LAST YEAR at camp meeting Diane was a brand-new convert, aglow with the first-love experience. Providentially, our paths crossed and she expressed her desire to become a Bible instructor.
This year at camp meeting we met again. Diane was still bubbling with love for Christ, but well-meaning advisers had dampened her ardor for be coming a Bible instructor. "Better choose a profession that will afford you security and a future," they told her. "You can be a missionary wherever you go and what ever you do." Certainly we would not argue the latter point. But why must we persist in discouraging young women from accepting the most important calling any woman can have?
Ask any of our college Bible teachers and they will likely tell you that it is be cause those who do train for Bible work are often not hired. Therefore college teachers do not feel it is fair to encourage young women to train for this work if their chances for employment are slim.
Why are we not hiring more Bible instructors, either young college graduates or older persons? Is it because pas tors are not interested in having Bible instructors work with them? Is there no demand for their services on the soulwinning team, either pastoral or evangelistic? Has the Bible instructor profession outlived its usefulness? Has God suddenly given us a new and better way than that outlined in the blueprint? (One might think so by listening to some of the discussions currently in vogue.)
Perhaps the name "Bible instructor" has outlived its usefulness and we need to think in terms of adopting a new name that would better describe this work. Regardless of name, the role of the woman in the ministry has been clearly and distinctly outlined in the inspired counsel and leaves no room for confusion as to women's role in the ministry:
"The Lord has a work for women as well as for men. They may take their places in His work at this crisis, and He will work through them. . . . They can do in families a work that men cannot do, a work that reaches the inner life. They can come close to the hearts of those whom men cannot reach. Their labor is needed."—Evangelism, pp. 464, 465.
"There are women who are especially adapted for the work of giving Bible readings, and they are very successful in presenting the Word of God. . . . This is a sacred work, and those engaged in it should receive encouragement." —Ibid., p. 469.
"When it is possible, let the minister and his wife go forth together. The wife can often labor by the side of her husband, accomplishing a noble work. She can visit the homes of the people and help the women in these families in a way that her husband cannot." Ibid., p. 491.
But what about the pastors in the field? How do they feel about this work? We decided to find put for ourselves, so we polled the ministers of one of our larger conferences. Of the 100 pastors polled, 76 responded to the questionnaire. Forty-two of these (55 per cent) never had the experience of working with a Bible instructor. The other 34 had at some time worked with one for at least an evangelistic campaign. Twelve men had worked with a Bible instructor for periods of less than one year, 11 men had worked with one for periods of from one to five years, and only three men had been blessed with the services of a Bible instructor for periods of more than five years.
How did these men feel about having Bible instructors on their team? First, let us look at the 45 per cent who had at some time worked with one: Only one of the thirty-four men in this group felt the help of a Bible instructor was not valuable, and that one was qualified by a specific problem situation.
To the question, "Would you desire or request the help of a Bible instructor if one were available?" nearly all responded in the affirmative, some adding comments such as "Most assuredly!" "Most definitely!" and "Absolutely!"
Of the group of forty-two men who never worked with a Bible instructor the question was asked, "How would you feel about having a Bible instructor on your staff?" The responses from this group were unanimously in favor of the idea and were expressed in enthusiastic and positive terms.
"Do you feel her work would be an as set to your program?" To this question the men again responded with affirmative adjectives.
If these pastors represent a cross section of pastors in North America, and if they are typical of hundreds of other pastors in the great Advent Movement, we would have to admit that their answers significantly support the idea that pastors do believe in the effectiveness of the Bible instructor on the soul-winning team.
Why Isn't There a Demand?
Why then do pastors not demand their services? Perhaps it is because they know that so few are available. Perhaps it is because they have been led to believe, as one man commented on the survey, "Bible instructors are nice if the conference can afford them." (It was one of the only two or three negative responses in the survey.)
But if Bible instructors are as effective in soul winning as these pastors seemed to indicate, how can we afford not to have them? Are our soul-winning budgets so tight that we cannot afford soul winners? "This question is not for men to settle. The Lord has settled it. You are to do your duty to the women who labor in the gospel." —Ibid., p. 493. "The conference should have wisdom to understand the justice of her receiving wages." —Ibid.
How did these pastors envision the role of the Bible instructor? All agreed that this work should consist primarily in giving Bible studies, in visitation, and in leading out in training of laymen. Some saw the role of the Bible instructor as including teaching Sabbath school and pastor's classes, leading out in lay activities in the local church, occasion ally conducting prayer meetings, and counseling. Some saw the Bible instructor as an associate or assistant minister.
What qualifications did these pastors feel were most important to a good Bible instructor? They were named in the frequency of the order listed below:
1. Spiritual qualities: dedication, commitment, humility, love for Christ.
2. Grasp of Bible truth and ability to teach it.
3. Pleasing personality.
4. Soul-winning expertise and efficiency in work.
5. Ability to relate to other people.
6. Deep love for souls.
7. Representative in standards, especially in dress and appearance.
8. Professional training (college or Seminary if possible.)
9. Loyalty.
10. A call from God to the work.
Diane is attending college this year. We have reason to believe that she will be encouraged in her desire to become a Bible instructor by at least some of her teachers. We believe that she has and can develop the above-mentioned qualifications. We trust that there are pastors in at least one conference who would be happy to have her services when she completes her education.
But the question is, Will Diane receive a call to become a Bible instructor, or will her talents and abilities of necessity be channeled into some other profession, while deep in her heart she would like to be devoting all her energies to the great work of soul winning?
Whatever our reasonings and rationalizations may have been in the past for not training and hiring women workers, isn't it time for us to awake to the needs of a dying world, and the need of the personal touch in winning men and women to Christ? Isn't it time for us to see the potential in our young people who want to become involved in helping to finish the work? Isn't it time for us to encourage the Dianes in our midst to answer the call of God to the woman's part of the gospel ministry?
"Again and again the Lord has shown me that women teachers are just as greatly needed to do the work to which He has appointed them as are men." —Ibid., p. 493.
