Now is the Time for Courageous Planning
We are gathered here for this twelfth quadrennial council at one of the most decisive hours in Africa's history. We live and labor in a field bristling with peril and problems, yet at the same time ours is a field fairly bursting with opportunities and openings for God's message. What a glorious hour in which to serve the cause of present truth on this great continent of Africa!
What more challenging text could we select for this opening service tonight than the words we have chosen for the motto of this council—"Now is the accepted time." These words of Paul are a clarion call to action. They are words our evangelists use to call men and women under conviction to decision, to action for God.
Our day is a time of decision for 76 million people representing many tribes and nationalities scattered throughout nineteen different countries and political territories in Southern Africa. Now is a time of decision for the leadership of God's church on this great continent. There are many vital decisions we must make while we are together for this council and committee session. The little three-letter word now conjures up a thrilling, turbulent, frustrating, glorious quadrennium ahead for which we must prepare and plan.
I like the Goodspeed translation of Paul's words: "Now the welcome time has come! This is the day of deliverance." What a cheering, challenging message!
Now indeed is a welcome time. This is the time "that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see" (Matt. 13: 17). Now is the time, and we are the people destined by God to witness the final climactic movements in the history of this world and of God's church. If we endure, our eyes shall see God's day of deliverance. If we remain faithful, these eyes of ours shall behold the King in His glory.
What a time! What a welcome time! What a challenging time!
Such a time demands much of us as leaders. God expects us to plan wisely, with a vision commensurate with the urgency of the hour. Casual planning—even usual planning for normal times—will not suffice to meet the requirements of this, God's hour in Africa. This is no time for a "business as usual" approach to the needs and the opportunities of our field.
The messenger of the Lord writes: "The leaders in God's cause, as wise generals, are to lay plans for advance moves all along the line."—Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 116. (Italics supplied.) The work of God must make advance moves on all fronts. Our planning at this council must include all departments and all fields. Ours must be a balanced, well-distributed program. It must be a program that includes every union, every local field, every department, every institution, every church, every worker, every church member, and it must be a program of advancement all along the line.
For several days the division officers have been in session with our department leaders and also with our union presidents. We have likewise just completed an inspiring presidents' council at which both the union and local field presidents were in attendance. During these meetings we have laid broad plans and set far-reaching objectives for the coming four years.
Our recommendations to this council include adopting a goal of 250,000 church members in Southern Africa by next General Conference time. We believe it is reasonable for us to expect that we will have 500,000 Sabbath school members by that time. To achieve these objectives we are recommending a program of total evangelism that we believe, under God, will mean 200,000 new decisions for the message and 80,000 baptisms. To provide church homes for these new converts and others already in the fold we are recommending that the fields and institutions of the Southern African Division undertake to erect and dedicate 500 new church buildings during the coming quadrennium.
Brethren, we can do no less in the face of the solemn times in which we live and labor. "The voice of God speaks clearly, Go forward. Let us obey the command, even though our sight cannot penetrate the darkness. The obstacles that hinder our progress will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirit."—Gospel Workers, p. 262.
This is the voice of God speaking to us as leaders assembled here this evening. The command is clear and unmistakable—"Go forward!" Of course there are problems! Of course there are obstacles! But our God who supplies grace and power says, "Go forward in spite of problems and obstacles!" Though we may not see our way through, our part is to obey His command and to lay the wisest plans possible. The God of the Advent Movement will not forsake or disappoint His people. If He says, "Go forward," "even though our sight cannot penetrate the darkness," I have no doubt that He will supply His leaders and workers with needed wisdom and power to make the advance possible.
In Moses' day Israel faced the menacing Red Sea before and a hostile Egyptian army behind. They appeared to be trapped. With danger ahead and disaster behind, God, through Moses, said to Israel: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day. . . . The Lord shall fight for you. Go forward" (Ex. 14:13-15).
As the Israelites moved forward by faith, God did great things for them. The sea which seemed their certain destruction became their highway of deliverance. The mighty army of Egypt that appeared so invincible became a hapless struggling mob caught in the sea when God took over. Israel's plight became God's challenge to deliverance.
Brethren, our God has done great things for us here in Southern Africa the past four years. Though our paths have sometimes been cast in dangerous places, though we have had to contend with political uncertainty and strife, with religious persecution and apostasy, the living God has fought valiantly on our behalf.
Think of the bruised and bleeding Congo! What field could have been less likely to produce any financial record? Yet the Lord has stood by His church during these last two and a half agonizing years. During 1962 the Congo Union, despite the vicissitudes of war and turmoil, has made the largest net gain in tithe income of any of our six mission unions. Their baptisms also have been the highest they have been in recent years.
Think of Rwanda and Burundi. Where have our own people been tested more? Hundreds have had their homes burned, plundered, and looted. Many have been beaten. Some have lost their lives. Yet how marvelously God has stood by His church in these lands. In one year 420 evangelistic efforts were held. Twenty thousand decisions for the truth during that period. During the past four years 18,734 were baptized in this union. Surely, brethren, as we stand still we shall have to acknowledge that we have witnessed "the salvation of the Lord" in these two beautiful Central African countries.
With the promises of God ringing in our ears and the earnest of His power unfolding before our eyes, surely now is the accepted time for us as leaders in Southern Africa to lay broad plans for a mighty advance all along the line.
When the struggle is over what a glorious book of Acts our people in Southern Africa will have written! Think of the members who have stood for right with the heavens falling about them. Think of the men and the women, the boys and the girls, who have given their lives for the truth. Many have lost homes and all of their worldly possessions. All is gone—everything but their faith in God. Many of our workers, African and European both, have exposed themselves to danger and carried on when all seemed to be lost.
My brethren, we as leaders must not fail such workers and laity. Our leading in these perilous times must be courageous, dedicated, worthy of the times, the challenge, and the people we lead. Our hearts and our lips must be filled with faith and courage that they in their need may draw strength and courage from us.
Like Israel of old we may face our Red Sea experience. There may be times, as there surely will be, when we can see no way out, only frustration or defeat confronting us. Then, brethren, we must trust our God. As leaders we must talk courage though our hearts are often faint. When the leader despairs, the cause is lost. Now is the time for us to talk courage and plan courageously.
Sometimes we must plan when there appears to be no possibility of carrying out those plans. Let us set our goals and lay our plans for evangelism. Let us plan our institutes, our training programs, and our church buildings. We are commanded by One who is our Leader: "Occupy till I come."
As one door closes let us be prepared to move into another that is still ajar. If we are unable to reach one field because of trouble, let us concentrate on fields that are still open. If there is a temporary retreat on one front let us advance on another. Let us never permit the things that can't be done, to blind our vision to the things that still can be done.
We dare not settle down to maintain the status quo in troublous times. There is no status quo with God and His last-day movement. Let us not only shore up our defenses but let us make bold plans for advance to finish the work. At times and in places it may be a slow, frustrating advance, but advance it must be.
