EVANGELICAL
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EDIT “I CAN AFFORD IT”
By Paul Erb
live on T-bone steaks, but who buy hamburger in stead so they can give more to the refugees who seldom get meat at all. There are missionaries who realize how different standards of living create a barrier between them and the peo ple they want to win for Christ, and so they live tin small houses and go without cars and, so far as possible, become all things to all men so that they might win some of them. The economists talk about “conspicious con sumption,” the kind of extravagant spending which is calculated to set one up in a superior social class, which puts one in the exclusive set. Any thinking Christian knows that such spend ing is contrary to Christian humility and to bro therhood. We are glad to believe that we have people who on principle, not by necessity, stay away from anything that could be called “con spicious consumption.” One of the best reasons for not buying a mink coat, to cite a specific example, is that one could hardly wear it while testifying for the Christ who apparently had but one garment for His survivors to dispose of. Christians today, in our rich lands, are in great danger of forgetting how lowly and poor was the Lord they are following. They live as well as they can afford. All of us do, is what the man said. We don’t believe it. We know there are some “who buy as though they had no goods” (I Corinthians 7:30, RSV). They are the ones who will guide us back to simple living, which confo^mrt^ true humility” and’ TovTkiid “akllor Christ’s kingdom.
‘'We shouldn’t criticize people who buy big cars and build expensive homes and eat rich foods and dress in the best,” he seiid, “for we would do the same if we could afford it.” It may be. His statement hurts because it is so largely true, even for Christian people. Our standard of living is determined largely by what we have to spend, rather than by actual need, or even by brotherly sharing. “I can afford it,” seems to many of us all the justification that a purchase needs. Standard of living is a difficult area in which to aipply Christian principles. Most of us live on a level far above what the great majority of this earth’s inhabitants can afford. We live in an economy of abundance — food, clothes, homes, transportation, gadgets. The line between neces sity, what we think we need, and luxury, sinful indulgence, is exceedingly hard to draw. What we have b^n^sed to. what yur^^s^iates have, what we feel adds worth-while things to our lives: these all enter into consideration. The sheer abundance is an element: in the case of food Photo Credits: Page one: Canadian National we might as well eat what will otherwise spoil. Railways. Page four: Swiss Embassy. Page seven: The difference in standards of living throughout MCC (Canada). the world are often due to lack of transportation, about which we may not be able to do anyhing. It is clear that we must be careful not to sit as judges of the other man’s expenditures. We MBS. W. E. MENZIES may not understand, and there is great danger “Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee” (Job 12; 7). of jealousy and begrudging. There is nothing ■ The peacock is proud, likes to be seen; vanity— Christian in the dog-in-the^manger attitude which pride—self. Did you ever notice that this proud bird wants to deny to others anything which we can cannot fly? The little sparrow can excel him in that not enjoy. art. Fine clothes do not make character. And yet we should like to disagree with the man who thought all of us live as high as we can afford to. There are some, we are persuaded, The Messenger who govern their lives by Christian principles Official organ, in the English language, of the EVANGELICAL MENNONITE CON of stewardship and brotherhood rather than by FERENCE. Published bi-weekly under the auspices of the E.M.C. BOARD OF PUBLI CATION AND EDUCATION. economics. There are people who could afford a Editor, David K.Schellenberg, 502 Fifth Ave.N.W., Portage la Prairie, Man. subscriptions and change of address should be sent to Mr. Abe Kla $50,(X)0 house who build much more modestly. ssen,AllBoxnew1447, Steinbach, Man. Subscription price to non-members $1.00 per year. All E.M.C. members pay There are people who could pay for a $5,0{X) car through the church. Authorized as second class mail. Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for who buy instead in the “big three” class of ordin payment of postage in cash. ary people. There are Christian folks who could 2
The Messenger
DOCTRINAL
SERIES (IV)
CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP By Rev.Milt on Fast it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (NSA). 'The steward is to use aU the abilities, powers and posses sions that God has entrusted to him to further the purposes of God. What then is God’s purpose in the world: ■'For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17) “Who wiU have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (Tim. 2:4). When Christ had fulfiUed His mission here on earth and was about to ascend into heaven. He gave His disciples the commission to carry on the work that He had begun, “as my Father has sent me, even so send I you” (John 20:21). This simply means that the faithful ness of our stewardship wlU deter mine the extent to which the gospel wiU be carried out into aU the world. It seems impossible to me that one who has experienced the forgiveness of sins and believes the destiny of men without Christ is eternal heU, and that it depends upon his faithful ness whether souls wiU be saved or not, that he would take the blessings of God to himself and use them for selfish indulgent living. Someone has said, “Our prayers for the evangeliza tion of the world are but bitter irony so long as we only give our superfluity and then draw back before the sac rifice of ourselves.” Our Lord Jesus Christ who is our life gave us the supreme example of sacrifice, “that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he ibecame poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (H Cor. 8:9). ’This example is to be followed by His disciples. In Romans 12:1 we read, “present your bodies a living The Author: Rev. Fast is Pastor of sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, the Kleefeld EM Church. . which is your reasonable service.”
Stewardship is one of the basic doc trines of the Bible, and actually per meates every area of our life. ’The 20th Century Encyclopedia of Reli gious Knowledge defines stewardship as meaning “the recognition of God’s ownership of all material resources, and life itself, including one’s thoughts, time, talents, energy and in fluence as well as possessions.” This pretty well equates stewardship with discipleship. Powell in his book “Mon ey and the Church” says, “A man may decide either to accept or to reject Jesus Christ. But once he has accepted Christ, it is not for him to decide whether or not he will be a steward when he becomes a (Christian. He may be a good steward or he may be a poor steward; nevertheless, he is a steward. He has been intrusted with the gospel of Jesus Christ and has been given the gift of eternal life, and it is his high calling to share this gift with others. The one requirement that is placed upon the steward is that he be found faithful.” Total Involvement Required The saying, if you aim at nothing you are sure to hit it (nothing), also holds true in the realm of steward ship. If we have no clear understand ing of the purpose of stewardship we can only flounder around and never have any joy or confidence as we seek to fulfill our stewardship respon sibilities before God. The Apostle Paul says, “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stew ards of the mysteries of God.” (I Cor. 4:1) “. . entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (II Cor 5:19 RSV). In I Peter 4:10 we read, “As each one has received a special gift, employ
August 20, 1965
Stewardship of Money “Any serious discussions of stew ardship of the gospel must take into account stewardship of money”. (Milo Kauffman) Christ saw possessions as a chief rival for the affections of men and He gave a major emphasis in His teachings to possessions and men’s attitude toward money. Powell claims that references to money outnumber all other references among the Mas ter’s sayings. ’The apostle Paul points out to the Corinthians that giving is a grace in which we should abound, and the measure of our giving is a proof of the sincerity of our love. (11 Cor. 8; 7, 8) Money has always played a very important role in the church, and without it our Mission outreach would be practically nil. Kauffman says “A main hinderance to steward ship of the gospel is an unwillingness on the part of Christians to give gen erously”. A grievous temptation is that we would lay up treasures on earth, “and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful” (Matt. 13:22) According to I Tim. 6:5-10 a chief hindrance to a victor ious and joyous life is materialism and greed. In our day of wealth, ease and luxury we find ourselves espec ially susceptible to covetousness which is idolatry. “. . . everyone loveth gifts and foUoweth after rewards” (Isaiah 1:23). Bight Use of Money The Bible gives us clear directives in the right use of money. Number one is the understanding that the Lord is also Lord of the material wealth in your hands. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. AU is therefore to be administrated in such a way that it will further the work of the Lord.
