_METHODS OF CHRISTIAN WORK_:

BOOK TWO of HOW TO WORK FOR CHRIST by R. A. Torrey

 

{This etext comprises the second of

three sections prepared from the

one-volume edition of...}

 

HOW TO WORK FOR CHRIST

A Compendium of Effective Methods

By R. A. Torrey

 

Etext, last modified June 16, 2001, edited by

Clyde C. Price, Jr.

{CLYDE.PRICE@CDLF.ORG} for the

Christian Digital Library Foundation

from a printed book (used by CCP as a

textbook at the Atlanta School of

Biblical Studies) published by....

 

Fleming H. Revell Company

{no date, but first published shortly after 1900}

Printed in the United States of America

 

{ Etext editor's note

 

_Methods of Christian Work_ is the second volume

of R. A. Torrey's three-volume work, _How To Work

For Christ_, published in the early 1900s. This

public domain CDLF etext edition was created and

released in the early days of the twenty-first

century, edited into digital media from a copy

which I studied as a textbook in courses at the

Atlanta School of Biblical Studies. Much of my

"note" on volume one, _Personal Work_, would also

apply to this second volume.

 

Because of shifts in language and culture (and

particularly legal environment), much of this work

will seem "quaint" or "outdated" or even

_dangerous_. Rev. Ben Wilkinson, one of my major

professors at ASBS who valued this book greatly,

CHOSE to use this OLDER book as a textbook so that

we students would see clearly the shifts in our

"future shock" culture, and look for PRINCIPLES

more than mechanical details, although many of the

details actually are still valid.

 

I suspect that some zealous Christian workers who

discover this book will immediately get excited,

and TRY to take this work as a MANUAL for

ministry, and seek to implement all or most of it

in all the detail Dr.Torrey supplied. Go ahead and

get excited! But realize that this "manual" is

over a century old, and the world has changed

radically. Many of Torrey's comments about

ministry to children (and some other groups)

document things which in today's legal environment

are frankly DANGEROUS. Please DO read this work

carefully and thoughtfully, and consider _how_

these suggestions and methods might be applied in

your situation. It is likely that some of the

tactics which USA workers could not or would not

employ would be very effective in other places.

 

Even when current circumstances render Torrey's

detailed suggestions antiquated, look for

underlying principles which MAY and SHOULD be

employed and applied.

 

Torrey introduced Chapter Eight with this:

 

``The Christian worker should always watch for new

methods and new means of presenting the gospel.

The message is changeless, but we must not be

blind to the changes in our civilization which

offer the possibility of fresh approach with our

message.''

 

The production of this freely distributable public

domain etext is one application of this principle

of looking for new methods.

 

When Torrey spoke of specific tools and

"mechanical aids", many of the FUNCTIONS involved

are still needed and valuable, even though

technology accomplished most of those functions

somewhat differently.

 

One of the dangers of ministry is that we workers

tend to become infatuated with our tools. We need

to be reminded of Dawson Trotman's challenge in

his classic message, "The Need of the Hour", that

our current lack of ANYTHING does NOT mean that

any of GOD'S purposes are being hindered. God's

Kingdom is not built with hardware, but by

consecrated, Spirit-filled men and women who are

willing to obey God no matter what, and to pour

out their lives for the Gospel. Certainly, as

stewards of our opportunities, we SHOULD employ

new methods and media as they become available to

us in the service of our Lord. But, as Mr.Trotman

reminded us, the apostles and early Christians did

not have ANY of the tools (or _toys_) which we

think are so necessary, and they and their

personal disciples evangelized most of the known

world, using the method of "tell-a-person".

 

Concerning one particular strategy, I propose

reviving an _old_ method. Chapter Nine discusses

"Colportage Work", a method that many Americans

have never even heard of. Even though some of the

details about colportage work would be different,

I want to propose strongly an aggressive revival

of literature work in its various phases in the

USA. In many other countries it is still being

employed to great effect. Printing "hardcopy"

literature and distributing it necessarily

involves "commerce." I have worked as a paid

worker in a for-profit "Christian bookstore", and

also done a lot of public mass tract distribution,

as well as quietly handing leaflets to folks I had

been talking with. My work producing Christian

etexts is a non-self-supporting cyberspace

variation on literature ministry. Maybe the "door

to door" sale of books is unwise in much of the

USA, but there are plenty of "flea markets",

county fairs, kiosks, and possible places in a

wide variety of retail locations for consignment

spin-racks. In downtown Atlanta most of the sales

stands on the sidewalks in high-traffic places are

operated by turbaned men, some of them selling

books about other religions. Why not elbow in

among them and sell CHRISTIAN books? One very

strategic factor with Christian "colportage" work

in its many possible variations is that --when

done WELL-- it can be SELF-SUPPORTING.

 

MOST of this work is on-target to-the-point and

immediately applicable. It _could_ be used as a

primary text in a Bible college, and _should_ be

used at least as an ancillary resource.

Availability as a free and freely distributable

etext makes this an EASY decision. I pray that God

will give me MUCH FRUIT from my labor in preparing

this edition, and that He will give you MUCH FRUIT

as you get out into the world aggressively --but

not obnoxiously-- bringing the Gospel to men and

women and boys and girls in every corner of our

rapidly changing world.

 

--Clyde Price

16 June 2001

Alpharetta, Georgia, USA

}

 

HOW TO WORK FOR CHRIST

by R. A. Torrey

 

BOOK II

 

METHODS OF CHRISTIAN WORK

 

     CONTENTS:

BOOK TWO -- METHODS OF CHRISTIAN WORK

 

CHAPTER                        PAGE

01. House to House Visitation  183

 

02. Cottage Meetings  192

 

03. Parlor Meetings  202

 

04. The Church Prayer Meeting  205

 

{6}

 

05. The Use of Tracts  213

 

06. Open-Air Meetings  222

 

07. Tent Work  234

 

08. The Use of Autos, Trailers,

     etc.      241

 

09. Colportage Work  244

 

10. Services in Theaters, Circuses,

     etc.       248

 

11. Organizing and Conducting a Gospel

     Mission  254

 

12. Meetings in Jails, Hospitals,

     Poorhouses, etc.  268

 

13. Revival Meetings  273

 

14. The After Meeting  284

 

15. Children's Meetings  295

 

16. Advertising the Meetings  305

 

17. Conduct of Funerals  314

 

{181}

 

BOOK II

 

METHODS OF CHRISTIAN WORK

 

{182}

 

{183}

 

@01   CHAPTER ONE

 

HOUSE TO HOUSE VISITATION

 

I. ITS IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES.

 

1. IT IS APOSTOLIC.  The Apostle Paul was a house

to house visitor. In Acts 20:20 he calls to the

minds of the Ephesian elders the fact that he had

taught them not only publicly, but also "from

house to house." Many of us feel above this work,

but the Apostle Paul, the prince of preachers,

found a great deal of time to do it. We have also

the example of Christ Himself. Not a little of His

work was done in the home. One of the most

touching scenes of His life was in the home at

Bethlehem, with Mary sitting at His feet listening

to the words of eternal life (Luke 10:39).

 

2. IT BRINGS YOU NEAR TO THE PEOPLE. When Mr.

Moody was in Glasgow, some one asked him how to

reach the masses, and his reply was, "Go for

them." There is no better way of going for them,

and getting near to them, than by going into their

homes. One of the simplest solutions of the

problem of how to reach the unchurched in city and

country is to go right into their homes.

 

3. YOU CAN GET HOLD OF PEOPLE THAT YOU CANNOT

REACH IN ANY OTHER WAY. There are people who never

enter a church, who will not attend a theatre

service nor a mission meeting, who will not even

attend an open-air meeting, but there is nobody

who does not live somewhere, therefore you can get

hold of everybody by house to house visitation.

There are special classes who can be reached in

this way and in this way alone, for instance the

very poor, who are afraid to enter a church

because of their shabby dress, or who may be

utterly unable to leave home on account of the

multiplicity of home duties. The sick also can be

reached only in this way. Then there are in every

city many who would not attend  {184}  church if

they could; among these are infidels, and other

classes of non-churchgoing people who are never

seen within the walls of an evangelical church.

Some workers pay no attention to Roman Catholics

because they think that they cannot be reached.

Yet they can be reached by going right into their

homes. Many a minister can tell of the large

number of them that have been converted and come

into the church. When once shown their duty to the

Lord Jesus Christ they make splendid Christians.

There is no better way to reach them than by house

to house visitation. You may not get them the

first time, nor the second, nor the third, but

they are bound to yield at last, to simple genuine

kindness.

 

4. IT WINS PEOPLE'S CONFIDENCE AND ATTENTION. Many

people seem to feel that a great honor has been

bestowed upon them when the missionary, minister

or Christian worker calls at their home and takes

an interest in them. I once called upon a

saloon-keeper, but I did not realize what an honor

he considered had been conferred upon him until a

neighboring saloon-keeper afterwards upbraided me

for not calling upon him, and asked me if he was

not just as good as the other man. Few Christian

workers realize how much good it does people to go

into their homes, and what a short road it is to

their confidence and attention. You first go to

them, and they will afterwards come to you.

 

5. IT GIVES YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE HOW THE

PEOPLE LIVE, AND THUS TEACHES YOU HOW TO DEAL WITH

THEM. It has been well said that "one-half of the

world does not know how the other half lives," and

we never will know until we go right into their

homes. It is a perfect revelation to see some

people on Sunday in their Sunday clothes, and then

go on Monday and see them at work in the home. You

are forced to say, "Does this woman come from a

house like this?" or, "Does this child come from a

home like this?"

 

6. THEY WILL OPEN THEIR HEARTS TO YOU MORE FREELY

AT THEIR HOMES THAN ELSEWHERE. People feel at home

at home. They are always more or less restrained

at church, or in an inquiry meeting, or in a

mission hall -- less probably in a mission hall

than in a church, and still less in a cottage

meeting than either -- but when you get them at

home they throw off restraint and talk freely. You

{185}  never know what is going on in people's

hearts until you go to their homes and they open

their hearts to you there.

 

7. IT OFFERS OPPORTUNITY FOR CLOSE DEALING WITH

SOULS. You can get at a man for close personal

dealing far better in a quiet house than anywhere

else. People do not like to open their hearts in

public, and even an inquiry meeting is more or

less public.

 

8. IT AFFORDS OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUGGESTIONS

REGARDING HOME LIFE. The great majority of people

need to be taught how to live in this world. They

need to be taught plain truths on plain subjects.

The ignorance of many poor people on the little

affairs of everyday life is perfectly astonishing.

One great trouble with many poor people is that

they do not know how to live, they do not know

what to eat, or how to cook what they buy; they do

not know how to dress, or how to spend their money

to the best advantage. They do not know how to

train their children. They do not know how to eat

properly at the table, nor how to make a bed or

air their houses. A family living in Minneapolis

were in great poverty and destitution; they were

in absolute need of the bare necessities of life.

The attention of a friend of mine was called to

them, and he sent me $7 with the request that I

should go and look them up, investigate the case,

and if I found them in real distress, give them

this money. I called and found them in very great

need. The mother was sick in bed, the father out

of work, the glass out of the window and an old

garment stuffed in the place. They were without

the commonest necessities of life, and I saw at

once that it was a case of real distress. Being

quite without experience at the time, I gave the

family the $7 as requested. Thinking it well to

follow up the work, I called again. To my

astonishment, I found that they had used the $7 in

purchasing a mirror that reached from the floor to

the ceiling. It was simple ignorance on their

part.

