_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will seem "quaint" or "outdated" or even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}