all churches have a right to send or at least to vote for delegates.
In others the representation is mediate, through presbytery, classis,
or diocese. But in each case the power to act for the denomina-
tion as a whole is confined to the highest body, and during the
period between the sessions of this body this power is correspond-
ingly limited.

This difficulty, as we have seen, was keenly felt during the war.
In the case of those churches whose supreme body did not meet in
1917, various devices had to be resorted to. Agencies of the Church
designed for different purposes were forced to act to meet the
emergency. Others were created by voluntary action in the hope
that what they did would be ratified later. The same causes
which made it desirable for the churches to be able to act promptly
during the war are operative in peace, and their inability so to act
has similar disastrous consequences.

It may be said indeed that this need of a permanent executive
is supplied by the various boards and other agencies whose work
we have described. Up to a certain point this is true. But these
boards are strictly limited by their charters to specific tasks. They
have no power to assume new responsibility. In the division of
powers between them many promising opportunities go unutilized.
What is needed is some permanent body inclusive of the different
interests which can be clothed with the full powers of the denomi-
nation, and can act in its name during the interval between con-
ventions or assemblies. The Christian Associations, facing a similar
problem, have created such central bodies in the International
Committee and the National Board. The churches have no cor-
responding central executive authority, and this lack is one of the
most serious obstacles to effective Christian union. ¹

Apart from the limitations thus put upon the ability of the
churches to co-operate effectively, there are various ways in which
the lack of such a central executive body limits the efficiency of
the denominations themselves. It makes impossible any compre-
hensive plan for the location or merging of churches. It leaves the

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