Southern Mountaineers, The . a stand. No less than in other communities does the pastorhere need to be a shepherd, safefolding his flock fromgrievous wolves. Here no less than elsewhere is theBible-reader and catechist or community worker jus-tified by the results of her work. A permanent, shin-ing Presbyterian church will be one of the greatestcontributions to a mountain county that our zealousChurch can make; and the benefit rendered will bemany fold greater than can be computed merely interms of advantage to the mother Church that estab-lished it. The Presbyterian Church, however, has reach
Southern Mountaineers, The . a stand. No less than in other communities does the pastorhere need to be a shepherd, safefolding his flock fromgrievous wolves. Here no less than elsewhere is theBible-reader and catechist or community worker jus-tified by the results of her work. A permanent, shin-ing Presbyterian church will be one of the greatestcontributions to a mountain county that our zealousChurch can make; and the benefit rendered will bemany fold greater than can be computed merely interms of advantage to the mother Church that estab-lished it. The Presbyterian Church, however, has reached a practical consensus of opinion as to what is its chief mission in the southern mountains. ?^^/^^f iP^ly That mission is to educate, to pro-to Educate •, ^i . .. , . \. , vide Christian education for the young people who are to be the future leaders of themountains. This is, of course, recognized as an ex-ceptional case. Usually the Church looks upon itself as an evan-gelizing agency. But in the Appalachians it recog-. K O PRESENT-DAY PRESBYTERIANISM 103 nizes the fact that here the most successful way tocontribute to the coming of the glad day when themountains will be fully evangelized is to educate theyoung people of the mountains. What hope of build-ing up good Presbyterianism or good Christianity ofany type if a large proportion of the people cannotread, or search the Scriptures that testify of Christ?What hope of founding a substantial work so long aseducated leaders with a desire for improvement andprogress are lacking? It is evident that the Appa-lachian worker must lay broad and deep the founda-tion of education and intelligence before he can erecta permanent Christian church that shall largely im-prove the people for whose good it is consecrated. When this Presbyterian policy was at first inprocess of formulation, some of our people were un-easy lest the Church might pervert c?^?^^^/^*^?-^ its funds in doing work that theState Education . 1 , t-, state is suppos
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