 

I once gave a man some money to buy groceries for

a family in extreme destitution. When he came back

I asked him what he had bought. He told me among

other things, that he had bought three pounds of

cheese and a lot of loaf sugar. I asked him why he

bought the loaf sugar, and he said the father said

the children liked to have it to eat. A few

instructions as to the most economical food to buy

and how to prepare it, would save many a family

from want, without it being necessary to give them

a cent.  {186}

 

9. IT SANCTIFIES THE HOME. Let a minister of Jesus

Christ, a true man of God, go into a home and talk

and read the Bible and pray, and that home is a

different place ever afterward. If the minister is

a man who in his prayer actually brings God down

to the place where he is praying, it will make a

change in that household. The same is true of the

visit of a godly woman. Oftentimes after that they

will be on the point of doing something wrong,

when they will think what the messenger of Jesus

Christ said in that prayer. They will think

hallowed things when they go into that room. Many

a home has been changed by the presence of the

minister of God. You can set up a family altar for

them. When you get people converted who have had

religious training, they know what family worship

means, but if they have never had family worship,

it never occurs to them that they ought to have

family worship at home. Tell them to "set up a

family altar," and you might as well talk Greek to

them, but go into their homes, read the Bible to

them and pray, then ask them, "Do you enjoy this?"

and when they say "Yes," tell them to keep right

on doing it every day, and show them how to keep

on.

 

10. IT RESULTS IN MANY CONVERSIONS. It is a

question whether any other form of Christian work

results in as many satisfactory conversions as

house to house visitation. of course it is a great

deal more gratifying to our pride to stand up

before a large audience and speak to them; there

is an exhilaration in doing that, but when it

comes down to definite results, I do not know of

any kind of work that brings larger results in

souls won for Christ than patient house to house

visitation. I have often thought that a person who

would devote his whole life to going from house to

house week after week, would have a far more

splendid record at the close of life than the

minister who preaches to from one hundred to one

thousand every Sunday. Take the London Home

Missionary Society, they are doing a magnificent

work in many directions, but a very large

proportion of it is this kind of work. Many women

are employed for simple house to house visitation,

and they are accomplishing great results. In

country work I am sure we have been laying

comparatively too much stress on the church as a

church, and the gathering at the central meeting

house, and too little on the work in the scattered

homes.  {187}

 

A great deal of foreign missionary work, and

oftentimes the best part of it, is house to house

work. Foreign missionaries have been far wiser in

their work in this direction than we have at home.

Perhaps it is so partly from the necessities of

the case.

 

II. HOW TO DO HOUSE TO HOUSE VISITATION.

 

1. BE SYSTEMATIC. It pays to be systematic in

everything. The man who has a plan for doing

things and carries out his plan is the man who

reaps the largest results. Many, however, spend

their whole time in making plans which they never

carry out. Better have a poor plan which you

execute, than a perfect plan that you spend your

whole time in elaborating.

 

2. A THOROUGH HOUSE TO HOUSE VISITATION SHOULD BE

MADE BY DISTRICTS. What I mean by thorough house

to house visitation is that every habitation in

the district should be visited. This is the true

way to begin a country pastorate. In a town where

there are churches other than your own, you can

invite the Methodists to the Methodist church, the

Congregational people to the Congregational

church, etc., but you should not be too sensitive

about calling on people that do not belong to your

own flock. Better to call upon someone that

belongs to someone else's flock than to leave

someone neglected. Surely if your own church is

the only one in the vicinity, you should visit

every habitation in that part of the country. It

will take time; you will have less time for

general reading and for study than if you did not

do this work, but you are in the ministry to win

souls, and not primarily for the glorification of

your intellect. You must spend and be spent, you

must make full proof of your ministry. Just so in

the city, you should yourself visit every family,

or else get every family visited. It is not the

man who can preach good sermons who succeeds, it

is the man who gets hold of the people. In

district visitation, it should be borne in mind

that people are constantly moving, and need to be

visited very frequently.

 

In an evangelistic campaign, one of the first

things that should be done is to have a house to

house canvass of every house and habitation

anywhere within reach of the church, or churches,

where the meetings are to be held. Every family in

the town or district where you are working should

be visited. That means not merely that some one

should go to the door with a dodger in his  {188}

hand which he hastily gives to the first one who

comes to the door, it means that someone should go

into every house in the town. Visitors should be

sent out two and two to go to every house and deal

with people personally about their salvation. If

it is a union meeting it is well that the two

should be of different denominations. There should

be a thorough house to house canvass of every city

at least once a year, covering the entire city.

This is easily accomplished when the churches

unite in the work.

 

3. SELECT HOMES FOR REGULAR VISITATION. In some

communities you must visit every home regularly,

and where you cannot do it yourself, you can see

that it is done. In other communities it is wise

to visit only part of the homes regularly.

 

How shall we select the homes?

 

(1) BY A THOROUGH CANVASS.

 

As you go around visiting from house to house you

will find some homes that should be visited

regularly, and others that it will not do to visit

regularly. Do not be too hasty in concluding that

it is of no use to visit a certain family. For

instance, do not conclude because a family is

Roman Catholic it is of no use to visit them

regularly. Every one of much experience knows that

some of the "hopeless" families are those which

turn out best in the long run.

 

(2) SELECT PERSONS WHO DO NOT ATTEND CHURCH.

 

Every person who does not attend church should be

visited. Not merely the members of your church

should be visited regularly and systematically,

but those who do not attend at all should be

visited.

 

(3) THE PARENTS OF THE CHILDREN WHO ATTEND THE

SUNDAY SCHOOL.

 

You have a good excuse and a wide opening in

visiting the parents of children who attend your

Sunday School. Of course there may be exceptions.

There are sometimes children attending Sunday

School whose parents do not know that they are

attending, and who would be angry and opposed if

they did know. In such cases the parents should

not be visited, or if they are visited, nothing

should be said to them about the children

attending the Sunday School.  {189}

 

(4) PARENTS OF CHILDREN YOU GET HOLD OF ON THE

STREET.

 

Talk with the children as you go about the street,

and if you find children that do not attend Sunday

School anywhere, go and visit their homes, go and

deal with their parents, and gather the whole

family into the church of God.

 

When Mr. Moody was engaged in Sunday School work

in Chicago, he was constantly picking up children

on the street and getting them into the Sunday

School, and afterwards getting into their homes.

One day on the street he met a little girl with a

pail. He asked her if she went to Sunday School.

She said she did not. He then gave her a hearty

invitation to his school, and she promised to go,

but she did not keep her promise. He at once began

to watch for that girl. Weeks after he saw her on

the street. He started for her, and she broke into

a dead run and he ran in pursuit. Down one street

and up another she went, the eager missionary

running behind her. Finally she shot into a saloon

and he followed. On she went up a back flight of

stairs and Mr. Moody still in close pursuit. She

dashed into a room and under a bed. He followed

and pulled her out by the foot and had a talk with

her. Her mother was a widow with several children;

her father had been a drunkard. Mr. Moody had a

talk with the mother and called again and again,

until at last the whole family was won for Christ,

and became prominent in the work of the Chicago

Avenue Church. There are many families that you

can get hold of in no other way than by such

persistent pursuit.

 

(5) FUNERALS AFFORD A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO GET HOLD

OF A FAMILY.

 

Almost everybody wants a minister to conduct a

funeral. When you once get an entrance into a home

this way, do not let go of it. I do not know how

many families I have gotten hold of by being

invited to conduct a funeral in the home. Do not

consider your work done when the funeral has been

conducted, just consider that an opening for

further work.

 

(6) WEDDINGS ALSO AFFORD GOOD OPPORTUNITIES FOR

GETTING INTO HOMES.

 

When you conduct a wedding do not be satisfied

when the $5.00 is safely deposited in your pocket.

You have gained an opening  {190}  into another

family, another opportunity of winning a family

for Christ. Follow it up.

 

4. KEEP BOOKS. Be just as systematic and thorough

as a man in business. Have your families

classified alphabetically and by streets. Keep an

accurate record of when you called last and the

result of your call. If one has a large parish,

the card system of indexing is better than the use

of books.

 

5. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO PRAY BEFORE STARTING OUT. If

there is any work that requires wisdom, it is

house to house visitation, and God alone can give

the wisdom that is necessary.

 

6. INTRODUCE YOURSELF THE BEST WAY YOU CAN. It is

impossible to lay down rules about this. It often

takes almost infinite tact to get into a home, and

quite as much tact to visit there after you get

in. Frequently it is necessary not to let it be

known in first coming to the home that you are

there on a religious errand. Proceed to win the

confidence of the people. Be very courteous. Do

not notice any rudeness on the part of the people

that you are visiting; leave your pride at home,

and no matter what insults are offered you, let

them pass unheeded. Remember that you are there

not to serve your own interests, nor to spare your

own feelings, but as an ambassador of Jesus

Christ, and to win souls to Him. If you keep your

eyes open, an opportunity will afford itself for

doing some kindly thing that will open the hearts

of the people to you, and win their confidence. A

young lady got into one home by offering to do the

washing of an overworked woman. It was hard work,

but it won that woman and her husband and child to

Christ. The woman, who was thoroughly worldly,

became a very active Christian, and the husband,

who was a drunkard, is now in heaven. The child

has grown up into a fine young man.

 

Take an interest in the things the people you are

visiting are interested in. One minister got an

entrance into the home of a surly farmer by

proving that he could plow. Be sure to notice the

children. Children are worth noticing anyhow, and

there is no surer road to the confidence and

affection of the parents than by showing attention

to the children.

 

7. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BEGIN TO OPEN THE

SCRIPTURES. Very frequently it is not wise to

begin this at once. It must be led up to.  {191}

When the time comes, the Scriptures should be

thoroughly applied. Use them to convince of sin,

to reveal Christ, to bring to a decision, to lead

to entire consecration, and to instruct in the

fundamental duties and truths of Christianity. It

is astonishing how little the average man or woman

really catches of a plain sermon. If there is to

be thorough indoctrination in fundamental truths

it must be done largely in the homes.

 

{192}

 

@02   CHAPTER TWO

 

COTTAGE MEETINGS

 

I. THEIR IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES.

 

1. YOU CAN REACH PEOPLE WHO CANNOT BE REACHED IN

ANY OTHER WAY.

 

(1) People who cannot go to church on account of

family duties. There are a great many people in

every city, and still more in the country, for

whom it is absolutely impossible to go to church.

A mother may have a large family of children and

no servant. Many others are detained at home on

account of sickness. Few of us realize how many

people there are in every place who cannot go to

church either on account of their own physical

infirmities, or the infirmities of those with whom

they have to stay.

 

A great many cannot go to church on account of

age. Who that has ever seen it will forget the joy

that lights up the face of these elderly people

when you bring a meeting to them? How often such

people have asked me if we could not have a

meeting in their home. One of the greatest joys in

Christian life and service is to hold a cottage

meeting for people who cannot go to church.

 

(2) People who will not go to church. I recall a

family who would not go to church at all through

simple indifference. They were an intelligent

family, a father and mother, two boys and two

girls. As they would not go to church, we took the

church just as near them as we could get it. We

held a cottage meeting next door to their home.

They came to it out of friendship to the family

where the meeting was held. They were interested

at once, came to church, and the parents and

grown-up children were converted.

 

Some people will not go to church on account of

their clothes. It is all very well for us to say,

"Never mind about your clothes," but at the same

time it is not very pleasant to go to a place

where almost everybody else is better dressed than

you are yourself. But  {193}  one can go to a

cottage meeting in the poorest of clothes and not

be noticed.

