Awakening The Churches
Awakening The Churches Awakening the Churches
B. D. Morehead
P. O. Box 173, Nashville, Tenn
“Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ will shine upon thee.” (Ephesians 5:14.) A church cannot shine while asleep. It must he in harmony with the source of light, Christ the light of the world, whose mission was to seek and save the lost, in order to shine. It was necessary in the first century of the church for Paul to write letters and even go in person to encourage and stimulate the churches.
Unless one is constantly reminded of men in spiritual darkness, his interest wanes and his efforts to reach them with the gospel decrease.
Hear the request of Jesus, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields.” (John 4:35.) Consider the work I have given you to do. See for yourselves the spiritual needs of humanity, then “Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he may send forth workers.”
Why does the Lord not send more workers? Why more than one hundred countries in which not even one Church of Christ can be found? If the church, which is “pillar and ground of the truth,” (1 Timothy 3:15) had a real compassion for souls, it could and would send men as “the salt of the earth,” (Matthew 5:13) into every country. This is expected of the church. The Lord did not command the church to undertake an impossible task.
How can we make congregations mission conscious? Keep scriptural mottoes suggesting mission work constantly before the eyes of the people. A country home in which were seven little boys kept a picture of a battleship over the mantle. At times the boys talked about the picture and played they were sailors. As the boys began to become men, one by one thev joined the navy until the last boy left home. The mother was heart-broken and called her minister, hoping to receive from him comfort. She said to the minister that she could not understand why all of her boys joined the navy. He asked her how long the picture of the battleship had been in her home. She replied, “Since the first boy was a baby.” Ihe minister then said, “You have been teaching your boys to be sailors.” She replied then, “I now recall the boys playing the navy and talking about the picture on various occasions.” Thomas Edison said, “Eighty percent of what people do in life is because of some impression through the eye.” Read letters from missionaries relating their experiences. Have the missionary describe conditions of the people before and after the gospel was preached in their community. Get the people to thinking about the missionaries, talking about them, and then the urge to do something for them will get into the hands; next the urge will be in the feet, and then people will “GO.”
Men are moved by songs. About the time our country entered the World War, many songs suggesting war were composed and broadcast over the country. We all know the effect on the people. Thousands of our best young men left home for the Western front to die for democracy. Songs suggesting a forward movement on the part of the church, the joy of pioneer service and the fruits of such work, would move the hearts of men and women to say, “Here am I, send me.”
“The pen is mightier than the sword.” We cannot deny the influence of the press. Newspapers mold the sentiment of thousands prior to an election. Politicians know the power of the press and spend millions supporting their party by means of the newspapers. A Christian doctor of my town selected fifteen of his patients who were not Christians and sent them religious literature, seven have been baptised. He believes the literature did much toward converting them. The fastest growing church in the United States spends more money printing and distributing religious literature than any other church. Almost every household of that faith constantly receives literature announcing their activities. Missionaries in one hundred and thirty-one countries, every nation of the world, is the result. This church supports a missionary to every thirty members.
Churches of Christ support a missionary abroad to about every ten thousand members. We have more truth, more members and more money than the above mentioned church and nothing in our way of evangelising the world, if only we had a desire to do it. We would even accomplish more at home by “sounding out the word” in foreign countries. Experiences have proved that churches most interested abroad do more at home.
Let our religious journals keep mission work before their readers, let the editors point out fields in which the church is not preaching the gospel, and stress the importance of going with the message. Teach the churches that the sin of neglecting to break the “bread of life” to the untaught is as bad in the sight of God as failing to worship on the first day of the week.
Since less than ten oercent of our members subscribe for religious papers, let the churches buy sufficient number of copies for each family in the congregation. I have met and talked with Sunday School teachers who did not know that we have, missionaries abroad. Awake, editors, and show by your writings that we believe in going to EVERY NATION, and urge the churches to GO. How many of our papers are really urging the churches to look out men of good report and send them to the fields of their own choice, and support them as they do their local preacher, sounding in the truth? Editors, encourage the churches to feel woe be unto us if we preach not the gospel in neglected fields. Where did Paul want to preach? Should not preachers prefer to preach in destitute places rather than established churches and leave the work of edifying the church to the eld' ers? I believe (rod’s plan, the church, “the pillar and ground of the truth, supporting the preacher preaching to the world, is workable and will build up the local congregation. A living, active thhig bear' ing fruit grows; an inactive thing, always receiving, becomes stagnant. A public school teacher, also a Sunday School teacher having worked in three communities, led all three of the congregations to do' mg regular definite mission work. Neither one of them had a definite program before he moved into the community. May the Lord give us more such teachers. Our twenty thousand Sunday School teachers can prepare the. minds of our six hundred thi >usand members to do mission work and set at least one percent of them to active service within a generation and the whole world will hear the gospel. The right type of Sunday School literature will work to this end. Since the purpose of the church as the “pillar and ground of the truth,” is to evangelise the. world, let each Sunday School lesson be material in the hands of the teacher which he. can use in molding earthen vessels as the salt of the earth. The editors of our Sunday School literature would indirectly be the cause of many benighted souls coming to the light by writing inspirational lessons calculated to create a passion for souls.
“For what purpose is the church but to evangelise the world? For what purpose is education but to train the workers? For what purpose is commerce but to support the workers?”
THROUGH THE PROVING. Are we that city on a hill
Whom Christ hath called the Light,
While souls know nothing of his will And wander in the night?
Are we indeed the salt of earth With millions yet untaught?
Or has our savor lost its worth—
And thenceforth good for naught?
Are we cleansed branches bearing fruit That God be glorified?
Or do we wither, lacking root?
We must in Christ abide.
Are we disciples of the Lord?
Christ said: “Come follow me—
To all the nations preach the word,
And lo, I am with thee.”
"Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ will shine upon thee.” (Eph. 5:14.)
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Why awaken the churches?
2. Why did Jesus say, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields?”
3. Why do not more men go to the fields?
4. How can we become mission conscious?
5. By what means will the urge to “GO” get into our feet?
6. By what means did a certain church develop missionaries for every nation?
7. How many members of the Church of Christ support a missionary abroad?
8. What per cent of talent and money should a church spend and use where the Gospel has already been preached?
9. Has anyone the right to hear the Gospel twice at the expense of someone who has not heard it once?