Christmas and God's Call to Evangelism

The Autumn Council of the General Confer­ence is perhaps the most important link in the chain of general events that makes up the pat­tern of our world work, for it is then that the budget is set for the whole world field.

With our rapidly expanding work it is natural that the budget has increased year by year. But the figure set for 1958 shows an increase of more than $3,000,000 over last year, the total being $26,064,954.95—a staggering figure indeed! As this came before the council all felt the same urge to say, "Praise God from whom all bless­ings flow."

Nothing reflects the confidence of God's peo­ple in this Advent cause more clearly than their faithfulness in financial support. Sacrificial giv­ing on the part of our members and sympathetic shepherding on the part of our leaders are what make this possible.

Now how will this money be used? Of course, most of it represents the Budget Committee's response to definite requests, and is already al­located. Besides helping to support our large army of evangelists and teachers in these great overseas areas, much of it will be used to meet longfeit needs in the erection of medical and educational institutions, and the building of houses of worship in these faraway fields. All of these material things are part of our over-all evangelistic program, for every plan we make and e^-, :-.1^-v building we erect has as its objective the winning of souls for God's kingdom.

Providing financial support for God's cause is not the only interest at these annual councils. Much study is also given to plans that will bring efficiency into the various types of work. And among these none is more important than that which concerns our public evangelism. At the closing meeting of the council, in an atmosphere of enthusiasm and confidence, the following recommendations were passed. These will bring a challenge to our evangelists and the many committees responsible for the direction of these key workers in the vanguard of evangelism. Here are the recommendations:

WHEREAS, A sense of urgency is everywhere apparent in world events, indicating that this is indeed the hour of our destiny; and

WHEREAS, We recognize that the Advent Movement has been divinely commissioned to carry God's last message of mercy to a doomed world; and

WHEREAS, Unprecedented demonstrations in the field of public evangelism have recently re­vealed the heart hunger of the masses for the saving gospel of Jesus Christ,

We recommend,

1. That a denominational call be made for a worldwide rededication of our ministry to the public proclamation of the everlasting gospel of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour, and that our ministers be urged to conduct evangelistic meetings in as many places as possible, utilizing public auditoriums, our own churches, and every other available facility.

2. That in connection with these meetings, we follow the counsel of the Spirit of prophecy (Evan­gelism, pp. 143, 562), and make a study of the community with a view to laying plans to present the message in such a way as to meet community needs, win the confidence of leaders of other Chris­tian groups, and make favorable impressions on the general public.

3. That our union and local conferences give study to developing evangelistic teams, associating workers of varied talents, thus adding strength to their soul-winning programs in order to meet the

challenging counterattractions of these modern times, and that where our devoted laymen have been faithfully sowing the seed of truth we endeavor to reap the harvest by holding short evangelistic revivals.

1. That we recognize the importance of medical-ministerial evangelism, and encourage our conse­crated doctors to add the weight of their influence and professional skill to the evangelistic program.
2. That our ministerial workers be urged to do more personal visitation-evangelism in the homes of the people; and that our conferences give study to developing more Bible instructors for home evangelism,
3. That in places where circumstances do not permit the holding of regular evangelistic meetings, we urge that evangelistic Bible classes be organized to which our members can bring their interested friends; and that those who lead out in these classes be encouraged to make the presentations ef­fective by using the excellent visual aids now available. 
4. That in all phases of our evangelism we en­deavor to fulfill the real purpose of the Advent message, which is"to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour" and to make Him "appear in His efficacious work as the Lamb slain, sitting upon the throne"; recognizing that "the sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the great truth around which all other truths cluster," heeding the counsel, "Christ and His righteousness—let this be our platform, the very life of our faith," (Evangelism, pp. 190, 191) and thus, through the proclamation of the everlasting gospel, in the setting of God's last message to mankind, prepare a people ready to meet their Lord.

This sevenfold recommendation sets before us a challenging goal. How desperately the world needs to hear the everlasting gospel! In this hour of human achievement when men everywhere, in breathless fear and expectancy, await the possibility of interplanetary communi­cation, millions of judgment-bound souls need to hear the call: "Prepare to meet thy God."

Someone has well said, "We fashion the mir­acle of flight only to load the wings with destruc­tion." Man seems to have found about all the answers to his questions except the most im­portant, i.e., how to live with God and his fel­low men. These conditions call for a fearless proclamation of God's last-hour message. String­ing together a few deathbed stories on a rather thin theology is not real evangelistic preaching. As we heed God's call to evangelism, may we all as preachers gird ourselves for action and lead our churches into victory.