THE PROGRESS WE HAVE MADE
THE PROGRESS WE HAVE MADE THE PROGRESS WE HAVE MADE
Joseph W. White
“Then opened he their minds, that they might un-derstand the Scriptures; and he said unto them, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45-47).
“They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has set within his own authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:6-8).
“They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
“And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved” (Acts 2:46-47).
“But many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand” (Acts 4:4).
“And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women” (Acts 5:14).
“And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). For a century and a half, an ever-increasing number of persons have been vitally concerned with the restoration of New Testament Christianity. The call, “Back to the old paths,” is not a new one. But there is an ever-present danger that we may stray into new and more inviting ways. Every generation needs to reexamine itself. I am happy that I have been assigned the topic: “The Progress We Have Made.” Let us take stock and see whether, and how much, we have progressed.
Four or five years ago, some of our British brethren published a booklet of addresses with this title: “Forward—Back to Jerusalem.” I take it that the as-signment of this subject had that kind of progress in mind, for any “progress” which does not take us back to Jerusalem is the wrong sort of progress. Desirable growth must lead us: “. . . unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we . . . may grow in all things into him” (Ephesians 4:12-15). Progress in that direction “maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself.”
Scriptural growth is not simply enlargement; not mere expansion. Several months ago in The Horizon, published monthly by Abilene Christian College, Broth-er Morris made this statement, “Expansion is an increase in size; growth is an increase in stature.’' Certainly no one can dispute the fact that churches of Christ have grown in size and in number. The point with which we are concerned is whether in that increase in number we have merely increased in size, or we have grown, that is, increased in stature; whether we have progressed, that is, moved forward—“forward—back to Jerusalem.”
All around us we hear cries that we are drifting. That some have drifted, there can be no doubt. In the early days of the restoration movement the growth was tremendous. Multitudes of persons came “back to the old paths.” Whole congregations changed their status from denominationalism to New Testament Christianity. Indeed, entire regional associations of congregations did so. One great leader became so enthusiastic that he renamed his periodical, “The Millennial Harbinger.” Not, it may be said, to give aid and comfort to speculative theories, but because he believed that a great age of gospel glory was being ushered in.
Statistics gave some grounds for such a conviction. In the census taken in 1850, what was known as the Disciples of Christ was the fourth ranking church in the nation. In the decade from 1850 to 1860 it grew far more rapidly than any other group. However, with the dissensions which began chiefly after the Civil War, starting from opposition to the first missionary society which was organized in 1849, and an even more intense opposition to instrumental music which was first introduced in a few churches in the 1860's, the body of Christ was gradually split into two distinct groups. In 1906, for the first time, churches of Christ were listed as a separate group in the census, and since that time have been treated in those reports as a distinct body. In the forty-six years that have elapsed, have the innovators been progressive and the remainder of us non-progressive ?
Some years ago, a preacher excitedly said to the noted Henry Van Dyke: “Dr. Van Dyke, Christianity is at a crisis!” Calmly, Van Dyke replied: “Christianity is always at a crisis.” Granting the truth of that statement, how have we met our crises for the past forty-six years? Many voices have been pessimistic. Listen to this statement regarding conditions in general :
Referring to a well-known magazine, a Christian journal says that it “has printed in recent issues some interesting facts concerning the general decline in church attendance in modern times. It is evident that all churches are passing through a period of unusual dullness. As a whole, they are making progress, but slowly. In general, it has shown so little interest in industrial conditions, the causes and the iniquity of the unequal distribution of wealth, and so little concern for the needs of the struggling masses, but these masses have concluded that the church cares little for them.” A quotation was then given from a Cleveland, Ohio paper in which it was stated that, “At the regular meeting of the Cleveland Presbytery today the question of how to counteract the influences which are decreasing the attendance at the churches represented was discussed. A number of the most eminent ministers declared that they had for some time sought to increase the attendance by means of sermons upon subjects of popular interest. This they all said proved effectual for a time, but had ceased to accomplish its object. What to do next was the question. The Presbytery decided to consider it during a season of fasting and prayer to last from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., behind locked doors.” Our own religious journal commented:
“To put the case plainly, the average fashionable church of modern times does not offer ‘the struggling masses’ anything much which they cannot get without attending the churches. The world has its entertainment bureaus, with their orchestras, oratorios, cantatas, and operas, high and low; their theaters, concert halls, musicals, and every other variety of entertainment the carnal appetite calls for; and when the churches ‘enter the lists’ to compete for patronage in the score of entertainment, they need not be surprised if they are hopelessly left in the race.”
