How does one measure the worth of a soul? The economics of our society often has us juggling priorities and trying to assign finances accordingly. This is true whether we are a conference or union administrator weighing the various needs of churches, institutions, and obligations; the pastor of a congregation hoping to finish the year with a balanced church budget; or a General Conference or division treasurer attempting to allocate funds worldwide where they will be most effective. With all the competing demands for time and money, how do we compute how much we should expend to reach the lost? What value should we place on the individual who doesn't know Jesus Christ? Left to ourselves, we find it difficult to know.
But Heaven has provided us an answer: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16). Heaven withheld nothing; it could give no more. Nor was it the Saviour alone who paid the ultimate price. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself " (2 Cor. 5:19). God suffered with His Son. In the agony of Gethsemane, the death of Calvary, the Heart of Infinite Love paid the price of our redemption. Only as we keep in mind the divine example can we begin to comprehend the unmeasured and unmeasurable value of a soul.
We readily assent to such logic. But when we face the stark reality of an unbalanced budget and the pressures to meet so many pressing needs of the gospel we are often reluctant to increase our expenditures for direct evangelism. We want to put our funds to use in ongoing programs. There are so many needs. Our scarcities are multiplied as we think not only of so many projects right at hand in which we are involved but also of the vast mission lands.
With inflation eating away at our reserves, it is often thought expedient to curtail our investment in public and media evangelism. As an accountant and financial administrator, I have often felt these pressures to cut back, to retrench. Certainly if we are to be fiscally responsible we cannot fail to recognize the importance of taking second and even third looks at our budgets to insure that funds dedicated to the work of the Lord are not being foolishly expended for the unprofitable. However, in these closing days of earth's stormy and sinful history I am convinced that we need carefully to expand our direct evangelistic efforts and expenditures.
My conviction, even as an administrator, is that evangelism does not really cost; it pays. I confess that my feelings about its value have changed over the years. Not until one gets directly involved in evangelism, I believe, can he fully appreciate its worth.
Since my college days as a business student I had been moved by the challenges of evangelistic campaigns. But as happens with so many of our worthy ambitions, I allowed the years to pass. I stifled the urge to do public evangelism myself with the flimsy, yet oft-repeated excuse that church office workers possess neither the time nor the aptitudes for the rigors of evangelism. My life as an administrator, treasurer, and auditor were so full of pressing responsibilities that my cherished dreams of holding public meetings were assuaged. Instead of personal visitation I attended countless committees and boards; there were budgets to balance rather than baptisms to perform; officers' councils took the place of Bible studies; I found myself promoting faithfulness in financial support in the place of appeals for surrender; I produced financial statements in lieu of evangelistic sermons.
I'm not saying that the routine functions of administration are unimportant. I don't believe that is true at all. Yet it seems so easy for us to shun the primary purpose of the church for the necessary support services.
Finally, more than a decade ago, I determined to confront the front lines. I began a regular annual visit to the harvest fields of evangelism. My first experiences were in the mission territories that surrounded me during service in the Orient. Today I visit needy fields in North America.
Leaning fully upon God's promises for guidance and support, I simply lay aside temporarily the work that had heretofore seemed so urgent and I plunge into a regular three-to-four-week public series of evangelism. How thankful I am for the many local pastors, whose daily routine keeps them in direct contact with souls in need of Jesus' saving grace. They have been a tremendous encouragement and inspiration to me as I have tried to work alongside them.
After each campaign there are new souls won for the kingdom. These have flooded our hearts with love, and we pray for them as we and they labor to reach out to others within our own circles of family and friends. Then, back in the office after the campaign, I will tally up the costs. To my surprise there has always been a great profit! How is that possible? The circle grows, and each new convert to Christ becomes a giver of his time, his talents, and his means. Some time ago I received a periodical giving news from the Far East. A particular article told of the work of student missionaries from Mountain View College in the south Philippines. Can you imagine how I felt to read that Frankie Cruz, who had been baptized some years before during a series of meetings I had held on the island of Leyte, was now part of this group of young people who had just prepared fifty for baptism in the lonely forests of Mindanao?
This is how evangelism pays. It is a widening circle. Evangelism pays financially. Tithes increase, evangelism offerings multiply. But evangelism pays in a much more important way. New family members and friends enter the fold of our love, our interest, and our prayers. They in turn, like Frankie Cruz, reach out to others in an ever-expanding embrace. There is no greater dividend than this, either for the individual involved in evangelism or for the church.
How much is a soul worth? A soul is worth the price that Jesus paid—His all. And that is what evangelism costs us—our all. But evangelism not only costs, it pays, as well. And the pay is commensurate with the cost. As I search my own soul I am convinced that I have not given of myself and my means as I should—as the lateness of the hour demands. I know evangelism pays rich rewards and I want to give as one who truly believes that Jesus is coming soon.