 

Some people will not go to church because of their

positive hatred to the Gospel, and yet the same

people can often be induced to attend a cottage

meeting.

 

2. YOU CAN HOLD COTTAGE MEETINGS WHERE YOU CANNOT

GET A LARGE ROOM OR RENT A HALL.  You can always

get a cottage room. How many sections of the

United States today have no church accessible to

the population? In the center of the town there

will be found two or three churches struggling for

supremacy, but three or four miles out in the

country there is no church at all. Many churches

are trying to maintain possession of "strategic

points" where they can glorify the denomination

instead of God, while other points are entirely

neglected. The only way to reach the people in

these far-away and neglected communities is by

cottage meetings. I look back upon my early

pastorate in the country with great regret. I

fancied I was killing myself with preaching three

times on Sunday. I kept it up for three years, and

people made me believe I would kill myself. I held

these three meetings on Sunday, and during the

week conducted a class in German, a class in

geology, and other things of that sort, instead of

attending to my proper business, and now I think

with bitter regret of the district I could have

worked if I had only known how. There was not

another church for miles in any direction. Scores

and scores of people could never get to church.

There was enough work in that pastorate alone to

have kept a man busy if it had been done right. A

church which at one time was the largest in that

region had almost died because about the only work

done was the ordinary preaching. Do not be content

with preaching your regular sermons on Sunday, but

have services all over your parish for miles in

every direction, and work the parish for all it is

worth. Search out the destitute places and hold

cottage meetings for several nights in the week.

Set the other pastors in the district an example

of how to work a parish. There is not one parish

in fifty today that is worked as it should be. The

spiritual destitution of the city is nothing

compared with the spiritual destitution of the

country. Wherever you get a parish, be sure to

work it for all there is in it. If there is any

part of that neighborhood where nobody is doing

anything, go to  {194}  work there. Do not be

afraid of stepping on someone else's toes, but be

sure to go to work.

 

3. THE INFORMALITY OF COTTAGE MEETINGS.  There

should be nothing stiff about a cottage meeting.

Of course some people turn a cottage meeting into

a stiff church service, but that is not necessary.

In these meetings you can get people to talk that

you could not get to open their mouths in a church

prayer meeting, and you can so train them in a

cottage meeting that they will soon be able to

take part in the church prayer meeting.

 

4. IN A COTTAGE MEETING, IF YOU HAVE WORKED IT UP

AS IT SHOULD BE, YOU HAVE TO PACK PEOPLE TOGETHER

LIKE SARDINES IN A BOX, while in the church there

is a gulf between the minister and the pews, and

the people usually get in pews as remote from the

minister as possible.

 

5. ITS SIMPLICITY  --  ANYBODY CAN HAVE A COTTAGE

MEETING. It is the simplest thing in the world to

hold a cottage meeting, though it is not always

the easiest thing in the world to have a good

cottage meeting.

 

6. THE COTTAGE MEETING SANCTIFIES THE HOME.  It

brings religion right into the home. It turns the

home into the house of God. The home should be a

consecrated place, and the cottage meeting does

much to make it so. There is no other place like

the place where you have come together for prayer,

and where, it may be, you have been brought to the

Lord Jesus Christ. The home that has been used

f6or a cottage meeting becomes a hallowed place.

 

7. COTTAGE MEETINGS ARE APOSTOLIC. The first

churches were in the homes (1_Corinthians 16:19).

We are going back to apostolic times when we

return to the homes to hold religious services. A

very large share of Paul's work was holding

cottage meetings.

 

8. COTTAGE MEETINGS TAKE THE GOSPEL TO THE PEOPLE.

There are two ways of reaching the people. One way

is to invite them to come to you, the other way is

to go to them. The latter is God's way, the former

is the twentieth century way.

 

II. HOW TO PREPARE FOR A COTTAGE MEETING.

 

1. GET ON YOUR KNEES BEFORE GOD. That does not

need any amplification, but it needs a good deal

of exemplification.  {195}

 

2. SELECT A PLACE TO HOLD THE MEETING.

 

(1) Because of the commodiousness and

accessibility of a room. If you can get a large

room, get it, unless you are pretty sure you are

going to have a small meeting. If you get a large

room it  will be an incentive to you to work hard

to have a large meeting. If possible get a room

that is accessible. Of course if you cannot do

better, you can get a room where you have to climb

two or three flights of stairs, but if a room can

be had on the first floor, so much the better.

There may be reasons why a room that is quite

inaccessible will be better in some special case

for your meeting.

 

(2) Because of some one you wish to reach. This is

an important point in the selection of a room. It

may be there is a father you want to get at -- the

wife and children have been reached, but the

father will not come to the meeting. The only way

you can get him to a meeting is to have a meeting

in his own home. Have the meeting in that case in

his house. I prayed for one man for fifteen years.

I tried to talk with him, but every time I would

talk with him he would be worse than ever. I think

he used to swear in my presence more than anywhere

else just because he knew I was a Christian. But I

got him one time where I had him cornered. He was

sick for two weeks in a Christian home. He heard

the Bible read and heard prayer every day during

these two weeks and heard religious conversation

constantly. At the end of these two weeks, the day

he got up and got out, he took Christ as his

Savior, and afterwards became a preacher of the

gospel. You must be as wise as a serpent in

looking for souls.

 

(3) Select a room because of the popularity of the

family. Avoid as far as possible selecting a home

that is unpopular. Many an inexperienced worker

tries to hold a meeting and gets for that purpose

what appears to be a desirable home, but

afterwards wonders why the people will not come to

it. Probably the reason is that there is something

about the family that makes them unpopular. There

may sometimes be reasons for holding the meeting

in such a home, but as a rule, if you know a

family that everybody likes, that is the place to

hold your meeting, other things being equal.

 

3. WORK UP THE MEETING.   Have a great deal of

invitation work done, not by yourself only, but by

others as well. Be sure not  {196}  to do it all

yourself. Mr. Moody used to say, "It is a great

deal better to get ten men to work than to do the

work of ten men." Be careful as to whom you

invite. If there is enmity existing between the

person at whose house the meeting is to be held

and some other person in the vicinity, you would

better bring about a reconciliation between the

two before inviting the latter person to the

meeting. A minister should not cater to the

prejudices of the people, but he should know their

prejudices, and be governed in his actions by his

knowledge of them. You have to deal with people on

the practical basis of what they are, and not on

the ideal basis of what they ought to be.

Oftentimes it is well to leave the whole matter of

invitation to the lady of the house. In some homes

they are willing that you should invite everybody,

while in others they are particular as to whom you

invite. Reaching the poor in the alleys is far

easier than reaching the wealthy people up on the

avenues. You can go into the homes of the poor and

invite them to come and hear the Gospel, but for

some reason you do not want to go into the homes

of the people living in the elegant houses. But it

is quite easy for people who are rich themselves,

and who are Christians as well, to invite other

rich people to gather at their homes, and then

have someone there to open up to them the Word of

God.

 

4. PROVIDE FOR THE SINGING AND PLAYING TOO, IF IT

IS POSSIBLE. Instrumental music, however, is not

absolutely necessary. We have fallen into the way

of depending too much upon instrumental music. The

best singing is oftentimes without any musical

instrument. It is well to bear in mind that very

poor singing goes a good way in a poor home. As

far as possible, you should have the hymns you are

going to use selected beforehand, and selected

with care.

 

5. GO TO THE PLACE OF HOLDING THE MEETING, EARLY.

If when you arrive you find the chairs arranged in

a most formal way, looking like a funeral, get

things a little disarranged. Do not put the chairs

in straight lines, but arrange them as for a

social gathering.

 

Another reason for going to the place early is to

be ready to welcome people when they come. When

they come do not leave them to take care of

themselves; get them talking, and open the meeting

in an informal way before they know it has begun.

{197}  Make everybody feel as much at home as you

can. While people are still talking you can

suggest a song, and when that is over, have some

one lead in prayer. Oftentimes it is well not to

let people know that it is going to be a prayer

meeting; call it a social and make it a social,

but give it a religious turn.

 

III. HOW TO CONDUCT THE MEETING.

 

1. ALWAYS BEGIN PROMPTLY. That is if it has been

announced as a meeting beginning at a certain

time, be sure to begin at that time. In regard to

the form of beginning the meeting, it is not

necessary to have any particular form.

 

2. BE AS INFORMAL AS POSSIBLE.

 

3. GET EVERYONE TO SING. People like to sing.

Oftentimes the people who have the poorest voices

and the least knowledge of music are the ones most

fond of singing. Encourage them to sing. This will

shock the really musical people present, but not

one person in a thousand is really musical, and

you can afford to shock them. If necessary sing

the same verse over and over again until the

people learn it; do it with enthusiasm. Comment on

the hymns. Use for the most part familiar hymns,

though a new hymn with a catchy tune will often

take well.

 

Everything about the meeting should be made cheery

and bright. There are hosts of people in the world

who have very little brightness in their lives,

and if you have a bright cottage meeting, they

will find it out and come.

 

4. MAKE EVERYTHING BRIEF. Have no long prayers, no

long sermons and no long testimonies. One man went

to a cottage meeting and read a chapter with

seventy verses and read the whole chapter. I have

heard of a man praying fifteen minutes in a

cottage meeting. Those were doubtless extreme

cases, but not a few cottage meetings have been

killed by long-winded leaders.

 

5. TAKE A SIMPLE SUBJECT TO SPEAK UPON. Some

foolish workers take the cottage meeting as an

opportunity for displaying their profound

knowledge of theology. Such people kill the

meeting. Do not preach, but talk in an informal,

homely way. Do not talk too loud.  {198}

 

6. DRAW THE PEOPLE OUT. One of the advantages of a

cottage meeting is that you can draw the people

out. Be sure to use this opportunity of getting

people to speak in meeting. To you it may be a

very simple matter to speak in meeting, yet most

of us can remember when it was a very difficult

thing to do, but it is far more difficult for

those plain people among whom we hold most of our

cottage meetings. It is, however, very easy to

draw them out by simply saying, "Now, Mrs. Jones,

what do you think about this matter?"  "Mr. Brown,

what have you to say of this?" Before they know it

you have got them to talking on the subject of

religion just as they would talk about their

sewing or washing or everyday work. A young lady

used to attend a service that I conducted. She

warned me beforehand that I must not call upon her

to speak, that she had heart trouble, and if she

got excited, it was dangerous; at the same time

she was unhappy because she did not take part in

meeting. One day when a meeting was going on,

quite naturally I turned to her and in an informal

way asked her a question upon the subject that was

under discussion. Without thinking at all, she got

up and expressed her opinion upon it. Afterward I

said to her, "You have spoken in meeting, you did

not seem to have much trouble about it." She now

enjoys speaking in meeting and her heart trouble

has disappeared. Perhaps you could not do this in

a church or chapel meeting, but it is the easiest

thing in the world in a cottage meeting to get

everybody talking on the subject of religion just

the same as on any other subject. It is a

remarkable fact that when you go into a house and

approach the subject of religion after having

talked about other things, the people immediately

begin to talk in another tone of voice, and in a

different way. You must break up that sort of

thing. Cultivate the habit of gliding into the

subject of religion as naturally as into any other

subject.

 

7. DO NOT HAVE A STEREOTYPED WAY OF CONDUCTING A

COTTAGE MEETING. It is not well to have a

stereotyped way of doing anything. Go to some

churches and they put into your hands an order of

service. Every part of the service has its fixed

place. It gets to be an abomination in the church

service, but it is far more of an abomination in a

cottage meeting. One of the greatest advantages of

a cottage meeting is its informality. Some men get

into the way  {199}  of uttering stereotyped

prayers. When he gets to the point where he prays

for the Jews, you know that his next prayer will

be for the sick of the congregation, etc., etc.