(Cont’d on page Seven)
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GOD HAS ANSWERED PRAYER Hearty greetings from beautiful Switzerland! Since our last letter Amanda underwent a second opera tion, 'There was no further malignancy. God has answered your prayers and ours! After a trip to visit Amanda’s sis ters and their families in Mali and Congo, mother spent a few weeks with us and then returned to Canada with Marina. We praise the Lord for this time of fellowship with these loved ones. The Team reports that the Crusade in Mannheim made a real impact and that hundreds responded to the Gos pel. Pray for the converts. The Crusade for Christ in Bern was greatly blessed of God, Thanks for praying. Here are but a few items of praise: * From the quaipt mountainside chalets, from the rustic villages of the Berner Gberland, from the homes and apartments of Switzerland’s capital they came again and again: oldtimers and modem teens, young people by the hundreds, boys and girls, fathers and mothers, men and women from all walks of life. They packed out the hall (seating 4500) during the last days of the iCrusade. In all, over 1600 were counselled, about two thirds of them being under 35 years of age, among them some 250 boys and girls. What a victory for the Osspel! * A magnificent choir of upto 400 voices nightly proclaimed the Gos pel message in song along with Hildor Janz as soloist. * Some 250 faithful counsellors from different churches (many had become Christians in the 1959 Cru sade), sacrificed time and effort in this joint ministry of counselling both saved and unsaved. *A brother and sister whose mo ther died of cancer and father in a traffic accident, three children of a counsellor, a young lady from a com munist country, the young husband of a lady counsellor, a whole Sunday school class, sons and daughters of pastors, the wife and son of the FesthaUe caretaker—these are but a few of the many who responded to the Lord's call * Some 30 teachers taught the hun dreds of children in the series of children’s meetings using visual aids and work sheets. Many of the child ren remained to be counselled. Pray
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.. The Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps is one of Switzerland's tourist attractions
that they may go on with the Lord and that the churches would extend and improve their Sunday school min istry. Our boys joined us for the last few. days of the Crusade. Since then we have enjoyed a week of camping in Austria with the Reuben Goertzs. At present both Robert and Jim are away at Bible camps. May we ask you to remember to pray for a real spiritual awakening in the Crusade in Basel from Sept. 11 Oct. 2. We shall report on this next time. ’The Lord bless you all. Yours in Christ, 'The John Peters
NOT ONE LETTER Is it time to write another letter when not one has come from you in response to our last one? That pray er letter was was dated three months ago so we will write anyway. We do believe there are those among you who take time to pray even though you don’t take time to write. For your prayers we are grateful. We had barely gotten installed here at IMana, acquainted with the set-up and with some neighboring village be lievers, and Irene’s kindergarten course completed, when we took off for a good month’s vacation at Dalaba Guinea. Nine missionary couples en joyed the long weekend plus the two-
week mid-term vacation with their children from nearby Mamou. The hillside was a beehive of buzzing acti vity. Irene had looked forward to be ing a school girl, and was elated when the last day of vacation came. But that night at school the strange place, the strange room mate, and the strange people forced the fact of sep aration upon her and tears flowed freely. ’The second night she had asked one of the ladies, “Will I cry every night?” 'By now we trust she wiU have adjusted to the activities and routine of boarding school life. Eugene and Irene should be a mutual comfort to each other. Our home of course is strangely quiet without our contented little jab’ berer and helper around. We, too, need grace to be overcomers in this matter of separation, so remember us and our children in prayer. The ded icated and wise Mamou school and foyer staff are a great help and we praise 'God for them. A bright prosipect for our family is the addition of a new member the first week in November.
