RECRUITS are needed to supply the lack in every department of the work. There should be scores of workers both in home and foreign fields where there is now but one. Conference committees should feel that they have resting upon them the sacred responsibility of encouraging such persons to labor as ought now to be engaged in gospel work.
Our most promising young men and women should be persuaded to engage actively in the work of saving souls. Scores, if not hundreds, of our young people are leaving our ranks annually to engage in worldly occupations. There is a reason for this. The responsibility for their loss to the cause, to a great extent, rests upon many of our conferences. After spending years in school preparing themselves for the work, many young people have been informed by the conference officials that they can not employ them, as they do not have the means for their support.
Those who desire to enter the ministry should receive a suitable literary training in order to be properly prepared for the work. They should also be educated in habits of thrift, tidiness, and industry. Shiftless and lazy men will never succeed in the work of the gospel ministry. Men are wanted who will prosper in the midst of difficulties,—men who will endure discouragements, temptations, and privations. Men are needed who dearly love the message, such as are willing to sacrifice for it. May the Lord deliver this cause from those who are preaching for the loaves and fishes, and not from a deep love for souls! They should engage earnestly in the work, praying and studying as they labor; and especially should they learn of the Great Teacher.
Although ministerial institutes may prove beneficial to workers, yet they can not develop them like the knowledge gained through actual service in the field. If promising young men desiring to enter the ministry were encouraged to spend some time in the canvassing work, or in teaching in our intermediate or church-schools, they would thus obtain an experience which would help them in their ministry. In the canvassing work, as they go from door to door, meeting men representing all classes, they learn to read character. As they explain the truths contained in the books they carry, and as they persuade individuals to buy, they are learning to help people to decide. Without this element of character they can never lead souls to a decision in regard to the truth. In the school work they would have an excellent opportunity for Bible study and to develop their ability to explain the truth, to teach the way of salvation, and to lead souls to Christ. The influence of such a class of teachers would add strength to the school work, and be of untold benefit to the churches where they teach. Experience, next to the Great Teacher, is the best educator. The cause needs self-made men,—men who are proved, true, and faithful.
The successful laborer must have more than book knowledge. He needs integrity, energy, and tact. Combined with these, he needs a gentle spirit. He should be “apt to teach, patient.”
The best way the ministry can be improved is by the reception of the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit’s power, its efforts will be weak and fruitless. Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” Divine power will ever respond to Jacob-like faith. It is given to those who hunger and seek after it. To the soul that cries out in anguish, as it realizes its need of divine power, the answer will come, “As a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” We must have power with God, and then we shall have power with men. To carry this truth in the face of bitter opposition, we need a faith similar to that manifested by John Knox when he cried, “Give me Scotland, or I die.” It is said of that man of God that Queen Mary feared his prayers more than an army of twenty thousand men.
How We May Obtain Divine Power
Jesus says to every one of us, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Tarry where you are. Commune with your God until you realize in every fiber of your being that you have prevailed. Then will be fulfilled the promise, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,” and only then are we prepared to witness for God. Then we can go forth in the strength of Israel’s God with the assurance that success will crown our efforts, and that souls will be converted as the result of our ministry.
The Holy Ghost can do more in ten minutes in the improvement of the ministry than can be accomplished through months and years of study in connection with literary institutions. I would not in any sense discourage education. It is essential that workers have literary finish, but it is more essential that they enjoy the fulness of the Holy Spirit. A worker may have quite a fair knowledge of the sciences, and may speak eloquently, yet without the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in his heart, his words will be like “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal,” because, like Cain’s offering, it contains no Christ.
Profitable Books to Study
Above all books, gospel workers should study the Book of books. It is able to build them up. A knowledge of its teachings will impart mental and moral refinement and spiritual strength. A careful study of its teachings will give them understanding in all things. It will bring joy and rejoicing to their hearts, and, as they impart what they15learn to others, it will also bring rejoicing to the hearts of many.
