01.07. The Public Appeal

7 THE PUBLIC APPEAL

I am not urging, or even suggesting, that others receive members by publicly opening the doors of the church. This is something which should be settled by the pastor, church board, or membership committee.

I am merely endeavoring to set forth, as requested by pastors with whom I have worked, the methods which I used and which God seemed to bless. I do not believe in railroading or high-pressuring people into the church. I do not believe in throwing open the doors and saying, "Whosoever will may come."

I have never knowingly let down the bars or compromised our standards in opening the doors of the church; but I know of some very fine people, and some who have climbed high in our denomination, who never consented to unite with a church until a public appeal was made.

Seeking Approval In publicly opening the doors of the church I have always first secured the approval of the pastor and in many instances have met the church board or membership committee and explained to them just how I would go about it. Having their approval, on the last night of the meeting I proceeded in the following way. The Appeal I am still very much interested in people coming into the church, and tonight we are going to give an opportunity to those who are ready. The pastor has talked this over with the membership committee and the church board. Some of them have spoken to you also. You have thought about it, prayed about it, and it is time you did something about it.

However, we want those who come with us to know exactly what they are doing and to be sold on the Church of the Nazarene, with its rules and its doctrines.

Before inviting you to come forward, I want to tell you as kindly, yet as definitely as I know how, some of those things which we stand for, and stand against.

After you have heard them, if you are a Christian, and would like to be a member of this kind of church, and will do your best to live up to its standards, you may come forward and the pastor will gladly receive you. On the other hand, after you have heard our standards, if you do not care to unite with us, we will not fail out with you because you do not join, and please do not fall out with us because we have some standards and are trying to live up to them.

Whether you ever come our way or not, we want you to remain our friend, and continue to attend our services and be a member of our congregation.

General Rules You have heard privately of our general rules; you have read them in our Manual or on the card which was given out. Now we would like to give them to you in brief, here in public. We do not receive into the church those who use intoxicating liquors or tobacco or traffic therein.

We do not receive those who belong to oath-bound secret orders or fraternities. This does not mean labor unions; neither does it mean life insurance.

We do not receive into fellowship those who are divorced and remarried without scriptural grounds, namely, adultery. You know if you have such grounds. Others may think they know but you know.

We do not receive those who gossip, slander, and spread surmises injurious to the good name of others.

We do not accept into membership those who attend theaters, circuses, and like places of worldly amusement.

We ask those who come with us that they dress in Christian simplicity, as becometh men and women professing Christianity (1 Timothy 2:9-10; 1 Peter 3:3-4).

We ask those who unite with us that they be saved and know it.

We do not ask that they be sanctified, but we do insist that they be in harmony with our doctrines, not inveighing against them in any way.

What We Have to Offer We cannot offer you the largest church. There are many which have more wealth, more members, and more commodious buildings. We take no pride in being small; but if it meant the choice of a clean work or a large one, we would rather be clean.

Speaking generally, we can offer you a church of more than 7, 000 preachers, all of whom believe the old Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We do not believe it merely contains the Word of God; we believe it is the Word of God.

We can offer you a church where every minister preaches the gospel of full salvation.

Some may preach it better than others; but from the general superintendents to the local preacher, every one preaches a gospel that will save all men from all sin if they will come to Christ on the terms of the gospel.

We can offer you a church where the money you give will not go for paying dues into worldly organizations or the use of filthy habits, but will go for the cause for which you gave it.

Most of us do not have much to give and we like to feel it will be used for the glory of God. The Local ChurchSpeaking locally, we can offer you a good pastor who will love you, share your joys and sorrows, and do all he can to be a blessing to you.

We can offer you here some men and women to be your brothers and sisters in Christ as fine as you will find anywhere on earth. In this church we can offer you a place of service, where you can work for the glory of God while you worship Him in the beauty of holiness.

Why Unite You should unite with the church for the sake of your influence. "Don’t you think I could live a Christian outside the church?" you might ask.

I would reply, "Yes, you might; but by staying out you may by your example keep out someone else who is not as strong as you. Therefore, because of your influence you should cast your lot with the church." We should tie our children to the most spiritual organization possible. The best way to do this is to set the example by uniting with a spiritual church.

If you keep your membership in some dead, cold, formal organization, when you aregone you will have left your children tied in their thinking to that organization. When on some special occasion like Easter or Mother’s Day they go to church, the chances are they will attend the one of which you were a member. If they do, will they hear anything which will point them to Christ?

If you join a spiritual church, your children may resent it, but when you are gone you will leave them tied to a spiritual church. If they ever attend a Church of the Nazarene anywhere around the world, they will hear enough gospel in any service to lead them to the Savior.

You young people, if you are saved, should come into the church. It will not save you, but it will do a lot to help you stand for God.

Children should unite with the church, and you boys and girls here tonight, if you are converted and your parents do not object, I know the pastor would be glad to welcome you.

There are a number in the audience who, if you would follow your hearts, would come in tonight. You plan to come, I am sure. Eventually, why not now?

Conclusion I have given you definitely and plainly what we stand for and what we stand against. If you are a Christian and would like to be a member of this church; if you will do your best to live up to its standards, and if you find you cannot, you will quickly withdraw or permit your name to be dropped-if you will come forward, under these conditions, the pastor will be happy to receive you. Reception When those wishing to unite have come to the front, I invite the church board, the membership committee, and the pastor’s wife to line up in back of them. When the pastor has received them into the church, the board, led by the pastor’s wife, gives them the hand of Christian fellowship and church fellowship.

If, through this method, we have ever gotten people into the church who have caused trouble and brought reproach on the cause of holiness, I have never known it.

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