At the time of our Autumn Council in St. Paul in 1940, the minds of all seemed to be drawn toward the need of stressing a greater evangelism. With the passing of the days and the months, the conviction has deepened that this is one of the great outstanding needs of the present time. This conviction took definite shape in calling for an Evangelistic Council to precede the General Conference session in San Francisco.
There is no question whatever in my mind that this preliminary meeting which preceded the General Conference session was one of the most profound influences that could possibly have been brought to bear upon the session itself. I have believed, and still believe, that this Evangelistic Council laid the foundation for a work done in the General Conference session that could not otherwise have been done. To my way of thinking, it was altogether a providential arrangement. I believe it was generally felt by those who attended the session that the Lord's presence was manifest to a remarkable degree, and the brethren left that place feeling that they had been truly blessed.
The brethren came up to that meeting profoundly convinced that the time had come when this matter of soul-winning endeavor ought to be emphasized as it has never been emphasized before. We have had many meetings in which that has been the outstanding topic of discussion ; but I somehow feel that the work accomplished there at San Francisco was indeed a milestone in emphasis upon soul-winning effort throughout the world.
I believe that this Autumn Council should see that work further emphasized, and encourage our men everywhere to carry on in the lines that have been so well started.
We are living in the hour of the world's agony, in a time when men in various parts of the world are crying out, "If there is a God in heaven, why does He permit these conditions to exist?" In some places it means a shattering of faith in God. The great masses of the world do not know that the things they are witnessing are a fulfillment of prophecy. They do not know that these things are the omens of the coming of the Lord Jesus. If there has ever been a time in the history of this world when this information ought to be rung out to the people of earth, that hour is today, now. And yet they do not know. They stand under a great pall of darkness, unprepared for the issues that are to come.
The time is here when there ought to be a renewal of the rallying cry of soul-winning work throughout all our world divisions. I believe our national workers in many lands of earth need to be encouraged to undertake larger things in evangelism. I have never lost the impression that came to me as I stood before a group of national workers in the city of Hankow in Central China. It was my privilege to give them a number of talks. I tried to emphasize the need of world-wide unity in connection with this message. In one of my talks I told those workers that I believed the time had come when the Lord would be pleased to put the flaming torch of evangelism into their hands, and send them forth to labor in public evangelism.
There needs to be a change in method in many of these fields. The men have been satisfied to work in a very limited sphere, itinerating through the villages, talking here and there, preaching a little here and there. But great, outstanding efforts ought to be put on. After the close of the meetings, one of our Chinese ordained ministers came to me and said, "From what you say, I see I must have a change of mind. I have been thinking only of my own province in China, but I must look at all of China. In fact, I must look at the whole world."
I replied, "My brother, to be a real Adventist you must indeed see the need of the whole world, for that is the spirit of the advent movement. 'This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.' " Now, brethren, I believe that that same rallying call ought to sound out in all the world field. Hasn't the time come when men ought to rise up and be clothed with the spirit of evangelism as Paul was in his time?
A letter has just come from one of our missionaries. He held two public efforts in a field in which public evangelism was believed to be unsuited to the needs of the field, and an impossible way of reaching the millions of that great mission land. But this missionary has demonstrated that public effort even in a field like that is successful in winning souls. In discussing his own reactions, he says that he has been shocked and amazed at the attitude of the leaders in discouraging that kind of work.
Something must go out from this session that will encourage our leaders to get a new vision of our responsibility of evangelizing the millions of the earth. They need somehow to be encouraged to stimulate their men and workers, both foreign and national, to catch up the banner of evangelism, and go forth to do mighty things in proclaiming this message. I believe that this might well form the basis of a discussion upon this all-important subject, and if, as a result of our discussion here, something can go forth from this Council that will help to change the views and attitudes of some of our leaders, encouraging their men to take hold of public evangelism as they never have before, all the time we spend in discussion here will be time well spent.
[Supplemental discussions by other officers will appear in subsequent numbers of the Ministry.—Editor.]