MISSI The Messenger
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Since returning from Dalaba Larry has taken up his teaching responsi bilities in the Bible School; the rainy season term which lasts until Octo ber has classes, only mornings so that the students can farm in the after noons, There are only three students with their families this term. Please make it a definite matter of prayer that many students will come for the new term beginning approximately January first. This is when most of the students attend as it is in the dry season and farming is over. Last year there were some thirty in at tendance. A matter of real concern at present is the shortage of food. Be cause of poor crops last year and government restrictions, grain is al most impossible to get. Students that come to school are supposed to bring their own supply of grain. Pray that the Lord in His goodness will grant students now at home farming a bountiful harvest. 'Another prayer item is the cate chist, Nani, who has just recently been transferred back to this area. He is a wise middle aged man with no family responsibilities. Pray that his concern may be such as will keep him occupied encouraging and teach ing believers. He is stationed about fifteen miles from us. The church here at Mana has a small member ship and lacks spiritual stamina. Pray with us for the revival and restoration of this small group. In closing we want to add a word of thanks to the Lord for His daily care and mercies towards us. His lovingkindness is so great and free. Let us joyfully sing our great Redeem er’s praise. Yours in His joyful service, Kathryn and Larry McNeill
TRUSTING THE LORD FOR GREAT THINGS I praise the Lord for the privilegei Hie has given me in helping out in the Paacas Novos work. I arrived here at this Post in June Sth. The Mission Committee here wanted me to help out at this particular Post with the medical work, so that the missionary linguist, Royal Taylor would be more free to work in the language, A few days after I arrived here the Taylors had to go to Guajara because they thought that their little daugh ter might come down with the mumps. August 20,
1965
That left me alone with the Indians for a lltle more than a day. Then Mr. Taylor returned with another mis sionary couple who stayed here at the Post till Taylors were able to re turn. I didn’t mind staying alone for a little bit, the Indians keeping me company in the daytime. It seemed like I already knew them though they love to tease, so I wasn’t too sur prized walking by one Indian having a sharp knife in his hand he gave me a friendly tap with it on my back! Our heart’s desire is to see them come to know the Lord. We have already sensed a real working of the Spirit in their lives so continue to pray for them that there will come a real break through very soon. Not long ago we heard an Indian wailing and so went to see the old Indian who was quite sick and we found his son holding his father’s hand on his lap and sobbing heartbrokenly. It was enough to break one’s heart too knowing that they didn"t know the Lord as their Sav iour yet. ’There wasn’t anything we could do for the old Indian physically but we could weep with them and pray. The Lord heard and the old Indian is still with us and we believe the Lord that he will have a chance to receive Christ as his Saviour. This Indian is quite hard of hearing so remember him. I’m in charge of the medical work here now. I do not have the wisdom to know how to treat all their aches and pains but the Lord has the wis dom needed. So remember me in your prayers. I praise Him for the way He has been restoring these people to health again after their fevers, etc. Being dry season malarial fever is not quite as bad. Malaria as well as malaria medicine is hard on livers so we have to treat lot of liver sick nesses. Tomorrow we will be going to Guajara Mirim to do our shopping. We hope to be back on Friday. We are believing the Lord to do great things these coming days in bringing these Indians to a know ledge of Himself. Royal, has been going to the different houses in the evenings and talking to them and a real interest has been shown. So re member the Paacas Novas Indians as well as the missionary. Our Lord says, “Ask and it shall be given.” What a joy it is and will be to see these pre cious Indians come to know our Sav-
lour too. Thank you for your gifts and pray ers. The Lord bless you all much. In His faithfulness, Elizabeth Koop
ARRIVE IN PARAGUAY cdc 984, Asuncion, Paraguay August 1, 1965 Dear Mr. Schellenberg, Sorry I didn’t get that farewell let ter written which you asked for. We are happy though to report that the Lord has granted travelling mer cies and that we arrived here in As uncion safe and sound at four in the morning on July 21st, only nineteen hours after our takeoff in Winnipeg. Our thanks to all the folks who have been upholding us in prayer. We stayed at the MCC home until the following day when Frank Kroeker and Pete Martens came for us. We enjoyed our stay in East Para guay, the fellowship, the beautiful scenery, the tree-ripened fruits, and the excursions into the jungle. But we have also been challenged by the many villages without any Gospel wit ness—not only Indian villages but also of Paraguayans. May the Lord of the harvest send forth many more labor ers that these people may be reached. Right now we are back in Asuncion shopping and preparing to go out into th< Chaco, The Lord wilhng, Kenry Toews will be coming for us some time this week. 'Let us with one heart and one mind glorify Him that is worthy. Yours in Him,
Ernest and Elsie FunR
Little Tom — p A Slave y T ITTLE TOM stood on the -L' high auction block, his heart beating hard with fear. He was going to be sold. He had stood at first with his little black fists clenched tight. After a few moments he raised his head a little and glanced fearfully around him.
