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Clinics & Cars. Roy Burkhart's candor and his readiness to use clinical and psychiatric techniques in his church work have often shocked conservatives. He has been branded a cheap sensationalist for his birth-control discussions, marriage clinics and seminars on sex adjustment problems. But his methods seem to work. Out of the nearly 1,000 marriages he has performed during the past twelve years, only nine have ended in divorce.
In addition to marriage counseling, Dr. Burkhart has set up regular clinical sessions for parents (according to their children's ages), and for adolescents with personality problems. Church members are proud of the fact that of 634 of their boys in the armed forces not one was discharged for psychoneurotic reasons. Said Psychiatrist Karl Menninger after studying the mental hygiene setup of Dr. Burkhart's church: "It is the most constructive and comprehensive program I have seen carried out anywhere in America."
Grateful parishioners often send him presents—sometimes even new cars. Once, when given a Chris-Craft speedboat, he decided that it was too far above his station and sold it to buy an outboard, turning the extra money into church work.
Daily Directives. Harddriving, 51-year-old Roy Burkhart gets his directive for each day's work in an hour of meditation right after breakfast each morning. During this hour he ruminates upon "who I am, why I'm here and where I'm going." Then he begins a round of activity so strenuous that he often breaks off for a half hour's nap. While he was on a recent trip to New York City, the janitor of Manhattan's Riverside Church was amazed to come upon him stretched out, dead to the world, on one of the pews.
His influence, as well as his aspirations, extend far beyond Columbus. In 1944 he helped form the Ohio Association for Community-Centered Churches; in 1946 the National Council of Community Churches was founded (he is now its president).
So dynamic and aggressive is the community-church movement that some conservative clerics fear that Burkhart and his colleagues are trying to form a separate denomination. Church Builder Burkhart replies that he would be the first to advocate disbanding the community-church groups when Protestantism as a whole shows itself ready to accept the larger objectives which are its challenge. Says he: "The community church is not the final word. The final word is for Protestant organization and union; and until that time comes, the community church will be the mighty groundswell movement for union."