Recently I visited the First Baptist Church in our city. The pastor enlarged upon Jesus' invitation recorded in Matthew II: 28-3o. His sermon was evangelistic through and through. At the close he made a.quiet but positive appeal for surrender to Christ as a personal Saviour from sin. Then an invitation followed, directed to those in the congregation desiring to unite with the church by profession of faith or baptism. Climaxing the service with touching solemnity came an impressive baptism. This preacher has added seven hundred people to his church in a seven-year pastorate. And no wonder. He has developed the evangelistic bias.
One need not be a born evangelist to possess this essential to success in soul-winning experience. One need only be converted and called of God. These are the two prerequisites. An explanation of evangelistic bias is simple. It is the heaven-born bent to be constantly on the alert to save men for God. Though laymen as well as preachers may possess it, the minister of God pre-eminently manifests the disposition to win souls.
There is grave danger that we shall forget this. Some preachers show a reluctance to make calls at the close of their sermons. Whether the appeal is in the form of an altar call, an invitation to come forward and shake the evangelist's hand, or simply to stand to one's feet or raise the hand, a particular appeal should and must be made. It is unsafe to do otherwise. A soul might be lost.
One night after an evangelistic meeting, a good woman shook my hand at the door as she was leaving. There was a disappointed look on her face as she said to me, "If you had only made a call tonight, I was prepared to come forward and give my heart to God." I said to myself, "Twill never preach a sermon again without making a call for men and women to surrender to God."
"Our greatest need is faith in God." We have too little faith. We have all heard the argument, "Suppose no one comes forward when I make a call?" or "What would people think of me?" My experience has been that if we make the call, God will take care of the people. If we do the inviting, the people will do the coming.
Perhaps the experience of the man who attended an Adventist preacher's meetings but was forced to go to the Salvation Army services to give his heart to God, because the Adventist never made calls, is trite, but it still illustrates the danger.
Fortunately, this convert returned to the hall where our brother was lecturing on the prophecies, and requested church membership. There are many like him who are questioning, "What must I do to get into this church? I believe they are teaching the truth." We need to make more calls. Our success as soul winners would increase if we brought the evangelistic viewpoint more frequently into our work.
For pastors, the plan followed by many at present has been to convert Sabbath morning preaching services into evangelistic meetings. For three months we have tried this with remarkable results. From twenty-five to seventy-five non-Adventists have been in regular attendance. A large sign on the church advertises the prophetic lectures; newspaper advertisements and small cards of invitation help to bring the people out. In addition to the Sunday night meeting the Wednesday night service is also made evangelistic, at which time a lecture is presented, illustrated with colored pictures. Attendance at this meeting has quadrupled.
Varied Advantages of Church Campaigns
The advantages in this program are many. Our own people are reindoctrinated and at the same time are filled with the urge to win souls. Most of the regular attendants will be brought by our members. Accessions to the church are made with scarcely any expense involved, and at a time when it is difficult to get large crowds out to our evangelistic meetings. Church campaigns are not endangered if handled carefully, and the elements of testimony and praise are not overlooked in the Wednesday night services but are made a contributing factor to the success of the midweek meeting. I mention this plan because the spirit of evangelism is too often missing from the regular services of the church, and scores of our visiting friends would become converts to our truth if we would only plan it so.
Catching the spirit of alertness to win men to God is one of our most dire and pressing needs. A fellow preacher has developed the evangelistic burden to the place where a woe from God is upon him if he does not inquire of all whom he meets as to their experience in Christ. "Are you a Christian?" is his pressing inquiry of men. Oh, how much we need this spirit throughout the rank and file of our ministry!
"This world is a sinking vessel," Moody once said in a sermon on the second advent, "and God has given me a lifeboat, saying, 'Moody, save all you can.'" That is the spirit of the advent preacher—saving all he can.
