Dale normally read his sermons, because "if I spoke extemporaneously I should never sit down again". He did not use the title "Reverend". He was a strong advocate of the disestablishment of the Church of England, holding that the Christian church was essentially a spiritual brotherhood, and that any vestige of political authority impaired its spiritual work. In church government he believed strongly that congregationalism was the most fitting environment for Christianity. He published lectures on such topics as The Atonement, sermons, and the Manual of Congregational Principles ; and, at his death, he left an unfinished history of Congregationalism, revised by his son, A. W. W. Dale. , on his return to Birmingham from a successful lecture tour of the United States in 1877
The "Civic Gospel" and politics
Dale's integrity, intelligence, moral passion and oratory soon made him a national figure in an age when the strength of non-conformity was at its highest. He welcomed social improvement and was an advocate, with George Dawson, of what became known in Birmingham as the Civic Gospel. The health, housing, sanitation and living conditions in Birmingham had suffered from its rapid population expansion in the previous thirty years. Dale argued "the public duty of the state is the private duty of every citizen": service on the town council to improve the wellbeing of Birmingham was advocated by Dale as having moral and religious worth. He was an advocate of free public education, social improvement, the extension of the franchise, the recognition of trades unions, and understanding the links between poverty and crime. Although Dale did not preach politics, he was a keen Liberal and worked with other Birmingham reformers and radicals including Joseph Chamberlain, William Kenrick, Jesse Collings, George Dixon, John Bright, John Henry Chamberlain, William Harris, and Samuel Timmins. He played a major part in opposing the religious elements of the Forster Education Act of 1870. He was a member of the Arts Club, which existed from 1873 to 1880 for the purpose "of facilitating the daily social intercourse of gentlemen professing Liberal opinions, who are engaged or interested in the public life of Birmingham": it was described in a local newspaper as "the real seat of government, where all measures are framed for the ordering of our municipal, social, charitable, and political institutions". When Joseph Chamberlainresigned from the Liberal government in 1886 over William Gladstone's proposals for Irish Home Rule, Dale supported him. This point marked a significant split in the Liberal party, but did not reduce Dale's influence.
Work in education
When Forster'sElementary Education Bill appeared, Dale attacked it. He argued that the resulting schools would often be purely denominational institutions and the Bill's "conscience clause" gave inadequate protection to Nonconformists. Dale criticised the way school boards would be empowered to make grants out of the rates to maintain sectarian schools. He was himself in favour of secular education, claiming that it was the only logical solution and was consistent with Nonconformist principles. In Birmingham this controversy was ended in 1879 by a compromise. His interest in educational affairs had led him to accept a seat on the Birmingham school board. He was appointed a governor of Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham and served on the Royal Commission of Education. Dale took a great interest in Spring Hill Congregational College, Moseley. Largely due to his initiative, Spring Hill College, renamed Mansfield College after its founders, was moved to Oxford in 1886 and he became chairman of the council of what is now Mansfield College, Oxford.
Later years
The 1886 split within the Liberal Party over Irish Home Rule marked the disintegration of what had been a close-knit circle of like-minded reformers. In 1892, looking back to the 1870s, Dale wrote: , Hockley. The headstone commemorating Dale is lost: the surviving inscription commemorates his daughter, Harriet.
