In one field which I have visited it was felt for many years that intensive evangelistic efforts such as are conducted in the homeland were almost entirely impossible, especially in the cities. The attempts at evangelism had been confined to Sunday night meetings. The brethren knew what was being accomplished in the homeland, and in other overseas fields, as a result of aggressive, concentrated evangelistic efforts, but their field was different. The plan just could not be carried out there. And the brethren were quite sincere in their unbelief.
Then came a visitor from overseas who was burdened for evangelism. He spoke of the wonderful results that were being obtained in other lands. He pointed out that in this particular field their method had not proved to be very fruitful, and he urged that public evangelism as demonstrated in other lands be given a trial. Most of the brethren were skeptical. Nevertheless some agreed to give it a trial, and some confessed later that they agreed to do it, not with any assurance that "it could be done," but in order that the brethren at home could not accuse them of being blindly prejudiced and unwilling to try. And so, still believing that it couldn't be done in their field, many of the brethren left that gathering, while a few, a very few, prayed for courage to try what might after all be God's plan of evangelism in their field.
One courageous leader gathered a group of helpers and launched forth into the deep. He planned for three intensive evangelistic efforts. The skeptics smiled and were free to predict that this wild scheme, this reckless expenditure of means, was doomed to failure. They said, "The people will not come to meetings five nights a week in this country. They are not accustomed to going to meetings except on Sunday. And in any case, even if they did come, they could not absorb such a concentration of spiritual instruction !"
Within a few days one of the efforts had to be abandoned because of bitter opposition and actual physical attack by opponents, and the skeptics nodded their heads with some satisfaction. But the other two efforts went on. The workers had planned on accommodating about three hundred people at each of these meeting places, but they were told that while they might get a reasonable crowd on Sundays, their meeting places would be almost empty on the other nights. To the dismay of the skeptics, the people came to the well-advertised meetings—and they came every night.
After the efforts had been in progress about three weeks, the people pleaded that the meetings be held oftener than five nights a week. They desired meetings every night of the week, and they crowded the halls every night until the efforts were completed. Throughout the field considerable interest was manifested in the progress of these meetings. Even after it had been demonstrated that the people were not only willing but eager to come to meetings several nights a week, there were still some skeptics who said, "Oh, well, there'll be no fruitage anyway." But there was fruitage. It did not mature as quickly as it did in some other lands, and the numbers baptized were not spectacular, but the results were many times greater than had ever been accomplished before in that part of the field.
Recently a report came of a young evangelist working in that same field who baptized fifty as a result of one concentrated evangelistic effort. Other evangelists with the proper vision have demonstrated that this type of work can be done, and their fruitage has been most encouraging. But in the face of these demonstrations, there still are workers, and even leaders, wrestling in their own hearts with skepticism and unbelief. It still "can't be done," even though it has been and is being done.
Not long ago I visited another field. This was territory in which considerable opposition and even persecution existed toward the work of the gospel, and modern martyrs are not unknown there. When intensive evangelism, with public meetings several nights each week, was proposed, the immediate reaction was, "It simply cannot be done. No one has ever done it here, and we cannot. Our lives would be in danger." And to support this attitude, reference was made by several workers to a comparatively recent case of martyrdom. But eventually the brethren agreed that they would go forth in faith and courageously endeavor to carry out the command of the Master to "preach the gospel."
In another country, one of our ministers determined to put public evangelism to the test, even though the people in his territory were known for their fanatical opposition to the preaching of the gospel. His hall accommodated about two hundred and fifty people. He did some modest advertising and circulated some literature, and then proceeded with his effort, holding meetings five nights each week. When his meetings had been in progress for a few weeks, he wrote to say that he was having a terrible time, and that he had had to call in the police to help him. But it was not for the same reason that missionaries of other denominations had called for help. That man was having his hall crowded every night, and there was such an overflow and such a commotion among those who were disappointed at not being able to get into the hall, that he had had to call for the police to help him take care of the overflow crowd.
War developments interrupted the effort, but the worker is back at his post, and no doubt will try again, because he believes that this work can be done. I believe that God will see to it that he will have a fruitage of souls for his earnest, courageous labors.
It does seem to me that whatever else we have to discover in making this matter of evangelism mean all that it should mean, we must by the help of God find a solution for this peculiar unbelief that has for years held back the power of the gospel in some of the overseas fields.