The Maladjustment of the Church
By F. D. Starr
At a meeting of the Men and Religion Movement in Walla Walla, Washington, February 18, 1912, one of the speakers for the occasion, Dr. Penrose, president of Whitman College, dwelt upon the paramount importance of correct influences for boys and young men between the ages of fifteen and twenty, and enumerated the sources of such influences. These he conceived to be four in number; namely, the home, the school, the associates, and the town in which such youth are brought up. Said the speaker, "Perhaps you will inquire why I do not mention the church as one of these factors." In answer to this query, he stated substantially as follows: Because the church is in such a condition of maladjustment that it can not be enumerated among the forces that tend to lead the youth in this period of adolescence to correct moral and spiritual lives. This sentiment concerning the "maladjustment" of the church was repeated. This seems like a very humiliating admission to make concerning the utility of the church under present conditions. A change must be imperative; for if there is any institution on earth that should be able to help young men, or any other class of individuals, to lead right lives, where should we sooner look for it than to the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth? Anticipating this condition of "maladjustment," the great Head of the church, through His inspired Word, predicted long ago a mighty movement that should be inaugurated to restore the church to its primitive powers and efficiency. This is forcibly set before us in the three messages of warning that are being proclaimed in all the world, as found in Rev. 14: 6-12. Here is brought to view a body of Christians who "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus," and who have disconnected from the world and from Babylon. This condition of adjustment places the church in right relations to God and man, where it can have a salutary influence upon all who come in contact with it, both young and old. A church that relies entirely upon God for support, and is not seeking for aid from civil government and religious legislation, will not find itself in that condition of "maladjustment" that will rob it of its influence for good over those who stand in pressing need of its saving ministrations.
F. D. STARR.