One of our older brethren wrote the following:
“I have been in the evangelistic field for 33 years, and of course I have seen the church of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in her day of unity and power, and I have seen her in her division and weakness. I have seen her go forth clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners. I saw her when the denominations combined against her; when they put forth their strongest men to meet our ministers on the field of public discussion. I saw her glorious sons, mighty men of valor, stand forth as one man, heart to heart and hand in hand in her defense, presenting such a solid front that, like the Austrian phalanx, place for attack was nowhere to be found. Brethren of the North and South, East and West were perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. During this glorious time of unity and brotherly love, many consecrated men from all the walks of life, waxing bold, took their Bibles and without purse or script, carried the good news into almost every nook and corner of this fair land. On every hill and from every valley, by every stream and rivulet, every town and village, the Bible was held up to the people as man’s only infallible guide in the religion of Christ. Their motto was ‘Where the Bible speaks, we will speak; where the Bible is silent, we will be silent. It was no wonder that under this teaching congregations multiplied and increased in numbers and influence throughout the country. But how is it now? Division, strife, animosity, hatred, im- mulation, and every evil work. The results are loss of influence, loss of spiritual power, stagnation, and death.”
Listen to another quotation:
“Upon the whole, the outlook is not flattering, and it seems to me there is less active, aggressive feeling manifested by God’s people than I have ever observed before. There is a lethargy observable and a lukewarmness manifested which is simply appalling.’
Here is still another:
“Christianity has been rapidly declining. Bible institutes, Bible colleges, and lecture seasons have not prevailed to stop the decline of pure Christianity and genuine, saving piety and devotion . . . The world is farther away from God today than it was twenty years ago . . . The only remedy for this terrible evil is a return to the ‘old paths.’ ” Are these statements accurate appraisals of our present situation? Are they warnings to which we would do well to take heed? All of these quotations were taken from the Gospel Advocate. The first appeared in the issue of January 3, 1901; the second, February 20, 1902; the third, June 15, 1899; the last, January 3, 1901.
Now in repeating these quotations, the chief point is this: fifty years ago our brethren were looking back to the “good old days” of twenty years before. If time permitted, the same things could be quoted from journals printed in 1880. All of them have the same refrain: “the church cannot hold its young people,” “people no longer read the Bible,” “church attendance is declining,” and even, “preachers do not preach first principles like they formerly did.” All of them look back to a golden age which never existed. Oftentimes, as we grow older, we lose perspective, and like Elijah of old, we declare:
“I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; and I, even I only, am left.” All of us, as we grow older are inclined to feel like the man who recently said:
“Everything is farther than it used to be. It’s twice as far from my house to the station now, and they’ve added a hill that I’ve just noticed. The trains leave sooner, too, but I’ve given up running for them because they go faster than they used to.
“Seems to me they are making staircases steeper than in the old days. The risers are higher and there are more of them, because I’ve noticed it’s harder to make two at a time. It’s all one can do to make one step at a time.
“Have you noticed the small print they are using lately ? I have to squint to make out the news. I really don’t need glasses but it’s the only way I can find out what’s going on, unless some one reads aloud to me, and that isn’t much help because everyone seems to speak in such a low voice I can scarcely hear them.
“Even the weather is changing. It’s getting colder in the winter and snow is much heavier than it used to be. The rain is wetter too. I wear rubbers here of late. And I guess the way they build windows now makes drafts more severe.
