_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or "outdated" or even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
teach one his dependence
upon God more quickly and
more thoroughly than holding
open-air meetings.
You never know what is going
to happen. You cannot
lay plans that you can
always follow in an
open-air meeting. You never
know what moment some
one will come along and ask
some troublesome
question. You do not know
what unforeseen event is
going to occur. All you can
do is to depend upon
God, but that is perfectly
sufficient.
3. LOYALTY TO THE WORD OF
GOD. It is the man who
is absolutely loyal to God's
Word, and who is
familiar with it and
constantly uses it, who
succeeds in the open air.
God often takes a text
{233} that is quoted, and uses it for the
salvation of some hearer.
Arguments and
illustrations are forgotten,
but the text sticks
and converts.
4. BE FREQUENTLY FILLED ANEW
WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
If any man needs to take
advantage of the
privilege of fresh
infillings of the Holy Spirit,
it is the open-air worker.
Spiritual power is the
great secret of success in
this, as in all other
Christian work.
{234}
@07 CHAPTER SEVEN
TENT WORK
I. ITS IMPORTANCE AND
ADVANTAGES.
1. YOU CAN REACH PEOPLE BY
THE TENT YOU CAN REACH
BY NO OTHER METHOD. People
that you cannot get
inside of a church or
mission hall, people that
will not even listen to the
preaching from a
Gospel wagon, people that
you could not step up to
and talk with personally,
will come into a tent.
The tent itself awakens
curiosity. It looks like a
circus. Time and again I
have preached in a tent
where six-sevenths of the
audience were curiosity
seekers; and not only did we
get them into the
tent, but many of them were
won to Christ. It is
stated in the official
report of a large and
successful tent work that 95
per cent of the
audience was composed of
thieves, murderers,
drunkards and abandoned
women. The other 5 per
cent were respectable
people. A great many of the
abandoned classes were
converted. People who tried
to pull the tent down, threw
stones at the
workers, cut ropes, and
stood outside and tried to
prevent people going in,
before the meetings had
been going on very long were
on their knees
calling on God for pardon.
One of these had
recently been released from
prison where he had
served fourteen years as a
safe breaker. He became
a very bright convert.
2. THEY ARE PORTABLE.
Wherever you put a church
up, there it must stay; you
cannot easily move it.
But if you put a tent up in
one neighborhood, if
it proves to be a poor
neighborhood you can move
it to another, or when that
neighborhood is worked
out you can move it to a new
one, at a small cost.
3. IT IS INEXPENSIVE. A new
tent can be purchased
for anywhere from $150 to
$350, or you can get
them second hand, but {235}
this does not pay.
The life of a tent is about
three years. You have
to pay extra for the seats,
but these can be made
out of lumber that can
afterwards be used for
other purposes. For many
reasons canvas benches
are better.
4. TENT WORK TURNS THE
SEASON OF THE YEAR WHICH IS
REGARDED THE POOREST FOR
EVANGELISTIC EFFORT INTO
THE VERY BEST. Ask almost any pastor what he
regards the best season for
evangelistic work, and
he will tell you the second
week in January, or
Lent. If you ask him what is
the worst season, he
will tell you July and
August, but with a tent
July and August prove to be
the best season in the
year for evangelistic work.
This has been
demonstrated in Chicago,
Philadelphia, New York,
Boston and in many smaller
cities, and in country
towns. There can be little
doubt that the number
of conversions in tents in
the summer far exceeds
the number of conversions in
evangelistic services
in churches in the winter.
II. HOW TO CONDUCT TENT
MEETINGS.
1. HAVE THE RIGHT SORT OF A
MAN IN CHARGE OF THE
TENT. The most important
thing in any tent work is
the man who has the
superintendency of the tent.
If you have the right man
the rest will take care
of itself, and if you have
the wrong man, nothing
that you can do will make a
success of the work.
What sort of a man is
needed? A man who is
perfectly fearless, who can
stand up when ruffians
are stoning the tent, and
not be the least bit
ruffled if a stone comes
through the tent and
strikes him on the back of
the head; a man who can
stand the boys shooting at
him with tacks, and
sharp double-pointed tacks
striking him in the
face; a man who can stand
perfectly unmoved with a
lot of roughs moving about
and seeking to disturb
the meeting in every
possible way; a man who
trusts God, and believes
that God is going to take
care of him.
In the next place he should
be a man who has
handled men; a man who can
go into a miked crowd
of various denominations,
and hold the conflicting
elements in the hollow of
his hand so that they
will behave; a man who has
control of his own
temper as well as control of
the crowd; a man who
is never ruffled, just
stands there perfectly
serene with sunshine in his
face but with a grip
like {236}
iron upon the audience; a man who can
preach a plain direct Gospel
sermon; a man who can
hold the attention of people
who are not in the
habit of paying attention to
ministers when they
preach. To put it in a word,
you want a man filled
with the Holy Ghost, who
preaches the Gospel in
the power of the Spirit, who
if he has time to
prepare will prepare, and if
he does not have time
will stand up without a word
to say, but just look
to God to give him the
message, and as soon as he
gets it will give it to the
people in the power of
the Holy Ghost.
2. HAVE THE RIGHT SORT OF A
TENT. The larger the
tent is, the better, other
things being equal. It
is a great mistake to get
too small a tent; they
are unserviceable. If enough
people do not come at
first to fill your tent, you
can so arrange the
seats in the middle of the
tent that it is not
noticed that there are large
vacant spaces on the
sides. If the tent is small
people will think it
is a small thing, and your
attendance will be
small. A big tent makes a
large impression upon
the neighborhood.
3. GET THE RIGHT PLACE TO
LOCATE YOUR TENT. A good
place is one where the
crowds gather, upon some
great thoroughfare where
they are sweeping by the
hundreds and by thousands.
Tents should often be
taken into rough
neighborhoods. Some one may ask,
"Is it safe
there?" The safest place on earth is
where the Lord takes you.
The safest place for
Moses was out in the river
among the crocodiles,
when God was taking care of
him in the little ark.
You can put a tent anywhere
with safety if God
leads you to put it there.
We located a tent once
where there were two murders
during the first week
within a block of the tent.
One of the men was in
the tent a half an hour
before he was stabbed. He
was urged to take the Lord
Jesus Christ that
night, but he said,
"No, I cannot do it tonight, I
will come Sunday
night." Within half an hour he
was found dying in a lot,
where he had been
stabbed.
Always select a dry spot. Be
careful not to get
into a place where you are
going to be flooded
out. If you are not on your
guard at this point,
you will oftentimes see what
seems to be a
beautiful place for a tent,
but the first thunder
storm that comes up the tent
will be useless.
{237}
4. CHOOSE THE RIGHT SORT OF
A MAN TO BE JANITOR.
The man who acts as janitor
is next in importance
to the man who superintends
the tent. He must be
fearless; he must be
exceedingly wise and
extremely patient. If your
janitor loses his
temper, you are going to get
into trouble. If you
have a Christian man who is
wise and firm and
gentle and loving and
fearless, you are all right.
5. BE DETERMINED THAT YOU
ARE GOING TO HAVE YOUR
OWN WAY IN YOUR TENT. Set
about that in the very
first meeting. If you let
the crowd get the upper
hand of you once, they will
have it for all time;
but if you show them the
very first time that you
are going to have your way,
you will have it. Be
very pleasant, but be as
immovable as a rock. If
it becomes necessary, take a
man by the collar and
help him out of the tent,
but be sure you do it
with a genial, winning
smile. This often proves a
means of grace to this kind
of people. Do not turn
a man out if you can help
it, but turn him out
rather than have your
meeting broken up or
seriously disturbed. Drunken
men may be allowed
some liberties because they
know no better, but
have it distinctly
understood that they cannot go
beyond a certain point.
6. GIVE A GOOD DEAL OF
THOUGHT TO THE SINGING.
Have the very best singing
you can get. Have as
big a choir as you can
possibly gather together,
but allow no one in the
choir who is not saved. It
is well to have an orchestra
if you can get it.
7. HAVE THE VERY BEST
PREACHING THAT CAN BE
SECURED. But what is good preaching
for a church
is not always good preaching
for a tent. A tent
preacher should be a man who
can hold the
attention of plain people.
Many a man who can
preach to great audiences in
a church is an utter
failure in a tent.
8. ALWAYS HAVE AN AFTER
MEETING AND DO PERSONAL
WORK. The purpose of tent
meetings is not to keep
men out of the saloons; they
do keep men out of
the saloons, but the purpose
of tent meetings is
to bring men to Christ. A
man once said to me,
"This is magnificent.
Here are almost a thousand
people here who are not {238}
Christians. It is
magnificent if not a soul of
them was converted,
for it keeps them out of the
saloons." But if all
we do for men is to keep
them out of the saloon
for an hour or two, not much
is accomplished. What
tent work is carried on for
is to lead men to a
personal acceptance of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The
best way to accomplish this
is by definite,
personal, hand-to-hand work
in the after meeting.
9. HAVE CHILDREN'S MEETINGS
IN CONNECTION WITH
YOUR TENT WORK. The
neighborhoods where tents are
ordinarily put up are
thronging with children. It
would be easy to fill the
tent with children, but
it is best not to allow them
in the evening
service unless they come
with their parents. If
they are allowed in the
evening service, they will
crowd out the grown people,
but the children must
not be neglected, therefore
have special services
for the children in the tent
in the afternoon.
Tell them they cannot be
admitted to the evening
service unless they bring
their parents with them.
In this way a great many
parents will be induced
to come to the evening
meetings for the sake of
the children. The results
that are accomplished
among children in tent
meetings are astonishing.
These children come largely
from utterly
unchristian homes, but many
children even of
Jewish parents and of
drunken parents are won to
Christ. A little boy came to
one of our tents one
afternoon. He heard the
story of the Cross,
accepted Christ, and went
straight home. That
night he brought with him
his father and brother,
and they were both
converted, and then he brought
two other brothers and two
sisters, and these four
were converted. His mother
who was a backslider
was brought back to the
Lord. There were also two
older daughters who led
lives of sin. The whole
family had been converted
except these two
abandoned girls. One of the
workers started out
with the determination to
bring those two girls
down to the meeting, and if
possible get them to
accept Christ. Some of the
other workers stayed at
home and prayed. This worker
pled with the girls
to come down to the meeting,
and at last persuaded
them to come. They got there
very late, and just
as they entered, Major
Whittle was talking about
wayward girls, and before the
meeting was over
these girls were rejoicing
in Christ. Three boys,
four girls, father and
mother, brought to Christ
through the conversion of a
little boy. {239}
10. ENCOURAGE THE MOTHERS TO
COME AND BRING THEIR
BABES. If they can't bring
their babies they can't
come at all. One very
successful tent worker
promised a rattle to every
baby brought a certain
night. The scheme took, and
mothers and babies and
baby carriages came pouring
in that night. They
had a wonderful meeting, and that man gained the
love of the whole community.
Another night he had
a watermelon meeting, and
that was a great
success.
III. WHERE TO CONDUCT TENT
WORK.
We have already spoken about
putting up tents in
crowded parts of our great
cities, but that is not
the only place.
1. IN THE PORTION OF A CITY
WERE YOU WISH TO
ORGANIZE A CHURCH. You may not be quite sure
whether it would be wise to
start a church in that
locality. Set up a tent and
make a test of it. In
one locality in Chicago where
a tent was set up, a
Methodist church and Baptist
church were
organized, a Congregational
mission revived, and
one other mission started.
2. IN COUNTRY TOWNS. One of
the solutions of the
summer problem in country
churches is for the
church to get a tent and
hold its services in that
during the summer months.
Many will go to it who
will not go to the church.
Oftentimes it is well
for all the churches of a
country town to combine
in a summer tent work.
3. RELIGIOUSLY DESTITUTE
SECTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.
There are many places in our
country where there
are many people but no
church for miles. Tents can
be set up in these remote
parts of townships, and
a splendid work done. It
would be well for country
pastors to take tents out on
to the borders of
their parishes and do Gospel
work there.
4. SUMMER RESORTS. We think
that if people go out
to spend the summer
anywhere, we cannot reach
them, but there is no
place {240} where you can
reach them better, provided
you go at it wisely.
Set up a tent near where the
great vacation
throngs congregate. People
at these resorts do not
know how to spend Sunday;
they do not like to go
to the country churches, but
they will go to a
tent.
{241}
@08 CHAPTER EIGHT
THE USE OF AUTOS, TRAILERS,
ETC.
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.
I. MEANS OF REACHING THE
PEOPLE.
1. TRAILER EVANGELISM. Not
many can afford to
purchase and maintain a
trailer, but through such
a vehicle, trailer camps,
work camps, migratory
groups, and otherwise
inaccessible places and
persons can be reached. Much
of the work by means
of a trailer is of the
colportage type.
2. AUTO EVANGELISM. You have
seen political
caravans. Why not a caravan
of cars to a given
town for a great open-air
meeting?
3. TRUCK EVANGELISM. The
business man who owns a
clean, open truck can make a
contribution to the
cause by loaning the truck
for a chain of open-
air meetings. The singers
and speakers can use the
truck as a platform. Such
services should be
bright and brief, and
Gospels and good tracts
should be left in the hands
of the interested.
Also, an invitation to
attend services at some
permanent meeting place
should be extended.
II. MECHANICAL AIDS.
There are several mechanical
aids to open-air
meetings which should be
used where it is possible
to purchase them.
1. PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM.
Nearly everyone has some
measure of acquaintance with
this help to speech
and hearing. It carries
the {242} speaker's
voice to all within sight,
without strain on ear
or throat. This device can
be tuned up or down,
and should never be so loud
as to be annoying.
Music can be played on a
phonograph and carried
through the loud speaker.
Such a system can be
purchased at a reasonable
price.
An auto equipped with such a
device can tour a
city and announce special
meetings. Some cities
have ordinances against
sound trucks, etc. Always
inform yourself as to the
law.
2. SOUND FILMS. We all
recognize the value of the
visual in attracting and
holding attention.
Biblical pictures on
inexpensive films can be
effectively used for
children and grownups, for,
remember, no one is even to
old to be interested
in pictures.
Machines which have films
and sound synchronized
are also most effective.
While these are somewhat
expensive to produce, they
are not expensive to
use. They always hold
attention, if the material
is good and is well
presented.
III. THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND.
In all of the things
mentioned in this chapter
there are a few things to be
always kept in mind.
The kind of evangelism
presented here is what
could be named rapid
evangelism. In ordinary
parlance it might be called
"hit and run." It is
an attempt to reach people
who are on the move,
and who rarely or never
enter a church.
1. THIS EVANGELISM MUST BE
OF A CONCENTRATED
NATURE. The message should be
short. Not more than
two verses of a song should
be used. The entire
program should be planned.
The technique used may
be similar to that of radio
broadcasting. Note how
the broadcasters do it. They
are trying to hold
attention.
2. THIS DEMANDS THE BEST WE
HAVE. It is always
unfortunate when a Christian
service in the open
air has a cornetist who
blows two sour notes a
minute. In the days of the
forty-niners the sign
in the boom town saloon
said, "Don't shoot the
piano player. He's doing the
best he can." but
that isn't good enough;
certainly not for the
Lord's work. Because of the
radio, nowadays people
have an improved taste. As a
Christian worker
yours should always be {243}
an improved
service. Let us give our
Lord the best we have,
and strive to make that
better.
3. ALL EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE
KEPT IN GOOD CONDITION.
Cars and trucks should be
clean and fresh. Public
address systems should be
smooth and clear.
Pictures must be replaced
when worn or faded.
Workers, too, should be
neat. Women in particular
should give careful thought
to their dress and
general appearance, that
they may bear consistent
testimony for their Lord.
For the most part men
are more effective in work
of this type.
