Editorial Keynotes

Thoughts from the editor's desk.

L.E.F. is editor of the Ministry.

Exalt the Gift of Teaching

As a denomination we have been remiss in our encouragement of Bible teachers. Yet no form of service is more important to the welfare of this movement. To stand daily before eager, receptive minds, leading them into the deeps of redemption, instilling loyalty to this message, and implant­ing a passion for service, is a privilege second to none, for the students of today are the burden bearers of to­morrow. And Bible teachers are the preliminary trainers of our preachers of the future. So Bible teaching is one of the most exalted privileges that can come to a man. Even Christ spent a large portion of His period of earthly ministry training a little band of followers in His school of wayside instruction and field experience, in­stilling principles and implanting basic truths.

The Bible teacher's work is that of a specialist, requiring not only thor­ough preliminary preparation, but de­manding constant opportunity for re­search. The Bible teacher needs the stimulus and encouragement of occa­sional exchange of thought and method with fellow teachers. They need " post " work as verily as any other group of teachers in such spe­cialized fields as history, science, or language.

Not every minister who is successful in the evangelistic, pastoral, or execu­tive field, can successfully teach the Bible in the classroom. It requires more than personal knowledge, a pleasing personality, and a ready ut­terance. One must have the pedagog­ical instinct, and the genius for stim­ulating self-activity on the part of his students. Many a voluble and con­vincing speaker is a poor teacher. Many a successful foreign missionary would make a sad failure in a college classroom, however earnest and ex­perienced he may be. Teaching is one of the gifts placed in the church. Let us give study and encouragement to the unique field of Bible teaching. It will repay us a thousandfold.

L. E. F.

The Form or the Power

One of the greatest perils confront­ing this movement is the subtle temp­tation to accept a substitutionary " form of godliness " that may be seen and praised, for the divine " power " of the Holy Spirit that is invisible and perhaps indefinable. With some, the operation of this " power " has never been experimentally known. Impera­tive for all, such should especially seek it now. With others, it has been a living experience, but because of pressure, carelessness, prayerlessness, or cherished sin, it has leaked out of the life, which still goes on purely from momentum. There is semblance of life without reality; there is motion without generative power; there is a form, a shell, but it is hollow, vacant, and void.

Let us not reserve the depiction of 2 Timothy 3 solely for religious move­ments not of this faith. Let us not restrict it to the world. It is your peril, and mine. We are handling sa­cred things, but they may become common. We deal with business mat­ters for the Lord; but we may become hard and callous. Our committee work, our routine labor, our needful activities, yes, our varied ministerial ministrations, may be either filled with or destitute of power. Others may not sense it. Do we? Even we may not be fully cognizant of our own condition, but God knows. The divine warning to Timothy becomes a wooing appeal and a constant challenge to the advent ministry. Forget not that the things that are not seen are greater than the things that are seen.

L. E. F.


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L.E.F. is editor of the Ministry.

October 1929

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Will you explain how certain mark­edly spiritual leaders and writers, such as Moody and Murray, who never accepted this message though they knew of its existence, have done such wonderful service for God and give evidence of clear acceptance and fel­lowship with Christ?

The Chaplain's Possibilities

While the work of the sanitarium chaplain differs widely from that of the evangelist in the field, the chap­lain is nevertheless engaged in evan­gelism of the highest order.

Editorial Postscripts

Closing thoughts from the Ministry back page.

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