Many people were on the grounds. Some were black and some were almost white as the regular folk. There were beau tiful ladies dressed in rich silk dresses with many ruffles and bows. They tilted their tiny ruffled parasols and laughed as though they had not a care in the world. With the ladies were well-dressed men, either in the carriages or walking around, swinging their gold headed canes. Little Tom saw rough-looking men; men who looked as if they could be very cruel to a lonely little black boy. Little Tom heard the auc tioneer speaking now. “What am I bid for this fine little fellow? Just feel his muscles! What a field hand he will make! He can easily work hard all day in the fields. A good cotton picker this boy is. What am I bid?” Tom knew this was not true. He had never worked in the 6
fields. Tom had been a house slave ever since he had been born. He had also been play mate for his mistress’ little girl. Tom had been spoiled. Many times he had been saucy to his mistress and quarrel some with the little girl. Had he belonged to some other family, Tom knew that he would have been severely whipped. But his mistress had died, and now the slaves were being sold at auction.
Tom whispered to himself, “I kaint work in the fields! That is berry hard work! I — I am skeered most to deaf — iffen a bad master gits hold of me, he will whip me!” The little fellow’s eyes rolled wildly as he listened to the bidding around him. On the outskirts of the crowd Little Tom saw a big; brutal man with a heavy whip in his hand. This man stepped forward and offered a sum of money for the boy. He cracked his whip as he spoke. “I want this boy. He looks pretty soft — probably never did a day’s work in his life. I’ll soon take that softness out of him, or I will take some blood out of him!” The man laughed as he cracked his whip again.
There were no larger bids for a moment. Tom’s knees shook, and he could not con trol his trembling. He knew who this man was. He had heard his mistress speak of him many times. She had said that he had once whipped a slave to death in a fit of anger. Big tears began to roll down the little boy’s cheeks. Someone in the crowd laughed. Then he heard the man laugh again, an ugly, coarse laugh. Suddenly he heard a quiet voice speaking. “I will offer twice that amount for the boy!” Little Tom looked fran tically toward the voice. He saw a plainly dressed man standing beside a carriage. The man had a kind look, and his gray eyes looked steadily at the boy. The rough man snorted an grily. “That Chester feller again! Wants to show off some more of his religion! Well, let him take the boy — he probably wouldn’t live long anyhow!” He turned away, cracking his whip furiously. Little Tom stepped from the auction block and was shoved toward the man who had bought him. “Here, little fel-
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low, Stand beside my carriage for awhile. I will have some one take you to my planta tion.” The man touched the lad’s shoulder kindly.
