Ezekiel describes his vision of the coming of Christ and the surrounding dignitaries attendant thereto, as appearing to him as a wheel in the midst of a wheel. MISSION 72 is here! Its call to the church is inclusive. The heavy hand of responsibility now rests on every member's shoulder. Every-member witnessing has now become the chief denominational priority. Administration is committed to it; depart mental leadership is committed to it. The marshaling of all of our forces is now as inevitable as death and taxes. For years we have expected this to happen. Now it is happening.
Unfortunately thousands of our laymen now sincerely believe that soul-saving is the preacher's business, with the sure result that we have an overworked clergy and an overfed, under-worked laity. This is a formula for disaster. But how do you move the sleeping giant? A giant described by the prophet of God as coming and going like gates on a hinge. How do you move a church described by the same penman as a vast infirmary full of the halt and the lame? We have tried promotion, cajoling, and opaque threats to no avail. Quotations, Biblical and otherwise, like wise fall on deaf ears.
It seems that the solution has eluded us because of its inherent simplicity. Preacher, what do you do when the financial strength of your church begins to ebb? Start cranking out mimeograph letters, or call a giant congregation-wide rally and inspire the people publicly? The fact is, you do neither of these. You get into the homes of the people and appeal to each one personally. What do you do when winning a soul to Christ? After preaching publicly, you visit his home and appeal to him personally. The decision is gotten by the fireside. Now, what would a fireside appeal to each member personally do to activate the laity in soul-winning endeavor? An every-member canvass across North America may be the answer. The object: To provide additional troops for front-line service, namely, soul winning. Thus may the church, indeed, at last move like a mighty army.
Time for Action
Angels of God encircle the earth demanding action now. World conditions demand action. Our laity is literally calling for action, and the voice from the throne room of Jehovah demands action. No longer may we afford the luxury of long sessions of resolution passing and detailed paper work. Already we have enough of this to stretch around the globe twice. There needs to be an incarnation of our resolutions. The world cries for demonstration of our Christian concern. There is need for the development of a new life-style for the individual Seventh-day Adventist. We must become the new street people, not leaving this work merely to the colporteurs or to the Jehovah's Witnesses. A door-to-door witnessing procedure is as much a requirement of God as is the obedience to the Ten Commandments. Neglect of this ministry is a negation of our oft-expressed commitment to carry the gospel to every creature.
Seventh-day Adventists have now established a presence around the world. Our arms encircle the globe in an embrace of love, but above and beneath these arms are millions of judgment-bound souls who know not the gospel. We have no alternative but to commit our membership as associates in the great task of soul-saving. Our youth are crying out for involvement. We must involve them. We cannot go on with business as usual. The commitment of our laity must become the new priority, superseding some, and made equal to the rest. By some method, this spirit of urgency must grip the entire church administrative, promotional, pastoral, and laity. This new spirit must permeate our external worship forms. We can no longer afford to have a Laodicean public worship service.
As the church membership experiences the thrill of personal witnessing they will be bubbling over with enthusiasm based on personal experience. Who then, can deny them the privilege of relating to the church body some of that which stirs their own souls? I can see the ten-minute missionary period becoming thirty minutes under the influence of a veritable flood of experience testimony. This will, of course, shorten some sermons, but even that may be a positive factor. Some congregations might find themselves worshiping beyond the twelve-fifteen hour. Who has decreed that the Holy Spirit's outreach is bound to the twelve o'clock termination point? When sacred flame sweeps the congregation, we will be less conscious of many things that have rendered us so coldly formal, and our fear of being mistaken for Pentecostals will be matched by our aversion to formalism, all of which will put us somewhere at live-center in our worship form. If these results accompany a true witnessing experience, who among us would strive against it?
We have no right to conduct a midnight operation at noonday. No right, I say, to sleep while the sun's pale glow still kisses the hungry earth. What is left but for us to be up and at it, busily about our Father's business, knowing that darkness will eventually cover the earth, but fighting it as if we could prevent the sunset.
