In the papers furnished you by the ushers you have a copy of this
request for Scriptures. Just to show you how earnest I am about this
matter, I’m offering a reward of $100 to the finder of either of these
texts. This offer is backed by my personal integrity and sufficient
resources. I’m not making it to be dramatic, but to impress you with the
fact that no such Scriptures are in the Bible. And yet, friends, these
Scriptures are absolutely essential to the support of the sabbath
theory. Without these texts, that theory has absolutely not one leg on
which to stand. The absence of these Scriptures leaves that theory
without any support whatsoever.
As further evidence of my sincerity, I want to make you a proposition.
If there is anybody in this audience who believes he knows now where to
find one of these texts, I’m giving you a chance to let it be known.
I’ll turn to the reference you give, read the text you cite, and see
whether it meets the demand. We will not have you arrested for
disturbing public worship, or undertake to embarrass you in any way. If
you will just raise your hand and let me know where you are, I’ll give
you a chance to stand up and cite your Scripture. If any one here even
thinks he knows where to find one of these texts, we are giving you
permission to speak up now. (Pause. No response.) Well, even if you
can’t find it now, maybe you believe you can when you get home. If so,
just write to me. My address is on the paper you have. You may write to
me in care of the Chapel Avenue Church of Christ, Nashville 6, Tenn. If
you want to collect $500, just let me know where those five texts are.
I’m simply saying this, friends, to emphasize that the very texts
essential to the sabbath theory are not in the Bible. Until the Lord
gives us a new Bible, there is no danger of my having to put out any
money on this offer.
Beloved, in closing I beseech you to hear Christ and obey his gospel. On
the condition that you believe, repent, and be baptized, he promises you
pardon. On the condition that you remain faithful to the end, he
promises you everlasting life. His gospel has facts to be believed,
commandments to be obeyed and promises to be enjoyed. While we stand and
sing, we are urging you to come to him and let him save you.
XI
LEADERSHIP
The word of God furnishes us completely unto every good work. But as we
learned this morning, many of His instructions are left in general form
and must be applied according to our best judgment.[3] For this reason,
God endowed us with intelligence, and admonished us to pray for further
wisdom that we might be able to serve Him in decency and in order.
I
Wisdom in the Lord’s Plan
We should not be disturbed by the fact that there are certain decisions
which we have to make according to our own best judgment. I believe
there is a very good reason why God made this arrangement. Simply
because the detailed instructions that would fit one place might not be
suitable at another. For instance, you had to decide how big to make
this house in which you worship. Suppose God had specified that a house
of worship should be 50 × 40 feet. That might be a suitable building for
one community, but out of order in another.
Since circumstances are so widely different in different places it was
an act of wisdom on the part of God to give us only the general
principles that should govern certain activities and to leave each
community to use its own intelligence in applying these general
principles in a sensible, expedient and practical way. But it does
impose upon us a responsibility of using some intelligence, of making
some wise decisions, and of giving some thought and consideration unto
our plans.
II
Responsibilities of Leadership in the Local Church
1. _Autonomy of the local church._ As some of you know, I was requested
last fall to teach a series of lessons at Grace Avenue on the subject of
church leadership. When I contemplated the task I wondered what I would
say, but before it was over I was wondering how I would find time to say
what was to be said. Of course, church leadership means leadership in
the local congregation because that is the only capacity in which the
church can scripturally function.
Congregational autonomy needs to be emphasized. God has ordained that
each congregation shall be entirely independent to manage its own
affairs under him without any interference or dictation from any other
congregation or from any other group of people upon the earth. Since God
has ordained that each congregation shall be independent, we cannot
function in the capacity of a group of congregations organized together.
No inter-congregational organization can scripturally exist. Therefore,
there can be no inter-congregational ownership of property. We cannot
own property as a whole, that is, as a group of congregations. You could
not deed a piece of property to the church of Christ in general. It has
to be deeded to a particular congregation. That’s the only way the
church can scripturally function. Therefore, when we speak about
leadership in the church, we are speaking of the leadership in the local
congregation.
2. _Distribution of work._ Now I realize that in the church there is not
such a clear cut division of labor or responsibility as there is in a
business organization because in the church every member is vitally
interested in every phase of the work. To use an illustration: I taught
temporarily at Peabody last spring in the mathematics department. Except
for a very general interest in the welfare of the school and my
fellowman, it made no difference to me what the history teacher next
door did or said. I had no responsibility in reference to his work.
There was a clear cut division between his department and mine. In the
church our relationship to each other is too intimate and our interest
in the general welfare too great for such a clear cut division of
responsibility to exist.
However, for the sake of efficiency there should be some distribution of
responsibility or work, for the very simple reason that what is
everybody’s business tends to become nobody’s business. _Unless there is
some mutual agreement as to who shall do what,_ _there is a danger that
a great many necessary tasks will be neglected._ Some congregations that
are large have a distribution of responsibility among the elders
themselves. Instead of bringing up every little detail before a general
business meeting, certain ones are delegated to look after certain
phases of the work and to make all minor decisions regarding the same.
For instance, I know a congregation which has a maintenance committee,
authorized by the overseers, to keep the building in repair up to the
point of spending so many dollars each month. There’s a limit placed
upon what they can spend. They don’t have to get expressions from all
the elders before they replace a broken window light, or make other
minor repairs. This responsibility and authority has already been
scripturally and officially delegated to them. That illustrates what we
mean, then, by division of responsibility—a location of responsibility
and a distribution of the tasks that are to be performed.
3. _Responsibility of making thoughtful decisions._ As we proceed I
cannot quote a lot of Scripture tonight, for the mere reason that I’m
talking about the sphere in which God has not given specific
instructions. That’s where the leadership of the church comes in. In
this sphere the overseers of the church have a great responsibility. Oh,
I could spend two or three hours reciting Scriptures and discussing the
qualifications and work of elders. But it’s not our purpose to discuss
that field at this time. We are discussing the sphere, mentioned in the
lesson this morning, where God has given only general instructions.[4]
Why, friends, where God has given _specific_ instructions the overseers
don’t have to make any decisions. They simply follow the directions
given. It’s just exactly in the realm where specific instructions have
not been given that the overseers are called upon to make decisions of
their own. Where God has specified, they have very little
responsibility. They have no responsibility in making decisions for God
has already made the decisions.
But there are a thousand questions that God has not answered
specifically. Just to mention a few, He doesn’t tell us what kind of
song books to use. He didn’t tell you how big to make this house, or how
many windows to put in each wall. He doesn’t tell you how many meetings
to have each week. He doesn’t tell you how often you should have a
protracted meeting, or how many classes to have on Lord’s day morning,
or how you should arrange your missionary program, how many preachers
you should employ and what part of each one’s support you should
furnish. A hundred other questions could be mentioned, which God has not
specifically answered. And, therefore, the elders, the overseers, in
every congregation, must make decisions for themselves in reference to
these things.
Please don’t think that I’m going to tell you the answer to these
questions, for if I were to do so, then I would be making specifications
where God has made none, and, therefore, going beyond that which is
written. But the one thing I do want to do tonight is to insist that a
great deal of thought and study be given to all such matters and that
instead of making decisions on them recklessly or thoughtlessly or
without proper meditation and study, the very opposite should be the
case.
All such questions, even though they may appear to be insignificant in
their nature, should be weighed very carefully. For, if there is any
field of work in all this world in which we want to do our very best, it
is in the work of the Lord; and be it ever so good in the past, we want
to make it better in the future; for God expects us to grow in His work,
and to become better and better as the days go by. So the one point that
I’m emphasizing most of all is that in _all these decisions a great deal
of study, thought, and prayer should be used_.
