Mendota (Mo.) Church by A. R. Ogden

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. · Jun 27, 1912

Mendota (Mo.) Church

By A. R. Ogden

Dedication and Organization

THE new church at Mendota was dedicated Sunday, June 2. It is a neat little building, twenty by thirty-six feet, with an entrance, and an alcove in the rear, so that the rostrum sets back, leaving practically all the thirty-six feet for seating capacity. Elder E. T. Russell delivered the dedicatory sermon, and the house was filled to overflowing with interested listeners.

Contrary to the regular order, the building was erected and dedicated before a church organization was perfected, as the company of believers was not organized until the following Sabbath, June 8. The erection of the building was somewhat a matter of faith, yet not of faith, for we have been advised that "when an interest is aroused in any town or city, that interest should be followed up. The place should be thoroughly worked, until a humble house of worship stands as a sign, a memorial of God's Sabbath, a light amid the moral darkness. These memorials are to stand in many places as witnesses to the truth. . . . Wherever a company of believers is raised up, a house of worship should be built. Let not the workers leave the place without accomplishing this."—"Testimonies for the Church," Vol. VI, page 100. If this simple and plain instruction had always been carried out in all our denominational activities, how many good strong churches might be in existence at the present time where we now have only scattered fragments as the result of the efforts of the past.

"As persons become interested in the truth, they are told by the ministers of other churches,—and these words are echoed by the church-members,—'These people have no church, and you have no place of worship. You are a small company, poor and unlearned. In a short time the ministers will go away, and then the interest will die down.'" Have we, as workers, been as diligent to give permanency to our work as we should have been? There are ministers in our ranks who have worked five, ten, twenty years, and never left a church building, and but few organizations, in their track. Like the phosphorescent lights in the track of an ocean steamer in the tropical waters, so there should be a streak of churches, as lights, following in the wake of our efforts as ministers.

It is true that in some cases buildings have been erected where they have afterward fallen into disuse because of deaths, removals of members, etc.; but in such cases the property (when it has been properly deeded in trust to the conference) has remained intact to the work of the cause of the third angel's message. Where sales of properties have been deemed advisable, they have brought into the cause much-needed means that would otherwise never have been invested in the Lord's work, as the people of the communities where buildings are erected will nearly always contribute liberally to their erection, so that they can usually be dedicated without much if any debt.

The work at Mendota was begun last summer by Brother E. W. Swap, in a tent effort, assisted by Brother and Sister W. H. Turner. The meetings were continued about fifteen weeks without interruption, Brother Swap not even stopping the work to attend camp-meeting. A public discussion was held in the fall near the close of the effort, with a Church of Christ minister, which we believe helped in establishing the confidence of many in the message of present truth. Immediately after the discussion, Brother Swap began laying plans for the erection of a plain house of worship, laboring very hard all winter with his own hands to the accomplishing of the desired end. While this has called for his constant effort, yet we believe that the time has been well spent, and that more is accomplished to the conference by the raising up and establishing of one church, though it takes months to do it, than by efforts here and there without anything of a permanent nature accomplished. Credit is due Brother Swap for his untiring efforts at Mendota and for his hard work on the church building, all of which is most highly appreciated by the people of Mendota.

A. R. OGDEN.