p. 17 | Missionary Correspondence

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 12, 1914

Missionary Correspondence

One important line of God's work, and one in which many can engage who cannot in any other, is missionary correspondence. When the judgment reveals the result of the work that is being done in the earth, I believe there will be many things seen that will surprise even those who have been trying to do what they could in the Lord's work. Of course we all expect to see many souls saved as the result of the labors of our ministers and Bible workers; but if there is any virtue in the promises of God, we may also expect that those who quietly and humbly try to disseminate the principles of God's truth by means of missionary correspondence, will also have many stars in their crown of rejoicing. This part of our work is not receiving the attention it should. While our numbers are increasing, and some lines of work are rapidly developing, we find that the number of missionary letters written is growing less and less. I have tried in many different States to learn the cause of this, and I almost invariably receive a reply to my inquiries something like the following: “I do not see any results from my missionary correspondence;” “I have written a great many letters, but have received only a few replies, and have become discouraged,” etc.

We find that the Lord says by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah: “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Chap. 55:10, 11. Now if we believe that the truth which we send out in the letters we write is in harmony with God's Word and is part of his truth, we can take this language as applying to our individual cases. And whenever we send a missionary letter in the right spirit, and in harmony with a plan which the Lord can bless, we have just as much reason to expect that good results will be seen in the end as the minister has who preaches the word from the sacred desk; for just as surely as the rain and snow descend from heaven, so surely will the word of God prosper in the thing whereto he sends it, and accomplish that which he pleases; and when the harvest of the world is gathered, we have the sure promise that the word will not return void.

Another objection I find raised by some of our good missionary workers is that they feel so incapable of writing letters. Now if we feel our inability as we ought, it is very positive evidence that we are in a condition where the Lord will help us in our work; for he has promised that his grace will be sufficient for every time of need; and if we feel our lack of wisdom and ask him, he will bestow upon us liberally. But the trouble is that many times we plead our inability simply because of our lack of a disposition to do that which the Lord would have us do.

If we had some good news about worldly affairs that we wished to convey to our friends, how many of us would refrain from writing to them on account

of inability? But we have the good news of the soon coming of Christ, and the precious truths which the Lord has permitted us to learn, and why should we not have the same earnestness and zeal in sending these truths to our friends and acquaintances who do not know them, as we do in worldly things?

I was much interested in a letter received from Elder Haskell, from which I quote a few statements. He says:—

“There are ideas which we hold about Christ that present him in an attractive light to the sinner and to those who believe in him, as much ahead of the ideas of the other denominations as our peculiar views are different from theirs. Now why not present these attractions in Christ, and let them first see that we have Christ, and that we see in him matchless charms far beyond their ideas of him? If I should be permitted to say why I think Christ is not presented more prominently by our missionary workers in their missionary correspondence, it would be that they themselves have never seen any superior charms in him. They have never had that depth of experience that leads them to realize that there is in Christ any more than the ordinary professor finds in him. So it is impossible for them to present these features of Christ which they have never seen nor known. And consequently their ideas of the missionary spirit and missionary correspondence are to present some denominational features, some doctrinal points, that others do not see.”

I believe there is a great deal of truth in these statements by Elder Haskell; and I feel very anxious that all our missionary workers may reach that place in their Christian experience where Christ will be their all in all; where they can say, with the apostle Paul, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20.

Many of our missionary workers are depending upon some person who has had a good deal of experience to furnish them with the form of a missionary letter to be written, so that all they have to do is to copy that letter, and send it out with the first package of reading matter to those with whom they intend to correspond. I do not believe this is the way the Lord would have us do. If we should apply this principle to the work of the minister, and have some one write out a sermon for all the ministers to preach, we should feel that such an arrangement was making mere machines of the ministers, leaving no opportunity for the Spirit of the Lord to direct them in their work; and yet many of our missionary workers are satisfied to copy a letter that has been written by some one else.

I believe the language of the apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 2:15 applies with just as much force to the person who undertakes to write a missionary letter as it does to the minister. And this part of our work should be studied as carefully and entered upon with as much desire to have the approval of God as any other. When the Spirit of God, in answer to earnest prayer, directs the mind of a faithful brother or sister in penning a missionary letter, the same Spirit will impress the truths contained in the letter upon the heart of the one who receives it. But on the other hand, if the one who writes the letter simply copies it from one furnished him, and does not seek for wisdom from the Lord, we cannot expect that the Spirit of the Lord will have much to do with it when it reaches the one to whom it was written. Let us, then, seek the Lord for wisdom, and continue our missionary correspondence with more diligence and care than ever in the past.—Selected.