The Church by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 10, 1910

The Church

By G. B. Thompson

Instruction Pertaining to the Duties and Responsibilities of Officers and Members

Duty of the Church Toward Its Officers

An officer in the church occupies a place of very great responsibility. The elders are called “bishops,” or “overseers” of the flock. Acts 20:28. They are to “feed” the church, and guard them from the wolves from without, and from those who from among themselves shall arise, speaking perverse things; from those who shall arise making great pretensions to having light, but who in reality draw disciples not to Christ, but to themselves. There can be no greater responsibility than this. It reaches into eternity, and must be answered for at the tribunal of the Great Judge.

No doubt much of the coldness and lack of spiritual advancement in many churches is traceable to the lack of earnestness and spiritual power among the officers. The church is not fed. Backsliders are not looked up and labored with. The discouraged, and those in special trial, are not visited and prayed with, and every effort possible is not made to maintain unity and brotherly love in the family.

But while this is true, there is danger that the church will settle down into an “I-told-you-so” attitude and charge all the trouble and spiritual lethargy to the officers of the church. This is quite convenient, and the selfish, worldly heart likes to have it so. But all the blame should not rest there. To succeed there must be unity and co-operation between the officers and other members in the church. All have a responsibility. While the officers may properly be expected to lead the church, they ought not to be compelled to drag the body. They should be, under God, the guides, or directors, of a living, moving body, endowed with life, and moving in a direct course toward the city of God.

Decayed logs and rubbish of every sort easily float down-stream, but it requires life and strong effort to row up-stream. We can go down-hill without much effort, but it is different when it comes to ascending the grade. Advancement means work. We need to plant our feet on higher ground; but this can be done as a church only by united action.

Officers of the church, especially the elders, occupy in some respects a hard place. Encompassed with infirmities, and sometimes without much training or experience, week after week, year in and year out, the elder must stand before the church, and according to his best ability, try to instruct and build them up. They are all his neighbors. All his limitations are known to them. They have heard frequently about his failures, and his weaknesses are all before them. Oftentimes his work is made hard, and all his efforts to help are neutralized, by harsh, unkind, and unnecessary criticism.

The reason that there is so much criticism in the world, and that so many are engaged in the business, is because such a large amount of business can be done on so small an amount of capital. To be a first-class critic requires no special endowment of either brains or religion.

Criticism is the devil’s business, and should not be engaged in by the Lord’s children. In a special sense should the members of the church refrain from criticizing those whom they have chosen to carry certain responsibilities in the church. I have heard parents confess that they had driven their children from the truth by criticizing in their homes the leaders in the church. The elder is perhaps more conscious of his failures than you are, and is almost overwhelmed by them. The deacon mourns over his, as well as do the other officers.

If, in our churches, a full stop can be put to the evil of criticizing the leaders; it will help. We will feel better ourselves, and the church will grow faster. Have some helpful suggestions. Be a burden-bearer. If you see where improvement can be made, go to the officers and in a kind, Christian way call their attention to the matter. If they do not see it as you do, don’t sulk and say they are stubborn. It is possible, after all, that they are right and you are wrong. Having done your duty, wait and pray.

“An earnest effort should be made in every church to put away evil-speaking and a censorious spirit as among the sins productive of the greatest evils in the church. Severity and faultfinding must be rebuked as the working of Satan.”—Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, page 609.

If the officers in our churches arise and take hold of the responsibility with which God has entrusted them as they should, if all in the church take hold and do their part—do some real hard lifting—in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, renewed life and power will be seen everywhere.

G. B. THOMPSON.