"The Bulletin of the Council for Social Service has been sent to you throughout the year. We trust you have found it useful. It is sent free of charge to all the Clergy, Social Service Workers of the Church and others specially interested. ... The printing and posting of these Bulletins involves a large expenditure on the part of the Council. If you appreciate the Bulletin and can afford to help in this special way, will you not kindly send a special subscription towards the cost of publishing it ?" -- To Every Reader of the Bulletin, p. 2.
"Sexagesima is the date set apart by the authority of the General Synod for the presentation of the work of the Council for Social Service of the Church of England in Canada to all our congregations. This presentation of the work of the Council should be accompanied or followed by a generous offering in each church, in which full and adequate provision is not made for the Council's work on the budget plan." -- Some Suggestions for Sexagesima, p. 2.
Contents: To Every Reader of the Bulletin -- Some Suggestions for Sexagesima -- Child Labor in the Country / C.W. Vernon.
Child Labor in the Country divided into sub-sections: Rural Child Labor and Rural Education - To Prolong the Period of Childhood -- Rural Child Labor in Canada -- When Does the Child Leave School ? -- The Ages of Compulsory School Attendance -- The Relation of School Attendance to Enrolment -- The Closed School -- Legislation Relative to Rural Child Labor -- The Need of Careful Investigation -- Children's Work on the Farm -- The Need of National Legislation -- The New Day for the Country Child.
"The present involvement of the Department of Christian Social Service in the rural work of the Canadian Church dates roughly from 1943 ...". "In the process of reassessing the goals and effectiveness of the rural program it seemed to be appropriate to convene a national conference of rural work leaders of the Canadian church. Early in the planning it was decided that this must be a working conference if it was to accomplish its objective of determining the present state of the rural program of the church and gain any clear insight as to the future direction it must take. Accordingly in November 1965, a Workshop dealing with the Work of the Church in the Rural Areas was held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Approximately eight-five people were in attendance representing twenty-four dioceses and three Departments of General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Protestant Episcopal Church U.S.A., the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada." "This Bulletin is a report of the pre-workshop materials, as well as the papers given, the findings and follow-up of the Workshop". -- Intro.
Contents: Introduction / Maurice P. Wilkinson -- Part I: Information from Participants' Questionnaires -- Part II: Mission to Metropolis : A Total Strategy / Hugh C. White, Jr., Robert C. Batchelder -- A Policy for Poverty / Ralph Hedlin -- The Small Church in a Big World / G.H. Earle -- Part III: Main Opportunities Identified -- Participants -- [Poem] The Ploughman Homeward Plods / Derek Salter.
Colophon: Printed by Charters Publishing Company, Limited, Brampton, Ontario.
Contents: The Country Church and the Rural Problem / By the Rev. G.G. Wright, Rector of Navan, Ont.
"The years of warfare have served to place the importance of agriculture before the people of Canada with a clearness which a decade of writing on the subject could not have produced. .... The war has brought to people's attention the fact that the development of agriculture is fundamental to the national life, and that, for reasons which shall be noted later, the well-being of the farmer -- industrially, economically, socially, and in the religious sphere has a direct bearing on the development of every branch of the national life. The solution then of the rural problem is not a question which concerns only or even chiefly that part of the country but is of interest to everyone who has at heart the national well-being (p. 2)".
Contents divided into sub-sections: Rural Depletion -- Wherein Then Lies the Solution -- Woman's Work -- Social Life -- The Church and the Problem.
The Council for Social Service has convened the first National Rural Church Conference. It was held during the first week of May, 1958 at Grimsby, Ontario. .... General Chairman of the Conference was the Rt. Rev. S.C. Steer, Bishop of Saskatoon. Forty delegates from twenty Dioceses and including twelve from the United States were present. The Conference was designed to be inspirational, to provide an opportunity for the discussion of concrete problems and opportunities for service in the rural areas, and to suggest future policy with respect to the development of Diocesan, Provincial and National Rural Church programmes." -- Intro.
Contents : Introduction / Leonard F. Hatfield -- The Conservation of Rural Life in Canada / S.H. Prince -- Rural Training Schools and Supervision of Students (Some basic principles and values associated with a Rural Training Programme) / Lloyd Delaney -- A Rural Training Programme / K.H. Tufts -- Summer Supervision of Students / John Baden -- The Larger Parish / Howard Buchner -- Recommendations Made by the Delegates at the Grimsby Conference Concerning Future Policies for the Rural Church Movement -- Bibliography entitled "Some Books on the Rural Church".
That this General Synod records its profound appreciation of the great contribution being made to the life of our Church by Miss Eva Hasell, O.B.E., and her Van Workers, especially among the women and children in the isolated areas of the Dominion. CARRIED in both Houses.
Resolved, That Subsection V [B. The Work of the Board - 5. Special Work - v. Reaching and Helping the Scattered Rural Districts], "Scattered Rural Districts," be adopted.
Recognizing the Agricultural and Rural Development Act (ARDA) Program as one of the most creative and imaginative programs yet developed for the improvement of rural life in Canada and that the basis for ARDA projects is firmly rooted in local participation and involvement:
This General Synod Commends the ARDA program to all rural clergy and parishes and urges them to involve themselves creatively in such local programs as a fitting channel for the exercise of Christian Service. CARRIED in both Houses.
"For three years the Executive Committee of the Council for Social Service has been pressing the Executive Council of General Synod or (in 1949 General Synod itself, for some Canadian-wide policy to enliven and strengthen our rural Church work. .... What is the problem ? It is to create a rural-minded clergy, happy and content in their work, properly supported, ready to minister in rural areas for most or all of their active ministerial years. The problem is also to focus the attention of all members of Synod on the Church in rural areas so that they will honour the rural workers, see that they are adequately supported, and that, for example, their children are given an equal chance at education with their city cousins. It is primarily a psychological and a spiritual problem, nothing less than to help the rural parish and its leaders to help themselves and to lend a new tone to the rural Church ministry. This Bulletin is devoted chiefly to the two day Conference held at St. John's College, Winnipeg, September 12-13 [1950] under the auspices of a Committee of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land. That Conference was a success. It was informative and inspirational and we believe it will prove to be a forward step in the march toward the attainment of a General Synod policy on rural Church affairs". -- Foreword.
Contents: Foreword / W.W. Judd -- Provincial Conference, Rupert's Land : What Our Sister Church in the United States is Doing in Rural Work / Maxwell Brown -- The Rural Church and its Sociological Environment / Allan Read -- Book, Periodicals and Pamphlets Suggested by / John Peacock -- Committee Findings -- Addendum : A Plough Sunday Service -- Pertinent Books in The Council's Library.
The following note appears at the head of the Plough Sunday Service: "NOTE: This form of service was prepared by the Church of England Council for the Church and Countryside. We point out that there is no authority in the Prayer Book for its use but authorization might be obtained from local diocesan authority as necessary".