“People are changing too. For one thing, they are younger than they used to be when it was their age. On the other hand, though, people my own age are much older than I am. I realize that my generation is approaching middle age (to me that is roughly between 20 and 101) but there is no reason for my classmates tottering blissfully into senility.
“I ran into my roommate the other night and he had changed so much that he didn’t recognize me.’’ “You put on a little weight, Bob,” I said. “It’s this modem food,” Bob replied. “It seems to be more fattening.” “I got to thinking about poor old Bob this morning while I was shaving. Stopping a moment, I looked at my own reflection in the mirror. They don’t use the same kind of glass in the mirrors any more.” What are the facts with regard to the good old days ? Were they as good as we imagine? Insofar as churches in general are concerned statistics show otherwise. 55.6 per cent of the population of the United States were on church rolls of one religious group or another in 1950. In 1900, only 34.7 per cent belonged to some religious body. In the fifty years intervening, the rise from one in three to more than one out of two has been steady. In spite of the stories we hear of abandoned church houses, in 1950 there was an all time high of 278,479 congregations. Of course, this represents all denominations claiming to be Christians. However, those trying to follow the New Testament order have gained far above the average noted. The Christian Herald, a widely known family religious magazine which has for a number of years gathered statistics with regard to religious bodies in the United States, provides these figures. The latest year for which the report is available is 1950. As stated, in 1950, those who claimed to belong to any religious body amounted to 55.6 per cent of the total population. The population growth in the United States in 1950 over 1949 was 1% plus. The increase in membership in religious bodies in that same year was 3%, so that the average growth in membership of churches of all kinds was nearly three times that of the population growth. But that which will particularly interest us is that in the year 1950 churches of Christ were listed as having 901,000 members, whereas in 1949 they had been listed as having 778,000 members. According to those statistics, and I shall not question that statistics regarding the membership of the churches of Christ can never be completely reliable—while the churches in general showed an increase of 3 percent in 1950 over 1949, churches of Christ were reported as increasing more than 12%. In 1906, the first year in which a separate census report was made of churches of Christ, they were credited with a membership of 159,658, although in all probability the actual membership was three times that amount. But even with three times that amount, the increase in membership from 1906 to 1950 is a phenomenal one. In 1906, the census reported that there were 1974 buildings, but 2649 congregations, the point being that some 693 churches, or more than one-fourth of the total reported, were using rented halls rather than buildings which they owned themselves. Of the 2649 congregations, 631 were in Tennessee and 627 in Texas. In other words, nearly half of the congregations were located in these two states. At that time were eight Christian colleges with a total faculty of 73 and 1024 students, far less than several single Christian colleges have today. The total property value of all those colleges was $170,000. It would be difficult to build a respectable building on a college campus for that sum today. No one with even half-closed eyes can be unaware of the increase in size, in wealth, in astounding building activities. But the question is, “what progress have we made?” The dictionary defines progress as “a journeying forward; advance to an objective; gradual betterment.” Are we journeying forward—back to Jerusalem? Are we advancing to a scriptural objective? Are we better in the eyes of God or merely in the eyes of man ?
Always there is the danger that we will mistake expansion for growth; and confuse change with prog-ress. Always there is the peril of making ends of means, of failing to distinguish between material prosperity and spiritual soundness. Every general'on has its problems, every change of emphasis has its hazards.