4. ALL MEETINGS OF THIS KIND
SHOULD BE
THOUGHTFULLY PLANNED AND
PRAYERFULLY CARRIED
THROUGH. Many people fail in
services of this
variety because they depend
on their natural "gift
of gab," rather than on
the Holy Spirit and real
preparation. A radio program
may sound casual and
spontaneous, but it is in
reality carefully
planned and rehearsed in
every detail. You are not
putting on a show, so you
are not going to
rehearse your message, but
do not leave things to
chance. As in all service
for the Lord, work and
prayer are essential to
success.
{244}
@09 CHAPTER NINE
COLPORTAGE WORK
I. COLPORTAGE WORK DEFINED.
What is Colportage work? By
Colportage work we
mean the distribution of
religious literature from
house to house. As a rule,
the literature thus
distributed is sold, sometimes
for its full value,
sometimes at less than cost.
II. ITS IMPORTANCE AND
ADVANTAGES.
1. PEOPLE WHO FAIL IN OTHER
LINES OF CHRISTIAN
WORK CAN SUCCEED IN
COLPORTAGE WORK. There are
many who wish to work for
the Lord, and feel they
have a definite call to give
their whole time to
that work, who are unable to
preach to
edification, who are
incompetent to run a mission,
who would not even succeed
as house to house
visitors. What can they do?
They can do Colportage
work and oftentimes meet
with great success in it.
I have in mind one man who
felt a call to
Christian work, but it soon
became evident that he
had no gifts whatever that
would warrant his
preparation for the
ministry. He was exceedingly
slow and tiresome in speech,
he lacked fire, and
apparently lacked energy. He
was induced to take
up the Colportage work, and
he became one of the
most successful Colporters I
even knew, not only
making a very generous
living by the work, but
also reaching many homes and
touching people who
could be reached in no other
way. Another man who
could not even speak to
edification in prayer
meeting, who was exceedingly
limited in all
directions, sold during a
single month 1,200
volumes and cleared about
$54 over and above
expenses; the same person
cleared about $400 in
ten months. Going from town
to town, he was the
means of doing untold good.
Superannuated
ministers who have reached
the point where their
services {245}
are no longer in demand for
churches, do not need to
give up the Lord's work.
They can take up Colportage
work, and perhaps be
more useful than they were
in their preaching
days.
Ministers and other
Christian workers who are
broken down physically, and
unable to bear the
strain of regular work, can
take up Colportage
work with great advantage to
their health, and
accomplish very much for the
Master.
2. COLPORTAGE WORK REACHES
NEGLECTED DISTRICTS.
All over the land there are
stretches of country
so sparsely settled that it
would be impossible to
maintain religious services,
yet in these thinly
settled districts taken
together, there are
thousands upon thousands of
souls that need to
hear the Gospel. Oftentimes
they can be reached by
Colportage work better than
in any other way. One
solution of the religious
problem in the country
is to be found in Colportage
work.
3. COLPORTAGE WORK IS
SELF-SUPPORTING. The
Colporter needs to have no
missionary society back
of him. He can go out and
sell his books and
support himself, and if he
has any gift in this
direction, make a
comfortable living. Take for
example the books of the
Colportage Division of
the Moody Press. They
contain some of the very
best evangelical literature
of the day, books
adapted to the unsaved to
lead them to Christ,
books on the deeper
Christian life, books on
Christian work. They are
written by some of the
best known and most gifted
authors, men like F. B.
Meyer, Campbell Morgan,
Andrew Murray, D. L.
Moody, Major D. W. Whittle,
Charles Spurgeon, and
others. These books can be
secured in quantities
from the Moody Press.
4. COLPORTAGE WORK CONVERTS
SINNERS AND BUILDS UP
CHRISTIANS. All over our
land today there are many
people who have been led to
Christ, and many
Christians who have been led
into a deeper
knowledge of Christ, through
the work of
Colporters.
5. ITS RESULTS ARE PERMANENT
AND EVER-WIDENING. A
preacher goes away, but a
book stays. One man
reads a book and is blessed
by it and hands it to
another, and he to still
another. A single book
may be read by scores of
persons. {246}
6. IT OPENS DOORS TO OTHER
WORK. Many a man begins
Christian work as a humble
Colporter, but as he
goes from house to house and
village to village
with the little books that
carry the knowledge of
Jesus Christ, he soon begins
to preach the Word,
and is quite likely in time
to receive a call to
be a pastor or an assistant
pastor.
7. COLPORTAGE WORK IS A
SPLENDID PREPARATION FOR
OTHER CHRISTIAN WORK. The
Colporter gets right
into the home, gets
acquainted with all kinds of
men, has to learn through
necessity the modes of
convincing men. There is
perhaps no better
preparation for many phases
of ministerial work
than the work of a
Colporter.
III. HOW TO DO COLPORTAGE
WORK.
1. GET A FEW BOOKS TO BEGIN
WITH, AND THEN BEGIN.
A man once came to me out of
money and out of
employment. I bought for him
four Colportage
books, and sent him out. He
came back in less than
half an hour. He then took
his share of the money
and bought himself other
books, and thus the work
widened. The way to begin is
to begin.
2. VISIT EVERY HOUSE AND
STORE AND SALOON. When
one undertakes to do
Colportage work in any given
district, as a rule it is
well to visit every
house and store and saloon
in the district. Of
course, if one continues to
work the same
district, he will soon learn
what houses can be
visited again and again, and
what places to avoid.
Experience shows that many
even in saloons will
buy the books, and sometimes
the saloon-keepers
themselves, and no one can
measure the good thus
done.
3. LEAVE THE BOOKS IN
ENVELOPES FOR EXAMINATION.
Some have found it very
useful to have envelopes
that will contain the books,
and leave the books
in every house on a street,
giving notice that
they will be called for
afterward, and if the
people wish to keep the
books, they can leave the
money in the envelope; if
not, return the books.
Opportunities for
conversation are often thus
opened. One prominent
Christian worker, wishing to
experiment on the work for
himself, went down one
of the leading streets of a
western city, leaving
a book in every house. As he
came back, he found
interesting opportunities
for speaking with people
whom the {247}
ordinary missionary could not
reach. Even where the books
are not purchased,
they will often be read and
so the truth will get
a hearing.
4. _Churches can employ a
church visitor without
expense to themselves, by
equipping the church
visitor with Colportage
books which he can sell,
and thus meet his expenses._
Of course the visitor
must have the public
endorsement of the pastor of
the church, and in this way
he gets an entrance
for his work. This plan has
been adopted with
great success in some
quarters.
5. GET PASTORS TO RECOMMEND
THE BOOKS. When the
Colporter visits a new
village, he should look up
the pastors of the place and
present to each of
them a copy of one of his
best books. In this way
the interest of the pastors
will be enlisted, and
if they will speak a word of
endorsement in the
prayer meeting or some other
place, it will be a
great help. Many churches
have the Colportage
books on sale in the
vestibule.
6. _Get pastors to preach on
certain lines, and
then go around and sell the
books that bear upon
the subject in which the
pastor has awakened an
interest._ For example, if
the pastor speaks upon
the baptism with the Holy
Spirit, go through the
community with a book like
McNeil's _Spirit-Filled
Life_.
7. ATTENDING RELIGIOUS
CONVENTIONS. A great work
can be done by Colporters
attending religious
conventions, and there
disposing of books along
the lines of the subjects
treated in the
conventions.
{248}
@10 CHAPTER TEN
SERVICES IN THEATRES,
CIRCUSES, ETC.
I. IMPORTANCE AND
ADVANTAGES.
1. MANY PEOPLE ARE LIKELY TO
BE REACHED BY
SERVICES IN THEATRES,
CIRCUSES, AND OTHER PLACES
OF ENTERTAINMENT, WHO ARE
NOT LIKELY TO BE REACHED
ELSEWHERE. Actors,
actresses, and the other
employees of theatres seldom
attend services at
churches; it is difficult
also to find them in
their homes, but they can be
reached on their own
ground. At the very first
service in Forepaugh's
circus tent in Chicago
during the World's Fair, an
actor was brought under deep
conviction of sin and
converted to Christ. In
services held in the city
of Minneapolis I had
frequent opportunity of
speaking personally with the
actors and other
employees of the places. But
not only can the
employees be reached, but
also the frequenters. We
held services one New Year's
afternoon in the
Theatre Comique in the city
of Minneapolis. A few
days afterward I received an
anonymous letter from
an Iowa city. The writer
said that he had been
present at the theatre
service that day. It was
the first time he had been
in a religious service
for years, although in the
old country he had been
a local preacher. In the two
or three weeks
preceding that service, he
had squandered over
$300 in that theatre, but
the word spoken that
afternoon had brought him
back to Christ. The man
afterwards returned to
Minneapolis and made
himself known, and
subsequently became a deacon
and one of the most faithful
workers in our
church.
2. ANOTHER ADVANTAGE OF
SERVICES IN A THEATRE IS
THEIR NOVELTY AND
ATTRACTIVENESS. The interest
especially of young men is
awakened by seeing a
service advertised in a
theatre. They go out of
curiosity, and an
opportunity is thus offered of
bringing them to Christ.
Everything about the
place attracts them; they
like the {249}
surroundings; they are off
their guard and the
Gospel gets an entrance into
their hearts.
3. MANY ARE CONVERTED. It
has been the writer's
privilege to conduct
services every Sunday
afternoon for several
winters in the theatres of
one of our American cities,
and during the World's
Fair to conduct theatrical
services for many
weeks, seven nights in the
week. In both places
most encouraging results
followed. In the services
in Chicago many were
converted every night. At a
recent theatre service for
men only in a southern
city, about one hundred and
fifty men professed
conversion.
II. HOW TO CONDUCT.
1. THE FIRST IMPORTANT
MATTER IN THE CONDUCT OF
THEATRE SERVICES IS THE
CHOICE OF THE THEATRE.
What sort of a theatre to
choose depends upon the
purpose for which the
meetings are held. If the
aim is to get hold of those
who have sunk into the
deepest depth of sin, of
course a theatre of the
lower order is preferable.
On the other hand,
there are objections to such
a theatre. It is not
a good place to take people,
but you are not
likely to take anybody there
except those who
frequent it already, or
those who go for a
definitely Christian
purpose. Nevertheless great
care should be exercised in
the choice of workers
for such a place. Girls and
boys should not be
taken to such a place unless
they already frequent
it. A young man approached a
prominent business
man in the city of
Minneapolis who was handing out
dodgers on the street,
inviting people to the
Theatre Comique for a Gospel
service. The young
man said, "Do you know
what kind of a place the
Theatre Comique is?"
The business man replied that
he had not lived in
Minneapolis twenty years not
to know. The young man asked
again, "Do you think
that such a place is a
proper place to hold a
religious service?" The
reply was made, "When you
go fishing, where do you
go?" The young man smiled
and answered, "Oh, I
see, I go where the fish
are." A good many fish
were caught in that pool,
though it was a cesspool.
If the aim is to reach a
better class of people,
of course one must engage a
theatre of the higher
order. During the World's
Fair the Haymarket
Theatre and Columbia Theatre
in Chicago {250}
were packed to overflowing
each Sunday morning, to
hear the Gospel preached by
leading preachers of
this country and Europe, and
there were a great
many conversions.
Sometimes the size of the
theatre will be a
determining factor. Twenty
thousand people could
be crowded into the
Forepaugh tent, and were
crowded into it each morning
that services were
held there; this in spite of
the fact that the
heat was almost insufferable.
The circus men were
so astonished at the vast
audiences that came out
to religious services, that
they approached Mr.
Moody to see if he would not
furnish a speaker to
go around with their show
and hold services every
Sunday, they offering to pay
all the expenses.
It is best to select, if
possible, a theatre that
is in use rather than one
that is abandoned. If
the theatre has been given
up, the probability is
that people did not go to
it, and they will not be
likely to go to a religious
service in that place.
I knew of a case of what
appeared to be a very
desirable theatre being
purchased to hold
religious services in. It
seemed to be in a good
locality and well adapted to
the work. The
theatre, however, had been
abandoned by the
theatrical people, and it
was never possible to
get the people to attend
religious services there
in any great numbers.
2. THE SECOND POINT OF
IMPORTANCE IS SECURING THE
THEATRE FOR THE SERVICES.
Oftentimes this is not a
very difficult matter.
Theatrical people are
frequently very glad to have
their building used
for religious services. I
once went to the
proprietor of a very vile
den to see if I could
secure his place for Gospel
meetings. To my
surprise, he received me
very cordially, and said
certainly we could have the
place, and he only
charged a nominal rent.
Going the next year to
another theater in the same
city, only a theatre
of a much higher order -- a
very attractive and
respectable place -- I
inquired of the manager if
I could secure his theater
for Sunday afternoon
services. He replied,
"Certainly." When I asked
him what he would charge for
it, he asked me if
there was any money in it. I
told him none at all,
that we were going to spend
money and not take it
in. "In that
case," he said, "you can have the
theatre for nothing."
He stood to this agreement,
furnished light and heat,
ushers and everything,
and would take absolutely
nothing for it. Even the
stage manager was in
attendance every Sunday to
see {251}
that everything was in perfect order.
As a rule it is far better
to rent a theatre than
to buy it. If you buy it, it
ceases to be a
theatre and becomes your
church, and the very
people you wish to get hold
of are no longer
attracted.
3. EXERCISE GREAT CARE ABOUT
THE MUSIC. Provide
just as large a choir as
possible. Secure the very
best leader possible; the
best leader is a man
with a good large voice, a
great deal of
enthusiasm and ability to
get people to sing, who
is filled with the Holy
Ghost, and knows how to
sing to save. In addition to
a good leader and a
large choir, it is well to
have male choruses,
duets, quartets and solos. A
band is sometimes
helpful, but not at all a
necessity. A good
cornetist is of great help,
but the singing
attracts as much as
instrumental music, and does
far greater execution.
4. SECURE THE BEST POSSIBLE
SPEAKERS. No man is a
good speaker for a
theatrical service who does not
preach the straight Gospel,
and preach it in a way
to attract and hold the
public. If there is one
person in the community who
has a peculiar gift in
this direction, it is best
usually to have him do
the major part of the
speaking week after week. It
will do to throw in another
speaker occasionally,
and good may be accomplished
by it, but one
speaker who knows the
audience and the work, and
follows one sermon up by
another, will accomplish
the most definite and most
satisfactory results.
5. BE SURE THAT THE SERVICES
ARE THOROUGHLY
EVANGELICAL, AND
EMPHATICALLY EVANGELISTIC. Very
little good comes from
holding meetings in
theatres and similar places
unless these meetings
are emphatically Gospel
meetings. Preaching along
ethical and social and
philanthropic lines
accomplishes very little
good. If, however, the
meetings are thoroughly
evangelical and
evangelistic, the ethical
and social results will
necessarily follow.
Drunkards will be converted
and give up their drinking,
gamblers will give up
their gambling, impure
people will forsake their
impurity, politicians will
be brought to Christ
and thus their politics will
be reformed. I was
talking to a converted
politician last night. The
night he came to the meeting
where he was
converted (during the
World's Fair) he had been
out with a number of his
political {252}
friends. They had been
planning for his election
to an important office here
in Chicago. At the
service he heard nothing
about political reform;
he heard the simple Gospel,
a Gospel that would
save the slave of drink. He
accepted Christ that
night. The result has been
that his whole life,
personal, domestic, commercial
and political, has
been renovated. A sermon on
political reform would
not have touched him at all.
6. ADVERTISE THE MEETINGS
LARGELY AND WIDELY.
Large billboards such as the
theatrical people use
for their own advertisements
are perhaps the best
of any, but the newspapers
should also be used to
the utmost. Newspapers are
generally willing to do
a great deal of free
advertising for services of
this character. Men, with
invitations to the
meetings should be placed
upon all the street
corners for blocks around.
Transparencies, carried
through the streets by men,
attract the attention
and bring many to the
services.
7. HAVE A THOROUGHLY DRILLED
CORPS OF USHERS.
Sometimes the theaters
provide their own ushers,
and for many reasons it is
well to use them. They
know the building,
understand just how to seat
people, and furthermore they
need to hear the
Gospel themselves and are
likely to be converted.
