Parish evangelism; an outline of a year's program

Parish
Evangelism

FREDEMCK L. FAGLEY

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Fagley, Frederick Louis,

1879-
Parish evangelism

1 O 9 1

Parish Evangelism

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Parish Evangel

An Outline of a Year's Program

936183 ''O I

By

i.>4i

FREDERICK L.'^FAGLEY

Executive Secretary the Commission on Evangelism
of the Natioftal Council of Congregational Churches

Introduction by
CHARLES L. GOODELL, D.D.

Of the Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America

New York Chicago

Fleming H. Revell Company

London

AND

Edinburgh

Copyright, 1 921, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago': 17 North Wabash Ave.
London : 2 1 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh : 75 Princes Street

Introduction

WHO shall lead the parish if not the pastor?
How shall he lead if he himself knows
not the way ? These are not the days for
little men. If there are anywhere men of light and
leading, prophets and seers, this is the day for which
they were born.

*' The bravest of men may find stern work to do
In the day of the Lord at hand."

At such a time every pastor must seek first for
spiritual power and then for such methods as will
best vitalize that power in the great task for which
he is commissioned. If he is like his Master, he is a
lover of men, father and brother, shepherd and physi-
cian of souls. If he goes to battle against the world,
the flesh and all evil, it is not to a charge or a single
battle but to a campaign that he must address him-
self. He must lay siege to the community. If he is
wise, he is not after an audience but a congregation,
not a crowd for an hour, but a company whom he
can lead in worship and service, and whom he under-
takes to build up in their most holy faith.

It is the part of wisdom for every pastor to supple-
ment his own experience by that of others ; to study
carefully those methods and plans which have been
honoured of God and shown to be effective in pro-
ducing the results for which his soul longs. It will

5

6 INTEODUCTION

broaden his outlook and give him increasing confi-
dence to undertake large and far-reaching results.
For this I know no book better than " Parish Evan-
gelism." It is the product of the experience of many
of the most successful pastors in the country. The
atmosphere of the book is eminently sane and prac-
tical, and at the same time deeply spiritual.

Dr. Fagley is a master spiritual diagnostician. He
knows what the times require and addresses himself
to vital concerns. Every chapter is full of meat.
It will revolutionize many a parish, if the pastor will
follow Chapter II, and, instead of trying to do all the
work himself and ending in nervous prostration or a
broken heart, have the joy of showing his people
that there are not two kinds of religion, one for the
pulpit and another for the pew, but that pastor and
people can have common share in the toil and in the
glorious reward of spiritual service.

The chapters on Visitation, on Preaching, on the
Pastor's Training Class, and on the Prayer Life of
the People are of thrilling interest and most reward-
ing.

If any pastor does not know what path to take for
evangelistic services, this book points the way.
Now — Forward! March! !

Charles L. Gk)ODELL, D. D.
Federal Council,
New York City.

Preface

THAT the work of the Christian Church may
be programmed to advantage has been
demonstrated by the experience of many
successful pastors and effective churches.

A study of the method and the message of many
of these churches has been the basis on which the
material here presented has been prepared. There
is nothing new or untried suggested here — for every
plan has been used by pastors in churches of many
denominations.

The program which is the basis of the discussion
has been endorsed by several denominations, by many
City and State Federations, by the Commission on
Evangelism of the Federal Council of the Churches
of Christ in America and by hundreds of pastors who
have tried it and found it helpful.

It is sent out with the hope that it may be sug-
gestive to ministers and church workers of the vari-
ous churches of our Christian Brotherhood.

F L F

New York, N.Y,

Contents

I.

Parish Evangelism is Natural, Ef-
fective AND Scriptural

II

II.

The Membership or Evangelistic
Committee

i8

III.

Planning the Year's Work

28

IV.

Fall Activities ....

40

V.

Fall Visitation and Pastoral Calling

51

VI.

January to Easter ....

60

VII.

Program of Preaching

69

VIII.

The Pastor's Training Class

78

IX.

Personal Work ....

88

X.

Deepening the Prayer Life of the
People

98

XI.

Holy Week and Easter .

108

XII

After Easter . . . .

115

PARISH EVANGELISM IS NATURAL,
EFFECTIVE AND SCRIPTURAL

PARISH Evangelism is no new or strange type
of evangelism. It is as old as the New
Testament and as simple as the method of
Jesus. It is the cooperation of a pastor and his peo-
ple in definitely planned religious work to enlist in
the Christian life and service those persons for whom
their church is most responsible. It is the experi-
ence of many churches that are doing eifective work
in evangelism that if their efforts be directed along
the lines of a well-defined program the results will
be far greater than if the efforts are undirected.
This form of evangelism is fundamental, natural,
effective; its results are permanent, and it is scrip-
tural.

Fundamental. In the first place, parish evangelism
is the fundamental activity of the church. To enlist
men and women in Christian worship and service is
what the church is organized to do. We have this
conception of the church's work very clearly in mind
whenever we think of foreign missions; for while
we recognize the fact that the foreign missionary
program includes schools, hospitals, agricultural
projects and social reform, yet we all have in mind

II

12 PAEISH EVANGELISM

as the one great aim of foreign missionary service
the enlisting of men and women in the service of
Christ and their training in Christian living.

We recognize also that the evangelistic work of
the home missionary church is by all means its most
important service. The first question asked of a
home missionary enterprise relates not to its educa-
tional, social service or other activities — all of ex-
ceeding great value in themselves, as well as in rela-
tion to the whole Christian enterprise — ^but we do
ask, first of all, of any home missionary project.
What have you done and what are you doing to win
men to Christ?

When we consider our home church, however, we
are often a bit hazy in our thinking. We think of it as
an institution essential for the development of Chris-
tian culture and the training of the saints ; as a hotbed
in which are germinated all sorts of worth-while
community enterprises, or as a platform for the pre-
sentation of high ideals of Christian duty. All these
things are essential to Christian civilization and they
should not be left undone, but doing them does not
make less the responsibility of the Church that it be
true to the great foundation principle of its life — the
bringing of people into vital relationship with God.
Parish evangelism, which seeks to bring men to Christ
and enlist them in the worship and service of the
Christian Church in a natural way, is the most vital
and fundamental activity of the Church of Christ.

Natural. Parish evangelism is a natural form of
Christian activity. It looks upon the church as a
growing organism which builds itself in natural ways,

PAEISH EVANGELISM IS NATUEAL 13

enlarging its life through the activities of its mem-
bers and inspired, not only as to growth but also as
to the direction of its growth, by the spiritual life
which gives it reality. Every living organism is bound
by the unchanging law of growth — that it must either
renew its life or die. This is an inevitable require-
ment of living things. Again, life is the develop-
ment of a germ which has been endowed with the
power of growth and this growth results directly
from the activity of the various parts of the plant or
animal body. Biology has taught us much concern-
ing the many ways in which the divine principle of
life works itself out in its environment and that in
doing this it follows certain laws.

The church is a living body and its life is directed
also by some fundamental laws. Among these are,
that it must renew its life or die ; that it must grow
from within, that is, from the center of spiritual life
which gives it being and reality; and that its own
activity is essential to its growth. Through a pro-
gram of parish evangelism the church sets itself to
study its own life and seeks to renew and to expand
that life. By so doing the church not only enriches
the quality of its life but enlarges its life as well
along lines of natural growth.

Effective. Parish evangelism is also an effective
method of recruiting. A survey of the various de-
nominations reveals the fact that approximately one-
half of the churches are practically standing still or
declining. That one-third are making a reasonable
growth, and that the remaining one-sixth have a
significant growth. A study of the life and work

14 PAEISH EVANGELISM

of these effective churches shows that, with few ex-
ceptions, each has a definite plan of work.

The material here presented has come out of a
study of the program of many of these churches^
The methods here presented have all been tested and
found effective by all sorts of churches — city, town
and rural. The universal testimony of pastors who
have used a program of evangelism is that it will
work; that if the church will study how other
churches plan and carry through their programs and
will develop a program to suit its own needs and
will carry that program through in a thoroughgoing
fashion, the results will be most gratifying. I have
never known a church to adopt a program for one
year and after that to go back to the old hit or miss
ways of other years. The most enthusiastic pastors
for a program of parish evangelism are those who
have been developing their programs through a period
of years.

Lasting. The results of parish evangelism are last-
ing. This follows because the methods of recruit-
ing are natural. As a rule it is most difficult to find
permanent results five or ten years after a highly
organized, emotional revival. In a conference on
parish evangelism of the pastors of a mid-west city
it was brought out in the discussion that a thorough-
going canvass of the membership roll of the churches
of that city revealed the fact that there were but five
members then living and working in the various
churches of that city of the whole number who were
brought into the churches as a result of a tabernacle
revival held some eight years before. There is a

PAEISH EVANGELISM IS NATUEAL 15

very great place for the tabernacle form of religious
work, but its chief result is not the building up of
the membership of the local congregation. Its ideal
more frequently is moral reform which if utilized by
the churches will help their work very much indeed.

If our churches were willing to accept the taber-
nacle type of meeting for the thing which it can do
best, and not expect of it the impossible, results would
be far more lasting. But the unhappy condition
exists that the final results are far different from
what the churches and ministers anticipate. It is
true, of course, that no small number of those who
unite with the church through its own activity drop
by the wayside, but in spite of death and removal and
backsliding, the churches show a considerable growth
year by year, and this renewal of life and growth
of the Christian fellowship depend when all is said
upon the faithful service of pastor and people, who
have worked in many instances without a definite
program.

Scriptural. Finally, parish evangelism is the New
Testament method. As Jesus went about His work
during the years of His ministry He not only preached
to the people but also sat down with them and quietly
explained to them individually and in small groups
the riches of God's grace. We have few records of
His sermons, we have fewer records of commit-
ments to His Gospel as a result of the sermons ; but
we have many records of His conversation with men
and women, singly or in small groups, when He ex-
plained to them the meaning and value of life, and
in this way He was able to woo and win them to

16 PABISH EVANGELISM

whole-hearted allegiance. The same thing is true
of the apostles. They preached great sermons and
won converts directly as a result of pulpit presenta-
tion, notably on the day of Pentecost ; but far wider
was the practice of meeting people in groups, in
homes, sometimes in chapels or along the wayside,
where the fundamental decisions of life were made
under the influence of these men who knew God
through Christ and who were able to interpret to
needy hearts the realities of companionship with the
living Christ. The church which concentrates on a
definite program of parish evangelism in winning men
and women to the fellowship of worship and service
in the Church of Christ is following the method used
by Christ and followed by His apostles.

The church whose pastor and people unite in a
program of parish evangelism will discover two
things concerning the work of the church. It will
find that the new members who come into the church
in this natural and normal way, who have been led
to the decision by those with whom they are to live
and work, who are received by the pastor who is to
be their leader through the days to come, that these
new members readily enter into the fellowship of
service and worship of the church with every element
in favour of their remaining faithful to the church.
The church will discover also that its own life is
deepened and enriched through fellowship in fruit-
ful service and that there is, year by year, a growing
efficiency in every department of its work.

When the church has decided to commit itself to a
thoroughgoing evangelistic service it should, first of

PARISH EVANGELISM IS NATURAL 17

all, see clearly the need of a program of activity
suited to its own life and effective in meeting the
needs of the community ; and second, it should select
either by pastoral appointment or church election an
evangelistic or membership committee which would
help in carrying the program through. In this dis-
cussion we will consider next the organization of
such a committee, and then the program for the local
church and the elements that should enter into it.

II

THE MEMBERSHIP OR EVANGELISTIC
COMMITTEE

THE evangelistic program for the church
should originate with the pastor, as he is
the official leader and religious teacher of
the congregation. When he entered his pastorate he
affirmed that he had experienced in his life the re-
newing presence of the Spirit of God, that he had
thought about his own experience in religion in such
a way that he knew how religion ministers to the
fundamental needs of life, and that he realized that
men need above everything else to enter into his ex-
perience of knowing Jesus Christ as a personal Re-
deemer. In brief, that he was fitted to lead his
people in spiritual things.

While the pastor is the religious teacher and leader
of the parish, he must be able to see and to have his
people see that the administration of a church and
the promulgation of the Gospel is not a one-man
task. He will realize as his program develops, if
he had not before come to this conclusion, that there
are in his parish men and women of exceptional re-
ligious experience and broad knowledge of the needs
of men and of the grace of God, who can do some
things which are impossible for him ^o accomplish.
Bishop Leete has well pointed out ttat the world
will never be saved by a committee, and that in our

i8

\

THE MEMBEESHIP COMMITTEE 19

development of organization and the establishment
of method in religious work we should ever be care-
ful not to bind ourselves in too hard and fast a
fashion to programs ; but that we should always have
our plans flexible enough to be able to bend both our
own program and our method of work to the will
of the Spirit as it is made known to us as we work
together with God.

While then we must guard ourselves against put-
ting too much confidence in mechanical programs,
we should bear in mind also that wise saying of
Spurgeon that, " Prayer and means must go together.
Means without prayer — presumption ! Prayer with-
out means — hypocrisy ! " (Quoted by Leete, " Every
Day Evangelism," page 48.) I believe profoundly in
the doctrine of the importance of human coopera-
tion in Divine regeneration. We may speculate that
God could, if He so willed, overpower the wills of
His children and compel entire obedience to His will,
though such a thought contradicts our understand-
ing of God's nature and love. Rather we should re-
member that as Bishop Oldham said many years ago,
" God for His own wise ends has conditioned the
regeneration of mankind upon man's cooperation."
There are instances where God seems to speak di-
rectly to individual souls, rather than through an-
other. The conversion of Paul is a most striking
instance of this manifestation of Divine power. Yet
while God, by a sudden revelation of Himself through
the risen Christ, brought to Paul a conviction of his
own sinful life, we should also remember the loving
ministry of Christian friends who interpreted to Paul

20 PAEISH EVANGELISM

through their own experience in Christ, the mean-
ing of his vision and opened the way for him into
Christian service, where Paul found for himself the
truth, ** If any man wills to do his will, he shall
know of the doctrine."

As we study the experience of men who have come
close to God we find that with few exceptions their
introduction to God has been through some one of
good-will and Divine spirit who has opened to them
the avenue which leads to communion with God. Be-
lieving as we do then, not only in the possibility but
also in the necessity of human cooperation in re-
demption, it is reasonable that we should study the
testimony and the experience of others in planning
how best to accomplish our part in this supreme task.
This leads us at once out of the mystical into the
realm of the practical — though we can never ignore
the mystical or believe that any method alone can
produce the conversion of another's life.

It is the common testimony of pastors who have
made use of some of their consecrated men and
women as a membership or evangelistic committee
that their own power is multiplied many fold; that
many men and women are led into fruitful service,
and that the whole church becomes enthusiastic in
the work which it is organized to do — the enlistment
of men and women in the worship and service of the
Christian Church. It is to be understood, however,
that the evangelistic or membership committee is
but to lead in the work and that there will be tasks
for all who are willing to help. The appointment of
the committee should serve to unify the church

THE MEMBEESHIP COMMITTEE 21

around its year's work and to give the program im-
portance in the mind of the church. Nothing will
so unite a church in an enterprise as to have a plan
presented to it which recommends itself to the people
as something worth while. The value of a com^
mittee to plan and execute the work of the church
has been demonstrated in other lines of activity.
For example, the erection of a new church building
or the every-member canvass. When a church plans
to erect a new church building we have all noticed
the spirit of optimism which it manifests, how it
overcomes obstacles and accomplishes the seeming
impossible. These results come from the union of
consecrated men and women in a worthy enterprise
where all are working together to certain definite
ends. While the building project centers in the
building committee, there is not a single organiza-
tion connected with the church but what feels and
reflects the pulsing power of unified activity. We
have likewise all noticed the way in which as simple
a thing as a social by the ladies' society, which draws
into its activity a large number of women, will give
quickening activity and deepening interest in all of
the departments of the church.

