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6 THE PRESBYTERIA
CHURCH ADVERTISING.
The question lias been raised whether each church
is not under obligation to itself and its errand in the
world that it make itself known, and actively solicit attention
from the world around it. It is not so much
whether a man Jan find a place of worship when he
desires to go to church, as it is whether the church has
done its duty in making itself known to all men in
the community, and that it has a message for all men
of most solemn import and urgency. It must be remembered
that the Ghurch is sent on a mission, and to
sit down within its walls and wait for men to come
*_<in not oe tlie accomplishment of that mission. Can
it be true, that in sections and cities of the land there
are masses of people unchurched, unfathered and uncaring,
because the Church has not approached them,
has not made itself known to them, and kept before
them its appeal ?
It is now held that the Church is under the strongest
obligation to find wise and effective methods of advertising
itself, and keeping itself in the sight of all
men. Men must be reached where they are. It is the
man outside of the churcW who needs most of all the
message the Church has to give. Whether men come
to church or not, it is the rrreat dntv of
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go and find men and leave them without excuse. The
church should be the most public of all institutions,
whose doors arc open always. So many other things
are pressed urgently and persistently upon public attention,
things good and bad. So many forms of error,
so many movements of pretended healing and philanthropy
and religion, all loud and pretentious, that the
church can not afford to be silent and reserved.
Advertising then in some form must be. The church
must bear a trumpet, and make itself and its great
message heard in every ward, in every section, in every
"home.
It is not a personal advertisement of the preacher
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xi is wanted, not tne perpetual appearance of the
Christian minister's name in the papers with flattering
words. Herein is pride and vain-glory, and herein is
offense and shame to the Master and his word. Nor
must there be any advertisement of a deceptive kind,
attempting to win by a species of guile which is unworthy
and vulgar, if it be not eventually false. Such
things destroy respect for the church and repel from
the church door. Of all things in the world, the church
must have no sham and no humbug. It must preserve
its high character and give weight to its message by
its dignity and sobriety, even when it is most active
in its efforts and loudest in its call.
Without publicity and some sanctified form of advertising,
the church surely loses its ground, and soon
the multitude pass by answering other calls.
The Rev. Charles Stelzle, Secretary of Church and
Labor for the Board of Home Missions of the Presbv
terian Church, U. S. A., has made a thorough study
of this subject. His book lately published, "Principle
of Successful Church Advertising," is a careful statement
of the need and obligation, the limits, the qualities
of proper advertising, and then of the best of legitimate
methods; newspaper cards inserted as paid advertisements,
posters, window cards, booklets, and cards for
y
N OF THE SOUTH. March 24, 1909.
distribution, the weekly church program, or bulletin, or
paper, use of illustrations, all of these things are described.
Mr. Stelzle is faithful in warning against the
unfit and injurious kind of publicity, and most informing
and helpful as to many things which may be done.
WHAT CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE CAN DO.
In the theatrical world recently there has been a lesson
of value to the Christian ministry. It appears in the
narration of some facts which we have learned from
friends who are well informed upon the matters of which
they speak.
For weeks past there has been presented upon the
stage in New York City, and we think in other cities of .
the North, a play which contained at least one scene of
coarse and lewd character. Night after night it appeared
on the boards, and repeated its debasing influences without
hindrance.
The manager brought his troupe to Richmond, Va.,
and produced this scene along with the others on the
stage. Richmond is a city in which the people attend
church. At the evening services we have seen good
attendance such as we have seen in few other cities. The
people have a high standard of that which is right and
pure. That night the Mayor of the city was present,
we suspect not by accident. When this scene appeared,
with its lewd and polluting suggestiveness, the Mayor
went behind tlje scenes and ordered the manager to ring
down the curtain. "By what right do you thus order
me?" "As Mayor of this city I require you to drop that
curtain and suspend this play." And it was done.
The troupe came South, to Charlotte and to Atlanta.
We are not advised concerning its presentation in the
former city, but in this city, the Mayor happened also to
he present, not by accident, and reported that in the play
he saw nothing objectionable, except that it was dull.
Why? Very significant is that question, Why? The
manager' found that in New York where the foreign
element of population, with its low moralities, has
smothered, to a large extent, the high standards of Christianity,
he could present his lewdness with impunity. But
he lso had discovered that in the South, where most of
the citizens are native born, the principles of the Gospel
have a deeper influence and a stronger hold upon the
communitv at laree: and that nuhlir <;pntimf>nt cncf-?:?o
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the officers of the law in Maintaining purity.. Therefore,
he took warning by the one experience, and just quietly
emitted from his performance the objectionable scene.
Just here lies the power of the Christian ministry. It is
not in attacking particular evils, but in deepening the
love of God and of purity in the hearts of the people,
to that they will sustain those things which are pure
and lovely and of good report. If the ministers had made
an assault from the pulpit upon this particular play, they
would have advertised it effectively, and the result would
nave been what the cartoonist represented: On the left
the preacher denouncing it; on the right a crowd of men
at the box office clamoring for .tickets. But as the church
has succeeded in deepening the sense of purity in the
hearts of the people, the Mayor felt that he would be
supported in demanding purity, and the play-manager
repressed the disgusting scene. Let us press the good
work of elevating the moral tone of the community.
T. E. C.