That sort of thing is unspeakably tiresome even in

church, but it is utterly unendurable in a cottage

meeting.

 

8. DO NOT LET THE MEETING GET AWAY FROM YOU. We

have said to draw the people out and get them to

talking, but if you are not very careful they will

get to talking, and the meeting will run away from

you. Let your ideal be perfect freedom and at the

same time perfect control.

 

9. OFTENTIMES HAVE A SEASON OF SENTENCE PRAYERS.

Sentence prayers are one of the best things that

our Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor

have introduced into our church life. Of course,

sentence prayers can become formal and stereotyped

and meaningless. When I first began to go to

prayer meeting there were three or four good old

men who monopolized the whole time. To begin with,

the minister would give out a hymn, and then make

a long prayer, and then sing another hymn, and

then read a long chapter, and talk fifteen or

twenty minutes, and then throw the meeting open.

This meant that brother Brown would grind out a

long prayer, and then brother Jones would grind

out another long prayer, they would sing a hymn,

and then brother Smith would pray anywhere from

ten to twenty minutes. Another hymn would be sung

and the minister would pronounce the benediction,

and the affair was over, and all would go home

glad the thing was through. Many people cannot

pray five minutes in public, and it is a good

thing they cannot, and they fancy that it is

impossible for them to pray at all unless they can

get off an elaborate address to God. But anybody

can ask for what he wants. Make it clear to people

that this is real praying, asking God for what we

really want. How near God seems to draw during a

season of sentence prayers! You can say, "If there

is one thing you want today more than anything

else, just put that in your sentence prayer. Never

forget that prayer is simply asking God for what

you want, and expecting to get it."

 

10. OFTENTIMES HAVE REQUESTS FOR PRAYER. Do not be

mechanical about that. I would not always have the

same kind of a meeting.  {200}  I knew a man who

was very successful in cottage meeting work who

used to have the people get up and move around and

talk with one another, and then sit down and go on

with the meeting.

 

11. HAVE PERIODS OF SILENT PRAYER. Oftentimes the

most hallowed moments in a meeting are when all

the people are silent before God. Before having

these periods of silent prayer, you must be

careful to warn people to keep their thoughts

fixed upon God, and to keep pouring out their

souls before God in prayer. You and I may not need

that warning, but many Christians do. If not

warned, Mrs. Jones is likely to spend the time

thinking about Mrs. Brown's hat, and Mrs. Brown

about Mrs. Jones' dress. They would not be

thinking about God at all.

 

12. DO PERSONAL WORK. A cottage meeting that does

not close with personal work has been mismanaged.

The cottage meeting offers a very unusual

opportunity for this kind of work. The meetings

are small, it is rare indeed that there are more

than forty people present. You should find out how

many of these people are saved. It does not follow

that because a person is saved, we do not need to

do personal work with him. Saved people can get

help in these meetings that they cannot get in a

large meeting. It is the easiest and simplest

thing in the world to get a mother to talking, say

about her children. Draw her away from the crowd,

and then lead her on the subject of her soul's

salvation, or her spiritual condition. People feel

more at home in their own house, and you can get

into their hearts as you cannot in a more public

gathering.

 

13. CLOSE PROMPTLY. Be sure to do that. If nine

o'clock is understood to be the hour of closing,

close promptly at that time, if possible. It is a

good thing to establish a reputation for beginning

and closing promptly. In this way you will get

many people to go to your meeting who would not

otherwise go. They can stay to a certain hour, and

if they know you will close promptly at the hour

appointed, they will go to the meeting. If the

interest is so great that you wish to continue the

meeting, close the meeting at the appointed time,

giving all those who desire to leave an

opportunity to do so, and then have a second

meeting. You must never forget that a great many

people have to get up early in the morning,  {201}

and in order to do so, they must go to bed early.

It is very embarrassing for timid people to get up

and leave a meeting while it is going on. Then

again, the woman of the house where you are

holding the meeting may be obliged to get up at

five o'clock in the morning to prepare breakfast,

and so must go to bed early. Furthermore, it is

far better to close the meeting while there is

good interest, than to wait until the interest

dies out. If you close at high tide, people will

want to come again. If people desire to stay

around and chat at the close of a meeting, be sure

to have them chat on the subject of religion. If

people are disposed to hang around after the

meeting is over and make themselves a nuisance,

you can say pleasantly, "It is getting late; and

Mrs. B. wants to shut up her house. I guess we

must be going."

 

As to the time of holding the meeting, the evening

is the usual time, but sometimes the afternoon is

a good time, especially in country districts.

 

{202}

 

@03   CHAPTER THREE

 

PARLOR MEETINGS

 

Parlor meetings are much the same in thought and

in method as cottage meetings, with this

difference, that cottage meetings are intended to

reach people of the middle classes and the poor,

while parlor meetings are intended to reach the

rich. There are many who think there is no use

trying to reach the rich with the Gospel. This is

a great mistake. Some of the most devoted and

delightful Christians that I have ever known have

been people of much wealth and high position.

Indeed, perhaps the dearest Christian friend I

ever had, and the one from whom I learned the most

by personal contact, was a man who stood very high

socially and politically in his country. I think

this man more fully realized the meaning of

Christ's words, "Except ye be converted and become

as little children," than any other man I ever

knew. I have known people of much wealth in our

own country, and members of the nobility in

England, Germany and Russia who were among the

most humble Christians that I have ever met.

 

I. ADVANTAGES AND IMPORTANCE.

 

The principal advantage in parlor meetings is that

they reach many who can be reached in no other

way. It may be admitted that the rich are the

hardest class to reach of any. It is much easier

to bring the Gospel to people who live in the

slums than to the people who live in palaces, but

many of these latter have been reached by parlor

meetings.

 

II. HOW TO CONDUCT.

 

1. GET SOME CHRISTIANS OF WEALTH AND POSITION TO

OPEN THEIR PARLORS FOR THE MEETINGS. Rich

Christians should make far larger use of their

homes than they do, to reach people of their own

class.  {203}  Many of them do not open their

homes simply because their attention has never

been called to the fact that this is a way in

which they can do good. Many of them show a great

readiness to do this when it is suggested to them.

 

2. HAVE THE LADY OF THE HOUSE INVITE HER INTIMATE

FRIENDS. Many of them will come out of curiosity,

others will come out of friendship. Oftentimes it

gets to be a fad to attend these meetings and

people go scarcely knowing why. It does not matter

so much why they go, so long as they go; for if

the Gospel is presented in the power of the Holy

Spirit after they get there some of them will be

converted.

 

3. GET AN ATTRACTIVE AND SPIRIT- FILLED SPEAKER.

Sometimes it is well to have the speaker himself a

person of wealth or position, but there are many

who have never known what it means to be rich

themselves who still have a peculiar faculty for

wining the confidence and esteem of wealthy

people.

 

4. SOMETIMES TAKE UP SOME LINE OF BIBLE STUDY.

Bible study under a wise teacher can be made

exceedingly interesting for people of wealth and

fashion. Indeed, many of these people hardly know

how to use their time, and Bible study presents to

them a pleasing novelty. Of course the teacher

must be a wise man or a wise woman, and filled

with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is possible to

have a regular class for systematic Bible

instruction, extending through many weeks or

months.

 

5. _Sometimes have an address on some living

religious topic by a Spirit-filled man or woman._

 

6. IT IS WELL OFTENTIMES TO INTEREST THOSE WHO ARE

GATHERED TOGETHER FOR PARLOR MEETINGS IN SOME

MISSIONARY WORK OR CHARITY. Many of them like to

give, and it is a blessing to them to give. They

should be educated to know just what the crying

needs of the wide world are.

 

7. AIM DIRECTLY AT THE CONVERSION OF THOSE WHO

ATTEND. Very little is accomplished after all in

parlor meetings, unless the unsaved ones are

brought to Christ. The probability is that they

will be brought to Christ at the parlor meeting or

else will never be brought to Him. If any man

should have a profound sense that it  {204}  is

"now or never," it is the one who is addressing a

company of wealthy men or women gathered together

for a parlor meeting in a Christian home.

 

A woman of wealth once asked a Christian man who

called at her home, "Are you a missionary?"

"Yes," he replied. "Do you ever speak to people

about their souls?"  "I do."  "Well," she replied,

"I wish you would speak to me about my soul." He

did, and led her to Christ. When the conversation

was over, the lady said, "I have often wished I

was poor; missionaries come and talk to my

servants about Christ, but they never speak to me.

My pastor calls upon me, but he never speaks about

my own religious needs, and I have often wished

that I were poor so that some one might speak to

me about my soul."

 

Preparation for a parlor meeting need not be

elaborate. The principal thing is to teach those

who gather together the great fundamental truths

of the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. If

there is music, it should be of the very best, but

should be spiritual, rather than classical. The

class of people that you are aiming to reach are

quite sated with high class music, but simple

Gospel singing in the power of the Holy Ghost is a

novelty to them, and will touch their hearts and

lead to the conversion of many of them. An

attractive young woman with a sweet voice, a true

knowledge of Christ, a burden for souls, and the

power of the Holy Spirit, will be greatly used of

God.

 

{205}

 

@04   CHAPTER FOUR

 

THE CHURCH PRAYER MEETING

 

I. IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES.

 

The prayer meeting ought to be the most important

meeting in the church. It is the most important

meeting if it is rightly conducted. Of course the

church prayer meeting in many churches is more a

matter of form than a center of power. The thing

to do in such a case is not to give up the prayer

meeting, but to make it what it ought to be. There

are five reasons why the church prayer meeting is

of vital importance.

 

1. IT BRINGS POWER INTO ALL THE LIFE AND WORK OF

THE CHURCH. If there is any real power in the

church it is from God, and God has given it in

answer to prayer. The prayer meeting is the real

expression of the prayer life of the church. Of

course all the living members of the church are

praying in private, but it is in the prayer

meeting that they come together and pray as a

church. God delights to honor the prayers of the

church as a whole (Acts 12:5, Acts 1:14). If the

prayer meeting of a church runs down, it is

practically certain that all the life of the

church will run down, and its work prove a failure

so far as accomplishing anything real and lasting

for God is concerned.

 

2. IT DEVELOPS THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCH. In

the regular services of the church, but few

members of the church are developed; the minister

plays the leading role; but in the prayer meeting

there is an opportunity for the exercise of gifts

on the part of the whole body. Altogether too

little stress is laid in modern church life on the

development of the gifts of the church. The whole

organization is conducted on the idea of the work

being done by one  {206}  man or by a few men. It

was not so in early church gatherings. Here the

people came together for mutual benefit, and every

member of the church was allowed to exercise his

gifts (1_Corinthians 14:26). About the only place

where this is possible in modern church life is in

the prayer meeting. A real prayer meeting is one

of the most apostolic meetings that we have in our

modern churches.

 

3. IT RESULTS IN MANY CONVERSIONS. If a prayer

meeting is conducted as it ought to be, many

people will be converted in the prayer meeting. In

not a few churches the presence of the Holy Spirit

is much more manifest in the prayer meeting than

in any other gathering of the church, and

unconverted men and women and children coming in

there feel His presence, and are convicted of sin

and oftentimes converted to Christ. Of course

there is nothing in many prayer meetings to

convert any one, but if a prayer meeting is

conducted as it ought to be, conversions may be

looked for at every meeting.

