted in favor of having a representative group of federations studied in the same way. In January, 1928, the directors of the Institute authorized the project, which was put into the hands of the writer.

In setting up the study, tentative lists of federations suitable for inclusion were first prepared in conference with persons familiar with the movement. Replies fromthe federations approached generally evidenced very cordial willingness to permit themselves to be investigated. In a few cases, acute local situations were confessed which could not bear the light of publicity just at the moment. In a few others, it was not possible for the local federation to meet the convenience of the Institute with respect to the dates of the study. Nevertheless, a very representative series of case-studies was completed.

The field force consisted of the project director, assisted by Rev. C. E. Sileox and Rev. Wilbur C. Hallenbeck. The field study occupied in the aggregate about thirty months, an average of six weeks to a federation, and was completed in J anuary, 1929.

BY-PRODUCTS OF THE Fietp Strupy

During the progress of the study, many informal discussions of details and principles of federation work were held with secretaries and committees; and there were also many formal conferences with boards of directors and other committees. At the end of the survey period, tentative reports of criticism and suggestion were rendered upon request in a number of cities. The value of these by-products was recognized in a formal finding of the 1928 meeting of the Association of Executive Secretaries:

We find that the Councils and Federations of Churches, which the Institute of Social and Religious Research has thus far studied in connection with its scientific investigation of the present status

Preface 1X of Protestant Codperation in America, report immediate results of large value to their present programs. The immediate values to the organizations thus far studied are so significant, and the promise of advantage to the whole codperative movement and the ends which we seek to achieve so apparent, that we call upon the members of our Association and upon the Councils and Federations of Churches to lend every possible assistance to the Institute in order to facilitate the publication of the final report.

PUBLISHED RESULTS

The report of the investigation is in two volumes. The first, entitled Church Comity: A Study of Codperative Church Extension in American Cities, dealt with a single major phase of federation activity. The present comprehensive report covers the remainder of the data.

This volume consists of an introductory section and two main parts. In the introduction an attempt is made to orient the Protestant codperative movement within the world of ecclesiastical organization, and special consideration is given to the problems presented by denominationalism.

In Part I, which is the general report, the practical ideals and objectives, the structural characteristics, and the functions, activities, means, agents, and resources of the federations are discussed, as well as the relations of city federations to other Protestant codperative movements and to the national movement. There is also an attempt to interpret the movement as part of the evolution of the Protestant social group in America, and to summarize its characteristics. The general report is thus intended to reveal the codperative spirit in organized Protestantism, and the major trends and variations within the codperative movement. This part of the book is addressed to all who desire to understand and measure contemporary church evolution, or who are interested in present-day religion as organized for action.

Part II, the technical report, is particularly intended for the use of federation workers and their critics. In it the leading federations are compared on many points. It reports upon practical administrative details as related to the internal organization of federations, to their committee system, their employed workers, and their finances and publicity; and it contains technical analyses of the major phases of federation programs. It shows and compares the reactions of constituencies to the federations. While it is not a manual of practice, the technical report furnishes many of the essential materials of a working guide to

2Institute of Social and Religious Research (New York, 1929), 181 pages.

x Preface the conduct of federations. It is followed by an appendix containing certain statistical data and methodological notes.

GENERAL METHOD AND SPIRIT OF THE INVESTIGATION

The main data of the present investigation were gathered in a series of institutional case-studies. Careful schedules of information sought from each federation were prepared with a sequence of topics which has been substantially followed in the structure of the report. The case-studies covered about three-fifths of the active church federations in the major cities, and accordingly constituted an exceedingly adequate sampling. The generalized results, in the main, are descriptive and analytical rather than statistical. Certain measurable aspects of federation work have, however, been quantitatively investigated; and statistical results on these points are believed to be exceedingly significant.

The report is fundamentally factual; and in the main, facts and events are allowed to speak for themselves. Rarely have motives been ascribed to men or to movements. At certain points, however, where motives were fairly self-intrusive, it seemed safe to attempt to penetrate below the phenomena and to register the impressions of the investigator as to the inner forces at work.

Evaluation of particular results has in a large measure been implicit in the comparison of one federation with another. Certain deeper questions of the value of the entire movement, and of the significance of its major activities, have also been formulated and the writer’s opinion indicated; but with no claim of having reached a final verdict. Such items of methodology as appeared to be too complicated for sufficient explanation in the text are dealt with in the appendix.