Let us go back to 1906. As has been stated, in that year, government census reports first listed us apart from those using instrumental music. It is a good starting point for other reasons. As Brother Sanders stated here last year, in 1906, at Lubbock, the first church building was erected on the plains of Texas to replace those lost to the innovators. On August 23, 1906, the following notice appeared:
“Brother A. B. Barret has been for several months working most energetically to establish a Christian college at Abilene, Texas, and these efforts have been crowned with success, having secured five acres of land on which there are several buildings in the center of the city. To these buildings another has been added, and the school will open on September 10,1906. Abilene has a population of about eight thousand, and those in a position to know regard it as a very fine field for such work. We wish Brother Barrett abundant success.” This will be difficult for many of our younger mem-bers to believe, but when L. S. White in January, 1906, began work with the Pearl and Bryan congregation, in Dallas, he was the only preacher south of the Mason and Dixon line doing full-time, local work with the church of Christ. My father never made this claim for himself alone. Often, I have heard him say that he and his life-long friend, Jesse P. Sewell, were the only two men doing such a work at that time. However, Brother Sewell, himself, insisted to me he should not be included, for when he labored at San Angelo during this period, he supported himself by salesmanship.
If L. S. White had not moved to Dallas, probably someone else would. Brethren were beginning to catch a vision. Great credit is due to godly, farseeing ones in Dallas, and soon thereafter, elsewhere. “How shall they preach except they be sent?” In 1906, others were laboring with one congregation, but usually they were also farmers, or grocers, or insurance salesman. Or they were “located” during the winter months and held meetings in the summer. Others were employed for full-time, but were used to hold so-called mission meetings. Forty-six years ago, located work really began among us. Look at us now! Six days ago, in Los Angeles I was invited to address a group of business and professional men. In talking to the program chairman, I mentioned that I would be in Abilene this week. He, a Methodist, said to me: “You know, you can’t drive into a town in Texas that you don’t see a sign calling attention to the church of Christ!” Are you aware that we have differences now? Read the files of religious journals of forty-five or fifty years ago and you will discover that the brethren were concerned with these problems:
Two acts of worship simultaneously
Whether an invitation song was scriptural.
Ordaining elders by the laying on of hands.
Preaching for a stipulated salary.
Rebaptism.
The order of worship.
Participation in civil government.
Life insurance. This query came to one of our papers:
“I would like to have your views on life insurance. It is becoming very popular in Texas. Most of our best preachers are holding policies. Some have got so deep into it they hardly have time to preach.” The use of a chart in a sermon.
Contribution during, or after, the public-worship.
Passing a basket (instead of laying it on the table).
Building a meetinghouse (It was all right to use one already built)
Shaking hands (instead of a holy kiss) The name of the church (The Pearl and Bryan congregation was known as the First Christian church until nearly 1920. There were many others. Some of these questions were of importance to only a few persons, but others, such as the rebaptism controversy and the ordination of elders raged for years. These and other questions have largely been settled by the “sanctified common- sense” of the brotherhood. I believe that the questions which agitate us now will be determined in the same way, indeed, they are being determined. In the years before 1906, we were largely a dis- spirited people. The disciples had appropriated most of our buildings, particularly in the larger cities. They had most of the wealth, the education, and the prestige. There was not much left to us but the gospel, a plea and a growing vision. Those have proved to be enough. But in 1906, few had a vision of what could be ac-complished, or the zeal to perform. A homely, but common, saying averred that many of the brethren wanted to “sit on the stool of do-nothing and whittle on the stick of do-less.”
Many had a purely negative attitude—they were “agin” everything. They were said to be anti-every- thing except ante-up. On August 17, 1905, A. 0. Colley wrote from Theo, Texas that “It is a much better place to labor than any other part of Texas that I have ever visited; there are less wrangles.” The chief activity of most congregations was the an-nual “protracted meeting.” On October 4, 1906, one brother wrote:
“There is an ‘evil under the sun’ that has assumed alarming proportions among the churches throughout the country . . . The trouble is this: Some eloquent preacher, usually ‘from a distance,’ ‘called’ to ‘hold a meeting’ for some church during the months of July or August. The brethren for miles around come out to hear the ‘big preacher’ . . . The preacher, enthused by the great crowds, holds a ‘powerful meeting’ and
‘goes on his way rejoicing.’ The papers report a ‘great ingathering,’ including a number of “restorations,” etc.