These things but illustrate one of the fundamental
characteristics of human life, which is that folks like
to do things together. Call to mind the interest young
men take in army drills. What could be more
prosaic than the drill field? Yet because a large
number are doing the same thing at the same time
and trying to do it in the same way, there is a thrill
of cooperation and of brotherhood which brings great

22 PAEISH EVANGELISM

satisfaction to those taking part in the exercise. One
of the world's renowned physical trainers has said
that he owes his success and fortune to this desire for
doing things together. In his physical training depart-
ment he has nothing new, and he asks the men Iwho
join his organization to do nothing which they could
not as easily do alone, but which as a matter of fact
they will not do alone; yet they will join together
under his leadership and find great pleasure as well
as benefit in doing together the simple things which
renew their physical life. When the pastor thinks
of this trait of human nature he will be convinced
that to make effective his ministry he must be wise
enough in his own generation to profit by what we
know of the psychology of life, as well as what we
know of the revelation of God's grace.

There are three specific functions for such a com-
mittee. First: To advise with the pastor as to the
details of the local program. 'Every pastor discovers
with very superficial observation that his church is a
peculiar church and that his situation has certain in-
dividualistic qualities which are not common to other
parishes. This common observation of ministers is
true, for as one man differs from another in per-
sonality, so do communities vary. If a program is
to be effective in meeting the needs of a local com-
munity there must be a clear understanding of what
those needs are. The pastor who perhaps has not
been long a resident of the community has an ad-
vantage by which he can survey the community as
a v.'hole and set down some of the characteristic
needs. But at the same time if he trusts to his own

THE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE 23

observations alone he is quite likely to overlook some
of the fundamental characteristics of the community
life. He will frequently err in his appraisal of men
and will not be sensitive to the traditions of the
parish, which to those who have lived there during
their lives are among their most sacred possessions.
The second function of such a committee is: To
assist the pastor in carrying through the program
which is decided upon. Most of our people are con-
vinced of the truth of the Gospel. You can scarcely
ever meet a man or woman who does not believe that
there is a God, that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer
of mankind, and His life the ideal for all men,
and that we are created in the spiritual likeness
of God and endowed with the possibility of eternal
life. In other words, the churches through the long
years of consistent service and proclamation have
virtually convinced our people of the truth of God
and of Christ and of sin, salvation and eternal life.
As Dr. Fosdick has so well said, the careful survey
made at the time of the enlistment for the great war
showed that there was scarcely an atheist among the
American youth. Where we fail is not in securing
the assent of the people to the truths of religion ; but
in bringing the people to a whole-hearted com-
mitment to the worship and service of Christ. When
the committee has outlined its program it should then
proceed under the leadership of the pastor to carry
out that program of enlisting men and women in the
worship and service of the church where they will
learn to practice day by day the Gospel of good-will
and enter more fully into communion with God.

24 PAEISH EVANGELISM

And third, the program will be set forward
if the members are able to give effective support to
the p, ogram in the various church organizations. It
is essential that members of the committee be drawn
from the various organizations, that they may be able
to present the program to those organizations and
secure their endorsement; that there be members of
the women's society and the men's group, and of the
Sunday-school, who will know from the beginning
the development of the program, be familiar with its
details and be able to secure the cooperation of the
organization in which they labour in the united enter-
prise of the church. This membership or evan-
gelistic committee is needed to assist the pastor to
plan his program and to help him to carry it through.

The Composition of the Committee
The committee should be composed of at least two
classes of individuals. First, those who are mem-
bers because of their representative capacity; this
will include members of the Board of Deacons or
Elders, of the church school, of the women's or-
ganization, men's organization and young people's
societies. These members may be selected by the
pastor or be designated by the heads of representa-
tive organizations. But in whatever way appointed
they should be persons of natural leadership in the
organizations they represent, whose words carry
weight and whose judgments are respected, and whose
lives are in happy accord with their religious pro-
fession.
The second class of members of the committee

THE MEMBEESHIP COMMITTEE 25

should be selected by the pastor as members at large.
These should be persons of potential leadership in the
church, who by gifts and graces, will be most ef-
fective in helping to develop the various items of the
program.

The Preliminary Work of the Committee
It has been found helpful to appoint the evan-
gelistic or membership committee in May or June
preceding the opening of the church year, which is
usually September or October. First, where this is
done it affords the committee an opportunity to make
a study of evangelistic methods and purposes. Some
pastors secure a number of helpful books and pass
these around from member to member during the
summer months. The books to be used in this way
should be brief, non-argumentative and helpful dis-
cussions of some of the features of church work.
For example, books dealing with the mission of the
church, personal evangelism, the evangelistic litera-
ture of the denomination, a brief history of the de-
nomination and its contribution to the religious life
of our times, and some simple book on the Christian
interpretation of the meaning and value of life. The
reading of such books lays a splendid foundation for
the more detailed study of the practical methods of
evangelistic work, which should be one feature of
the committee's activities during the church year.

The second line of preliminary activity for the
committee is to make a study of the church and the
community. This might well be assigned to a sub-
committee or to one person especially fitted for this

26 PAEISH EVANGELISM

work, but the results of such a study ought to be
available for the committee early in the fall, and
hence this work should be done if possible during the
summer months. This study could well follow the
following outline:

The total population of the community or parish.

The number of church members.

The number of children in the community of Sun-
day-school age.

The percentage of these enrolled in the church
school.

The enrollment of the Sunday-school.

How many of these are now members of the
church ?

How many church school pupils of twelve years
of age or over, not members of the church, that is,
how many boys and girls, men and women, who are
not now members of the church, is the church school
reaching with its message of instruction ?

There should be also a careful study of the mem-
bership of the church which should give the follow-
ing information:

The percentage regular in attendance.
The percentage occasional in attendance.
The percentage in the process of lapsing.
The number of absentees and their status.

These items of information will indicate the op-
portunity of the church for intensive cultivation of
its own field, and while this study is being made
there should be a beginning of the listing of prospec-
tive members, which lists will help guide the com-
mittee in its work later in the year. These may be
divided somewhat as follows :

THE MEMBEESHIP COMMITTEE 27

The husbands of wives who are members.

The wives of husbands now members.

Children in families containing one or more mem-
bers of the church.

Children in the church school or young people's
societies or congregation, not members.

Contributors to the church not members.

Attendants of the congregation not members.

Attendants at the various organizations not mem-
bers.

In the discussion which grows out of this study
there will be additional suggestions concerning the
formation of prospective lists. As the committee
studies the personnel of the congregation along these
lines, names will be discovered now and then of
those who will be prospective workers in the church
program and who ought to be included on the mem-
bership or evangelistic committee. For this reason
the list of this committee should not be closed, as the
pastor may desire to add to it from time to time as
new people are discovered who will be effective work-
ers in the program of parish evangelism.

This committee, composed of official representa-
tives of the church organizations and other persons
of personal though perhaps not of official position,
should work with the pastor to make a careful study
of the church and its community and likewise to
study some of the literature on religious work; that
they will be able to advise with him most effectively
in formulating the program for the church in which
the pastor and people will cooperate to the best ad-
vantage in the program of parish evangelism.

Ill

PLANNING THE YEAR'S WORK

The Program

THE first definite task of the membership or
evangelistic committee is to adopt a work-
ing program for the church year. A pro-
gram presupposes a definite goal towards which a
church is working. Therefore it is necessary that
the membership of the church have rather clearly in
mind some definite ideals by which to shape its course.
There is much hazy thinking right here on the
part of many church people, laity as well as pastors.
It goes without saying that if a church is to accom-
plish anything really worth while it must first of all
have a goal or an ideal towards which it is working.
We must always remember that results do not hap-
pen but are brought about.

The entire discussion of this book presupposes that
the church has rather definitely in mind an ideal to-
wards which it is working, and that that ideal is not
simply a dim, indefinite expectation of reasonable
growth, but that the pastor and his helpers have con-
sidered certain things which they wish to accomplish
as a result of the 3^ear's labour. It is understood
that by the very nature of the church's life the goal
of its year's work cannot be absolutely fixed in all

28

PLANNING THE YEAE'S WOEK 29

details, for the attitude of the church must be that
of an opportunist, that it may be able to take advan-
tage of winds and tides in the spiritual realm and in
community activity. The ideal of the church which
should serve as a guide for the year's activities will
have of course many elements; some relating to
social service, missionary education, religious educa-
tion, community welfare, as well as various other
items. But if the church is to be true to its mission
and true to its ultimate purpose there must be a defi-
nite expectation for increased membership as pastor
and people cooperate in the program of parish evan-
gelism for enlisting men and women in the Christian
Church.

A program is in reality a working chart by which
the church purposes to advance from where it now is
towards the goal which is the ideal of its activity. It
goes without saying that unless a church follows a
plan of work the chances are that it will reach no
place in particular and that its efforts will be a good
deal without direction and definite results, and much
energy will be wasted. The church will lack the
centralizing influence which a well worked out pro-
gram always gives and will end the year with a spirit
of resignation, or worse still of discouragement.

On the other hand, if a program has been adopted
and carried through with reasonable success, there
will be a feeling of confidence and satisfaction as the
church realizes that it is finding itself in worth-while,
well-directed efforts towards clearly defined ends.
One of the best things about a program of church
work is that it goes better each year. As the pro-

30 PAEISH EVANGELISM

gram develops it will be found that efficiency is
gained by practice and that interest deepens with
accomplishment. A plan for the year for the church
is to the pastor and his committee what the chart is
to the sailor or the blue print to the builder, or the
season's work to the farmer, that is, a guide which
indicates that certain things be done in a certain or-
der. This is the universal testimony of pastors who
have used a program in their work. While the
particular items of the program vaiy year by year,
still the main outline will remain practically the same
and the people will accustom themselves to the pro-
gram of church life as it develops with the flow of
the seasons. The church will come to look forward
to certain features of church work which will be
emphasized in appropriate fashion with much pleasur-
able anticipation.

Elements of the Plan

There are three things which the pastor ought to
take into consideration as he arranges the details of
his program of parish evangelism. The first is, What
are the local needs? The information which will
help him on this point will be derived in part from
the study which he or some members of his com-
mittee have made of the parish and the membership
situation in his church. For example, it may be:

(a) The pastor will find that the greatest need is
the strengthening of the church school; that the
teachers need encouragement, that new teachers are
required and that the work of the Sunday-school be
given point. That is, that boys and girls who have

PLANNING THE YEAR'S WORK 31

spent a number of years in the Sunday-school shall
be equipped with such knowledge and training and
development of character that they may know the
truth of the Gospel and be led to commit themselves
to Christ.

(b) Or it may be that there are a large number
of boys and girls in the Sunday-school who are not
now members of the church and the year's work
should properly be built around the task of bring-
ing these boys and girls into personal relationship
with Christ. If there are any considerable number
of boys and girls in the church school who have
not confessed Christ, the pastor will find that here
is a year's work upon which it will pay him well to
specialize.

(c) It may be that the chief need of the church
is building the congregation. This is an outstanding
need of many churches. There are men and women
of good will in most communities not now members
of the church who should be brought into the con-
gregation where they may learn something of the
ideals of worship and service of the Christian com-
munity, and who will give the pastor and his com-
mittee a splendid field for personal evangelism as the
years go by. It should be kept clearly in mind that
congregations do not happen but result from the in-
terest and labours of individuals. There is no valid
reason why a minister should sit down and fold his
hands and resign himself to the thought of con-
tinuing through life with small congregations. Hence
it may be that developing the congregation may be
the chief item of the program for the year.

32 PAEISH EVANGELISM

(d) Then again the congregation may be made
up quite largely of those who are not officially con-
nected with the church and who have made no con-
fession of belief in Christ, or they may not have an
active faith and need a thoroughgoing regeneration
of life. The conversion of the members of the con-
gregation as it now exists may be the program for
the year.

(e) Or again, as will be found in the majority of
cases, the pastor and committee will find as a result
of their study of the church and community that
there is a little nucleus of devoted saints, surrounded
by a circle of those who are members of the church
and faithful to its worship and service; these sur-
rounded by a still larger circle of occasional at-
tendants of the church; and beyond these an outer
circle of men and women of good impulse who look
upon this church as their church though not attend-
ing its services nor joining in its worship. Where
such is the case, the pastor will build his program
to meet this primary need of extending the number
and influence of the inner circle and of bringing those
of the outer circles nearer the center of the church's
life. Then, whatever program adopted, the pastor and
people should always seek to communicate to all the
church their own spirit of enthusiastic participation
in the worship of God and the service of their fel-
low-men. The first requirement of the program is,
then, that it be framed to meet the needs of the local
situation.

The second requirement is, that the program for
the local church shall harmonize so far a^ possible

PLANNING THE YEAE'S WORK 33

with the program of the denomination. More and
more the denominations are coming to denomina-
tional programs of evangeUsm whicn take into con-
sideration the poUty, practice and personaUty of the
communion. The denominational program forms a
basis upon which the churches of Hke order can co-
operate one with the other, greatly to the encourage-
ment of all. It is of the greatest value to all churches
for pastor and people to feel that that which they
are trying to do in their church is something along
the same line as that which their brethren in an
adjoining church of the same communion are trying
to do. It is quite likely that where there is a denomi-
national program the denomination will set aside cer-
tain of its general workers who will be available to
assist the pastors in placing before their people, not
only the denominational ideals, but also the experi-
ences and the testimony of ministers here and there
who have been effective in their service. There will
also be denominational helps, which are in reality
but bits of testimony from pastors who have done
the thing that they have written about. For these
reasons the program for the local church should take
into consideration the elements and the ideals and
material of the denominational program.

The third requirement is, that it shall take ad-
vantage of the flow of seasons. There is nothing to
hinder the farmer from going out in September and
planting corn if he so desires, but when he does this
he cannot expect the same sort of returns from his
labours as if he plants it in May. For the farmer
who plants in May takes into consideration the flow

34 PAEISH EVAI^GELISM

of seasons and his efforts are expended in coopera-
tion with natural laws. So in the realm of religion
there seems to be a certain seasonal flow of life
when the great truths can be best emphasized. At
least it is the testimony of a vast and growing num-
ber of pastors that to follow the Christian year in
a program of preaching and church work is to pre-
sent the Christian faith in an effective, logical and
acceptable way. It is taking advantage of the sea-
sons when people most naturally think of the great
subjects of Christian thought — Christmas with its
wealth of joyous experience, Easter as the consum-
mation of the Christian hope. It may be that a pas-
tor's experience is not in accord with the experience
of those who use the Christian calendar in their
year's work, and it may be that he will find other
seasons which are more propitious. For the greater
number of hard-working pastors, however, the flow
of seasons as indicated in the Christian year affords
a valuable opportunity to emphasize the great truths
at the most effective time. If the Christian year is
not adopted some other, better fitted to the needs of
the church, should be followed.

There are certain other elements, of course, which
must be provided for. For example, the pastor must
realize that he has other responsibihties to his people
and to the Christian commonwealth, and that he must
not shut these other interests out of participation in
the work of the church. It must be understood that
space be allowed for many other lines of church
work — mission study, Sunday-school rallies and pro-
grams, stewardship, moral reform, community proj-

PLANNING THE YEAR'S WORK 35

ects, the financial canvass — and with it all time must
be allowed for the constant routine of parish duties.

With these thoughts in mind concerning the re-
quirements of the program — that it shall meet local
needs, be in harmony with the denominational ob-
jectives and allow for the flow of seasons — the pas-
tor and his committee should be prepared to adopt
the working plan for the year. To do this the com-
mittee should meet early in the fall, if it has not
done so in the late summer, to make a review of the
study of the community and to map out the program
for the year's work. If the program has been in
operation in previous years the program for the fol-
lowing year can well be adopted in May or June,
when the experiences and lessons of the preceding
year's work are fresh in mind. Where this is done
year by year the details of the program may be
worked out leisurely during the months of less strain
and the program completed in time to present to the
church early in the fall. But where the program is
adopted in the early summer following a year's work,
or where it is adopted in the late summer following
study and preparation with the hope of initiating an
orderly program of evangelism, there should be in
the early fall a meeting of the committee which
should take into consideration whatever new light
may be shed upon the situation and plans be for-
mulated for initiating the program in the best pos-
sible way.

More and more churches are coming to a standard-
ized program which in its main items are somewhat
as follows:

36 PAEISH EVANGELISM

A Year's Program

September-December

1. A Meeting of the Church Evangelistic Com-
mittee : To face the whole year's work of the church
and to map out a year's program.

2. Church Rallies: To bring the church and its
work to the attention of all the people.

3. Parish Visitation: To locate and enlist pos-
sible attendants and adherents of the church and its
organizations.

4. Fall Reception of members at the November
Communion.

January-Easter

1. The preaching of the Gospel with a distinct
evangelistic appeal.

2. An Invitation Committee: To study the best
methods of winning decisions for Christ and to work
continuously with the pastor to secure new members.

