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The Missionary Meeting

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 19, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 33.

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The Missionary Meeting

By E. M. Graham

EVERY church that is awake to the times in which we are living will have its missionary meetings, weekly if possible, and if not, just as frequently as people can be gathered together for it. One translation of Eph. 4:16 makes plain an important principle. “For from him the whole body, closely joined and knit together by the contact of every part with the source of its life, derives its power to grow, in proportion to the vigor of each individual part; and so is being built up in a spirit of love.” The body, which is the church, derives its power to grow in proportion to the activity of each member. So no church can expect to add to its numbers if its members are not working. A working church will be a growing and a united church.
Missionary meetings are held to consider various questions connected with the work of God. Some of the reasons for such a meeting are:—
1. Prayer for the workers and for the souls for whom they are working, that special intercession may be made as it is needed.
2. Reports of labor, that all may be intelligent as to what is being done and what needs to be planned for, also that they may know how to pray in an understanding manner.
3. Study of principles that will make the members better qualified for labor for God. There is an inexhaustible field here, in the building of character, the right understanding of religious liberty, and of health and temperance, in gaining a knowledge of what is taught in our tracts, in learning how to do missionary correspondence, studying the best methods of distributing literature, and other subjects.
4. Study of the foreign fields, that the members may better understand the conditions that have to be met, and what must be provided for the giving of the message; in order that they may learn to give of their means intelligently.
In every missionary meeting some lesson of a practical nature should be given. The missionary meeting is not the place for sermons or exhortations, but for united study of the things that make successful missionaries. Programs should be arranged so as to give as many as possible a part in them, and those taking part should be changed from week to week, until all who are capable of doing so, have had something to do. This helps to make the meetings educational.
The missionary meetings should not be long. An hour to an hour and a quarter is long enough, as a general rule. To make them what they ought to be, a good leader is needed, one who is quick to see important points and impress them, one who is bright, brief but pointed in remarks, and who is an active missionary worker.
E. M. GRAHAM, Secretary Australasian Union Conf.