 

4. IT PROMOTES THE LIFE AND FELLOWSHIP OF THE

CHURCH. In a large church it is quite impossible

for people to get very close to one another in the

Sunday services. Everything conspires to prevent

it, but in the prayer meeting not only do people

get in closer physical contact, but heart touches

heart in a way that is unknown in the more formal

service. People warm up toward one another, and

come to understand one another in the prayer

meeting as in perhaps no other service. Love is

increased and multiplied. There has perhaps never

been a time in the history of the church when this

was more important than today. People belong to

the same church, and sit under the same minister,

and look into one another's faces once a week for

years, and scarcely know one another's names, but

in the prayer meeting people learn to know and to

love one another.

 

5. IT PROMOTES THE HOME AND FOREIGN MISSION WORK

OF THE CHURCH. It is very difficult, and in many

cases altogether impossible, to keep up a strong

missionary interest without a church prayer

meeting. Not only does the prayer meeting afford

opportunity for missionary intelligence, but it

also affords an opportunity for the many in the

church to pour out their heart in prayer for the

{207}  missionary work. When Jesus wished to

promote a missionary interest among His disciples,

He set them to praying for missions (Matthew 9:38;

10:1). If we wish to promote the foreign

missionary interest in any church, we must get the

church to praying for missions.

 

II. HOW TO CONDUCT.

 

I. REMEMBER THAT THE PRAYER MEETING IS PRIMARILY A

_P_R_A_Y_E_R_ MEETING. Do not transform it into a

lecture course or into a Bible class. It would be

going too far to say that the prayer meeting

should be only a prayer meeting. There are, of

course, times when this should be the case, when

the whole hour should be given up to prayer, but

this is not wise as a universal rule; but at least

it ought to be pre-eminently a prayer meeting.

Many of our modern prayer meetings are so only in

name. There may be a prayer by the minister at the

opening of the meeting, and a prayer by some one

else in closing, but the meeting is largely given

up to talking, and oftentimes very desultory and

unprofitable talking at that. Let prayer be the

prominent thing in the prayer meeting. It may be

that the major part of the time is not taken up by

prayer, but see to it that the Bible comment and

the testimony has something to do with prayer, and

leads naturally to prayer.

 

2. DRAW OUT ALL THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCH IN

THE PRAYER MEETING. The prayer meeting is the

place for the cultivation of the gifts of the

membership of the church. In many churches it is

only the chosen few who exercise their gifts and

get the fullest measure of blessing. It will not

do to say that every member should take part in

every prayer meeting. In a large church this is

impossible, and furthermore it leads to a certain

mechanical way of taking part that is unprofitable

and vain; but the pastor should see to it that all

the membership take part some time. If there is

any attendant at the prayer meeting who never

takes part, make a study of that person and find

out what his gifts are, and give him an

opportunity for their exercise. Assign backward

ones something definite to do; it may be nothing

more than to read a verse of Scripture. It is not

wise, however, to allow people to be content with

simply getting up week after week and quoting

{208}  some passage of Scripture. It is better to

give them some suggestive verse to study during

the week, and then let them bring some thought

that has come to them in meditating upon that

verse.

 

3. ASSIGN PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE TO STUDY. For

example, one of the most helpful series of prayer

meetings I ever conducted took up the book of

Psalms; about seven Psalms were given out each

week, and the people were requested to read these

Psalms over and over again, and then to come to

the meeting prepared to give some thought that had

come to them in the study of these Psalms. When

this request was made, one of the most experienced

members of the church went to a public library and

got down all the leading commentaries on the

Psalms and began to study them. He confessed

afterwards that he had gotten far greater blessing

from the comments made by some of the plainest and

most uneducated people in the church than he had

gotten from all the commentaries that he had

studied. A prominent minister who dropped in

during these meetings was so impressed by the

interest and power of the meeting, that he

afterwards adopted the same plan in his own

church. He said that it gave him an entirely new

idea of the possibilities of the prayer meeting.

 

4. HAVE A WELL CHOSEN LIST OF SUBJECTS. It is not

well always to have a list of subjects that is

followed week after week in the prayer meeting. It

is quite possible to get into a stereotyped and

formal way in doing this, but lists of subjects

are oftentimes helpful. Usually the best list of

subjects is the one you make up for yourself. Get

as many lists of subjects as you can for

suggestion, and then make your own. Usually it is

not wise to have a list of subjects that extends

over too long a period. A list of subjects

extending over an entire year oftentimes gets to

be a great nuisance.

 

5. HAVE DEFINITE REQUESTS FOR PRAYER. There is a

discouraging vagueness in the prayers at many

prayer meetings. When something definite is

presented for the meeting, it goes far to give

life to the meeting; the prayers no longer wander

all over creation, but aim at a definite object.

It is well when the requests for prayer are read

to have the people bow their heads in silent

prayer. Do not  {209}  read the requests so

rapidly as to make it impossible for each one to

be remembered definitely. After a few requests

have been read, it is well to have some one lead

in prayer, then read others and have some one else

lead in prayer, and so on through the list. It is

well oftentimes to have the requests made verbally

from the audience, but there is a great advantage

in having them written out. If people are not

interested enough to write the request out, it is

doubtful that there is much good in asking for the

things desired; furthermore, if the request is

written out, it can be read so that everybody in

the room hears it.

 

6. HAVE A DEFINITE OPPORTUNITY FOR THANKSGIVING

AND PRAISE. Thanksgiving should always go hand in

hand with prayer. The Apostle Paul said, "In

nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer

and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING let your

requests be made known unto God" (Philippians

4:6). This is a good rule for the conduct of a

prayer meeting. Giving definite thanksgiving and

praise for blessings already received will

increase our faith in asking for new and larger

blessings. There is nothing that seems to promote

the presence of the Spirit more than true

thanksgiving; indeed a large share of the

testimony and the talk in prayer meeting should be

along the line of thanksgiving and praise.

 

7. MAKE MUCH OF MUSIC IN THE PRAYER MEETING. Of

course the prayer meeting ought not to be a song

service, but it should be a service in which there

is much song. Every one should be encouraged to

sing. See to it that all do sing. The singing

should be in the Spirit, but should also be with

the understanding. Dwell on the meaning of the

words. Have verses sung over and over until they

are sung from the heart. A prayer meeting should

be one of the brightest, cheeriest gatherings ever

held on earth. If it is made so, there will be no

need of urging people to come out to the meeting,

and scolding them for not coming; they will want

to come. It will be the brightest spot in the

whole life of the week.

 

8. TRAIN THE PEOPLE TO FEEL THE IMPORTANCE OF THE

PRAYER MEETING. To do this it is not necessary to

scold people for not attending, but often drop a

word that emphasizes the importance of the {210}

prayer meeting. Let people know of the good time

that you are having. Speak to people personally

about coming out. Have people go after them and

bring them out, and keep after them until they

come. Make the meetings so interesting that when

they do come once they will want to come again.

 

9. MAKE PEOPLE FEEL AT HOME. About the stiffest

thing on earth is a stiff prayer meeting, but if

the prayer meeting is made a homey place, people

will want to come again and again. It is well to

stand at the door to welcome people as they come

in, having a smile and pleasant word for all who

come. It is not at all necessary that the pastor

be behind the desk during the opening moments of

the meeting; he can oftentimes do more good down

by the door than he can in his seat of honor.

 

10. SOMETIMES MAKE THE PRAYER MEETING LIKE A

SOCIAL. Do not have the people sit in stiff rows,

but have them stand up and move around. Then the

meeting can be begun in an informal way, and you

are in the midst of the meeting almost before you

know it.

 

11. ALWAYS AIM AT, AND LOOK FOR, CONVERSIONS IN

THE PRAYER MEETING. If the prayer meeting is

conducted as it ought to be, many unconverted

people will come, and the whole atmosphere of the

place is such as to prepare people for a personal

acceptance of Jesus Christ. There is no place

where it is so easy to speak to people about their

souls as after a good warm prayer meeting.

Oftentimes when the opportunity is given for

requests for prayer, the question should be put,

"Is there not some one here tonight who wishes us

to pray that they may be saved tonight," or some

question of that character.

 

12. STAND AT THE DOOR AND SHAKE HANDS WITH PEOPLE

AND SPEAK TO PEOPLE AS THEY GO OUT. There is

oftentimes untold good in a hearty handshake. I

stood one night at the door of our prayer meeting

shaking hands with people as they went out, and a

lady said to me, "I have been in Chicago for a

long time; I have gone to church again and again

but you are the first Christian that has  {211}

shaken hands with me." I believe another said that

the only reason she went to the prayer meeting was

to get a good handshake.

 

13. MAKE THE PRAYER MEETING A MATTER OF PRAYER.

Ask God to teach you how to conduct the prayer

meeting and make it what it ought to be. Ask God

definitely to bless every prayer meeting that you

conduct or attend; do it expectantly. Always go to

the prayer meeting expecting that you are going to

have a good time. I always do and am never

disappointed.

 

14. MAKE THE PRAYER MEETING A MATTER OF STUDY. Do

not make it so much a study as to what you will

say, but as to how it can be improved. Avoid

getting into ruts. It is not well to keep in a rut

even if it is a good rut.

 

III. SOME SUGGESTIONS.

 

1. DON'T TAKE UP ALL THE TIME YOURSELF. The prayer

meeting is not so much your meeting as the meeting

of the whole church. You have your opportunity to

air your views on the Lord's Day; be fair and give

the other people an opportunity on the prayer

meeting evening.

 

2. DON'T LET ANYONE ELSE TAKE UP ALL THE TIME.

There is liable to be in every community a prayer

meeting killer, a man given to making long prayers

or long speeches, and as stale as they are long.

Everybody looks blue as soon as he gets up to

speak. This must not be permitted, but just how

can it be stopped? First of all, look to God to

give you wisdom, in the second place don't lose

your temper, in the third place watch for your

opportunity. Sometimes he will say something that

will enable you to break in with a remark; then

ask somebody else his opinion, and some one else

his, and then propose a song. Sometimes it will be

necessary to say to the member, publicly and

plainly, but kindly, that you are glad his heart

is so full, but the time is getting very short and

there are many who want to speak. Sometimes it

will be wisest to go to the man privately and tell

him that it is not wise for him to take up so much

time in the meeting. If you have tact, you can

generally do this without hurting his feelings,

but at any cost he must be stopped.  {212}

 

3. DON'T BEGIN LATE. If a prayer meeting is

announced to begin at a certain hour, begin at the

very tick of the clock. This encourages more

people to attend than most people suspect.

 

4. DON'T RUN OVER TIME. If the prayer meeting is

announced to close at a certain time, close at

that time. It may be wise to have a second prayer

meeting, but close the meeting at the time

announced.

 

5. DON'T LET THE MEETING DRAG. If it begins to

drag, ask some one a question that will draw him

out, or say something yourself that will set other

people to thinking and talking. Oftentimes the

best thing to do is to propose a season of silent

prayer, but do not urge people to "fill up the

time." That leads to unprofitable talking. People

ought not to speak merely to fill up time; they

ought not to speak unless they have something to

say that is worth listening to. Far better a

season of silent prayer than a season of vain

talking.

 

Sometimes it is well to bring the meeting to a

close before the announced hour comes. Some

leaders make the mistake of thinking that it is

necessary to carry the meeting through to the

announced hour, no matter how it drags.

 

6. DON'T HAVE BAD AIR. The air in the room has

more to do with the excellence or dullness of the

meeting than most people suspect.