3. The Pastor's Training Class : To instruct chil-
dren twelve years of age and older in the funda-
mentals of Christian faith and the meaning of church
membership.

4. The Lenten Prayer Calendar: Extended use
of " The Fellowship of Prayer " in private devo-
tions, at the family altar, in prayer circles and in the
work of the church.

5. Holy Week Services.

6. The Easter Ingathering: The reception of new
members at the Communion Service on or near
Easte/.

After Easter Conservation

I. Continuation Plans: To continue evangelistic
endeavours in special groups to Children's Sunday,

PLANNING THE YEAR'S WORK 37

Mother's Sunday or Pentecost Sunday, and to en-
list new members in definite tasks of Qiristian
service.

2. Absentee Campaign : The locating and reclaim-
ing of absentee members who are living in the com-
munity of the church though holding membership
in churches elsewhere.

This standardized program groups the year's work
into three periods, each period having certain definite
characteristics and coming to a peak with a reception
of members at psychological moments in the year's
work. It should be understood that this general
program should be used by the local church simply
as a foundation on which to build its own, which
while taking into consideration the elements of the
general program must be built to meet the needs of
the local church.

As was said, each church must decide for itself
the time of the year best suited for that church to
carry through the items of its program. Some of
the items listed in the September-December period
may fit in better after January. The series of devo-
tional or evangelistic meetings which are scheduled
for the two weeks preceding Easter are held more
successfully by some pastors in the early weeks of
January. Many rural churches of the South hold
special meetings in the late fall months. The Pas-
tor's Training Class, which in this program is part
of the Lenten period, is conducted by some pastors
after Easter with a public reception on Children's
Day or later. A large number of churches, espe-
cially Methodist and Baptist, follow Decision Day

38 PAEISH EVANGELISM

(usually Palm Sunday) with a series of meetings for
those desiring church membership.

These problems are all of importance and must be
solved by each pastor. He should arrange the pro-
gram to meet the needs of the local situation. The
various elements of the program as here discussed,
however, should find a place in the program of the
local church — if not at the time indicated, then at a
more suitable season.

Adoption by the Church

After the program has been outlined by the pastor
and his committee it will be helpful if the program
be brought before the church in effective fashion and
adopted formally by the church, A very good
method of presenting the program to the church is
for the committee to have printed sufficient copies
of the program for general distribution, then for the
pastor to devote a Sunday morning for presenting
to the people the program and the reasons which
underlie it; the ideals which it seeks to express and
the objects which it seeks to attain. Some pastors
in presenting the program on " Program Sunday "
invite to the pulpit a few of the leaders of the con-
gregation, a member of the Board of Deacons, the
superintendent of the Sunday-school, president of the
women's society or others, each one in a well-pre-
pared three-minute talk to pledge to the program the
support of these organizations. This will do much
to create an atmosphere favourable to the considera-
tion of the program by the people.

When the program has been presented to the peo-

PLANNING THE YEAE'S WORK 39

pie, it is helpful to have a formal vote from the
church to accept the program and to pledge co-
operation in carrying it through. Such a vote is
easy to secure and can be of the greatest helpful-
ness, as by coming to a vote the church crystallizes
its own sentiments and attitude towards the program
and the fact that it has formally adopted the pro-
gram will lend added weight and influence to it as
the days go by. This is a natural way to initiate the
year's work and an eifective way to register the fact
in the minds of the people.

After the program has been accepted by the
church — either at a morning service, at a business
session of the church, at a specially advertised prayer
meeting or in any other way — it should then be pre-
sented to the Sunday-school and other organizations,
either by the pastor alone or by the pastor with the
assistance of some member of the organization. It
is of great helpfulness to have the active support of
these organizations and it can be had usually unani-
mously and enthusiastically if these organizations be
approached at the time of initiating the program.
That is to say, that if the program is presented to the
Sunday-school or the women's society and the pastor
expresses the desire that that organization pledge its
cooperation and support to the program for the
year's work, he will find that the support will be
given, that the organization will appreciate being
consulted, and that in so presenting the program he
has strengthened the morale of his people and has
done a great deal towards initiating the program with
every possible condition favourable to carrying it
through successfully.

IV

FALL ACTIVITIES

THE usual church program is planned so that
the fall activities constitute the opening of
the year's work. These are of very great
importance. It is the common testimony of pastors
that the results of the year's work depend in con-
siderable measure upon the effectiveness of these
activities. There is an opportunity at the beginning
of the year which does not exist later to initiate the
program with sufficient enthusiasm and momentum
to overcome the natural Inertia of the people. The
first object of the fall work is that there shall be put
into the thinking of the members of the church, as
well as into the thinking of the community, the
realization that here is an organization that has set
for itself a definite piece of work to do; that it is
clear in mind as to how that work is to be accom-
plished and is setting about its task with a spirit of
confidence and determination. To accomplish this
result pastors are finding that a fall rally of the
church is perhaps the most effective method.

The Fall Rally
If properly advertised and carried through, a fall
rally will reenlist the members of the church who
are returning to their homes after their summer vaca-

40

FALL ACTIVITIES 41

tions, and reinterest those members who have re-
mained at home but who may have lessened during
the summer their usual participation in the activities
of the church. We must keep ever in mind the fact
that himian interest is a variable thing and that it is
a natural phenomenon for interest in any enterprise
to lag. Instead of looking upon this fact as an ob-
stacle in the way of church work, pastors should look
rather at the splendid opportunity that is afforded
them to reawaken interest. As all psychologists
teach us, people will return to an enterprise with
more interest than ever after a period of seeming in-
difference, provided the interest is reenlisted by new
means and additional fresh interests are aroused. It
is absolutely contrary to our study of, or knowledge
of, human nature to believe that any large number of
people can continue month in and month out active
interest in the same things. We should realize that
the seeming loss of interest on the part of the people
in the work of the church after a season of activity
is not due to a loss of moral sense or a victory of
evil, a serious backsliding or anything else but the
natural way in which human nature acts. It is the
wise pastor who will understand this changing atti-
tude of people and will allow them those periods of
quietness and seeming lack of interest in religious
work, feeling that if he uses the knowledge which is
his as a result of observation and study of mankind
he will be able to secure far more efficient coopera-
tion after this period of relaxation.

This does not mean that the church ought to close
its activities during the summer months, for there

42 PAEISH EVANGELISM

are those in every congregation who by nature and
long course of habit have accustomed themselves to
regular participation in the service and worship of
the church. For these, as well as for the occasional
attendant at church, the summer services should be
made as interesting and helpful as possible. But for
the great mass of church workers there should be a
period of relaxation and they should be made to
feel that in relaxing their interest in the work of the
church for the time being, they are not the victims of
a slump in morals. The pastor who bides his time
with sweetness of spirit and keeps in touch with his
people in an unobtrusive way during the period of
relaxation, will find that his people will respond with
greater readiness than ever when he calls upon them
for renewed activities in the work of the church.

One wise pastor who has observed these traits and
who is wise in his generation suggests to his people
during the late spring certain good books of sermons,
of missions, missionary biography and other devo-
tional literature for them to take on vacation, or if
they are remaining at home for the summer, for Sun-
day reading, which will help them to an intelligent
worship of God and a deepening interest in the work
of the church. The pastor who takes this attitude
towards his people and towards their summer relaxa-
tion will find if he is able to provide any worth-while
new interest in the fall that the year's work will
open with his Rally Sunday with an enthusiasm
which will be a surprise to the community and a most
heartening experience to the workers of the church.
Instead of having a congregation wearied and dis-

FALL ACTIVITIES 43

couraged after the let down of the summer, he will
have a congregation rested and refreshed who will
enter into the program of the church with the greatest
enthusiasm. The fall rally will also give the church
an opportunity to enlist newcomers to the parish.
There will be, during the summer as at other seasons,
removals of some families and new families will be
coming into the parish. It should be the aim of the
church to bring into the church services on Rally
Sunday representatives of every new family that has
come to the parish. The pastor and his committee
should feel that it rests upon them as an imperative
duty that the interest of these new people should be
aroused and they should be brought into the church
services.

The fall rally Is planned to reinterest the members
and former attendants of the church and to secure
the interest of newcomers to the parish. In addition,
a well-conducted rally will cause the people of the
community at large to think of their obligations to
the church and to plan for their own participation in
its worship and service. They will be led to think
of the church as the heart of the community, as the
seat of the community's conscience, as the source of
those streams of righteousness and community help-
fulness which purify and invigorate the entire com-
munity life. A well-conducted rally acquaints the
community with the church, its plans, its methods,
its personnel and its outlook. It gives the pastor a
splendid opportunity of meeting personally a great
many new people and of saying a word of encourage-
ment to the members of his congregation. It gives

44 PAEISH EVANGELISM

the church the finest sort of opportunity to present
its program to the people of the community at large
and let them know that here is an institution which
seeks not its own welfare, but is interested in every
good thing in the lives of the people and of the com-
munity as a whole.

The church rally it will be seen is an entirely dif-
ferent event from the rallies of the Sunday-school,
the young people's society, or like organizations.
These rallies, which will in all likelihood come in their
own time and follow their own programs, are of the
greatest value to the work of their respective organi-
zations and contribute largely to the esprit de corps
of the whole enterprise. Effective as they may be,
they fall short of accomplishing what ought to be
done in the fall of the year to enlist new families and
to reenlist former members in regular attendance at
church and fellowship in its worship and service.

The forms of the fall rally are many and the pastor
and his committee should seek to vary the program
year by year. In some sections of the country the
rally is known as the Harvest Home Service, and per-
haps this is the most successful type of fall rally.
In churches where the fall rally takes the form of a
Harvest Home Service the church is usually deco-
rated with the fruits of field and orchard, the hymns
are of a thanksgiving nature. This is an historical
form of church service, as from the earliest days the
New England Colonists celebrated the harvest home
in late September or early October, which was a
service entirely different In kind and quality from the
more formal service of Thanksgiving Day. Those

FALL ACTIVITIES 45

churches that use the Harvest Home type of fall
rally do not find any interference whatever with the
later celebration of Thanksgiving Day.

Another type is the Reunion Service. Many
churches find this a most effective service, the object
being to secure if possible the attendance of former
members and attendants who live at a distance, and
to bring to this service as many of the community
as possible, especially the older residents who may
not have been active in the services of the church,
and the newcomers to the parish, that all may know
more of the service and worship of the church.

Still another form is the Family Sunday. This
has been found very helpful, the object being to se-
cure the attendance of the people by families, a sort
of revival for the day of that almost forgotten custom
of families going to church and sitting together in
the same pew. In addition to these forms there is
the so-called " Go to Church Sunday," with its well-
known variations. Whatever form is adopted the
program should fit into the ideal of the day. The
songs, the Scripture and particularly the sermon
should deal with the unifying thought of our com-
mon life which the day seeks to hold in memory and
the object and method of carrying through this item
of the program of the church should be held ever
in mind.

During the fall it is quite likely that the pastor and
his committee will care to go over the parish at least
twice. First as a preliminary canvass for the pur-
pose of inviting the members of the congregation and
others to participate in the exercises of Rally Sunday

46 PAEISH EVANGELISM

and to secure their cooperation in inviting their neigh-
bours ; and also for the purpose of securing a list of
those who may be considered as prospective members
of the parish, particularly the newcomers to the
parish and those residents of the parish with whom
the pastor feels the church has opportunity to exert
its influence. The second canvass ought to be in the
nature of a thoroughgoing parish visitation. For this
there is not time before the fall rally, as to accom-
plish the best results in a visitation of this sort there
must be sufficient leisure to permit a satisfactory
piece of work.

The Preliminary Canvass

The preliminary canvass is for the purpose of
securing correct addresses of present members and
of registering all changes in the families of the mem-
bers— marriages, deaths, removals, additions, visitors
or roomers with families — but primarily to learn
where the members are, how the summer has gone
with them and of the new people of the community.

The importance of correct lists of names. One of
the first things which a pastor and his committee
will realize as they begin to work their program
along practical lines is the absolute necessity of an
up-to-date list of constituents, supporters and pros-
pects. Many a church organization has lost influ-
ence with families by sending mail to an address
which has not been the home for months past. Other
errors are that names are misspelled, initials mis-
placed, street numbers and the names of members
of the family are found lacking in many church lists.

FALL ACTIVITIES 47

The way in which many church rolls are kept is
enough to make angels weep. Where this is the case
it is generally but one index of the way in which
other work of the parish is carried on, but which
lacks so visible a means of registering neglect. The
preliminary canvass should result in an up-to-date list
of names which will likely fall into five divisions.

(i) The names of members. The committee
ought to be absolutely sure that these members are
living at the address given and whether or not there
is any serious illness or any special reason for the im-
mediate attention of the pastor.

(2) List of contributors. This list should in-
dicate who of the contributors are members and who
are not. Contributors who are not members are
usually prospective church members.

(3) List of attendants of the church. These are
the names of members of the congregation who are
not listed on either the membership list or the list of
contributors. These attendants at the church who
are neither members nor contributors are of course
favourable prospects as church members.

(4) There will be next a list of those looking to
the church for spiritual ministry. That is to say, In
the community there will be families where the min-
ister is called for weddings, funerals, baptisms and
other ministrations, where the people are seemingly
unattached to the church but by this call for spiri-
tual ministry, align themselves as having interest
in this church. So whenever the pastor or church
worker is asked to minister to families not connected
v/ith the church, these all should be listed as people

48 PABISH EVANGELISM

worth while to cultivate, for they look upon this
church as their church.

(5) Lastly, those unattached people of good-will
in the community who through the recommendation
of neighbours, doctors, visitors, newcomers, or old
residents, are on the list of future prospects. It will
be a source of surprise to the pastor and his com-
mittee to find how far the influence of his church
extends and how many people in the community look
to him and his church for spiritual leadership.
There are few people in any community who are not
interested in the church as a whole and in one church
more than another. While they may not show this
interest openly in any way, yet almost every family
feels a sort of attachment to some church and it is
the pastor's responsibility to see that this interest is
cultivated.

The Object of the Church Rally
The real object of the Church Rally is to put the
worship and service of the church into the thought
of the people, and everything should be done to this
end. Some useful methods are the writing of per-
sonal letters to former members, the use of printed
invitations, the wide distribution of material bearing
upon the work of the church, and attractive an-
nouncements in store windows and in the daily papers
together with an inviting and wide-awake program
for the day, and, above all else in value, the personal
work of the members of the congregation in inviting
others. The church of course is under a very heavy
responsibility that the program as advertised be car-

FALL ACTIVITIES 49

ried through and that all who have a part in the
program really " deliver the goods " ; that the music
and the sermon and all other parts of the service be
such as to cause those who come in response to the
invitation to want to make churchgoing, and espe-
cially to this church, a part of their weekly sched-
ule.

An Example
One successful pastor used the following method
to create interest in the Rally in his church: The
accurate list of members of his own church was sup-
plemented by the names of all the residents of the
community not affiliated with any other church, in-
cluding the names of the unchurched newcomers in
the parish. Four weeks before his " Family Day "
he sent to all a letter of invitation with a brief
folder on " Why Going to Church Strengthens Char-
acter." The second week he sent to each a folder
on " What the Church Should Contribute to the Life
of the Community." The third week he sent a leaflet
on " How You Can Help This Church Serve This
Community." In this were listed various tasks for
which workers were desired. And then on the week
of the Sunday to be observed, he sent the program of
the Sunday service and a leaflet on " What This
Church Offers You." An informal welcoming com-
mittee was appointed and the members were given
careful preparation for their duties of the day — to
make the newcomers feel at home, and to secure
their names and addresses. In this church, " Family
Day " was a great success, and the year's work was

60 PAEISH EVANGELISM

initiated with momentum and the natural inertia of
the congregation reduced to the minimum.

If the program for the year has not been presented
at a special Program Sunday, it will be found ex-
ceedingly effective to make this presentation a part
of the rally day exercises. At least the printed pro-
gram should be presented and the church be made to
feel that the Rally Sunday is the opening of a new
year in the life of that church and that around the
program they are all to build into the worship and
service of the church the best of their faith and
thought and prayer. As churches continue to use
the rally day service, there will be suggested to them
many forms and features which will add to the in-
terest and effectiveness of the day. It will be found
that year by year the people will look forward to the
annual day — Harvest Home, Home Coming, Pro-
gram Sunday, or whatever other form may be
adopted — with much pleasurable anticipation and the
thrill and optimism which come to the congregation
that does one good thing in effective fashion will be
of the greatest help in carrying through the other
features of the program.

