MY PURPOSE in this report is to revive and reawaken your sensitivities to the document "Evangelism and Finishing the Work," which we wholeheartedly approved at the last Annual Council. To do that, I have chosen to use an approach that may be somewhat different, in which I endeavor to simulate in North American situations, hardships, and problems such as were experienced by the early Christian church, and by our pioneers, and are now being experienced by many of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world field. Using sanctified imagination along with God's prophetic revelation, we can postulate certain events that might become reality. As I try to get us to take another look at the total evangelism document, unanimously adopted last Annual Council, please do not misunderstand and take my remarks in a negative or cynical way. Rather, let us honestly ask ourselves how serious have been our efforts to implement the specific provisions of that action.
Let us suppose that a decree were to be issued indicating that as of November 1, 1977, all North American Seventh-day Adventist medical, publishing, and educational institutions, as well as Harris Pine Mills, Loma Linda Foods, and the Radio Television and Film Center would be removed from denominational control. As of midnight of the same date, all salaries, allowances, sustentation benefits, and exportation of currency to overseas divisions will be cut off. To put it bluntly, our organizational structure as we know it tonight will grind to a halt within the next six weeks. Because there are some exceptions to this harsh decree, our soul-winning possibilities are not totally wiped out. For instance, although we will be prohibited from building any new church buildings, the doors of our existing churches will remain open. We will also be permitted to conduct public meetings. Furthermore, we will be allowed to go from home to home to share our faith. Personal and group witnessing activities will not be curtailed. There is no prohibition against our taking up offerings or securing tithe, but these funds cannot be used for the financial support of the clergy, or for teachers, secretaries, or any other class of denominational employees. We will, however, be allowed to use the funds collected through offerings, Ingathering, and other donations to buy radio and television time, to print our literature on commercial presses, to publicize our work in newspapers and other mass-media communications, and to minister to the needs of disadvantaged and suffering humanity in the cities and in the vast rural areas of North America.
Actually, the primary way in which the church will be affected by this November 1, 1977, decree is that we will be forbidden to hire or pay denominational employees. All our institutions and offices will be closed, and there will be a specific moratorium on all building projects. I almost neglected to inform you of another restriction mentioned in this order. We will not be allowed to convene Annual Councils, Union and General Conference sessions, conference constituency meetings, or any other kind of convention. But, and thank God for this, we will be able to rent halls, use churches, visit from door to door, hold cottage meetings, pitch tents, build temporary tabernacles, hold outdoor meetings, preach on street corners and in parks, and utilize every communication media. In other words, there will be no interference with our personal and collective witnessing endeavors.
Of course, this will present a traumatic life-style change for the nearly 35,000 Seventh-day Adventist employees in the North American Division working force. All of us, like the apostle Paul, will be forced to find jobs outside our present employment in the church structure in order to support ourselves. Some of us may have to seek unemployment compensation or go on welfare.
But at any rate, as lay people, we will still have freedom to preach the gospel in any way we wish. This will, of course, test our mettle, and challenge our ingenuity. We will have to find a way of being able to make a living, and still spend a considerable part of our time in doing God's work. Many of us will want to emulate James White, whose fertile mind discovered new ways of earning money. If you haven't read Virgil Robinson's book entitled James White please obtain a copy and read it carefully. His ingenious methods of making money to support himself and the cause, included importation of tubs of butter from Michigan, as well as nuts, beans, and other commodities, which he sold in the southwest. At the same time, he bought, shipped, and sold buffalo skins and wildcat hides in the north. On another occasion he earned $4.00 in a single day, selling brooms. He almost started a broom factory in Texas, which would have provided employment for needy Adventists. James's earnings were not spent for self-gratification. In fact, at that time he and his wife pledged $2,000 to help pay off the debts on the Dime Tabernacle, and on the Oakland, California, church. Times were hard, and money was scarce, but James and Ellen White were determined to see the work go forward. Nearly all of our early pioneers had to support themselves by secular employment, and they dedicated as much as they possibly could, aside from maintaining a bare existence level of living, to God's program.
