Sunday Canvassing by W. C. Wales

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1902

Sunday Canvassing

By W. C. Wales

FROM recent experiences while canvassing in Nashville, I am convinced that much time has been lost to the canvasser by discontinuing his labor on Sunday, especially in the city.

There are good reasons why Sunday may be a very profitable day for taking orders, and delivering books, and making collections:—

1. The people are always at home. This is a very important consideration with him who understands that before dressing or cooking a hare one must first catch his hare.

2. If there is any money in the house at any time during the week, that time is most likely to be Sunday morning. The week’s work is completed, and the pay, therefore, is quite apt to be in the family purse. In fact, people here have told me that the only time they have any money is Sunday morning.

3. People are in the most religious frame of mind on that day. During the week very few stop long enough in the rush and hurry and bustle, to give a thought to their origin, history, or destiny. Sunday morning I find the majority of people at home, and they do not take unkindly to a friendly religious conversation, introduced with tact, and conducted with the avowed object of reaching them with the gospel.

4. The canvasser has an excellent opportunity for kindly upbraiding them for their evident carelessness and indifference to their souls’ eternal welfare. They are compelled to acknowledge, at least mentally, that their absence from church affords the gospel worker ample justification for taking the gospel to them in their own homes.

Under these favorable circumstances, the evangelistic canvasser stands a good chance of securing a candid hearing, and a good order for his book.

One Sunday I made up my mind that I would at least try canvassing on Sunday. I worked four hours with one of our small books, took fourteen orders to

be delivered the next Sunday, and sold fourteen for cash. To-day the Lord gave me sixty orders for one of our small books, all but one of which are to be delivered on Sunday.

It would not be wise to introduce one's self as a canvasser, but as a gospel worker seeking out the neglected and needy ones. Make the book secondary. The Bible should be the aggressive weapon. Such a remark as, “I find many who do not get to Sunday school, and I thought I would bring the gospel to them,” or, “I am doing a little work for the Lord among those who did not get to church this morning,” gives ready access to all, and at once places the worker in command of the situation. A chair is always offered, and respectful attention is shown. The worker can then hand out a little leaflet or a paper, and he is henceforth regarded as a friend and welcome guest. A small book can then be introduced, one like “The Gospel Primer,” “The Best Stories,” or, “Christ Our Saviour” being best; for the children are then interested and won. I believe that such a plan can be worked in all our large cities, and the canvasser can at least make his week’s expenses by his Sunday work.—W. C. Wales, in Southern Watchman.