The Evangelistic Church

There is a general inquiry to-day in all parts of the Church both on the part of ministers and laymen concerning the evangelistic Church. It is possibly true also that there is in many quarters of the Church a misconception as to what the spirit and the work of such a Church should be. The conmiission given by the great head of the Church is clearly set forth in the New Testament Scriptures.

Matthew 28: 16-20. Mark 16: 15-20. Luke 24: 46-49. Acts 2: 1-4. From all of which we learn, First: That God expects us to evangelize the unsaved and the unchurched masses. If a church is not evangelistic, it will soon cease to be evangelical.

Second: That God equips us to evangelize.

He has left undone no part of his work. It is 96 no question as to our own ability or fitness, but altogether a question as to his filling us with that power which enables us to do his will, and this he has pledged himself in his word to do.

Third: If he expects and equips, then he will one day require at our hands an accounting for the field we might have Occupied and the power we might have possessed.

I. The Church.

What is the Church? Whatever other definition may be given this at least is correct so far as our conception of the evangelistic Church is concerned:

It is the body of believers united by faith to Christ who is the living Head. This at once suggests a line of truth regarding the conduct of the body.

There used to be a man in Washington who as he walked the streets always attracted the attention of passers-by to himself.

First: Because of his remarkable head which they said was more like the head of Daniel Webster than any other since his day. And secondly because of his deformed body. The first was a look of admiration, the second one of pity, and is this not a truth for us? Our head is perfect; when he was here among men they said, “Never man spake like this man.” Now that he is exalted at the right hand of God he is the chiefest among ten thousand and the one altogether lovely. But concerning the body, in some places at least we are privileged to say that it poorly represents him and illy illustrates his spirit. If he is the head and the Church is the body then it naturally follows that we are expected to do his will, and at once the question is asked, “But may we know his will? “” Certainly we may know it, by studying carefully his instructions to his disciples; “in the early day he said, as he sent them forth, ‘* I will make you fishers of men,” and as he sent out the seventy it was to preach and to teach. In his parables and his sermons the same spirit is plainly manifest, and since he is the unchanging Christ, his will of other days is his will for to-day. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day and forever,” but in the Revision there is a change made in the translation and we read, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, yea and forever.” There is the addition of the word “yea.”

Some one has suggested that the author of the Epistle is writing concerning the Jesus of yesterday and to-day being the same, when suddenly, as it were, the very angels in the skies break forth, “Yea and forever.” He is the same in heaven in his purpose and desires as when he walked among men and commissioned them to go out and seek the lost until they were found.

There are some things which the evangelistic Church is not.

First: It is not of necessity a Church which holds extra services although these are as a rule advisable, for it is by the extraordinary service that the attention of some is called to Christ who would not otherwise think of him in their busy lives, yet one of the strongest Churches in America never passes a communion without a large accession. Recently one hundred and sixty-six came to Christ at one communion service, and it is the exception rather than the rule that extra services are held. The sainted Andrew Bonar it is said rarely held an extra service and never passed a communion without the coming of many into the fold.

Second: It is not of necessity a Church of constant accessions. If the seed is faithfully loo PRESENT-DAY EVANGELISM

sown and there is an earnest evangelistic purpose the Lord of the harvest will care for the result. For a time they may be meagre but God’s statement is true, “His word shall not return unto him void.”

Third: It is not of necessity a Church having important accessions for as men count the work frequently it is a failure so few come to him, as God views it it is the most pronounced success. When the old Scotch minister said, no one had joined his Church for a long period of time except Bobbie Moffatt, he little knew as Joseph Parker once said, that when he added Robert Moffatt to the Church he practically added a continent to the Kingdom of God. It is the spirit of the Church that counts and if underlying every public service, whether it be the preaching on Sunday, or the midweek prayer service, the gathering of the elders or the meeting of the Sunday-school teachers, there is plainly manifest a real concern for the lost. With such conditions prevailing we have an evangelistic Church.

II. The Evangeustic. First: The evangelistic Church is one, thp

THE EVANGELISTIC CHURCH loi

spirit of which breathes a welcome to every one who crosses its threshold, and whether it be the minister’s sermon, the music of the choir, the grace with which the ushering is accomplished, the welcome given to the stranger, the spirit is all the spirit of Christ, in which lost men are made to feel their need of him and are impressed with the thought that there is hope for every one away from him.

Second: The evangelistic Church is one willing to use any method whatever that method may be so long as it may have the approval of the Great Head of the Church and may detract nothing from his honor and glory and not in any way grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Since the shepherd sought his sheep until he found it, and the woman her piece of money until she recovered it, and the father waited for his boy until he was home once more, so let us change our methods if need be until we impress the lost with the fact that we long for them to know him who died that they might live. He said he would make us fishers of men.