Little Tom fell on his knees and grasped the man’s hand, the tears pouring steadily now, “Thank you, thank you, Mass’r. I will be a good slave — you will see!” The man spoke decidedly, “You will not be a slave, my boy. I do not believe in slav ery. I have bought you, but you will be free. You will stay with us — it will be safe there — but you will be paid for any work you do. There is no slavery on my plantation!” Then he looked steadily at the boy. “I will teach you what it means to be bought with the Blood of Jesus Christ — what it means to be really free. You will learn of the greatest, kindest, most loving Master in the world.” Little Tom could not under stand. He had been bought, but he was free! Free from all brutal masters. He knew that he would love this man for ever, that he would lay down his life for him if necessary. He had been bought with a price and set free. Little Tom could not understand the talk about Jesus — he had never heard of such a Master, but he would learn. Oh, yes, he knew that he would learn! And he did learn. From his kind master Little Tom did indeed learn that he was bought by the precious Blood of Jesus. He received Jesus as his Saviour and was freed from Satan as well as from slavery. Young PilotBREAD OF HEAVEN Blessed Jesus, Bread of heaven. Feed me from Thy bounteous store. Ever fill my cup -with blessings, Keep me till this life is o’er. Guide my feet in paths of goodness. Use my voice to sing Thy praise. May my hands work for my Master, Bless me till the end of days.
August 20, 1965
STEWARDSHIP,from page Three Secondly, the Bible teaches that we should chaiinel into the treasury of the church a portion of our income, as the Lord has prospered us (I Cor. 16:2). "Let each one do just as he purposed in his heart not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loveth a cheerful giver” (11 Cor 9:7) This means that a definite portion of my income is set aside for the work of Christ, and this is decided upon be fore the GIVING begins. PoweU Says, “In proportionate giving one rtiakes provisions for Christ’s work regard less of other claims that may be made upon one’s personal or family budget during the year,” To do it'any other way we make the work of Christ compete with aU unforseen demands which may arise. This brings us to the third point which is closely re lated to the second, and that is first fruits giving. “By setting aside or earmarking God’s portion first—the stress is on the first — the Christian manifests through his economic life the place God has in his entire life” (PbweU) This is an act of faith, acknowledging that Matt. 6:33, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteous ness and all these things shall be add ed unto you” are practiced even in 1965. The fourth point I would like to bring to our attention is that ALL
are to give, even the widow with the two mites. “Let everyone lay by him in store.” God is Faithful God challenged Israel to faithful ness in their tithes and offerings, “bring the full tithe into the store house, that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an over flowing blessing” (Mai. 3:10) Stew ardship is a grateful response to the grace and love of God. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandents are not grievous.” (I John 5:3) Realizing that this discussion of Biblical Stewardship is rather limited I would like to present a short bibli ography of books and portions of books that you would certainly find value in if read and studied.
Kauffman, Mile, The Challenge of Stewardship, Herald Press. 1955. Powell, Luther P., Money and the Church. Associate Press, 1962. Proceedings of the Seventh Mennonite World Conference, The Lordship of Christ, Mennonite Publishing House, 1962, pp. 136-46. Hershberger, Guy Franklin, The Way of the Cross in Human Relations. Herald Press, 1958, pp. 213-328.
VERNON REIMER TO VTSIT MANITOBA AND SASKATCHEWAN CHURCHES Vernon Reimer, the director of the MOC program in India, Nepal and Pakistan, is at home in Canada for a three month furlough before returnng to Calcutta for another term of service. ■September 7-15 he will be ■visiting churches in Manitoba and September 22-30 he will be in Saskatchewan. The provincial MOC’s are arranging his itinerary and will announce details of
time and place of meetings locally. Before entering MCC service Mr. Reimer taught in Manitoba schools for sixteen years, the last eight years of which he served as principal in Niverville. He was ordained to the ministry in 1957. They are members of the Prairie Rose Evangelical Men nonite Church. Reimers plan to return to India in October.
Vernon and Helen Bernier
ELMTOWN’S YOUTH A. B. Hollingshead Reviewed by Ben Eidse Summary: This book is an analysis of “the way the social system of a Mid dle Western Corn Belt community organizes and controls the social be haviour of high-school aged adoles cents reared in it.” ’The behavior pat terns of 735 adolescents and the posi tions occupied by their families in the class structure of the community are studied. The book is divided into five parts. Part I indicates the problem on which the research was focused and discusses the time, place, and method in which the data was collected. Part II describes the communal, family and social setting. Part III relates the story of 390 high school boys and girls. Part IV discusses the impact of the class system on the 345 young sters who left school prematurely. Part V summarizes and concludes the thesis.
