Missionary Department by J. N. Loughborough

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Jan 14, 1875

Missionary Department.

By J. N. Loughborough

"Philip saith unto him, Come and see." John 1:46.

The Missionary Work.

It requires a little time and patience for all to understand the missionary work in its various branches; but when we see an anxious desire, as was manifested at our State quarterly meeting just passed, on the part of officers, directors, and members to learn how to do their duties effectively and harmoniously, we are encouraged to do all we can on our part by the way of counsel and instruction. We are thankful that we are not wandering on ground unexplored, but that Bro. Haskell and others who have so effectively proved the problem of missionary work in the Eastern field, can assist us in counsel and instruction.

The True Missionary, published last year, will assist us on many points, and we shall take the liberty to draw from its pages for this department of the Signs. In No. 4 of that periodical, Bro. Haskell says of the missionary work: "The object of the missionary work should always be kept before the mind. It is to save souls for whom Christ died. It is not simply to see how many tracts can be distributed, but with the distribution to see how much good can be accomplished, how much prejudice can be removed, and how many become interested in the truth.

"Efforts may be put forth even in tract distribution that will do more harm than good. If the individual that hands out the reading matter is uncourteous, this will tell against the truth. If the lives of those who visit from house to house are a disgrace to the cause, they cannot leave a proper influence.

"Those most successful in tract distribution will be, 1. Those who get the heart so imbued with the Spirit of God and love for souls that their own ease and comfort are cheerfully sacrificed for the good of others. 2. Those who, when in conversation upon the subject of truth and religion, are prepared to hand out that tract which is best adapted to the minds of those with whom they have conversed. 3. Those who understand that the conversation should not be to debate some doctrinal point, but to call the attention of the individual to the subject of religion, and who, then, let the tract do the advocating of the doctrinal point.

"Be careful that all your deportment is unexceptionable. You should be of that class 'in whose eyes a vile person is contemned;' and by kind acts with a tender heart you will obtain access to the hearts and consciences of men. Then upon the reputation thus obtained you can recommend the truth.

"The heart should first be softened by the love of Christ before it is fit to labor for others. We should first have an experience in the things of God. A stream will rise no higher than the fountain. And if the soul has never drawn draughts from salvation's well, how can we impart that salvation to others? If the rays of light from Heaven do not shine into our own hearts, they cannot be reflected upon others. Therefore the scattering of the reading matter is a means to bring about a certain end, and not the end itself.

"A person might stand in the public highways and hand out a tract to every passer-by without note or comment. We do not say but some might be reached in that manner; but we are not prepared to say that we think the time has come for a move of that kind to be made. It should ever be remembered that judicious labor is one object of the system of tract distribution; and another object is to bring every true lover of the cause of truth into a position where he can do something to help forward this cause. More important moves are to be made in the future than have as yet been made, by way of distributing reading matter, and the importance of a system where each Conference, and all parts of the Conference, can make the same efforts at the same time will be more fully realized when these are undertaken. In fact, unity of action is indispensable. This cause is one, and it is the angel of God that is leading the people of God forward. Therefore to understand his leading, and to take those steps that will tell for the general interest of the cause of God is of the utmost importance."

I would say of the above, these are most wholesome words, and worthy of being carefully pondered by all our readers and missionary workers.

J. N. L.