Sitting at my desk in my study this morning, I heard a squeaking and squawking of birds on the lawn outside my window. Looking out, I saw three starlings. One was smaller than the other two, but the two larger ones were picking on the smaller one. I was about to step out and try to settle this feathered feud, when to my amazement I saw really what was happening. The smallest one was the mother, and these two overgrown children were demanding a morning meal. That poor little bird was working so hard, running from place to place looking for worms, and she would no sooner get a worm down one throat than the other one was making an equal demand. I felt sorry for her. For two hours she worked vigorously, tirelessly, lovingly, and the thought came to me, "Why doesn't she teach these young folks to go out and find their own food?"
And then I remembered the counsel of the Lord to the ministry of the Advent Movement, that too many of our ministers are hovering over churches, rushing hither and yon to find some tasty morsel for hungry spectators, instead of training those members not only to find their own food but to become feeders of others. From Testimonies, volume 6, we read: "The best help that ministers can give the members of their churches is not sermonizing, but planning work for them. ... If set to work, the despondent will soon forget their despondency; the weak will become strong, the ignorant intelligent, and all will be prepared to present the truth as it is in Jesus." Pages 49, 50.
It is good that a minister know how to counsel his members, and the art of true counseling is vital to a successful pastor. But knowing how to inspire the members and lead them forth to become undershepherds in service is also an essential. In fact, an overemphasis on the place of ministerial counseling may deprive the church of other and equally important work.
In this issue of THE MINISTRY we begin a series of articles from men of experience. On page 11 Robert M. Whitsett and W. E. Read begin this series, which will emphasize the importance of, and set before us techniques on how to accomplish the work of, recovering our former members. Our leadership at headquarters is urging that we as a denomination take seriously this whole matter and move forward as a unit to find and recover those who once knew and loved the truth. The importance of this theme must appeal to every shepherd's heart. Surely the tragic wail of an ancient Hebrew poet must find no counterpart in our movement. With deep pathos he cried, "No man cared for my soul" (Ps. 142:4). Every careless, wandering, or missing member is a challenge not only to the pastor but to the whole church, and the whole church must be made conscious of the responsibility of bringing the lost ones back to the fold.
The greatest blessing that can come to a church is a minister with a shepherd's instinct. It was a sad day when the church lost the vision of the shepherd, and it was not long before men sought office instead of service and became concerned with creeds and church discipline instead of the nurturing of the flock. That was quickly followed by the auricular confession, when the flock had to come to the shepherd in stead of the shepherd's going to the flock, and the priest became a member of the clergy and in many ways was removed from the laity. When the shepherd was swallowed up in penances and sacraments and the bloodless sacrifice of the mass, then came the Dark Ages. Going through the motions of a service before an altar brings no personal pain and demands no sacrifice of either time or comforts.
Of course the Adventist ministry has no part or lot in such a program, but is it not possible that the occupation of an office is as subtle an allurement to our ministers as to those of any other group? Human nature being what it is, we are not immune to the same temptations. We do not say this to criticize, for we are all in one work together, and we can rejoice that whereas in the decade from 1934 to 1943 inclusive we had lost in the North American Division 93,000 souls by apostasy, yet the past decade reveals that we have reduced that enormous figure to a little over 60,000. But even that is too tragic a loss for us to look upon lightly. If only 50 per cent of that number could have been held to the mes sage, what a tremendous difference it would make! But we do rejoice that through a process of education and continual emphasis our workers have been made aware of the problem, and have set their hearts to change the picture, making this remarkable improvement possible. That in itself should encourage us to realize that having begun such a noble work, the Lord can help us to continue to make improvement.
At the last Fall Council as well as the Spring Council the matter of our apostasies was given a great deal of study, and every conference committee was urged to investigate the problem and lay plans to reach these wandering members and win them back to the full fellowship of the faith. Not only should we pray for these missing ones, but as shepherds and chairmen of church boards we must lay plans to recover the lost. Could we say that any pastor is measuring up to his full responsibility as a shepherd who is content merely to feed the members that attend regularly? Does not his ordination vow require that he put himself to the stretch to recover these lost or wandering ones?
An associate worker remarked to a pastor recently, "I'd love to see us begin a real piece of evangelism and bring some new life into the church." His reply was significant. "Well," he said, "if we can hang onto what we have, we will be doing pretty well." And his was not a membership of five hundred or a thousand. And the one who thus expressed himself was one of our promising younger ministers.
Doubtless there were reasons for his conclusions, but that does not sound like either vigorous evangelism or sacrificial shepherding. Goals, finance, the erection of church buildings, and the management of church schools are important, but let us be sure that our mechanics are not eclipsing our dynamics.
