Recently Elder R. Allan Anderson spent six months in the Australasian field holding ministerial institutes and evangelistic councils throughout the entire field. He also spent some time at the colleges studying the whole program of ministerial training. Prior to his departure the full executive committee met to study a report he had prepared, every recommendation of which was unanimously accepted by the committee. It thus becomes a pattern for the training and development of the future ministry. Feeling this report will be of interest to our leaders and workers in other fields, we herewith present the main features.—EDITOR.
We are told that "cultivated intellects are now needed in every part of the work of God, for novices cannot do the .work acceptably in unfolding the hidden treasures to enrich souls." (Testimonies to Ministers, p. 195.) In view of the fact that the denomination, under the leadership of the General Conference, is advancing in an elevation of educational standards for the ministry, we are sure that Australasia will not be content with anything less in the matter of a preparation for the work of the ministry.
In trying to lift the concept of certain workers in the field, one is brought face to face with the fact that all too many have insufficient educational background upon which to build. It is not the purpose of this report to deal with the educational requirements for the ministry. But once having settled the matter of standards, we must see to it that our students reach those standards before being called into service. Having completed his college course, the student minister needs a graduated program of training after he gets into the field. An environment must be provided in which he can develop the very best techniques for successful soul winning. Evangelism must be caught as well as taught. In the interests of the future, we owe it to the evangelistic cause that all our men be exposed to the contagion of a strong evangelistic program.
A surgeon in his period of training is required not only to have the foundational knowledge on which to build, but he must watch hundreds of operations, that he may become familiar with the techniques essential in his profession. And if he has accepted a residency in some hospital in order to develop as a specialist, then both his knowledge and training become much more comprehensive. Surely, in the more delicate realm of spiritual surgery, we should require no meaner standards. It would be well for us to recognize that both the evangelist and the pastor are specialists in their fields.
The internship plan introduced and sponsored by the General Conference provides the possibility of such supervised training. And while it is to be recognized that the provisions of the internship plan are not always carried out, yet the opportunities for supervised field training are nevertheless possible. As a plan we recommend the following: During the two years of internship, it should be expected that the intern will be placed for a period, possibly eight or nine months, in the association of an aggressive, experienced evangelist. Here he studies the art of true soul winning. Then, too, plans should be laid for him to spend six months under the guidance of some strong pastor in a large central church, or perhaps in a rural district where several churches would provide his pastoral environment. Also, he should spend some time in association with conference departmental leaders in such experiences as youth camps, Ingathering, and other programs.
About eighteen months of the two-year period would be spent under supervision. Then during the last six or eight months, opportunity should be given him to conduct an evangelistic campaign in which he assumes the leadership. Associated with him should be at least one, and usually more than one, other worker. It is good if a Bible instructor can be one of the team. This will give stability to the program. A worker trained under such a plan is able to absorb the general techniques of ministerial work, so that at the conclusion of his internship he will, in a measure, have given demonstration of his call to the ministry.
Although the Australasian field may not yet be in a position to put such a complete plan into operation, yet in the interests of the evangelistic cause, some such co-ordinated plan is necessary to ensure that every worker be given opportunity to demonstrate his future vocational usefulness. And such opportunity should come during the first two, or at the most three, years of his field work. Successful soul winning demands thorough training, and with such a plan in view, our college ministerial and Bible instructor courses should be built.
The tendency in so many places to follow the plan of sending men out alone is to be regretted. The history of the Christian church from its inception has revealed that when men have been associated in gospel ministry, their work has always been much stronger. This was Christ's own method. It was the method He committed to the apostolic church. As those early heralds of the cross moved on from victory to victory, it was by the spearhead of evangelism developed under the technique of teams.
A study of the church in the Reformation centuries reveals the same divine plan in operation. Then when the advent movement came into being, growing as it did out of the nineteenth-century awakening, it developed its greatest momentum when teams went into action. Over and over again the Lord counseled us to associate men in their ministry. In Medical Ministry, page 249, we are told, "Never should they be sent alone." And again we read, "There should always be two and two of our brethren to go out together, and then as many more as they can rally to engage in the work of visiting and seeking to interest families, making personal efforts."—Evangelism, p. 437.
It is an arresting discovery, one that should provide an interesting theme for study on the part of our leaders, that where we have followed this-clear instruction, our evangelistic results have always increased ; but conversely, where we have declined to follow the Lord's methods, our results have also declined. The suggestion of the Spirit of prophecy that at least two, and then as many more as can be wisely brought together, be associated in evangelistic work, throws the responsibility upon our field leaders and the executive committees to build teams that can do effective work. This is something that in our judgment demands immediate study.