FALL VISITATION AND PASTORAL
CALLING

FOLLOWING Rally Sunday there should be a
painstaking visitation of the entire parish.
The preliminary canvass for names prepara-
tory to Rally Sunday v^ill bring to the pastor and his
committee many nev^ names as well as refresh their
memory of some neglected people of the parish v^^ho
should be called upon at once. In addition to these,
the entire church constituency should be visited. At
least once each year the pastor or his assistant should
visit every home in the parish. Such a visitation v^rill
be of the greatest helpfulness to the work of the
church.

Pastoral Calling
It is not necessary to introduce here a discussion
of pastoral calling except to say this: In making a
call on a family the pastor should have in mind just
what his object is. This may be outlined in part as
follows: He represents the organized church in its
worship and service, and his conversation, as well
as his presence, should emphasize this fact. His con-
versation will naturally begin with the family, the
members of the family, where they have employment,
if they are progressing in their employment; what

51

62 PAEI8H EVANGELISM

kinds of ambitions the different members may have ;
what sort of an ideal the mother has for the future
of her children ; what are the dominating interests in
the family life; what interest there is in religion;
what participation they have had in church life and
V^ork heretofore; the special needs of the family; in
what manner the church may make a definite con-
tribution, both to the family life and to the lives of
the individuals, and to what specific tasks in the
church they can be invited. These are in brief some
of the topics the pastor should have in mind as he
directs his conversation.

Of course it is understood that the pastor will be
wise enough not to make this evident, but the visit
should result in the pastor's coming away from that
home with these items of information securely fixed
in his own mind, and as soon as he reaches his study
he should put on paper his impressions, the needs
and the opportunities of this family. In this way he
has before him the data upon which to base the
campaign which he and the members of his church
will cany through, the object of which is that the
church shall minister to the needs of this family and
shall win them to whole-hearted service in the church
and fellowship in its worship. When one realizes
the long and careful period of cultivation required
to bring a family not in touch with the church, into
active participation in its worship and service, he will
weigh very carefully the various elements of such a
program and will appraise the introductory visit and
analysis of conditions and opportunities very highly
indeed.

VISITATION AND PASTOEAL CALLING 53

The neglect of a thoroughgoing pastoral visitation
of the parish is perhaps the outstanding cause of
failure on the part of pastors. It has long been said
that " a home visiting pastor has a churchgoing peo-
ple." There have been a few outstanding pulpit
orators in American church life who have been able
to build up and hold year after year a congregation
through the power of their pulpit presentation; but
the sad thing about such an enterprise is that with
few exceptions, after the death or resignation of such
a pulpit prince the congregation has melted away and
the organization ofttimes given up its life. What is
said here is not intended in any way to disparage
adequate and effective pulpit presentation of the
Gospel. I believe with all my heart that the best
preaching the world has ever known is not in the past
but in the future. A minister who loves his work
and who has the sense of honour towards the obliga-
tion he has assumed to Christ, and mankind, will do
everything in his power to strengthen the persuasive-
ness of his sermons that they may instruct, inspire
and warm the lives of his people. The pulpit service
of the church is perhaps the best cared for of any
feature of church work and nine-tenths of the books
in the average pastor's library and perhaps an equal
proportion of his time and study in the seminary are
devoted to sermons, sermon preparation, sermon
material. But however important the work of the
pulpit may be and however much it may be stressed,
the effective pastor is far more than a preacher, or,
in other words, he has a responsibility resting upon
him to proclaim the Gospel in conversation and m

64 PABISH EVANGELISM

an individual service, day by day, during the weekj,
v^rhich is every whit as much of a responsibility as is
his duty of devoting himself to the highest ideals of
pulpit presentation.

I am qaiite sure that the district superintendents
and secretaries v^ho come in touch with many min-
isters will testify that the outstanding cause of fail-
ure on the part of ministers is a failure to minister
to the people in their homes. One superintendent
said to me not long since that he had known many
fine preachers to fail in advancement, but he had
never yet known a careful pastor to lose his grip on
his people or to fail to make a satisfactory advance
in his life's work. Why so many pastors will neglect
this prime requirement of their profession is beyond
comprehension. It would seem that the average
pastor would cherish above everything else his op-
portunities for pastoral service amid the homes and
families of his people. In addition to the influence
upon the people of the parish of thorough pastoral
service there is also a deep influence upon the pastor
himself.

One of America's outstanding pastors has said that
after he has read along the lines of his intended
sermon, before he preaches it to his people he must
give himself to some thoroughgoing pastoral visita-
tion where he will be brought into intimate touch
with some of his people w^ho are facing, not theoret-
ical problems but the hard facts of actual existence.
One of the difficult things that the average church
secretary is called upon to do is to go from church
to church after pastors have resigned and gone away

VISITATION AKD PASTOEAL CALLING 55

discouraged, leaving perhaps their people even more
discouraged than they, and to hear from the people
that the pastor was a mighty fine man, a good
preacher, but he absolutely did not call on his people.
A case comes to mind where the president of a
board of trustees in making a request that a new
pastor be recommended to the church, said this : " We
do not care particularly about his pulpit ability, but
"we do want to know whether or not he will care for
the souls of the people sufficiently to visit them in
their homes, as the last pastor we had, who was here
nine years, failed to call on some of the leading mem-
bers of the church during his entire pastorate and so
far as I know never called on a new family until
they had shown a lively interest in the church."

In discussing this with a state superintendent, a
man of delightful personality and beautiful home
life, he said to me, " Do you know that I have been
state superintendent for twenty years and in that
time I have lived in four parishes; my wife and I
have always been as regular attendants of the church
where our membership happened to be as was pos-
sible, and in the entire twenty years not one single
pastor that we have had, nor his wife, has ever set
their foot within our door."

A certain minister of my acquaintance who is
rated as one of the strongest preachers in the city,
who was in demand continually as a speaker before
commercial, social and college groups, announced to
his congregation when he accepted the pastorate that
he considered the day of pastoral calling past, but
that if any of the members of the parish needed his

56 PAEISH EVANGELISM

presence because of sickness or other reasons, and
would send for him, he would be only too glad to
serve them, and that he and his wife would try to
return such calls as were made upon them. But as
to other calling he felt that it was entirely needless
and a trouble not only to the people but to himself,
and he proposed to devote more of his time to ser-
mon preparation and to study and contemplation,
rather than chasing hither and yon over the parish.
It is needless to say that in spite of his brilliant pulpit
powers, his church lost in attendance, in interest,
and he, himself, became discouraged and pessimistic
and his resignation followed in due time. His suc-
cessor was a man of very indifferent pulpit power,
lacked in personal magnetism and eloquence, but he
had a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of his
congregation and was willing to show that interest
by visiting the people and becoming one with them,
sharing their trials and their hopes and their joys.
Under his administration the congregations are al-
most double those of the more brilliant preacher who
neglected his pastoral work.

In addition to what has been said of the pastor's
visiting the homes, where he shares more than likely
with the mother in interest, the anxiety and the prob-
lem of the children and home life, he should by no
means neglect his visiting with the men of his church
in their places of employment. As a usual thing
men cannot devote very long time but it is not neces-
sary to take a great deal of time, unless there is some
special problem. The minister should call in the
office of his business men, look into the factory of

VISITATION AND PASTOEAL CALLING 57

his working men, walk across the farm of his farmer
members, and chat briefly with his people. A min-
ister who will walk down an alley in a factory to
where one of his men in overalls is working day after
day and will simply lay his hand on that man's shoul-
der and speak a word of encouragement to him as he
grinds away with almost deadly monotony month
after month, held to his grind by his love of family
and ideals of industry, that minister will see a look
of real gratitude in that man's eyes which will be as
a benediction to him through the days to come.

Hence it is that a minister as he loves his own
soul should be faithful to his duty to his people; to
see them in their daily life, to encourage them and
help them bear their burdens. Where this is the case
most of the problems of that parish will be solved
and the men and women who compose it will be tied
together by enduring cords of love.

What is here described as " The Fall Visitation "
and listed as part of the fall program ought to be in
a way continuous; that is to say, the pastor will be
finding new people whom he will look up in the same
painstaking way as he has those of whom he learned
through the fall activities. The fall offers an espe-
cially opportune time for this careful visitation, as
the rush of the various programs is not so pressing
and the gathering of names early in the year affords
more opportunities for cultivation than when the
visitation is made later in the winter. If this work
is not started and carried as far as possible in the
fall, it adds much to the complexity of the after-
Christmas or pre-Lenten program.

68 PAEISH EVANGELISM

The Fall Reception
Many churches plan for a fall reception of new
members at the October or November communion.
If the visitation has been carefully made it will be
found especially advisable to follow with a fall re-
ception of members, for the pastor will find families
who are willing and ready to join the church at the
first invitation either by letter or on confession.
There will also be a number who though willing were
prevented for one reason or another from uniting
with the church at the Easter or spring communion,
but who are now ready to become members. A sur-
prisingly large number of people may be brought
into the church at the fall communion. The pastor
should prize such an ingathering very highly, not
only because those who unite with the church in the
fall gain what amounts to almost a full year of
service, but also because such a reception will gpive
tone and direction to the whole year's plan. It will
center the thought of the church upon this fact —
that the church has a clearly defined program with a
definite aim, the enlisting of people in the worship
and service of the church. The fall ingathering
should be looked upon not as an end of any sort of
a campaign, but as the beginning of the year's work
of the church.

Results of the Fall Work
So the pastor will come to the holiday season hav-
ing accomplished three definite things :

I. Through the Rally he has encouraged his pec-

VISITATION AND PASTOKAL CALLING 59

pie to keep up the habit of regular churchgoing, and
has assisted others to form the churchgoing habit.

2. Through the visitation he has secured the
names and addresses of new families, with definite
information concerning them without which his ef-
forts are bound to be shots in the dark.

3. He has welcomed into the church all those
who are willing to come, and by so doing given his
people a vision of the possibilities of the year's pro-
gram, and has registered clearly in the minds of the
people his determination to carry through a practical
plan of church work.

It is understood that during this period of the
year, from September to December, the pastor will
be busy with many other lines of church work —
mission study, stewardship, the financial canvass, as
well as his constant routine of parish duties. These
activities, however, will all prove grist for his mill,
for through them he may reach many men and
women and help them to give expression to their
religious faith. The pastor should feel that these
features of church work instead of interfering with
the evangelistic program are of the greatest helpful-
ness in developing that program along practical lines.

VI

JANUARY TO EASTER

THE work of the church during the January-
to-Easter period while in some respects
similar to that of the fall is in other re-
spects radically different. The change of seasons
brings usually a change in the attitude of the people
towards life and its responsibilities. To most people
the beginning of the calendar year is the beginning of
a new era. Much of the thought of the people dur-
ing the fall is devoted to the closing up of a year's
work. This is true in business, on the farm, in
factories, and in most kinds of work. During the
fall months many persons are very busy in prepara-
tion for Christmas and the holidays and not many
have time to look beyond this season of hurry.
When the holiday time is past most people find them-
selves a bit out of breath, more or less lost as to time
and direction; and they realize that they must now
plan for another year's work. As with individuals,
so with the church — new phases of the year's pro-
gram with new objectives must be emphasized.
Those who observe the Christian year will find a
natural climax for the period following the holidays
at the Easter season.

60

JANUAEY TO EASTER 61

If the pastor and his committee have initiated at the
beginning of the church year in September or Oc-
tober a thoroughgoing program, and have carried
through in effective fashion the fall activities, their
work will be simplified. For one thing, they will
find that much of the inertia of the congregation will
have been overcome and that the organization is feel-
ing in all departments of its life new vigour and en-
thusiasm. As the program has progressed there will
be developed the will to succeed, which is of the ut-
most necessity in accomplishing any worth-while piece
of work. In the second place the pastor will find
his committee becoming familiar with their tasks
and there will be a growing unity of purpose on the
part of those who are associated with him in this
service. The fall work of the church will result in
the members becoming united in support of the pro-
gram of religious work for the commitment of men
to Christ and their enlistment in the Christian life.

When the Program is Postponed Until January
It sometimes happens that there are valid reasons
for not beginning the program of evangelism until
after the New Year. Some pastors have found this
advisable when the program was introduced for the
first time, as the January-to-Easter period is especially
favourable to an evangelistic program and people co-
operate more readily. If the church has not worked
to a year's program many pastors believe that it is
wiser to concentrate on the January-to-Easter period
for the first year, with the expectation that for the
following year the program will be begun in the fall

62 PAEISH EVANGELISM

and carried through the entire church year. There
is a good deal of logic in this position, and if a pastor
feels that his people are not united sufficiently in
thought as to the object and methods of the evan-
gelistic program to make the fall opening a success,
it may be the best thing to concentrate on the part
of the year which has everything in its favour and
when the minimum of effort will bring the maximum
of results. Where pastors follow this plan it is par-
ticularly advisable that the church clearly under-
stands that the stress of the January-to-Easter period
for one year is but the preparation for a full year's
program for the next year. Again, there may be
other reasons for postponing the opening of a pro-
gram until after January — as a building enterprise,
a change of pastors, a particular financial campaign,
community movements, or a variety of other demands
which seem to the pastor and his advisers to make
unwise the initiation of the program until after the
first of January.

Where this is the case, from whatever reason, it
must be clearly in mind that what has been said as
to the necessity of a program for the year in the
opening chapters bears with equal weight upon the
situation, and that if the Easter season is to mark a
spiritual growth in the church and an increase in its
influence in the community there must be well-laid
plans and careful preparation. If the fall program
has not been organized and carried through, two
features of that program— the Church Rally and the
careful Visitation — should receive special attention.
The Church Rally is not nearly so advantageous after

JANUABY TO EASTEE 63

the holidays as it is following the summer vacation,
although some ministers use the " Week of Prayer "
for the purpose of bringing people together for spe-
cial meetings. In past years it was the custom in
many churches to begin the year with a series of
devotional or evangelistic meetings. Among the
Methodist churches a custom of a January revival
meeting was almost universal and in many parts of
the country this plan is still followed. But more
and more pastors are coming to realize that to carry
through a successful series of meetings more prepara-
tion is required than can be given in the closing
weeks of the year, and that it is more effective to
plan the work, organize and train the people, for a
series of meetings to be held previous to Easter.
The Week of Prayer, however, does afford those
who observe it an opportunity to rally the more seri-
ous-minded people and to secure their active co-
operation in the program for the rest of the year.

The parish visitation which has been outlined as a
part of the fall work, if omitted at that time, must
receive attention now. A careful visitation of the
parish, carried out in a thoroughgoing way, is abso-
lutely essential to the success of the program when-
ever it is projected, for through it the church mem-
bership becomes unified, new people are discovered
and new life brought into all departments of the work
of the church. The people usually feel that if there
is a cause in which the pastor and others feel suf-
ficiently interested to come and talk over with them
individually, it is surely of sufficient importance for
them to give to it their best thought. And further-

64 PAEISH EVANGELISM

more, without the information which the visitation
makes available, much of the efforts of the pastor
and the committee will be lost.

The Objects to he Accomplished in the January-to-
Easter Period

Whether the program has been initiated in the
fall and carried through in careful fashion, or
whether it is to be initiated with the opening of the
calendar year, the objects to be accomplished in the
January-to-Easter period should be clearly in mind.
The first aim of the season's activities is that the
people have a fresh conception of the life and teach-
ings of Jesus Christ. Those who follow the church
year, who believe in Christmas as commemorating
the birth of Christ, Christ's struggle in temptation
as remembered during the Lenten season, and His
death and resurrection on Good Friday and Easter,
have a splendid opportunity to review the whole life
of Christ during this Christmas-to-Easter period.
To accomplish this purpose there is first the pro-
gram of preaching and second the pastor's training
class.

