Christian Endeavor and Church Oversight
A reversal of purpose in the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor is severely criticized by a writer in Christian Work. He says: "So much emphasis has been laid upon 'Endeavor' that the idea has become widely prevalent that the organization is designed to be a modern machine for the rapid turning out of certain products which the church finds useful and even necessary. . . . The Christian Endeavor Society is not a 'job office' or a machine shop. We have carried the workshop idea quite too far in our estimate of the movement. It is not 'the young people of the church at work,' but 'the church at work for her young people'—which is a very different thing. A great deal of the collapse which has marked 'Endeavor' in local circles is due to the surprising lack of superintendence and oversight on the part of the church itself." This statement by one of experience in the matter of which he writes illustrates two dangers of honest people in the conduct of church affairs. One is, the liability of young people in places of responsibility to assume too much; the other is, the tendency of the older class to shrink responsibility, and allow the young willing ones to go ahead without necessary oversight or balance-wheel co-operation. It is not always the fault of young people if they get a little beyond the bounds of good judgment or propriety. The tendency is too strong toward confounding legitimate and appropriate young people's work with that which should be the work of the whole church.