ARE you looking for large results from your evangelistic meetings? Are you expecting great things to happen in connection with MISSION 72? Then hopefully you are doing some spade work right now. Hopefully you won't need to read this. You are an expert in this area!
The name on the order blank was that of a Roman Catholic priest. The signer, footing the bill, was the secretary-treasurer of the local Ministerial Alliance.
On the back of the order blank he had scratched a brief note by way of explanation:
"The ____________ City Ministerial Alliance sponsors the church news here. We are thankful for your news service and happy that Father Vincent Peter will do the broadcast since the present SDA pas tor is not active with us. We hope your fine service will continue." The news service to which the secretary-treasurer of the Ministerial Alliance referred was the weekly newscast material On the Air, provided on a subscription basis by the General Conference Bureau of Public Relations.
On the Air was designed as a community service that could be carried on by Seventh-day Adventist pastors, to help them grow closer to the community and to help make the community aware of the Adventist church as an integral part of the community. The news items in On the Air touch on all the churches around the world, giving whatever is newsworthy of a religious nature. Each edition contains one or more news items about Seventh-day Adventists.
But the public relations value of the service is the fact that the Adventist minister in a given community gives the broadcast. He becomes known as Mr. Religious Newscaster. It was never intended that this Adventist public relations project be turned over to others to handle.
What a sad picture of the Adventist church those words on the back of the order blank paint: "The present SDA pastor is not active with us." Can these words be applied to you?
How community conscious are you? Are all your energies burned up in the care of your Adventist flock? Or do you turn your eyes and awareness from time to time in the direction of the larger flock that awaits your message?
Oh, you hold evangelistic meetings or cosponsor them, and thereby reach the community. But do you really reach the community in that way? Do you make friends with the people "out there" who are also a part of your parish? You can't do it with a once-or-twice-a-year evangelistic series. They know you are busy selling your church then.
It takes a certain selflessness and out ward consciousness of others that goes on year round. The pastor who is alert to the public relations implications of "making friends" in the community via every approach possible will see his efforts re warded by opening doors and hearts.
By reaching out to the people of the community, becoming a recognized part of the community, you will find your ministry enriched, your preaching enlivened, your sphere of influence expanded to what God intended it should be.
A pastor newly arrived in a Northwest parish found that people seemed to be avoiding him. It wasn't a large city, so he knew it wasn't just his imagination. There was simply no connection between his church and the rest of the town. The papers were silent about Adventists. The radio never mentioned the church. Other ministers totally ignored him. He was at a loss to know how to get acquainted. But get acquainted he knew he must.
Then a church of another faith announced it would be holding dedication services for its new building. The Adventist pastor decided to attend.
At the door he was greeted by the minister, who, when he learned who the pas tor was, could not hide his surprise that an Adventist minister would come to another church! After a bit of friendly conversation he invited the pastor to offer the closing prayer.
When the service was over, other people had opportunity to meet the new Adventist pastor. The minister opened the way for him to join the local ministerial association. The pastor attended other churches on Sundays. He participated in Kiwanis Club meetings. The newspapers began to carry a weekly message from the Adventist church.
Today people cross over from the other side of the street to talk with the Adventist pastor, rather than avoiding him.
But this man of God first had to demonstrate his interest in others. He had to prove that he did not feel his church was something apart from the community. Both he and his church became active in community affairs, and doors were opened for the giving of the message.
Don't ever let it be said of you that "the present SDA pastor is not active with us."
MISSION 72 will take more than laying plans for the evangelistic series and follow-up. It will require preparing the ground beforehand, not just among your own church members, but "out there" where the other sheep of His flock are. It will require that the Seventh-day Adventist not only know his community but that his community know him, not just of him, but know him as a genuine part of the community, a man who demonstrates the love of God, who understands the people of the community because he has moved among them and has served them. He understands their heartbreaks, their personal and civic needs. He is conscious of the ebb and flow of disaster and fortune that wash the town. He speaks in the language they understand.
When the people know the minister in this way, they will listen to what he has to say. Then he can speak to them His special message.
This should be the major work of the minister all the time not just in preparation for MISSION '72. The outreach to people is personal and public and continuing. When the minister withdraws and hides behind his "peculiar" church or becomes too cloistered for non-Adventist public communication, he narrows his field of service, and earns the reputation of not being "active among us."
The work of God is too urgent for in action of any kind. It demands that the faithful witness use every opportunity available to him for reaching out to the wandering children of the heavenly King.