“Many of these new converts go their ways and never meet with brethren on Lord’s day a single time. I have in mind one large congregation . . . During the meeting there were more than one hundred ‘confessions.’ At least one-half of this number failed to report for duty on the next Lord’s day.” In the late fall, churches went into winter quarters. In the miscellany column of the Gospel Advocate for December 28, 1899, there was not a single report from a preacher. In June of that same year a brother wrote: “The people in Texas will not go to meeting if it rains or has the appearance of rain, or storm. Should there be an appearance of a windstorm, they seek a hole, m the ground, which they call a ‘storm house.’
Most preachers were part-time preachers. One of them wrote in 1905: “The thing that is worrying us most is that so many of our brethren are preaching only, and that those preachers that preach only are preaching only to ‘some old congregation.’ Your humble servant is asked freauently why he does not give up his occupation and give all his time to preaching His reply has always been this: If he did, how would those poor people around the mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky ever hear the gospel ? Those preachers who do nothing but preach have their hands full” In the great cities of the United States there were relatively few congregations holding fast to the sample gospel. Many of the larger cities, such as New York, did not have a single congregation of that sort. This was particularly true in the Eastern states. In the Rocky Mountain states, the Pacific Northwest, and the Pacific Coast there were only scattered hands- ful of members and only a few congregations, those congregations almost entirely small and uninfluential in their community.
Many portions of the United States were destitute of the gospel. In the six new England states there were six congregations, three of them established within a few years of that time, the other three older congregations. The combined membership of the six churches was only about one hundred and seventy-five persons. In these six states only one man was devoting his whole time to preaching the gospel, and one other devoting part of his time.
We might glance at some other localities, where the gospel is well-known today. As has been mentioned, a building was erected in Lubbock in 1906. Two years later, it was proudly stated that there were more than 1000 members. In February, 1905, it was related that “the church at Weatherford has just completed an excellent stone meetinghouse, costing about six thousand dollars. Some of the brethren criticized them for building such an expensive house.” On April 30, 1908, this report of conditions at Wichita Falls was written by Price Billingsley. “There was only one sister at this place when I began here two weeks ago ... I called upon all who were willing to stand for the purity of work and worship as recorded in the New Testament to come forward, and thirty-five persons responded. Several of these are from the ‘digressives.’ On June 25, this sister wrote that “we are now meeting in the courthouse . . . and have purchased a lot." On March 12, 1908, a brother wrote from Denver, Colorado, that they “met to worship . . . for the first time . . . twelve of us were present . . . Our first contribution was about six dollars.” In 1906, for many weeks, E. A. Elam wrote articles on the front page of the Gospel Advocate, with the plea, “Help Memphis! For example: The small and only congregation in Memphis, Tenn., striving to maintain the New Testament order of work and worship, is in need of help to erect a place of worship.” Later, Elam wrote that they were “now using a schoolhouse ... a small struggling church . . . yet it has raised over fifteen hundred dollars this year for the Master’s cause, and is now asking for help only to erect a house of worship of humble and modest proportions.” In 1906 about five or six persons were missionaries in Japan, principally the McCalebs and the Bishops. There were three missionaries in Africa. That was about all anywhere. In 1912, L. S. White engaged in correspondence with a Methodist preacher and his wife who were retired missionaries, having spent the greater part of their lives in India. At that time they were living in Portland, Maine. The correspondence grew out of the fact that this man who bore the hyhenated name of Armstrong-Hopkins had read the Russell- White Debate. In the correspondence he grew interested in the plea of churches of Christ. The Pearl and Bryan church sent my father and mother to the home of Brother Armstrong-Hopkins, where, as the result of a gospel meeting, he and his wife were baptized. They were invited to come to Texas with the hope that churches might be interested in sending them back to India.