So, fellow delegates, be of good courage. Where there's a will, there's a way. In spite of the November 1 mandate, we can return to our places of labor with positive, optimistic attitudes.
It has occurred to me that perhaps a number of the items in the action on evangelism and the finishing of the work will now be more readily and promptly implemented. For instance, under the section "The Role of the Ordained or Licensed 'Non-Pastoral' Minister," we voted that "the large body of ministers in the General Conference and its divisions, the union and local fields, the institutions and other types of work, shall be expected to give priority of their time, talent, energy, and planning to evangelistic work, according to their gifts, in preaching, personal witness, and teaching."
In the light of the sanctions mentioned above, I am sure that all of us can appreciate the tremendous significance of this Annual Council action more than ever before. Since we will no longer be spending as much time conducting committee meetings, traveling to and fro throughout the earth holding conventions and institutes of various kinds, generating policies to deal with the various phases of our denominational program, we can now use all of our time, with the exception of that portion dedicated to earning a livelihood, to preaching, witnessing, and preparing people for the kingdom.
Here is another section in our finish-the-work action, which is now more likely to become a reality immediately after November 1. "One of the weakest links in our evangelistic chain is the follow-up of the multiplied thousands, if not millions, of names that have been gathered in during the past years. Immediate action must be taken to remedy the situation." Since we will no longer be allowed to spend our time and energy in organizational business and maintenance, we will be free to begin to follow up these names, visiting and praying with those who have expressed interest and helping to prepare them for the coming of Jesus.
Now consider what the implications will be regarding implementation of the funding of our evangelistic outreach. I am sure you will recall our voted expression of intention that "in view of the primacy of evangelism, the local conference shall take from its share of retained tithe income at least 1O percent annually, and set it up for evangelistic funding. Unions shall set up at least 10 percent of their share of retained tithe income to be added to evangelism funds received from the General Conference and shared with the conferences to be used for evangelism, as the Union Committee may direct." Since after November 1 there will no longer be any local, union, or General Conference organizations, we will be able to use 100 percent of our tithes for direct evangelistic outreach, not just 10 percent. What is about to hap pen to us on November 1, then, is not entirely unmitigated evil. Imagine what an impact will be made when 35,000 former church employees are using all of their spare time, their evenings, their Sabbaths and Sundays, in contacting people, preaching, giving away literature, talking with people on the telephone, having group Bible studies in their homes, organizing companies and churches, and training our people by going with them from door to door.
One extremely fascinating part of our recommendation was given the title "Limitations of Building Projects." Let me refresh your memories. We voted that "a serious attempt shall be made to be conservative in our building expansion, so that only absolutely essential buildings are constructed." We cannot help putting this into effect, since we will no longer be able to build any type of church or church-related structure. This means that we will have to secure halls, use members' homes, rent churches, and in fair weather even hold meetings on the hillsides and in the parks. Interestingly, this unforeseen result will be a far greater application of our action than we ever dreamed of or intended. May I read another sentence or two that I'm sure we were serious about when we voted it. "The one purpose of this economy would be to release more funds for the church to use in giving the last warning message to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people." What will happen when 100 percent of our building funds are released for the giving of the last warning message to the world in direct communication of one type or another?
