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ansy to allow the official roll to inâ€" BY THE REV. FRANk lute sttempt. year by year to cut down the membership roll to include only those who have an active relaâ€" Rapid Growth of Presbyterian Church During Past Ten Years; Many Attend "Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisâ€" dom"â€"Psaim 90:12. In the sight of Almighty God ten years is but a moment. For this church, now . drawing towards its fiftyâ€"eighth year of unbroken service in this community, the last decade has been significant. For the one who has been pastor of the church the ten years, coming during the earlier and more formative phase of his professional experience, have meant more than can easily be exâ€" The factor of change has also been noticeable in the social currents afâ€" fecting the national and local atâ€" osphere in which the membership of this church have carried on their work and thought. There is only time to summarize in a few phrases the immense panorama of the years in which the World War has beâ€" queathed its heritage and from the immediate shadow of which we are only now beginning to emerge. Conâ€" sider the significance for all of us of such words as these: the League of Nations, the Ku Klux Klan, Dayâ€" tom, Tenn., radio, jazz, prohibition, bootlegger, the Mississippi flood, Lindbergh, flapper, crime wave, mass production, the Washington Disarmâ€" ament _ Conference, â€" behaviourism. These are just a few words chosen at random which suggest some of the many facts and forces bringing radiâ€" cal readjustment to the individual and society. Our dress, our very speech, our ways of thought and acâ€" tion, what we eat and what we drink, our work and play and love and worâ€" ship, have been altered in this period of adaptation to the new. And the process is still on. No individual, no one group or nation, can remain unâ€" influenced by the passing of a decade, but it is very doubtful if within our entire history as a nation so many profound and farâ€"reaching changes have come to our American life as in the last ten years, changes which upâ€" root worthy traditions and challenge the wisdom of the ages and disturb our most settled conventions. ‘The Factor of Change The most measurable factor bearâ€" ing directly upon the Highland Park Presbyterian church during the last ten years has been the factor of change. A little less than oneâ€"third of the present active membership were connected with this fellowship in 1918. Slightly more than twoâ€" thirds have entered this fellowship curing the intervening years. Some of the group who welcomed the pasâ€" tor ten years ago have moved away to other communities. Fortyâ€"seven of that group have been taken by death. Their names and faces come before us at this hour. Gladly they gave themselves to the cause of Christ in this place. We remember their devotion, their sacrifice and their example, and we acknowledge our debt to them. The population of the community has increased steadily during that period and the membership and ‘attendance of our church reflect the increase. In gemeral our numbers are just wbout double in 1928 what they were in 1918. In some instances the inâ€" This fact of change, not only in the personnel of our membership, but in the forces and movements which viâ€" tally matter in the development of all that makes up human personality, is at once a stimulus and a very bafâ€" fling problem to one responsible for proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. To be sure, the more fundamental, unâ€" derlying part of life has not changed. We have the same God, the same revelation in Jesus Christ. We read the same Bible, sing the same hymns and worship in the same church. Sin persists, and also Calâ€" demptive message? We help them towards their discovery as we ourâ€" selves express the abundant life of faith and discipleship in this new day. The Factor of Growth Another important factor which seems quite definite in the retropâ€" spect of ten years is that of growth. vary. The Angel of Death still beckâ€" ons, and Easter reminds us of our great conviction. Childhood retains its charm and age its wisdom and reâ€" spect. We insist that character shall eceupy its primary place. First things remain first in all that really matters; but there is need for reâ€"inâ€" terpretation. ‘The formative spiritâ€" ual experience came for most of us in those distant days when the teleâ€" phone was a curiosity and no one had seen an automobile. It was a quieter and less disturbing world that we knew then. How different for the more recent generation! Life in its glaring realities comes upon them with a quick rush. They face new issues, new hopes, new fears. Can they find the secret of Christ‘s reâ€" there has been a very resoâ€" x: ‘;= dicate a number which is more deâ€" stringent regulation our church now for the first time since it was founded in 1871 will report this year a mews *andred. ‘This includes, of course, considerable number of young peoâ€" ple away at school and college and some others who can seldom or never appear at our gutherings. Actually it is doubtful if on any Sunday durâ€" tioned with screens. Further growth and heavy It is difficult to say anything definâ€" ite regarding the growth of <our church in what is far more imporâ€" tant than mere numbers or finances or organization, namely, its inner life of corporate spiritual strength, its daily expression through its memâ€" bership of the mystery and power of the Grace of God. Perhaps the puo. tor is the last one to utter any judg-] ment on that phase of the work of our