Notwithstanding the fact that Charlotte, North Carolina, has the largest percent of churchgoing people of any city in the world, with the exception of Edinburgh, Scotland, for several years it has been almost impossible to get the public to come to our church services or evangelistic lectures, so we were thoroughly convinced that we must employ a different method in order to cope with the situation.
A little over a year ago, our Bible worker, Mrs. Gracey, began to work with me in this city, taking one of our large books, such as "The Return of Jesus" or "Our Day in the Light of Prophecy," and going into a selected territory, as any colporteur would, having in mind not so much the sale of the book (she does sell it many times) as the finding of persons who are interested in Bible truth. We have learned that by the presentation of these books, it is easy to find a large number who would like to know more about the Bible; and when they manifest the desire, we have an opportunity to say that we would like to come to their homes once a week and give them studies in the Scriptures.
This method works so well that it would be easy to keep six or more Bible workers busy all the time. In fact, Mrs. Gracey only canvasses a little now and then, when she has a free hour during the day. As a result of this plan, the membership of our Charlotte church grew from 69 to 103 during one year. Others also, who have moved away, were won to the truth.
I believe the method we are using here is described in Volume IX of the "Testimonies," where it is stated that the servant of the Lord saw hundreds and thousands going from door to door, and opening before the people the word of God. At this writing a large number of persons are receiving Bible studies week by week, and we are looking forward to the addition of more members to the church.
It may be of interest to add that one result of our work is that at a recent meeting of the local Association of Protestant ministers, they advertised in the newspaper that the subject would be, "The Advisability of All the Ministers in Charlotte Devoting Their Time to Personal Evangelism."
Charlotte, N. C.