Sometimes I have been surprised at how carelessly decisions were made in
certain business meetings of churches where I have labored. I have seen
important decisions determined by a very slight suggestion from some
individual member of the group and passed immediately, without any time
being taken to carefully study the issues involved. I believe that what
a church business meeting will do is about the most unpredictable thing
in the world. Some of their decisions are made with such little study
and with such little thought that it’s almost impossible to know what
may happen when such a meeting is called. Now I believe that God expects
us to use wisdom in this field where He has left us to our own judgment.
There are Scriptures which authorize this statement. Some of them were
used this morning. For instance, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and
harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). Or again, “Let all things be done
decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).
4. _Importance of careful planning._ Every outstanding business
organization in this country has its post-war plans already worked out.
It has its blueprints drawn, and those plans have not been made hastily.
They have been worked out after a great deal of research, investigation
and study. The directors of those businesses have come together and have
consulted with each other. They have exchanged ideas. They have weighed
details. And after all of that study and work, they have mapped out
their plans for the years ahead.
Many of these business men are members of the church, and I maintain
that, if men who are able to succeed in the commercial and professional
world will apply the same diligent study and careful planning to the
work of the church, then it will succeed far more than it has in the
past. There is no other organization in all this world which would have
survived as much mismanagement or neglect as the church of Jesus Christ
has survived. Someone has said that the church is certainly a divine
institution or it would have perished from the earth long ago through
neglect or bad management. I have confidence in the leaders of the
churches. I have confidence in their ability. I believe that they are
interested. If they will give to the work of the church the same careful
study which they devote to the plans for their business enterprises, I
believe we will be able to make greater progress.
Just to give you an illustration close at hand, everyone will agree that
the effectiveness of our Thursday evening services has been very greatly
increased by a group of men coming together and carefully planning the
programs. If the attendance is to be taken as indication of what you
think about them, then they have been improved at least one hundred per
cent. The attendance is now twice as much as it was before. I am of the
firm conviction that what has been done for the Thursday evening meeting
can be done for every other phase of the work of the church if it is
properly studied and planned.
In some of my connections outside the church I have been greatly
impressed with the conscientiousness with which certain people go about
their work. The head of a department out at Peabody, who is engaged in
educational work, which certainly isn’t one tenth as important as the
work of the church, studies every little detail. He takes into
consideration all the facts that are at his disposal. He is continually
revising his program and endeavoring to improve his methods. He listens
to every report that he receives. He will call a conference of those who
are working under him and discuss ways and means of making his work more
effective.
Now, if educational work deserves such careful study as that, surely the
work of the church deserves even more. And yet, friends, I know
congregations—great, big congregations—that never do have any sort of a
business meeting. Just think of it! They don’t even have a business
meeting! The overseers never get together to ponder the problems which
confront the local congregation, or to study ways and means of improving
their work.
Now, please remember that the fact that the Bible furnishes us
completely unto every good work does not relieve us of the
responsibility which I am emphasizing. Anyone who stops to study the
matter will realize that this is true, because there are so many
questions which the Bible does not answer specifically. We must study
and give diligence and pray for wisdom and use whatever talent the Lord
has given us to make His work just as successful as possible.
III
Difference in Success and Failure
It needs to be emphasized that the difference between success and
failure very often consists not of any one great big item but of a great
many details or small factors working together. Not one big thing but
many little things working together very often makes the difference
between success and failure—in every phase of life except the church. In
the church they make the difference between outstanding success and just
mediocre success. It is very difficult for the church to fail
completely. As long as it follows the Bible there can be no failure, but
those _little_ things frequently make up the difference between
outstanding success and merely mediocre success, between doing something
that’s really worthwhile, outstanding and unusual, and just drifting and
dragging along.
1. _Running a store._ I want to try to make this point clear by use of
an illustration. There are some of you here who are in the mercantile
business. You know lots more about running stores than I do. I believe
you will agree that very often the difference between success and
failure there consists of many little items working together—the manner
in which you display your goods on the shelves, the spirit with which
you meet your customers when they come into your place of business, the
courtesy with which you render service to your patrons, and just a lot
of these little things make up the difference.
You don’t make a lot of money on any one item, but making a small profit
on each of a great many items is what finally spells success. If you
will consider the men who have made fortunes in this world, I believe
you will find that they did not get rich by making a whole lot of money
on one item or unit of business, but by making a little money on each of
a great many items. The difference between success and failure then is
not always one big thing, but frequently many little things working
together. You can never fill a barrel by pouring water into the bunghole
while it is running out a thousand nail holes.
2. _Keeping house._ The same thing applies to house work. I don’t know
much about housekeeping, but I’ve had a chance to observe quite a bit of
it as I’ve gone around over the country. And I try to determine the
difference between a good housekeeper and just an ordinary housekeeper.
I’m convinced that it consists not of one big factor but of a great many
details—the arrangement of this little piece of furniture, having the
magazines up off the floor, a definite place to keep each of numerous
little articles, the spider webs out of that corner, and many other
little things. I don’t know what all of them are, but some of you ladies
do, and I’m sure you get the point.
3. _Leading singing._ The same thing is true in church work. I remember
sitting and listening to a song director who is very outstanding and who
has won national recognition for his ability to direct congregational
singing. I tried to determine what made him so successful. I concluded
that it was no one big factor, but a lot of little details about the way
he directed the service; and I’m sure that Brother Murphy, who is
helping us on Thursday nights, will verify this statement.
4. _Selecting building site._ Let us consider other details of church
work. Any one of them by itself is not so terribly important, and I’m
sure that I could find someone who would argue with me about any one of
them, and say, “Oh, well, after all that doesn’t matter,” but when you
take all of them together it does matter. It makes the difference
between outstanding success and mere existence. Take for instance the
location of the church building. In many instances very poor judgment
has been used in selecting building sites.
A certain North Carolina town is still a missionary point, even though
there has been a church in it for at least 25 years. The church building
is located on a dirty back street. There isn’t a store in the community.
No business man would have located one there! Neither is there a school
building in the community. No board of education in the world would have
put one there. After 25 years in such a location the church is still
very small and weak. Very recently they finally decided, after a painful
division, to move up town.
I shall not exaggerate in describing their building. The walls were
painted, but the overhead was not. There was no rug, no paint, no carpet
of any kind on the floor. The benches were such as you cannot find in
any country schoolhouse in Davidson County. They were such as you might
have found seventy or seventy-five years ago. Hanging on the wall just
inside the door there was a mop which was used to clean the floor and
over the pulpit a bottle opener with which they unfastened the grape
juice each Sunday morning. Over on this side of the building there was a
country-store stove with a pipe running all the way across the building
and into the wall on the other side. There was a baptistry but no
dressing rooms. The people had to come down the aisle to a hole in the
floor to be baptized and go up the aisle and to some neighbor’s house to
change their clothes. Well, now, are you surprised that this church
hasn’t grown?
Down at Kannapolis where I went to hold a meeting, they had a church
building on a side street to a side street that got so muddy during the
wintertime that they had to discontinue some of their meetings. Every
time Brother Flannery was called upon to tell someone how to find the
building he would hang his head. I noticed him one night during our tent
meeting; he started to announce the location of the building and
unconsciously his head went down. He was ashamed of it. And there would
be little hope for the work at Kannapolis if they had not decided to
remedy that situation. But they’ve already bought two nice lots downtown
on which we held the tent meeting and where they will locate a church
building as soon as possible.