church. Moreover, it is donbdnl] if there is any certain method of measurement. But we can ask our-] selves some searching questions. Does our vision of God in Christ grow larger from year to year? Do we give to the point of sacrifice in time and thought and money? Do we provide leadership and support for all that is good in our communâ€" ity? Do we offer a glad welcome to ithe stranger within our gates? Are we loyal to the implications of the Gospel of Christ? We live in a wellâ€" toâ€"do town, a very prosperous place, in which riches and culture and the opportunities of travel and leisure exist in far larger proportion than the average community. We possess street after street lined with expenâ€" sive homes. There are five golf clubs inside our city limits.. Does this have a deadening effect upon our souls, bringing some of us perilously close to a forgetful attitude towards God? Or does it confront us as a challenge, In some respects this growth of numbers should be cause for rejoicâ€" ing. From the point of view of the pastor it involves certain handicaps. Ten years ago it was possible to visit all the homes of the parish regularly each year and know the members of each family intimately. That is no longer possible to the same degree. It means the working out of new methods of approach between pastor and people during the coming year. The financial budgets of the church have shown the same proportionate increase. The local treasurer will report at the annusl meeting in a few weeks about double the sum reâ€" ported ten years ago. There has been an advance also in our benevolâ€" ence giving, but not to the same deâ€" gree. In this connection special menâ€" tion should be made of our Woman‘s Missionary Union which has almost tripled its giving since 1918, from eleven hundred dollars to nearly three thousand. ing the year there are as many as four bundred members in Highland Park. The number of our organized acâ€" tivities has increased. The Young People‘s Society was reâ€"created after several years of complete inactivity. The midâ€"week prayer meeting has taken on a deeper meaning for our fellowship as the church night proâ€" gram. _ Among the entirely new developments have been the addition of a director of religious education as a fulltime worker, a committee on religious education, a young people‘s council, a thriving adult Bible class, a young people‘s choir, a Camp Fire group, and a Young Woman‘s Club. Allied to these, although not directly and occupying our property immediâ€" ately south of our present building. Three years ago we reached the limit of our physical equipment for our church school and since that time it has been impossible to increase our attendance despite the fact that the membership and attendance at the regular Sunday morning service have oace ghad m simepet ans for re cramped and for some years the Junior Department has had to carry on under physical limitations extremely disconcerting to an effective morale. ‘The manse is cccupied on Sunday mornings by a class of boys. Another class meets in the pastor‘s study and another in the director‘s office. There are classes meeting in the parish house kitchen under the control of our church, are two troops of Boy Rangers and one troop of Boy Scouts. The other subâ€" sidiary organizations, the Dorcas Soâ€" ciety, the Presbyterian Guild and the Woman‘s Missionary Union, have inâ€" creased their membership and carry an enlarged program. On several occasions during the last ten years the Dorcas Society has raised conâ€" siderable sums of money for the physical improvement of â€" parish house and manse. Within recent years our church has taken over a large responsibility in the work of Laird House on the northâ€"west side of Chicago. This work balances our responsibility in the foreign mission field, the work of the Rev. and Mrs. Kepler Van Evera at Hangchow, China. When we make an analysis of our present and future needs certain obâ€" jectives suggest themselves. The first of these is a substantial addition to our parish house, costing at least one hundred and fifty thousand dollars Christ amid plenty rather than povâ€" erty, amid strength rather than weakâ€" ness ? We must face those questions sincerely as Christians who dwell in Highland Park. of need for organized men‘s work? Could the men of our church gather in a responsible fashion behind the | project which added physical equipâ€" |\ ment would offer? Perhaps we can | soive a twofold problem by a single | method of attack. come to Highland Park ~within the for our parish, there is only one soluâ€" tion to our problem, namely, an addiâ€" tion to the present parish house. The pastor cannot make this decision. The membership must work out the soluâ€" official channels. If such an enterâ€" prise is undertaken it will mean s very large and significant responsiâ€" bility, but one which our church needs and which will undoubtedly bear a blessing. Another need confronting us is the rapid development of our community. Within the last ten years Highland ing of a former day. This is a naâ€") tural protest, excusable in people o!