Evaluation: Ehntown’s Youth should be read by all youth workers—in fact by everyone who deals with personal adjustment problems. I was impressed with the compli cations of the problems of research and with the thoroughness of Dr. Hollingshead’s research work. 'The impact of social classes in American life according to this study is tremendous. I didn’t realize it was as bad as it is depicted here. In reading the book the thought came to me with renewed force that democracy had definite limitations. It presupposes a morality that man of ten does not ipossess. When morals are low, democracy—so-caUed—can by tyrannical. 'The resignation with which the lower classes yielded to the domination of the higher classes.
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realizing that they couldn’t do any thing about it, is indicative of this fact. Some of my friends interviewed various people in Elmtown (Morris, Ill.) and discovered that a number of the people had no use for the book at all. In a way I can understand this. It is certainly not very complementary to the town. In the book the school board is real ly put in a bad light—afraid of losing their positions they evidently do not attempt to bring about much-needed changes. This is one of the points on which Morris residents felt the pic ture had been painted too darkly. Another point on which the author was criticized was his description of the Lutheran minister. According to the book he must have been extreme ly narrow and bigoted. They claimed that the one who reported on Luther an Church activities was one not at all sympathetic to the church. I believe that this is a point that must not be overlooked. Even though statistics may be compiled there is stiU much room for subjectivity. I must say, however, that the lack of understanding of the young people on the part of the ministry as indi cated in the book is pathetic indeed —and to think that this study was made from 1941 to 1942. The puppet school teachers—also afraid of losing their jobs—jumping to the tunes of the influential people are a disgrace to the teaching pro fession. The grading curve was quite normal, but when it was analyzed the higher class children consistently got the A’s and the lower class folks the C’s. The town liked local community people best because they knew how to grade accordingly. The awarding of scholarships ac cording to the whims of the teachers is another illustration of the unfair ness of the whole system. 'This is the kind of a book that fairly makes your blood boil. How selfish and immoral people can be come! I thought the author took a bit too much pleasure in depicting the immoralities of the adolescents and the parents. The partiality shown in law en forcement shows how human those in authority are. It is difficult to believe that church understanding of science and the the Scriptures could actually be as limited as indicated in the book. The
church people didn’t even attempt to explain their stand. What surprised me was the con flicting laws that were passed in state and federal legislation. Ex. Re quiring children to go to school until they are 16 and yet not giving relief to any family if there is a boy under 16 who does not have a full-time job. Hollinghead’s criticism of the church is worthy of consideration. He says the weakness of the church is: (1) she does not adjust to the needs of the various age groups (2) Young peoples’ groups are actually semi private clubs; (3) Ministers’ attitudes build barriers, (Of course he would be much more compromising in his stand than we would be willing to be as ministers). This book has given me more prac tical ideas on how to conduct research projects. For example here are 5 im portant considerations: 1. The way the family lives—place, type of dwelling, furnishings, etc. 2. Income and material possession. 3. Participation in community af fairs— politics, religion, “civic-mind_ ed”, “radical”, “conservative”, “good community man”. 4. Family background — ancestry, kin, nationality. 5. Reputation and prestige. Is this a typical U.S. town? Evi dently there must be many more like it. If so, there is much to be done. When I read a book like this my re action is (as you may guess) that the greatest need is not the system as such, but the people. ’The people must be changed. If the people in the var ious social classes could have a change of heart democracy would be much more democratic. (I should add, that I believe Hollingshead does not leave enough room for the fact that in spite of class barriers people do have free wills, and do not have to be victims of circumstances.
THE TIME YOU OWN The clock of time is wound but once, And no man has the power To tell just when the hands will stop, At late or early hour.
Now is the only time you own; Live, love, toil with a will; Take no thought for tomorrow, for The clock may then be still. —Unknown.
The Messenger