5. _Keeping the building in proper condition._ Along with the _location_
of the building is the _condition_ of the building. Literally, I have
preached in church buildings where the temperature was about 60° or 55°
when the service began and 85° when it closed. People would have on
their overcoats when I started to preach and want to pull off their
shirts before it was over! Well, you may say that that doesn’t make any
difference; but you take one hundred little things like that and it does
make a great deal of difference.
The arrangement of the program may look like a small item, but it’s one
of those little items, which, taken along with others, makes a big
difference. Reports and records of the treasurer and of other workers in
the church are important. Our attitude toward strangers when they visit
our meetings is significant. That’s one respect in which the Chapel
Avenue congregation is outstanding. Your courtesy to strangers has
caused much favorable comment.
6. _Advertising the work of the church._ I’ve known churches to spend
three or four hundred dollars to get a preacher, and refuse to spend $25
to get the people there to hear him. Think about that! You know the
preacher can’t do any good unless the people are there. I went to a
certain city in West Virginia to hold a meeting, and I wrote to them in
advance urging them to advertise the meeting. Well, I couldn’t say too
much, you know. They’d think I was trying to get them to advertise me.
After I arrived I asked them if they’d advertised the meeting. They
said, “Oh, yes.” I looked around for a sign but I didn’t see one. The
church building was located on a through highway that ran from the North
to the South. A streamer across the road would have attracted the
attention of everybody who passed. They hadn’t put one up. I looked in
the store windows and saw no ads. I saw none anywhere.
I decided to find out whether they had advertised the meeting. It was a
small town where everybody is supposed to know what everybody else is
doing anyway—only about 1,000 people. I went to the stores and inquired
whether a meeting was going on in town. In every store I entered I was
thoroughly informed about a Nazarene meeting. One fellow got so
enthusiastic that he took me out on the street and showed me the
preacher’s house and told me where they were holding the meeting. After
they would finish their story I’d always ask if there were any other
meetings going on in town. In each case the answer was, “No.”
In our meeting that night I related my experiment and its results. And I
said, “Now, don’t think I told those people any better. I thought I’d
help you keep the secret!” That’s the principle on which a great many
churches work.
Remember that you have not advertised the work of the church when you
merely let people know it’s going on. You haven’t advertised it until
you _make them want a part in it_! Everybody in this country knows that
the Standard Oil Company has gasoline for sale. If that were the end of
advertising, they could discontinue theirs. But that’s not the purpose
of it. Their purpose is to make people _want_ Standard gasoline, so they
keep on advertising. Too often we think we’ve advertised the church just
because people know it’s in existence, but we have not advertised it
until we make them want a part in it.
7. _Handling the finances._ Another little detail that needs careful
consideration is the planning of the financial program of the church.
There is one important respect in which the finance of the church is
different from that of any other organization. I’m not a business man,
but I know, nevertheless, that it’s well for a business concern to keep
a good surplus on hand. The bigger margin they can keep between their
income and their outgo, the better off they are. Consequently the
administrators of such businesses endeavor to build up a big bank
account; but friends, that’s the worst thing that can happen to a
congregation! You cannot get a group of people to give into a treasury
that has several thousand dollars in the bank. You cannot get people to
give to a church when they know it is not needed.
I got a big surprise a few years ago when I preached in a certain town
on the subject of giving. After I’d finished the members began coming to
me and saying, “Why there’s no need of telling us about that. We have
several thousand dollars in the bank. Why should we give? This
congregation doesn’t need any money.”
Recently I held a meeting for another church which had $10,000 in the
bank. I didn’t know it, so I preached on giving and got the same
reaction. During the rest of that meeting I preached on _spending_!
Before the meeting closed the congregation had plans to start a new
congregation in the north end of town. Since I left they have bought a
building for $4,500, paid cash for it, and started a new congregation
with about fifty or sixty members. They were going to wait until the war
was over. I wonder what they would have done in case of the Hundred
Years War! That question occurs to me when people talk about postponing
church work until after the war is over. We cannot afford to let the
Lord’s work wait until the world quits fighting!
It’s essential in reference to the financial program of the church that
plans for Scriptural spending be kept right up with, or a little ahead
of, the income; because the income is flexible. When the congregation
sees an increased need and a growing program, then the contributions
will be increased accordingly. I don’t blame people for not giving to a
treasury that’s already overflowing. I wouldn’t want to contribute to a
church whose leaders would not spend the money that was contributed. I’d
find some other avenue through which to contribute. When it is necessary
to set aside a fund for a new building, or some other major, anticipated
expense, the money should be earmarked and not counted as part of the
operating account. The financial program of the church is one of many
problems that needs to be given some careful study.
8. _Avoiding disappointment._ I want to give you another illustration.
When I went to a certain town to preach, the ladies, some of whom were
even from another congregation, began insisting on having a ladies’
Bible class. They said that the preacher over at this other church
wouldn’t have one. I asked why. They answered, “Because it always dies
on his hands, and leaves a bad feeling—a feeling of failure.” I replied,
“All right, we’ll have one and not let it die. We’re just going to
continue it twelve weeks. Then we will be through.”
I planned a twelve-week course. The interest and attendance grew
throughout the twelve weeks. Some insisted upon its being continued
longer but I said, “No, we may start another one soon, but we’ve
finished this one.” You know there’s a big difference between quitting
because you’ve finished and quitting because you’ve failed. You can
always start again if you think it wise to do so. It is prudent to set a
time limit on all activities of the church except those which are
essential or already established.
When I was doing missionary work in Richmond, Virginia, I didn’t ask
churches to send me “a contribution;” I asked them to send me a definite
amount for a definite period of time. Then, when they had promised, they
felt obligated to give that much for that length of time. You know, if
there isn’t some agreement about the amount and the length of time,
people will think, “Well, it’s got to stop sometime and the church has
as much right to discontinue it or say when it should be discontinued as
the preacher has,” and so after awhile it just plays out. But if a
congregation promises to send you $10 a month for twelve months, they
are almost certain to do it. That’s just another one of those little
details. All such things have to be worked out according to human
judgment. They have to be learned by experience and observation. The
Bible does not specify them.
I could go on talking like this indefinitely, but all these items are
mentioned for illustrative purposes, and to emphasize the one central
point I want to drive home tonight. That is, that God has left a field
in which he has not made specifications, in which we must make
decisions, and those _decisions ought to be made thoughtfully_. They
ought to be made deliberately, and every little detail ought to be
studied most carefully, for after all, _we are engaged in the greatest
work on this earth!_
IV
Point of Diminishing Returns
I want to raise one more question and then we’ll have to close. We hear
people speaking in the business world about “the point of diminishing
returns.” Maybe I should tell you what that means or give you a simple
illustration. Suppose you drive out on a muddy road like Brother Estevez
was talking about this afternoon and get your car real dirty and come
home to wash it. You turn on the hose pipe and go over it one time, and
it doesn’t look like the same car. The first going over makes a big
difference, a very obvious difference, but you don’t have it clean yet.
You go over it again and you get it a little bit cleaner, but it’s not
as noticeable this time. Then you get some soap and wash it real good
and get off some more dirt, but the difference doesn’t show very plainly
this time. The car still isn’t clean. You take some cleaning wax and go
over it again and get off a lot more dirt. Then you can take a rag and
shine it and the more you polish it, the more it’ll shine, but after
awhile you reach the point where the extra lustre that can be added by
further rubbing is not worth the effort. That’s the point of diminishing
returns. When you’ve reached the point where the additional result
obtainable is not worth the effort required to obtain it, that’s the
point of diminishing returns.