8. HAVE WISE AND
WELL-TRAINED PERSONAL WORKERS
SCATTERED THROUGH THE
AUDIENCE. This is of the
very highest importance,
even more important in
the theater than it is in a
church. No speaker can
take note of what is
happening in every part of a
theater. Many men and women
will be touched by the
sermon, but only touched. If
gotten hold of right
then and there by a watchful
and wise worker, and
the effect of the sermon
followed up, those
persons will be converted,
whereas if they are
allowed to go out, the
impression will soon die
away and they may be lost
forever. These workers
should be carefully trained,
as to exactly where
to sit, and what to do
during the service, and at
the close of the service.
9. HAVE AFTER-MEETINGS. This
is of the highest
importance. For details
regarding aftermeetings,
see chapter on
"Aftermeetings." {253}
10. INVITE THE AUDIENCE TO
THE CHURCHES. There is
a prevalent opinion among
the masses of the
unchurched that they are not
welcome at the
churches. We should do
everything in our power to
disabuse them of this false
notion. The theatre
service affords a splendid
opportunity for doing
it. It is well to have the
ministers themselves
extend the invitation. In
this way a permanence is
given to the work. The
church is the only thing
that goes on continually.
Missions, theatre
services, tent services,
come and go, but the
church was established by
Christ and perpetually
continues. A work that does
not lead the people
ultimately into the churches
and get them
connected therewith, seldom
results in any
permanent good. It is well
to have printed
invitations from the
churches to distribute among
the audience. These
invitations should be gotten
up in an attractive form so
that the people will
be glad to take them home
and keep them.
{254}
@11 CHAPTER ELEVEN
ORGANIZING AND CONDUCTING A
GOSPEL MISSION
I. IMPORTANCE OF GOSPEL
MISSIONS.
1. In every large city, and
in many of our smaller
cities, there are great
masses of the people that
the churches are not
reaching. The reasons why
they are not being reached
by the church are
various. First of all because
of the location of
the churches. The churches
as a rule in our larger
cities are inaccessible to
the great majority of
our poorer population. The
churches follow the
well-to-do people up-town,
as a rule, and where
the thickest population is,
where the people are
to whom the Lord Jesus
especially ministered
during His life, there the
churches are not. The
churches are not reaching
them because they are
not near enough to where
these people are. In the
second place, the services
of the regularly
organized church are of such
a character that they
do not reach them.
Oftentimes when they pretend to
preach the Gospel they do
not preach it; and, when
they do preach the Gospel,
it is preached in such
a manner that it does not
take hold of the common
people. A laboring man, a
poor man, an ignorant
man, a beggar or a drunkard,
who wishes to be
reformed, goes into many of
our churches, and the
minister stands up and
preaches the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and yet
he preaches the Gospel
in such a manner that it
does not leave any
impression upon the man's
mind. The preacher is
before everything else a
scholar and a literary
gentleman, and he does not
know how to get down to
the hearts and lives of
ordinary folks. In the
third place, the whole
atmosphere of the church is
not such that these people
feel at home. Sometimes
the style of dress, the
social etiquette, the
music, the whole general
conduct of the church,
are such as to repel
them {255} Down in the
mission, on the other hand,
there is an entire
absence of conventionality,
but there is a
friendliness, a kindliness,
a home-likeness that
their hearts warm to. There
is something that
attracts them to the place,
and they go again and
again until the Spirit of
God opens their hearts
and they are saved.
_It is the work of the
mission to evangelize these
masses of men and women and
children existing in
all our larger cities, and
in many of our smaller
cities, who are not reached
by the ordinary
ministrations of the
church._ It is to EVANGELIZE
the masses not simply to
reach them. It is of no
great importance to know
merely how to reach the
masses, any one can reach
the masses, but the
question is, how to
gospelize them. The work of
the mission is not to
conduct innocent
entertainment, nor to provide
a nice, warm,
pleasant place for the
people to go into from the
streets; it is not to clothe
the poor and the
naked: but the work of the
missions is to bring
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ to bear upon
the hearts and lives of lost
men and lost women.
What they find, or ought to
find, in the mission
is the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ seven
nights in the week. If they
desire amusement, or
weak imitations of dime
museums, they can get them
elsewhere. The true business
of the mission, as
well as the true business of
the Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ, is to
preach the Word of God,
and to bring it to bear upon
lost men. The Word of
God is the one lever that
will lift them, not only
out of the ditch, but into
the kingdom of God.
2. THE GOSPEL MISSION IS
IMPORTANT AS A SOUL
WINNER. The question of how
to evangelize the
masses is often discussed as
if it were a problem
that nobody had solved, but
it has been solved.
There is no experiment about
it. There are many
who know exactly how to
reach the masses with the
Gospel, and prove that they
know how by doing it.
The Gospel missions are
winning souls, and their
chief importance lies in
this fact. I have in mind
a mission to which you can
go any night in the
fifty-two weeks in the year,
and you will see
anywhere from twelve to
fifty men kneeling at the
altar and seeking the Lord
Jesus Christ. Go to
many other missions and you
will see practically
the same thing. The Gospel
missions of America are
winning thousands upon
thousands of poor lost men
and women to Jesus Christ
every year; winning them
and saving {256}
them, transforming them, making
them children of God, heirs
of God and joint heirs
with Jesus Christ, by the
power of the Gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Here
is where the prime
importance of the mission
lies, not because it is
trying to do the work, but
because it is doing it.
3. GOSPEL MISSIONS ARE
IMPORTANT AS AN INSPIRATION
TO THE CHURCHES. Some of the most satisfactory
local revivals in the
history of the country have
come from some member of a
church attending a
mission, getting a new
conception of the power of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and
going home and kindling
his church. The fire has
gone through the whole
church, and the church has
been awakened to a
mighty work for God.
Oftentimes when people who
have not even attended a
mission have read reports
of the work, they have
wakened to the fact that
Paul meant just what he said
when he wrote that
the Gospel was the power of
God unto salvation to
every one that believed, and
they have gone to
work with new faith and new
energy, and the Gospel
has proved a saving power in
their own community.
4. GOSPEL MISSIONS ARE
IMPORTANT AS A FEEDER TO
THE CHURCHES. Many of the
best working members,
and sometimes the best
paying members, in our
churches today are converts
of missions. Many rich
people have gone from the
regular churches down to
the missions, and have been
there converted, and
have gone back to their
churches to be a power and
blessing. Some people get an
idea that all men who
are converted in missions
are men of no gifts or
promise. It is a great
mistake. Many a man who has
been converted in a mission
is indeed from the
deepest depths of poverty
and ruin, but it is sin
that has brought him to his
present condition.
When the mission has gotten
hold of him and won
him to Christ, oftentimes
the man regains his old
position in society and
business. A man who had
been mayor of a large
Southern city, but who had
gone down through drink
until he was a penniless
tramp, was converted in a
New York mission. He
afterwards became the
manager of one of the
largest publishing houses in
America. The night of
his conversion, discouraged,
disheartened,
despairing, he had started
from his lodging house
to go and commit suicide
in {257} the East
River. He had gone to a
saloon to get one more
drink, was thrown out
because he was penniless,
was brought into a mission
by one who saw him
thrown out of the saloon,
and was converted that
night. Many a man who is
today in the regular
Gospel ministry was converted
in a mission. One of
the brightest and most
promising congregational
ministers that I know in our
land, the beloved
pastor of a well-to-do
church, was converted in a
New York mission.
5. MISSIONS ARE IMPORTANT AS
FURNISHING A PLACE
WHERE MEMBERS OF OUR
CHURCHES CAN WORK.
A Christian cannot grow
without work. One of the
great troubles in many of
our churches today is
that there is nothing to do.
The members go Sunday
after Sunday and are fed and
fed and fed until
they are dying of spiritual
dyspepsia, apoplexy,
or both. A minister once
said to me, "My greatest
difficulty is that I haven't anything for my
members to do." It was
literally true. It was a
college church, and a parish
in which there were
more workers than work. A
mission gives Christians
something to do, something
exceedingly inspiring
to do, something in which
there is a tremendous
uplift to their own
spiritual energy. What a
blessing would come to many
of our wealthy
churches if the members of
these churches who go
Sunday after Sunday and hear
the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus would go out from
these churches down
into the lowest parts of the
city, and come right
into living touch with lost
men and women, and try
to use the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ to lift
them up where they ought to
be. If they should do
this, we would have new life
in our prayer
meeting, we would not have
two or three long and
labored prayers; we would
have prayer after
prayer, short, right to the
point, appeals to God
for His blessing upon this man
or that woman. We
would have a new conception
of the power of the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we would have a
new vision of the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. I
never knew Jesus as I know
Him today, until I knew
what it was to go down among
the poor and outcast,
and kneel right beside a
dirty drunkard, and put
my arm about his neck, and
whisper to him that
Jesus died for him, and that
Jesus came to save
him and could save him, and
then hear him with
breaking heart lift his
voice to God in prayer,
and then see him rise a
new {258} man in Christ
Jesus. I understood the
Gospel then; I understood
Jesus then; I saw Jesus then
as I never saw Him
before. If you wish to be a
better Christian than
you ever were in all your
life, if you wish to
understand the Lord Jesus as
you never understood
Him before in all your life,
if you wish to have
the spirit of prayer as you
never had it before in
all your life, go to work in
a mission. If you are
a pastor and wish to have a
better membership than
you ever had in your life,
send your members out
to work in a mission. If you
have not a mission
where they can do it, start
one, have one anyhow.
I pity from the bottom of my
heart the man or
woman who does not know the
inspiration, the joy
and uplift, that come from
going down into some
mission where perhaps there
are five, ten or one
hundred lost men and women,
and just pleading with
them in the simplest
language you can command to
take the Lord Jesus Christ
who saved you.
II. HOW TO START A MISSION.
The best way to start a
mission is to start it. A
great many people talk about
starting but they
never start. In one city
they had a great
gathering and were going to
build a $200,000
building. They had a
wonderful meeting, and one
man subscribed $30,000. Some
one who was present
was asked what he thought
about it, and he
replied, "I can tell
you better after they have
started." They never
started. The whole thing went
to pieces. Our country is
full of people who are
going to start missions and
other Christian
enterprises, but they never
do it. The way to
begin is by beginning.
1. IN THE FIRST PLACE, BE
SURE GOD WISHES YOU TO
START A MISSION. It is not
enough to be sure that
you wish to start one. It is
as a rule far better
to go and help a mission
already existing, than to
go and begin a new one of
your own. Many people
hear of the wonderful work
they are doing in some
mission, and then go and
start one without
consulting the Lord. There
have been hundreds of
missions opened in this
country that the Lord
never wished opened, and if
those who started them
had gone to Him about it
they would never have
been started. {259}
2. IF YOU ARE SURE THAT IT
IS THE LORD'S DESIRE
THAT YOU START A MISSION,
START WITH THE
DETERMINATION TO GO THROUGH
WITH IT. People
attend conventions or read
articles about
missions, and see only the
bright side, they do
not see that the work is
also full of
discouragements. If there is
any work that is full
of discouragements, it is
mission work; so when
you start, begin with the
determination that you
will go through every
obstacle, and then you will
get through.
3. BE SURE YOU GET THE RIGHT
LOCATION. That is
very important. Be sure to
consult God about the
place. There is a great deal
in the place, and the
place that you think best
may not be the best
place. Here are a few hints
as to location:
(1) Go where there is the
hardest work, not the
most attractive work, to do.
(2) Go where there is the
most need for work.
(3) Go where there are a
great many passers-by.
(4) As a rule the first
floor is best for many
reasons, but there are some
advantages in a
second-floor mission.
(5) A vacant store, saloon
or theater will answer
the purpose for a mission
excellently.
(6) Don't start on too large
a scale. Everybody
seems to wish a bigger
mission than anybody else,
and if they start on a large
scale, as a rule in a
few months they have enough
of it. Sometimes the
best place to start a
mission is on a street
corner. Go and hold an open
air meeting, and if
the Lord approves of your
work He will give you a
more permanent place.
(7) The location of the
mission must be largely
determined by the purpose of
the mission. If the
purpose of the mission is to
reach drunkards, the
place for the mission is
near the saloons; if the
purpose of the mission is to
reach fallen women,
oftentimes it is desirable
to have the mission
right among the places that
these women haunt,
though if possible there
should also be a home
remote from the dens of
iniquity to which the
converts can be sent. If the
purpose of the
mission is to reach into the
lives of the poor, of
course the location of the
mission has to be
determined by that
fact. {260}
4. FURNISH PLAINLY. Fancy
missions as a rule are
failures. They are nice in
theory, but plain ones
do the work.
5. _When you have made up
your mind where you are
going to start, and have
gotten everything ready,
advertise your meetings
everywhere; in the houses,
in the stores, in the
saloons and on the street._
Send men and women out to
bring people in, to
"compel them to come
in." Get as many consecrated
Christian workers as you can
together. Expect
fresh infillings of the Holy
Spirit as you seek to
win souls.
III. HOW TO SUPPORT THE
MISSION.
1. DON'T SUPPORT IT ON
CREDIT. Many people get in
debt and call it walking by
faith. God says, "Owe
no man anything."
Running into debt is not faith,
but disobedience. It is
better to shut a mission
up than to run it into debt.
Debt dishonors God.
If you run into debt you
will be discredited, the
church will be discredited,
God will be
discredited, sinners will
stumble to perdition
over the dishonor brought to
the name of Christ.
2. DO NOT SUPPORT YOUR
MISSION BY FAIRS, SOCIALS,
IMITATION DIME MUSEUMS, OR
ANYTHING OF THAT SORT.
The man who goes into the
disgraceful methods of
raising church finances that
are so common in our
day lacks faith in God.
3. DO NOT SUPPORT YOUR
MISSION BY INDISCRIMINATE
SOLICITATION. Never go to an ungodly man for
money. God says that the
sacrifice of the wicked
is an abomination unto the
Lord. He certainly does
not wish us to use an
abomination to support His
work.
4. IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DO IT,
IT IS OFTENTIMES WELL
TO SUPPORT A MISSION OUT OF
YOUR OWN POCKET. In
almost every large city
there are many Christian
men who could support a
mission. One of the most
efficient missions in the
world was for years
supported by a business man
out of his own pocket.
He worked six days in the
week the entire day,
spent all the evenings at
the mission, then went
fourteen miles to his home,
and before he could go
to bed {261}
would have a long list of people to
pray for. He was past fifty
years old when he
began this work; he kept it
up for many years, and
the work continues to this
day. Another man of
wealth in another city put
$10,000 or more a year
into a mission that he
organized. He found that
that work paid so much
better than his business,
that he finally turned his
back upon his business
and put himself into the
work. He is still in the
work, a young man at nearly
three score years and
ten. It does not require a
very rich man to
support a mission. Four
young men in one city,
each of them working on a
meager salary, supported
a very successful mission with
scarcely any help
from others. Of course it
required self-denial,
but they felt that the
self-denial abundantly
paid.
5. ONE OF THE BEST WAYS TO
SUPPORT A MISSION IS TO
HAVE AN INDIVIDUAL CHURCH
BACK OF IT. The church
will be a blessing to the
mission, and the mission
to the church. Every rich
church ought to have one
or more missions that it is
supporting.
6. THE BEST WAY TO SUPPORT A
MISSION IN MANY CASES
IS TO SUPPORT IT BY THE FREE
WILL OFFERINGS OF
THOSE WHO ATTEND IT. This is best even where the
attendants are all poor
people. Very few realize
how much poor people can
give and will give if
they are interested in a
work, and if the work
really is of God. Far more
missions as well as
churches could be
self-supporting if the people
only believed it and
undertook it. The people
always appreciate the
mission better, and think
more of it, when they have
money in it.
7. MISSIONS CAN BE SUPPORTED
BY FAITH. If you are
SURE the Lord wishes you to
carry on mission work,
ask Him for means and He
will supply them. You
will not need to make
personal solicitations from
anybody but the Lord. I say
this not from
speculation, but from
experience. Many others have
had the same experience.
