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Duty to Church-Members

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 19, 1904

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 20.

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Duty to Church-Members

By GEO. O. STATES

GEO. O. STATES
For some time in the past I have seen notices in our church paper to absent members of various churches, stating that unless they reported within a given time, they would be dropped from the church records, and would be no longer members. There is no question but that in most of our churches there are members who are not living out their church vows, but is it not a fact that many of us in our zeal to get people to unite with the church do not properly instruct them? And not being thoroughly established in all points of the message, they soon become discouraged, and finally their names are dropped from the church records.
I believe that we should instruct those uniting with our churches on every point of the message, and that after they become members of the church, we should realize that we are indeed our brother's keeper.
It is a solemn fact that during the closing time of the sealing message “Satan will use every device to keep the minds of God's people from the present truth, and cause them to waver.”
About thirty-five years ago the church of which I was clerk passed a resolution that all who did not report each quarter, either by person or by letter, would be disfellowshipped. As a result of trying to live up to that resolution, we turned out some God-fearing members, and had to acknowledge our mistake. It is hard for some people to express their desires on paper, and while they are isolated, shall we make their lot harder by dropping their names?
I recently visited a council meeting in one of our churches where the names of those who had not been heard from for a long time were read, and among them was the wife of one of our ministers in the early days of the message. I believe that if the officers of that church could have visited that sister, who was living near by, it would have been a blessing to her in her old age.
God has told us in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew just how to deal with the erring, and unless we follow his instructions, we shall make matters worse. “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VII, pages 262-264, also tells us how we should proceed:—
“No church officer should advise, no committee should recommend, nor should any church vote, that the name of a wrong-doer shall be removed from the church books until the instruction given by Christ has been faithfully followed. When this instruction has been followed, the church has cleared herself before God. The evil must then be made to appear as it is, and must be removed, that it may not become more and more widespread. . . . Matters of grave import come up for settlement by the church. God's ministers, ordained by him as guides of his people, after doing their part, are to submit the whole matter to the church, that there may be unity in the decision made.”
Our church books contain the names of many from whom the church has not heard for years, but no doubt it might have been different had the church been faithful in looking after them. May the great Head of the church help us all to realize that during the closing message Satan is working with all power to draw away the remnant people, that they may not receive the seal of God.
Let us move carefully in dealing with these erring ones, and first do all we can to win them back. O for more of the gentleness of Christ in dealing with one another in our conference, in our church, and in our home work, and then we shall not see so many giving up the truth!