 

7. DON'T BE STEREOTYPED. The fact that a prayer

meeting conducted in a certain way was a good

prayer meeting does not prove that every prayer

meeting should be conducted in just that way. It

is well to do unexpected things; it wakes people

up; but be sure that you do not do foolish things

in your desire to do unexpected things.

 

{213}

 

@05   CHAPTER FIVE

 

THE USE OF TRACTS

 

Comparatively few Christians realize the

importance of tract work. I had been a Christian a

good many years, and a minister of the Gospel

several years, before it ever entered my head that

tracts were of much value in Christian work. I had

somehow grown up with the notion that tracts were

all rubbish, and therefore I did not take the

trouble to read them, and far less did I take the

trouble to circulate them, but I found out that I

was entirely wrong. Tract work has some great

advantages over other forms of Christian work.

 

I. IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES.

 

1. ANY PERSON CAN DO IT. We cannot all preach; we

cannot all conduct meetings; but we can all select

useful tracts and then hand them out to others. Of

course some of us can do it better than others.

Even a blind man or a mute man can do tract work.

It is a line of work in which every man, woman and

child can engage.

 

2. A TRACT ALWAYS STICKS TO THE POINT. I wish

every worker did that, but how often we get to

talking to some one and he is smart enough to get

us off on to a side track.

 

3. A TRACT NEVER LOSES ITS TEMPER. Perhaps you

sometimes do. I have known Christian workers, even

workers of experience, who would sometimes get all

stirred up, but you cannot stir up a tract. It

always remains as calm as a June morning.

 

4. OFTENTIMES PEOPLE WHO ARE TOO PROUD TO BE

TALKED WITH, WILL READ A TRACT WHEN NO ONE IS

LOOKING. There is many a man who  {214}  would

rebuke you if you tried to speak to him about his

soul, who will read a tract if you leave it on his

table, or in some other place where he comes upon

it accidentally, and that tract may be used for

his salvation.

 

5. A TRACT STAYS BY ONE. You talk to a man and

then he goes away, but the tract stays with him.

Some years ago a man came into a mission in New

York. One of the workers tried to talk with him,

but he would not listen. As he was leaving, a card

tract was placed in his hands which read, "If I

should die tonight I would go to _____. Please

fill out and sign." He put it in his pocket, went

to his steamer, for he was a sailor, and slipped

it into the edge of his bunk. The steamer started

for Liverpool. On his voyage he met with an

accident, and was laid aside in his bunk. That

card stared him in the face day and night. Finally

he said, "If I should die tonight I would go to

hell, but I will not go there, I will go to

heaven, I will take Christ right here and now." He

went to Liverpool, returned to New York, went to

the mission, told his story, and had the card,

which was still in his pocket, filled out and

signed with his name. The conversation he had had

in the mission left him, but the card stayed by

him.

 

6. TRACTS LEAD MANY TO ACCEPT CHRIST. The author

of one tract ("What is it to believe in the Lord

Jesus Christ?" received before his death upwards

of sixteen hundred letters from people who had

been led to Christ by reading it.

 

II. PURPOSES FOR WHICH TO USE A TRACT.

 

1. FOR THE CONVERSION OF THE UNSAVED. A tract will

often succeed in winning a man to Christ where a

sermon or a personal conversation has failed.

There are a great many people who, if you try to

talk with them, will put you off; but if you put a

tract in their hands and ask God to bless it,

after they go away and are alone they will read

the tract and God will carry it home to their

hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost. One of our

students wrote me in great joy of how he had at

last succeeded in winning a whole family for

Christ. He had been working for that family for a

long time but could not touch them. One day he

left a tract with them,  {215}  and God used that

tract for the conversion of four or five members

of the family. Another student held a cottage

meeting at a home, and by mistake left his Bible

there. There was a tract in the Bible. When he had

gone, the woman of the house saw the Bible, picked

it up, opened it, saw the tract and read it. The

Spirit of God carried it home to her heart, and

when he went back after the Bible she told him she

wanted to find the Lord Jesus Christ. The tract

had note what he could not do in personal work. I

once received a letter from a man saying, "There

is a man in this place whom I tried for a long

time to reach but could not. One day I handed him

a tract, and I think it was to the salvation of

his whole family."

 

2. TO LEAD CHRISTIANS INTO A DEEPER AND MORE

EARNEST CHRISTIAN LIFE. It is a great mistake to

limit the use of tracts to winning the unsaved to

Christ. A little tract on the Second Coming of

Christ, once sent me in a letter, made a change in

my whole life. I do not think the tract was

altogether correct doctrinally, but it had in it

an important truth, and it did for me just the

work that needed to be done.

 

There is a special class of people with whom this

form of ministry is particularly helpful, those

who live where they do not enjoy spiritual

advantages. You may know some one who is leading a

very unsatisfactory life, and you long to have

that person know what the Christian life really

means. His pastor may not be a spiritual man, he

may not know the deep things of God. It is the

simplest thing in the world to slip into a letter

a tract that will lead him into an entirely new

Christian life.

 

3. TO CORRECT ERROR. This is a very necessary form

of work in the day in which we live. The air is

full of error. In our personal work we have not

always time to lead a man out of his error, but

oftentimes we can give him a tract that can do the

work better than we can. If you tried to lead him

out of his error by personal work, you might get

into a discussion, but the tract cannot. The one

in error cannot talk back to the tract. For

example, take people that are in error on the

question of seventh day observance. It might take

some time to lead such a one out of the darkness

into  {216}  the light, but a tract on that

subject can be secured that has been used of God

to lead many out of the bondage of legalism into

the glorious liberty of the Gospel of Christ.

 

4. TO SET CHRISTIANS TO WORK. Our churches are

full of members who are doing nothing. A

well-chosen tract may set such to work. I know of

a young man who was working in a factory in

Massachusetts. He was a plain, uneducated sort of

fellow, but a little tract on personal work was

placed in his hands. He read it and re-read it,

and said, "I am not doing what I should for

Christ." He went to work among his companions in

the factory, inviting them to the church, and to

hear his pastor preach. Not satisfied with this,

he went to doing personal work. This was not

sufficient, so he went to work holding meetings

himself. Finally he brought a convention to his

city. Just that one plain factory man was the

means of getting a great convention and blessing

to that place, and all from reading that little

tract. He was also instrumental in organizing a

society which was greatly blessed of God. It would

be possible to fill this country with literature

on Christian work that would stir up the dead and

sleeping professors of religion throughout the

land, and send them out to work for the Lord Jesus

Christ.

 

III. WHO SHOULD USE TRACTS.

 

1. MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL SHOULD USE THEM. Many

ministers do make constant use of them in their

pastoral work, leaving well chose tracts where

they make their pastoral calls, handing out tracts

along the line of the sermons that they preach. It

is said of Rev. Edward Judson of New York, that he

seldom makes a call without having in his pocket a

selection of tracts adapted to almost every member

of the family, and especially to the children. "At

the close of the Sunday evening preaching service,

he has often put some good brother in the chair,

and while the meeting proceeds he goes down into

the audience and gives to each person a choice

leaflet, at the same time taking the opportunity

to say a timely word. In this way he comes into

personal touch with the whole audience, gives each

stranger a cordial welcome, and leaves in his

{217}  hand some message from God. At least once a

year he selects some one tract that has in it the

very core of the Gospel. On this he prints the

notices of the services, and selecting his church

as a center, he has this tract put in the hands of

every person living within half a mile in each

direction, regardless of creed or condition. He

sometimes uses 10,000 tracts at one distribution,

and finds it very fruitful in results."

 

2. SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS. Every Sunday School

teacher should be on the lookout for tracts to

give to his scholars. In this way he can do much

to supplement his hour's work on the Lord's Day.

 

3. TRAVELING MEN. Traveling men have a rare

opportunity for doing tract work. They are

constantly coming in contact with different men,

and finding out their needs. A Christian "drummer"

with a well-assorted selection of tracts can

accomplish immeasurable good.

 

4. BUSINESS MEN. Business men can use tracts to

good advantage with the very men with whom they

have business engagements. They can also do

excellent work with their own employees. Many a

business man slips well chosen tracts into many of

the letters which he writes, and thus accomplishes

an effective ministry for his Master.

 

5. SCHOOL TEACHERS. It is very difficult for

school teachers in some cities and towns to talk

very much with their pupils in school. Oftentimes

the rules of the school board prevent it entirely,

but a wise teacher can learn all about her

scholars and their home surroundings, and can give

them tracts just adapted to their needs.

 

6. HOUSEKEEPERS. Every Christian housekeeper

should have a collection of well assorted tracts.

She can hand these out to the servant girls, the

grocery men, the market men, the butcher, to the

tramps that come to the door. They can be left

upon the table in the parlor and in bedrooms. Only

eternity will disclose the good that is

accomplished in these ways.   {218}

 

IV. HOW TO USE TRACTS.

 

1. TO BEGIN A CONVERSATION. One of the

difficulties in Christian work is to begin. You

see a person with whom you wish to talk about the

Lord Jesus Christ. The great difficulty is in

starting. It is easy enough to talk after you have

started, but how are you going to start a

conversation naturally and easily? One of the

simplest and easiest ways is by slipping a tract

into the person's hand. After the tract has been

read, a conversation naturally follows. I was once

riding in a crowded car. I asked God for an

opportunity to lead some one to Christ. I was

watching for the opportunity for which I had

asked, when two young ladies entered. I thought I

knew one of them as the daughter of a minister.

She went through the car looking for a seat, and

then came back. As she came back and sat down in

the seat in front of me, she bowed, and of course

I knew I was right as to who she was. I took out a

little bundle of tracts, and selecting one that

seemed best adapted to her case, I handed it to

her, having first asked God to bless it. She at

once began to read and I began to pray. When she

had read the tract, I asked her what she thought

about it. She almost burst into tears right there

in the car, and in a very few moments that

minister's daughter was rejoicing in the Lord

Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. As she

afterwards passed out of the car, she said, "I

want to thank you for what you have done for me in

leading me to Christ."

 

2. USE A TRACT TO CLOSE A CONVERSATION. As a rule

when you have finished talking with some one, you

should not leave him without something definite to

take home to read. If the person has accepted

Christ, put some tract in his hands that will show

him how to succeed in the Christian life. If the

person has not accepted Christ, some other tract

that is especially adapted to his need should be

left with him.

 

3. USE TRACTS WHERE A CONVERSATION IS IMPOSSIBLE.

For example, one night at the close of a tent

meeting in Chicago, as I went down one of the

aisles a man beckoned to me, and intimated that

his wife was interested. She was in tears, and I

tried to talk with her,  {219}  but she stammered

out in a broken way, "We don't talk English." She

had not understood a word of the sermon, I

suppose, but God had carried something home to her

heart. They were Norwegians, and I could not find

a Norwegian in the whole tent to act as

interpreter, but I could put a Norwegian tract in

her hand, and that could do the work. Time and

time again I have met with men deeply interested

about their soul's salvation, but with whom I

could not deal because I did not talk the language

that they understood.

 

One day as I came from dinner, I found a Swede

waiting for me, and he said he had a man outside

with whom he wished me to talk. I went outside and

found an uncouth looking specimen, a Norwegian.

The Swede had found him drunk in an alley and

dragged him down to the Institute to talk with me.

He was still full of whisky, and spit tobacco

juice over me as I tried to talk with him. I found

he could not talk English, and I talked English to

the Swede, and the Swede talked Swedish to the

Norwegian, and the Norwegian got a little bit of

it. I made it as clear as I could to our Swede

interpreter, and he in his turn made it as clear

as he could to the Norwegian. Then I put a

Norwegian tract in his hands, and that could talk

to him so that he understood perfectly.