IV. HOW TO CONDUCT A GOSPEL
MISSION.
1. LET GOD CONDUCT IT.
Missions often fail because
there is too much of man's
machinery and man's
management. Cast-iron rules
and cast-iron methods
of conducting missions, red
tape and other {262}
nonsense, shut God out. Give
your mission over
unreservedly to the control
of God. Be sure you do
it -- seek His guidance and
wait for it. The
promise of the thirty-second
Psalm applies as well
to mission work as to other
work: "I will instruct
thee and teach thee in the
way which thou shalt
go, I will guide thee with
mine eye." The trouble
is, oftentimes we are not
near enough to see the
glance of the Father's eye.
2. CONDUCT YOUR MISSION
ALONG STRICTLY GOSPEL
LINES. Refuse to be switched
off on to side
issues. Amusements and
entertainments may be a
good enough thing in their
place, but the time is
short and the Lord is at
hand. We cannot afford to
be reaching out in such
indirect and indefinite
ways. Thousands of souls are
perishing, and the
only thing that has God's
power in it to save is
the Gospel (Romans
1:16). A fine text for the
mission worker is, "I
am not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto
salvation to every one that
believeth." The
missions that have been
successful are the
missions that have held
strictly to the Gospel,
the missions that have given
the Gospel clearly,
simply and constantly.
Experiments along other
lines are nothing new. They
have been tried for
over a quarter of a century.
I remember a church
which in my early life
seemed to me a model
church. It had most
cunningly devised machinery
for reaching the people --
lectures,
entertainments, clubs,
classes, etc., etc. It did
reach the people, but it did
not convert them. It
grew marvelously, but it was
made up of such
heterogeneous and
unconverted material that it
went to pieces and ended in
a free-for-all fight;
yet every little while some
new work is springing
up along these old and
discredited lines, yet
imagining that it is
striking out in new and
promising paths. The Gospel
alone can do the work
we aim to do. Run your
mission along Gospel lines
seven nights in the week.
3. TEND STRICTLY TO
BUSINESS. Missions will not
run themselves. People
attend a few meetings of a
successful mission, or read
about them, and
conclude that missions are a
fine thing. Then they
open one somewhere and
expect it to go of itself,
and it does go -- to pieces.
This has occurred
again and again. There is no
form of Christian
work that demands more
careful and prayerful
watching {263}
and attention to business than
mission work. A single
ill-conducted service in a
church may not do much harm,
but a single ill-
conducted service in a
mission is likely to have
far-reaching consequences of
evil. One unfortunate
meeting in a mission may mar
the work for years.
4. PUT ONLY TRIED MEN IN THE
LEADERSHIP OF THE
MISSION. Use only men of
irreproachable character,
and who have a good
understanding of God's Word,
men of good common sense,
and uncommon push. It is
too much the custom if a
notorious sinner is
converted, to open a mission
for him at once and
put him in charge. He has
not been tested, and
nothing is known of his
qualifications, but he has
a remarkable story. The
condition of many missions
is simply horrible because
of this sort of thing.
Of course such a man ought
to be set to work, and
there is much that he can
do, and do well, and
without any risk. He can be
used to hand out
dodgers and to get people
into the mission; he can
testify humbly and
effectively as to what God has
done for him; very likely he
can do most efficient
personal work, but for his
own sake and for
Christ's sake, do not put
him into any place of
leadership until he is
tried, and has proven the
stability of his Christian
character, his gifts
and his Bible knowledge, to
be such as fit him for
the work: "Lay hands
hastily on no man" (1_Timothy
5:22 RV); however good a man
he may be, it will
hurt him to put him forward
at once.
5. MAKE MUCH OF THE BIBLE.
People in a mission
should be given a great deal
of the Word of God.
Stable and well-rounded
Christian character is
built upon a study of the
Word of God. The
Christian character that is
built merely upon the
foundation of experience is
unreliable; it breaks
down easily; but the
Christian character that is
built upon the Word of God
never goes to pieces.
The converts and attendants
ought to be encouraged
to study the Word for
themselves. There should be
classes also for thorough
systematic instruction
in Bible truth. There should
be training classes
where they are taught how to
use the Bible in
leading others to Christ.
They should be
encouraged to make much use
of the Bible in giving
their experience. In some
successful missions
{264} the men always begin their testimony by a
quotation from Scripture,
giving chapter and
verse.
6. MAKE MUCH USE OF
TESTIMONY. There can be no
doubt of the great power of
living testimony,
especially in mission work.
Men and women who
regard themselves not only
lost, but hopelessly
lost, come into the mission
and there hear some
other man or woman who has
been as deep down in
sin as themselves, tell the
story of the saving
power of Christ. Hope is
kindled in their hearts,
and they turn to Christ and
are saved. There are
thousands of earnest
Christians in our land today
who were saved through the
testimonies of redeemed
men and women. Of course
care has to be exercised
as to the character of the
testimonies thus given.
We should be careful to see
that it is genuine and
not hypocritical; we should
see to it that the men
live out in their daily
lives what they testify to
in the evening meeting. If
men give their
testimony about their past
sinful life in a
boastful way, they should be
instructed in private
not to do this. Sometimes it
is necessary to say a
word about it publicly. But
the fact that there
are evils connected with the
relation of our
experience is not a
sufficient reason for
altogether giving up this
mighty weapon of
testimony.
7. MAKE MUCH USE OF MUSIC.
Get the best music you
can. Be sure it is converted
music. Tolerate
nothing but a converted
chorister, a converted
organist and a converted
choir. Have an organist
that you can depend upon. An
organist of modest
ability who is always there
is much better than a
much better organist who is
sometimes late or
absent. Get the best soloist
you can, but be sure
they sing hymns that contain
the real Gospel, and
sing them in the power of
the Holy Spirit. Have
duets, quartets and
choruses, but best of all,
have a lively congregational
singing. Be careful
in your selection of hymns.
Choose hymns that are
full of life and full of the
Gospel. Sing them
over and over again until
you have sung them into
the hearts of the hearers.
Many a man will go out
of the mission unconverted,
but the hymn that he
has heard will go on singing
itself in his heart
until it has sung him into
the kingdom of God. It
is wonderful how the Gospel
in song sticks in the
minds of hearers. {265}
8. MAKE A GREAT DEAL OF
PERSONAL WORK IN THE
MISSION. It is not enough to
get those who desire
to be saved up to the altar,
though that is a good
thing to do; have workers
deal with them
individually. Be sure that
the workers themselves
know how to do personal
work. One great cause of
the instability of much of
our mission work is
that there has been no
thorough hand-to-hand
dealing with the converts.
9. LOOK AFTER YOUR CONVERTS.
Keep a list of them,
and hunt them up in their
homes if they have any.
If they have no homes, hunt
them up in their
lodging houses or wherever
they may be. Follow
them up persistently,
instruct them individually
as to how to succeed in the
Christian life. Be
watchful to see that they
follow the instructions
given. Get them into some
live church of Jesus
Christ. We ought to be
careful as to the church
which mission converts join.
Many churches would
prove to be an icehouse to
them, and would freeze
them to death. It is
oftentimes best to have the
mission itself organized
into a church, where
there is regular church
life, and where the
sacraments of Baptism and
the Lord's Supper are
administered.
10. THROW AS MUCH OF THE
WORK AS YOU CAN UPON THE
CONVERTS OF THE MISSION.
Send them out into the
streets and saloons to
invite people in; be
careful, however, about sending
reformed drunkards
into saloons. Put the
converts out on the street
corners and in front of the
mission with dodgers.
Organize them into a choir
and get them to sing.
Train them to use their
Bibles in dealing with
inquirers. Work them into
the Sunday School as
officers and teachers as
fast as it is wise.
Organize them into lookout
committees, sick
committees, hospital
committees, jail committees,
etc. Set them to conducting
cottage meetings. Use
them in open-air work.
11. HAVE PLENTY OF GOOD
USHERS. Let them meet
people at the door and give
them a warm handshake,
and show them a seat. Ladies
are oftentimes the
best ushers for a mission.
It has been a long time
since some of those who
enter the mission have
come in contact with a pure
woman, and her mere
presence is a
benediction; {266} their hearts
are touched, and memories of
olden days come to
mind.
12. LET NO ONE GO OUT
WITHOUT A PERSONAL
INVITATION TO COME TO
CHRIST. The best work in
many a mission is that which
is done with those
who start to go out before
the meeting is over.
Some one stays near the door
and follows out every
one who leaves and preaches
Christ to them. Many
have been won to Christ this
way, just outside the
mission.
13. HAVE NO CAST-IRON FORM
OF SERVICE. It is well
to begin one way one time
and an entirely
different way another. Let
everything be
unconventional. Avoid
getting into ruts.
14. NEVER BE AFRAID OF
DRUNKARDS, THIEVES, THUGS
OR CRANKS. You have God back
of you, and if you
look to Him, He will give
you the victory every
time. Many things may happen
that would frighten
an ordinary preacher out of
his wits, but out of
these very unforeseen
incidents blessing
oftentimes comes.
I was once conducting a
meeting when a drunken man
rose in the back part of the
audience and wanted
to speak. As he came forward
I said, "Do you want
me to pray for you?"
The man faced the audience
and broke out, "I am a
damned fool!" then he
apologized for swearing. He
said, "I did not mean
to swear." I said,
"My friend, you told the truth,
you are a fool and you are
damned, but Christ can
save you. Do you wish us to
pray for you?" And
down the man went upon his
knees. In a little
while a tall, muscular,
drunken lumberman rose to
his feet and said he wished
to ask a question. I
replied, "All right,
what is it?" He said, "I wish
to ask about the blessed
Trinity." I said, "Never
mind that now, Christ died
for you; do you wish us
to pray for you?" The
man replied, "I am not such
a fool but what I am willing
to be prayed for,"
and down he dropped upon his
knees. The power of
God came upon the meeting,
and there was great
blessing that night.
15. DEPEND UPON THE HOLY
SPIRIT. You may have the
right machinery, you may
have the building and the
crowds, you may have even
the Word of God itself,
but unless you have the
power {267} of the Holy
Spirit to accompany the
divine seed as you sow it,
your work will come to
nothing. All this
machinery, unless the power
of the Holy Spirit is
in it, is worse than
useless, but if you have the
fire from above, you will
win souls.
{268}
@12 CHAPTER TWELVE
MEETINGS IN JAILS,
HOSPITALS, POORHOUSES, ETC.
Jails, hospitals, poorhouses
and other public
institutions offer a very
important and
much-neglected field of
operations for the devoted
soul winner.
I. IMPORTANCE AND
ADVANTAGES.
1. MANY OF THE INMATES OF
THESE INSTITUTIONS MUST
BE REACHED WHILE THERE, OR
NOT AT ALL. Many of
them in fact spend pretty
much all of their lives
there, and many others still
will die there.
2. THE INMATES ARE
OFTENTIMES IN A FAVORABLE MOOD
FOR THE RECEPTION OF THE
GOSPEL. Things have gone
against them. Life looks
hopeless. The Gospel,
which is full of hope, just
appeals to their need.
Take for example the men in
jail. They have found
out by bitter experience
that "the way of the
transgressor is hard";
they are humbled and
sobered. They are very
likely to be in a
thoughtful mood; they have
much time for thought,
little opportunity in fact
for anything else;
furthermore the whisky is
out of them, and with
many of them the only time
the whisky is out of
them is when they are in
jail or prison. There
could not be a more
favorable opportunity for
preaching the Gospel. I have
known many men who
thanked God that they were
ever sent to jail, for
there they heard the Gospel,
some of them for the
first time, and others of
them in a different mood
from that in which they had
ever heard it before.
3. THE CONVERTS CAN BE
FOLLOWED UP. A prisoner is
reached with the Gospel one
Sunday in jail, he is
likely to be there the {269}
next Sunday as
well, and perhaps for many
Sundays to come, and
there is an opportunity to
get him thoroughly
established before he is out
in the world again.
The same is true of an
inmate of a hospital; he is
reached one day, and is
likely to be there where
he can be dealt with for
many days to come.
4. THE INMATES HAVE TO
ATTEND. In some instances
attendance is compulsory.
When one is confined to
a sick bed in the ward of a
hospital where a
religious service is being
held, they are obliged
to hear the Gospel preached
and sung. Further than
this, where the inmates of
such institutions are
not compelled to attend,
there is so little to do
that they are willing to go
to anything for a
novelty.
5. THE RESULTS OF SUCH
SERVICES ARE VERY LARGE. It
has oftentimes been our
privilege in the Cook
County Jail to preach to
fifty or more persons
there under charge of
murder, besides great
numbers of others. Very many
of the most desperate
and hardened characters have
been converted in
jail services. There is
scarcely any other work
that yields so important and
so good results as
jail work. Some of the
leading ministers and other
Christian workers of this
country were converted
while incarcerated. One of
the leading ministers
of one of our evangelical
denominations, a man
whose name is known not only
in this country but
in Europe, a man who has
remarkable power of
preaching the Word of God,
was first reached while
in jail. At that time he was
a brilliant but
drunken lawyer. He was
converted in jail, and has
been for many years an
honored preacher of the
Gospel. In one of our cities
a reckless young man
was incarcerated under
charge of arson. He had
burned the property of his
own father. His father
was himself a Godless man.
While in jail this
young man was brought to
Christ, and has been for
years a most devoted
Christian at the head of a
very successful mission
work. Jerry McAuley,
perhaps the leader in rescue
mission work in this
country, was converted while
in Sing Sing prison.
Christian workers should see
to it that every
jail, poorhouse, and similar
institution in the
land has a regular
evangelistic service. The
formal services held under
the city or state in
such institutions frequently
are purely formal,
and of no real value. As a
rule the best work is
that which is done by
volunteers. {270} Service
should also be held in every
hospital in the land
where it is possible to get
an entrance.
II. HOW TO CONDUCT.
1. FIRST OF ALL, YOU MUST
GET PERMISSION. The way
to get permission is to ask
for it. The request
should not be made in the
way of a demand, it
should be made with great
tact and courtesy. If it
is possible to get influence
back of your request,
get it.
2. KEEP THE GOOD WILL OF THE
ATTENDANTS. Here is
a place where many zealous
but unwise workers make
a mistake; they
unnecessarily antagonize jailers
or keepers or nurses or
other attendants. This is
the height of folly. It does
not cost much to keep
the good will of people, and
in a case like this
it is of inestimable value.
3. BE SURE TO VIOLATE NONE
OF THE RULES OF THE
INSTITUTION. Be careful at the outset to find
what the rules of the
institution are, and then
observe them to the very
letter. It makes no
difference whether you think
the rules of the
institution are wise or not,
keep them anyhow. It
is not your business to make
the rules, but to
observe them.
4. ATTEND STRICTLY TO YOUR
OWN BUSINESS. Don't try
to run the whole jail or
hospital. Some men when
they go to preach in an
institution seem to be
seized with the idea that
they own the whole
institution. I have known
workers to go to work
among the inmates of a
hospital, and then try to
get them to give up the use
of medicine and accept
divine healing, or sometimes
try to get them to go
to some other hospital they
thought was better. In
such a case, the authorities
are of course
warranted in turning the
workers into the street.
5. GO REGULARLY. Regular services, week after
week, month after month,
year after year,
accomplish far more than
spasmodic efforts. One
great trouble in all this
kind of work is that
there are so many people who
get enthusiastic for
some weeks, and then their
enthusiasm cools. When
institutions have a number
of experiences with
this kind of work, they
become unwilling to permit
{271} a new band of workers to take up again a
work that has so often
failed in the past.
6. HAVE GOOD MUSIC, AND
PLENTY OF IT. These
people get very little
music, and they enjoy it.
Frequently they enjoy the
music more than they do
the preaching, and it is
easier to reach many of
them by a solo sung in the
power of the Spirit
than it is by a sermon.
