A Simple but Effective Way to Work by Mrs. S. N. Haskell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 16, 1913

A Simple but Effective Way to Work

By Mrs. S. N. Haskell

“God expects personal service from every one to whom he has entrusted a knowledge of the truth for this time.” —“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IX, page 30.

Have you received the word of truth? If so, then the Lord expects “personal service” from you; but the Lord never requires work of any one without providing ways and means by which to accomplish the work. He has given “every one” of his “own servants” one or more talents to use in his service (Matt. 25: 14-30), and he has put it into the hearts of those who have ability, to prepare an abundance of literature with which to work.

Since God has given us talents to use, and furnished material with which to do the work, and “heavenly intelligences are waiting to cooperate with human instrumentalities” in the saving of souls, what more could we wish?

Of the many kinds of work that may be carried forward by the brethren and sisters, there is none more effective than work with the Family Bible Teacher. As its name implies, it truly teaches the Bible to the family that will accept and study it. There are twenty-eight four-page leaflets, each containing a Bible reading, written in a clear and forceful manner.

All the principal subjects of the message are presented in this series. Numbers one and two are studies on the Word of God, and the other subjects are arranged in a manner to create an interest in Bible study without arousing prejudice.

If you wish to work with these leaflets, you should secure the number of sets you think you can use, then study prayerfully and carefully leaflet No. 1, in the meantime praying earnestly that God will incline the hearts of your neighbors to receive them. Call on your neighbors, stating that you have a leaflet on Bible study which has been a help to you and you would like to leave the little leaflet with them for a week, and hope they will find it as helpful as it has been to you. Do not tell them all it contains, for if you do there will be no need of their taking time to study it. Your object in studying it yourself is that you can truthfully say it has been a help to you. A few words pleasantly and enthusiastically spoken are all that is necessary.

Study the Family Bible Teacher leaflets one by one in your own family worship, until every child in the family of an age to understand can answer intelligently every question. After you have finished the twenty-eighth lesson, begin at No. 1 again and review them.

In the meantime visit your neighbors week by week, exchanging the leaflets one by one until each family has studied all the series. Say little about the new leaflet you lend each week, but be ready to explain any portion of the one that you lent the previous week.

If you study them daily in your own family, you will be able to ask questions on the subjects that the people have been studying and by that means can ascertain if they have an intelligent idea of what they have read. Most individuals after they have studied the entire series once or twice carefully with their own families, and lent the entire series to all their neighbors within easy walking distance, will be able to give an intelligent Bible reading on any of the cardinal points of our faith.

Those who prayerfully and carefully carry out the above plan of work, will in all probability see definite fruit of their labors; whether they are permitted to see immediate fruit or not, in the great gathering day they will hear the Master say to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Another excellent way of using the Family Bible Teacher leaflets is to sell them. Many of the brethren could sell the entire set in the villages and cities to individuals whom they could never have the opportunity of visiting regularly. The small price, only ten cents a set of twenty-eight lessons, appeals to almost every one who is interested in Bible study. When visiting in families, it is well to leave the leaflet with them if they are interested, and let them pay for the entire series when you have finished, but it is best to give them out one at a time where you can follow up the work by weekly visits.

“The truth is soon to triumph gloriously, and all who now choose to be laborers together with God, will triumph with it. . . . The Lord is inquiring, ‘Whom shall I send?’ Those who wish to sacrifice for the truth’s sake are now to respond, ‘Here am I; send me.’ Isa. 6: 8.” Mrs. S. N. Haskell.