Part I: The General Report Chapter Page

ey Gell Gl og a A Seals Si a8 | LAA V

II. Denominationalism and Religious Partisanship.... 22

III. The Church Federation Movement............... 40

V. Form and Structure of Church Federations. ....... 76

VI. Membership and Participation................... 89

RereC OOperative Activities. . 2.0)... phi obese mews 104 VIII. The Constituents’ Judgments upon Current Pro-

CLT Rk We Re ea nL UA PPE RNIN SE CORRAL I 127

IX. Agencies, Resources and Methods................ 139 X. Affiliation of Other Interdenominational Organi-

XI. Present Limits of Federative Codperation........ 182 XII. Forces Unifying and Enlarging the Federation

POMETUCIUN ete ete ne ws ci afnlu soci Aigo Op aeateey haa 203

XIII. Currents and Eddies of Federation Thinking....... 228

XIV. Organizational Characteristics of the Federations... 254 XV. Some Larger Meanings of the Church Federation

PUL VOTILOTI GY Mato ee fice! Sie ix soon icles anes a aR 3 UY 272

PART II: THE TECHNICAL REPORT Pee bee 1 Ne COMIMiLtes, OYSLEMD o's 0). cide eu ysubtamiWareceniy aly wie 291 DG PALIT Alpi ts sce mints ely» sie ch eleceael nies ae araanhal 309

XVIII.

Xll Contents CHAPTER : PAGE AIX. Religious Education... 7292022. 2. ee 345 AX. Social Service... /.'2 a ae wee ve 371 XXI. Social Service (continued). ...................0. 402 XXII. Codperation by Protestant Women............... 435 XXIII. Finances and Facilities. 7.2)... . 0... 448 XXTV. Promotion and ‘Publicity 329.2 2... 2... ee 471 APPENDICES

I. Organization of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New (York «oo... vine 0a HR V/s tos (eee A olana pa 483 II. The Investigation of Religious Distance.............. 484

III. Frequency of Particular Items in Federation Programs, by Major Departmentsiyv.). v6. ee 490

IV. Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Federation Pro- QT AIG 0) 55 s)a)s\ «: olioce o: SAAT OR MEMAMGD LBS Co hace lela deh ah nn 495 V. -Bibliography. : . een 2 ce eee 496

TABLE

TABLES PAGE

I. Distribution of Church Federations, by Size of

III. XIII

CALIES Ae en cia OE a. Tc Tae ay 4

Specified Faiths and Denominations Ranked According to Degree of ‘‘Distance’”’ Felt Toward Them by Protestant Constituents of Church Federations. 26

Specified Faiths and Denominations Ranked According to Degree of ‘‘Distance” Felt Toward Them as Measured by Specified Criteria.............. 29

Degree of “‘Distance’”’ Felt Toward Other Faiths and Denominations by Constituents in Certain Cities. ek eee eee eee ee eee 34

. Degree of “Distance” Felt by Certain Sex- and

Status-Groups Toward Other Faiths and Denomi- AGIOS Ce hae Chala oS 5 oe EE A TP ree scan 35

. The Work of the Federation as Understood by

Constituents of the Philadelphia Federation...... 68

. Sense of Obligation of Constituents to Codperate in. 7bederations: by: Cities... o.7n.2e os eee 70

. Sense of Obligation of Constituents to Codperate in 16 Federations, by Denominations............ 72

. Proportion of Protestant Denominations, Churches and Church-members in Three Cities Formally Belonging to Church Federations.............. 95

. Departments, Standing Committees and Commissions in 23 Church Federations.............. 105

. Standard Activities in Federation Programs, by

Daepartments of. Work : 2s jinc Sides sedis ss os 108

. Ranking of 26 Federations According to Scope of

Ranking of Items of Service Programs According

to Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appro-

priateness and Importance, in 16 Federations.... 120 xiii

X1V

TABLE

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXII.

XXIV.

XXYV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

Tables

PAGE Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Programs of 17 Federations,) by Cities +. 20.50 fe amet al» os elt

Ranking of 17 Federations According to Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Programs................... 128

Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Programs of 10 Feder-

Ranking of 12 Denominations According to Judgments of Their Members Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Their Federations’ Pro- 132

Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Programs in 5 Federations, by Classes of Constituents............... 133

Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Certain Elements of Federation Programs): ascites. + s+ en © uiese unio ee

Classification of Paid Workers of 21 Federations...

Meetings and Attendance of Various Federation Committees. 2G ais << « plate si * ays 9 aaa enn

Composition of Various Federation Committees... 298

Characteristics of Members of Various Federation Committees ova bie cs sleet pulelenn a

Distribution of Members of Various Federation Committees, by Years of Committee Membership and by Number of Other Federation Committees in Which Membership Is Held..........

Size of Paid Staff in 21 Federations.............

