"The Work of an Evangelist"

These gifts imparted by Christ on His departure from earth are enumerated thus: " He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangel­ists; and some, pastors and teachers." These gifts are to perfect the work of the ministry during the gospel dispen­sation, and result in bringing all into " the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Eph. 4: 11-13. Special emphasis is at­tached to one of these five gifts, in the following words: "Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." 2 Tim. 4: 5. And in the instruction given especially to the remnant church, we read:

" Our ministers are not to spend their time laboring for those who have already accepted the truth. With Christ's love burning in their hearts, they are to go forth to win sinners to the Saviour. Beside all waters they are to sow the seeds of truth. Place after place is to be visited; church after church is to be raised up. Those who take their stand for the truth are to be organized into churches, and then the minister is to pass on to other equally important fields."­" Testimonies," Vol. VII, pp. 19, 00.

When I became a Seventh-day Ad­ventist, there were very few of our churches that had pastors. All preach­ers were evangelists. They went from place to place, preaching the message, baptizing the believers, organizing a Sabbath school and a missionary so­ciety, and later organizing a church. The message^-"of truth spread with mighty power. But things have changed since then. Many of our churches think they must have a set­tled pastor. I realize that conditions are somewhat different today, and that in some of our larger centers there is need of pastors to give special atten­tion to the many problems constantly arising; yet I believe that we are los­ing much by failing to keep before every minister the summons to " do the work of an evangelist," at least to the extent of conducting one good, strong evangelistic effort each year in connection with pastoral work in the churches, where our workers are so connected.

Have you ever noticed how minutely Paul followed the program which is set forth in the paragraph quoted from the " Testimonies "? Place after place he visited, church after church he raised up and established through or­ganized effort. The same Spirit which inspired Paul in his ministry has given us instruction as to our method of labor. It was divine love that im­pelled Paul In his arduous labor. Think of the great work which he accomplished in the cities of his day, — Iconium, Lystra, Derby, Phrygia, Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus; and when at last the apostle languished in the Roman prison, the influence of his evangelism " reached the very palace of the emperor." " Even in Nero's household trophies of the cross were won." It was the spirit of evangelism which crowned his life with success, and brought forth that triumphant testimony, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

We have one evangelist in the North Pacific Union who, during the past six years, has been entirely free from church responsibilities and has de­voted his entire time to evangelistic efforts. During this period of time this evangelist has baptized more than two thousand believers. May I ask my ministering brethren, To what ex­tent are you doing the work of an evangelist? How many souls have been won to the truth through your evangelism during the year?

The statement is made by W. R. Patterson, of the General Council of the Presbyterian Church, that " more than 32 per cent of all the Presby­terian, Northern Baptist, and Method­ist Episcopal churches in the United States failed to obtain a single convert during 1927." Think of what that means! Almost one third of the churches in these popular denomina­tions without a single convert during a year! Surely such a situation should not be found in any church which has been called out from the world to proclaim the third angel's message. It would seem to me that if a Seventh-day Adventist preacher failed to win a single soul in an entire year, he should seriously consider the question, Am I failing to " do the work of an evangelist," and to give full proof of my ministry?

One of the most perplexing prob­lems confronting any union confer­ence auditing committee is the matter of dealing with unsuccessful laborers. The records of some ministers for a year show baptisms of ten, or eight, and even less; and on investigation we often find that these persons who have been baptized are children of Seventh-day Adventist parents, or per­sons who have become interested in the message through the efforts of the laity. If such workers would follow the counsel " to go forth to win sin­ners to the Saviour," their reports would be very different. The divine plan for the minister is that " at the end of each year he should be able to look back and see souls saved as the result of his labors."—" Testimonies," Vol. VIII, p. 17.

Are you measuring up to the stand­ard? Surely there can be no valid ex­cuse for failure to give such full proof of our ministry.