Your Church: Where Is the Emphasis?

According to the Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, “Under the pastor and in the absence of a pastor, the local elder is a spiritual leader of the church and is responsible for fostering all departments and activities of the work. The elder should maintain a mutually helpful relationship with all other church officers” (p. 51).

In fostering the various lines of church activity, it is important to remember what the ultimate objective of each of these activities is, lest it be little more than keeping the wheels of the church machinery going.

THE SUPREME BUSINESS OF EVERY CHURCH

The supreme business of every church and every Christian is the saving of souls. The apostle Paul declares, “And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry” (Eph. 4:11, 12). Weymouth’s translation reads, “In order to fully to equip His people for the work of serving.” Moffatt renders it, “For the equipment of the saints, for the business of the ministry.”¹

This makes it clear that persons who are won to the church should at once become active in working for others. They are saved to serve. Ellen G. White declares, “Just as soon as a church is organized, let the minister set the members at work” (Evangelism, 353, 354). She continues, “Personal responsibility, personal activity in seeking the salvation of others, must be the education given to all newly come to the faith” (p. 354).

The apostolic church was first organ­ized as a missionary agency for carrying out the Savior’s commission. The Seventh-day Adventist Church was likewise first organized for the work of evangelism. It was born in the evangelistic mold, and when it ceases to be evangelistic in its concepts and mission, it might as well cease to exist. “The church of Christ on earth was organized for mission­ary purposes” (Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 6, p. 29).

This concept alone will keep the church alive as a Spirit-filled movement. The church may survive without evangelistic out­reach; it may even be a busy organiza­tion with endless activities. But activity alone is no assurance that the true goals of the church are being met. Unless members of the church are being trained, equipped, and engaged in the work of soul-winning, the purpose of the church is not being realized.

LOVE OF LOST SOULS

Unfortunately, there are some churches that have lost their missionary zeal and are happy to have it so. A pastor of such a church remarked, “My members want to hear a good, comforting sermon on Sab­bath and then be left alone the rest of the week.” And in a large city where there were a number of churches, one pastor said of his congregation, “They are not interested in adding new members. The church is just the size they like. They don’t want it to get larger.”

During the summer of 1968, some mem­bers of a congregation in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, generated a movement to remove their pastor. The pastor was young Peter Marshall, son of the late pastor of the large New York Avenue Presbyterian church in Washington, D.C. and chaplain of the U.S. Senate. After the young pastor had been in Cape Cod only a few months, a number of people wished him to be removed. Why? Apparently he was too successful. As one member put it, “This is a little church, and we want to keep it that way.”

While a few people see growth in this light, the great majority of our members welcome it. But how many members are really doing something to produce growth?

Pastors, elders, and other church officers have a solemn responsibility in this area. We are counseled: “The elders and those who have leading places in the church should give more thought to their plans for conducting the work. They should arrange matters so that every member of the church shall have a part to act, that none may lead an aimless life, but that all may accomplish what they can accord­ing to their several ability. . . . It is very essential that such an education should be given to the mem­bers of the church that they will become unselfish, devoted, efficient workers for God; and it is only through such a course that the church can be prevented from becoming fruitless and dead” (Christian Service, 62).

That too many of our churches may even now be “fruitless and dead” is a concern. How can they be kept alive?

“Let [the minister] seek to keep the church alive by teaching its members how to labor with him for the conver­sion of sinners. This is good generalship; and the re­sult will be found far better than if he should seek to perform the work alone” (Evangelism, 357).

If the church is to fulfill its mission, it is vital that the total membership assume personal responsibility for reaching those who have not yet heard the message to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord. The negative attitude many members have toward personal soul-win­ning places a limit upon evangel­istic possibilities in the congregation. Where such attitudes persist, they must be changed. This calls for positive spiritual leadership.

In his excellent book Evangelism That Evangelizes, Dr. Carl M. Zweasy puts it this way: “We must see that evangelism or reaching the lost for Christ and the church is the primary program of the whole church. Today in many churches this program is playing second fiddle to other programs within the church, many of which are totally unre­lated and irrelevant to the command of Christ to preach the gospel to every creature. We need to restudy and reevaluate each committee and organiza­tion of the church in the light of the Great Commission. Is the winning of lost souls to Christ still pertinent, still paramount? Have we who determine the total program of the church any very profound conviction that the supreme mission of the whole church is to reach the last person, old and young, for Christ? If so, then it is our responsibility to see that every organization participates in the attainment of that end. Not a single group, of whatever size, age, or importance, should be overlooked or bypassed in this matter. Only when this program has been success­fully promoted in each organization within the church, may that church be properly said to be evangelistic” (24).

Producing an evangelistic conscious­ness throughout the church, within every department and function, is one of the greatest challenges confronting pastors and church leaders today. As a local elder, let this be your great burden, the subject of earnest prayer and personal endeavor. The accomplishment of this grand objec­tive may depend largely upon your per­sonal influence and labors.

Pray this prayer with me: “Dear Lord, Thou hast awakened me to a new sense of responsibility. I have failed, and we as a church have failed in doing what is expected of us in reaching those about us for Christ. But Lord, forgive and grant that new life and zeal may come into our labors. Give me a new burden for souls and wisdom to know how I can best be used of Thee to help arouse our total membership to greater evangelis­tic endeavor. Amen.”

¹ From The Bible: A Now Translation by James Moffatt. Copyright 1954 by James Moffatt.

Orley M. Berg was Associate Ministerial Secretary of the General Conference when he wrote this article.