 

Oftentimes a conversation is impossible because of

the place where you meet people. For example, you

may be on the street cars and wish to speak to a

man, but in many instances it would not be wise if

it were possible, but you can take the man's

measure and then give him a tract that will fit

him. You may be able to say just a few words to

him and then put the tract in his hands and ask

God to bless it.

 

4. USE TRACTS TO SEND TO PEOPLE AT A DISTANCE. It

does not cost a tract much to travel. You can send

them to the ends of the earth for a few cents.

Especially use them to send to people who live in

out of the way places where there is no preaching.

There are thousands of people living in different

sections of this country where they do not hear

preaching from one year's end to another. It would

be impossible to send an evangelical preacher to

them, but you can send a tract and it will do the

preaching for you.  {220}

 

V. SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE USE OF TRACTS.

 

1. ALWAYS READ THE TRACTS YOURSELF BEFORE GIVING

THEM TO OTHERS. This is very necessary. Bad tracts

abound today, tracts that contain absolutely

pernicious doctrine. They are being circulated

free by the million, and one needs to be on his

guard, lest he be doing harm rather than good in

distributing tracts. Of course we cannot read all

the tracts in other languages, but we can have

them interpreted to us, and it is wise to do so.

Besides positively bad tracts, there are many

tracts that are worthless.

 

2. SUIT YOUR TRACT TO THE PERSON TO WHOM YOU GIVE

IT. What is good for one person may not be good

for another.

 

3. CARRY A SELECTION OF TRACTS WITH YOU. I do not

say a COLLECTION, but a SELECTION. Tracts are

countless in number, and a large share of them are

worthless. Select the best, and arrange them for

the different classes of people with whom you come

in contact.

 

4. SEEK THE GUIDANCE OF GOD. This is of the very

highest importance. If there is any place where we

need wisdom from above, it is in the selection of

tracts, and in their distribution after their

selection.

 

5. SEEK GOD'S BLESSING UPON THE TRACT AFTER YOU

HAVE GIVEN IT OUT. Do not merely give out the

tract and there let the matter rest, but whenever

you give out a tract ask God to bless it.

 

6. OFTENTIMES GIVE A MAN A TRACT WITH WORDS AND

SENTENCES UNDERSCORED. Men are curious, and they

will take particular notice of the underscoring.

It is oftentimes a good thing to have a tract put

up in your office. Men who come in will read it. I

know a man who had a few words put upon his paper

weight. A great many who came into his office saw

it, and it made a deep impression upon them.

 

7. NEVER BE ASHAMED OF DISTRIBUTING TRACTS. Many

people hand out tracts to others as if they were

ashamed of what they were doing. People are not

likely to read tracts if you hand them to them

{221}  as if you were ashamed to do it; but if you

act as though you were conferring a favor upon

them, and giving them something worth reading,

they will read your tract. It is often well to say

to a person, "Here is a little leaflet out of

which I have gotten a good deal of good. I would

like to have you read it."

 

{222}

 

@06   CHAPTER SIX

 

OPEN-AIR MEETINGS

 

I. THEIR IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES.

 

1. THEY ARE SCRIPTURAL. Jesus said, "Go out

quickly INTO THE STREETS and lanes of the city,

and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and

the halt, and the blind." Every great preacher of

the Bible was an open-air preacher. Peter was an

open-air preacher, Paul was an open-air preacher,

and so were Elijah, Moses and Ezra. More important

than all, Jesus Christ Himself was an open-air

preacher, and preached for the most part out of

doors. Every great sermon recorded in the Bible

was preached in the open air; the sermon on the

Day of Pentecost, the Sermon on the Mount, the

sermon on Mars Hill, etc. In this country we have

an idea that open-air preaching is for those who

cannot get any other place to speak, but across

the water they look at it quite differently. Some

of the most eminent preachers of Great Britain

preach in the open air.

 

2. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS ARE PORTABLE, YOU CAN CARRY

THEM AROUND. It would be very difficult to carry a

church or mission building with you, but there is

no difficulty about carrying an open-air meeting

with you. You can get an open-air meeting where

you could by no possibility get a church, mission

hall or even a room. You can have open-air

meetings in all parts of the city and all parts of

the country.

 

3. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS ARE MORE ATTRACTIVE IN THE

SUMMER THAN HOT, SWELTERING HALLS OR CHURCHES.

When on my vacations, I used to attend a country

church. It was one of the hottest, most stifling

and sleepy places I ever entered. It was all but

impossible to keep awake while the minister

attempted to preach. The church was located  {223}

in a beautiful grove where it was always cool and

shady, but it seemed never to enter the minds of

the people to go out of the church into the grove.

Of course only a few people attended the church

services. One day a visiting minister suggested

that they have an open-air meeting on the front

lawn of a Christian man having a summer residence

near at hand. The farmers came to that meeting

from miles around, in wagons, on foot and every

other way. There was a splendid crowd in

attendance. The country churches would do well in

the summer to get out of their church building

into some attractive grove near at hand.

 

4. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS WILL ACCOMMODATE VAST CROWDS.

There are few church buildings, especially in the

country, that will accommodate more than one

thousand people; but people by the thousands can

be accommodated by an open-air meeting. It has

been my privilege to speak for several summers in

a small country town with less than a thousand

inhabitants. Of course the largest church building

in the town would not accommodate more than five

hundred people. The meetings, however, were held

in the open air, and people drove to them from

forty miles around, and at a single meeting we had

an attendance of 15,000 people. Whitefield was

driven to the fields by the action of church

authorities. It was well that he was. Some of his

audiences at Moorfields were said to number 60,000

people.

 

5. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS ARE ECONOMICAL. You neither

have to pay rent nor h ire a janitor. They do not

cost anything at all. God Himself furnishes the

building and takes care of it. I remember that at

a Christian Workers' Convention a man was

continually complaining that no one would hire for

him a mission hall in which to hold meetings. At

last I suggested to him that he had all outdoors,

and could go there and preach until some one hired

him a hall. He took the suggestion and was greatly

used of God. You do not need to have a cent in

your pocket to hold an open-air meeting. The whole

outdoors is free.

 

6. YOU CAN REACH MEN IN AN OPEN-AIR MEETING THAT

YOU CAN REACH IN NO OTHER WAY.  I can tell of

instance after instance where men who have not

been at church or a mission hall for years have

{224}  been reached by open-air meetings. The

persons I have known to be reached and converted

through open-air meetings have included thieves,

drunkards, gamblers, saloon-keepers, abandoned

women, murderers, lawyers, doctors, theatrical

people, society people, in fact pretty much every

class.

 

7. YOU CAN REACH BACKSLIDERS AND PEOPLE WHO HAVE

DRIFTED AWAY FROM THE CHURCH. One day when we were

holding a meeting on a street corner in a city, a

man in the crowd became interested, and one of our

workers dealt with him. He said, "I am a

backslider, and so is my wife, but I have made up

my mind to come back to Christ." He was saved and

so was his brother-in-law.

 

8. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS IMPRESS PEOPLE BY THEIR

EARNESTNESS. How often I have heard people say,

"There is something in it. See those people

talking out there on the street. They do not have

any collection, and they come here just because

they believe what they are preaching." Remarks

like this are made over and over again. Men who

are utterly careless about the Gospel and

Christianity have been impressed by the

earnestness of men and women who go out on to the

street and win souls for Christ.

 

9. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS BRING RECRUITS TO CHURCHES

AND MISSIONS. One of the best ways to fill up an

empty church is to send your workers out on the

street to hold meetings before the church service

is held, or better still, go yourself. When the

meeting is over, you can invite people to the

church (or mission). This is the divinely

appointed means for reaching men that cannot be

reached in any other way (Luke 14:21). All

Christians should hear the words of Christ

constantly ringing in their ears, "Go out quickly

into the streets and l lanes of the city, and

bring in hither the poor," etc.

 

10. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS ENABLE YOU TO REACH _M_E_N_.

One of the great problems of most ministers of the

Gospel today is how to get hold of the MEN. The

average church audience is composed very largely

of women and children. One of the easiest ways to

get hold of the men is to go out on the streets,

where the men are. Open-air meetings are as a rule

composed of an overwhelming majority of men.

{225}

 

11. OPEN-AIR MEETINGS ARE GOOD FOR THE HEALTH.  An

English preacher was told that he must die, that

he had consumption. He thought he should make the

most of the few months he had allotted to live, so

he went out on the streets and began preaching.

The open-air preaching cured his consumption, and

he lived for many years, and was the founder of a

great open-air society.

 

II. WHERE TO HOLD OPEN-AIR MEETINGS.

 

To put it in a single word, hold them where the

people are that you wish to reach. But a few

suggestions may prove helpful.

 

1. WHERE THE CROWDS PASS. Find the principal

thoroughfare where the crowds throng. You cannot

hold your meeting just at that point, as the

police will not permit it, but you can hold it

just a little to one side of that point, and the

crowds as they pass will go to one side and listen

to you.

 

2. HOLD THEM NEAR CROWDED TENEMENTS. In that way

you can preach to the people in the tenements as

well as on the street. They will throw open their

windows and listen. Sometimes the audience that

you do not see will be as large as the one you do

see. You may be preaching to hundreds of people

inside the building that you do not see at all. I

knew of a poor sick woman being brought to Christ

through the preaching she heard on the street. It

was a hot summer night, and her window was open,

and the preaching came in through the window and

touched her heart and won her to Christ. It is

good to have a good strong voice in open-air

preaching, for then you can preach to all the

tenements within three or four blocks. Mr. Sankey

once sang a hymn that was carried over a mile away

and converted a man that far off. I have a friend

who occasionally uses in his open-air meetings a

megaphone that carries his voice to an immense

distance.

 

3. HOLD MEETINGS NEAR CIRCUSES, BASEBALL GAMES,

AND OTHER PLACES WHERE THE PEOPLE CROWD. One of

the most interesting meetings I ever held was just

outside of a baseball ground on Sunday. The police

were trying to break up the game inside by

arresting the leaders. We held the meeting outside

just back of the grand stand. As there was no game

to see inside, the people listened to  {226}  the

singing and preaching of the Gospel outside. On

another Sunday we drove down to Sell's circus and

had the most motley audience I ever addressed.

There were people present from almost every nation

under heaven. The circus had advertised a

"Congress of Nations," so I had provided a

congress of nations for my open-air meeting. On

that day I had a Dutchman, a Frenchman, a

Scotchman, an Englishman, an Irishman and an

American preach. We took care at the open-air

meeting to invite the people to evening meeting at

the mission. That night a man came who told us

that he was one of the employees of the circus,

and was touched that afternoon by the preaching of

the Gospel, and had come to learn how to be a

follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He accepted the

Savior that night.

 

4. HOLD MEETINGS IN OR NEAR PARKS OR OTHER PUBLIC

RESORTS. Almost every city has its resorts where

people go on Sunday. As the people will not go to

church, the church ought to go out to the people.

Sometimes permission can be secured from the

authorities to hold the meetings right in the

parks. Wherever this is impossible they can be

held near at hand. One who is now a deacon of our

church spent his Sundays at Lincoln Park before he

was converted; an open-air meeting was held close

at hand, and there he heard the Gospel and was

converted.

 

5. HOLD MEETINGS IN GROVES. It would be well if

every country church could be persuaded to try

this. Get out of the church into a grove

somewhere, and you will be surprised at the number

of people who will come who would not go near the

church at all.

