With the masses of men ready as never before to listen to the preaching of the gospel, it is time for us to study how to release men and funds for direct evangelistic work, and also how best to simplify our organization and make such combinations of labor and elimination of duplication of effort as will cut down administrative expense. It is often found that we can use more direct methods with a saving of labor and expense, and yet do more efficient service.
One great danger that continually confronts the church is that of spending too much time and effort on the organization itself. The apostolic church had a very flexible organization, and it was also very simple. But the members were on fire with the spirit of evangelization, endeavoring to preach to every man everywhere Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
In the beginning, when man was created, he had a perfect body, a body of true symmetry and beauty. His bones, muscles, nerves, and organs were adjusted and arranged in a marvelously harmonious way. But until there was breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, man was a helpless object. So the organization of the church may be perfect in every detail, yet if it lacks life,—the Holy Spirit,—the church may slip backward instead of moving forward. It is manifestly possible to spend too much time, thought, and effort on organization, and in our zeal for perfection of plan, to lose sight of the vital fact that we constantly need the motive power of the Holy Spirit to impart life to the workers. When the Holy Spirit operates in the life, there is little lost effort, and results are certain to follow in the saving of souls.
It is never difficult to be busy or to keep busy. The wise thing is to do our utmost in the activities that count most; and in God's work that means coming in contact with the unsaved, and proclaiming to them this last message of mercy, ever remembering His promise: "My word . . . shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isa. 55:11.
Shanghai, China.
