We may well take the words: "That I might by all means save some," as the inspired epitome of ministerial aim in life, in fact, as our sole reason for serving in the world. It is the fundamental purpose that binds our varied phases of ministry into a sacred whole. I am under the impression that the earlier missionaries had a better conception of this than do we of today. There is danger that we shall busy ourselves with the means, the machinery, and forget the end, the power, the great spiritual side in our intensive specialization.
We must never lose sight of the fact that the heart of missionary enterprise is still to be found in that apostolic phrase: "That I might by all means save some." Not only the heart, but its impulse, its dynamic, is there, and there it will remain. Its power and its fire are still to be found in that divine constraint. Our committees may vary their emphasis, may multiply their plans, may revolutionize their methods, but nothing will ever rightfully supersede that fundamental purpose or take the place of that compelling motive. If we lose sight of that, the whole structure will tumble, and missionary work will crumble in ruin.
One phase or aspect of our obligation as missionaries is perhaps the most neglected and difficult of all. It is summed up in the rather worn phrase, Personal work. There are, of course, many lines of endeavor that must be looked after by us as missionaries. The medical missionaries must make their daily rounds; the educational missionaries must teach their classes; our editorial missionaries must produce and edit literature; administrative missionaries must labor as general directors; and most important of all, the evangelistic missionaries must look after the flock in their care.
But throughout all this, personal work should be done wherever and whenever an opportunity presents itself or can be created. We grant that it is a form of service both difficult and delicate, one which requires much consecration if it is to be fruitful of great good. It is costly in the pain it will cause us till we form the habit; yet the fact remains that it is an essential duty, more important to growth of the soul and of the church than that on which we spend so much time in our daily rounds. We may not have accomplished as much in other lines as we have intended. We may have been remiss. But failure in the field of personal work is the most serious of all. And why? Because Satan knows what a harvest of souls would be reaped for the kingdom if every member of the family of God measured up to his or her possibilities in the realm of personal work.
This line of ministry is successful only on a basis of mutual knowledge and mutual trust. This is not to be confused with dealing with people little or not at all known to us. It is far easier to address a stranger than to sit down and talk with a friend and win him to this truth. But many will be reached in no other way. Ofttimes preaching and teaching, eloquence and all, leave the hearer unmoved, while personal work alone will melt the heart. Many in this world will never be courageous enough to attempt to live for Christ until some one has demonstrated to them the power of the gospel in a consecrated life. Many maladies of the human soul must be treated by one who has learned the secrets of the heart. Some will not come because of their weakness, and others because of their strength, till some of us leave the ninety and nine, and search out the one soul. These are reasons enough for engaging in this line of work.
What tools do we need, and what qualifications are requisite? First of all, we must have a gospel. It seems absurd to say that, does it not? Yet there are some who lack it, even among the thousands of Israel. A missionary without a gospel is surely a tragedy; yet how many there are, sent out by other boards, who lack 1t today! A philosophy of life may be good, but perishing souls need a saving gospel. And what is more, they want a gospel at first hand, one which we ourselves have put to the test, and the power of which we have felt in our own experience. Men and women who are in earnest in seeking after God want to know whether we have seen and looked upon and handled the Word of life. 1 John 1:1. There is no room in personal work for unrealities, or for borrowed experience or light.
The qualifications are simple enough. An unfailing sensitiveness to moral need is requisite. Keep pace with the changing needs. Remember the tender teens and the teachable twenties. Be prepared for the tireless thirties and the serious forties, as well as for the reflective sixties and the declining eighties. Let not the ugliness of sin cause us to shun the sinner; let us live in the world without becoming worldly. We also need a yearning love and respect for the individual man and woman, no matter how needy. When this is forgotten, we close the door to trust. A "holier than thou" attitude is like a dash of cold water in missionary endeavor. A superiority complex is the death knell to usefulness in personal work. More prayer is the one thing that will change that feeling. Again, we need spiritual discernment, we need unwearied patience, and an unquenchable hope that will help us to look for good in the sinner rather than for sin in the saint.
And what is the price, if it may be so termed? It is not the same in individual cases. But no other work costs as much as this. The stronger and deeper the character, too, the greater the cost. But the greater the struggle involved in doing this line of work, the greater the reward at the end of the road. There must be travail if there is to be birth. "A life for a life"—that is really the cost of fruit bearing. The kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, otherwise it abides alone. So this personal work will cost us some of our heart's blood, much love, much prayer, and the constant revelation of a Christlikeness within. But in the spiritual as in the temporal, a thing that costs nothing is worth nothing. Let us pay the price.
Singapore, Straits Settlements.
