There is no congregation of Seventh-day Adventists in North America or elsewhere wnose officers or membership would deliberately deprive the denomination of its funds, or misappropriate contributions by dipping into mission moneys. On the contrary, thousands systematically sacrifice in order that the store of treasure devoted to spiritual ministry across seven seas may make an ever-expanding missions program possible.
Yet an appalling indifference exists on the part of some responsible persons toward a persistent leak in this same missions supply. Annually a large sum of money is spent to prepare various kinds of Ingathering literature and other material which is never put to use. Here and there, all over the land, may be found quantities of unused Ingathering supplies, cluttering church closets, piled in basement bins, and sometimes strewn over pews in meetinghottses. It has not been an uncommon thing to find many unopened bundles of Ingathering magazines of former years piled on top of each other in Book and Bible storage places, as well as in private homes.
Singing band leaflets in varying quantities accumulate from year to year. Surplus solicitor's cards, instruction leaflets, and other printed -campaign matter cry aloud that somewhere along the line there has been a lack of careful planning or a woeful miscarriage in program, all of which piles up into hundreds of dollars wasted—dollars that were given sacrificially, dollars that might have been used to purchase necessities. Some of those dollars so thoughtlessly wasted might have meant much to a poor, faithful giver, and if rightly used, could have been the means of bringing the news of salvation to many lost souls.
Surely there is a reckoning day coming when an account must be rendered for all this sinful waste. We earnestly request that more careful consideration be given this matter of campaign supplies, so as to reduce drastically loss in leftover items. If ministers would give their personal attention to this matter, if church officers and conference home missionary secretaries would take it well in hand, there could be a decided change for the better. The national Government asks that care be exercised in the use of paper. Let's show our patriotism to our government, and our loyalty to our cause by improvement in this important item.
R.G. Strickland. [Secretary of the Home Missionary Department.]