With that in mind, I want to ask this question: Do you believe that one
can ever reach the point of diminishing returns in his preparation for
the work of the Lord? If by ever so much effort I can make myself, even
to a small degree, a better preacher, don’t you believe I ought to do
it? If by ever so much effort, one can become, to any extent whatsoever,
a better song leader, don’t you believe he ought to do it?
And if by ever so much study and careful thought and planning, the
overseers can make the work of the church even slightly more effective,
don’t you think they ought to do it? Do you believe we can ever reach
the point of diminishing returns in the work of the Lord? Don’t you
agree that in his work all of us should do our very, very best? I
believe you do.
That’s all we have time to say tonight. In just a moment we’re going to
sing the invitation song that has been announced, and in doing so we
shall be urging you to accept the Lord’s invitation. {These promises are
offered to the unbeliever}[5] on conditions of faith, repentance and
baptism (Mark 16:15, 16; Acts 2:38); and to the backslider on the
conditions of repentance, confession and prayer (Acts 8:13, 22, 23; 1
John 1:9). As we stand and sing we entreat the lost to come to Jesus.
XII
CONGREGATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
(_Note_: While this sermon was being presented the main headings of the
following outline were on the blackboard. Before the second sermon on
the same subject was delivered the following evening, a mimeographed
copy of the entire outline was given to each person in the audience.)
_INTRODUCTION_
To set in order the work of the local church it is well to consider the
objectives or results desired. Below is a list of scriptural
congregational objectives and some of the activities that will help to
reach the objectives.
I. _Evangelistic (Mk. 16:15, 16)_
1. Local
_a._ Lord’s day preaching
_b._ Protracted meetings
_c._ Newspaper and other advertising
_d._ Newspaper reports
_e._ Inviting and bringing others to meetings
_f._ Radio preaching, contact with interested listeners
_g._ Short articles in the paper
_h._ Distribution of tracts—in homes, in public buildings, by
mail, racks in lobbies
_i._ Personal evangelism
(1) Contacts at school
(2) Contacts at play
(3) Contacts at work
(4) House to house calls
_j._ Prospect file—individual and general
_k._ Community Bible classes
_l._ Prayer
2. Missionary
_a._ Tracts
_b._ Radio
_c._ Financial support to preachers and missions
(1) Should expect regular and complete reports
(2) Workers selected carefully and well supported
(3) Work carefully supervised
(4) Operating funds and assistants furnished
_d._ Selecting fields and planning work
_e._ Leadership for rural churches near Nashville
II. _Devotional (Acts 2:42)_
1. Sunday morning
2. Sunday evening
3. Wednesday evening
4. Announcements
III. _Instructional (Matt. 28:19-20; Eph. 4:11-13)_
1. Preaching
2. Sunday morning classes
3. Wednesday evening classes
4. Vacation Bible school
5. Bible story hour
6. Ladies’ Bible class
7. Other special classes
IV. _Looking After Members Individually (John 10:3, 14; Acts 20:28;
Heb. 13:17)_
1. Church bulletin
2. Correspondence with men in service
3. Correspondence with, and in behalf of, other non-resident members
4. Contacts at meetings
5. Visiting—sick, indifferent, weak, disgruntled
6. Records of names and addresses of members
7. Attendance records
8. Special attention to new members, etc.
9. Discipline
V. _Practical Training (1 Tim. 3:10; Eph. 4:11-16)_
1. Wednesday evening meeting
2. Participation in other meetings
3. Special classes
4. Supervised activities in personal work, etc.
VI. _Beneficent (Jas. 1:27; 1 Cor. 16:1)_
1. Caring for widows
2. Caring for orphans
3. Helping the poor
VII. _Incidental_
1. Financial reports, records, etc.
2. Maintenance of church property
3. Other incidentals
We are very glad to have visitors with us today. I will not undertake to
name those who are present from other places, lest I omit one. But we
want all of you to realize that you have a very hearty welcome. We’re
always glad to have you worship with us.
I was very glad indeed to hear that splendid report given by Brother
Gregory. I wish we could have more frequent reports from those who are
being assisted in their work by the Chapel Avenue congregation. Let us
remember that the gospel is being proclaimed today at half a dozen, or
maybe a dozen, different places by preachers supported, at least in
part, by the congregation here. To me, that is a very encouraging
thought.
I want to talk to you this morning upon the topic, “Congregational
Objectives and Activities.” The work of the church may be outlined in
several different ways, but the most practical outline that I have been
able to develop is one based upon the _objectives_ of the church. In
other words, what is the purpose of the church? What is the work that it
should do, and how can it best do that work? I have listed on the board
six or seven expressions according to which the scriptural objectives of
the church may be classified: evangelistic, devotional, instructional,
watching or looking after the members individually, practical training,
beneficent, and incidental—some other activities which are incidental to
these main objectives. These are Scriptural objectives. They are
authorized by the word of God, and I believe that this outline covers
everything which God intends for the church to do. Someone told me I had
omitted recreational and social objectives. Well, I left those out on
purpose, because I do not believe that they are authorized by the Bible.
Hence, as far as I’m able to know, this list is complete.
Now I want to talk about one or two of these items at this time.
Continuing the effort to give some practical lessons, I’m laying aside
rhetoric or any other technical requirements for a good sermon which
might stand in the way of practical effectiveness.
By the term evangelistic, of course, we mean preaching the gospel to the
entire world. The Scriptural authority for that is found at many places
in the Bible. For instance, the great commission as reported by Mark
16:15: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not
shall be damned.” This commandment is very comprehensive. It says “Go
into all the world” and the world includes the people who live here at
Chapel Avenue, those who live next door to you, even those who are in
the house with you. It includes the people of this city, and then, of
course, people in other cities and other states throughout the entire
world. Therefore, we shall discuss this subject of evangelization under
two headings: local and missionary.
God has given us a charge to keep as a congregation. He has charged us
to preach the gospel unto the people of this community, as well as the
people of other communities. Now the question is: “How can we do it?”
There’s the command; it’s a general one. God charges us to preach the
gospel unto the people who live in East Nashville, and as little as you
may have thought about it, there are many thousands of people right here
within a few blocks of our building who do not know about the church in
the New Testament—who do not believe and study the Bible and are not
acquainted with the distinguishing characteristics of the New Testament
church.
I
Preaching on Lord’s Days
Our problem is to get the truth unto these people. What means and what
methods shall we use in carrying out this charge which God has given us?
One method we use is that of preaching on the Lord’s day; Sunday sermons
serve an evangelistic purpose to some extent. Some of the lessons are
designed for the purpose of reaching those who are on the outside, and,
of course, when that is the case, a special effort should be made to get
the outsiders here to hear the lessons. These regular Lord’s day
meetings, then, and the lessons which are presented morning and evening
can be made to serve the purpose of evangelizing this community.
But we could not confine all the lessons to that type of thinking, for
to do so would be to neglect some other important matters. Even if we
did make all the lessons of an evangelistic nature that would not
suffice to solve this problem, for that means alone will not reach all
the unsaved, even of our own community. Too many of them are at home at
this hour, or worshiping at some other place where the full gospel is
not presented.
II
Protracted Meetings
Most congregations supplement their Lord’s day preaching then by what is
called protracted meetings, or revival meetings. Such meetings
accomplish much good, and they should be executed with a definite
purpose in mind. Some definite purpose should characterize every
activity of the church. When we hold another protracted meeting, we want
to think of it as a means of helping us carry out the God-given charge
to preach the gospel unto the people in East Nashville. As long as there
is one soul within our reach who has not heard the truth or who has not
been properly exhorted to obey it, you and I have not finished our job.