Later, a long article appeared in the Firm Foundation, in which a detailed history of this missionary work was told. L. S. White, who wrote the article, made the statement that he assured Brother Arm- strong-Hopkins and his wife that if they would come to Texas and tour the churches, let themselves be seen and heard, he believed that a sufficient amount of money could be raised to send them to India and guarantee their support. The article was written with the implicaiton that it took a great deal of faith to make that assurance. The amount of money which was to be promised them and which they needed was the munificent sum of $30.00 per month. They came to Texas, they toured the churches, they were seen and heard. And with considerable effort, the sum of $30.00 per month was guaranteed them by the churches of north and east Texas. One would not need to labor the point to contrast that experience with what is being done today. In February, 1906, a brother recorded with reference to Brother Yohannan, in Persia, that “so far as I know only twenty-five dollars was sent to him last year.”
Let it be said for the record, that probably the first “cooperative” missionary work among us was begun by the Pearl and Bryan congregation, at the return to Japan, in 1902, of William J. Bishop and his wife.
Time would fail me, if I attempted to indicate all the evidences of growth and progress among churches of Christ in the past forty-six years. I have attempted to point out something of the conditions at the begin- nig of that period. The story of the present you can see for yourself. The great audiences which assemble at Abilene Christian college annually are part of the evidence. You, yourself, are a part of what we are today. The church is what you are making it. What you and thousands like you are doing, constitutes the activity of the church. The contrast between now and then is startling.
Today, we are neither dispirited nor discouraged. One of the commonest expressions heard at these lec-tureships is that “the church is on the march.” If we keep our feet on the ground, maintain our zeal and continue to “speak where the Scriptures speak and remain silent where the Scriptures are silent,” nothing can stop the onward progress of the church of God. I am fully persuaded that the church of our Lord will make greater progress in the next ten years than it has in the last fifty. Of course, this movement must be progress and not mere change. It must represent growth and not mere expansion. A generation or two ago, some among us introduced innovations, fancying that thereby they were progressive—and liked to so denominate themselves. History records the fact that this “progress” was but the first step in a retrogression that proceeded further and further until many of their own
number have recoiled in horror. Would to God that the great number of them who still love the Book could be led to see that the first steps they took inevitably led them to worldiness and modernism.
“Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son” (2 John 1:9).
Today there may be an insignificant minority that scorns the old paths and rejects the old Book. It, as yet, has little influence in the church. I am sure that I am merely echoing the conviction of this great audience—with perhaps not a dissenting voice—when I say that the body of Christ is opposed to modernism and religious liberalism in every form, whether it be open or concealed, blatant or disguised, evident or sugar-coated.
Forty-six years ago, as a people, we had little vision. We were afraid. We lacked confidence in ourselves and, because of unpleasant experiences with false brethren, we did not trust one another. Above all, we lacked faith in God.
It was a common thing in those days for some good old brother to stand at the Lord's table and declare: “Brethren, we are few in number and poor in this world's goods, but you know that Jesus said that where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them!"
Many of us were so afraid that we would do some-thing wrong, that we did not do anything at all. Thank God, we have caught a vision. The old days
are past. May God grant that we shall never go back to them. When Jesus said to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” he instituted the biggest program in the world’s history. It takes big men, with big minds and hearts to accomplish the task. I am not afraid of the right kind of bigness. I am fraid of littleness. We have had enough of that.
Until a few years ago, the churches as a whole practiced a hop, skip, and jump method of “establishing” congregations. Actually, thousands of churches were not established, they were just started. You know the pattern. A preacher would go into an area, perhaps hundreds of miles away from his home and a considerable distance from the nearest congregation. A meeting would be held, varying in duration from a week or two or three weeks. A number of people would be baptized, perhaps five or six, sometimes twenty-five or thirty. These, together with a few who had been members for some years, would form a new congregation. The “evangelist” would appoint two or three untried men to the eldership and inform the religious papers that he had “set the church in order.”
Then the preacher would jump over to a spot two hundred miles away and repeat the same process. In the meantime, the “faithful few” he had left behind would struggle along for years as best they could. Eventually, some hobby-rider would come along and, in their ignorance and simplicity, the congregation would be a fertile field for his hobbies.
