Every impressive statement appeared as a front page item in the November 14, 1946, issue of the Watchman-Examiner, well-known national Baptist journal. Seldom have we seen a more impressive and challenging statement. The church's responsibility to proclaim the saving gospel in the great metropolitan centers of the nations was never more urgent. But as the writer has pointed out so clearly, the tendency is to veer away from these great centers. A particularly heartening thing about this call, however, is that it is indicative of an encouraging trend among leaders of Christian thought, They recognize that a great hour has struck—an hour of opportunity for evangelical Christianity. For us to hesitate or fail in such an hour would be criminal. Our workers everywhere will appreciate this clear analysis of needs and opportunities.
"The Gospel in the City
"There was never an hour when the opportunities of the church were what they are at this moment. There never was a moment since Calvary when the city cried for the help of Christians as it is crying now. The heart of the modern metropolis has been largely abandoned by the modern churches and the new theologians ; and these great centers—threatening to become the black holes of our cities—have been flung at our feet as our special charges. Evangelical ministers and evangelistic churches will either shine there or darkness will reign; we will either be the salt to the city, or corruption and decay are its destiny.
"If we put Christ upon the throne of our affections, if we make His church the medium of our endeavors, if we tithe our time and tithe our income we will conquer. Thousands will yet throng the courts of the Lord, the walls of His church will be compelled to widen by their incoming, and into every dark spot of the city we will send our young men and maidens, carrying the torchlight of life, and our mission stations will become the lighthouses for the storm-tossed of every region, and hospitals for those suffering from moral hurts, yea, homes into which Christ shall walk, and with His voice raise the dead."—WILLIAM B. RILEY.
Nothing less than this should be the purpose of the remnant church. "0 that we might see the needs of these great cities as God sees them!" cried the Lord's messenger in 1909. And in the following year she wrote these words: "The burden of the needs of our cities has rested so heavily upon me that it has sometimes seemed that I should die." (Evangelism, PP. 38, 34.)
Mrs. White wrote much, particularly in her later years, about the work in the great metropolitan centers. "Not a thousandth part [is] being done in working the cities, that should be done," she declared in 1910. (Ibid., p. 29.) Since the time when this was written, thirty-seven years ago, we have attempted some work here and there, but many great cities throughout the world are still waiting for the heralds of the everlasting gospel and the judgment hour message.
At the recent Autumn Council a call was sounded for the leadership of every world division to make a study of the needs of the great cities within their territories, and to begin a vigorous program of evangelism at the earliest opportunity. The call, in the form of a resolution, has already appeared in the columns of THE MINISTRY, and the responses to this call have been most heartening.
Some things, however, will need to be studied, else the results will be disappointing. The Lord has laid down some definite principles for working the large cities. These we need to study most carefully. Medical work is to be a real factor in our city program.
"The principles of health reform are to be promulgated as a part of the work in these cities. The voice of the third angel's message is to be heard with power. . . We are far behind in doing the work that should have been done in these long-neglected cities. . , . In this work physicians and gospel ministers are needed. We must press our petitions to the Lord, and do our best, pressing forward with all the energy possible to make an opening in the large cities. Had we in the past worked after the Lord's plans, many lights would be shining brightly that are going out."—/bid., PP. 533, 534.
Evangelism in large cities requires a different technique from small town and rural evangelism. Evangelistic teams capable of meeting the challenge of metropolitan problems are needed for such work. The counsel of the Lord on this is clear and explicit:
"In connection with the proclamation of the message in large cities, there are many kinds of work to be done by laborers with varied gifts. Some are to labor in one way, some in another." "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."--/bid., pp. 97, 99.
From this different instruction it is evident that a variety of talents is needed. Notice the different types—speakers, writers, singers, teachers, and even those who know the power of earnest, fervent prayer. Concerning the evangelistic team we read:
"No less than seven men should be chosen to carry the large responsibilities of the work of God in the the great cities. And these men should humble themselves daily and seek the Lord most earnestly for sanctified wisdom. They should relate themselves to God as men desirous to be taught. They must be men of prayer, who realize the peril of their souls. What should be the work of these seven men? They should investigate the deeds of the cities and put forth earnest, decided efforts to advance the work."—Ibid., pp. 37, 38.
