The fundamental, primary purpose of the church, as set forth in the great commission recorded in Matthew 28: 18-20 and 24:14, is intensive, active evangelism. And this evangelism includes both preachers and laymen. It is a summons to universal soul-winning service. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached" by the whole church "in all the world," and the culmination of this preaching by the church is the coming of the Lord Jesus and the gathering of His people into the kingdom of God.
As an example of the divinely appointed way for the fulfilling of this soul-winning commission so definitely and squarely placed upon the remnant church, we have the record of the apostolic church, which reads, "They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word." We do not understand that the persons referred to necessarily went forth as preachers declaiming from the pulpit, for they were not preachers in that sense. The apostles were not included in this group. It was composed of the brethren and sisters in the church, and it was these believers who "wens everywhere preaching the word."
There is no substitute for individual soul winning. The only hope for the remnant church in fulfilling its mission and teaching the culmination of its appointed work, is for its membership to be definitely led into this soul-winning experience. We have an army of potential workers in the churches, and the hour has come when the leaders in this movement should fully recognize the primary obligation of the church, and so relate themselves to the divine purpose for the church that an entire change of trend shall be brought about in our objective and in our operations.
In all candor we must confess that we are not at this time putting enough emphasis on the prime essential. So many things press in upon us that we scarcely have time to think or plan for the great outstanding fundamental purpose of the church,—the preaching of the gospel by the entire church, and the winning of souls through this evangelizing agency. In many cases we have been overcome by apathy and indifference, until we are asleep, and the day of God is hastening upon us without our being truly aware of the event. It is time to ring out a call to a greater evangelism in North America, which has for its objective the yoking up of our workers and believers as a team, to reach souls on every side, and thus prepare the world for the coming of our Lord.
Most profoundly do I believe that the hour has struck for us to awaken and change our entire attitude toward the method of proclaiming God's truth to the world. Our present program would require a millennium for accomplishment. We dare not go on as we have been going. It is time to ponder seriously just what our objectives are: Do we expect to go on indefinitely in the work we have started out to do, or do we really look for a speedy and successful conclusion? Shall we go on year after year, simply pastoring our churches and engaging in spasmodic missionary endeavor, and expect to see this work finished?
The insistent cry from our churches is for pastoral help, and one of the chief problems faced by conference administrators today is that of providing settled pastors for our churches. Yet this is quite contrary to the plain instruction which has come to us from the Spirit of prophecy. There is danger that the very maintenance of our work shall be allowed to take up our time and absorb our energies to such an extent that we shall lose sight of our main soul-winning objectives.
The work of our evangelists and preachers must be definitely planned for. That is essentially true at all times. Many of these workers are young and inexperienced, and do not know how to plan for the many lines of church work today. As union and local conference presidents, we must rally to the help of these men, and enable them to go forward with the work that counts for most,—the winning of souls. And we must never lose sight of the fact that our outstanding responsibility is to set all our forces at work In earnest endeavor to accomplish the same purpose.
This is a work which cannot be done by proxy. By that I mean that we must not leave the responsibility of doing this upon men who have been appointed to foster the interests of our missionary endeavor as a department of our organized work. When asked to give an account of our stewardship, it will not suffice for us to say that we committed the training and the leading of the church forces in the preaching of the gospel to the hands of our home missionary secretaries. We shall not be able to discharge our God-given responsibility that way. Union presidents and conference presidents are not to be merely engineers driving the engines down the track. Every union and local conference president is to be a spiritual leader in a great spiritual movement, rallying all the forces in the church, and leading them forth as Spirit-filled, willing, earnest workers for the saving of men and women, and thus hastening the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not long ago I was passing through the Shenandoah Valley, over the old battle ground with its monuments to the deeds of the past. As I rode down the old pike, I was reminded of the story of General Sheridan who, as he heard the roar of cannon in the distance, rode forth to join his troops, and was met by his defeated men as they came straggling back from the battle lines. Seeing the situation, General Sheridan raised his sword high in the air and shouted, "Face the other way, boys! We are going back!" At that word from their courageous commander, the retreating forces gathered new inspiration and courage, and turned back to face the enemy; and as the result, victory attended their advance. Just so, in the army of the Lord today there is need for leadership that can rally the forces of the church and lead them back onto the field of active combat, with never a thought of retreat until the victory is won and the King of righteousness establishes
His kingdom. Without such leafier-ship, this movement will fail in fulfilling God's divine purpose at this hour.
I am not pleading for more mechanical endeavor, for more human effort, or for a new slogan to inspire spasmodic response; but I am pleading for the inffiling of the Holy Spirit in every life, which will awaken us to our responsibility in making the right use of the forces available. May God help us to call these forces into action.
I once heard a preacher illustrate the principle of true service in the following manner: "Suppose," he said, "that we were standing on the bank of a river, and before us was a stream of humanity rushing on to sure destruction. Would we be content to stand on the bank, and once a week or once a year reach out a helping hand to the doomed souls going down with the current? Actually to stand in such a position would be to inspire every man or woman to work with a zeal born of the appalling need." But such is really the position of the church in relation to the needs of the world in these last hours of earth's history; and yet how indifferent we seem. We should never rest content with spasmodic effort.
What I am pleading for is that we may all see the need of true spiritual leadership. I am convinced that unless there is a change in our attitude, as individuals and as leaders, to the present situation, and unless there is an entire change in our denominational trends, we shall utterly fail to fulfill God's divine purpose in the giving of this message to the world. May God help us to arouse and declare, There shall be no failure! and like the general referred to, go forward and lead the forces of the church on to victory.
I assure you that this important matter has received the very earnest thought of the officers of the General Conference in the week they spent together at Omaha. You may have supposed that we gathered to consider ways and means of raising mission funds. Well, that is a proper matter to consider, and we have given study to It; but, brethren, we have been considering matters of even greater importance than that. We have been giving very serious study to this problem of evangelism in its larger aspects, and have faced the situation that will surely result unless a change in our present methods is brought about.
As a result of this deliberation, the officers have prepared a call which they have addressed to the whole world field. This call, I believe, marks a milepost in the experience of this people.