Adapt your music to the
circumstances; for example,
in a hospital the
music should not be loud or
exciting; it should be
bright and comforting. A
doleful tune in a
hospital may hasten the
death of some of the
patients, but a bright,
cheerful, Gospel tune is
likely to save the lives of
some of the patients.
The music that is adapted to
a hospital is
frequently not adapted to a
jail, and vice versa.
7. PREACH THE WORD. Stick
close to the Bible. Be
simple, plain, vivacious,
right to the point.
8. BE WISE IN YOUR
PRAYER. An indiscreet prayer
in a hospital may do much
harm, so may an
indiscreet prayer in a jail
or workhouse.
9. IN A JAIL BE CAREFUL TO
AVOID ALL AIR OF
SUPERIORITY. Many an
inexperienced man begins to
talk to the inmates in jail,
as if he were an
angel and they were demons.
Such a man will get no
hearing. Let the prisoners
feel that you realize
that you are their brother.
Do not assume a
patronizing air, avoid all
unnecessary
sentimentality and gush.
10. MAKE USE OF TESTIMONY.
Jerry McAuley was
converted through the
testimony of Orville
Gardner. He had known
Orville Gardner in the old
days as a desperate
character in New York, going
by the nickname of
"Awful Gardner." When he went
to Sing Sing prison and saw
Orville Gardner in the
pulpit, he could hardly
believe his own eyes; but
when Orville Gardner rose
and gave his testimony,
it went home to Jerry
McAuley's heart, and
thoroughly roused him to a
study of the Bible
itself, with the result that
he was converted in
his cell. There are many men
in this country today
who in olden days have been
inmates of jails and
{272} prisons -- notorious criminals -- but who
are today living consistent
Christian lives. The
testimony of such a man has
great weight with
other convicts.
11. DEAL INDIVIDUALLY WITH
THE INMATES. The
public preaching does much
good, but the personal
work does more, it brings
matters to a personal
decision. The great majority
of converts in jail
work come through individual
work. It may be
difficult at first to get
permission to deal
individually with the
inmates, but if you are
wise, and win the confidence
of the authorities,
you will get the opportunity
in time.
12. MAKE A LARGE USE OF
TRACTS AND OTHER GOSPEL
LITERATURE. Prisoners have so much time on their
hands that they are ready to
read anything. Select
your literature very wisely.
Goody-goody religious
literature is not what is
needed, but that which
shows real ability and
strength, and goes right to
the heart of things. There
is no better literature
for use in jails and
hospitals than that published
by the Colportage Division
of the Moody Press. It
is possible to get free
grants from this society.
While their prison fund is
usually overdrawn,
somehow or other they manage
to honor drafts made
upon them.
13. PRAY MUCH IN SECRET.
Prayer is one of the
great secrets of success in
all forms of religious
enterprise, but this is
peculiarly true regarding
work in jails, hospitals and
similar institutions.
If a record could be kept
and published regarding
God's answers to prayers for
work under such
circumstances, it would make
a most interesting
and inspiring book.
{273}
@13 CHAPTER THIRTEEN
REVIVAL MEETINGS
By revival meetings we mean
consecutive meetings,
day after day and night
after night, for the
quickening of the life and
activity of the church,
and for the salvation of the
lost. We speak of
them as revival meetings
because such meetings
result from new life either
in individuals or in
the church as a whole, and
if properly conducted
always result in the
impartation of new life to
the church and the salvation
of the lost.
I. IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES.
The importance of revival
services can scarcely be
overestimated. There are
those who say that we
ought not to have special
revival meetings, but
should have a revival in the
church all the time.
It is true that there should
be a revival in the
church all the time. There
was a continuous
revival in the apostolic
church; there are
churches which have a
continuous revival in these
days; but it is almost
always the case that the
churches which have a
continuous revival are those
which believe in and make
use of special revival
services, and what are known
as revival methods.
1. THE FIRST ADVANTAGE OF
SPECIAL REVIVAL SERVICES
IS THAT WHICH COMES FROM
REPEATED AND CONSECUTIVE
IMPRESSION. An unsaved man hears a sermon on
Sunday evening. An
impression is made upon his
mind by the truth he has
heard, but the impression
has not been profound enough
to lead to his
acceptance of Jesus Christ
then and there. Before
the next regular preaching
service of the church
comes, the impression has
faded away, and an
entirely new impression has
to be made. If the
Sunday evening sermon had
been followed up by
another on Monday evening,
the impression of
Sunday evening would have
been deepened; if that
had been followed {274}
by still another sermon
on Tuesday evening, the
impression would have been
made deeper still, and very
likely before the week
was over, the man would have
been converted. Only
those who have made a
careful and prolonged study
of this matter can realize
how important in the
work of bringing men to
Christ is the element of
repeated and consecutive
impression. Men who have
attended church for years,
and who have been only
superficially impressed, are
oftentimes readily
brought to Christ in a
series of consecutive
services.
2. THE SECOND ADVANTAGE OF
REVIVAL SERVICES IS
THAT, IF PROPERLY CONDUCTED,
THERE WILL BE AN
UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF PRAYER,
AND UNACCUSTOMED
EARNESTNESS IN PRAYER. Some one may say that
Christians ought always to
pray, and so they
should, but we have to take
the people as they
are. As a matter of fact,
the average Christian
does far more praying in a
time of special revival
services than he does at any
other time. The
professed Christians who
spend as much time as
they ought in regular prayer
day by day, when
there is no special effort
being made for the
salvation of the lost, are
very rare indeed.
3. THE THIRD ADVANTAGE OF
REVIVAL SERVICES IS THAT
AT SUCH TIMES cHRISTIANS PUT
FORTH SPECIAL EFFORTS
FOR THE SALVATION OF THE
LOST. Every Christian
should do everything in his
power every day of his
life to lead men to Christ,
but in point of fact
very few Christians do this.
How often those who
are cold and indifferent and
do almost nothing at
all for the salvation of the
lost under ordinary
circumstances will display a
great activity at the
time of special services,
and not seldom those who
have never been known as
workers before not only
take hold of the work during
special meetings, but
continue it after the
meetings are over.
4. REVIVAL SERVICES AWAKEN
AN UNUSUAL INTEREST IN
THE SUBJECT OF RELIGION IN
THE COMMUNITY. The
outside world is aroused to
the fact that the
church exists, and that
there is such a thing as
religion. They begin to
think about God, Christ,
the Bible, eternity, heaven and
hell. People who
are never seen in the house
of God at any other
time in the year will flock
there during revival
meetings. Many of them will
be converted, and
others will become
attendants {275} at the
church. They find out what
the church has to
offer, and suddenly wake up
to the fact that what
the church has to offer is
just what they need.
5. AS A MATTER OF EXPERIENCE
AND HISTORY, REVIVALS
HAVE BEEN GREATLY HONORED OF
GOD. This is true in
the history of the church as
a whole and also in
the history of local
churches. The church of
Christ has been saved,
humanly speaking from utter
ruin by the revivals which
God has graciously sent
from time to time in its
history. As regards local
churches, the churches which
have grown and
prospered are those that
have believed in and made
use of revivals. Study the
yearbooks of the
various denominations, and
you will find that the
ministers who have believed
in revivals and have
fostered them in their
churches, are the ones who
have been able to report
from year to year
accessions to their church,
and gifts to the
various branches of
Christian activity. On the
other hand, it will be found
as a rule, an almost
universal rule, that the
ministers who have
pooh-poohed revivals have
had their churches run
down on their hands. If
there is anything that the
history of the church of
Jesus Christ absolutely
demonstrates, it is the
tremendous importance, if
not the imperative
necessity, of revivals.
II. TIME TO HOLD REVIVAL
MEETINGS.
When shall revival meetings
be held in a church or
community?
1. WHEN THERE ARE
INDICATIONS OF SPECIAL BLESSING.
An alert pastor who keeps in
touch with his people
and the community will often
be able to detect
signs of special interest
and blessing. He will
notice a new interest in his
preaching on the part
of his congregation. He will
have a new sense of
liberty and power as he
preaches. He will see
tears in the eyes of his
congregation as he speaks
about sin and its
consequences. People will come
to him for spiritual counsel
and to be shown the
way of life. Perhaps members
of his church who are
more spiritually alert than
himself will say to
him that they think there
are signs of blessing in
the church or community. All
these things are
indications that God is
ready to favor that church
or community with an
especial {276} outpouring
of His Spirit, and
arrangements should be made at
once to take advantage of
these favorable
conditions, and to gather a
harvest of souls, by
holding special revival services.
2. WHEN THERE IS SPIRITUAL
DEARTH IN THE COMMUNITY
AND CHURCH. When the Gospel
seems to have lost its
hold upon the people; when
the congregations are
constantly declining and
conversions are few; when
iniquity and infidelity are
rampant in the
community, such a time is
also an important one.
Special effort should be put
forth to arouse the
church and to save the
perishing. God has promised
His special blessing at such
a time. He has said,
"When the enemy shall
come in like a flood, the
Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard
against him" (Isaiah
59:19). When everything goes
hard in a church, and
infidelity and irreligion
and immorality seem to
triumph, the minister whose
trust is fixed upon God and
in His Word need not
become discouraged. Let him
cry to God with a new
earnestness and faith, and
then go to work to
bring about the conditions
upon which God is
always ready to bless His
people.
3. REVIVAL MEETINGS SHOULD
BE HELD IN EVERY CHURCH
EVERY YEAR. This is entirely feasible. The writer
of this book has been the
pastor of four different
churches, all quite
different from one another; a
village church with the
usual village congregation
and environment, a young
suburban church in a
large city, and an
established metropolitan church
with a large and varied
membership. In each of
these churches he found it
quite possible to have
special revival meetings
every year. Largely as a
result of these special
revival meetings, each of
these churches had what
could probably justly be
termed a continual revival,
there being accessions
to the church at every
communion. Many other
pastors ministering to
churches of still different
varieties from these here
described testify to the
same experience.
As to the time in the year
when these services can
most wisely be held, this
depends upon local
conditions. It seems to be
the experience of most
pastors that the especially
favorable time is the
week of prayer, and the
weeks immediately
following. People expect
something to be done at
that time, and to a certain
extent {277} are
ready for it. There is,
however, a growing
tendency to begin these
meetings during Easter
week or earlier in Lent.
This is an especially
favorable time in large
cities on account of the
Roman Catholic and Episcopalian
elements. In large
cities the social life is at
an ebb at that time.
Even the theaters take this
fact into
consideration. While we may
not personally believe
in observing times and
seasons and days, we ought
not to lose sight of the
fact that other people do
believe in it, and we should
take advantage of
this fact as giving us an
especially good
opportunity of getting hold
of people, and getting
them out to hear the Word of
God.
III. HOW TO ORGANIZE AND
CONDUCT A REVIVAL
MEETING.
1. When it has been decided
that the time has come
to hold special services, A
LETTER SHOULD BE
ADDRESSED TO ALL MEMBERS OF
THE CHURCH, STATING
THE PLANS, AND REQUESTING
THEIR INTEREST AND
PRAYER AND CO-OPERATION IN
EVERY WAY. It is
sometimes well in connection
with this letter to
give all members of the
church some book to read
that will stir them up to
self-examination, to
prayer and to effort. A book
largely used by some
evangelists and many pastors
for this purpose, is
the book, _How to Pray_, by
the author.* It can
be secured in paper cover
for this purpose at a
very low price. In the
letter there should be a
request that all members
should answer it,
pledging themselves not only
to read the book that
is sent, but also to prayer
and co-operation in
the work. The members of the
church who have been
absenting themselves from
the church service or
from the prayer meeting
should be visited
personally and dealt with
gently but earnestly,
and led to realize their
responsibility to Christ
and His church, and also
their responsibility
regarding the unsaved in the
community.
*{In 2001, _How to Pray_ by
R.A.Torrey is
currently in print in a
copyrighted Whittaker
House edition, and is also
available in a free
public domain and freely
distributable etext
edition from the Christian
Digital Library
Foundation
{http://www.cdlf.org}. }
2. MEETINGS FOR UNITED
PRAYER SHOULD AT ONCE BE
BEGUN. Sometimes it is wisest to hold these at
the central church, but
oftentimes, especially
when the membership of the
church is very much
scattered, it is better to
have cottage meetings
at first, in the various
neighborhoods of the
parish. These separate
cottage meetings can
afterwards be brought
together for a united
meeting at the church. If
the revival services are
to be of a union character,
it is well for each
church to begin prayer
meetings by itself, and for
them afterwards {278}
to come together for union
prayer meetings. There short
addresses should be
given upon the importance of
prayer and how to
pray, but the major part of
the meeting should be
devoted directly to prayer.
The people should be
instructed as to what they
should pray for; they
should be drown out in
prayer for the membership
of the church, then in
prayer for the unsaved, and
not merely for the unsaved
in general, but for
specific persons in whom
they are interested;
their duty to uphold the
hands of the pastor in
prayer should be emphasized;
they should be
instructed as to the lines
along which they should
seek God's help for the
pastor -- in his personal
life, in his selection of
topics to preach upon,
in his preparation of his
sermons, and especially
that his preaching may be in
demonstration of the
Spirit and of power
(1_Corinthians 2:4; Ephesians
6:19); they should be
encouraged to pray for a
special outpouring of the
Holy Spirit in the
community. Oftentimes it is
important to get them
to take a higher outlook
than the needs of their
own local community, and to
pray for a general
outpouring of the Spirit
throughout the world.
3. IN THE NEXT PLACE, A
CANVASS OF THE ENTIRE
COMMUNITY SHOULD BE
UNDERTAKEN. The whole village
or city or section of the
city should be carefully
mapped out, different
districts assigned to
different workers, and every
house and store in
the community visited. Those
visited should be
informed of the meetings
that are to be held, but
more important than this, as
far as possible they
should be dealt with and
prayed with personally in
regard to their salvation.
If the services are to
be of a union character, the
visitors should go
out two and two, each one
representing a different
church in the community.
4. AFTER THIS PRELIMINARY
WORK HAS BEEN DONE,
MEETINGS SHOULD BE ANNOUNCED
AT THE CHURCH. The
number of meetings to be
held each day will depend
very much upon the location
and the interest. In
many places it will be
possible to hold only an
evening meeting at first. In
other places the
meetings can be begun with
as many as three or
four meetings a day, for
what may be best in this
line in one place is utterly
impossible in
another. The ideal is a
meeting for prayer, a
meeting for the study of the
Bible on the part of
believers and an evening
evangelistic service for
the {279}
unsaved, with possibly a fourth
meeting for children; but
this ideal is not
attainable in every
community. Where it is not,
there should at least be in
addition to the
evening meeting, a gathering
for prayer. It may be
held for prayer and prayer
alone, or it may be
wiser to have a meeting in
the afternoon, part of
the time being given to
prayer and part to the
study of the Word of God.
One great reason why our
modern evangelistic
movements have lacked the
old-time power is because
the emphasis is not laid
upon the prayer meeting that
was in former days.
In the great revival of
1857, more time and
strength was put into prayer
meetings than into
anything else. In many
places the meetings were
entirely prayer meetings. We
have swung to the
other extreme, and in many
cases evangelistic
meetings are entirely
meetings for preaching and
singing. This is a great
mistake. Wherever the
church becomes lax in united
prayer, the meetings
will soon lose in power and
come to a close as far
as any real results are
concerned.
The question often rises
whether it is wiser to
hold the meetings at a
church or in a hall. This
will depend somewhat upon
circumstances. Each
method has its advantages.
Doubtless many people
can be gotten out to a hall
or to an opera house
who will not enter a church;
on the other hand, if
people are gotten out to
church and converted
there, they will be more
likely to remain in the
church after the special
meetings are over than if
the meetings are held in a
hall or opera house.
The wisest plan in many
instances is to begin the
meetings in a church and
then go to a hall or
opera house, and then back
to the church before
they close, in order that
those who have been
interested in the opera
house may be accustomed to
and interested in the church
before the special
interest is over. As to
whether the meetings are
held in a church or hall
oftentimes too is
dependent upon whether they
are meetings of an
individual church or a union
of several churches.