 

6. HOLD OPEN-AIR MEETINGS NEAR YOUR MISSIONS. If

you have a mission, be sure to hold an open-air

meeting near it. It is the easiest thing in the

world to keep a mission full, even during the

summer months, if you hold an open-air meeting in

connection with it, but it is almost impossible to

do so if you do not.

 

7. HOLD OPEN-AIR MEETINGS IN FRONT OF CHURCHES. A

good many of our empty churches could be filled if

we would only hold open-air meetings in front of

them. Years ago, when in London, I went to hear

Newman Hall preach. It looked to me like a very

orderly and aristocratic church, but when I left

the church after the  {227}  second service, I was

surprised to find an open-air meeting in full

blast right in front of the church, and people

gathered there in crowds from the thoroughfare.

 

8. BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE LITTLE DETAILS IN

CONNECTION WITH THE LOCATION. On a hot day, hold

the meeting on the shady side of the street. On a

cool day, on the sunny side. Make it as

comfortable for the audience as possible. Never

compel the audience to stand with the sun shining

in their eyes. Preach with the wind, and not

against it. Take your own position a little above

the part of the audience nearest you, upon a

curbstone, chair, platform, rise in the ground, or

anything that will raise your head above others so

that your voice will carry.

 

III. THINGS TO GET.

 

1. GET IT THOROUGHLY UNDERSTOOD BETWEEN YOURSELF

AND GOD THAT HE WANTS YOU TO DO THIS WORK, AND

THAT BY HIS GRACE YOU ARE GOING TO DO IT WHATEVER

IT COSTS. This is one of the most important things

in starting out to do open-air work. You are bound

to make a failure unless you settle this at the

start. Open-air work has its discouragements, its

difficulties and its almost insurmountable

obstacles, and unless you start out knowing that

God has called you to the work, and come what

will, you will go through with it. you are sure to

give it up.

 

2. GET PERMISSION FROM THE POWERS THAT BE TO HOLD

OPEN-AIR MEETINGS. Do not get into conflict with

the police if you can possibly avoid it. As a rule

it is quite easy to get this permission if you go

about it in a courteous and intelligent way. Find

out what the laws of the city are in this regard,

and then observe them. Go to the captain of the

precinct and tell him that you wish to hold an

open-air meeting, and let him see that you are not

a disturber of the peace or a crank. Many would-be

open-air preachers get into trouble from a simple

lack of good sense and common decency.

 

3. GET A GOOD PLACE TO HOLD THE MEETING. Do not

start out at random. Study your ground. You should

operate like a general. We are told that the

Germans studied France as a battle ground for

years before the Franco- Prussian war broke out,

and when the war  {228}  out there were officers

in the German army that knew more about France

than the officers in the French army did. Lay your

plan of campaign, study your battle field, pick

out the best places to hold the meetings, look

over the territory carefully and study it in all

its bearings. There are a good many things to be

considered. Do not select what would be a good

place for some one to throw a big panful of

dishwater upon you. These little details may

appear trivial, but they need to be taken into

consideration. It is unpleasant, and somewhat

disconcerting, when a man is right in the midst of

an interesting exhortation, to have a panful of

dishwater thrown down the back of his neck.

 

4. GET AS LARGE A NUMBER OF RELIABLE CHRISTIAN MEN

AND WOMEN TO GO WITH YOU AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.

Crowds draw crowds. There is great power in

numbers. One man can go out on the street alone

and hold a meeting; I have done it myself; but if

I can get fifteen or twenty reliable men to go

with me, I will get them every time. Please note

that I have said RELIABLE Christian men and women.

Do not take anybody along with you to an open-air

meeting that you do not know. A man that is in the

habit of making a fool of himself be sure to leave

at home. He may upset your whole meeting. Do not

take a man or woman with you who has an unsavory

reputation. Probably some one in the crowd will

know it and shout out the fact. Take only people

who are of established reputation, and well

balanced. Never pick up a stranger out of the

crowd and ask him to speak. Some one will come

along who appears to be just your sort, but if you

ask him to speak you will wish you had not done

so.

 

5. GET THE BEST MUSIC YOU CAN. Get a baby organ

and a cornet if you can. Be sure to have good

singing if it is possible. If you cannot have good

singing, have poor singing, for even poor singing

goes a good way in the open air. One of the best

open-air meetings I ever attended was where two of

us were forced to go out alone. Neither of us was

a singer. We started with only one hearer, but a

drunken man came along and began to dance to our

singing, and a crowd gathered to watch him dance.

When the crowd had gathered, I simply put my hand

on the drunken man, and said, "Stand still for a

few moments." My companion took the  {229}

drunken man as a text for a temperance sermon, and

when he got through I took him for a text. People

began to whisper in the crowd, "I would not be in

that man's shoes for anything." The man did us a

good service that night. He first drew the crowd,

and then furnished us with a text. The Lord turned

the devil's instrument right against him that

night. If you can, get a good solo singer, or even

a poor solo singer will do splendid work in the

open air, if he sings in the power of the Spirit.

I remember a man who attempted to sing in the open

air, who was really no singer at all, but God in

His wonderful mercy gave him that night to sing in

the power of the Spirit. People began to break

down on the street, tears rolled down their

cheeks, one woman was converted right there during

the singing of that hymn. Although the hymn was

sung in such a miserable way from a musical

standpoint, the Spirit of God used it for that

woman's conversion.

 

6. GET THE ATTENTION OF YOUR HEARERS AS SOON AS

POSSIBLE. When you are preaching in a church,

people will oftentimes stay even if they are not

interested, but unless you get the attention of

your audience at once in the open air, one of two

things will happen, either your crowd will leave

you or else they will begin to guy you. In the

first half dozen sentences you must get the

attention of your hearers. I was once holding a

meeting in one of the hardest places of a city.

There were saloons on three of the four corners,

three breweries, and four or five Roman Catholic

churches were close at hand. There was scarcely a

Protestant in that part of the city. The first

words I spoke were these, "You will notice the

cross on the spire of yonder church." By this

means I secured their attention at once, and then

I talked to them about the meaning of that cross.

On holding a meeting one labor day, I started out

on the subject of labor. I spoke only a few

moments on that subject, to lead them around to

the subject of the Lord Jesus Christ. Holding a

meeting one night in the midst of a hot election,

near where an election parade was forming, I

started out with the question, "Whom shall we

elect?" The people expected a political address,

but before long I got them interested in the

question whether or not we should elect the Lord

Jesus Christ to be the ruler over our lives.

{230}

 

7. GET SOME GOOD TRACTS. Always have tracts when

you hold an open-air meeting. They assist in

making permanent the impressions and fixing the

truth. Have the workers pass around through the

crowd handing out the tracts at the proper time.

 

8. GET WORKERS AROUND IN THE CROWD TO DO PERSONAL

WORK. Returning from an open-air meeting years ago

in the city of Detroit, I said to a minister who

was stopping at the same hotel that we had had

several conversions in the meeting. He replied by

asking me if a certain man from Cleveland was not

in the crowd. I replied that he was. He told me

that he thought if I looked into it I would find

that the conversions were largely due to that man,

that while the services were going on, he had been

around in the crowd doing personal work. I found

that it was so.

 

9. GET A GOSPEL WAGON IF YOU CAN. Of this we shall

have more to say when we speak of Gospel Wagon

Work.

 

IV. DON'T.

 

1. Don't unnecessarily antagonize your audience. I

heard of a man addressing a Roman Catholic

audience in the open air and pitching into the

Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. That man did

not have good sense. Another man attempted a

prohibition discourse immediately in front of a

saloon. He got a brick instead of votes.

 

2. DON'T GET SCARED.  Let Psalm 27:1 be your

motto: "The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my

life; of whom shall I be afraid?" There is not a

particle need of being scared. You may be

surrounded by a crowd of howling hoodlums, but you

may be absolutely certain that you will not be

hurt unless the Lord wants you to be hurt; and if

the Lord wants you to be hurt, that is the best

thing for you. You may be killed if the Lord sees

fit to allow you to be killed, but it is a

wonderful privilege to be killed for the Lord

Jesus Christ. One night I was holding a meeting in

one of the worst parts of Chicago. Something

happened to enrage a part of the crowd that

gathered around me. Friends near at hand were in

fear lest I be killed, but I kept on speaking and

was not even struck.  {231}

 

3. DON'T LOSE YOUR TEMPER. Whatever happens, never

lose your temper. You ought never to get angry

under any circumstances, but it is especially

foolish to do so when you are holding an open-air

meeting. You will doubtless have many temptations

to lose your temper, but never do it. It is very

hard to hit a man when he is serene, and if you

preserve your serenity, the chances are that you

will escape unscathed. Even if a tough strikes

you, he cannot do so a second time if you remain

calm. Serenity is one of the best safeguards.

 

4. DON'T LET YOUR MEETING BE BROKEN UP. No matter

what happens, hold your ground if you can, and you

generally can. One night I was holding a meeting

in a square in one of the most desperate parts of

a large city. The steps of an adjacent saloon were

crowded with men, many of whom were half drunk. A

man came along on a load of hay, went into the

saloon and fired himself up with strong drink.

Then he attempted to drive right down upon the

crowd in the middle of the square, in which there

were many women and children. Some man stopped his

horses, and the infuriated man came down from the

load of hay and the howling mob swept down from

the steps of the saloon. Somehow or other the

drunken driver got a rough handling in the mob,

but not one of our number was struck. Two

policemen in citizens' clothes happened to be

passing by and stopped the riot. I said a few

words more, and then formed our little party into

a procession, behind which the crowd fell in, and

we marched down to the mission singing.

 

5. DON'T FIGHT. Never fight under any

circumstances. Even if they almost pound the life

out of you, refuse to fight back.

 

6. DON'T BE DULL. Dullness will kill an open-air

meeting at once. Prosiness will drive the whole

audience away. In order to avoid being dull, do

not preach long sermons. Use a great many striking

illustrations. Keep wide awake yourself, and you

will keep the audience awake. Be energetic in your

manner. Talk so people can hear you. Don't preach,

but simply talk to people.

 

7. DON'T BE SOFT. One of these nice, namby-pamby,

sentimental sort of fellows in an open-air meeting

the crowd cannot and will  {232}  not stand. The

temptation to throw a brick or a rotten apple at

him is perfectly irresistible, and one can hardly

blame the crowd.

 

8. DON'T READ A SERMON. Whatever may be said in

defence of reading essays in the pulpit, it will

never do in the open air. It is possible to have

no notes whatever. If you cannot talk long without

notes, so much the better; you can talk as long as

you ought to. If you read, you will talk longer

than you ought to.

 

9. DON'T USE CANT.  Use language that people are

acquainted with, but do not use vulgar language.

Some people think it is necessary to use slang,

but slang is never admissible. There is language

that is popular and easily understood by the

people that is purest Anglo-Saxon.

 

10. DON'T TALK TOO LONG. You may have a number of

talks in an open-air meeting, but do not have any

of them over ten or fifteen minutes long. As a

rule do not have them as long as that. Of course

there are exceptions to this, when a great crowd

is gathered to hear some person in the open air.

Under such circumstances I have heard a sermon an

hour long that held the interest of the people,

but this is not true in the ordinary open-air

meeting.

 

V. THINGS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO SUCCESS.

 

1. CONSECRATED MEN AND WOMEN. None but consecrated

men and women will ever succeed in open-air

meetings. If you cannot get such, you might as

well give up holding open-air meetings.

 

2. DEPEND UPON GOD. There is nothing that will