I really feel, fellow delegates and friends, that we should not be disheartened by the news that the restrictions we have been talking about will go into effect on November 1.1 honestly believe that this will bring the coming of the Lord more quickly than anticipated in the document we adopted at the last Annual Council. In fact, I can envision that the Lord will finish the work in a very short time after the decree goes into effect. That is, He will if it results in our dedicating our energies and time to letting the world hear our message. Time does not permit a complete review of the document, but in view of our November 1 deadline, some of the statements in it are far more meaningful than before. Listen to this statement, "The real issue before the leadership of God's church is whether or not we are serious enough to take decisive action now to overcome the church's inertia, and thus arise with holy courage and faith to finish God's work in all the world. At stake is the mission of the church, and whether or not the powerful calls given by our General Conference president for revival and reformation, in which we have all shared, will be realized in the context of the greatest redemptive thrust in our history!" Another thought-provoking passage read, "Administrative action is urgently needed to help reclaim this glorious, Christ-centered purpose. The essence of righteousness, demonstrated by a faith that works, is evangelism, revival, and salvation. This work is to penetrate all the ranks of the church. It is time for the showers of the latter rain and the finishing of the work. We, as leaders, have permitted the pressures of our church and the influence of people and programs to distract us from our central work." One of the Spirit of Prophecy statements included in the document read, "All that the apostles did, every church member today is to do. And we are to work with as much more fervor, to be accompanied by the Holy Spirit in as much greater measure, as the increase of wickedness demands a more decided call to repentance. . . . At this time, when the end of all things is at hand, should not the zeal of the church exceed even that of the early church? . . . Should not the power of God be even more mightily revealed today than in the time of the apostles?" —Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 33.
As the November 1 deadline draws near can you not see that perhaps we will be able more fully to follow the counsel that our document quotes from Evangelism, pages 17 and 18: "Evangelistic work, opening the Scriptures to others, warning men and women of what is coming upon the world, is to occupy more and still more of the time of God's servants. . . . The Lord designs that the presentation of this mes sage shall be the highest, greatest work carried out in the world at this time."
Don't you see that this can now become a reality? In fact, this is all that we will have to do, besides earning a living. Think of the time and energy, to say nothing of our means, that we can now put into warning men and women of what's coming upon the world, and in offering them a way of escape through the glorious message of salvation that centers in Christ alone.
Furthermore—and some of you will undoubtedly heave a sigh of relief at this—we will no longer be under pressure to raise funds in order to keep the structure functioning. As you remember, we quoted Testimonies, volume 9, page 85, in the document. "Our greatest burden should be, not the raising of money, but the salvation of souls." Remember, at the beginning of my report tonight I told you I was trying to make a point, and not to be critical. Now, looking over our appropriation requests for North America, I notice the request for millions of dollars for items that have ho direct bearing on soul winning. I am quite willing to admit that these funds are to be used for very worthwhile projects. The appropriation re quest for operating the General Conference office amounts to several millions of dollars. When you consider the operating costs of not only the General Conference office but all our union and local conference offices you can begin to see that we are dealing with large sums of money. Please understand that I believe that this money in the past has been well spent. I am only pointing out that in view of the new decree we will now have these funds to use for direct evangelistic endeavors in the field.
My courage is strong. In no way do I feel that we are defeated just because we are being forced to close our organized work as of November 1. We still have our distinctive and precious message, we still have the promise of the glory of the Lord filling the earth, we still have the assurance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We still have our churches, we still have our lay people (we will all be lay people), we can still give our offerings and pay our tithe, and we can still follow Christ's commission to witness and preach the gospel.
For a long time we have realized that the dramatic moment would probably come when we would present our very last statistical report. That time is now. And we want to present it in a vivid manner. Since this will be our last Annual Council, I know you will listen to and appreciate this report as you have seldom done in the years gone by. And if by chance, several years from now, we can get together again for one more Annual Council, who knows, but perhaps that part of the statistical report that deals with membership increases may be far beyond our wildest expectations. Perhaps we will have to resort to the language Luke used, in order to describe our statistical reports. In the first several chapters of Acts he spoke of the startling and increasing figure as to the numbers being baptized. Then finally, in Acts 5:14, the church, evidently without the benefit of computerized records, was not able to keep accurate figures any longer concerning church growth and the large number of people coming into its ranks, for Luke reports that "more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women" (R.S.V.).
Fellow delegates, this kind of situation may never actually develop in North America, and we are not even suggesting that it will. We have, however, deliberately used a hypothetical setting in which to test the degree of our commitment and ask ourselves some honest questions. God has made Himself responsible for the success in the finishing of His work. He calls for us to yield to the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit and to be willing to be used as instruments of righteousness and salvation. We do have an unusual opportunity to hasten the glorious coming of Christ.