Here again there are
advantages in each plan.
There is likely to be more
harmony and united
effort and less controversy
and suspicion if the
meetings are held by an
individual church. On the
other hand there can be no
doubt that a community
is moved by a union of all
the churches in it, as
it is not moved and cannot
be moved by revival
services held by an
individual church. If revival
services are held in the
summer, oftentimes it is
well to hold them in a
tent. {280}
5. THE CHILDREN SHOULD NEVER
BE FORGOTTEN IN TIMES
OF SPECIAL INTEREST. Special
meetings for the
children should be held. As
a rule they should be
held in the afternoon just
at the time the school
is closing, so that children
can go directly from
school to the meeting. They
should be held at
least five afternoons in the
week. More about
these children's meetings
will be said in the
chapter upon children's
meetings.
6. OF COURSE THE PREACHING
IS OF VERY GREAT
IMPORTANCE IN THE CONDUCT OF
REVIVAL SERVICES.
(1) WHO SHOULD PREACH?
The first question that
arises is as to who should
do the preaching. Wherever
it is possible, it is
well for the pastor of the
church to do the
preaching himself. It is
said that some pastors do
not have the evangelistic
gift, and this is
doubtless in a measure true,
but most pastors can,
to some extent, cultivate
the evangelistic gift,
if they only will. There is
a great advantage in
the pastor himself
preaching. There is not such a
likelihood that the interest
will suddenly die out
when the special services
are over. When it is not
possible for the local pastor
to do the preaching,
he can often call in the
help of some neighboring
pastor who does possess the
evangelistic gift.
Even when the pastor himself
is an evangelist,
there is an advantage in
calling in a fellow
pastor for a special series
of meetings. His is a
new voice, and he is likely
to preach the truth
from another standpoint from
that to which people
have become accustomed. Many
will go to hear him
out of curiosity who might
not attend special
services conducted by the
pastor, thinking they
could hear him any Sunday.
But we cannot depend
altogether upon the local
pastor or upon fellow
pastors. It is by the
ordination of God that there
are evangelists in the
church, and evangelists as
a class have been greatly
honored of God in the
past history of the church.
However clear it is
that the pastor is possessed
of the evangelistic
gift, and however much he
may have been used of
God in leading the unsaved
to Christ, if he is
wise he will occasionally
call to his help a man
whom God has especially appointed
to the work of
an evangelist. Of course
there are evangelists and
evangelists. Some
evangelists are mere
adventurers, others are
indiscreet and do much
harm, but there are beyond
question {281} many
men whom God has called to
this specific work, and
whom He wants in it, and
there are indications
that God is going to
multiply the number of really
reliable men who are in
evangelistic work.
(2) WHAT TO PREACH.
What shall we preach in
times of revival interest?
(1) First of all, we should
preach the Gospel, the
Gospel that Christ died for
our sins, according to
the Scriptures, was buried
and rose again. We
should never get far from
the Cross. We should
preach the atonement over
and over and over again.
(2) We should also preach
the utterly lost and
ruined condition of man. (3)
We should preach the
bitter consequences of sin
here and hereafter. We
should declare the whole
counsel of God regarding
the judgment and regarding
hell. (4) We should
present the truth about
conversion, regeneration
and justification. (5) We
should preach the
Divinity of Christ. There is
great correcting and
converting and saving power
in that doctrine.
(Acts 2:36-37; 9:20,22; John
20:31.) (6) We
should also preach to
Christians about the Holy
Spirit and His work, about
prayer, about the power
of the Word of God and the
necessity of Bible
study. One will find much
instruction in regard to
what to preach at such a
time from the sermons of
such men as Moody, Spurgeon
and Finney. A study of
the texts given in the first
division of this
volume in connection with
the different classes of
men with whom we have to
deal in personal work
will suggest many texts and
topics for sermons.
7. IN REVIVAL SERVICES THE
MUSIC IS OF GREAT
IMPORTANCE. If possible
there should be a large
choir of converted men and
women. They should have
the leadership of a godly
chorister. He should be
a man who not only knows how
to sing himself, but
who can get others to sing.
If there are in the
community, or if there can
be secured, men or
women who can sing Gospel
solos effectively in the
power of the Holy Spirit,
their services should be
obtained. Impress upon the
singers that they are
to sing not merely to
interest the people, but to
convert them, and that they
need a definite
anointing of the Holy Spirit
for their work.
{282}
8. THE TESTIMONY OF SAVED
PEOPLE TO THE POWER AND
BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL IS OF
GREAT VALUE IN
SPECIAL REVIVAL
SERVICES. Especially is the
testimony of those recently
converted effective.
When men hear one who has
recently come out from
their ranks tell of what
Jesus Christ has done for
him, a longing is awakened
in their hearts to find
the same Savior.
9. WHEN THE MEETINGS ARE
HELD IN A CITY OF
CONSIDERABLE SIZE, IT IS
WELL TO HAVE A NOON
MEETING TO WHICH MEN IN
BUSINESS AND OTHERS ARE
INVITED. Many can be gotten hold of in this way
that can be reached in no
other way.
It is well usually in a
series of special services
to hold meetings for men
alone, in which sin is
very plainly dealt with, and
Christ as the remedy
for sin presented. Meetings
for women are also
desirable. As a rule they
should be conducted by
women, though there are some
men who seem to have
a special gift in preaching
to women. Generally,
however, the men who are
most inclined to take
such meetings are least
qualified to do it.
10. CLASSES TO TRAIN THE
WORKERS IN HOW TO DEAL
WITH INQUIRERS ARE OF THE
HIGHEST IMPORTANCE.
Oftentimes it is well to
hold these training
classes before the general
meetings begin, so that
from the very first meeting
you can have workers
whom you may depend upon to
do the work.
11. EVERY MEETING SHOULD BE
FOLLOWED BY AN AFTER
MEETING. Definite instructions an to the conduct
of after meetings will be
given in a separate
chapter.
12. ALL THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE
IN THE COMMUNITY
SHOULD BE SET TO WORK. They should be so aroused
upon the subject of religion
that all they will
talk about everywhere is
Christ and His claims
upon men. They should be
encouraged to go from
house to house and store to
store laboring with
people and endeavoring to
get them to accept
Christ. Harm may be done in
this way by indiscreet
workers, but the harm that
is done will be small
indeed in comparison with
the good that is
accomplished. {283}
13. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO
MAKE USE OF GOOD
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE IN
TIMES OF SPECIAL INTEREST.
Tracts and books should be
generously used. The
Bible Institute Colportage
Association has a very
large selection of the most
useful literature
along these lines that can
be secured at a very
low cost.
{284}
@14 CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE AFTER MEETING
I. IMPORTANCE AND
ADVANTAGES.
In successful soul-winning
work the after meeting
is of the highest
importance. Every tent meeting,
mission meeting and revival
service should be
followed by an after
meeting. The wise and active
pastor will also follow up
every Sunday evening
service with an after
meeting. Many a mighty
preacher fails to get the
results he might from
his preaching because he
does not know how to draw
the net. He is successful at
hooking fish, but
does not know how to land
them. A friend told me a
short time ago that he heard
a man one evening
preach to a large
congregation of men one of the
best sermons he ever heard,
and continued my
friend, "I believe
there would have been fifty
decisions just then but just
at the critical
moment the evangelist did
not know what to do, and
let the meeting slip through
his fingers." He
asked them to stand up and
sing some hymn and the
men began to go out in
crowds. He tried to get
them together again, and
there were some
inquirers, but nothing like
the results there
should have been. Much good
preaching comes to
nothing because it is not
driven home to the
individual, and the
individual brought then and
there to an acceptance and
confession of Jesus as
Savior and Lord.
1. THE FIRST ADVANTAGE OF
THE AFTER MEETING IS
THAT IT GETS RID OF THAT
PORTION OF THE AUDIENCE
WHICH IS NOT IN SYMPATHY AND
IS A HINDRANCE TO
CLOSE WORK. It enables us to get near to the
inquirer and meet his immediate
need. Many things
that it is impossible to do
in the general meeting
are very easily done in the
smaller meeting which
follows it. Some workers are
very anxious to have
every one stay to the after
meeting, but
frequently it is very
fortunate that all do not
stay. The smaller gathering
is not only easier
{285} to handle, on account of its size, but it
is also more sympathetic and
more in keeping with
the purpose of soul saving
which is now in view.
2. THE SECOND ADVANTAGE OF
THE AFTER MEETING IS
THAT MEN ARE BROUGHT TO AN
IMMEDIATE DECISION FOR
CHRIST. This advantage rises partly out of the
first. In almost every
wisely conducted
evangelistic service there
will be some who have
not really decided for
Christ, but who are on the
verge of a decision. Of
course some of those, if
allowed to go home, will
decide for Christ in the
home; but there will be many
others, who, unless
the impressions are followed
up then and there,
will lose their interest
before another meeting is
held. There is great need in
all soul-winning work
that we strike while the
iron is hot. A wise
worker and one of much
experience recently wrote
substantially as follows
about a meeting which she
had attended in the East:
"The sermon was grand,
the Holy Spirit was manifestly
present in power,
and I could not help feeling
if some experienced
person was only present to
conduct an after
meeting then and there, we
should have had great
results, but the benediction
was pronounced and
the students allowed to go
to their rooms. We have
been trying to follow up the
work since, and many
have come out positively,
but we could have had
much larger results, with
much less labor on our
part, if an after meeting
had been held at once."
It would be difficult to put
too much emphasis
upon the after meeting.
II. HOW TO CONDUCT AN AFTER
MEETING.
1. THE FIRST POINT OF
IMPORTANCE IN THE CONDUCT OF
AN AFTER MEETING IS THE
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE
MEETING. The number who attend the after meeting
and the character of those
who attend, will depend
very much upon the
announcement. The announcement
should be very clear and
definite so there can be
no mistaking what is meant.
The announcement
should also be earnest. If
this announcement is
indifferent, people will
think that the after
meeting is of little
consequence, and therefore
will not stay to it. If the
announcement is
earnest, the people will
think that the minister
or evangelist thinks the
meeting is of some
importance, and will be
likely to think so also.
The announcement should be
given in a winning and
attractive way; it should
also be urgent, but in
{286} our urgency we should avoid the impression
that we think that any
Christian who does not stay
to the after meeting is
necessarily committing
some great sin. Many
Christians have good reasons
why they cannot stay to the
after meeting, and if
we are indiscreet in our
urgency in giving the
invitation to it, they will
either stay to the
after meeting when they
ought not, or they will go
away with the morbid sense
that they have done
something wrong, or worse
yet, we shall bring them
under the condemnation of
the irreligious people
who go away, and thus injure
the cause of Christ.
Sometimes an indiscreet
urgency in the invitation
to the after meeting keeps
people away from the
first meeting. The way we
put the invitation, even
in seemingly insignificant
matters, is oftentimes
of great consequence. For
example, if we say,
"Now, if there are any
here tonight who are
interested, we should be
glad to have them stay to
the after meeting,"
this will cause some person
who may be interested to
think that probably he is
the only one in the whole
audience who is, and as
few people like to be
considered singular, he will
not be likely to stay. If on
the other hand we
say, "We hope that
every one here tonight with
whom the Spirit is working
will stay to the after
meeting," this will
cause those who are somewhat
interested to think,
"Well, I am not alone, there
are others interested
besides myself," and so they
will be likely to stay to
the after meeting.
We do well to put our
invitation in such a way
that those who are not
wanted in the after meeting
will not feel at liberty to
stay. For example,
there are those who crowd
after meetings out of
mere curiosity, and are a
great hindrance. If
possible the invitation
should be so worded as to
shut this class out. There
are others who go to
oppose the work. The
invitation should be so put
as to shut this class out.
It will not be possible
to do it altogether in
whatever way the invitation
is put, and if the
invitation does not succeed in
doing it, other means will
sometimes have to be
taken. There are a third
class who are very angry
if you deal with them
personally, but if the
invitation has been wisely
put, when any of them
get angry when you approach
them personally you
can call their attention to
what was said in the
invitation, and show them
courteously that, by
coming to the after meeting,
they expressed a
willingness to be dealt
with. {287}
2. THE SECOND MATTER OF
IMPORTANCE IN THE CONDUCT
OF AN AFTER MEETING IS AS TO
WHERE IT SHALL BE
HELD. As a rule it is better to hold it in
another room from that in
which the general
meeting is held. If the
after meeting is held in
the same room as the general
service, when the
invitation is given for the
general audience to
withdraw, many that might
have stayed to the after
meeting are carried out with
the tide, whereas if
the meeting is held in
another room, they see the
tide setting in there, and
are carried in with it.
Of course oftentimes there
is no other room that
is available, and the after
meeting has to be held
in the same room as the
general service; and there
are times when it is better
to hold it in the same
room even when another room
is available.
If the meeting is to be held
in another room, it
is very desirable that it
should be a room that
the people have to pass as
they go out. Workers
should be posted at every
door of this room, to
invite and urge the people
to go in as they pass.
It is exceedingly important
that these workers be
wise men and women. I have
heard workers shouting
out invitations to this
second meeting as if it
were a side show to a
circus. Oftentimes the best
way to give the invitation
is to quietly slip up
beside the one that you wish
to get into the after
meeting, hold out your hand
and engage him in a
few minutes' conversation,
and almost
imperceptibly draw him into
the meeting.
Gentleness and courtesy and
winsomeness in this
matter are of great
importance.
When the interest is very
deep, you can have the
second meeting in another
building. Have the
singing begin at once, just
as soon as the people
begin to pass the door.
3. MAKE MUCH OF PRAYER IN
THE AFTER MEETING. The
meeting should be begun with
prayer. Wait until
every one is in and all is
quiet. Insist upon
absolute silence, then have
all the Christians
engage in silent prayer. It
is well to suggest to
them objects of prayer, as
for example, that they
pray for those who have gone
to their homes
undecided, then that they
pray for the presence
and power of the Holy Spirit
in the meeting, then
for the unsaved who are in
the room. Two or three
or more audible prayers by
men and women whom you
can trust should follow. Do
not take any chances
at this point, and let any
crank spoil the
meeting. Unless you know
your people very well, it
is usually best to name
those {288} who shall
lead in prayer. Of course
one can trust the Holy
Spirit to take change of the
meeting, and should,
but this does not mean that
we should not exercise
a wise control over the
meeting. There will also
be places for prayer later
in the meeting, but
there should certainly be
prayer at the opening.
If it should turn out in any
meeting that there
are no unsaved people there,
it is oftentimes well
to give the entire meeting
up to prayer. A few
months ago it turned out in
an after meeting that
there were only two or three
unsaved people in the
whole audience. These were
taken to another room
to be dealt with, and then I
urged it upon the
people that there must be
something wrong with us
or with the work because
there were so few coming
to Christ. The Holy Spirit
carried the message
home, and then we got down
on our knees before God
in prayer. The next night,
largely as an outcome
of that season of prayer, we
had a meeting of
great power.
4. WHEN THE OPENING PRAYERS
ARE OVER, IT IS
OFTENTIMES WISE TO EXPLAIN
THE WAY OF LIFE IN AS
PLAIN AND SIMPLE A MANNER AS
POSSIBLE. This is
especially important if
there are few workers
present to deal with
individuals. After explaining
the way of life, and the
steps one must take to be
saved then and there, an
invitation can be given
to those who are willing to
take these steps at
once. They should be asked
to rise, hold up their
hands, come forward, or in
some other definite way
express their desire to
begin the Christian life.