Varied Personalities Make Balanced Team
The size of such teams will necessarily be determined by local conditions, but in the building of a team, it must be remembered that they are not simply an indiscriminate group of workers. In a team there must be a blending of personality, experience, and talent.
Associated with the preaching evangelist there should be an efficient, experienced singing evangelist—not as an assistant, but as an associate. One with gifts and qualifications for this important work may never become a preaching evangelist, but his ministry should be recognized, and when, through experience and devotion to the cause, he has demonstrated his calling to the ministry, he should be ordained to the ministry.
Associated with the evangelist and the singing evangelist, there should be an experienced, well-qualified Bible instructor. These three should constitute a nucleus around which a larger team can be built, but these are primary to any successful building program. In the world of business, of industry, of sport, men and women are not thrown together at random. They are selected and called into association as members of teams because of the contribution they can make individually to the united objective.
Concerning the personnel of an evangelistic team we are told in volume 9 of the Testimonies:
"God has different ways of working, and He has different workmen to whom He entrusts varied gifts. One worker may be a ready speaker; another a ready writer; another may have the gift of sincere, earnest, fervent prayer; another the gift of singing; another may have special power to explain the Word of God with clearness. And each gift is to become a power for God, because He works with the laborer."—Page 144.
Notice the varied gifts here brought to view. Each has a particular contribution to make. But again comes the counsel:
"The Lord desires His chosen servants to learn how to unite together in harmonious effort. It may seem to some that the contrast between their gifts and the gifts of a fellow laborer is too great to allow them to unite in harmonious effort; but when they remember that there are varied minds to be reached, and that some will reject the truth as it is presented by one laborer, only to open their hearts to God's truth as it is presented in a different manner by another laborer, they will hopefully endeavor to labor together in unity. . . .
"The workers in the large cities must act their several parts, making every effort to bring about the best results. . . . Let us remember that the Lord has different ways of working, that He has different workmen to whom He entrusts different gifts."—Pages 145, 146.
It was regrettable to discover that in conference after conference throughout this union, there are at present no Bible instructors. An evangelistic team without at least one woman Bible instructor is weak, no matter how strong the preacher may be. Years ago the messenger of the Lord gave the clearest instruction concerning the importance of women workers in the evangelistic program. Listen to this counsel:
"In many respects a woman can impart knowledge to her sisters that a man cannot. The cause would suffer great loss without this kind of labor by women. Again and again the Lord has shown me that women teachers are just as greatly needed to do the work to which He has appointed them as are men."—Evangelism, P. 493.
Concerning the importance of this work and its value to the cause, we read on the same page: "This question is not for men to settle. The Lord has settled it." In view of this clear counsel it is strange to hear, as we do at times, that we can get along without Bible instructors, and that young men are a financial saving to the cause because they can preach on Sabbaths and lead the churches in their campaigns. Strange reasoning indeed ! And a weakening policy. Notice these words:
"If there were twenty women where now there is one who would make this holy mission their cherished work, we should see many more converted to the truth." —Ibid., pp. 471, 472.
In the light of these and many other such statements, it is vital that we consider the importance of women workers as we seek to build an evangelistic program. To meet the present dearth of such workers in this field it may be necessary to begin by selecting women of maturer years who, having had some experience in life, could more quickly be trained for this work. Such a plan, however, should be recognized as only temporary, for the most efficient workers are usually developed over a longer period of training. The training of the Bible instructor is as vital as the training of the minister. The cause needs more than visitors. Professional women are required today.
Team Continuity.—Another important feature is the continuity of team relationships. Too often when a team is doing excellent work, some other field will call for the services of the evangelist, or perhaps the singing evangelist, or the supervising Bible instructor, thus weakening the whole structure of the team. Of course, it will be necessary occasionally to make some changes, but when a team is blending in service and has proved that it can work efficiently as a team, other fields have demonstrated that it is wiser to move the team as a whole rather than permit individual members of the group to be called, thus seriously weakening the team. A plan such as this may call for a revolution in our whole method of calling workers, but if we are going to build strongly for the future, we must be prepared to make some changes.
Every conference should have at least one team, and as many more as the field can carry. It may be wise to consider even the building of a union conference evangelistic team, the purpose of which would be the building up of weaker conferences whose meager financial incomes do not permit them to carry on a strong evangelistic program. The need for some far-reaching plans is evident, and we must study ways of building our evangelistic strength, for evangelism is the very heart of the Christian Church.
(To be continued in October)
