Five hundred Seventh-day Adventists is a sizeable portion of the total church membership of the Washington, D.C.-Takoma Park area. This figure is only slightly higher than the number of persons who completed the Prophetic Guidance Course in the Sligo and Takoma Park churches during the past year.
In the Takoma Park church, 190 enrolled, and 170 graduated. Classes were held from January 3 to April 25, 1962. At Sligo the course ran from September 6, 1962, to January 23, 1963. About 390 sent in test sheets on Lesson 1. Approximately 300 finished. Sixty-one of these were upper-division students of Columbia Union College. These young men and women earned two hours of upper-division college credit for their work, supplemented by extra assignments.
The likelihood that these 500 Adventists will finish their course of Christian life successfully has been greatly increased. Apostasies from among this group will be small. The Prophetic Guidance Course does something to people's confidence in, and love for, the truth.
To care for the crowds who attended the two class sessions, the services were moved from the basement chapels to the main auditorium, in each case. Total attendance during the 32 weeks of the two sessions ran between 8,000 and 10,000 persons. A revival spirit was brought into the churches and a deeply spiritual leavening influence.
At Takoma Park the oldest student was 93—the youngest, 11. At Sligo, one student approaching 80 graduated. There were several who were only 10 years of age among the graduates. So the lessons appeal to a wide variety of people.
As you read the testimonials of the three men whose cooperation was indispensable to the success of the classes, ask yourself the question "Why don't I try this 'new approach' in the midweek service in my own church?" If two large churches could successfully swing big class groups, how much easier it would be in a smaller church!
Town-and-Gown Cooperativeness
Today when more and more the church is stretching out its arms in an attempt to more adequately meet the needs of its parishioners, there has been a decided endeavor on the part of the church body to include among its "special" activities at least one program in adult education.
Just recently this type of program was dramatically evidenced when about four hundred persons signed up for a special course in "Prophetic Guidance" under the direction of D. A. Delafield and Arthur L. White. The classroom was the Sligo church, the college-community church in Takoma Park. This group met for an hour and a half each Wednesday night for a full semester. Part of this group included sixty-one persons who took the class for college credit as arranged with Columbia Union College. For those registering for credit there were special reading and research assignments, and of course, examinations.
This is another possible area where church and college can cooperate in an adult-education program. The credit students, especially the regular college students, appeared to enjoy the off-schedule class, and they were able at the same time to stimulate an increased interest among the noncredit group for active participation in class discussion. This type of program could very well be tried in other college communities not only for its own intrinsic values but also as another device of town-and-gown cooperativeness.
A Place in Every Pastor's Adult-Education Program
The recently concluded class in "The Gift of Prophecy in the Church" proved to be not only popular at the Sligo church but meaningful to the approximately 400 regular students and auditors who participated in the course. Enthusiasm ran high and was sustained until the very end. Several non-Adventists were interested, and many of our own people's faith in the gift of prophecy in the church was greatly strengthened. The plan of studying this material should find a place in every pastor's adult-education or Wednesday night program. I recommend it without qualification.
WILLIAM LOVELESS Pastor, Sligo Church
Protection From Subtle "Reformers"
Among a group of leaders in a local Methodist church someone stated recently that "there are no modern - day prophets." One Sunday school teacher of the church asked, "What about Sister White?" So innocently was the question introduced that he was surprised at the animated discussion that followed.
How did he know about Ellen G. White? He was one of the more than 200 who attended the Prophetic Guidance Course conducted by D. A. Delafield in the Takoma Park church from January 3 to April 25, 1962. This good Methodist missed only one of the sixteen Wednesday evening classes, and that was during the week a new baby was born in his home. When Arthur L. White spoke at the graduation service on April 25, this Sunday school teacher was one of the 170 who marched onto the platform of the Takoma Park church and received his certificate of graduation from the Prophetic Guidance Course.
The Prophetic Guidance Course has been one great factor in confirming his faith in the threefold message of Revelation 14, and he is being drawn ever closer to the remnant church.
Many members of long standing in the headquarters church have borne testimony that their confidence in the Spirit of Prophecy has been more firmly established by their taking this course.
Preliminary to each class discussion, Elder Delafield presented a special ten-minute "Adventures in Prophecy" message, emphasizing current events and the unfolding of the prophecies of The Great Controversy.
One of the greatest blessings that will come to any church where the Prophetic Guidance Course is conducted will be the fortifying of its members against erroneous doctrines by subtle "reformers" who claim to espouse the threefold message but quote and misquote the writings of Ellen G. White, and adroitly bring in subversive beliefs. Ellen White wrote the following lines as she reminisced on the earliest days of the Sabbathkeeping Advent Movement: "There was fanaticism among some of those who had been believers in the first message. Serious errors in doctrine and practice were cherished, and some were ready to condemn all who would not accept their views. God revealed these errors to me in vision and sent me to His erring children to declare them."—Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 655, 656.
This course establishes a balanced view of the invaluable gift of the Spirit of Prophecy and shows how God used it to keep His people true to the Bible.
W. J. KEITH, Pastor, Takoma Park Church