Whither it Leads and How to Go On was his first national call for "the extension of Christian values into everyday life" and began his leadership in the Social Gospel movement. At Columbus Gladden became the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Columbus, Ohio, in 1882 and served in that position for thirty-six years. During that time, he furthered his national reputation as a religious leader and as a community leader by his preaching, lecturing, writing, and active involvement. Its congregation included legislators and other persons with the power to address the social injustices about which Gladden preached. He preached two 45-minute sermons each Sunday. In the morning, he preached on living the Christian life. In the evening, he preached on social problems. The evening sermon was printed in The Ohio State Journal the next day on page one. During First Church's 1902 Golden Jubilee Celebration, Gladden said on his preaching that "you have not always agreed with me; you could not; but when my words, and sometimes my conduct were opposed to your thoughts and interests, you never tried to muzzle me." By the mid-1880s, he drew audiences across the nation to hear him speak for "bargaining rights for labor, a shorter work week, factory inspections, inheritance taxation, and regulation of natural monopolies." His goal was for "a gradual evolution toward a cooperative social order." Theologically, Gladden is classified an "evangelical liberal." As such, he was biblically grounded and centered, but always seeking to "adjust Christianity to modern times" He helped to promote his evangelical liberalism in books such as Burning Questions (1890) and Who Wrote the Bible (1891). In Who Wrote the Bible, Gladden stated: "it is idle to try to force the narrative of Genesis into an exact correspondence with geological science." In 1885, he took part in forming the American Economic Association and served on its council. The stated purpose of the association was "to support independent economic inquiry and to disseminate economic knowledge." In 1886, he traveled to Cleveland during a streetcar strike, spoke at a public meeting on "Is it Peace or War," and supported the rights of the workers to form a union to protect their interests. He also advocated public ownership of streetcars and public utilities. The more Gladden addressed social issues, the more his church grew: from 500 in 1883 to 1,200 in 1914. When members disagreed with him, rather