Chicago Evangelist Assails Church Socials

1897

Causes a Commotion at Kewanee

Not for years have religious circles at Kewanee, Ill., been so agitated as they were the other day because of an address delivered in the M. E. church by Evangelist Lindfield, of Chicago.

Church socials and entertainments have been given by the religious organizations of the city, so many, in fact, that the evangelistic services held by Mr. Lindfield have not been well attended. In the pulpit he took clippings from the local newspapers giving the reports of such social's and read them aloud to the congregation, after which he made most scathing remarks about the Christianity which tolerated them. In the newspaper-reports there were the names of many prominent ladies of the various churches, and their sincerity was questioned by the speaker, with the result that the address has aroused much feeling and antagonism.

"When a real Christian wishes to give 25 cents to the cause of the Lord," said Mr. Lindfield, "he has no right to demand that an oyster supper be thrown in. The church social and kindred entertainments are only means of extorting money from unwilling people, and I put them in a class with the saloon and the gambling den. They are a form of robbery, and the church which accepts money from such sources is full of the works of the devil."

Especially bitter was the speaker against a Klondike social to be given the coming week at one of the large churches, and he openly ridiculed the promoters, who are among the most prominent people of the city.

—Dubuque Daily Herald, Dubuque, IA, Dec. 4, 1897, p. 3.