The Purpose of the Missionary Volunteer Movement
By C. L. BENSON
We believe that the world will be evangelized in this generation by the old and young people working together; but surely a general awakening must first take place. Our boys and girls must be converted and educated in heart and mind. When Frederick the Great heard of the defeat of his army in a certain engagement, he exclaimed, “We must educate.” Can not we say, Education is the chief defense of our youth? If we would save our youth, we must educate. If we would see them on the firing line heralding the third angel’s message, we must educate. To assist in educating our large army of young people, the Missionary Volunteer movement has been launched. This is far more than a local affair, a young people’s society. It is a movement a great crusade of the church to enlist and train its young people. The marching orders are, “The advent message to all the world in this generation.” The reason, “God wills it.” “It is a holy thing,” said Disraeli, “to see a state saved by its youth;” but it is a more impressive sight to us to see our youth filled with a passion to give their lives to spread the third angel’s message. The church is only beginning to realize the great possibilities lying dormant in our children and youth. It is said, “The energy necessary to secure the cooperation of an adult advanced in years will kindle the enthusiasm of a score of young people.” “With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Saviour might be carried to the whole world!”—Education, page 271. The children and youth in the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists number about 50,000 souls. An army of this size and character demands much attention from the older members. The world is bidding for our young men and women. Every inducement is held out to ensnare them. In their bosoms the fires of ambition are burning brightly. The normal young person has an intense longing to make the most of life. And this desire is laudable. God’s ideal for each blood-bought life is deeper, broader, higher than we are capable of comprehending. Satan takes advantage of the throbbing, pulsating life and energy of our young people, and through the medium of the world says: “Come, this line of work will give you social standing, pleasure, and a good home. There is opportunity to climb. We will start you in at twelve, eighteen, or twenty-five dollars a week, and will advance you just as rapidly as you warrant promotion.” Many accept the world’s offer, becoming “hewers of wood and drawers of water” for the Gentiles. You say they have the wrong perspective, and that is true. A young woman, with tears in her eyes and a terrible struggle going on within, asked one of our workers these questions: “What does life hold out for a Seventh-day Adventist young person? If I must give up outside company, stop attending parties and social gatherings, stop wearing jewelry, flowers, and feathers, stop reading fiction and going to theaters, stop playing light music and singing sentimental songs, what pleasure can I get out of life?” You say she does not see the positive side of the Christian life. All she sees are the crosses she must carry. That is just the point. Such a time presents a golden opportunity for a sympathetic elderly friend to assist the young person to get a right perspective, and to carefully point out the dangers of the worldly life. Yearly a stream of young people slowly wends its way from our Sabbath schools and churches, not to be about their “Father’s business,” but to engage in the world’s work. It causes our hearts to bleed. The hearts of fathers and mothers are wrung with anguish, shoulders are stooped, heads are streaked with silver and bowed low; but still the plague spot spreads. Thousands of our brightest and most capable young people have been lost to the cause of God, millions20of heathen have passed unwarned to Christless graves, the Son of God has been put to an open shame in the house of his friends; but what are we doing to stop it? Our young people are the biggest asset this denomination has. But at the present time upward of 10,000 are unconverted. Statistics show that the majority of conversions occur between the ages of twelve and twenty. The greatest number of conversions occur in the sixteenth year. Between seventy-five and ninety per cent of the members of the different Protestant churches in America were converted before they reached their twenty-third year. As these years pass, the prospects decrease, and after twenty-three very few become Christians. The years from ten to twenty-five are the harvest time for souls. They are also the most favorable period for the enemy of our souls to work, and he improves his opportunity. Miss Jane Addams, of Hull House fame, states: “More than 25,000 young people under the age of twenty-five passed through the juvenile and municipal courts of Chicago during 1900, approximately one out of every eighty of the entire population, or one out of every fifty-two of those under twenty-five years of age.” Mr. Chas. R. Scott, State secretary of boys’ work in New Jersey, writes: “The average age of the boys committed to the State home in New Jersey is about twelve years, and the parents in many cases are responsible for their commitment. There are on the average 525 boys in the home, with over 1,500 on parole scattered over the State.” Mr. John L. Alexander, an International Sunday School secretary, says: “Only twenty to twenty-five out of every one hundred scholars who enter Sunday school are saved to church membership. More than half our church members were converted before they were sixteen years of age, and only four per cent were converted after maturity.” If we admit the preceding facts, shall we not recognize youth as the harvest time of souls? During this period the foundations of Christian life are laid, the student life is determined, and the trend for greater usefulness is established. The spirit of prophecy states: “Very much has been lost to the cause of God by a lack of attention to the young. . . . When the youth give their hearts to God, your care for them should not cease. Lay some special responsibility upon them. Make them feel that they are expected to do something. The Lord chooses them because they are strong. Teach them to labor in a quiet, unpretending way, for their young companions. Let different branches of the missionary work be laid out systematically, and let instruction and help be given, so that the young may learn to act a part. Thus they will grow up to be workers for God.”—Gospel Workers, pages 278, 279. “Altogether too little attention has been given our children and youth. . . . God requires the church to arouse from its lethargy, and see what manner of service is demanded in this time of peril.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VI, page 196. Twenty-two years ago the spirit of prophecy gave this challenge: “Let there be a company formed somewhat after the order of the Christian Endeavor Society, and see what can be done in watching and improving opportunities to do work for the Master.”