5. FIND OUT JUST AS EARLY AS
POSSIBLE IN THE
MEETING WHERE ALL THE PEOPLE
PRESENT STAND. Then
you will know what to do
next. It is frequently
desirable to take some sort
of an expression in
the general meeting, though
this should usually be
done in such a way as not to
put those who are not
Christians in an awkward
position. Indeed, as a
rule, the moment the last
word of the sermon is
uttered there should be an
opportunity for
decision. This opportunity
may be given in a
variety of ways. You may ask
the audience to bow a
few moments in silent
prayer, insisting
courteously but firmly that
no one go out for a
few moments. If the interest
is deep enough, you
can then ask all those who
wish to be saved, or
all who have made up their
minds "now and here" to
accept {289}
Christ as their personal Savior, to
surrender to Him as their
Lord and Master, and to
begin to confess Him as such
before the world, to
rise, or to "come
forward and give me your hand,"
or come and kneel at the
altar. If the interest
hardly warrants that, you
can ask all in the
audience who are burdened
for unsaved friends, or
all who are anxious for the
salvation of some
friend in the audience, to
rise, and when they
have risen, invite all who
wish to be saved "right
now" to rise. It is not
well usually in the
general meeting to ask all
Christians to rise, as
this makes it awkward for
the unsaved, and they
may not come back again.
Another good way is to say,
"We are going to sing
a hymn, and I do not wish
any one to go out until
it is finished. The Holy
Spirit is evidently
working in this meeting
(don't say this unless it
is true), and any one moving
about may distract
some one who is on the verge
of a decision for
Christ. Now, while we are
singing the second
verse, let all who will
accept Christ (don't say
if any ONE will accept
Christ) arise." Stop when
the second verse is sung and
call for decisions,
and then sing the third and
fourth in a similar
way. If there is an altar in
the church where you
are preaching, it is often
better to have them
come to the altar. If there
is no altar, you can
have the front seats emptied
and use them for an
altar. A solo may often be
used in the place of
the congregational hymn, but
be sure of your
soloist and the solo which
has been selected. It
is safer as a rule to select
the solo yourself.
Still another way is to say
as you close your
sermon, "We are going
to have a second meeting,
and all those who have been
converted here
tonight, and who desire to
enter the joy of the
Christian life, are invited
to remain. We also
want every one who is
interested in his soul's
salvation, and all Christians,
to stay to that
second meeting -- you cannot
afford to go away."
Once in the second meeting,
there are a variety of
ways of finding out where
the people stand. If the
interest is very deep, call
at once for those who
wish to accept Christ to
rise and come forward. On
other occasions ask all who
have accepted Christ
and know that they are
saved, and are walking in
fellowship with Him, to
rise. Now you and your
workers can readily see who
the persons are with
whom you ought to deal. They
are for the most part
those who are still seated.
Next ask those who
wish to become Christians to
arise. {290} It may
be well to sing one or
several verses as this is
done. One and then another
and then many at once
will often rise.
Whenever it is possible, it
is well to have now
still a third room into
which those who have risen
and desire to become
Christians shall go. Have a
wise man in charge of this
room until you get
there yourself. Have him put
one worker, and one
only, with each inquirer.
These workers should be
trained for the work. Every
church and mission
should have a training class
for this purpose.
When you have gotten all you
can into the inside
room, turn the outside
meeting into a meeting for
testimony and prayer, which
either you or some
wise worker manages. It is a
great advantage to
have a choir leader who can
do that. The
unconverted ones who have
not gone into the inside
room can be gotten hold of
personally in this
testimony meeting or
afterward. Do not have any
holes anywhere in your net
if you can avoid it.
Sometimes it is well in the
second meeting to ask
all who were converted after
they were fifty to
rise, and then those who
were converted after they
were forty, thirty, twenty,
ten, before they were
ten; then ask all who will
accept Jesus "tonight"
to rise, and then all who
really desire to know
the way of life. In other
meetings, all who have
been Christians fifty years
may be asked to stand,
and those who have been
Christians forty years,
thirty, twenty, and so on
down. A good method to
use occasionally in the
second meeting is to ask
all who were converted after
they were fifty to
come forward and gather
about the platform, and
then those who were
converted after they were
forty, and so on. This will
gradually thin out
those who are seated, and
the unconverted will
begin to feel that they are
left in the minority,
and it may lead them to
desire to be saved also.
Especially will this be true
if a man sees his
wife leaving him, or a son
his mother. Some may
say there is to much method
or maneuvering in all
this, but it wins souls and
this is worth
maneuvering for. Jesus
Himself told us to be wise
as serpents (Matthew 10:16),
and again we are told
that the children of this
world are wiser in their
generation than the children
of light. Evidently
Jesus would have us exercise
all honest ingenuity
in accomplishing His work,
especially the work of
soul- winning. The methods
suggested will suggest
others. The great purpose of
all these methods is
to get many to commit
themselves, and to bring
them to a decision to accept
Christ. {291}
6. THE MOST IMPORTANT PART
OF THE AFTER MEETING IS
THE HAND TO HAND DEALING
WITH INDIVIDUALS. There
has already been a
suggestion as to how this
should be done, but the hand
to hand work should
not be limited to those who
go into the third
room. Trained personal
workers should be scattered
all over the meeting, each
worker having his own
assigned place, and feeling
his responsibility for
that section of the room. He
should be on the
lookout for persons with
whom he can deal either
during the testimony
meeting, or after the formal
meeting is over. These
workers, however, should be
instructed to obey at once
any suggestion of the
leader of the meeting. I
have been in meetings
where the leader requested
absolute silence, but
indiscreet workers would go
on talking to those
with whom they were dealing.
I have heard other
workers talking with an
inquirer when there has
been a call for prayer. Such
irreverence does much
harm.
7. THERE SHOULD ALWAYS BE
WORKERS NEAR THE DOOR OF
THE MEETING TO FOLLOW OUT
ANY ONE WHO GOES BEFORE
THE MEETING IS OVER. They should approach such a
one personally and deal with
him about his soul.
Much of the best work that
is done is done with
people who have become so
deeply interested that
they try to run away from
the meeting, but are
followed out by some wise
worker. It may be
necessary for the worker to
follow the fugitive
down the street. I knew of
one case where a very
successful worker tried to
engage a young man in
conversation, and he started
off on a run. The
worker followed, and having
better wind than the
runaway, caught him after
two or three blocks. The
young man was so amazed, and
so awakened by the
worker's earnestness, and
afterwards so instructed
by his wisdom, that he
accepted Christ then and
there on the street. This
would probably not be a
wise method under ordinary
circumstances.
8. A GOOD USE MAY BE MADE OF
THE TESTIMONY OF
SAVED PEOPLE IN THE AFTER
MEETING. As a rule,
however, there should not be
a call for
testimonies until those who
are ripe for hand to
hand work are taken into
another room. Great
caution needs to be
exercised in the use of
testimony. In almost every
community there are men
and women who are always
willing to give their
testimony at the first
opportunity, but who kill
any meeting where they are
allowed {292} to
speak. It may be that they
have no sense, or it
may be that there is
something crooked in their
lives, and their testimony
simply brings reproach
on the cause which they
pretend to represent. You
must manage somehow to keep
these people silent.
You need to be on your
guard, too, that the
testimonies are not
stereotyped or unreal. They
should be short, to the
point, real, and, above
all, in the power of the
Holy Ghost. There is a
special power in the
testimonies of those who have
been recently saved. It is
always a great help to
the young converts
themselves to be trained to
give their testimony.
It is well oftentimes to
have the Christians
testify as to the Scripture
which led them to
Christ, or into a deeper
experience of Christ's
saving power. Dr. Dixon
gives the following
description of what was done
and said in an after
meeting which he attended:
"As soon as quiet was
restored, there was an
earnest prayer for guidance.
The leader then arose
and said: 'We will now hear
from as many as can
speak in five minutes the
Scriptures which God
used in showing them the way
of life. We want
simply the Word of God
without comment. Rise and
speak distinctly, with a
prayer that God will
bless others through the
truth as He has blessed
you.' The first one to respond was a young woman
who quoted with a clear
voice: 'Him that cometh
unto me I will in no wise
cast out.' The leader
said: "That invitation
is also a promise; it
implies that all who come to
Christ He will
receive, but it says very
much more. He will
receive and never cast out.
There is in it saving
and keeping power. It is the
Scripture for those
of you who are afraid that
you may not hold out.'
The next witness was a man
of middle age, who
said: 'He is able to save to
the uttermost all who
come unto God by him.' The leader: 'God is
all-powerful, but you make
Him able by accepting
the Lord Jesus Christ, and
this ability is based
upon the fact that He ever
liveth to make
intercession for us.' Third witness: 'Come unto
me all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.' Leader: 'Do you want rest of
heart? Come to Jesus for it
now.' Fourth witness:
'Look unto me and be ye
saved, all ye ends of the
earth.' Leader: 'Looking is
not a long process.
You can look as quick as a
lightning flash; look
this moment and live.' Fifth
witness: 'There is
therefore now no
condemnation to them who are in
Christ Jesus.' Leader: 'We
who have accepted
Christ need not fear the
judgment {293} day. Our
case has been settled in the
court of mercy where
Jesus Christ is the
Advocate.' Sixth witness: 'To
as many as received him to
them gave he power to
become the sons of God.'
Leader: 'And if sons,
then heirs, heirs of God and
joint heirs with
Christ. Will you not accept
this rich inheritance
through Christ this
evening?' Seventh witness:
'The blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us
from all sin.' Leader: 'Then
do not try to cleanse
yourself, and do not divide
your trust between the
blood and ordinances. The
Blood is all-sufficient;
accept Jesus Christ and the
Blood cleanses at
once.
"There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains."
"Eighth witness
'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.'
Leader: 'It does not say
believe on Jesus, nor
believe on Christ, nor
believe on the Lord. Jesus
means Savior, and a
Savior from sin we need.
Christ means the anointed
one, the high priest and an
intercessor, an
advocate we need. Lord means
Master, and the
Master we need to rule our
lives. You cannot
accept Him as Savior while
you reject Him as Lord,
nor can you follow Him as
Lord while you reject
Him as Savior. His
intercession is for those who
accept Him as both Savior
and Lord. So you see,
Paul preached to the jailer
the full Gospel when
he said, 'Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved.' The
little word ON is very
important; it does not say
believe ABOUT the Lord
Jesus Christ; you may
believe all ABOUT Him
without believing ON Him. I
believe much about
Washington, Lincoln, and
Grant, but I am not
conscious of believing on
any of them in the sense
that I am depending upon
them for anything. When
your faith ABOUT Christ has
been translated into
faith ON Christ, you are
saved.' The invitation
was then given, and a number
came forward and gave
the leader their hands,
confessing Christ as their
Savior and Lord, the leader
remarking that it was
well to begin the Christian
life with a handshake
and pass it on to
others."
9. WHEN ANY ONE HAS CLEARLY
AND FULLY ACCEPTED
CHRIST, INSIST UPON AN OPEN
CONFESSION OF CHRIST.
If it can be done
without {294} disturbing other
workers, have them stand
right up then and there
and confess Jesus as their
Lord, and their
acceptance of Him. If the
inquirer has been taken
into an inside room, ask him
out into the room
where the general after
meeting is going on, and
have him give his confession
there. Many a young
Christian does not come out
into the clear light
for many days, if ever,
because he is not shown
the necessity of a public
confession of Christ
with his mouth. There is
nothing more important
for a young Christian's life
than a constant
confession of the Lord.
10. DO NOT HOLD THE GENERAL
AFTER MEETING TOO
LONG. Oftentimes it is well to tell the people in
the first meeting that the
after meeting will only
be fifteen or twenty minutes
long, or whatever you
have decided upon. Many will
be encouraged to stay
by this, who would not think
it possible to stay
if it were to be a long
meeting. When you have
made a promise of this kind,
be sure you keep it.
{295}
@15 CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHILDREN'S MEETINGS
I. IMPORTANCE.
No form of special meetings
are of more importance
than those which are
intended for the purpose of
reaching the children,
bringing them to Christ,
and building them up in
Christ.
1. BECAUSE THE CONVERSION OF
CHILDREN IS
IMPORTANT. The conversion of the children to
Christ is of the very first
importance.
(1) The conversion of a
child is important in the
first place because children
oftentimes die. Most
people in Chicago die in childhood.
For every one
who dies between twenty and
forty there are many
who die between birth and
twenty. * So with very
many of the children at any
time upon the earth,
they must be converted in
childhood or pass into
eternity unconverted. In
spite of the large number
of children's caskets that
pass us in hearses, it
is hard to bring people to
realize how likely
children are to die. We look
at the white-haired
man and say he is likely to
die soon, but we look
at the little child and
think that child has many
years before it. That is not
at all sure. We have
very rude awakenings from
this dream. Mothers and
fathers, do you realize that
your children may
die? Up quirk, then, and
lead them to Christ
before that day comes. If
you do not it will be
the darkest day you ever
knew, but if you have led
them to Christ it will not
be a dark day. Lonely
it will be, but not dark.
Nay, it will be glorious
with the thought that the
voyage is over and the
glory land reached quickly
by one you love. Sunday
School teachers, do you
realize that any one of
the boys or girls in the
class you teach may die
any day? Up, then, and win
them to Christ as
speedily as you may.
* {Today more children live
to maturity.} {296}
(2) The conversion of
children is important, in
the second place, because it
is much easier to win
a child to Christ than an
adult. Dr. E. N. Kirk
once said: "If I could
live my life over again, I
would labor much more among
children." Children
have no old prejudices to
overcome as many grown
people have. With the help
of the Holy Spirit they
are easily led to feel the
great love of Christ in
giving Himself to die for
them, and when the
simple story of His
suffering and death is read
and explained from God's
Word, they believe it,
and exercise saving faith,
and there and then the
Holy Spirit effects a change
of heart. Mr.
Spurgeon once said: "I
could spend days in giving
details of young children
whom I have known and
personally conversed with,
who have given evidence
of a change of heart,"
and he added, "I have more
confidence in the spiritual
life of such children
whom I have taken into my
church, than I have in
the spiritual condition of
adults thus received. I
will go further and say that
I have usually found
a clearer knowledge of the
Gospel and a warmer
love toward Christ in the
child convert than in
the man convert. I may
astonish you by saying that
I have sometimes met with a
deeper spiritual
experience in a child of ten
or twelve than in
some persons of fifty or
sixty. I have known a
child who would weep himself
to sleep by the month
together under a crushing
sense of sin. If you
would know deep and bitter
and awful fear of the
wrath of God, let me tell
you what I felt as a
boy. If you want to know
what faith in Christ is,
you must not look to those
who have been bemuddled
by the heretical jargon of
the times, but to the
dear children who have taken
Jesus at His word,
and believed on Him, and
therefore know and are
sure that they are
saved."
Every year that passes over
our heads unconverted
our hearts are less open to
holy impressions.
Every year away from Christ
our hearts become
harder in sin. That needs no
proof. The practice
of sin increases the power
of sin in our lives.
God and heaven and Christ
and holiness lie very
near childhood, but if the
child remains away from
Christ, every year they
become farther and farther
away. When I see a child
walk into the inquiry
room of a Sunday evening, I
feel quite certain
that if a worker of any
sense gets hold of that
child it is going to be
converted; but when I see
a man or a woman walk in
there I do not feel at
all as sure. The adult has
become so entangled in
sin, the mind has become
so {297} darkened by
the error and skepticism
that arise out of sin,
there are so many
complications added by each
year, that the case of an
adult is very difficult
as compared with that of a
child. The fact is
that, with very many, if
they are not converted in
childhood, they will never be
converted at all.
Fathers and mothers, that is
true of the children
in our homes. Sunday School
teachers, that is true
of the children in your
Sunday School classes. It
is now or never.
(3) The conversion of the
children is important,
in the third place, because
converted children are
among the most useful
workers for Christ. They can
reach persons who are
inaccessible to every one
else. They can reach their
schoolmates and
playmates, the Jewish
children, the Catholic
children, the children of
worldly parents and
infidels. They can bring
them to Sunday School or
to children's meetings, and
to Christ. You and I
cannot get close enough to
them to show them how
beautiful Jesus is, and what
joy and blessing He
brings. They can. Then they
can reach their
parents oftentimes when we
cannot. They will not
listen to us, but they will
to their children.
