p. 10 | Social Services at Camp-Meeting by William Covert

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 8, 1907

Social Services at Camp-Meeting

By William Covert

WILLIAM COVERT

THE prayer and social services at our camp-meetings rank high as matters of importance. The spiritual condition of the campers is always indicated by the testimonies they bear in these meetings. But even the testimonies are more largely under the control of the leader than many suppose.

In the preaching service one person talks, but in the social service one directs many people in their talk. The leader suggests the topic for the meeting, and the spirit that influences him has a manifest effect upon the entire service of the hour. The man who is appointed to take charge of a social meeting, should feel that the life of the camp is to be given into his keeping for the time of that service, and that camp should, in his secret pavilion, be presented to the Father in heaven, before he dares to present himself before the people as their leader.

Social-meeting topics properly embrace faith, gratitude to God, the joy of obedience, answers to prayer, the work of the Holy Spirit, the worth of a soul, the progress of the message, the soon coming of Jesus, the love of God, and many other themes of Christian experience and gospel work.

The time allotted to each speaker, where the congregation is large, must, of necessity, be very short. Those well-timed testimonies, made rich and mellow by the Spirit of God, which occupy a minute or less, are greatly appreciated by most of the listeners. Long talks, a repetition of set phrases, sharp thrusts, cold arguments, tedious recitals, reference to gossip, criticism, murmurings, reference to troubles, expressions of doubt, words of darkness, efforts at sermonizing, and things belonging to these classes should be studiously avoided in our social meetings. The enemy will endeavor to work these topics into a social meeting, but a wise pilot will avoid these dangerous icebergs which unfriendly currents carry into the way.

Our social meetings are designed to give all the people an opportunity to announce publicly their faith in God and the truth. In them, testimonies of success regarding lessons learned and victories won, are always in place. The apostle gives a summary of the social-meeting work at our assemblies, when he says we are to exhort one another to love and good works, and to do this so much the more as we see the end approaching. Heb. 10:24, 25.

It sometimes happens that the one given charge at the hour for social worship takes advantage of the situation that he may preach to the people. His talk may be good, or it may not be good; but as the time was intended for the people to use in offering prayer and in giving testimonies of praise and exhortation, the appointed leader was unkind when he took the time which had been allotted to the people. On such occasions the people are tempted to think that better balance is needed.

Perhaps one hundred and fifty persons have presented themselves at the early morning service which has been announced as the special service of the day for the people to tell what blessings the Lord has given to them. At this hour, the minister in charge, after fifteen minutes have been consumed in opening exercises, occupies twenty-five or thirty minutes of the remaining time in talking or sermonizing, leaving fifteen minutes for the people to express themselves. This leaves a period of six seconds for each person in the congregation to use in bearing testimony. As the leader comes to that point where he announces that “the order of the meeting will now be changed,” he looks at his watch, and says to the waiting people, “There are fifteen minutes of the hour left; remember the golden rule,—be short so as to give your neighbor an equal share of the time with yourself.”

But when there has been a tedious opening of this kind, the testimonies often partake of the same tedious spirit. In this way it sometimes comes to pass that the camp-meeting receives a serious wound. The leader who has made this mistake will sometimes trespass upon the breakfast hour, by protracting the service beyond the appointed time for closing, and thus a second injury is inflicted upon the rights of the people.

It is plain that careful organization of the camp and its work is essential to success, and that the details of the plan be conscientiously observed by all who speak and all who lead in the different departments. It requires the conscientious, intelligent co-operation of all concerned in the camp-meeting work, to make these gatherings what the Lord would have them to be.