PUTTING RELIGION TO WORK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18768, 23 January 1923, Page 8

PUTTING RELIGION TO WORK

Joining religion to sociability, a Massachusetts church has adopted a community service programme ranging from corrective clinics for crippled children to free music lessons. Three years ago the South Congregational Church at Springfield (Mass.) took over another church which was losing ground because of its proximity to several stronger churches, and equipped it as a community centre. A novel and extensive programme was introduced by the Rev. James Gordon Gilkey, pastor of the church, with such success (wo read in the Boston Transcript) that last winter’s record shows that more than 40 organisations met regularly at the Community House, that 679 families were reached by its activities, and that the attendance' for the 10 months between September, 1921. and July, 1922, reached the surprising total of 83,431. One of the most interesting lines of work at the Community House is, we are told, the health programme for the children, which is in charge of a graduate nurse, who receives the co-operation of the Springfield Visiting Nurse Association. A free pre-natal clinic is held each week, and every Wednesday afternoon there is a Well-Baby Conference, at which a doctor and two nurses advise mothers about the care of their small children. During the past 10 months 5678 children have attended this conference. Twice a week corrective clinics for crippled children are held under the direction of Professor S. B. Betr.ler, of Springfield College, and the attendance at these clinics (says the writer in the Transcript) rose last winter to 40 children a week. Proper nourishment forms a. part of any health programme, and every school day a hot luncheon is served at a nominal cost to the boys and girls of the neighbourhood, many of whom are said to be dependent on the Community House for their daily midday meal. touring the school year just closed 7462 children were fed in this way. To complete this health programme, the South Church has just equipped the laud about the Community House for a children’s playground. Season tickets arc sold to the children at the rate of one cent a week, and the attendance averages 300 children a day. The recreational and other programmes, we are told, are equally interesting, and are thus described : “Two motion picture machines have been installed, and during the school year four mption picture entertainments are given each week—the one on Saturday afternoon designed especially for children, “During the winter of 1921-22 30,742 people saw the Community House movies, tne majority of the attendants being children. In co-operation with the Junior Achievement League of the city, the Community House maintains 10 Junior Achievement Clubs, each meeting weekly and offering boys and girls an opportunity to learn everything from making toys to building a .radio. The Community House also maintains a free Music School at which 10 volunteer music teachers from the South Church give weekly lessons to over 50 children, whose parents are unable to pay for musical instruction. A Christmas Club, organised last Christmas to develop the habit of thrift, reports 105 members, each of whom is saving a definite sum each week. “The total amount saved by these children in the first quarter of 1922 was just over 250d01. In connection with the daily lunches, a children’s library also has been opened. The bonks have been donated by the church people, and during the past school year over 10,000 children have used this library and the other Community House facilities between school sessions. In April a three-stage radio was added to the Community House equipment, and a club of 20 boys meets regularly through the school year to study and .practise on the instrument. Incidentally this radio furnishes music for the Sunday evening cervices held every week at the Community House: “Several intcrestimr exneriments are being carried on in religious work. Each Sunday afternoon there is a Community House Sunday School, at which most of the instruction is given, hv means of motion picture?. This is believed to be the first Sunday School of its type in the world. Within two months tne attendance had increased from 65 to over 309. Later each Sunday afternoon a light supper is served to anv young people who come to the Community House, and afterwards a Young People’s Forum takes the place of the conventional Christian Endeavour. The attendance at the weekly suppers varies from 50 to 100 and the attendance at the Forum from 100 to 200. “In connection with these religious gatherings for young people an elaborate series of socials is arranged, including theatricals at the South Church Parish House and dances at the Community House. Every Sunday night the Community House has its own religions service, with motion matures as a definite part of the programme. In the last three years the attendance has increased steadily, till this spring people were turned away week after week. “The pictures shown range from Biblical subjects to nhotn-dramas, like ‘The Servant in the House’ and patriotic films like ‘The Man Without a Country.’ “This Community House programme has developed in such' a promising way that the South Church has just made a motion picture film illustrating these different activities and showing the actual work that i« being done in them. This film ic, entitled ‘A Modern Church in Action.’ runs for 25 minutes, and is available for use by other churches and community houses. It is believed to hr the first film ever made hy a church to show the scope of its community work.’’