p. 5 | Two Methods of City Work by S. N. Haskell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 2, 1912

Two Methods of City Work

By S. N. Haskell

S. N. HASKELL

There are two distinct methods of city work. The one that has been followed almost exclusively for many years is dependent almost entirely upon preaching. When a man goes into a country town and pitches his tent, he has a small audience, and is able to visit all the families that attend his meetings. Those who accept his message become strong, stanch Sabbath-keepers because the worker has visited the homes from day to day, has studied the Bible with the people around their own tables, and instructed them face to face. For this reason, the country churches generally stand firm. But a man who goes into the city and hires a hall has larger audiences, as a rule. People come in from different parts of the city, and it is almost impossible for the minister to visit them. The city work is more strenuous than the country work, and a minister who preaches every night in the noise and bustle of a city has not the same strength to visit that a worker has in a quiet country place.

A man working in the city usually has a company of workers associated with him, who spend a good portion of the day in distributing circulars and inviting people to the meetings. Each night they are all supposed to be present in the hall or tent to welcome those who attend the meetings. They have very little time to hold Bible readings in the families. Some Bible readings may be held in the afternoons, but not with entire families, as the man of the household is not usually at home in the afternoon, neither are the young people of the family. As a result of such meetings, a number may take their stand for the truth.

It is twenty-five years since I opened up city work in London, England. Since then I have paid a great deal of attention to the city work, and I have noticed that where large companies are brought out simply by preaching, after a few years many of them are lost to the church, even as in the parable the seed that was sown by the wayside was eaten by the birds of the air, and that among the stones withered in the sun because it had no root in itself. These people come out largely through preaching instead of through individual study of the Bible, and therefore, when adversity comes, they do not know how to stand firm on the Bible alone. I have not only studied the situation from the standpoint of experience in city work for the last twenty-five years, but I have carefully studied the Testimonies, and have adopted the plan that we are working upon here in Portland, Maine,—the plan that we have worked upon for many years in other cities,—not to be odd or strange from my brethren, but simply because I think it is the plan that God recognizes, and the plan that will bring out the firmest and strongest Sabbath-keepers.

Our plan is to have not more than three public meetings a week,—Sunday night service, preaching on the Sabbath, and one other evening meeting. We usually make the week-day evening a health meeting. Our plan has always been to connect with us a company of workers. Portland is the first place, for the last twenty-five years, in which we have labored without having from eighteen to twenty workers with us. Here we have had only a few. We spend considerable time training these workers, teaching them how to study the Bible for themselves, and how to teach others the art of studying the Bible. The Testimonies state that the worker who teaches ten others to work accomplishes much more than if he himself did the work of ten persons. Our plan is to have regular Bible study every day with the workers in the home, teaching them that the Bible is their strength, that they can not win souls and place them on a firm foundation by argument, by oratory, or by natural talent, but that it is the Bible alone, with the Spirit of God, that will convert souls.

As the workers in their visits from house to house bring people up to the deciding point, we make a practise of going with them, and often give the readings on testing truths, thus teaching them how to help others over the deciding point.

In order to make the two methods of work plain, I wish to draw a comparison. A minister is holding meetings in a city. In his congregation there are, on an average, fifty persons not of our faith. These come and listen. Not more than half, if any, bring their Bibles with them. They listen to an argument, and go home. Very seldom the entire family is there; the father may be at the meeting, and the mother at home with the babies.

On the other hand, we have twelve or fifteen Bible workers in the city. These Bible workers hold one Bible reading each evening. Their audiences average from two to seven. They sit down in the home with the father, mother, and young people, and perhaps some neighbors and friends. Each individual has his own Bible, turns to every reference, reads it, is asked questions in regard to it, has the privilege of asking questions of the Bible worker; and when the reading is finished, each one present has a clear, concise understanding of the subject; and not only do these persons understand the subject, but they know where it is found in the Bible, and they know that they have read it themselves out of the Bible. It is far more to them than simply going to the church to hear a sermon preached. When the twelve or fifteen Bible workers finish their work in the evening, they have taught an audience as large as would have been in the hall or tent, if not larger; and instead of simply listening, each one of that audience has read the truth out of his own Bible. They perhaps have had the very same subjects presented that would have been presented by the minister, but they have gained a hundredfold more than they would have gained by simply hearing a sermon on the subject. Besides these evening readings, the workers have been visiting and reading with the people during the day. If the minister in charge of the work visits with these families, he will bind off and strengthen the work of the Bible worker; and if he does not have to preach every night in the week, he is free to do much visiting, and his work in visiting in connection with the work of the Bible worker will bring out a company that will stand much stronger, will be far more firmly established, than any company could be that came out simply by hearing sermons preached.

