Securing an Interest and Co-operation in the Regions Beyond
By W. J. Stone
I HAVE been thinking about missions, and how we can best interest the rank and file of our people, and arouse in them a special interest in our work in the regions beyond, so that a constant stream will be flowing to enlarge our borders and extend the work. As I have thought upon this question, and as I have talked about it to our people, I have been fully convinced that the best way of accomplishing this result is to educate our brethren and sisters so that they shall be conversant with the different mission fields and what is being accomplished. Our brethren are liberal, and they desire to invest money where the greatest amount of good can be accomplished; and when they become acquainted with the fact that ten times as much is being accomplished with the same expenditure of means in our missionary fields as is being accomplished in our home fields, money will be forthcoming with which to carry this glorious message to the ends of the world more rapidly. But to secure these results we must interest our people, and they must become acquainted with the fields. How can this better be done than by the officers in all our conferences? Let a special effort be made by these laborers to establish in every church in the land the custom of making the second Sabbath in each month a special “missionary day.” Have a regular program, and the reading prepared for that day, and instead of one person’s reading the whole address, divide it, and have three or four persons read. It will not be so monotonous; and if each person will give his part of the reading some thought, and study the field, he may make the reading of special interest. Have a map, and point out the country where the missionaries are laboring, and in this way a deep interest may be awakened. Why not establish in all our churches a second Sabbath missionary day, and not divert it to any other use? If a minister is present on missionary day, instead of his occupying all the time, have him take part in the missionary meeting, and help to awaken a deep interest in the proclamation of the message in distant lands. Our message is to all the world, and it is to be proclaimed in this generation. Then, is it too much to devote one day each month, or twelve days during the year, to a special study of the field, and the work that is being carried forward in all parts of the world? If five missionary meetings of this kind can be conducted in all our churches throughout the world once a month, in a short time they will be the most interesting services held, and will be looked forward to with interest by all; and then, constantly keep the need of the weekly offerings before our people to supply laborers for all these fields, and the stream will increase until there will be no lack of funds to carry this gospel of the kingdom to all the world. Another means of enlisting the interest and sympathy of all our brethren and sisters in the spread of the gospel to all nations, will be the sending of laborers from all the different conferences to these distant lands, to be supported directly from the funds of the conferences. Then when a laborer sends his report, and it is read on missionary day, a special interest will be taken in that field because of our direct connection with that laborer. My soul is stirred as I consider the importance of this work, and as I have presented these things to our people in our own field, and have seen the interest taken and the willingness to co-operate in the work by adopting the plan of weekly offerings, I have been fully convinced that the greatest need, as we endeavor to increase our offerings, is to make all our people familiar with the fields and the work that is being done. There must be something behind the giving, in order to keep up this constant supply, and what can do this more effectually than a growing knowledge of the field and its prosperity and needs? I am sure that much has been lost, and that we as laborers are largely responsible for the depleted condition of the treasury, and for the fact that fields must wait and wait, year after year, for the message, because the situation has not been kept constantly before our people, and they have not been familiar with all the needs. May the Lord help us to see the situation as it is, and realize that the demand of the hour is, not to spend the bulk of our means in our own conferences, but to assist in sending this message to the millions who are perishing in distant lands.