The ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a ministry with a message. As our workers move here and there, both at home and abroad, they see and hear many thrilling experiences that are well worth telling to our general body of members. In its effect upon mission giving, intelligent praying for others, and personal service for one's fellow men, nothing more deeply moves and encourages Adventist believers than to hear the recital of God's providences and to see the evidences of His power as He works on the hearts of men in bringing to them the knowledge of eternal life.
No missionary or mission body has such wonderful experiences to recite as have Adventist workers, because of the nature of our truth; and no preacher will ever find people more interested to listen or more willing to respond to appeals for support than our own church members. But despite a constantly increasing abundance of inspirational matter on present-day topics and mission advances, drawn from almost every land of the earth, it is distressing to find that workers sometimes feel it necessary to misquote a fact or to magnify an incident to such a degree that the truth is seriously violated, and the people are not given the true facts.
I know one worker who once said that he never told an untruth except when he was in the pulpit. In order to create an impression, he seemingly thought it essential to enlarge or misstate some stories to such an extent that truthfulness fell from him. Of all men, and of all peoples, the Seventh-day Adventist minister in the pulpit should be representative of truth, and particularly guard himself so that at no time he overstates a situation or wrongly magnifies the work while addressing a congregation of believers in the Lord—believers who should rightly have confidence in the veracity of the speaker. If the Lord is going before our workers and leading scores of hundreds to Himself, let us never multiply the scores into hundreds, or the hundreds into thousands. Let us tell the people the truth, and permit the Lord to give the increase in His own way and time.
It is not at all necessary to embellish the facts of God's workings. They are sufficiently wonderful as to require no man-made addition. As missionaries and ministers, we should never attempt simply to thrill our hearers with the telling of the unusual, or seek merely to entertain them with stories, even though they be mission stories. We should attempt to inspire our people with a true recital of what God is really doing today. Let us catch the thought of that great missionary Paul, who "declared particularly what things God hath wrought . . . by his ministry." Acts 21 :19. Then, as did Paul, we shall find the people glorifying the Lord and in no way seeking to exalt the man.
Let us in our recital of these things ever direct the minds of the people to the power and love of God, lifting Him up that others might be drawn to Him. The recital of true advancement in a simple, humble manner, will be quite sufficient to lead our members to sacrifice their means to support the work, and to inspire our young people to find their place in such a field of service for others, as well as contribute to the reception of the rich blessing of the Lord.
Sensationalism Not Needed
We need to be careful lest we be swept into the stream of sensationalism, a stream that is ever widening and flowing with increasing current in our day. Sensationalism is not needed in the recital of mission facts and stories. It is a part of the world's program today, but it has never been necessary in the plan of God, and is certainly not called for in the ministry of truth for these closing days.
It is helpful to note the words of Christ to His Father at the close of His ministry, in that prayer which He uttered just prior to the cross:
have given unto them the words which Thou gayest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me." John 17;8. Christ testified that He gave what was given Him. His followers received these words, and they knew that God had sent Him, and they believed.
Jesus always kept within the way of truth. In all our reports and our statements, let us follow in His steps, declaring "particularly what things God hath wrought." Then men will receive our words joyously and confidently, and they will know that God is using them to glorify Him and will believe that He has sent them.