Ranking of Items of Evangelism Programs According to Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appriateness and Importance, in 17 Federations.... 341

Ranking of Items of Religious Education Programs According to Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance, in 15 Feder- SEIONE «20 sce a. AUPE erate etal dis ce eta etn ace

Tables XV

TABLE PAGE

XXVIII. Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Phases of Social Service, Wi LOY HedeTa tions: i).:b see eee eee aces el ice 418

XXIX. Sources of Income in 20 Federations............ 449

APPENDIX TABLES

1. Denominational Distribution of Federation Constituents Who Replied to the “Religious Distance’’ Questionnaire. . 486

2. Comparison of Nine Relationships According to Degree of Religious ‘‘Distance’’ Attached to them by Protestant Constituents of Church Federations with Respect to Members of Other Faiths and Denominations.............. 487

3. Specified Relationships With Other Faiths and Denominations Ranked by Cities According to Degree of ‘‘Distance”’ PURINE eo Ueno ae 009. 2, 4) SON eae iene BV 488

4. Specified Relationships With Other Faiths and Denominations Ranked by Denominations According to Degree of ONO eE IVa) AS IIS Oe ETC ADA! iW!) he ha 489

5. Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Programs in 17 Federations, by Cities.... 495

6. Constituents’ Judgments Regarding Appropriateness and Importance of Programs in 10 Federations, by Denomix a w"

a joe sis WF ey ne ; ys he ae

CHART I.

iv:

III.

int

VII.

VIII.

CHARTS

PAGE

Proportion of Cities of Given Populations Having IMIG MeUPTA ODS, LULU natin yer tr in be sisi >

Index of Religious “Distance” Felt by Protestant Constituents of Church Federations Toward Members of Specified Faiths or Denominations..............

Index of “‘Distance” Felt by Protestant Constituents of Church Federations Toward Members of Specified Faiths and Denominations with Respect to Marriage and the Presidency of the United States.............

Average Score of Religious “Distance’’ Felt by Protestant Constituents of Church Federations of Specified Denominations Toward Members of Other Faiths and POIINA LIONS fe. ole, ci 9: 6 dselerda be EE ee R DAMN

. Average Score of Religious ‘‘Distance”’ Felt by Protestant Constituents of Church Federations of Specified Status and Sex Toward Members of Other Faiths and Ta STA Ea as EO e al y a e e SM NA ATC A a

. Comparison of Sense of Obligation to Codperate in

Church Federation Proposals Felt by Their Con- PEGONLS IAG COILS eek ok 5 ois /a a,c) cele stale a aS

Comparison of Sense of Obligation to Cotperate in Church Federation Proposals Felt by Constituents of Specified Denominations in 16 Cities...............

Distribution of Judgments of Constituents with Respect to the Importance and Appropriateness of Current Programs—17 Church Federations........

. Distribution of Judgments of Constituents with

Respect to the Importance and Appropriateness of Current Church Federation Programs—12 Denomete A TRDIYS fs USSR Sn ce a RPE ESC A oy Fue Ay SA

. Distribution of Judgments of Constituents of Church

Federations with Respect to the Importance and Appropriateness of Specified Elements of Their Programs XVil

XVill

CHART

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV,

Charts

PAGE

Comparative Attendance of Members of Specified Types of Church Federation Committees............ 297

Women Members on Specified Types of Church Federation Committees... .)... 20. Sia e ae. es bale oe 299

Occupation of Members of Specified Types of Church Federation Committees... 0.2.5.0... 5..... » eee 300

Distribution of Judgments of Church Federation Constituents with Respect to Importance and Appropriateness of Specified Elements of Social Service Programs— 16 Federations. 0) {8.28 PO 420

Distribution of Annual Income According to Source— 20 Church Federations,.).0 3... .. 2... 450

PART I THE GENERAL REPORT

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Chapter I INTRODUCTION

In entering upon the study of organized Protestant cooperation in cities, the first step is obviously to identify and locate the phenomena with which one has to do.

THE PHENOMENA OF COOPERATION

The antecedents and the practical objectives of the present study predetermined it to approach Protestant cooperation from the standpoint of the interdenominational federations and councils of churches of the major cities. The study was undertaken largely because the federations asked for it, and in the hope that it would throw light upon their practical problems. The federations conspicuously constitute the chief institutional expression of urban codperation in its interchurch phase, and in every way furnish a natural place for beginning.

THE CHURCH FEDERATIONS: NUMBER AND LOCATION

In the city federations, codperation is organized in the same sense that the Protestant church generally is organized, namely: out of denominational units, under paid professional leadership, and for the immediate purpose of carrying on a program of religious advocacy and activity. The study was limited to cities, because in no other type of community is Protestant cooperation generally organized in this sense. Indeed, codperation in this highly institutionalized form is characteristic of only the largest cities.

DISTRIBUTION BY SIZE OF CITY

This is shown in Table I, which distributes the forty-three local church federations reported by the Federal Council of Churches in May, 1929, according to the size of cities in which they are found.