Keeping the purpose of reaching the unsaved of this community clearly in
mind as we plan and conduct our next meeting will contribute much to its
success.
III
Advertising
You will agree with me that if we should depend entirely upon Lord’s day
preaching and upon protracted meetings, we would never reach all the
unsaved even in our own community. God has not prescribed that our
efforts shall be confined unto these methods. He has given us a general
charge to preach the gospel to all the world. He expects us to use some
intelligence and some good judgment in carrying out this command.
And, friends, he expects us to use every means which is at our disposal
in order to make the job complete. Of course, I mean every Scriptural or
legitimate means. For no other sort of means would accomplish the
purpose intended. We would make a very serious mistake, then, if we
relied upon any one method alone. God expects us to use every method
that is legitimate within its nature in order to carry out this charge.
What are some of the other things which can be done along this line?
First, we can make a greater effort to get people to come to the
meetings—supplement the public meetings by putting on a special effort
to get people to attend them. Newspaper advertising would be very
helpful. Personal visits and invitations to attend the meetings can be
used to good advantage. Another means of attracting people to the place
where the gospel is preached, is publicizing reports of what is being
done. Nothing succeeds like success. And _if a church will do what God
intends for it to do, it will be news_!
One preacher blamed the churches themselves for not getting more
newspaper publicity. He said “If there were a church which practiced
what it preached, it would get its name in the headlines of the daily
paper.” If you’ll stop to analyze his statement, you’ll almost have to
admit that he told the truth. We are not seeking publicity for its own
sake, but the Bible says “Let your light shine,” and condemns the
putting of your candle under a bushel where no one can see it.
When the church does something which is worthwhile and would serve as a
fine example for others, it is our duty to give it the publicity which
it deserves in order that others may profit by the example. Such is
authorized by the commandment, “Let your light shine, that others may
see your good works and glorify God.”
IV
Radio and Press
Another means which might be used to carry out this charge is radio
preaching. Of course, there has been much of this done already in the
city of Nashville, but there are many other places where it has not been
done, and where it should be used as one of the methods of carrying out
the commandment to preach the gospel to the whole world. Wherever the
radio is used every possible effort should be made to form personal
contact with those who become interested.
I know a number of congregations that are publishing short articles in
the daily paper. The daily paper is a very fine medium through which to
reach the public. The business world has known this for a long time.
That’s the reason you see so many and such costly advertisements in our
daily papers. Our merchants know that this is an effective way to reach
the public. Jesus said that the men of this world are for their own
generation wiser than the sons of light. It may be that this statement
is applicable here, for too often churches have overlooked the use of
the radio and especially the use of the daily paper as a medium through
which to reach the public.
Remember, God has charged us to preach the gospel to everybody, and one
soul is worth more than all the money in the world. If by ever so much
use of the daily press, we can accomplish the salvation of just one soul
it would be worth a million times what it cost. If we will stop to
consider the value of just one soul, we will see the great importance of
using every means that we can to win lost souls for Christ. Now, I’m
just naming some different activities here which will help us to fulfill
this duty, or to reach the objective of evangelizing our own community.
Do not think that this list is complete; it is intended rather to be
suggestive. Perhaps you can think of other means which would also help
in accomplishing this task.
V
Distributing Tracts
But even after we have done all these things there will still be some
people who are not yet reached. The church here has been engaged in
publishing and distributing tracts. This is another means which we can
use to reach our neighbors. I wish we had some system of regularly
placing tracts, appropriate tracts, in every home in this community. We
can help to preach the gospel to the world by carrying tracts in person
to those who live in our neighborhood, and by placing tracts in public
places—the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., the bus station, the Union
Station, and other such places. The churches of Christ in general have
neglected this opportunity; if you doubt this statement, visit some of
these places—hospitals, terminals, etc.—and you will realize that we
have been letting an opportunity slip by us in this respect.
Then our tracts in the church lobby may be used to serve a good purpose.
I’m glad that Brother Billingsley has taken the initiative in providing
some racks for them, because the truth should be displayed just as
effectively as possible. I believe that you will agree that in the past
the tracts in the lobby have not been attractively arranged. If I should
preach a sermon as ragged in its appearance as that display of tracts
has been, you would fire me. You’d say you didn’t want the truth wrapped
up in that sort of a garment. We need to look out after details and take
advantage of every possible means to make the preaching of the gospel
more effective. Paul said, “For though I be free from all men, yet have
I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the
Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are
under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under
the law; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not
without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them
that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain
the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means
save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker
thereof with you” (1 Cor. 9:19-23).
VI
Personal Evangelism
In addition to all these methods, personal evangelism should be greatly
emphasized. Here is perhaps the greatest weakness in the method of the
churches of Christ today. On this point, we are allowing some advocates
of error to run circles around us. Here is a great unworked field which,
when properly worked, will bring results of which we have not yet
dreamed.
The Bible does not command people to come to our public meetings. If we
can reach them by these public meetings, that’s fine. If we can persuade
them to come so that we may preach the gospel to a large number at once,
that’s fine. But what will we do for those who don’t come? The Bible
says “Go.” We have not fully discharged our duty when we invite people
to come to us. And we haven’t always invited them! There are, I am sure,
hundreds of people living almost in sight of this building who have not
received a personal invitation to attend the meetings at this place.
They ought to receive at least a personal invitation. But even then,
that’s not sufficient. If they still don’t come, it becomes our duty to
go to them. Have we obeyed the great commission, even in reference to
East Nashville, until we do so? It will help a great deal if we have a
prospect file, both general and individual. Every good insurance agent
in this town has a prospect file. He knows to whom he will try to sell
insurance in the next few days. And we ought to use the same practical
common sense in executing the work of the Lord that men use in selling
insurance.
I went to a place one time to hold a meeting where they had made very
elaborate preparations. They had appointed many committees. They had an
advertising committee, a publicity committee, a parking committee, a
flower committee, and an ushering committee, and everything else you can
think of except one little item. They had failed to consider who might
be saved during the meeting, and when I asked one of the elders whom he
expected to be baptized, he hesitated, thought for a while, and finally
named one of the boys who had been coming to the services. They expected
to have forty or fifty additions, but they had never thought about who
these additions would be.
What would you think of an automobile salesman with no prospects in
mind, who went in on Monday morning and told the sales manager that he
was going to sell five automobiles during the week? The sales manager
would probably ask, “Well, to whom?” The agent would reply, “Oh, I don’t
know; I just believe there must be five people in town who’ll buy from
me this week.” Do you think the sales manager would be encouraged? Why
he would realize that the salesman didn’t know what he was talking
about. Every congregation ought to have a prospect list, and every
individual worker in the Lord’s kingdom ought to have a prospect list.
Whom will you try to save during the next twelve months? Every Christian
should be a soul winner for Jesus, and you can lead someone to Christ if
you are willing to be used by him in so doing. There is much more that
could be said along this line if time permitted.
One congregation has used very effectively the method of community Bible
classes. When the members could not get people to come to their
meeting-house, they carried Bible classes to the communities where the
people lived. Some good Christian who had the respect of his neighbors
invited those neighbors to his home for Bible study and had the preacher
there to help with the teaching. At Richmond, Virginia, most of the
additions which they have had during the last six months have come from
just such a source. If this little method were put in effect in the city
of Nashville by all the congregations, it would revolutionize this town
in just a few months.