The program of preaching for the January-to-
Easter period should be definite, progressive, devo-
tional and practical. The pastor who utilizes this
period of the year to present a series of sermons
dealing with the foundation principles of Christian
belief will find his people growing in grace and
knowledge. In his pulpit presentation the pastor is
continually trying to give his people Christian doc-
trine and principles of Christian living, but we learn

JANUARY TO EASTER 65

slowly and a constant reviving of the fundamentals
is necessary. Some one has said that the human
mind can accept and assimilate but one new thought
each day. Through the program of preaching of the
January-to-Easter period there is offered an oppor-
timity for the church to renew its teaching function
in presenting the fundamentals of Christian belief,
in appealing fashion, at the time when people are in
most receptive mood.

While the pastor is accomplishing these things
through the ministry of his pulpit, he will be doing
the same things in more school-like fashion with the
young people who form the pastor's training class.
More and more pastors are feeling the responsibility
for the religious training of their young people.
They realize that the church school, with all its
splendid curriculum and effective teachers, does not
accomplish all that is desired. There is still work
for him to do. It is his responsibility to bring to-
gether in logical fashion in the minds of the chil-
dren the truths which they have received in the
church school ; to help the child to discover for him-
self the need as well as the reasonableness of re-
ligious faith ; to help each child to consider the claims
of Jesus for personal commitment to Him and by
accepting Him to enter into a saving knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the first object of the work of the
January-to-Easter period is that of deepening the
thought of the people about God, Christ, human life,
sin, salvation and the eternal life, and this Is to be
accoaiplished in the main through the program of

66 PARISH EVANGELISM

preaching and with the young people through the
pastor's training class.

The second object of the January-to-Easter period
is to deepen the devotional life of the people, to en-
courage them to participate in prayer as individuals,
in families, in neighbourhood groups and as a con-
gregation. Prayer for the church as well as for the
individual is the barometer of spiritual life.

The third object to be accomplished in this period
is that members of the congregation may engage in
personal service for Christ. To be able to do this
the members should make a study of ways in which
men come to decision about fundamental things of
life, the reason why men of many generations and
of many ages have found the Christian way of living
the ideal life, and then put these things into prac-
tice through a program of personal work with indi-
viduals for Qirist.

In these three lines of related activity by the pastor
and his helpers the interest of the people will be in-
creased and many will be led to a higher religious
life as the work draws to a happy and glorious con-
summation in the Easter season.

The pastor who plans his work for the January-to-
Easter period should consult with his committee from
time to time during the closing weeks of the year,
that the program may be initiated in early January
with everything in its favour. Directly after the
holidays, if not during some lull in the holiday season,
when the committee can come together and discuss
with the pastor the items of his work without pres-
sure for time, there should be a thoroughgoing con-

JANUARY TO EASTER 67

ference of pastor and committee upon the following
items :

1. The committee should be united in prayer for
the success of the program. Members should be led
to definite and regular prayer that the Holy Spirit
may be present in power and that all that is done
and said may be through his leadership. Nothing so
cheers a pastor as to know that his advisers are
praying with him and that all are praying together
that individuals in the parish shall be brought to
know Him " whom to know aright is Life Eternal."

2. The committee should advise as to the setting
of a definite goal. The weight of testimony is that
a goal gives direction to and centralizes effort. The
goal if set should be attainable. By running over
the list of names a pastor can decide this. The usual
minimum goal is about ten per cent, of the member-
ship. If a goal is set the fact should not be made
much of in public. There is no question, however,
but that the committee should set before itself the
ideal of presenting the Gospel to every non-confess-
ing individual in the parish for which the church is
spiritually responsible.

3. The opportunities for lay service. In connec-
tion with this, attention is called to what is said on
the following pages concerning the invitation or per-
sonal workers' committee.

4. The status of the Sunday-school. Definite
plans should be made for reaching every boy and girl
twelve years of age or older.

5. The planning of Prayer Circles.

6. The pastor may well consult the committee^ as
to his sermons. He should have clearly in mind
some definite themes which he expects to develop
from week to week, and share with the committee in

68 PARISH EVANGELISM

advance the joy of forecasting the program of preach-
ing. If he will do this he will add greatly to the
inspiration of his committee and will strengthen in
many ways his spiritual leadership. The committee
^vill quite likely give timely advice as to the way in
which the themes should be developed to bring defi-
nite results. The pastor who shares these things
with his advisers will see many a layman develop
into an enthusiastic worker whose companionship
will be a source of strength.

VII

PROGRAM OF PREACHING

HOWEVER much the preacher may wander
afield during the year, in his pulpit pre-
sentation during the Lenten period there
must be a definite point to his work and a real pro-
gram in the ministry of the pulpit.

The preaching of the January-to-Easter period
should have at least two characteristics : First, there
should be a definite evangelistic message in every pul-
pit presentation; and second, the thought presented
through the sermons should be progressive and
climactic. That is, that the sermons taken together
should leave some definite convictions in the minds
of the people that they may feel renewed in their
thinking, not in a generalized, hazy way, but that
certain fundamental principles of religion shall stand
forth with clearness in their thought.

The Evangelistic Appeal
The vital part of the ministry of the pulpit is the
spiritual message that engenders and enriches the
life of the church. If this quality be lacking in the
sermons the work of the church will be mechanical,
temporary and disappointing, though the immediate

69

70 PAEISH EVAKGELISM

results may not show that there is no root because
of the lack of depth.

As to what characterizes the evangelistic note there
will be of course a variety of expressions, just as
there will be a variety of definitions of the word
*' evangelism." Ask any group of ministers or
church workers to define evangelism in brief and you
are likely to have as many definitions as there are
persons present. This does not arise from the fact
that they do not know what evangelism is, but rather
from the fact that evangelism is a word of such
variety and richness of content that it has in reality
all the meaning which the various definitions give it.
The word is in reality like a diamond and these defi-
nitions are but the flashes from the different faces
of the stone. I suppose the simplest definition for
evangelism is, " that type of religious work through
which men are brought in touch with God through
Christ." In practice the definition should be broad
enough to include all those processes and methods
by which, or through which, the spiritual life of the
church is renewed. This conception of evangelism
is large enough to include various forms, educa-
tional, pastoral, missionary, or any other type of re-
ligious work through which, and by which, the spiri-
tual life of men is deepened and enlarged. The
evangelistic note which the ministry of the pulpit
must sound during the Lenten period should result in
bringing conviction to the hearts of men in revealing
to them the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in
leading them to accept this grace for themselves by
entering into the life of the Spirit through Christ

PROGEAM OF PREACHING 71

Jesus our Lord. Every pastor will have his own
way of doing this, but woven through the woof and
fabric of the sermon presentation must be a spiritual
appeal, wooing the hearts and minds of men.

In forecasting the program of preaching and pre-
paring the outlines for the sermons the pastor must
remember the contrasting phases of human life, the
knowing, the doing, the being. As Browning has it,
"What knows, What does. What is.'* Preaching
must do more than appeal to the intellect. This ap-
plies no whit less to teaching than to preaching, for
if the process of teaching simply leaves the pupil
with a mind full of facts and has not led that pupil
to commit himself to the truth which lies back of
the facts, and gives them their reality, in such fashion
as to enlarge his living and control his actions, then
teaching has not resulted in character which is the
goal of all true education.

The right relationship of the intellect to the center
of being commonly called the heart has been a sub-
ject of study through the years and I am not at all
sure from which the world has suffered more, from
emotionalism without intelligent background or from
an intelligence chilled by dying emotions. We have
all known preachers in the days gone by who have
acquired their power over the people through an
emotional appeal. While it lasted this influence was
very great but it was temporary. Their failure was
because there was no depth of intellectual soil and
the new resolutions and aspirations soon withered
away. It must be held in mind, however, that the
great guiding realities of life are apprehended far

72 PAEISH EVANGELISM

more through the heart than through the intellect.
Through the ages perhaps few of the martyrs could
give a logical exposition of the truth for which they
were willing to die but they went to their death sing-
ing hymns of joy because of whom they loved. It
is the thing we love for which we are willing to
make the great sacrifices of life, for the truths which
we apprehend by the mysterious channel of love are
held in a radically different way from the way in
which we hold the truths apprehended by intellectual
processes. As Pompilia says in Browning's ** Ring
and the Book," " I cannot see the way but I put
forth my foot and by foot-feel I test; bear weight
and pass on."

The pastor in seeking to reach the springs of hu-
man life cannot neglect the appeal to the heart, for
however plausibly he may present Christianity, how-
ever convincingly he may arrange his syllogisms, un-
less his appeal reaches beyond the intellect to the
heart and there is in addition to an Intellectual assent
to the truth of the proposition the commitment of
one's life, preaching will fall far short of accomplish-
ing what it should. This is but saying again what
former Vice-President Marshall said in his farewell
to the Senate, " But underneath the man of brain
there is another man, the man of heart, and I have
found that the heart is wiser than the intellect and
works with swifter hands and surer feet towards
wiser conclusions." Or as Solomon put it, " Keep
thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the
issues of life," " For as he thinketh in his heart, so
is he."

PROGEAM OF PREACHING 73

This is said with no thought of minimizing the
contribution of modern scholarship to the knowledge
of the world. Any man who assumes to be a teacher
or leader of men in any field, especially in the field
of religion, who is negligent in securing the best pos-
sible education or who fails to keep himself as near
abreast current thought as possible, is unworthy of
his position. But let us feel that however true we
keep our preaching to the teachings of history and
philosophy, to the sciences and to experience in other
departments of life, and however thoroughly we have
convinced our people of the truth of these things, we
have not yet gone far enough. Some one has well
said that the world to-day has more truth than it
knows what to do with. What the world needs
along with its truth is also a determination to live the
truth which the mind accepts.

How then is our preaching to have this prime
requisite, that is the power of reaching the springs
of being — the heart ? The answer is simple ; this is
what the minister contributes by his own life, by
what he is himself. It is this quality which makes a
pulpit presentation a sermon rather than an essay.
The essay is knowledge, the sermon is knowledge
plus whatever the pastor has in his own life and his
own spiritual experience that he can contribute to the
lives of others. Hence it goes without saying that if
preaching is to have its life-giving quality, the
preacher himself must be a truly spiritual man ; one
who has entered into the holy of holies, whose spirit
is so knit up with the Spirit of God, so sensitive to
His leadings that it comes to be, not the preacher

74 PAEISH EVANGELISM

who speaks but God who speaks through him. The
truth of this can come only through experience and
with every individual it is a new experience. It
costs a man little in spiritual effort to stand before a
group of people and to read an essay, except the
painstaking research for truth and the skilful fash-
ioning of the facts together, giving them proper form
and voicing them to the people. The true preacher
goes before his people with his truths clearly out-
lined, skilfully fashioned together and becomingly
clothed and he uses this all, not as an end in itself,
but that in and through it his own soul may lift the
souls of his people into the presence of God. No
wonder a preacher's soul bums within him until he
delivers his message and after his message is de-
livered, his spirit is exhausted.

This leads to one further observation which ap-
plies not only to evangelistic preaching but to all
effective preaching, and that is that the message
both in spoken word and in soul outreach must be a
ministry of one individual to another individual. A
generalized, impersonal pulpit presentation will not
avail. In the old days it is said that medical doctors,
though they might have many bottles on their shelves,
used one of four remedies. If we go back beyond
the primitive doctor to the days of witchcraft, we
find that the witch doctor used only one method for
all diseases. Modem medicine depends, for its won-
derful success in curing bodily ills, upon the careful
diagnosis of the individual ailment and skilful pre-
scription for that one disease. The efficient pastor,
however large his congregation or extended his parish.

PEOGEAM OF PEEACHING 75

must realize that his own success will be measured
by the same standards ; that is, by his ability to min-
ister to the individual needs of his people.

The story is told of ex-President Roosevelt that
in one of his earliest meetings he was faced by a
vast company and after speaking a short time he felt
the attention of the people wandering away from him.
He saw sitting in front of him an elderly gentleman
;with a G. A. R. bronze button in the lapel of his
coat. As soon as he saw him Mr. Roosevelt cried
out, "You, my brother in the fifth row with that
bronze button in your lapel, you know that what I
am saying is true, how, when, etc." Immediately
Mr. Roosevelt had the attention of the vast throng
and he kept it as long as he addressed his remarks
either to that one individual or to some other indi-
vidual, either real or imaginary, whom he was try-
ing to reach. Afterwards Mr. Roosevelt said that
he owed whatever success he had as a public speaker
to his constant effort to speak to the individual, how-
ever large his audience was. The truth of this ob-
servation lies in the fact that our problems are largely
individual problems. You can take any one, any-
where, however prosperous and contented he may be,
and if you will sit down with him quietly and go over
his experience with life, winning his confidence and
esteem, you v/ill come finally to the discovery that in
that person's heart is a fear, a sorrow, a burden,
something which weighs down upon his life. Now it
is this individual burden which Christ came to bear
and it is this burden that He asks be given to Him.
So the pastor in presenting his appeal to the hearts of

76 PAEISH EVANGELISM

men must so present it that the individual will feel
that it is his fear, his sorrow, his burden that Christ
is able and anxious to minister unto.

The pastor who seeks to lead his people in a pro-
gram of parish evangeUsm should make every effort
that the preaching of the pre-Lenten period in par-
ticular have these qualities: that his presentation of
the truth may reach beyond an intellectual assent and
touch the heart, the center of life, and there bring
about personal commitment ; and also that the preach-
ing have an individual appeal, that is that the soul
of the preacher speak directly to the soul of the in-
dividual and lead that individual to accept the love
and life of Jesus as the guiding influence of his own
life.

In general the character of the preaching must be
such that all will understand the Gospel of Christ
with its boundless implications for individual right-
eousness and social justice. The great themes of re-
ligious thinking should be presented with freshness
and vigour : How we may know God ; What He does
for us; The Reality of Good and Evil; What the
Bible teaches about Jesus Christ ; Redemption through
Him, and how He helps those who follow Him;
How Communion with God is effected — its purpose
and hindrances ; Human Life with its upward reach
towards God, and its outward reach towards man-
kind ; the many ways in which modern paganism and
materialism bind men's thoughts ; Jesus' teachings of
the idealism of life — that it is possible to mingle in
busy affairs of the day and yet to live one's secret
life in the calm assurance of fellowship with the

PEOGEAM OP PEEACHING 77

Holy Spirit which broods over the lives of men with
boundless love and sympathy.

In the development of these themes, the pastor
should make clear the responsibility which rests upon
each individual to win others to the Christian life,
and also the great duty which rests upon the church
to train its young people and to lead them into the
fulness of the Christian experience. He will find
many opportunities to explain how the evangelistic
program seeks to make effectual this primary aim of
the church.

In all this the advice of his committee will be of
the greatest value. There are certain functions
which rest upon the pastor alone, others which be-
long to the people and others still which rest on pastor
and people. It is his duty to proclaim the truth of
the Gospel, but to make that proclamation effective he
needs the help of his people. So many pastors feel
their work is done when the Gospel is preached. To
a large extent people do believe the truth of the Gos-
pel— the failure lies in the fact that the truth is not
presented with individual application, and the com-
mitment of men to the truth is not secured. To
make his ministry personal the committee can advise
the pastor in many effective ways if he will help them
to understand his ideals and give them an opportunity
to counsel with him.

VIII
THE PASTOR'S TRAINING CLASS

THE Pastor's Training Class is usually a
feature of the Lenten period of church
work. Many pastors use the six weeks of
Lent, others conduct the class from January to Eas-
ter, while others have their class after Easter. This
feature of church work is of the greatest value and
is growing rapidly in favour of pastor and people.

The Pastor's Training Class is the class conducted
by the pastor for children to study the fundamentals
of Christian belief. The course seeks to present the
Christian way of living as the best way and that
Christian character is developed by living according
to Christian ideals. It is expected, of course, that as
a result the boys and girls will be led to make a de-
cision for Christ, and that having committed them-
selves to Him and to the leadership of His Spirit,
they will seek membership in the church.

The Purpose of the Pastor's Class
When boys and girls reach the age of twelve to
fifteen years they begin to think more seriously about
life ; they begin to understand that some people live
good and useful lives and that others do not. Chil-
dren at this period usually respond readily to a re-
ligious and ethical appeal. They are peculiarly sus-

78

THE PASTOE'S TEAINING CLASS 79

ceptible to influence, good or bad, and the funda-
mental decisions made during these years generally
continue their effect through life. The child is de-
veloping his own distinct personality, with his likes
and dislikes, with his loves and hates; and there is
forming in the child consciousness, vaguely perhaps,
the ambition to be and to do something worth while.
With these thoughts in mind, pastors in many
churches and of many denominations have been for
years using the Pastor's Instruction Class or Pastor's
Training Class as one means of reaching boys and
girls at this age and of enlisting them in the Chris-
tian life. It is the universal testimony of pastors
who have used this method that efforts put forth in
this way bring about permanent results in larger pro-
portion than efforts put forth in other lines of church
work.

