Danger of Professional Ministry

"Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gayest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in them­selves." Verses 11-13. Dear brethren, it seems to me that if we would carry the burden that Christ carried down to the close of His minis­try, for the individual members who have come in through our ministry, we would see a differ-out of and into the church, and to leave the matter there?

The same spirit of Christ was carried by the apostle Paul. In many places in his writings we find expression of the great burden which he carried for his converts. In the first chapter of Colossians we find the burden of his soul in their behalf, in the following words: "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you." I wonder if we can testify the same regarding our converts, that we do not cease to pray for them. Or, as we leave and go on to another place, is there a tendency to forget those whom we, under God, have been instrumental in bringing in, to go on as a sort of professional evangelist or preacher, concerned about grinding the souls out of and into the church, and leave the mat­ter there?

There is danger of becoming too professional in our ministry, and forgetting that God has placed upon us great obligations and respon­sibilities that should weigh us down heavily. Paul says, "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will." That is more than simply giving them an outline of the message for the hour.

"Filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleas­ing, being fruitful in every good work, and in­creasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joy­fulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the in­heritance of the saints in light."

That is just a little glimpse of the continual, daily burden that the apostle Paul carried for those the Lord had given him.

There is another thought in a statement I have here, which seems to me to be of greatest importance. It is written by E. M. Bounds:

"The church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men." This throws a penetrating searchlight upon the reason for the disquieting facts connected with the loss of members in the church today. Undoubtedly the change of emphasis which has come into the body of Christ in these later years of highly organized action, forms at least a very for­midable reason for the present state of the church from the standpoint of its holding power upon her membership. Is it not strikingly true that today there must be a definite turning about on the part of the ministry in its em­phasis upon deepening the spiritual life of the individual member?

How shall this be done? First of all there must be on the part of us all a clearer intelli­gence as to what is the weakness leading up to the falling away which we see. We must realize that to a very large degree in most churches there is an appalling indifference to individual duty and obligation with respect to the work of God. Upon that which they are strikingly equipped to serve, many of our mem­bers are looking as disinterested spectators in­stead of active participants. There needs to be developed a moral muscle for mighty tasks, interest in which will bring to the individual member a great burden, an inner urge and a recognition of an immeasurable obligation to serve the cause of Christ. In many of the lives of our people there is nothing in any record of their lives to indicate that they have ever been stirred from their lethargy. Unaroused, they dream through every event and crisis of their own life and that of the church.

In the life of the member who has been in­doctrinated with this message, baptized into Christ and joined to the body of Christ in an active, obligated way by the one who has led him to the truth, there is an inner urge that drives him forward and not backward. He goes forward in spite of every obstacle and in the face of every difficulty. That inner urge is one that allows him only a temporary satisfac­tion in any peaceful valley, and that builds out of dreams, and shapes from visions, the tools for mighty doings, the weapons of their great desire.

What is this inner urge? It is God's Spirit. It is the spiritual power that holds one to a gigantic mission. It is that Spirit which ac­companies the first love and only awaits the direction of wise ministerial leadership to be harnessed for God and for the holding of the individual in the carrying of the cross of Christ.

As ministers we are facing a mighty indict­ment in the facts as found in the loss of so many of our members. We must never consider our work complete until those converts, whom God has given to us, are actually tied up to the organized activities of the church. After they are baptized and have become members of the church, the minister who brought them to Christ should lead them in their following on in the service of Christ. He is the one above all others who should see that each convert baptized is attached in a very tangible way to the missionary bands of the church and put to work. It is only in the service of God that the individual Christian convert can keep his experience bright.

I fear that far too many ministers feel that when a convert has joined the church, the work of evangelism, so far as that individual is con­cerned, is complete. This is a grave mistake. The consequence of such reasoning is that these converts join the class in our churches who might be called the idle rich. Rich in spiritual lessons and experience, they are left to stand idly by while from their vessels the oil leaks out and they soon sink into criticism and discouragement, and must be dealt with as our church lists are gone over. Such refined idleness on the part of new converts must be changed if we are to hold our members in the church. Some concentrated and detailed atten­tion must be given by our evangelists to their converts relative to the activities in which the church is engaged. It is false and dangerous reasoning for the evangelist who brings men to the point of baptism and church member­ship to say to the church, "Now I turn this brother over to you for training and service." God, who has called us to rescue lost men and women from sin, has also called us to recruit them in the service of Christ.

Just to arouse men to their need of salvation but not to their responsibility and obligation in the service of Christ, is unprofitable work, and leaves them to the most potent assaults of the enemy. In this way, in the very beginning of their church-membership experience, there be­gins the lethargy which we so sorely mourn over in the church. Men must be led to be Christians in a more complete way than merely in their mental assents. There must be a realization and personal knowledge of the au­thority of Jesus over the individual life. Each member must see a great task that must be finished by himself as he joins himself to the church of Christ. He must sense the fact that no man has the right to enjoy peace and rest at the expense of another who is serving, or prosperity in silence while others less for­tunate are waiting in darkness for the help he might give. He must be taught that—

"We are not here to play, to dream, to drift ; We have hard work to do, and loads to lift ; Shun not the struggle ; face it. 'Tis God's gift. Be strong."

Such a realization will do much in holding the possessor in times of temptation and decep­tion.