VII
The Case of Mary Doe
The thing I’m trying to impress upon your minds is that we have not been
using all the means or methods which God has placed at our disposal. Let
me make the point just as concrete and effective as possible by using a
definite example. (Maybe it’s indefinite in some respects.) Suppose that
we have a young lady brought up here in our own community, maybe not
living more than two or three blocks from our church building. We will
call her Mary Doe. What are the chances that she will learn the truth
from our program of evangelism? We’ll say that she has been reared by
parents who go regularly to a denominational church. They’ve been taking
her there ever since she was a tiny baby. They’ve taught her to believe
in their particular denomination. They have built up within her a
denominational pride and a sense of loyalty to the church of her
parents.
At that church, she never hears the complete plan of salvation. She
hears some nice, moral lectures. She goes to the Bible classes and
discusses current events and general social problems. If she’s like many
such young people, she does not read the Bible very systematically
herself. She may read it occasionally, but not consistently and
understandingly. The chances are that Mary Doe will never learn the
proper division of the word. She might live in such an environment for
fifty years and never learn the difference between the old covenant and
the new covenant.
Perhaps she and her mother ride by our building sometime and she says,
“Mother, what church is that?” The mother replies, “Oh, that’s the
church of Christ” or maybe she’ll say, “The Campbellite church. They
think baptism alone saves you.” Well, Mary Doe believes that, even
though it isn’t true. Consequently she’ll probably never come to one of
our meetings. Very likely she’ll never read any of our literature. How
shall we reach Mary Doe?
Probably her best chance to learn the truth is through her contact with
our own children in the public schools. That is a common meeting place,
and I suspect Mary will be more likely to have an intimate contact with
a member of the church at school than at any other place. Had you ever
thought about that as an opportunity for evangelizing East Nashville? I
wonder if our boys and girls in school are taking advantage of their
opportunity. Have you realized what a wonderful opportunity it is, and
are you behaving yourself in such a way as to demand respect from your
fellow students that you may be able to teach them the truth? Or do you
so misbehave that you would be a little bit embarrassed to undertake to
show them the difference between truth and error? There is a golden
opportunity for personal evangelism that might be used even by a school
boy or girl in leading many people unto the Lamb of God that takes away
the sins of the world. Personal evangelism then may be carried out
through personal contact at school, through personal contact at work,
and through personal contact at play or in our social relationships.
VIII
House To House Calls
And, finally, my friends, it might be possible that before we could
reach Mary Doe and the several thousand people whom she represents, we
would have to start down the street and go from house to house and call
upon every home. It could be possible that Mary would not be thrown with
any member of the church, even in her association at school. Do you
believe we can claim to have fully and completely met our
responsibility, in preaching the gospel to the people of East Nashville,
until we have gone from house to house as the apostle Paul did, and as
some denominations are doing today, and taken the message to them? That
is almost an unused opportunity and method of preaching the gospel to
those who have not yet heard it, and yet it is a very practical and a
very effective one.
IX
Prayer
I would like to climax all of this by saying that prayer should be used
in our effort to carry out the great commission. If you have faithfully
and diligently engaged in all of these activities mentioned, and any
others of like nature that could be mentioned, then you can consistently
pray to God to help you in accomplishing your purpose. That’s the reason
I put prayer at the end of the list. For prayer should not be used
without being accompanied by every possible effort on our part. Neither
of these methods, nor any other that might be named, should be used
exclusively. They should all be used, working together to help us
fulfill our obligation to preach the gospel to our neighbors.
Now I had hoped to have time to talk about the other phase of the first
division of our outline—preaching the gospel to other communities—but
the clock on the wall says that the time is gone and so we have to close
with the promise that there will be more to follow. If you’ll come back
tonight, I’ll give you a mimeographed outline of the lessons which are
being used both this morning and tonight.
In just a moment we’re going to sing the song that has been announced.
That is our means of urging you to accept the Lord’s invitation to come
to him and let him save you. If you have been guilty of committing just
one sin which has not yet been forgiven, that sin must be forgiven
before you can go to heaven, because no sin can enter there, and no sin
can be forgiven for those who have never obeyed the gospel by faith
(Acts 16:31-33), repentance (Luke 13:3), confession (Acts 16:37), and
baptism (Acts 2:38). Those who have turned aside since being baptized
may be forgiven if they’ll come back repenting, confessing their faults,
and praying for forgiveness. The gospel invitation is yours. While we
stand and sing we urge you to accept it.
XIII
CONGREGATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
(_Continued_)
I promise you in the beginning that I do not mean to discuss all of this
outline (See pages 196-198) at this time. It covers in a general way the
entire program of work that God wants His church to do. The scope of
this work is so broad that we have to break it down in order to study it
practically and effectively. Those who are directing the work of the
church need to study it in its separate parts as well as in its
entirety. This main list of objectives—evangelistic, devotional,
instructional, looking after members individually, practical training,
beneficent work, and incidentals—covers the field entirely. Every
Scriptural function of the church is included in at least one of these
general headings. I do not mean that the lists of activities under the
main headings are complete. They are not necessarily so. In most
instances they are incomplete. They are _suggestive_ rather than
_exhaustive_.
I
Use of Outline
I would like for you to take this outline home with you and study it
with two or three questions in mind. First, what can you do to help
advance the work of the church? Look over this list of activities and
write into this outline any others which, in your judgment, would be
scriptural in nature and help to make the work of the church more
effective. These objectives are Scriptural, therefore, we want to do
everything in our power to reach them. In order for the church to attain
these objectives, it must have the co-operation of every member. There
is something in this general program that _you_ can do! Perhaps you’ll
find _many_ places where you can be of service, and you know it is your
duty to render whatever service you can to make the Lord’s work as
successful as possible.
These objectives being Scriptural, this outline may help the overseers
in their work of edifying the church. Please remember that we are
engaged in the greatest work in all the world—the work of saving souls!
We are undertaking to accomplish a divine task, one which has been
assigned to us by the God of heaven. In His work we ought to do our very
best, remembering that one soul is worth more than all the material
wealth in the world. We should leave nothing undone that will contribute
toward our success.
Some constructive work was done in our business meeting this afternoon.
A committee was appointed to plan the missionary program of the church
for the year. This committee is to give some very careful study to the
selection of the most appropriate fields and the amount that should be
invested in each. The results of their study, including the program they
recommend for the next fiscal year, will be announced at the next
meeting of the overseers. This is a very practical step. It is a
definite step in the right direction. It pertains to Item No. 2 under
our evangelistic objectives as shown on the outline.
Another committee was appointed to study our Sunday morning Bible school
program and to make recommendations for improving it. That’s Item No. 2
under our instructional objective. So that makes two items on this list
that will be given very careful study by committees that have been
appointed for that purpose. We know that our Thursday evening meeting
has been very much improved by giving a little more thought to planning
the program. I believe that that meeting can be even further improved,
and I am also convinced that similar improvements may be brought about
in every other phase of the church’s work if the proper study and
careful planning is devoted to it. I am hoping that every item in this
outline will be given thoughtful consideration by those who are
responsible for the work at Chapel Avenue for the sake of improving
every phase of our work and worship.
We are told to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. God
would not be pleased with a secondary place in our lives, and that
means, among other things, that our program of work in the church should
be given our best thought, our most careful consideration, and our most
diligent support.
II
Sending Messages
I want to say a few things tonight under Item No. 2 of our evangelistic
program. God tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel
unto every creature. We discussed some methods this morning that might
be used in carrying out that responsibility in our own neighborhood.
