Moving Picture Age (Jan-Dec 1921)

Army duty convinced this pastor of the film's significance in religious service EXPERIENCE in CAMP and CHURCH R. Ernest Akin Pastor, First Unitarian Church, Louisville, Kentucky HOW did I start using movies in my church ? Well, I presume I got my start long before I ever actually considered the use of motion pictures as part of a church program. I was pastor of a church in Detroit, going the usual rounds without accomplishing much — preaching, teaching, calling, marrying, burying. And it may have been the consciousness of not really reaching the folks through the regular methods that helped me toward the use of movies. And yet before leaving Detroit I had not considered their use in a religious program. Drawing the Soldier Audience Then I went into the army. I tried to adapt my religious message to the boys, and had better than the average attendance at my meetings; yet the fellows who needed the religious touch most were the ones who never came. I served in the "Y" huts, and so had to use the sort of arrangement to which they were accustomed. After eight months I took over the Y. M. C. A. religious work for the camp (Camp Dix, N. J.), and had under my supervision the religious program for a dozen huts. My workers sensed our failure to reach the boys most needing our work. We tried holding barrack meetings, going where the boys lived, but again the needy ones slipped out. Then we tried the movies. First, in the big auditorium, seating three thousand, we started using them on Sunday nights — good wholesome pictures, which did not always come up to our slogan of "pictures with a moral," but which were not harmful and which did get us a crowd. Then we worked pictures into the other hut programs. Later we worked short, pointed talks into all movie programs, even on the week nights : talks on social righteousness and patriotism, about taking one's place in the home town, the home church, the Y. M. C. A., or the Knights of Columbus, about looking after one's insurance, about becoming leaders of the young boys at home. So, in the camp work, the movie contributed its part in wholesome entertainment and at the same time brought us the boys and gave us a chance to put across our message to them. Applying Camp Experience to Church Practice When I resigned from camp work in September, 1919, and accepted the pastorate of the First Unitarian Church of Louisville, Kentucky, it was with the distinct understanding that I should have the chance to try out some of my schemes. I knew that folks believed in religion, but that most of them were not very keen about sermons and theology. So we started, that fall, our Sunday-Evening Picture Service. We opened the service with a good rousing "sing," using the better class of popular choruses, plantation melodies, patriotic songs, and religious hymns. We had a prayer, announcements, an offering, and then the picture. We have tried the picture program, including educationals and a feature of medium length ; but we have found that a single feature, well chosen, serves our purpose better. We have called them "pictures that preach," and have tried to make them a distinct moral contribution. After the picture I have given a five-minute straight-from-the-shoulder sermonette along the lines of the lesson in the picture, and I like this plan better than giving an address before the picture. If the lesson in the picture is not distinct, or if the character of the picture is not the best, by talking afterward I can correct these defects. After the talk I dismiss the congregation in the usual manner. The atmosphere throughout is religious. And He Previews Every Film! Concerning the films: I have obtained them from various distributors, usually getting ideas from the monthly list of good films issued by the National Board of Review, and then writing the distributors for synopses and terms. Even then I run the picture myself on Saturday to make sure that everything is all right and to get ideas for my sermonette. We use the church auditorium, the pipe organ, regular ushers, etc. The collection has about paid for the pictures and other expenses. The church has been comfortably filled (except during the two summer months) every Sunday night for nearly two years. Many new people have been attracted to the church, and our sphere of influence has been very greatly enlarged. So many children were attending last year that we gave them a special service of their own on Sunday afternoons during this season. We also have put on, during cold weather, a Saturday-afternoon free movie program for the children. This has rendered a fine service to the 'community. Parents have felt safe in sending their children to see these shows, which were chosen distinctly for them. A Film-Study of the Mono Indians A PICTURE has just been completed which contains material of marked historical value as regards California: "An Authentic Study of the Moral and Social Emancipations of the Mono Indians." The scenes were secured through the work of Rev. Coe Hayne and Harry S. Myers, both of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Fifteen years ago the Mono Indians were accepted wards of neither the United States government nor the state of California. They had no lands, no schools, no steady employment ; their homes were huts or caves, and their food chiefly acorns and roots ; and they had been living in the remote canons and pockets of the Sierras since Congress repudiated their treaties in the fifties. Rev. J. G. Brendel was one of the first to assist the sad plight of these Indians, as may be indicated by the fact that in the section where they live these redskins are known as "Brendel's Indians." Brendel has won the thanks of the United States government for his work in teaching health measures and finding employment for the Mono Indians, and many phases of his excellent service are shown in this film. 10