It is said of Zwingli that when he turned toward the Bible, Switzerland turned toward the Reformation, and of his own experience he said, “When I studied the Word, it became plainer than all the commentaries.” The Bible should be studied in preference to all other books. I would also recommend students to become familiar with such books as “Patriarchs and Prophets,” “Great Controversy,” “Desire of Ages,” “Gospel Workers,” “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,” and “Christ’s Object Lessons,” and other books containing present truth. There are many books of history with which they should become familiar; among the number I might mention such books as D’Aubigné’s “History of the Reformation,” and “Ecclesiastical Empire.”
How to Save Souls
In order to win souls for Christ, we need the instruction set forth in the Bible. Jesus, the world’s greatest missionary, says, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringing forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
The great apostle to the Gentiles admonishes us as follows: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
“Neglect not the gift that is in thee. . . . Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt save thyself, and them that hear thee.”
“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth.”
Peter instructs gospel teachers in these words, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”
Great Caution Should Be Exercised in the Selection of Workers
Great caution should be exercised in the selection of men for the ministry. To-day a large amount of tithe is being expended on laborers who give but little if any evidence of becoming efficient workers. All through our ranks are those who, judging from their actions, seem to think that they have a claim on the conference treasury, although they bear but little if any fruit. Though they do not labor faithfully in the field, they are faithful in drawing their salary from the treasury. Too often we are biased by personal preference in the selection of laborers, and do not consider their qualifications and fitness for the work.
Through the influence of their friends, many have been granted papers, and placed on the pay-roll of the conference, without giving evidence of developing into able workers. After it has been demonstrated that they can not become efficient laborers, it seems almost impossible for the conferences to relieve themselves of the burden of their support, as their friends are zealous in sounding their praise, and plead earnestly that they be continued in the work.
Experience has demonstrated the fact that it is not always safe for conferences to act upon the recommendation of individuals or churches in selecting laborers. Great care should be exercised in this matter, as careless work in this respect not only saps the finances of the denomination, but results in bringing discouragement upon our people, many of whom do not consider it right to pay tithe to have it consumed by a worthless class of laborers.
Thousands of dollars are expended annually with little or no benefit to the cause. In many conferences the conference committee seems unable or unwilling to grapple successfully with this problem. The situation demands action, as God’s cause is suffering as a result of their negligence. In this respect conference officials are not dealing with the Lord’s work as they would manage their own business. We would consider it frenzied finance for any man to employ from year to year an unprofitable laborer. I am confident that if conference committees would as zealously guard the tithe as they would their own finances, a large corps of unprofitable workers now connected with the different State conferences would be dispensed with. If we do not exercise more care in the selection of gospel workers, and place on the pay-roll only such as give evidence of making a success of the work, can the Lord ever say to us, “Well and faithfully done”?
Those That Fail to Bear Fruit
In many of our conferences there are workers who have been going the rounds, visiting the churches at such times as they are not actively engaged on their farms, or in other occupations. In most cases they give their own work the preference; and at such time as it is agreeable to them, they do the Lord’s work; thus they make God’s work a matter of their own convenience.
These workers, after they have thus labored, expect to be supported from the tithe. This cuts down the funds in the conference treasury, so that conferences do not see their way clear to encourage young workers. This non-producing class of laborers should be purged from among those who are supported by the tithe, thus making it possible for conferences to employ those who would make a success of the work. In some conferences laborers seem inclined to excuse themselves from doing work that is not agreeable to them, and when it is suggested by the conference committee that some one ought to be employed to do the work that they have excused themselves from doing, they are not, in many cases, willing to go to another field of labor, although the conference may be so situated financially that it is not able to take on any additional help. Thus the work that they ought to have done, and which they have excused themselves from doing, is neglected.
It is a sad fact that many of our ministers have lost the true missionary spirit, and are standing in the way of those who would, if properly encouraged, take hold of the work and carry it forward earnestly and successfully. All such should be encouraged to engage in self-supporting work; and consecrated, energetic, intelligent persons should be selected to take their places. The tithe is holy unto the Lord, and should not be expended in a careless manner. This work is too sacred to be trifled with.