Now we put it in another way. We will say that as the result of preaching every night in the week for a number of weeks a goodly number, twenty or thirty, take their stand to keep the Sabbath. In that series of sermons perhaps one or two evenings were devoted to spiritual gifts, but all of those twenty or thirty persons did not happen to be present the night that subject was presented; they perhaps missed it altogether. There were also one or two evenings devoted to the subject of health reform, but a reasonable number of the converts happened to be absent those nights, so they have very little knowledge of those subjects. Tithing was also presented one or two evenings, but a number were absent then, and so on through the series; and when the company is brought into church fellowship, a certain number are comparatively weak on tithing, others weak on the health reform, others weak on spiritual gifts, etc.; while on the other hand, a company brought in largely by Bible readings missed no subjects, because the Bible worker gave every subject to them carefully and clearly, and they had opportunity to ask questions and to study into every subject thoroughly. Therefore, when they come into church fellowship, they are settled and established on every point of faith, and make much more reliable, substantial church-members than do those who are not.

Consider another phase of the subject. The minister who preaches every night in the week, gives six or seven subjects to his audience each week, and they are often given so rapidly that they are only half digested, as it were. On the other hand, with the house-to-house, Bible-reading work, the Bible reader holds one Bible reading a week with the family. While it takes much longer to cover all the points of faith, that family has a week to study and investigate and to think over each subject presented. The subject is thoroughly digested before another is taken up. While it takes much longer to make a showing of results, yet it can be shown, by comparing the final results of the two methods, that the personal house-to-house work establishes a much firmer, stronger church. Again, the latter method is not so expensive. A number of Bible workers in a place should sell much literature. If they are paid by the conference for Bible work, the commission on their sales comes back to help pay their expenses. Bible workers who are properly instructed will sell many books in families where they are holding Bible readings. If the workers are not paid by a conference, they may make their work largely self-supporting by the literature they sell while conducting the Bible readings.

We do not discount preaching in any way, but believe in giving preaching its place with personal house-to-house work for souls. The two should be combined; either without the other is weak.

We read of Paul's preaching great sermons; but if you study the book of Acts carefully, you will find that as a rule he did not preach oftener than once a week. Acts 13: 42, 44; 16: 13; 17: 2; 18: 4. At Corinth, Paul preached every Sabbath for a year and a half, but in the meantime he was “teaching the word of God among them.” Acts 18: 11. And as the result, a strong church was raised up, and at least two of the Jewish converts were trained by him to be faithful house-to-house Christian workers, and were sent to open up the work in Ephesus. Acts 18: 2, 18-28.

Paul usually had workers connected with him in training; and sometimes when the persecution was so bitter that Paul was driven out, these quiet house-to-house workers were left behind, to build up the work. Acts 17: 14. Timotheus and Erastus were sent before him into Macedonia to prepare the way. Acts 19: 22. Paul had a company of seven with him when he went into Asia. Acts 20: 4. Paul did not leave all the house-to-house work to be done by his faithful fellow laborers, but he himself taught from house to house as well as publicly. Acts 20: 20. Women united with Paul in this house-to-house work, and he speaks of them as fellow laborers in the gospel. Phil. 4: 3; Rom. 16: 3. No doubt that in Paul's day, as now, women could often enter homes where men could not gain access. It was doubtless this thorough house-to-house work that so firmly established those churches that they stood faithful in the midst of persecution.

Portland, Maine.