Now, the question arises, “What can we do about preaching in communities
that are too far away to receive any direct benefit from our local
program of services and personal work?”
One method which we have been using recently is that of distributing
tracts. We have published 70,000 tracts for free distributions. Bro.
Shacklett reported this afternoon in the business meeting that the most
of this supply has already been distributed. He probably has enough
calls on his desk now to more than exhaust the remainder. If it is not
too optimistic to assume that each one of those tracts has been read by
at least one person, that’s the equivalent of preaching a sermon to
70,000 people, which certainly is no small consideration!
And I happen to know that those who are selling tracts on a commercial
basis, at least some of them best known to me, are making from 100 to
200 per cent profit. The tracts that cost us less than 1 cent each, are
being sold by those who are in it for the money at 2½ cents each. That
means that by spending less than one penny we can give to these
missionary fields a service that would cost them on the market 2½ cents.
Therefore, from a financial point of view, by giving away tracts instead
of giving the money with which to buy tracts, we are making a great
saving.
The response that has been received from this work is very encouraging.
If we had time, we would like to read some of the letters that have been
received. In addition to the tracts distributed by Chapel Avenue, the
church at Madison has made a very wide distribution of one of the same
tracts, and is now contemplating publishing 100,000 with which to answer
the calls they are receiving. That seems to be one good means of
carrying the gospel to those of other communities who have not heard it.
And, remember, it is our duty to use every legitimate means at our
disposal.
The next item on your outline is radio preaching. There has been some
talk of a national radio program, and no doubt that would do a great
deal of good. There is some question as to whether the money that such a
program would cost might not accomplish more good if spent in some other
way. That’s a question which I, personally, would not know how to
decide. But we do know that the radio is being used very extensively on
a local basis in various missionary fields of our country, and those who
are engaged in that work are pleased with the results.
However, trying to whip the devil by using the radio is somewhat like
trying to whip the Germans by fighting them from the air. A great deal
can be accomplished but the battle cannot be completely won until we go
in person. Radio work, to be as effective and fruitful as it ought to
be, must be followed up by personal contact. Those who become interested
by means of radio preaching ought to be contacted and encouraged to
render complete obedience to the commandments of the gospel.
III
Sending Money
A third way in which we can help to attain this objective of preaching
the gospel to the entire world is by sending financial support to
missionary fields and to preachers working in those fields. In that
respect the church at Chapel Avenue has been very active and no doubt
will continue to be. In fact, we have just about gone as far as we can
go with the present means at our disposal, and I think it would not be
out of order to tell you that in the business meeting this evening
another man was put on the payroll at $200 per month, on a temporary
basis, hoping that when the congregation learns about it, they will
increase their contribution enough to cover this cost. Those who are
managing the financial affairs believe that the present income is not
sufficient to warrant this additional expense, but they have acted upon
their faith in you, upon their confidence in you, that your knowledge of
this increased need will bring about an increased response. I do not
believe that you will betray that confidence!
The man added to the payroll has a family of six children and recently
resigned a job paying him several hundred dollars per month as district
manager for an insurance company in order to devote his entire time to
preaching the gospel. With a charter membership of about ten souls,
twenty-four people were present for the initial meeting last Lord’s Day.
This man seems to be well qualified for the task which he has
undertaken, and we believe he will accomplish great results.
There are certain items listed in your outline which we believe should
characterize our work of supporting missionaries. It is my conviction
that regular and complete reports should be received from those who are
being supported. Brother Estevez made a fine talk along that line here
last Sunday afternoon. Brother Gregory gave us a splendid report of his
work this morning. I believe that one reason the Chapel Avenue church
has continued to be so vitally interested in the work at Kingsport is
that one of our elders is on the job there and keeps the congregation
here acquainted with what is being done.
Furthermore, the workers to be used in these fields should be selected
very carefully. You ought to be just as careful about selecting some man
to preach for you in North Carolina as you are about selecting some one
to preach for you here. It seems to me that the two cases are exactly
parallel in that respect. We ought to be just as much concerned about
who preaches for us over there as we are about who preaches for us here.
If such a policy were followed by all the churches it would bring about
a distinct improvement and prevent considerable embarrassment.
In addition, the man selected should be well supported. It’s worth just
as much to preach in Kingsport or North Carolina or Louisiana or some
other place as it is to preach in Nashville, and when the men have equal
responsibility and equal qualifications, it seems to me that they ought
to be equally well supported. Certainly the man in the field ought to be
supported well enough that he will not be cramped in his work or
distracted by concern about how he will meet the next month’s grocery
bill.
Remember that it is _our_ work when we send a man out to a field like
that, and it would be inconsistency and folly on our part to send one
without supplying him with the resources necessary for the success of
his work. Something in addition to his bare living ought to be provided.
He should have funds with which to operate. Think about how much it
costs to carry on a program of work here, by way of advertising,
maintaining a meeting place and supporting a radio program and all that
sort of thing. In some ways it is more expensive in those fields than it
is here. For instance, we have fifty other congregations in Nashville to
help us advertise the cause of Christ in this city. In those fields the
little mission church has to take all this responsibility by itself. It
has to bear all the cost of supporting a radio program, publishing
articles in the daily paper, and of carrying on all of these varied
activities that are listed under our local program of evangelism.
No business concern would send a man to some field to represent it and
work for it without furnishing him with the support necessary for
success in his work. I am convinced that it would be wiser and better in
the long run to have a few men in the field fully supported than to have
several that are but half supported, and therefore handicapped and
unable to accomplish what should be accomplished.
It is also my conviction that the church which furnishes the money is
also obligated to supervise the use of that money. I do not suggest that
we dictate to churches at other places, for there is no one who believes
more firmly in congregational autonomy than do I. Every congregation
must be entirely independent. But, surely, if you have a man preaching
for you in the state of North Carolina, or some other place, it is your
duty to know what he is doing, what he is accomplishing, and whether it
would be well for him to continue there or to move to some other
community.
I know of one man who was supposed to be preaching in a missionary
field, not supported by Chapel Avenue incidentally, concerning whom I
have received a report that the only thing he did was to teach a Bible
class on Wednesday night. Over a period of several months he received a
good income from churches throughout the country who were gullible
enough to answer a call without knowing the condition of the field and
the kind of work that was being done by the one who made the call; while
being paid to preach he was working at a secular job, receiving a living
wage therefor, and putting the money he received from the churches in
the bank in his own name. This illustrates what I mean by saying that it
is necessary that we keep a line on those who are being supported. Those
who are worthy will welcome investigation and those who are not worthy
certainly ought to be investigated.
I believe that I am, at least to some extent, qualified to speak here
for I have worked at both ends of the line. As you know, I spent five
years at Richmond, Virginia, in the missionary field, receiving support
from you and others back home. I’ve also worked at this end of the line,
and I think I know a little about how such work ought to be done. Surely
regular and complete reports ought to be received, and careful
supervision should be exercised by those who furnish the money. It is my
conviction that, when God places resources in the hands of an individual
or a congregation, they are responsible for seeing that those resources
are properly used.
That’s the reason I am reluctant to tell a rich man how to give away his
money. If he had sense enough to make it, he probably has more sense
about how to spend it than someone who could never make any. Of course
one should teach the principles that are revealed in the Bible
concerning the use of money, but I believe that the responsibility of
spending one’s money rests primarily upon the one to whom God has
entrusted the money, and that will apply to a congregation as well as to
individuals.
IV
A Three-Cornered Affair
Now arranging a program of missionary work is a three-cornered affair.
