Planning for a Greater Bible Evangelism

If ever Seventh-day Adventists had a chance to interest people in God's message for the last days, they have it now. Thou­sands of people who have never been stirred before are stirred now about the meaning of the startling events which are taking place. A leading clergyman on the Pacific Coast, in speaking of the swift-moving events of our day, said, "We are desperately in need of a new perspective. We need an interpreter and an interpretation. If men will not think now, they will never think again."

Large public efforts, with greatly increased results, will have their place in the finishing of the work, but a concerted and extensive enlist­ment of ministers and lay members in the teaching of the truth to groups of interested persons in a neighborhood home, or to the in­terested individual in his home, is apparently destined to act a major part in the finishing of the gospel work, according to Testimonies, vol­ume 9. In describing the final reformatory movement under which the work of God will be finished, the messenger of the Lord de­clared, "Hundreds and thousands were seen visiting families, and opening before them the word of Cod."--Page 126.

In the finishing of the work, there is to be such a widespread enlistment of ministers and laymen in teaching the truth in the homes of the interested that the light will be communi­cated quickly to every sincere heart. Has not the time come for us to press forward quickly, earnestly, and unitedly into such a greater Bible evangelism? Should we not under God be applying plans for a Bible evangelism on the scale called for by Him, that will actually usher in the finishing of the work ?

Repeated experiences by various ministers (not merely a few instances by one worker) have definitely proved that there is no other method of .group evangelism by which so large a percentage of the people with whom we work will accept the truth as the neighborhood home Bible school method. Here are a few actual ex­amples out of many that could be cited.

A young minister recently secured the names of fifty-five interested persons, in connection with a certain free literature offer. He arranged to have them meet weekly in four Bible schools. In conducting these schools he used sets of the twenty-three Bible School Lessons, which are available through any Book and Bible house. He presented the twenty-three subjects one by one, and at the close of each presentation he gave the people a copy of the lesson on that particular subject. What were the results ? In fourteen weeks thirty-two of the fifty-five en­rolled in the four Bible schools were ready for baptism. Is not thirty-two out of fifty-five a high percentage of returns? And this was ac­complished by using several homes as meeting places, without any evangelistic expense to the conference for a hall or for advertising.

To cite another instance, during the spring of 1940 community Bible schools were con­ducted on Monday nights with groups of in­terested people in connection with a certain public effort. Out of the forty-five enrolled in six of these neighborhood Bible schools, forty were ready for baptism in fourteen weeks. Forty out of forty-five is, of course, a very high percentage of returns.

No Other Method Has Bigger Results

In the divine blueprint for our work personal Bible evangelism is repeatedly emphasized and held up as a most successful method of winning souls. Here are a few striking declarations :

"Men of ordinary talents can accomplish more by personal labor from house to house than by placing themselves in popular places at great expense, or by entering halls and trying to call out the crowd. . . . The presentation of Christ in the family, by the fireside. and in small gatherings in private houses, is more suc­cessful in securing souls to Jesus than are sermons delivered in the open air to the moving throng, or even in halls or churches."—ELLEN G. WHITE in Review and Herald, Dec. 8, 1885.

In recommending to a certain minister the plan of holding Bible classes with the inter­ested, the Lord's messenger once said: "You will find great success in coming close to the people in these Bible lessons."—Special Testi­monies, Series A, no. 7, p. 7. In the instruction that the Spirit of prophecy has given concern­ing evangelism, it is made plain that there is no more effective way of communicating the truth than this close, personal, intimate way of teaching the Bible to small groups, or to in­dividuals in the home. Would you know what is the best way to convince souls of the truth and lead them into the message? That is some­thing every worker should know. In fact, he must know it and follow it if he has success. Here is an authoritative answer to this vital question. Note another statement from Mrs. White in the Review and Herald: "The bur­den now is to convince souls of the truth. This can best be done by personal efforts, by bring­ing the truth into their houses, praying with them, and opening to them the Scriptures."—Dec. 8, 1885.

Supplies which will greatly assist our con­ference workers in carrying on effective evangelism by the community Bible school plan are available through any Book and Bible House. The Bible lesson sets, covering the essentials of Seventh-day Adventist belief and practice, can be secured at a very nominal rate in lots of one hundred, for distribution, one each week, to the groups of interested after the presentation of each subject of the message. Class rec­ord cards are available for keeping a record on each Bible school group. Teaching outlines, which parallel the Bible lesson subjects, can be secured to assist laymen in teaching these truths to the interested.

Also available is a sixteen-page booklet which outlines ten methods by which groups of interested people can be secured for these Bible schools. This booklet sets forth full de­tails on how to handle a neighborhood Bible school. A new series of seven papers for house-to-house distribution has been prepared re­cently. These are expressly adapted and keyed to the program of arousing interest in God's message, causing that interest first, to culminate in a request for further literature, and second, to ripen into a request for a free Bible lesson course, which will be given in connection with a Bible school in a neighborhood home, or as personal Bible readings in a private home.

There are great possibilities for winning souls by getting selected laymen to distribute these papers systematically in given territories, and then grouping the interested who are thus discovered into neighborhood Bible schools. Inserted in the papers are coupons which serve to discover who are interested in learning more about the truth, and also to enlist the interested ones into Bible schools. A study of evangelistic methods will reveal that the community Bible school plan of winning souls can be used to greater advantage by the larger number of our ministers, college ministerial students, lay preachers, and qualified laymen, than any other evangelistic plan.

Only comparatively few ministers are quali­fied to conduct successfully large city efforts, even if the necessary funds were available.

Many ministers are not adapted to public evan­gelism by training or experience. Our conferences find it beyond their ability to plan public efforts for ,every minister. Pastors and district leaders who are not conducting any public efforts from year to year can take care of their work, raise all their goals, and still conduct six or eight of these weekly neighborhood Bible schools with groups of interested people each year. Scores of well-instructed converts from these schools would thus be added to our ranks.

On what basis can we predicate such results? Here it is. The full-message Bible School Course of twenty-three lessons enables the min­ister, by a weekly class, to instruct fully each group of interested people in all the essentials of Seventh-day Adventist belief and practice, and bind off the interest with baptism, in a space of twenty-three or twenty-four weeks. This enables him to conduct two sets of Bible schools each year. If he devotes four nights a week to this Bible group teaching, he can con­duct eight Bible schools during the year. And if an average of only twelve are enrolled for . each school, actual tests and experience indicate that he is almost sure to baptize about fifty or more thoroughly instructed, well-established converts out of the suggested total enrollment of ninety-six.

Now multiply that figure of fifty baptisms by the number of ministers who are not engaged in public efforts, and you will see the large num­ber of souls that would be won to the truth if the community Bible school plan were being followed by these workers. And this could be accomplished without the expense of renting a hall, pitching a tent, or building a tabernacle, and without any extra helpers. There would be absolutely no evangelistic expense to the con­ference, unless it be the small expense for the Bible lessons and the literature or other means used to secure interested persons for the schools. And this could all be done without any letting down in the yearly campaigns and with­out cutting down the number of public efforts.

Benefits of the Plan Summarized

Thus we could be winning many additional thousands to the Lord every year, if the hun­dreds of our ministers who are not conducting public efforts every night were enlisted in this Bible school plan, and had the co-operation of our lay members in the distribution of litera­ture from house to house, for the purpose of se­curing names of interested people. A plan that has in it stich potential soul-winning results and that could easily be put into operation is certainly worthy of being adopted everywhere. When we consider the relationship of this Bible school method to evangelism in general, we may summarize its advantages as follows:

1. It makes possible the winning of thousands of souls every year by ministers who are not conducting public efforts.