The purpose of the Pastor's Training Class is, in
brief, simply this: To bring together the boys and
girls for a series of friendly, personal conferences
with the pastor, that he may explain in a reasonable
way what the Christian life is, how it is entered and
how it is lived ; that the Christian way is normal and
natural; that Christian character results from living
one's daily Hfe in the Christian way, and that the
boys and the girls who yield to the spirit of Christ
and to His leadership will find themselves being
strengthened in purpose, purified in thought and de-
veloped in Christian character.

Enrollment
The method of organizing the class, used by many

go PAEISH EVANGELISM

pastors, is this : Some time before the opening of the
Lenten season the pastor, with the help of his Sunday-
school teachers and his church visitors, makes a very
careful survey of the names of those connected with
the various church organizations, including the Sun-
day-school and young people's organizations, to ascer-
tain what children over twelve years of age in the
parish are not communicants of the church. The
hearty cooperation of the Sunday-school teachers is
absolutely essential to the success of the class.

Most pastors make special calls at the homes of
the girls and boys whom they wish to enroll in the
class, for the purpose of explaining the plans to the
parents. These visits in the homes present a num-
ber of problems and give the pastor a fine opportunity
of clarifying his own mind as well as that of the
parents as to the reasons for the existence of the
class. He is called upon to explain to the parents
his attitude towards the Christian life, also wherein
the child will be benefited by being a Qiristian and
a member of the church, and why it is that the church
is of practical helpfulness in everyday life.

Of course, where the church has maintained pas-
tor's classes in the past, the organization and develop-
ment will be familiar to most of the people in the
parish. It is the universal testimony of ministers
who have conducted pastor's classes that the finest
advertisement the class receives is the enthusiastic
support of those who in previous years have enjoyed
its delightful fellowship. But even in communities
where the method is familiar there will be new fam-
ilies to interest and new problems arising which wiU

THE PASTOE'S TEAINING CLASS 81

give the minister the best possible opportunity for pre-
senting the church, its work, its teachings, and its
worship to the parents of his constituency. Pastors
everywhere affirm that most parents are quickly
drawn to the minister who shows a real interest in
their children, and if he will manifest a reasonable
and sensible attitude, and make it clear that he has
the interest and welfare of the children at heart, he
will find that he has the cooperation of the majority
of parents.

It is to be noted, however, that there will be found
parents who will not endorse the program, nor desire
that their children attend, for fear that the chil-
dren may be subjected to influences stronger than
they can withstand and be forced into decisions re-
garding the Christian life which they are not ready
to make. In such cases pastors are very careful to
impress upon parents the fact that even if their chil-
dren should join the class, no undue pressure will
be put upon them to join the church, and that while
it is hoped that the course on instruction, and par-
ticularly the personal association with the pastor will
lead to a decision for the Christian life, yet children
who do not so decide will be just as welcome and
will be treated with the same consideration as those
who do decide to unite with the church and that
there will be no shadow resting upon those who do
not so decide, but all will have the pastor's friendship
in like measure. If the natural leaders among the
boys and girls are interested, and are asked to assist
in enrolling the other children of the community, the
problem may be simplified.

82 PABISH EVANGELISM

Time and Place of Meeting
When the children are enrolled many pastors
divide them into two classes, one for the boys and
one for the girls. Some pastors use Saturday morn-
ing for the boys and the afternoon for the girls.
Some pastors use the regular Sunday-school hours;
others use Sunday afternoon, Wednesday night or
different periods of the week. The classes generally
continue for six, eight or twelve weeks, ending
usually with Easter, when those who have decided to
unite with the church are publicly received into mem-
bership. In passing it may be well to mention that
a number of churches conduct a special reception
service for the young people coming into the church
through the pastor's class. The church, by having
a special service for the reception of young people
who unite through the Pastor's Training Class, gives
a real evidence of its interest in the religious life of
the children, and by means of such a service registers
the event in the minds of the people in a way which
is not easily forgotten.

The Method of Instruction
Most ministers use a very simple method of in-
struction in conducting the pastor's class, that is, a
friendly, frank, open discussion led by the pastor.
Some pastors have found the use of little manuals
very helpful. Samples of these may be had from
the denominational headquarters of the various com-
munions. The class exists for the purpose of giving
the children a clear understanding of some of the
fundamentals of the Christian belief and of stimu-

THE PASTOR'S TRAINING CLASS 83

lating the desire for Christian Hving. It is common
testimony that the conversational method directed
by the pastor in which each boy and girl is urged to
express frankly and fully his or her own questions
and ideas, will bring better results than any formal
course of instruction. At the same time, the pas-
tor's leadership must not be aimless and he must have
in his own mind a definite goal. A successful method
used by many a pastor is to secure copies of all
available leaflets giving courses of instruction, and
then to make up his own outline from various sug-
gestions.

Home Study

In addition to the discussions in the class, pastors
more and more are finding it advisable to outline
some form of home study for the boys and girls.
Some of the items that have been found useful for
such study are, memorizing the names of the books
of the Old and New Testament ; the reading of the
book of Ruth or Esther; the book of Jonah; certain
chapters in the book of Mark or one of Paul's letters.

The idea of this home work is to give the child a
little elementary knowledge of what is in the Bible,
how to use it and where to find some of the most
interesting stories. This object, of course, can be
gained more readily if the child is directed to read
in the Bible assigned portions rather than to have
these sections printed in a small manual.

A number of pastors have found that the use of a
manual covering certain topics of the question and
answer method helpful. While the children may not

84 PAEISH EVANGELISM

be required to memorize the question and answer,
they should be familiar with the subject matter both
of question and answer. Pastors using this plan
find that if given a brief and simple catechism the
children will naturally think out many things for
themselves.

A Suggested Course of Study
From the various suggestions and experiences of
other ministers as found in these manuals and leaf-
lets, a pastor can develop his own course of instruc-
tion. The course ought to cover in general the fol-
lowing headings :

First. What the Bible teaches us about God ; what
He does for us ; the reality of good and evil.

Second. What the Bible teaches about Jesus
Christ ; Redemption through Him and how He helps
those who follow Him.

Third. How communion with God is effected ; its
purpose, hindrances, and forms of great prayers.

Fourth. The Universal Church of Christ: Its be-
ginnings in the days of the Fathers and development
through the ages ; the meanings of its sacraments and
ceremonies, communion and baptism.

Fifth. The history and main teachings of the de-
nomination. The reasons why many men and women
in different ages have found it helpful in its spirit,
simple and natural in its organizations.

Sixth. The organization of the local church, its
officers and their duties, its members and their privi-
leges. What it means to confess Christ and unite
with His Church, this to be followed with a personal
conference with each child.

THE PASTOE'S TRAINING CLASS 86

Any outline of instruction can only be suggestive
and it is understood that many subjects of prime
interest are included by implication and will come up
for discussion in the class periods.

Securing Decision
As the class draws to a close and the pastor has
established a very cordial and intimate relationship
with the children so that they are frank with him
and he understands them, he is prepared to present
to each child in a personal conference the question
of the child's own personal acceptance of the prin-
ciples of the Christian faith, and to ascertain if the
child is willing to undertake to live according to his
best understanding of the Christian life and be
guided by the advice and counsel of the Christian
Church. Here is where the pastor comes into one
of the richest experiences of his pastoral life, for
having gained the confidence, good- will and trust of
the child, he now has the privilege of leading that
trusting mind to a conscious acceptance of Christ;
and while this acceptance is based on but elementary
knowledge of Christian doctrine, it can be so rich in
the love of Christ that the decision thus made will
be the turning point in the child's life, and all his
after years will be directed and influenced by this
high choice. When without excitement and without
undue pressure the decision is made, the pastor will
consecrate forthwith in his own prayer and in his
own way the trusting confidence and new-born faith,
thus teaching dependence upon Christ Himself. If
the child is not ready to decide this final matter, or

86 PAEISH EVANGELISM

hesitates for any reason, the pastor should respect
this state of mind and be wilHng that taking the fur-
ther step should be deferred until the child is abso-
lutely sure in his own mind that that is what he wants
to do. Many pastors find that such children fre-
quently join the class again the next year, at the close
of which they unite with the church.

Having secured, therefore, such confessions as are
willingly made, the pastor will prepare to receive
these children into the church. As has been men-
tioned, some pastors have found that a special recog-
nition service for the boys and girls coming from the
pastor's class is one of the most helpful services of
the whole church year and makes a deep impression
upon the whole community. When the children are
formally received into church membership, at a later
date pastors generally find it their pleasure to present
each child with a neat certificate of membership, or
a Testament or Bible, as a reminder of this signifi-
cant event.

The General Results in the Parish
The results of the Pastor's Training Class are out
of all proportion to the size of the class or the length
of the period of instruction, for it does two very
definite things: It draws the parents of the commu-
nity to the church in a new way, for they feel that the
pastor is in partnership with them on a subject that
lies very near their hearts — the welfare of their chil-
dren. Many a wide-awake pastor has found that
when a child enters the instruction class and begins
to take a real interest, it is quite an easy matter to

THE PASTOE'S TEAINING CLASS 87

interest the mother and father if the parents are not
already church members, and that they, too, will come
with the child into the church. One pastor reported
that among the accessions one Easter in his church
there were twelve fathers and fourteen mothers who
joined the church with the children as a direct result
of that year's Pastor's Training Class, and the class
numbered only thirty.

The second very definite result is that it defines
the purpose of the church and particularly the Sun-
day-school in the minds of the church workers to win
results for Christ and they begin to see the value of
a definite program of such church work directed to
certain attainable ends.

IX

PERSONAL WORK

For Pastor and People

THE phrase " personal work " means indi-
vidual work for individuals. It is simply
making practical application of the teach-
ings of the church through personal influence. In
personal work, either by pastor or people, there is a
conscious effort to present the Gospel of Christ and
the appeal to Christian living so as to meet the needs
of the individual and show that individual what the
Christian faith will mean to him.

Personal work should be continuous but because
of the favourable atmosphere during the pre-Easter
period it is usually found more fruitful at this period
of the year than at any other. Without such special
effort the best results of the year's work of the
church by pastor and people cannot be harvested.

The effectiveness of the personal service of the
people depends quite largely upon what the preacher
has been able to accomplish through his pulpit min-
istry. Helpful results for personal work should
follow the ministry of the pulpit. In the first place
the pastor in his pulpit will have schooled the workers
in the knowledge and spirit which they are to carry
into their service.

88

PEESONAL WOEK 89

The minister who plans an effective program of
personal work should seek so to influence occasional
attendants at the worship of the church and at other
services that they may be ready for the personal
appeal. He will make the religious life attractive
both by what he says and by the way he lives. The
religious life will be presented as the best life — that
is, life coming to its best ; religion as not simply some-
thing put on at pleasure but as a consistent and con-
scientious expression of the inner life of faith and
love. In addition to these more personal applica-
tions of the Gospel to human life, he will inform his
people of the great foundation principles of the
Christian belief. By bringing these convictions
clearly to the consciousness of his people the pastor
will open the way for those who are to work under
his direction in helping to secure the decision of
people to seek God until they find Him.

Not only will the pastor be preparing the way
with individuals but he will be speaking many help-
ful words to the members of his congregation who
will join in the program of personal work. He will
give these workers a fresh understanding of re-
ligion in the common life, a new vision of God and
of man's need for Him, that they may be able to
present a true picture of the life which Christ Jesus
demanded. The pastor who desires to lead his peo-
ple in a program of personal work will find that his
more effective sermons are those which deal with
the fundamentals of Christian belief and the homely
virtues of daily living. Upon the effectiveness of the
pulpit presentation depends in large measure the ef-

90 PAEISH EVANGELISM

ficiency of his personal workers as they work with
him to win men to Christ.

Who Are to he Personal Workers?

In planning the program of personal work the mem-
bership or evangelistic committee will be of grow-
ing helpfulness. In some churches this committee is
composed of the personal workers' band, but fre-
quently it is found advisable for the evangelistic
committee or the pastor to set up a special com-
mittee or to enroll those who are willing to give per-
sonal service in a personal workers' group. This
particular group may be known as the Personal
Workers' Committee, Life Service Band, or as the
Invitation Committee, a name growing in favour in
the churches as indicating the function of the group.

Perhaps the most effective method of setting up
the group is for the pastor to select certain of his
men and women and young people on whom he feels
that he can count for sei*vice, those who have influ-
ence in the community as a result of their way of
living and tact and kindly attitude towards others,
and to invite these individuals either to his own home
or to the church parlours for a conference. When
all are together the pastor should present his ideals
of individual work, just what he expects them to do,
what to say to their friends, and acquaintances, how
to go about the work and what results to expect from
those they seek to interview. He then should secure
the consent of as many as will agree to make a study
of methods of personal work and to devote some
time to this service for a limited period. It will be

PERSONAL WORK 91

found easier as a rule to enroll workers for a period
of from six weeks to three months than if the term
be left indefinite.

The active invitation committee, if not a part of
the general committee, should be kept informed and
should advise with the pastor as to the personnel as
well as the method of work. It is the common testi-
mony of pastors that the work of the personal
workers' group is hindered if there is much publicity
concerning the appointment and work of the com-
mittee. It is not necessary for many of the people
of the church outside the group directly concerned to
know who are the ones that are pledging themselves
to this definite type of service. The personal workers*
band or group, or invitation committee, or by what-
ever name known, should be composed of those men
and women of standing in the community and in the
church who by gifts and graces will be able to do
satisfactory work and who are willing to give a por-
tion of their time for a limited period to this service
under the direction of the pastor.

The members should be selected with great care,
for their duty is the securing of the decision of
others to enlist in the Christian life, and to enter the
service and worship of the Christian Church. A
brief study of the art of salesmanship will convince
any one that the ability to secure the decision of an-
other willingly and gladly to do that which he had
not planned, is the foundation of success in business.
Such ability is no less necessary for success in the
fine art of winning others to the discipleship of Jesus
Christ. The committee therefore should be composed

92 PAEISH EVANGELISM

of those who have in addition to a deep religious life
the tact, the determination and the abihty to win.

Sub-Committees
It is helpful to organize sub- committees which
limit their activities to certain groups. For example,
a men's invitation committee to work with the men
of the community, and a woman's committee to work
with the women. As has been well said, men are
learning how to win other men " of their own size,"
and it is heartening to know that some of our strong-
est bankers, merchants and lawyers are giving their
time to win to the discipleship of the Lord Jesus
Christ other bankers, merchants and lawyers.

What the Workers Are to Do
Those who are to give themselves to personal work
are to do two things — first, study ; second, serve.

Much of the effectiveness of their service will de-
pend upon their equipment and training and they
should be willing to begin with the more elementary
phases of the work and as they gain in experience
extend their activities. It should be said in passing
that except in rare cases individuals working in the
local congregation and in behalf of the local church
should work in the closest cooperation with the pas-
tor and in all they seek to do should be constantly on
their guard to give the impression that they are speak-
ing for the pastor and under his instruction. In the
vast majority of cases the putting of the final ques-
tions and the securing of decisions should be left to
the pastor. As one pastor put it, " I use my faithful

PERSONAL WORK 93

workers continually, but when a soul is born into
the Kingdom I want to be there." There are obvious
reasons why this final task should be left to the
pastor. In exceptional cases definite decisions may
be secured by men and women of the laity but they
should be reported immediately to the pastor, who
should lose no time in calling upon those making the
decisions, that he may strengthen them in the position
they have taken.

While the final phases of personal work are best
left to the pastor himself, this does not in any way
lessen the dignity nor the importance of the work
that is to be done by the individuals. The members
of the personal workers' band should begin perhaps
first by securing attendance at the services of the
church, Sunday-school and other organizations. It
should be borne in mind that with rare exception an
individual who has not attended the church or any
of its organizations before uniting with that church,
will be rather difficult to secure as a regular attend-
ant after he has united with the church. So the first
duty for personal workers Is to build new people into
the congregation and church organizations.