Third: The evangelistic Church is a Church of prayer. It is said that when Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey went as strangers across the sea their first meeting in the morning was a discouragement and in the evening it was a gracious manifestation of God’s power, and some time afterwards it was found that one of the members of that Church had read a little notice in a paper concerning the work of the unknown evangelists Moody and Sankey in America and had prayed God to send them to her land and to her Church. This little slip of paper she had kept under her pillow and when she knew that the evangelists had come she burst into tears and cried, “Now lord, letest thou thine servant depart, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” There never has been a revival in history that has not been born in prayer. There never has been an evangelistic Church since the Church was dedicated that was not nurtured by prayer. The time has come to call the followers of Christ to their knees. It would seem almost as if Grod*s set time to favor Zion is now here.

Fourth: The evangelistic Church is one in which pastor and Church are practically of one mind. Since Jesus himself could do no mighty works because of their unbelief, how can a pastor to-day accomplish very much if he is opposed by his Church or hindered by indifference. They must both together have one mind and that the mind of him who ever sought the lost, then there is a mighty force brought to play upon the conscience and life of the unsaved which cannot possibly be gainsaid.

III. A Final Word.

First: The evangelistic Church is an organized Church. I am well aware that we may press the question of organization too far but at the same time I remember that our God is a God of order and that a perfect piece of machinery may be so yielded to him as that we would lose all thought of the machinery and stand amazed at the exhibition of power.

(a) The Church officers must be enlisted in this special service for Christ. Would it not be possible for the pastor to meet his officers before he preached and that they then pray for the blessing of God upon his sermon? Would it not be feasible for pastor and Church officers to have at least one meeting a month when only prayer should be offered for God’s guidance of the Church? In some Churches this plan has been adopted and nowhere has it been known to fail.

(ff) The men of the Church must be enlisted. Whatever may be said to the contrary this is the testimony of workers who have been successful in reaching men for Christ, the work must be done through men. I am not unmindful of the power of a mother’s prayer, of a wife’s example, but never until the men are enlisted, banded together, thoroughly consecrated and filled with the Holy Ghost may we expect the ingathering from their ranks.

(c) The sympathies of the young people should be enlisted. Is it not a practical thing to suggest that for at least three months of time the young people of our Churches should seek to win their comrades and companions for Christ? This could be done in many cases if the pastor and the Church officers would show their sympathy by their presence, would counsel the young people so that they might be saved from making grievous mistakes. The young people of our churches might be completely transformed if this mission were held up before them.

(d) The Sunday-school should be counted an evangelizing agency. Since it is true that the majority of the people coming into the Church come from the ranks of the Sunday-school scholars, we have an illustration which to say the least is forceful, but we have only begun our work in this direction. The majority of people in the Church to-day come to Christ before they are twenty years of age and if we miss the organization of our Sunday-schools along this line we are guilty at least of a mistake for which we will one day be called to an account. Could there not be arranged conferences with the superintendents and the teachers, the older scholars in the school, when prayer would be offered for the unsaved and an effort be made to lead them to Christ. What we need, however, is to be definite in our work.

(e) The Church itself should be thoroughly organized. Is there any better suggestion to be made than that concerning the circle of prayer?

How TO Form a Prayer Circle.

1. Dedicate yourself to God for this service of intercession.

2. Ask him for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, that you may be “a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto ’ this ’ good work.”

3. Ask that you may be guided as to whom you should invite to join the circle of prayer.

4. In prayer seek for guidance as to all details of individual or collective prayer, such as times of prayer or meeting together and subjects.

5. Watch for answers, and any indications of answers, to the prayers offered; but do not be discouraged if definite answers be delayed. Intercessory prayer often requires the exercise of much faith and patience.

Why should it not be possible for the pastor of the Church to call upon his members to unite with him in a prayer circle, and perhaps have numerous circles in his congregation, which should meet from time to time with some degree of regularity? In many parts of our country this is already done and some of our most successful pastors are following this line of work.

Second: The evangelistic Church is a spiritual Church and that Church may be counted spiritual in which the Holy Ghost has his rightful place. If we should make it a rule in our Churches to devise no plans, adopt no methods without these things were all submitted to God and we were conscious of his approval a new day would dawn upon us. That Church is spiritual in which the minister as well as a goodly number of the Church people are wholly surrendered to Christ. When he has the right of way in our lives blessing will surely follow and the unsaved in large numbers will be won to him.