Churchgoing

Roger Ward Babson is a famed statis tician, predicter of the 1929 stock market crash, who has lately turned bullish. Resembling greatly a goateed New England preacher, he is a shrewd, pragmatic religionist, a devout member of the Congre gational & Christian Churches. He is chairman of its Commission on Church Attendance. Last week, in the September Federal Council Bulletin, he presented statistics gleaned thus far in a five-year survey on church going. Chief points: P:In 1930 and 1931, some 33% of the total membership of 903 Congregational & Christian churches went to church every Sunday.

P:Churches which have kept records for years back show that Congregational church attendance reached its height in 1915; declined low in 1923; advanced somewhat in 1924-25; fell again in 1926; rose in 1927. Since then there has been a marked decline which is apparently now being checked.

P:A study in New England showed that average church attendance varies inversely with the size of the community, from 71% in a village of less than 2,500 to 30% in a city over 50,000. Regionally, the lowest average attendance is in the urban Middle Atlantic states; the highest (78%) in the rural Southeast.

Not content merely with presenting his statistics, Roger Babson also offers advice. Ministers with dwindling congregations, says he, should be aware of, and seek to correct, the following conditions:

"1) Sermons which are uninteresting, unintelligent and non-helpful to the average man and woman.

"2) The fact that those who attend his church are no more honest, kinder employers or employes than those who do not attend.

"3) A lack of spiritual influence in the home and school, and the bad example as to 'church going' set by certain people in the community.

"4) The feeling that the church does not render a service which is desired enough to support it."

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