The second task which naturally will fall to the
personal workers is that they help to make people
who occasionally attend the church feel at home and
helped by the participation in the worship of the
congregation. To the average man it is a rather
momentous decision when he really decides to at-
tend the service of a certain church. This is an act
which ought to be looked upon by churches as of
great significance, for it is usually the surface evi-

94 PAEISH EVANGELISM

dence of a sincere desire for a change in living. I
am speaking here of course of those who formerly
have not been members of the church, and not par-
ticularly of those newcomers to the community who
have been members of the church in other years and
now are considering the transfer of their membership
from one church to another, but rather of those who
are to be won for the first time to Christian worship
and service. So when, through invitation or inner
promptings, such a person goes to church he is mak-
ing a very significant advance which, if met in the
right way, will be of the greatest importance in the
life of that individual.

When people go to church they go for the most
part that they may receive courage and strength
through worship and the fellowship of the congrega-
tion. In days gone by this was accomplished through
doctrinal sermons and through class or group meet-
ings where, in a rather formal fashion, public in-
quiry was made by the class leader into the needs of
one's soul and testimony was given by worshippers
as to their own spiritual experience. To-day this
encouragement comes through the sermon and serv-
ice of worship and in other rather informal ways,
but which may be no less effective. Courage comes
through the friendly faces, the hand-clasp, the word
of greeting, in short through the recognition on the
part of others of one's desire to be and do the right
thing. This is to say, our encouragement and fel-
lowship are expressed in perhaps the more subtle
ways of social usage and the church should feel as
much a responsibility in this day for expressing Us

PERSONAL WOEK 96

message of cheer through the means which are used
to-day as did the church in the olden time for its
class meeting and other forms of grace.

The next step for those who are doing personal
work is to seek a few individuals and to present to
them the Christian way of living. Here the personal
worker will find his influence depending upon two
things at least. First of all his own personal re-
ligious experience. When he sits down to talk with
another about religion he will find that his theories
do not have much influence. That which will give
his words validity, and give him an influence far
beyond his words, is his own religious experience.
If he has come to know God in Christ as a personal
Father, a God of love, of forgiveness and of mercy
as Jesus has revealed Him, and if the worker has
entered into a deepening acquaintance so that he
speaks literally with God, and has learned how to
apprehend God speaking to him, he will have the
first and great requirement for personal work.

In the second place he will find his efficiency de-
termined somewhat by his knowledge of men. He
will be greatly helped if he understands how people
come to a decision concerning the more vital things
of life — the elements which the average person con-
siders when reaching a conclusion — and above all
else how to lead another to try for himself the Chris-
tian way of knowing God. He will be greatly helped
if he will study some good text-book on personal
work and of methods used by others. These will be
valuable as testimony, but he should be on his guard
against a too literal use of another's plan. His own

96 PARISH EVANGELISM

method as he develops it through his own experi-
ence will be better. He should aim at a normal and
natural form of religious work.

If a Christian man who really gets something worth
while out of his religion will apply the common sense
and practical methods of carrying to another what he
himself has found of value, he will succeed. There is
no magic or sleight-of-hand that will win permanent
results. But it does require a full and sympa-
thetic understanding of another's view-point and the
meeting of him on his level and then with tact, with
love, with patience, leading him to the acceptance of
Christ's offer of the gift of the Spirit. The con-
version of a soul is a mystery of mysteries. It is the
work of the Spirit, and every worker should be on
his guard not to try to force a mechanical or pre-
mature decision.

Finding Christ
As has been well said, there are three ways to
find Christ — the way of love, of faith and of obedi-
ence. Some enter by one avenue; some by another.
Some see the beauty of Christ in picture, or in story,
and loving Him, acquire faith and follow Him by
obedience. Others learn of Him by faith through
belief in the testimony of others and then come to
love Him and to obey Him. And still others come
to Him through obedience, learn His law and obey
Him, and come in time to the fulness of faith and
the richness of love. Our part in leading another to
Christ is that of introduction. We are to testify to
what the Christian life is to us, and explain as far

PEESONAL WOEK 97

as we understand the reality of the spiritual life,
until the seeker desires to know Christ and to follow
Him. '' He that seeketh, findeth."

The Committee at Work

The pastor who has been following through the
year a regular program will find a number of the
things he has been doing of the greatest helpfulness
to his plan for personal work. For example, from
his surveys or parish visitation he will have the names
of a large number of men and women who ought to
be reached and will also have enough information
about them to give to his helpers a good many sug-
gestions as to how to proceed in individual cases.
It must be remembered that when it comes to win-
ning men and women to the discipleship of Christ
the same rule holds good as in other relations of life ;
that is, that decisions are made one by one, and people
are won as individuals, not in mass.

So the pastor leading his committee will want to
consider his people as individuals, and help his
workers to grasp his own ideals. It is often thought
advisable that the worker and the pastor alone know
for whom the member of the committee is working.
Discussion of names and conditions and personalities
should not be had in the large group, although it is
helpful for the pastor to conduct from time to time
general meetings o£ all those who are assisting him
in personal work, for discussions of principles and
methods of winning others.

X

DEEPENING THE PRAYER LIFE OF THE
PEOPLE

IT is evident to all religious workers that their
effectiveness depends on their prayer life.
Prayer is the life of religion. Without vital
prayer all methods of religious work are but tempo-
rary experiments. One of the crying needs of church
work to-day is for more prayer. This chapter deals
not so much with the need of prayer and the sub-
stance of prayer as with methods that have been used
by pastors to develop among their people the practice
of prayer.

Why Do Mot Christians Pray More in Public f
To a praying person prayer seems a natural form
of expression, and speaking to God a normal part
of his daily life. Whether the prayer be offered in
private or In public, to one accustomed to prayer the
forms and words are usually easily at hand which
will serve as an adequate vehicle for the thought the
one who prays desires to express. It is sometimes
difficult for some Christians to understand why other
Christians, who live consistent lives, hesitate to offer
public prayer. Let a pastor try this simple experi-
ment: let him Imagine himself standing before his
congregation and suddenly called upon to offer a

98

DEEPENING THE PEAYER LIFE 99

public prayer, using the language of everyday life —
that is, not using the classical words " thou," " thee,"
" wilt " and such terms which to one who prays fre-
quently form the natural prayer vocabulary — and he
will discover that in thinking of forms his thought
of substance is very much handicapped.

Now to the average man or woman accustomed to
the use of everyday English there may be a very
great hesitance to pray publicly because of a feeling
of inability to use the accepted forms of expression.
Those who hesitate ,in public prayer may not realize
what it is that embarrasses them when they think of
offering a public prayer, but if a pastor will analyze
the situation he will find that his people, those whom
he naturally expects would lead in public prayer and
who do not pray publicly, do communicate with God
through silent prayer, prayers which would be of
great helpfulness to others but which the man or
woman hesitates to express, not only from a natural
timidity that one unaccustomed to hearing his own
voice in public will have, but also from a feeling of
unfamiliarity with the accepted language of prayer.

No doubt Jesus faced this same situation in His
day when He gave Himself to the task of teaching
His followers how to pray. You will notice that in
His instructions to them, He first gave them His
ideals of the substance of prayer, the things for
which people should pray to God. He taught them
the futility of long and ornate prayers as were used
by religious leaders of that day, and encouraged His
followers to use rather the simple thoughts of every-
day life and with sincere voice to utter the aspira-

100 PAEISH EVANGELISM

tions of the soul for communication with God.
When He had taught them these things He gave
them a prayer model which through all the years
has been used by Christians as the ideal form of
prayer. When the pastor seeks to lead his people in
the deepening of the prayer life he will do well to
follow the example of Christ.

What is Prayer?
Perhaps one of the most inclusive definitions of
prayer is found in the old hymn, " Prayer is the
soul's sincere desire/'

Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,

Uttered or unexpressed,
The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,

The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye

When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that reach

The Majesty on high.

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,

The Christian's native air,
His watchword at the gates of death;

He enters heaven with prayer.

O Thou, by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,

The path of prayer Thyself hast trod;
I/)rd, teach us how to pray.

DEEPENING THE PRAYER LIFE 101

You will notice in this hymn that there are many-
definitions of prayer, all of them true. One pastor,
who has been very effective as a religious teacher,
gave a series of Sunday evening meditations wath
this hymn as a basis, taking up in successive evenings
the various conceptions which these serve to illus-
trate— that sincere prayer is the conscious outreach
of the human soul to God. A pastor who gives his
people the true meaning of prayer will find that he
has done much to make their religious life natural,
sweet and effective.

I think it goes without saying that the great ma-
jority of people believe in prayer. Any one who has
been present at a time of shipwreck or accident,
serious sickness or any other crisis of life, will recall
how the thoughts of all, though hardened men and
abandoned women might be present, were turned in-
stinctively to prayer. How natural it Is at such a
time for a stricken soul or a bewildered person to
voice a prayer to God. If we had the power to look
into the secret life of the men and women who
throng the busy streets, the stores and factories, we
might be greatly surprised to find how frequently
these people, many of whom never see the inside of
a church, lift their thoughts to God. Though their
thoughts of the personality of God may be very hazy
and indistinct and the prayers they offer may be
timid and half-hearted, nevertheless many a human
soul reaches towards God who broods over the lives
of men in matchless love and sympathy.

Those who have gone through periods of Indiffer-
ence or who have been reared in ignorance of God

102 PAEISH EVANGELISM

and of Christian teachings and practice and who have
later come into Christian life, all unite in testimony
that these observations are true to their own experi-
ence. Let the pastor or religious worker w^ho doubts
the truth of these statements sit down with some
non-churchgoing friend and talk with that person
sympathetically and honestly and see if it is not true
that this one feels in his own heart and life some
union with God through his own secret, timid prayers.

When we turn our thoughts to the topic " How to
Pray," we must be willing to recognize that people
with different individualities and different require-
ments will pray in different ways. When Jesus
taught His prayer to His disciples we are not told that
He called upon them to assume any position of rever-
ence, or that He closed His eyes or asked them to
close theirs, and yet we know His prayer was sincere
and true. At the same time we should remember
that Jesus did have certain places to which He re-
tired for prayer — as in the wilderness or in the
garden. Again we know that when He stood before
the hungry multitude He lifted His eyes to heaven
and prayed looking upward. I suppose we all feel
that the position one takes in prayer has very little
to commend it other than if one is accustomed either
to kneeling, standing or bowing the head that he can
in this way more easily free his mind from outward
circumstances and concentrate his thoughts on God.

One present-day writer whose books on prayer
have been of great help to many has said that for
himself his most helpful place for prayer is usually
the crowded subway or the railway train, and that

DEEPENING THE PRAYER LIFE 103

as he travels he is accustomed to give himself to long
periods of most helpful prayer. And many other
leaders of religious life testify that they are helped
in phrasing their thought by continuing some natural
habit, either of posture, place or time. We should
help our people to see that these considerations are
entirely subordinate. I am not at all sure but that
if the time comes when we break away from the
classical language of old English and use rather the
language of everyday life we shall also contribute to
the ease with which people will learn the art of
prayer. The fact that time, position and language
are entirely subordinate should help us to emphasize
this one outstanding fact — that prayer should be
the natural and sincere expression of one's inmost
thought to God, in a natural and personal fashion.
We should do all we can to cultivate the attitude of
the people towards God and towards prayer which
will make such an expression of their deeper thoughts,
their longings, aspirations, fears, hopes and loves, an
essential part of their daily life.

Every pastor should seek in all ways to impress
upon his people the absolute necessity of regular
prayer as a means of grace ; that prayer is the great-
est force for grace and power In the Christian life;
that every man should be his own priest and that
there is no other way to grow in grace or to live a
consistent Christian life than through the power of
prayer. Let his people accept such forms and times
and methods as by experience best satisfy their spiri-
tual needs. The experience of the world is to the
effect that there are no powerful Christians except

104 PAEISH EVANGELISM

praying Christians, and that any Christian who re-
mains steadfast in prayer will have power with God
and man far beyond his greatest hope.

To lead his people into an active prayer life the
pastor will do well to follow Christ's example and
give his people certain prayer models, some of the
great historic prayers of the Church which should
be memorized with the same fidelity with which we
teach our children the Lord's Prayer. Perhaps the
pastor himself will care to formulate a few prayers
and teach these to his people; or he may have some of
them write out a prayer or two for themselves and
memorize them. Many times hesitating men and
women can be led into the habit of public prayer by
first having brief prayers to memorize and to use on
appropriate occasions. It will not be long before a
man so led will find himself improvising and adding
to his memorized prayer, until little by little he will
be able to stand alone and trust himself to express
his prayer thoughts in appropriate fashion in public.

As the pastor leads his people in thinking of
prayer the inevitable question must be answered — In
addition to the value to the one who prays, of what
practical value is prayer anyway? To this question
there can be but one answer and that is the answer
of experience. What has been your experience or
the experience of others in testing the efficiency of
prayer? In a recent meeting with pastors this sub-
ject was under discussion and two pastors gave in-
teresting bits of testimony. One was to this effect:
That he was satisfied that while we know something
of the power of prayer, we know as little how to

DSEPBlSriKG THE PEAYEK LIFE 105

make that great power available in the lives of people
as did the ancients who knew that electricity was in
the universe, but were entirely ignorant of its prac-
tical uses. He followed this observation with a story
about the w^ay in which he had found prayer effective.
He had been called recently to the sick-bed of a little
child ; the doctor had given up hope ; the father and
mother and pastor had one hope — the hope of prayer.
They continued in fervent prayer together all night
long ; the next morning when the doctor came to the
bedside of the child he turned to the parents with the
words, " Some miracle has happened here ; this child
is getting well."

This man was followed by another pastor who
testified that he too had been called by parents of a
child who was seriously ill. The mother was pros-
trate but the father with clinched teeth and gripped
fists said to the pastor, " We cannot let this child die.
I will go crazy if she does. If there is anything in
prayer, now let us pray." This father and pastor
likewise continued during the night in earnest prayer.
Towards morning the nurse called the father to come
to the bedside of the child as she felt the child's soul
was going out to God. The father stood on one side
of the bed and the pastor on the other, each one hold-
ing a hand of the little child, and her soul did go out
to God. As soon as the last pulse of life had ceased
the father turned to the pastor with all the hardness
and bitterness gone out of his face, saying, " I am
reconciled, for I feel that there has gone from my
hand directly to the hand of God the dearest mes-
senger that ever was sent from earth to heaven."

106 PAEISH EVANGELISM

From that day to this both that father and mother
have been greatly blessed by the peace and faith
which came to them through the experience of life
and death, and life in the Spirit.

The minister who looks through his personal ac-
quaintance and keeps in mind his own experience in
religious work will find many interesting pieces of
testimony which will do much to strengthen his peo-
ple to have faith in prayer, for Tennyson's words
are true — " More things are wrought by prayer than
this world dreams of."

" The Fellowship of Prayer "
During recent years many churches have been
helped in their evangelistic work by the use of the
Lenten prayer booklet, *' The Fellowship of Prayer."
It is the purpose of this booklet to assist pastors to
organize and to direct the prayer life of the parish
that all the features of the work of the church will
be undergirded with spiritual power. The prayer
calendar provides a brief outline for study, medita-
tion and prayer by suggesting the use of passages
of Scripture, a hymn and a meditation dealing with
some phase of the Christian life. If the " Fellowship
of Prayer" is not used some other prayer booklet
will be found most helpful. Such a prayer booklet
is an aid to individuals as a program to private devo-
tions and as a guide in establishing and maintaining
the regular habit of private prayer.

" The Fellowship of Prayer " is helpful for family
worship. A pastor can be of much help to his people
by having available such a booklet to put into the

DEEPENING THE PRAYEK LIFE 107

families where family prayer has long been neglected,
as the prayer booklet offers a practical program for
family worship.

The booklet may also be used for the regular
prayer meeting as well as group prayer meetings
wherever these are held. The organization of a num-
ber of group, neighbourhood or cottage prayer meet-
ings is in most cases a helpful thing. It is not
possible of course to organize an entire community
year after year for group prayer meetings, but each
year the pastor will find some women in his parish
who are willing to open their homes for a brief hour
of neighbourhood prayer and invite to these meetings
their friends of the immediate neighbourhood. Such
a prayer circle exerts an influence out of all propor-
tion to its size and the pastor should by all means
establish at least a few of these neighbourhood cen-
ters in the parish.

