THE CHURCH OFFICERS GAZETTE
Is Your Church Winning
Souls?
A Personal Appeal to Officers
God has given to His church but one
mission on this earth. Its mission is not
simply to feed the sheep, but to change
goats into sheep-—ito save lost souls. This
was the supreme mission of Jesus, and the
mission of the church is the same. It is
stated in the words “to scek and to save .
the lost.”
1 wish to-ask you, an officer in the
church, Is your church saving souls? Are
the members bringing people into the
truth? Are new faces appearing in the
congregation? If not, the church is not
filling the mission for which it exists; and
as an officer 1n the church this should give
you grave concern, for the symptom is
alarming.
We church members ate the light of
the world, and we cannot shut ourselves up
to ourselves and meet the mind of God.
We must bring men to Christ and prepare
them for the kingdom of Christ.
How can your church become soul win-
ning? This can be done by the members
putting forth earnest, personal efforts for
their relatives, friends, and neighbors.
The pastor of a Presbyterian church be-
came very much exercised because there
were no conversions in his church. One
night he called his elders to meet him in
the church; and after prayer he said:
“Brethren, 1 have a proposition to make
to you. I wish to resign the pastorship of
this church, because I do not believe God
wants me to stay here, I am not having
any souls saved.”
“Oh,” said one of the deacons,
greatly edified!”
“Edified for what?” he asked. “You have
been coming to me with such soothing
compliments as that, and yet 1 don’t see
for what you have been edified. Now,
brethren, unless God gives us some souls
here very soon, 1 am going to resign the
pastorate of this church. And 1 want to
say something to you also. You are the
elders of this church, and I am going
to start with you. Brother,” he said turning
to one, “do you believe that through you a
soul was ever saved?”
And the elder answered, “No, pastor.”
“Do you?” he asked another.
“No, pastor.”
“Do you?”
“No, pastor.”
the line.
“we are
And so ir was all along
“1 want to
he said,
make this proposition to you: Unless God
gives this church souls in the near future,
you will resign also as the elders of it.”
“Now, brethren,”
“We are getting along very well,” they
said.
“No, we are not getting along at all!”
Finally they all knelt down and prayed
together, and in that prayer a covenant
was made that they would resign if the
Lord did not give souls in the near future.
They went to their homes; it was Saturday
night.
Monday morning the elder first ques-
tioned by the pastor as to having been
instrumental in soul saving went into his
store. The first man he met was his con-
fidential clerk. He took him into his office,
shut the door behind him, and said: “Bob,
I have been a good master to you, haven't
I?”
“Yes, sit, you have.”
“Well, Bob, you have been with me for
fifteen years. 1 am an elder in the church
that you attend when you go anywhere.
But you are not a Christian, and 1 know
it and have known it all the while; and
yet 1 have never personally spoken a word
to you about salvation. But, Bob, my soul
is on fire now, and I want us to get down
here in this room and give ourselves, both
of us, to Christ. I shall give myself to Him
for greater consecration; you give yourself
to Him for salvation.”
“Yes, sir, I shall be only too glad to do
it,” Bob said as they knelt. ‘The man was
saved. The elder called in another, and
another, and another, and that one day he
led eleven men to Christ. ‘The next Sunday
over thirty men were received into that
church upon profession of faith, every one
of them led to Jesus Christ by an official in
the church who had up to that time never
saved a soul.
Surely those who ate looking for Jesus
to come in a few short years, looking for
the judgment of God to fall and the destruc-
tion of the Almighty to come as a whitl-
wind, looking for the last plagues to come,
should be as earnest and active in soul
winning as this pastor and his church.
Can you not plan a soul-winning cam-
paign in your church? As asleader in the
church, this is your work. Having accepted
leadership, you cannot escape this responsi-
bility. God will hold you accountable in
this matter. Begin to pray, plan, and work
for souls as you never have in the past.
Work for your young people, neighbors,
and for the lost within your reach. Set all
April, 1951
hs
the church to work, and you will have the
joy of seeing many brought to Christ.
(This appeal appeared in the CHURCH,
QFFICERS’ GAZETTE in 1914, the first year
of its publication. It is good counsel in
1951. —THE EDITOR.)
y
QUESTION
CORNER v
Is the Pulpit Holier Than
the Church? “
Question: Does the pulpit, desk, or other |
furniture on the rostrum occupy the same
place in our church today as did the holy"
of holies in the sanctuary?
Answer: We have not so considered it
among us as a people. Sister White speaks
of the sacred desk, but I think her reference
to it does not suggest any special dedica-%
tion of the desk other than that which
would apply to the whole church. We dedi- |
cate our churches for religious service, bury
do not have a special dedication of the =
desk, or pulpit, as is done in some go
The Catholic, Episcopalian, and some other
churches have a special altar that is con- |
sidered more holy than the other portions+
(Please turn to page 32)
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EDITOR
JaMEs 1. ROBISON r
MANAGING EDITOR STANLEY C. HARRIS™
Associate Bditors
Theodore L. Oswald Eldine W. Dunbar
E. E. Roenfelt G. M. Mathews
Assistant Editors
Grace Fields Mildred Lee Johnson
Arabella Moore Williams Mary L. Scott
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