The book of Acts furnishes ample proof of what may be accomplished by public evangelism and of the place it should occupy in the program of the church. It has little to say about the resolutions the apostles adopted, but it does tell what they accomplished by preaching. This unparalleled chapter in the growth and power of the church stemmed out of Spirit-filled preaching which brought in converts by the thousands.
The preaching was done not by the ordained ministers only but by a host of laymen going everywhere preaching the Word. The preaching was not confined to public meeting places but they preached in private houses, in jails, and as they journeyed in chariots, went to the market places, and traveled about.
It was preaching on the day of Pentecost that converted the three thousand. The conversion of the Samaritans to the gospel was brought about by a public evangelistic effort conducted in the city of Samaria, when Philip "preached Christ unto them." It was by preaching that the gospel was extended from Jerusalem. It was by preaching that churches were raised up in such great cities as Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, and Antioch. It was an intensive and extensive public evangelism that made it possible for Paul to declare in A.D. 64 that the gospel had been preached to every creature on earth. (Col. 1:23.)
Evangelists of the Past
Paul did more to spread the gospel than any of the other apostles. He conducted public evangelistic campaigns in many of the great cities of the then-known world and raised up churches, which became towers of strength in the Christian cause. The far-reaching results of Paul's preaching stand as a monumental wit ness to the vast soul-winning potentialities of public evangelism, when accompanied by personal work with the interested and proper pastoral care for the new converts.
When we follow down the stream of church history, we see that preaching has had a prominent place in all the great Christian movements. It was the preaching of the Reformers that heralded the Reformation. It was the preaching of George Fox that began the Quaker movement. It was the preaching of John Wes- ley, Whitefield, and their associates that turned England back to God. The revivals that characterized the work of Charles Finney were the result of his preaching. Moody's great revivals were the result of preaching. Had Moody done nothing but write, he would never have stirred millions as he did. His writing was inspired by his preaching.
The outstanding soul-winning exploits of Moody, Finney, Spurgeon, Chapman, Torrey, Gipsy Smith, Billy Sunday, and a host of others testify of the power and possibilities of public evangelism.
When we trace the development of this Ad vent Movement in the various countries, the fact stands out clearly that in those countries where public evangelism has been utilized as God's primary method, the work of our message has made the best and swiftest progress. To the extent that other methods, good and necessary as they are in their place, have been pushed ahead of public evangelism or have been allowed to eclipse it, just to that extent has the real advancement of the message been slowed down. Any policy or tendency that places public evangelism in a position of secondary importance is a move in the wrong direction.
We need to make first things first. In all our plans for the work of God evangelistic preaching and public evangelism should be given first place, in keeping with God's plan as revealed in the Word of God. It is not according to His plan to fill the hands of God's ministers so full of church business that they have no time to preach God's message to those in dark ness. Every minister who shows an aptitude for public evangelism ought to be given the best possible opportunities for developing into a strong evangelist, where he can reach the largest possible number of persons with God's message.
Seventh-day Adventists are called of God to proclaim the three angels' messages of Revelation 14 to every nation. In the accomplishment of this task they need to make public evangelism their foremost method for spreading the message in accordance with God's plan as revealed in such scriptures as 1 Corinthians 1:21, Mark 16:15, and Romans 10:14. They must never lose sight of the fact that public evangelism is the main line of advance for victory in soul winning.
Public evangelism is a divinely ordained way whereby a knowledge of God's message may be imparted to hundreds and thousands at one time by one man, and where the interested persons can be taken into after meetings and helped to reach decisions. An evangelist can make known the truth to one thousand people from one pulpit as easily as he can to fifty, if only he can induce the larger number to come and listen. A certain percentage of those who listen will become interested, and a certain percentage of the interested will accept Christ and His truth. Hence it is evident that the larger the number of non-Adventists to whom God's message is preached, the more interested ones there will be who will decide for truth.
A Great Essential
Public evangelism, where we conduct several meetings each week continuously for twelve or fifteen weeks or longer, is more important and essential for Seventh-day Adventists than for any other religious body. In the case of other churches, one single meeting in which a man accepts Christ as his Saviour may be sufficient to make him a Methodist, a Baptist, or a Presbyterian. But you cannot take people who have no knowledge of God's last-day message and prepare them in a few meetings to unite with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The numerous subjects in which we must educate the people before they are ready for baptism and church membership make the matter of preaching several nights per week for an extended period an absolute necessity and a method of primary importance in this Adventist Church.
Often ministers become somewhat discouraged if the non-Adventist attendance at the evangelistic meetings drops to fifty or seventy-five. But let those who question whether it be worthwhile to continue such meetings ask themselves how long it would take to visit each of those fifty people personally in order to teach them the truth set forth in the sermon.
Small Campaigns
We especially need to guard against the growing tendency to regard public evangelism as work for a few specialists, and of thinking that unless a worker is given plenty of money and a large corps of helpers there is no use for him to attempt a public evangelistic campaign. Success in evangelism does not pertain only to large campaigns, which may bring in new converts by the scores and hundreds. The small effort in a small town or in a rural district that brings in ten or twenty souls is just as successful in its sphere as the city campaign that brings in a hundred or more.
Heaven is interested in the small campaign. Nearly all divine programs have begun in a small way. The kingdom of heaven is compared to a mustard seed and not to a coconut. The evangelist in a small effort has the advantage of being able to do a more thorough work for his converts than the evangelist could possibly do in a large effort where he is dealing with such large numbers. So the losses from small efforts will be and should be of smaller percentage than those from large efforts.
God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and the foolish things of the world to confuse the wise. It is written large all through the Book of God that if you will take what you have at hand and use it for God, the Lord will give the victory. Remember Moses and his rod, Gideon and his three hundred men.
Christ preached one sermon at Jacob's well, to an audience of one an outcast woman. But look at the great number of conversions that came from that small effort. A preacher in England had just one boy for his audience one rainy Sunday. He preached as earnestly as if there had been an audience of five hundred. That boy became the great preacher Charles H. Spurgeon. Do not wait until you can hold a large campaign, but do what you can where you are with what you have in hand, and God will bless you with results.
"The Lord designs that the presentation of this message shall be the highest, greatest work carried on in the world at this time." Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 11. How thrilling it is to know that .in public evangelism we are engaged in the highest, greatest work that is being carried on in the world! What a mighty challenge this is to study public evangelism and evangelistic preaching, that we may discover and utilize the most effective presentation and propagation for this glorious third angel's message!
The spirit and power of preaching is still the most effective way of winning men to Christ. It is clear, then, that the effectiveness of evangelistic preaching must be exploited to the fullest possible extent, if we are to attain the greatest possible success. Since the full- length public evangelistic campaign means so much in building up the Advent Movement, young ministers especially should under God seek to gain the greatest possible proficiency in doing this type of soul-winning work.