Notice the qualities required—"humble," "sanctified," "desirous to be taught," "men of prayer"; men who can "investigate the needs of the cities" and "advance the work."
It may be that not many fields feel they could spare the services of such a group of men. But this is the Lord's plan. And where our brethren carry out His plan we always see results. Stronger teamwork will accomplish more than the scattered efforts of isolated workers. One can chase a thousand, but two can put ten thousand to flight, according to the Scripture. No wonder, then, that Jesus always associated His workers.
"There should always be two and two of our brethren to go out together, and then as many more as they can rally."—Ibid., p. 437.
"The extra expense of a second man . . . will be an investment that will bring returns."—/bid., p. 70.
There is much valuable counsel in the new book Evangelism on these important features. This compilation represents the gathering of years. We urge our leaders and those called to proclaim the message in these great challenging centers to make a special study of these inspired statements. Time spent in such study will repay us manyfold. Then, having studied, let us heed the instruction of the Lord and move forward into these dark, sophisticated centers of commerce and culture, vice and sin. Under the leading of the Spirit, let us reap a harvest for God, and establish lights in these black holes of civilization. This is the hour, and this is our task.
R. A. A.
Comparative Cost System Commercializes the Gospel
Cosa systems are popular and profitable in commercial enterprises. The ascertaining of the production costs for each phase in the process of manufacture, and thus of the completed product, makes for greater efficiency and lowered cost per unit of the product.
It works impressively in a publishing house, for example, in manufacturing books under uniform conditions and with identical materials. The efficiency of a department foreman, or of the individual workmen in that department, in producing standardized products can thus be gauged by relative costs, and appropriate measures can be taken.
There are those who would seek to apply the same system of costs and measurements to souls and soul winning, despite widely varying local conditions, and marked differences in the product. To attempt to tabulate the comparative cost of souls won under widely contrasting conditions by uniform averages of dollars and cents—and to seek to measure the relative efficiency and profitableness of workers by such comparative costs—is to mechanize the gospel and to misapply a good business principle designed for material products. It is to reduce soul winning to a cold, calculating process.
This is obvious, because conditions and communities differ so radically. Religious backgrounds and attitudes vary markedly in different sections. Some are predominantly Lutheran, others Mormon, Catholic, Campbellite, Mennonite, Spiritualist, Pentecostal, Cultist, or Jehovah's Witness. Then, too, geographical and transportation conditions vary greatly. Some sections are conservative and hard, others are open and receptive. Some are deeply prejudiced, others very friendly. Some are foreign.
The size of a place automatically affects costs —whether small town, city, or metropolis. The hall or auditorium rent, newspaper and billboard advertising, and radio costs vary sharply, and therefore affect the total expenditures. Moreover, conditions vary in the same community at different times—whether there has been systematic preliminary literature distribution, whether unity or division exists in the church, whether it is new or overworked territory, whether we have a good reputation or some local disgrace in the church or ministry, and the type of evangelism that has preceded..
Christ Himself did not have uniform success in the various communities He visited, nor did the apostles. Uniform measurements are therefore unfair and misleading. More than that, they inject certain definite dangers. In concentrating all effort so as to lower the baptismal cost of new believers, those already in the church who need pastoral help and visitation may be neglected, and slip into the column of losses, thus neutralizing the gains and upsetting the attempted ratio.
The whip of comparison and rivalry invites superficial, hurried work. The seeking of quantity rather than quality in the results of an effort so as to lower the average cost is a mistake. Proper visitation, instruction, and follow-up are seriously affected. There is a tendency to rush people into baptism before they are fully prepared so as to reduce initial costs in the race to surpass other evangelists.
Let us seek most earnestly for efficiency. Let us guard needless expenditures. But let us not be penny wise and pound foolish. We need the men and women who may be more difficult and costly to win. Judicious expenditures often net liberal, lasting, cumulative returns. God forbid that the business of saving souls should be shifted to the cold commercial basis of a competitive world.
L. E. F.