Keep Preaching

I believe in a system of continuous evangelism in the big cities.

H. M. S. RICHARDS, Speaker, The Voice of Prophecy

I believe with all my heart in spearhead campaigns. They should be continually go­ing on, reaping where the seed has been sown through the years in our local churches and by other workers preceding us. However, I also believe that especially in great cities and dis­tricts a system of continuous evangelism should be going on. In a large city a man who has a good church, where he can hold Sunday night meetings and other special series, ought to be on the radio every week, or every day, year in and year out, continually feeding into that church or hall.

A great campaign with tremendous expense, then several years of financial panting and ex­haustion, and then another great campaign, is not the real answer to the needs of our great cities. I believe we should have powerful preach­ers in those great cities, on the air every day, and on television once a week, with a good hall or center to which the people can be invited. This continuous work, this continuous pounding, will bring a constant stream of converts to the mes­sage. And in stating this I am speaking from experience.

Not long ago I heard the report of a Meth­odist minister at his conference. He was not a great preacher, but he always had a hundred or more new believers each year. Many who were much better preachers than he, had far fewer converts. They asked him the secret. He said, "I keep preaching. I never stop. My church is alight every Sunday night, even right through the hot summer."

Someone said, "Yes, but sometimes isn't your church almost empty in the summer?" He said, "Certainly it is. Sometimes only fifteen or twenty people are present. But they know there will al­ways be a service in my church. And taking it year in and year out I get more converts than if I had one big meeting and then shut up the rest of the year."

He is right!

Our work in London is having an impact be­cause it continues all the time. Men are changed, but the work goes on. Men of different talents, different appearance, come in and make their contribution. Why should not this plan be more widely copied, even in small places? Why can­not the man in a district with several churches assure the people that once a year they will have a short effort in each church? The church could always know and know a long time ahead when their effort will come. Why cannot the man from a neighboring district come in and do the preaching, with the local pastor upholding his hands in prayer and by joining him in visitation? Then he can go to the other district and do the preaching. Thus a new voice, a new man, comes in. This is an old custom. It worked long ago, and it will work today. Are we too busy do­ing things that do not need to be done? This is a work that definitely needs to be done and done continuously.

Here is something that may never get into print. [But we are printing it!—EnrroRs.] But if we could have a sabbatical year, just one year in which no councils, no congresses, noth­ing like that would be held, with no Fall Coun­cil, no Spring Council—just let the General Conference Committee run things for a year while we all preach and work for God, and quit running around for a year—wouldn't that be great? Why, we would have more souls than we have ever had before. We would save a million dollars and we would win thousands of souls. It would be a wonderful thing to have such a year, a seventh year of release from these things.

Perhaps that is suggesting too much, but someday something like that will happen. And when it does it will be the beginning of an evangelism that will lighten the world with the glory of the Lord.


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H. M. S. RICHARDS, Speaker, The Voice of Prophecy

March 1956

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More Articles In This Issue

Making Time for Evangelism

How can a minister condense and organize his program so that he can have time for evangelism?

A Guided Tour to Europe and the Bible Lands in 1957

The Seventh-day Adventist Theological Semi­nary, at Washington, D.C., will conduct a guided study tour through Europe and the Bible lands from June to August, 1957.

The Department Secretary's Relation to the Pastor

Keeping the following commandments the best we can will most certainly develop a more satisfactory relationship with, and foster a stronger spirit of good will toward, our good friend and brother, the pastor.

Editorial

Thoughts from the Editor's desk.

Continuous Evangelism

In our endeavor to cover the world with the light of our message some administrators have felt inspired to enter as many cities as possible, hold short campaigns, and then move on. The consequences of such a policy have been disas­trous, and our pastoral problems and responsi­bilities greatly increased.

A More Permanent Evangelism

Although we all know that short efforts in average-sized cities do a great amount of good, there is no doubt in my mind that centrally established, continuous evangelistic work should be carried on in many of the large, world-famous tourist centers.

Evangelism in the Cities

We teach a very unpopular truth. It cannot be presented in just a few weeks. There is need for the short campaigns to glean a quick harvest, but on the whole we are to build for time and for eternity. It is very difficult to go into a community and build solidly in a few short weeks.

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Something new is happening to public evangelism in Southern Asia.

The Nature of Man

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True Worshipers

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