—Extracts relative to medical missionary work, Oct. 2, 1893. Again: “Form Christian endeavor meetings to make plans that will be a blessing. . . . They will have in mind the value and efficiency of Christian endeavor meetings, in preparing missionaries to go forth to give the warning to the world.”—Review and Herald, Jan. 16, 1894. To meet this specific instruction the Missionary Volunteer Department was launched at the Mount Vernon Sabbath school and young people’s convention in 1907. “The purpose of the organization is the salvation and development of our young people as workers.” The conditions of membership are twofold: (1) Membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church; and (2) willingness to engage in active service for Christ. The object of the Missionary Volunteer Society, in the church, is association for prayer, Bible study, and missionary work. The Missionary Volunteer Society is a department of the church at work, just as the primary, intermediate, and junior divisions of the Sabbath school are a part of the church at study. In order that there may be the closest cooperation between the Missionary Volunteer Society and the church, the officers should be elected by the church, the same as the elder, Sabbath school superintendent, and church librarian. The executive committee consists of the officers of the Missionary Volunteer Society, together with the church elder, Sabbath school superintendent, or church librarian (as the church may choose). This committee should plan for the meetings and the work of the society. There is a distinct benefit derived from the Missionary Volunteer Society work. Timid and backward young people are encouraged to take part in the work, and they develop under the responsibilities laid upon them. Many of our workers now in the home and foreign fields, offered their first public prayer and gave their first Bible reading or public talk in a Missionary Volunteer Society. Another great advantage derived from the separate young people’s meeting is that the youth learn to plan and do things on their own initiative. Thus our boys and girls are tied to the church. We must make them feel that they are a part of it, and that they are needed. The young people may make some mistakes, but Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.” Elder Daniells relates an experience that meets many a parallel among our young people. The incident illustrates what a true father or mother in Israel may do for our young people who make mistakes. He says:— “When a boy I became a Christian, and tried hard to do right. At one time I became very much discouraged. One Sabbath day, when in the meeting the brethren and sisters were telling how good the Lord had been to them, and how they loved him, I felt so disheartened that I decided to give up and end the struggle. So when the meeting was over, I hurried out of the church so that no one would speak to me. I stepped around the corner of the building to wait for mother. “As I was standing there, our good old church elder, just the man I did not want to see, came around the corner of the church. He said, ‘Well, Arthur, I have been looking for you.’ He said he had noticed that I had not taken any part in the meetings for three Sabbaths, that he had been thinking about me and wondering what was the reason. He wondered if he had done anything that had discouraged me, or if his example had not been good, if I had lost courage because of him. Then he said, ‘If I have, I want you to forgive me.’ Well, I could not have an old saint talk to me like that, so I broke down and began to cry. I said, ‘You have not done anything. I am a sinner; I cannot be a Christian; I have tried, and given up.’ At this the old man put his hand on my shoulder and said he knew what it was to become discouraged, that he had passed through the same experience. He assured me that he had confidence in me, and that I must not give up, but try again, and he would pray for me. I looked up into his face, and said, ‘I will try again.’ And never since that time have I given up the struggle.” The Missionary Volunteer Department is attempting to bring about the conversion of every young person in our ranks. Last year more than 1,700 were won to Christ. This year our goal calls for 2,000 of our children to be brought to the Saviour. Shall we not all work and pray to this end? But when a young person is converted, he is a mere babe in Christ. He must grow to the stature of manhood in Jesus Christ. In order to grow spiritually, he must receive spiritual food. To help supply this, the Morning Watch Calendar has been provided. This suggests a definite text of Scripture to be studied and memorized each day throughout the year. The Missionary Volunteer Junior and Senior Reading Courses have also been arranged to provide the growing minds with wholesome, inspiring books. Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, page 519, says: “The special effort of ministers and workers all through our ranks for this time should be to turn away the attention of the youth from all exciting stories.” The child and the young person are inexperienced, and do not know how to choose. To help such we need to serve some dainty morsel to them that will tempt their appetites. Then continue to exercise care and tact in feeding them until their appetites have become vigorous, and the habit for good, pure, elevating reading has been developed. The Standard of Attainment work has also been arranged for the purpose of getting our young people to study the Bible systematically. Many are Seventh-day Adventists because their parents are. But those who become Attainment members believe the third angel’s message because the Bible teaches it. This class is able at any time to give a reason for the hope that is in them. The importance of work for our children and young people cannot be over-emphasized. “The schoolboys of Bourges, in the early French Revolution, bore a flag displaying in shining letters the words, ‘Tremble, tyrants; we shall grow up.’ O that these words, ‘We shall grow up,’ would ever ring in our churches! They21will grow up and make tremble the enemy of our God, or grow up and make us tremble. The Romanists are wont to say, ‘Give us the child until he is ten years old, and you may do what you can with him after that.’ Trebonius, the instructor of Martin Luther, always uncovered his head in the presence of any of his boys. He was accustomed to say: ‘Who can tell what man may yet rise up amid these youth? There may be among them those who shall be learned doctors, sages, nay, princes of the empire.’ Even then there was before him the great leader of the Reformation, that ‘solitary monk that shook the world.’ The children must increasingly receive the attention, thought, and care of the church.” Pray for our young people, and for those who are working to win them to Christ.