p. 12 | The Church in Its World-Wide Work by T. E. Bowen

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

The Church in Its World-Wide Work

By T. E. Bowen

T. E. BOWEN

It was not until the call of the Holy Spirit for Paul and Barnabas, as they labored at Antioch, that the church of Christ really entered upon its world-wide task of taking the gospel to the whole world, including the Gentiles (then considered heathen). In that first call lie the principles by which all true progress has since been made in foreign mission work. These might be summed up thus: (1) The call, in this instance the Holy Spirit naming the missionaries chosen; (2) the clear evidence to the church of the fitness of Paul and Barnabas for the work to which they were called, and the sending out of their brethren, in whom they ever after would be interested, and from whom later they hoped to hear; (4) the connection thus made with distant fields, the lifting up of the eyes of the church to look upon the people for whom the missionaries were laboring.

These four elements blend to-day in the work of going to the world with the last gospel message. To divorce one of these principles from the others makes the whole incomplete. One writer in the Baptist journal Missions, states it in the following words:—

“Sometimes the missionaries are tempted to think themselves the sole agents, as though, leaving the church behind, they left the church entirely out of the task and out of the problem. Sometimes the church itself, sending forth the missionaries and staying behind, thinks its share is ended, and may turn itself to other concerns and other activities.

“The church, however, must follow, not in body, but in sympathy, in heart, in devotion, in sacrifice, and in offerings. The church must receive reports, hear tidings, kindle and maintain a lively interest in the acts and achievements of its representatives, else it ceases to be a missionary church, and becomes but a memorial to a past missionary impulse. The missionary must report; he is not justified in simply working for the heathen; he must work also for his home constituency,—for them through letters and reports and information and appeals.”

Paul kept in close touch with his brethren at home. We read in the Bible of his first return to Antioch: “And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” Three times at least Paul thus reported personally what God had wrought through his labors to the brethren where the gospel had first gained its foothold.

The writer in the Missions further says:—

“It is as important to maintain the lively interest of the home church in the missionary undertaking as it is to win the interest of the unconverted heathen to the gospel’s first appeal. The missionary serves really in two lands. The great danger is that he will forget to serve adequately in the land from which he goes, and will think only of his service in the land of his sojourn. Christians at home will criticize the maintenance of missionaries in the home land as a failure of effort and a waste of resources. This ministry, if it be a real ministry, is as important as the missionary’s ministry anywhere. Some Christians deem ‘home expense’ unjustifiable, a waste of substance, a tax on contributions destined wholly for other purposes. Really, the expenditure of the missionary offering is as proper in cultivating the true spirit of Christ in the home land as it is in endeavoring to introduce that spirit of Christ in the foreign land. If half of the missionary offerings were consumed in making all the churches of America truly missionary, the other half, used in extending the kingdom in other lands, would doubtless be no less productive for the wide interests of the kingdom than the whole would be if divorced entirely from the sympathy and the devotion of the home church.”

As the missionaries sense the need in the dark lands, their messages inspire an interest and zeal in the hearts of the brethren and sisters at home to have part in the good work in regions beyond. They give of their means, and consecrate what is still dearer, their sons and daughters, to missions. God in his wisdom has balanced the obligation, making the success of the one a counterpart of the other, that all may enter into the reward together. The little mission bands out on the frontier could not long remain were the supplies cut off from the home land, where the greater strength of the church lies. Neither could the church at home maintain that high spiritual plane to which she is called were her efforts confined entirely to herself at home. Therefore, God hath tempered the body,—the church,—distributing these gifts as it hath pleased him.

It was the Holy Spirit that made the first call in the Christian church for missionaries; ever since he has been guiding and blending the interests of the whole church into one grand world-wide effort. And he is at work to-day in a wonderful manner in directing the movements of that people who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” out into the regions beyond; while to all, those at home and the messengers sent forth into distant fields, is given the one word to proclaim, “As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The church, in its sympathy, its devotion, its labor, is thus encircling the world. This is Christlike; this is the spirit of him who was the first great Missionary to the world.