é a certain type of temperament, but it is a most useless attitude as changâ€" l ing conditions confront us. So far we have not developed any sure| method of adopting into our fellowâ€" ship the new arrivals. In former years, partly through our own lack: of approach, we created among cerâ€" tain groups in this community aâ€" tradition of exclusiveness which wn‘ extremely damaging. That tradiâ€" tion has by no means disappeared. Al{ our community grows and as we cultiâ€" vate the genuine enthusiasm of the friendly spirit it will disappear. But this is not a need which the pastor: can meet alone. It is a special charge upon every member to help in the creation of the irresistible atmosâ€" phere of goodwill. . time and energy. In any properly organized religious group the power and energy are decentralized and shared in such fashion that no one person, and certainly not the pastor, is esential to the working of the whole. Our church has the organizaâ€" tion. What it lacks in too many inâ€" stances is the initiative to proceed. A very welcome example of the more constructive vision is provided by one of our women‘s organizations which, for a term of several years, has been steadily working out with increasing usefuiness a dramatic presentation he fails to make mny vital contribuâ€" tion at all. The longer a pastor reâ€" mains in a parish the more these unâ€" necessary extras come to consume his Park has enlarged its geographical limits until it covers a wider area than any other city along the North Shore. Evanston, with a lesser area, has more than sixty thousand people. With our new subâ€"divisions, our new streets and our new plans for city improvement it seems clear that we shall have a steady and rapid growth for some time to come. How shall we meet this? There are always a few who lose heart as they face the changing conditions in the constituâ€" ency of a church. It is no longer the church of their parents or their own childhood and they feel that the old values have departed with the passâ€" quence is that in his efforts to make his contribution at too many points the chiel task less than three years thy. For the.church it was a someâ€" _ Allied to this is another need not altogether easy to describe. Perhaps it could be put in briefest terms by saying that we require a larger deâ€" gree of initiative among the memâ€" bers in working out expressions of discipleship which build the spirit of the church. The tendency of our time among the Protestant churches is to centralize altogether too much reâ€" sponsibility in the pastor until he loses his primary function in the multiplicity of his tasks as a jackâ€"ofâ€" allâ€"trades to his parish. The conseâ€" annually. This is a form of creative expression full of promise. There is no reason why this should not conâ€" tinue as a permanent activity in our church program. spent in this church and community. In this place marriage hias come and parenthood and some deep and abidâ€" ing friendships, all infinitely .preciâ€" ous. In this place, tos, was found the chief task iess than three years Perhaps our chief weakness as a church lies in our failure thus far to create a distinctive men‘s work. In the strict sense of the term we have no such organization. Twentyâ€"ones men serve on the official boards and the happiest years of boyhood were The only other work performed by our men is at the time of our. anâ€" nual financial canvass and occupies a very limited number for about a couple of hours. More than twoâ€" thirds of our male membership have no direct channel of activity related to the church. This seems to be one of the peculiar difficulties of a subâ€" urban church which recruits its male constituency mainly among those who find their means of livelihood and most absorbing pursuits in a metropâ€" olis miles away from the locality in x hich their wives and children live. sonal note that needs to be said on about twentyâ€"five render praise worthy service in our church school. need for more adequate educational facilities in our parish house and out _Atl_nyrahithqmolmprol;l;;; There is little of the purely perâ€" | PIERCE | ARROW, _ Christians advance in growth only in the test and trial of our faith and we always find that the way of adâ€" venture is marked by a bloodâ€"stained trail. For pastor and people the process is the same. But there is thankfuiness and no regret, a resoâ€" lute joy and no complaint, that these last ten years have been passed in the service of this church and communâ€" ity. They have been given in honesty of spirit and purpose. They have been marked by earnest activity of mind and heart. ‘The pastor is very ecnscious and appreciative of his unâ€" payable obligation to the people of this parish. His chief hope is that the years have added something to the sum total of that Divine Kingâ€" dom which is without boundaries and which no man can measure. Sermon preached by the Reverend Frank Fitt at the Highland Park Fresbyterian church, Highland Park, I!linois, on Sunday morning, March 18, 1928, on the tenth anniversary of his assuming the pastorate. BEGIN ALREADY ON PEACH BUD PROPHECY tralia district and other sections of southern Illincis suffered but little injury from the recent severe weaâ€" ther. Indications are the crop of Reports received from fruit exâ€" perts indicate peach buds in the Cenâ€" 1928 will be a bumper one, unless there is late frosts. Apple and pear buds are said not to have suffered any damage whatâ€" ever, with indications both crops will 806 Grove Street, Evanston Phone Greenleaf 1860 Barber, Chapin & Willson Een Yuqumhuu?iau-dm,sz . A simplified financing s this a ’:u%prxabv. Your present car accepted as Telephone Kildare 3499 saus ho to "ie Jull smmtl af Aitubpraienl welnaliets PROGRESS TLE C0 100 many of the Pierceâ€"Arrow sort of people think of Pierceâ€"Arrow ownership in minimum terms of $5000. The truth is, the new Pierceâ€"Arrow costs littlef any more than a majority of these peoâ€" ple are entirely able and willing to pay. TROM ©2900 * s that make the bath room the cleanest and most sanitary room in the house. 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