The world is facing serious problems today—problems in the political realm, problems in international relationships, problems in the financial and economic world, and not the least of all, serious religious problems in the church as she faces a new, materialistic nationalism which is definitely opposed to evangelical Christianity. Not for centuries have Christian doctrine and the very foundations of religion itself been open to such violent attacks as they are today. These come first from avowed enemies of the church who would overthrow the evangelical gospel of Jesus Christ, and erect a church built upon the narrow basis of national prejudice, with revived ancient deities as its gods. Other enemies within the church are attacking the vital doctrines of Christianity with the weapons of so-called scholarship, endeavoring to undermine the sure foundations of faith.
In these attacks, the missionary program and its objectives have been objects of special assault. And this is not to be wondered at, for above all else evangelical missions have been worldwide in their scope and Fundamentalist in their doctrine. Narrow nationalism, or a church built on national cults, either pagan or Christian, can never have a world vision or hope to carry a message to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Furthermore, a missionary program must be Fundamentalist in doctrine if it is to succeed.
Missionaries must believe the good news of salvation with the whole heart. They must believe that there is no other way for men to be saved except through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who died on Calvary's cross and who now ministers as our heavenly priest. Believing thus, they are then ready to go to the ends of the earth to tell the good news, proclaim the message, and make Christ known to all men. They believe that the whole world is in desperate need of the gospel, and so they are ready to suffer hardship that they may make known to men the only Saviour from sin, and reveal to them the only pathway of salvation.
But the missionary spirit today is languishing among most evangelical Christian bodies, because Modernism and nationalism have robbed the church of this the only basis upon which a successful, world-wide missionary program can be built. And with what result? First there is a startling decrease in missionary gifts and interest. Foreign mission boards are faced with increasing deficits and have had to curtail their mission programs in almost every land. This has resulted in a declining percentage of growth in membership, and in some instances in actual decreases. There has also been a marked falling off in willingness to volunteer for mission service on the part of young people in the home churches. The urgency of taking the gospel to all the world has largely lost its appeal to the Christian youth of today, and as a result mission boards are finding it very difficult to find well-trained, progressive recruits to send out to the mission fields.
These antimissionary influences and trends are very definitely being broadcast today through the secular press and even in religious publications and schools. We read of the crisis of foreign missions, and hear talks of abandoning the project, leaving the native churches to work out their own salvation as best they can. These are some of the problems that face evangelical Christianity.
As Seventh-day Adventists, we cannot ignore the problem, nor can we expect to be entirely free from its influence. In fact, there is a real danger that the enthusiastic urge that led us to launch a world-wide mission program a half century ago, will slacken, and that the spirit of missionary giving and sacrifice will grow lukewarm in our hearts just as it has in the hearts of many other Christian people. There is danger that we will begin to look upon our great missionary program with waning ardor, and begin to curtail our vision and our plans as to the possibility of carrying this message to all the world. There is danger also that our young people will lose their enthusiasm for a part in the foreign mission work.
The third angel's message is to go to all the world. Divine prophecy has foretold it, and it will not fail. The very call presented to us as a people to give this message has made us preeminently a missionary people. It cannot be otherwise. If we are true to this message, we cannot withdraw from the world-wide missionary program we have launched. We must go forward, or the Lord will raise up others to finish the work we have begun. This is our task, and its speedy accomplishment is our greatest problem. I believe that this task can be finished only as we enter into it with the spirit of the Master, ready to go, ready to lay all upon the altar in the same consecration and sacrifice that inspired the pioneers of this message.
