The importance of a deep, all-pervading missionary spirit in the church
can hardly be overrated. Its value is not to be estimated only in the
work done and the money raised for the spread of the Gospel, but also
in the enlarged and enriched life of the church itself, and the higher
and nobler type of Christian character it thus presents to the world. A
pastor who fails in this is failing at once to make his church a power
for Christ in the world, and to secure within it the fulness of life
which Christ intended it should possess.
To develop and foster a missionary spirit in the church requires, as a
first necessity, the presence of such a spirit in the pastor himself.
Without this no method, however excellent, will be likely to succeed;
but with it the spirit of missions will not appear merely on special
missionary occasions, but will pervade all his public utterances in the
pulpit and the prayer-room. It will diffuse itself as an atmosphere of
life through the whole congregation, and, inbreathed, it will impart
vitality and power to the whole body. But, added to this general
influence, a fixed method of labor for this is desirable, and in regard
to this I make the following suggestions:
1. A regular system of contribution for benevolent objects, taken
either by subscription paper or by public collection or in boxes
conveniently placed for receiving the funds. It is the custom of many
churches to divide the year into four or six periods, devoting two or
three months, as the case may be, to each of the benevolent objects;
and this has often proved successful. Whatever plan is adopted, it
should secure regularity of contribution, and should reach the whole
congregation, old and young, rich and poor; otherwise, only the few
will contribute, and the blessing connected with self-denying giving
will be lost by the mass of the people.
2. A missionary sermon at least as often as the recurrence of these
periods. In these sermons the great principles of benevolence should be
developed and enforced, and the leading facts in the different
departments of Christian work spread before the people. It is not
necessary or desirable to preach a "begging sermon" with sensational
incitements to give. In fact, our Lord's great principle, "It is more
blessed to give than to receive" (Acts xx. 35), suggests that giving
should be presented, not as a duty chiefly, but rather as an exalted
privilege whose reward is in itself. Properly prepared, "the missionary
sermon" may be made a most attractive feature in the pastor's public
work; and if steadily kept in view and materials carefully preserved
for it as they occur in his reading and reflection, the preparation
will not be difficult. A special note-book, preserving thoughts and
illustrations for missionary sermons, will rapidly fill up with a
pastor who reads with method and care.
3. The monthly missionary concert of prayer. This is of vital
importance, because here the missionary spirit of the church finds
devotional expression. The pastor makes a serious mistake who fails to
maintain this or allows it to be regarded as of minor moment. No
meeting is capable of being made more effective for his home work than
the monthly concert, properly conducted. In regard to this I offer the
following hints: (1.) It is not necessary to restrict the sphere of the
meeting to foreign missions, but there are important advantages in
allowing it to embrace all departments of evangelization, home and
foreign, through the different branches of work--in the pulpit, the
school, and the press. Thus one evening might be devoted to the
condition of the freedmen at the South and the work in progress among
them, educational and missionary; another to the work of home missions
on the frontiers of civilization at the West, developing the leading
facts respecting the vast immigration into those new regions, the needs
of Christian workers there, and the kind of work there to be performed;
and another to the Karens or Assamese or Chinese, or other division of
the foreign work. The meeting would thus be highly educative by the
whole range of its information, and would promote a broad intelligence
in the membership, while the breadth of the field would afford an
unfailing variety of vital subjects to interest and hold the people.
(2.) In opening, the pastor might present a brief survey of the whole
field, selecting only events of special interest and incidents adapted
to impress them. This might be followed by one or more papers or
statements, from selected members of the church or congregation, on the
special field chosen for the evening, or on some prominent laborer in
it, the time of the speaker or reader being carefully limited. This
would leave ample time for prayer, which is the main purpose of the
meeting, and for such spontaneous utterances as might be made by the
assembly.
The hints above suggested are necessarily imperfect and general, for
every church has its peculiarities, and the pastor must often adapt his
methods to theirs. But the object to be attained, the missionary
development of the church, is of the highest moment, and he should
study methods with the fixed purpose of reaching, in some way, that end.
+SECTION XIII.+