And lastly, the prayer calendar is of help in the
regular worship of the church, as it is a means by
which the pastor by using the general themes or daily
topics in the prayer meeting and Sunday services of
the church may lead his people in their thought and
worship.

XI

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER

THE pastor who follows a program of parish
evangelism will find that the work of the
church from January on to Easter will have
usually a climacteric effect, for as one interest is well
organized it becomes easier to organize related lines
of activities and each strengthens the other. For
example, the program of preaching will develop cer-
tain lines of religious thinking which will assist in
the formation of the pastor's training class and the
personal workers' group and will tend to deepen the
prayer life of the church. When these three related
lines of work are organized they likewise will be of
the greatest helpfulness to the program of preaching.
When the boys and girls are enrolled in the pastor's
training class it will be natural for the pastor to sug-
gest, as one of the requirements of those who are
admitted to the class, that they attend the regular
morning service of the church if they are not already
attendants. Their presence at the morning service
will be a very great encouragement to the pastor and
his helpers. The pastor will be thinking of ways of
reaching these young people through the ministry of
the pulpit which will help him in developing his ser-
mons along practical lines.

As the personal workers become active they will
help build the church congregation and will invite
young people to the training class. As all join to-

io8

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER 109

gether in service there will be a deepening interest in
prayer. As the pastor and his people cooperate in
the program of parish evangelism they will feel in
many ways the strengthening influence of united
prayer. Thus it will surely work out imder usual
circumstances that each feature of church work will
reinforce the others. As the program develops the
pastor will find himself and his church growing in
interest, in spirituality and in effective service. When
Easter draws near he is quite likely to feel the
need of a series of devotional meetings which may
crystallize the thinking of his people and help them
come to new decisions and reach an advanced
position in spiritual life. Some pastors find that
they need more than a week and use the two weeks
preceding Easter for a series of meetings. More and
more pastors are coming to the conclusion that the
weeks immediately preceding Easter are psychologic-
ally favourable to devotional or evangelistic meetings
and that through such meetings they accomplish
some things which cannot be brought about through
the regular Sunday services of the church.

When meetings are held during the week Immedi-
ately preceding Easter (commonly called " Holy
Week "), the life of Christ furnishes the usual theme.
There are a number of ways in which to use the
material available. Many pastors use the following
plan: during the evenings of the week they read the
portion of the Scriptures which relates to the events
of the corresponding day of Christ's last week. For
some days the record Is too long for an evening's
reading and selections have to be made ; for one day

110 PARISH EVANGELISM

there is no record at all and for this evening some
pastors arrange a service of hymns and prayers with
a very brief meditation on the value of silence and
contemplation in religious life.

Other pastors present brief sermons, the texts
usually from the history of the day. Still others, to
whom the Christian year does not particularly appeal
and who desire to avail themselves of the evangelistic
attitude of the people, present devotional or evangel-
istic themes. But whatever may be the plan, there
should be preceding its inauguration a thoroughgoing
campaign of publicity. Perhaps at no other time
during the year will religious publicity bring as satis-
factory results as when devoted to pre-Easter serv-
ices. The music and other features of service should
be appropriate to the occasion. Our modern hymn-
books offer a wealth of material which can be used
to great advantage by the pastor who plans ahead for
the participation of his people in the worship of the
church.

Through such a series of meetings the pastor will
be able to give his people instruction in the funda-
mentals of religious living and will be able to do
effective evangelistic work, though he may think best
not to advertise the meetings as evangelistic but
rather as devotional. He may have found by ex-
perience that a meeting advertised as evangelistic is
sometimes under a handicap.

Through the devotional meetings during the week
preceding Easter he will be able to draw together
the various lines of service and if the coordinated
features, the pastor's training class, personal work.

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER 111

definite prayer, have been carried forward in a sys-
tematic, painstaking way, and all supported by a
thoroughgoing program of preaching, the services of
Holy Week will bring great comfort to the souls of
the people and a worthy development of the work of
the church.

The custom seems to be growing in the churches of
various denominations to celebrate the communion on
Thursday evening, in memory of Christ's last supper
with His disciples, and also to observe the three-
hour period on Friday afternoon which corresponds
to the period Christ was on the Cross. A number
of cities are taking up the movement to make the
afternoon of Friday of the week preceding Easter
(frequently called "Good Friday") a city- wide
holiday for the purpose of allowing the people to
attend church if they so desire. In issuing a
proclamation for this purpose in Indianapolis the
mayor of the city said among other things, " The
three hours' passion that our Lord suffered on Cal-
vary that all men from then until the end of time
might find eternal life, is the most precious heritage
ever left to the human race. Every Christian, of all
creeds and all denominations, joins in reverence and
thanksgiving for this supreme event. Let us lay
aside the everyday working tools of life during the
passion hour when Jesus suffered on the Cross."
Where there is a community movement of this sort
pastors either singly or in groups will have little
trouble in securing a congregation.

There are a number of other features of the work
in the pre-Easter season which can well receive the

112 PAEISH EVANGELISM

attention of the pastors who are trymg to nurture
the religious life of the people. For example, de-
votional reading should be encouraged in every way
and pastors can be of very great help to the people
by encouraging them to purchase the best books of
a devotional nature and to read them. Some of the
tried plans are the establishment of reading circles
where a small group of people read the same book
and meet weekly for discussion, or where the mem-
bers of a group read a separate book and bring to a
weekly meeting a review of the book they have read.
But above all else should the pastor encourage his peo-
ple to read the Scriptures diligently. It is becoming
more and more a custom for pastors to urge their
people to read at least one of the Gospels during the
Lenten period. If the church is following a pro-
gram of devotions similar to *' The Fellowship of
Prayer" this feature of work will be of very great
interest.

Whether the pastor provides his people with an
opportunity for public worship during the days pre-
ceding Easter or not, he will of course consider
Easter as one of the great days of the Christian year.
With some churches the day is made memorable by
the reception of new members and the celebration of
the Lord's wSupper. In other churches it is the cus-
tom of the pastor to utilize the occasion for a special
sermon, as he will have an opportunity of speaking
to people who are not usually at the church service.

As to which is the best type of service no general
statement can be made. The pastor and his com-
mittee should consider the question carefully and

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER 113

follow that order of service which they feel will be
most helpful to their congregation. It will be neces-
sary for them to consider the custom of the people.
To those who have been accustomed through long
years to look upon Easter as a communion Sunday,
the lack of that feature of the service will be very
keenly felt. On the other hand, where the people
look forward to the service of instruction and music,
such a service should be provided. The reception of
members on Easter Sunday can be a very effective
service and need not occupy much time nor bring
about any confusion. Whereas churches which de-
sire to devote an entire morning service to a recep-
tion of members and a discussion of the meaning of
church membership, will find that a reception service
is more fittingly observed on another day.

To make the most of the year's work, to gather
up all the elements of spiritual power that have been
stimulated in the lives of the people and to unify the
church as a spiritual organization, the pastor should
by all means bring his people together for a series
of devotional services during Holy Week and plan
for a glorious hour of worship on Easter Sunday.
The reception of new members at the Easter service,
or at some convenient date near Easter, brings to a
completion the second cycle of church work — the
January-to-Easter period.

The ingathering at Easter is a fitting way to register
the results of the work of the church. If the pro-
gram of parish evangelism has been carried through
in effective fashion, the Easter service will record
tfie apiritual results of the season's activities. It is

lU PAEISH EVANGELISM

evident that the items of the program which have
been discussed above are not dependent entirely one
upon the other, and there may be some churches
where one feature can be used, and in other churches,
other features. In addition to the individual worth
of these various phases of the program, they are of
value in their cumulative effect. By carrying through
the pre-Lenten program, the pastor will have accom-
plished these definite results :

He will have developed in the thinking of his peo-
ple through his pre-Easter sermons, clearer concep-
tions of God and of the Gospel of Christ for the in-
dividual and for the world.

He will have trained and given exercise to a
group of church workers, and it will be found that
these workers will be drawing closer to Christ as
they serve with the pastor day by day.

He will have gone over the fundamentals of Chris-
tian faith with the boys and girls of his parish and
will have secured the assent of many to unite with
the church and to enter the Christian life.

He will have unified his people in prayer and will
have made available the resources of spiritual power
in the life of the church.

And finally, through his Holy Week and Easter
services, he will have demonstrated the essential one-
ness of the Church and that if the people and pastor
are united in a great program and are willing to put
into it the best of their lives, they will experience a
deepening of their love for Christ ; they will be made
conscious of the leadership of the Spirit and they
will find their hearts made glad by the seal of ap-
proval that will be placed upon the worship and
service of the church.

XII

AFTER EASTER

AFTER Easter there is usually a decided let-
down in church work. This should be on
the surface only, for this period should be
devoted to what military leaders call " consolidation
of gains." The term simply means that when an
army has advanced and established outposts by
charge or other manoeuvre there must be a period of
surface quiet that the outposts may be linked up with
the main body of the army, channels of communica-
tion established and one outpost connected with an-
other. In the work of the church the consolidation
of gains is no less important than in military life.
The permanency of the work done during the Lenten
period depends quite largely upon the effectiveness
of that following Easter. If the new members who
are brought into the church and others who have
experienced a deepening of religious life are not
given special care and new opportunities for service,
much of the influence of the work will be lost.

Some commercial and business organizations are
putting into practice one of the very effective features
of the work of the early church, that is the estab-
lishment of the chain method of interesting new mem-
bers. Various city chambers of commerce, for in-
stance, have adopted the plan that when a new mem-

"5

116 PARISH EVANGELISM

ber has been secured for the chamber he is forth-
with commissioned to secure another new member.
He is listed as a *' front-line man " until he has se-
cured his new member, when he becomes a member
of the main body and the new man he has secured
takes his place in the front line until he likewise
secures his new member. Many will recall reading
how the early church had a plan like this, that the
young convert to the church was received on pro-
bation until he brought some one to the Christian
commimity, when he became a full member and his
friend became a probationer until he likewise brought
in his member. One of the best forms of service for
new members is for them to seek to interest others.
Pastors who use new members in this fashion aim
to limit their activity to bringing their friends into
the congregation, rather than to have the new mem-
bers engage in more general personal work.

The reception of new members brings to the pastor
the task of building the new people into the life of
the church. To do this he will want above every-
thing else to make his new members feel at home
in the church, and in its services find some worthy
task to do. Here he will find his social service, mis-
sionary education and religious education programs
of great value. To put the right person at work at
the right task is one of the marks of true leadership.
If a pastor can do this easily he will find his work
greatly simplified. The following suggestions, pre-
pared by Rev. Charles E. Burton, D. D., have been
used by many churches with good results :

A certificate of church membership should be given

AFTER EASTER 117

to every new member. With it there should go simple
instructions for the personal religious life, an out-
line of the opportunities and responsibilities of
church membership and an invitation to subscribe to
the church and its benevolences. Do not be afraid
of making religion sordid by introducing finances. If
you leave them out you are likely to dwarf the spiri-
tual life of the new member.

Social connections are important. Plan a reception
to new members within a week after they are re-
ceived. Make it an actual introduction of the new
members to the church people. Do not stop here.
Definitely arrange for intimate acquaintance on the
part of every new member with a circle of church
people. Here is where your parish organization is of
importance.

Watch over the new members faithfully until they
are thoroughly inducted into the life of the church.
If they are absent from the Sunday service, call them
up on the 'phone the next morning, or write them,
or call a neighbouring member of the church asking
them to inquire; or, best of all, call upon them per-
sonally on Monday, letting them know that you missed
them. Here again the parish organization is most
useful. In the larger churches committees should
be set to attend to this, with or without the pastor's
cooperation.

Assign some responsibility to every new member.
Each one should be introduced to the department of
church life which Is appropriate — the women to the
women's organizations, the young people to the
young people's organizations, etc. Usually there is

118 PAEISH EVANGELISM

need of helpers in the Sunday-school. In many
churches the choir needs new material. Every pas-
tor knows what needs to be done in the church and
through the church in the community. Church mem-
bers who are doing something worth while for the
church will not lose their interest in it.

Other ways of enlisting new members will sug-
gest themselves to the ingenious pastor. The im-
portant thing is that it should not be allowed to go
unattended to for the lack of plan.

Continuation of Evangelistic Campaign
Many pastors are finding it of great service to
continue a quiet campaign for church members after
Easter, looking forward to a reception of new mem-
bers on Mother's Day, Children's Sunday, or on some
Sunday in May or June. There are always some
who, though willing, cannot be present at the recep-
tion at Easter or near Easter and others who made
the decision too late to be received. For those pas-
tors who conduct their pastor's training classes after
Easter such a reception is a necessity. If the church
understands that the work of the church does not
end with Easter it will be encouraged to look at the
program as an all-the-year-forward movement.

The Absentee

All the denominations suffer great loss each year

through the neglect of the absent member. The ideal

is for the member to move his church letter along

with his other possessions. But in many thousands

AFTER EASTER 119

of cases this is not done. As a result great numbers
are lost to the church each year.

Some pastors try to keep in touch with their absent
members and all should do this until these find a
home in their new community. It is not to be ex-
pected that those absent will continue an interest in
the home church unless the home church keeps alive
an interest in them. Where pastors have tried to do
this by sending copies of all church printed matter
and an occasional personal letter, losses are greatly
reduced, for those absent continue an interest in
their home church until new ties are formed in the
new community.

The following suggestions as to reclamation of
absentees have been used by many churches to very
great advantage. First, every pastor should list with
fair accuracy all of his church who are faithful in
attendance upon its services and its support.

Study the roll carefully. Make a list of de-
linquents. Obviously no wide circulation should be
given to this list.

Plan definitely some scheme of reenlisting every
single individual on that list. Avoid generalities in
this particular. Regretting unfaithfulness, yearn-
ing for the unfaithful, scolding the faithful about the
unfaithful, even praying for the unfaithful, will avail
but little. Definite planning for particular efforts to
reach a certain person is likely to be effective.

Use your parish organization; that is, let district
committees be responsible for definite endeavours for
particular persons. Sometimes calls by different
parties arranged for by committees is helpful. Per-

120 PAEISH EVANGELISM

sonal invitations to special occasions and regular
services should be given repeatedly. Social ties are
strong.

Invitations to social affairs given by individual
church members where the disinterested become ac-
quainted with active church people are useful. In-
vitations to social events will not be refused when
invitations to church services might be.

Pastoral calls are essential in this connection.
Formal calls are better than none, but the pastor
should have a plan and a definite aim when he calls
upon those estranged from the church. Let him go
with a request to which an answer needs to be given.
There is some special service which you want them
to attend ; some particular work you want them to do ;
some information which they can give. Whatever
other pastoral calling has to be omitted do not omit
this.

Use the mails in getting the attention of those who
have forgotten the church. Write personal letters;
get the other members of the church to write; send
printed matter. Mail a calendar every Monday to
those who do not attend the Sunday services.

Ask aid from the people who are forgetful of the
church. Let it be a service by the church to some
one else, rather than a service to the church. Ask
for money with which to do some disinterested piece
of work. Likewise ask for some personal service
that is altruistic, though at the same time a real part
of the church program.

Too strong emphasis cannot be placed upon the
importance of this reclamation work because every

AFTEE EASTEE 121

person whose name is upon the church roll, but whose
interest is lacking is a stumbling block in the way of
the progress of the church.

A number of pastors are carrying forward defi-
nite programs of evangelism in the post-Easter period
as follows:

1. A second Pastor's Training Class for the train-
ing of young people to be received into the church
membership on Children's Day with a special recog-
nition service.

2. The continuation of special forms of evan-
gelism with the reception of new members on
Mother's Day.

3. The organization and development of an Eas-
ter Pentecost campaign with the reception of mem-
bers on Pentecost Sunday.

These plans are especially available for churches
that for one reason or another were not able to join
fully in the Easter campaign.

Conclusion
Many subjects that should have been treated in
this book have been omitted because of the limita-
tions of space. The ideal, however, has been to pre-
sent the outlines of a workable program of church
activities from which each pastor will select those
which fit in best with the needs and opportimities of
his parish. Every church must have some program
for enlistment. Upon those pastors who plan their
programs and carry them through rests in a large de-
gree the future of the Church of God.

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