The outstanding evidence of this table is that the proportion of cities in which there are federations very rapidly decreases with decreased size. All cities of over half a million have federations; nearly all cities of 300,000 have them. But less than half the cities of from 150,000 to 300,000 population have federations, and a mere fraction of those below 150,000. Furthermore, the proportion that has to make shift with only part-time paid leadership is increasingly high as population diminishes. Fully organized Protestant codperation is then a phenomenon of the cities, and especially of the metropolitan city. It definitely goes with the complexity of the church of the large city, and it is doubtless complexity that has called it forth. It represents a demand that, up to the present, has been able to find permanent backing and support chiefly in the great centers of population.*

TABLE I—DISTRIBUTION OF CHURCH FEDERATIONS, BY SIZE OF CITIES

PoPpULATION* Numper or CITIES Having With Part-time In U.S. Federations Secretaries Only

* 1925 estimate. + Counting Brooklyn as a separate city because it has its own federation.

REGIONALITY

It must also be noted that the distribution of city federations is distinctly regional. They are relatively most frequent in the cities of the north-central and western states, somewhat less frequent in the northeastern states, and nearly absent from the southern and south-central group. Except for cities included in larger metropolitan areas, the only city of over 300,000 population lacking a federation is New Orleans. Of cities of from 100,000 to 300,000 population, two-thirds of the north-central and western and two-fifths of the north-eastern have federations; but this is true of only one of the eight southern cities of this size; and no smaller southern city has a federation.

DISTRIBUTION OF FEDERATIONS STUDIED

Of the forty-three urban church federations thus accounted for, nineteen were studied intensively.2_ The Massachusetts State Federation was also studied intensively for the sake of comparison. Limited first-hand studies were made of federations in

*For proof of the heavy death-rate of federations in the smaller cities, see

* Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Massachusetts State, Minneapolis, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Me., Rochester, Sacramento, San Francisco, St. Louis, Washington, Wichita, Youngstown.

five other cities, and in the same way the Ohio State Federation was studied. Six more federations were investigated by the use of uniform schedules in formal interviews with the secretaries, and the remainder by means of reports and data secured from Federal Council headquarters.

Proportion

Total

Having federations GH With full-time secretaries

Wa WNith part-time secretaries Having no federations

CHART I Proportion of cities of given populations having Church Federations, 1929

In these federations, cooperation reveals itself as a set of organizations—that is to say, as institutionalized. Much of the spirit of codperation was in existence in discontinuous and unsystematic form before it became thus established. In taking on definite objective expression and evolving typical forms, federation thus indicates an advanced phase of cooperative association; though probably not the final one.*

* Cleveland, Columbus, O., Dayton, Louisville, Toledo.

“ Designations. The organizations under discussion have two major designations. The older designation was “Church Federation,” or “Federation of Churches.” This is now slightly less frequent than the term latterly more popular, namely, “Council of Churches.” These two designations have been adopted by nearly nine-tenths of the entire number of organizations.

The term “federation” naturally implies something more formal and permanent than a mere council, something based upon more definite agreements; and the recent greater tendency to use the later term may reflect a certain reaction in emphasis. The study, however, could trace no difference in particular claims, nor generally in form of organization, nor in practical authority jena the group of organizations called federations and those called councils.

THE MEANING OF COOPERATION FOR THE ULTIMATE PARTICIPANT

When one consults the rank and file of the men and women of the churches who constitute the constituencies of federations, one finds another aspect of the phenomena strongly insisted upon.

Over 2,800 constituents replied to questionnaires concerned explicitly with the programs and activities of their federations. They constituted a fair cross section of the ultimate participants in these codperative processes.© The most significant aspect of the answers was the fact that these constituents showed themselves relatively disinclined to discuss the more concrete and organizational aspects of federation work. Instead, they constantly and characteristically ran off into expressions of attitude and judgment concerning the underlying issues of church life and fellowship, issues not directly suggested by anything in the questionnaire. Philadelphia constituents, for example, were asked directly, “What do you understand to be the present work of the federation?” Only 15 per cent. of the replies referred to any phase of its work; all the rest concerned the major meanings and relationships of the movement, and not any of its particular activities.

The total evidence was exceedingly strong as to the plane of thinking habitually occupied by federation supporters. To them, at least, the federation movement is a symbol of profound tendencies in the Christian church; consequently, it is regarded and judged very much less by what it is and what it is doing than by what it suggests and what it may or may not become as a modifying tendency in the life of the Church.®

Three northern organizations designated themselves “The Federated Churches.” This term apparently indicates an effort to disavow any organization in addition to, or separate from, the churches themselves. On the other hand, a southern organization now defunct called itself “The League of Churches.” Another, formerly the “Committee on Church Codperation,” now appears as “The Christian Council.” These sectional variations in terminology probably reflect the already recognized inability of the South to go as far in organized codperation of the churches as other parts of the nation have found it possible to do. :

5 For forms of questionnaire see Ch. IV, p. 69.

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