Today, thank God, conditions are different. All over this great southwest, and in an increasing acceleration elsewhere, the land is dotted with church houses, overflowing with members who are “zealous of good works.” No longer can it be said, as it was forty or fifty years ago: “If you are in a strange city and want to find the church, go around the outskirts of the town. Go down the least desirable streets. Look for a little, unpainted structure. It will be the meetinghouse of the church of Christ.” But the question may be asked: Have we progressed, or have we merely changed ? Have we grown, or have we just expanded? We have a right to ask these questions. And we should “be ready always to give answer to every man that asketh.” Have we developed a pastor system just to be like the denominations around us? That our present system works, no one can dispute. If anyone had predicted ten years ago—not forty-six years, but ten— that we would be doing what we are in Germany, in Japan, in South Africa, or in Texas, hardly anyone would have believed him. If I were to tell you now what I believe that with the help of God we will accomplish in the next ten years, a great many would think I was a dreamer. But, brethren, I repeat, the next ten years will see greater progress by churches of Christ than the past forty-six years. But will this growth be scriptural? Will we stay in the old paths? We will, if we never forget that the old paths were not surveyed in 1906, or 1880, or 1830. The old paths were planned by God in heaven, brought to earth by Jesus Christ, revealed by the Holy Spirit, and laid out by the apostles. I am grateful for what the pioneers have fought and bled to pass on to us. I am humbly thankful for the benediction that the life and teaching of at least one of them has meant to me. But I am not concerned about walking in the paths in which walked L- S. White, or E. A. Pllam, or T. B. Larimore; or David Lipscomb, or Tolbert Fanning, or Alexander Campbell. I am concerned with walking in the path trod by the apostolic church.
Let us re-examine the scriptures read at the beginning of this speech. I shall not repeat them, for you know them as well as I. What was the program?
First, Jesus commissioned us to go into the whole world. That means that our horizon knows no limit. Our vision must encompass it.
Second, the apostles were told to stay in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power from on high.”
Third, after the church began, the apostles remained in Jerusalem until the church was thoroughly established. How long it was from Pentecost to the dispersion, I do not know. McGarvey says it was two years. Others think it was three years, or longer. One thing, however, is evident from the account in Acts, and that is, they went over the face of the earth, but stuck to the job in Jerusalem.
What a masterful job they did! “The number of the men came to be about five thousand.” After that, “the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly.” Tradition tells that the number of Chris-tians in Jerusalem reached forty thousand. That may be an exaggeration. Nevertheless, if there came to be five thousand men and they later increased exceedingly, there must have been not less than fifteen or twenty thousand disciples in the Jerusalem church. Before you decide that a congregation is getting too big and “needs to swarm,” compare it with the Jerusalem church! A church may need to swarm, but not because it is too big. Compared with the church in Jerusalem, we do not have any big churches yet.
Now to our fourth point. After the church in Jerusalem was thoroughly indoctrinated and saturated with Christianity and trained to work, the efforts were centered on Judaea and Samaria. If you look at a map, you will see why Samaria was the logical place. Besides geography, there were spiritual reasons why Samaria was next. Only after Judaea and Samaria were Christianized did the gospel start spreading all over the world. By the lowest estimate, the Antioch church was not founded until eight years after Pentecost and Paul did not begin his first missionary journey until ten years after Pentecost. Ten years of concentrated work in an area that would fit into one corner of Texas!'
Brethren, the pioneers of other generations called us back to the old paths, insofar as doctrine is concerned But the pioneers of this century, some of them dead, many of them living, some of them here today, have led us back to the old paths of church building. I did not say church buildings, but church building. Have we made progress? We have. Are we prog-ressing in the old paths ? In the respects I have men-tioned we are. May God grant us the vision to take advantage of our opportunities today, as some men of twenty to fifty years ago did in their day. The good old days are not fifty, or seventy, or one hundred years ago; the good old days are right here and now. These are the best days the church of our Lord has seen in modern times. They are but a beginning to what the church will do in the years ahead of us. Brethren, the church is growing!