There is first of all the _missionary field_ in which the work is to be
done, and next, there is the _preacher_ who is to do the preaching and
third the _church_ to do the financing. By some means or other these
three must be brought to an agreement upon a plan of procedure. That
means that somebody must take the initiative in getting the work
started.
Sometimes a few members who live in the missionary field take the
initiative, and undertake to find a preacher and someone to support him.
They contact a preacher and ask him to come and work for them. They
contact some church or churches and ask them to support the man while he
works for them. Whenever there is enough leadership in the mission field
to take such initiative, that’s all right. But that is presupposing a
goodly degree of leadership in a mission field! There are many mission
fields which do not possess such leadership. Sometimes the few members
who live in these mission fields are relatively indifferent. They are
not always so. Sometimes they are the finest people on the earth, but
often they are not. And maybe the reason it’s still a mission field in
many instances is because they are not as wide awake and zealous as they
should be. So if a great many fields are ever reached, some of them not
having any members at all, someone else must take the initiative.
In other instances, the preacher takes the initiative. He selects a
field to which he would like to go and then he gets some churches to
support him while he does so. That’s the plan I used in going to
Richmond. It sometimes works all right and sometimes it doesn’t. For
very often a preacher who undertakes to do such work is comparatively
inexperienced, and is not nearly as well qualified to plan the program
of work as some congregation that helps support him would be. When I
went to Richmond, twelve years ago, one had to do it that way, because
at that time, so far as I know, no one congregation considered itself
able to assume full responsibility for the support of a missionary. But
I do not believe that this is the most satisfactory method.
In the third place, the congregation itself very often takes the
initiative, selects a field, selects a preacher, and sends him there to
work. Bro. Gregory gave us an example of that this morning. He told of a
congregation which made thorough investigation of the places needing a
preacher in East Tennessee and finally concluded that Kingsport would be
the most advisable place for them to help. They’ve been following that
plan for many years. Bro. Charles King has been on their payroll for
quite a long time. Several years ago they sent a committee to East
Tennessee, at an expense of $150, to select the best place for him to
preach. At that time they decided in favor of Harriman, where there is
now, I understand, a strong congregation.
In this case, you see, the church took the initiative; the church
selected the field after proper investigation; the church selected a
preacher and paid him a salary and supported him while he represented
them in that field. Where this can be done, it seems to me to be a very
fine plan. Hence, one way for an established congregation to contribute
to the success of evangelizing the world is to take the initiative not
only in planning, but also in supervising the work. With such an
arrangement the work will be promoted according to the judgment of a
seasoned and experienced group of elders rather than according to the
judgment of some young, inexperienced fellow who gets the idea that he
wants to be a missionary.
A few objections to this plan have come from preachers on the field. It
has been said, “I’d rather have twenty churches supporting me than to
have just one. For that one might get discouraged at my pessimistic
report and cut me off.” The answer to that is that there should be a
more definite agreement on the part of the preacher and the church as to
how long he is to be supported. The man on the missionary field should
not expect a guarantee of a lifetime job. And, furthermore, if his
reports were too pessimistic, it may be that his support _should_ be
discontinued. Or perhaps he ought to be advised to discontinue his
activities in that field and to move to some other. It would not have
been well for Paul to have remained indefinitely in the city of Athens.
According to the inspiration guiding him, it was better for him to move
on.
I would have welcomed counsel and advice from those supporting me when I
was working in Richmond. There were about twenty different churches
supporting me—too many for me to confer with each of them to get advice
on questions that arose; and consequently in most instances I relied
only on my own judgment, which meant that the work was being directed by
the judgment of one young preacher rather than by the combined judgment
of some experienced group of elders. And nothing would have given me
greater encouragement than for a committee of elders of some church that
was supporting me to have spent a few days in Richmond studying the
situation and advising me on the problems which arose. There were times
when I wondered if the results being accomplished justified the money
being spent.
Of course, the money was well spent. For growing out of that work which
I entered twelve years ago there are now two self-supporting
congregations. One of them has a building completely paid for and
supports a full-time preacher. The other has a part-time preacher.
Coming from one of these congregations, a young man graduated from David
Lipscomb last spring and has gone back to Virginia to preach the gospel
in his native state. Another young man from one of these congregations
is now at Lipscomb preparing himself to preach the riches of Christ. On
the side, some work and encouragement were given at Norfolk, Virginia,
where there is now a growing and prosperous congregation. These
developments have come about in only twelve years. But I couldn’t see it
then. Oftentimes I became discouraged. If some one congregation had been
supplying all the necessary support and supervising the work, it would
have been very helpful to me.
But after all, friends, when you contribute only five or ten dollars per
month to a place, you are not likely to have a vital interest in the
work. To give you a concrete example, an elder and treasurer of a church
in Middle Tennessee which sent ten dollars each month to Richmond, year
after year, spent several days in Richmond on a social visit and didn’t
even come around to see what was being done. Well, they only had $10 per
month invested there and so they were not particularly interested. But
if they’d been spending $200 a month, paying the full salary of the man
on the job, then an elder who spent the week end in town would have
looked into the situation! Where a man’s treasure is, there will his
heart be also!
In fact, I have said, and I’m about to say again, that to contribute
just $5 a month here and there and elsewhere for mission work is
somewhat like giving a nickel to a beggar on the street. Do you know why
you give that nickel? Not because you are interested in the beggar and
not because you are concerned about what he is doing, but to ease your
own conscience. You are seeking to purchase ease of conscience with
expenditure of a mere nickel! If the beggar is worthy, he ought to have
more than a nickel; if he isn’t worthy, he doesn’t deserve even a
nickel. And so when a congregation merely contributes five dollars to
each of a few places, to soothe their conscience, they can say, “Yes, we
are doing some mission work,” but certainly they are following the line
of least resistance. They may have purchased ease of an untrained and
misinformed conscience at a minimum cost, but this does not mean that
they have done their duty in meeting the responsibility that God has
placed on them!
Another way in which Chapel Avenue can and is contributing to the
attainment of this objective, is by furnishing leadership for rural
churches in reach of Nashville. Bro. Clark, Bro. Shacklett, Bro. Autry,
and others who have been going out, know that there are many
congregations within driving distance of Nashville which are almost
totally lacking in leadership. They need someone to be there on Lord’s
Day to conduct the worship and to teach and encourage them. And we have
an opportunity to do a lot of good along that line.
V
Practical Suggestions
Now these are just scattering thoughts and remarks on what we can do
and, therefore, what we _ought_ to do to attain the God given objective
of preaching the gospel unto the whole world. I advise you again that
this list of activities is not exhaustive but suggestive. The same kind
of treatment given this particular objective could be applied to the
others in this outline as well. We don’t have time to do so tonight, but
I want you to study it for yourself and consider how you, individually
and personally, can do something to help us reach these scriptural
objectives. And further, consider how the church itself may improve its
efforts along this line.
If you think of some change that ought to be made in this outline, or
some items that ought to be added to it, I would certainly be glad to
receive your suggestions. Friends, remember that we are engaged in the
Lord’s work, the greatest work in all the world! If there is any body of
people on earth who ought to be enthusiastic, it is the church of
Christ! We are working in the Lord’s kingdom, and we know that our labor
will not be in vain. If so much can be accomplished by the little that
has been done, I want you to think about what could be accomplished if
we were all doing our best! It yet remains to be demonstrated what can
be accomplished by a congregation which is wholly and completely
dedicated unto the work of the Lord. I recommend that you give a
practical and careful study then to each item on this list.