There was a rough, drunken
gambler in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He often went by
the mission door, but
when a worker invited him in
he repelled him with
rude insults. But his child,
about ten years old,
was gotten into the Sunday
School, and won for
Christ. Then she began to
work and pray for her
drunken papa, and a cottage
meeting was at last
held in his wretched home.
The father took down
his overcoat to go to the
saloon. Little Annie
asked him if he would not
stay to the meeting. He
roughly answered,
"No." "Won't you stay for my
sake, papa?" The man
hung up his coat. The meeting
began, and the man was surly
and wished he was out
of it. They knelt in prayer
while he sat on the
end of the sofa. One after
another prayed. Then
all were silent. Then
Annie's little voice was
heard in prayer something
like this: "God, save my
papa." It broke the
wicked man's heart, and then
and there he accepted
Christ. He afterwards became
a deacon in my church. When
New Year's day came
and many had testified for
Christ, Annie arose and
said: "Papa used to
drink and mama used to drink,
grandpa used to drink, and
grandma used to drink.
But papa is a Christian now,
and mama is a
Christian now, and grandpa
is a Christian now, and
grandma is a Christian now,
and Uncle Joe is a
Christian now, {298}
and auntie is a Christian
now. I guess we are all
Christians down to our
house now." But the
little girl herself led the
way. Wasn't the conversion
of that child
important? Many a hardened
sinner and many a
skeptic has been led to
Christ by a child.
(4) The conversion of
children is important
because persons converted in
childhood make the
best Christians. If one is
converted when he is
old he has learned many bad
tricks of character
and life that have to be
unlearned, and it is
generally a pretty slow
process. But when one is
converted in childhood
character is yet to be
formed, and it can be formed
from the beginning on
right lines. If you wish to
train a tree into a
thing of beauty and symmetry
you had better begin
when it is young. If you
want to form a character
of Christlike symmetry and
beauty you would better
begin in childhood. That
Christlike man of the
olden time, Polycarp, who
ended his life as a
martyr at ninety-five, was
converted at nine. That
fine young man of the New
Testament, Timothy, was
brought up on Scripture from
a babe. I rejoice
with all my heart when an
old broken-down drunkard
is brought to Christ. It
means so much. But it
means so much more when a
child is brought to
Christ.
(5) The conversion of
children is important, once
more, because there are so
many years of possible
service before them. If one
is to live to eighty,
say, if converted at seventy
there is a soul saved
plus ten years of service.
When the boy Polycarp
was converted there was a
soul saved plus
eighty-six years of service.
I think enough has
been said to show that the
conversion of the
children is tremendously
important, in fact, the
most important business of
the Church of Christ
has on hand. Surely it was
well that Jesus said,
"Take heed that ye
despise not one of these little
ones."
2. BECAUSE MANY CHILDREN
WILL BE BROUGHT TO CHRIST
IN SPECIAL MEETINGS HELD IN
THEIR INTEREST WHO
WILL NOT BE REACHED IN ANY
OTHER WAY. It is a
well proven fact that no
other kind of meetings
bring such definite results
in the way of
conversions as meetings held
for the specific
purpose of bringing the
children to Christ.
II. WHEN TO HOLD CHILDREN'S
MEETINGS.
1. IN SEASONS OF SPECIAL
REVIVAL INTEREST. No
revival is what it ought to
be if a great deal of
attention is not given to
the children, {299}
and much prayerful effort
put for the for their
conversion. Whatever other meetings
are held or
omitted in times of special
revival interest,
meetings for children should
not be omitted under
any circumstances. Every
pastor and evangelist
should lay to heart the
warning of our Master,
"Take heed that ye
despise not one of these little
ones" (Matthew 18:10).
2. AT SUMMER CONFERENCES. At
many summer
conferences a great deal of
attention is given to
the children, with the most
encouraging results;
at other summer conferences
the children are
almost altogether neglected.
3. AT SUMMER RESORTS.
Children are found in great
numbers at summer resorts.
Oftentimes they have
but little to do. It is
frequently a rare
opportunity to win them to
Christ if wisely
conducted meetings are held
for their benefit. In
England the services which
are held upon the beach
in summer have yielded
remarkably encouraging
results. The children gather
there in great
numbers.
4. REGULARLY EVERY WEEK.
About all that the
average church does for the
children is to have
the Sabbath School services,
and perhaps the
Junior Endeavor meeting.
This is not enough. There
should be regular
evangelistic services held for
the children every week,
especially in our city
churches. In Newman Hall's
church in London a
children's meeting was begun
which was conducted
every week for many years.
It began in the special
revival services for
children held by E. P.
Hammond in London years ago.
At one of these
regular weekly children's
meetings I was told that
a large share of the best
workers in the church at
that time had been
originally converted during the
revival services for
children, and I saw from
personal observation deep
interest among the
children still, and many
were being constantly led
to Christ.
III. HOW TO CONDUCT
CHILDREN'S MEETINGS.
1. THE FIRST MATTER OF
IMPORTANCE IS THE
ARRANGEMENT OF THE CHILDREN
WHEN THEY REACH THE
APPOINTED PLACE OF MEETING.
They should not be
allowed to huddle together
at will, but as they
come {300}
in the door should be met by
competent ushers, and seated
in classes of four or
five, with experienced
Christian workers at the
end of each class. There
should first be a class
of boys, then a class of
girls. This will do very
much toward preventing
disorder during the
meeting. The object of
having a teacher at the end
of the class is not merely
to keep order, but that
the teacher may deal
personally with the children
at the close of the service.
2. GREAT CARE SHOULD BE
BESTOWED UPON THE SINGING.
There should be a great deal
of singing, for
children love it, and the
hymns should be bright
and cheerful, and of a
character that the children
can understand. They should
be taught the hymns
verse by verse, and the
meaning of the words of
the hymn should be
explained. Hymns setting forth
God's love and the atoning
death of Christ should
be especially used. Children
enjoy singing the
same verse over and over
again more and more
heartily, under the conduct
of an enthusiastic
leader. In this way the
truth is deeply impressed
upon the heart, and will
probably never be
forgotten. A priest once
said to a lady manager of
an orphan asylum in
Brooklyn, that they did not
object to the religious
lessons which they gave
the children, but they did
object to the hymns
they taught them.
"For," said he, "when once they
have learned one of those
hymns, it is very
difficult for us to get them
to forget it."
3. PRAYER IS VERY IMPORTANT
IN THE CHILDREN'S
MEETING. The prayer should
be of such a character
that the children can understand
exactly what is
meant, and there should
often be prayers in which
the children follow the
leader sentence by
sentence as he prays. This
of course should not be
done formally, but the
children should be taught
the meaning of the prayer
and to offer it from the
heart. It is necessary to
teach children the
purpose of prayer and to
insist upon absolute
attention and reverence
while it is being offered.
4. THERE SHOULD BE A GOSPEL
SERMON WHICH THE
CHILDREN CAN UNDERSTAND. This sermon may contain
some of the profoundest
truths of the Gospel, but
these truths should be
expressed in words of which
the children know the
meaning.
(1) The sermon should be
short; children were not
made to {301}
sit still. A wise woman worker
once said, "A boy has
five hundred muscles to
wriggle with, and not one to
sit still with."
There are a few rare men and
women who can hold
the attention of children
for half an hour, or
even an hour, I have seen it
done; but for the
average speaker to attempt
to hold the attention
of children more than
fifteen or twenty minutes is
positive cruelty.
(2) The sermon should be
simple. This does not
mean that it should be
foolish, but the statements
should be of such a
character that the child takes
in their meaning at once.
There should be no long
or involved sentences; there
should be no
complicated figures of
speech. But one who would
preach to children must be
very careful about his
illustrations. If some of
our speakers to children
should question their
audiences afterwards as to
what they had said, they
would be astonished at
the remarkable idea which
the children had gained.
One should be very careful
to find out that the
children really understand
what he has said.
(3) The sermon should be
full of illustrations. We
do not mean that it should
be nothing but a
collection of stories; it
should be a definite
presentation of important
truth with clearly
stated points, but each one
of these points should
be illustrated so as to hold
the attention of the
child and fix it in its
mind.
(4) The sermon should
emphasize the following
great and fundamental
truths:
(a) That all men and women
and all children are
sinners, real sinners. Some
people think of
children as if they were
angels; they are not, but
sinners in the presence of a
Holy God, and in
their inmost heart they know
this themselves. I do
not know that I have ever
seen deeper conviction
than that which the Holy
Spirit has awakened in
the heart of a child.
(b) That Jesus died in our
place. The most
successful preachers to
children are those who
ring the changes on the
doctrine of substitution.
This truth should be
illustrated over and over
again in a great variety of
ways. It is wonderful
how children, whose minds
haven't been corrupted
by the errors of the day,
grasp the great saving
doctrine of the atonement.
(c) The need of a new heart.
Regeneration is a big
word, and a child will not
understand it, but a
child can understand what is
meant by a new heart.
Of course this will need
explanation. I once asked
a boy if he was saved, and
he replied that he was.
I {302} asked him if he
knew that he was, and he
said he did. I asked him how
he knew it, and he
said because he had had a
change of heart. I asked
him how he knew he had had a
change of heart. He
said, "The other night
when I was praying I felt a
pain here" (placing his
hand over his stomach).
The boy had heard about a
change of heart, and
really thought that it was
the change of the
location of the heart from
one part of the body to
another, and that the pain
he felt while praying
was occasioned by this
change in the location of
his heart. The boy really
had received a new
heart, as he showed by years
of devoted and active
Christian service, but he
had not understood the
language used by those who
spoke to him.
(d) That a new heart is
God's gift in Jesus
Christ.
5. AT THE CLOSE OF THE
SERVICE THE CHILDREN SHOULD
BE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO
DECIDE FOR CHRIST.
This opportunity may be
given by having them
stand, or hold up their
hands, or in any other way
the evangelist thinks wise;
but every experienced
worker knows that children
go in crowds, and that
if one child stands up other
children are likely
to follow, and one cannot
safely take it for
granted that every child who
stands up knows what
he is doing. It is well that
the call for an
expression be preceded by a
season of silent
prayer, and a very careful
explanation made to the
children what you propose to
do, and what you want
them to do. After a time of
silent prayer, and
also an explanation of what
you want them to do in
the time of silent prayer
(never forget that
children have to be taught
line upon line, precept
upon precept), go over your
instructions again and
again in different ways,
until you are satisfied
that you are understood.
6. _After the expression of
a desire to become a
Christian, there should be
prayer for the
children, and prayer in
which the children who
have taken the stand are
instructed to follow._
7. _When you are through
dealing with the children
in a body, have each teacher
deal with her own
class individually, making
as clear as possible
the way of life, and finding
out definitely
whether each child has
accepted Christ, or will
accept Christ._ {303}
Each child who professes
to accept Christ should be
prayed with
individually.
8. USE CHILDREN'S
TRACTS. Tracts can be secured
with attractive covers, that
the children will
like to get. Tell the
children beforehand that you
are going to give each one
who comes to the
meeting a tract. Children
will come a good way for
a bright tract. Be sure that
the tracts contain
the Gospel. Oftentimes it is
well to read the
tract to the children and
preach upon it before
you give it out, and then
have them take the tract
home, to fix the sermon in
their minds.
9. MANY FIND THE BLACKBOARD
VERY USEFUL IN
CHILDREN'S MEETINGS.
Children are oftentimes more
easily reached through the
eye than through the
ear, and words or sentences
written upon the board
are more deeply impressed
upon their hearts than
those that are merely
uttered to them. A few
people have the gift of
drawing well, but one can
use the blackboard to
advantage who cannot draw at
all. Children are gifted
with imagination, and if
you tell them what your
pictures are, they will
understand, and it will do
the work.
10. OBJECTS WHICH THE
CHILDREN CAN TOUCH OR EVEN
HANDLE, ARE VERY USEFUL AS
ILLUSTRATING THE TRUTH.
A person of any ingenuity
can draw many lessons
from a few candles and a
tumbler of water, a
magnet, and other objects
that are easily secured.
There are suggestive books
upon object teaching
for children.
11. THE USE OF THE
STEREOPTICON WILL ALWAYS DRAW A
CROWD OF CHILDREN. Children
never tire of
stereopticon pictures. If
you can get children
without the stereopticon,
there will oftentimes be
better results; for
sometimes the children will be
too much taken up with the
pictures, but if you
cannot get the children
without using it, get the
stereopticon. A bright
little girl whose father
uses a stereopticon a great
deal was taken to a
meeting for children where
it was used. After a
time she exclaimed, "I
wish papa would show us
more pictures and talk
less." Nevertheless
stereopticon services are
oftentimes followed with
abundant results in the
conversion of children as
well as adults. {304}
12. BE SURE TO BEAR IN MIND
THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH
CHILDREN'S MEETINGS ARE
HELD. They are not held
simply for the sake of
amusing children. It is a
poor use of time simply to
amuse people. They are
held, first, to convert the
children, to lead them
to a personal acceptance of
Jesus Christ as their
Savior, to surrender
themselves to Him as their
Lord and Master, and to
confess Him as their Lord
before the world. Second,
they are held in order
that the children may be
instructed in true
Christian living, and in the
fundamental truths of
the Gospel.
13. _If the work among the
children is to be
really successful and
produce permanent results,
our dependence must be upon
Bible truth, preached,
or sung, or personally
taught, in the power of the
Holy Spirit._
{305}
@16 CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ADVERTISING THE MEETINGS
I. IMPORTANCE.
It is of the utmost
importance that whatever
meetings are held they be
properly advertised.
Judicious advertising is
important for three
reasons:
1. BECAUSE IT GETS PEOPLE
OUT TO HEAR THE GOSPEL.
There is no hope of saving
people unless they hear
the Gospel, and they will
not come and hear it
unless they are informed
that it is being
preached. A mere general
notice will not arouse
their attention, but wise
advertising will. The
advertisement that gets a
man out to hear the
Gospel is just as important
in its place as the
sermon through which he hears
the Gospel. The
contempt in which some
people hold all advertising
is utterly irrational.
Experience demonstrates
that wise advertising has
very much to do with the
number of people who are
reached and converted by
the Gospel. I could tell
from personal experience
of many remarkable
conversions that have resulted
from judicious advertising.
2. ADVERTISING IS IMPORTANT
BECAUSE IT SETS PEOPLE
TO THINKING. It is of the
very highest importance
to get people to thinking
upon the subject of
religion. The very simple
reason why many people
are not converted is because
they give the subject
of the claims of Christ upon
them no attention
whatever. It never enters
their thoughts from one
day's end to another. But a
wise advertisement
will arrest their attention
and set them to
thinking. It may bring up
memories of childhood.
It reminds them that there
is a God. It tells them
that Jesus saves. Some
sentence in the
advertisement may follow
them for days, and result
in their conversion {306}
to Christ. Instances
could be multiplied of those
who have never gone
near the meeting advertised,
but have been set to
thinking and thus have been
brought to Christ.
3. IT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE
OF ITS DIRECT
CONVERTING POWER. Enough
Gospel can be put in a
single advertisement to
convert anybody who
notices it and will believe
it. On every
invitation card that goes
out from the church of
which the author is pastor
is placed some pointed
passage of Scripture, and
many are those who have
been won to Christ by the
power of the truth thus
set forth.
II. HOW TO ADVERTISE.
1. IN YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS
AIM TO REACH THE
NON-CHURCH-GOERS. The church
today is ministering
largely to those who are
already in attendance. A
church that is truly
Christian has the missionary
spirit, and its first aim is
to get hold of those
who do not go to hear the
Gospel. The church-goers
will hear the Gospel anyhow,
and our chief
responsibility in our
advertising work is to get
the ear of those who are
never found in the house
of God. Theatres and saloons
make every effort to
get the attention of those
who are not already
patrons. These institutions
do it in order to get
their money and destroy
their souls. How much more
should the church do it in
order to save them.
Stores, papers and magazines
offer special
inducements to those who are
not already their
patrons; the church of
Christ should do the same
for a far higher purpose.
2. AIM TO SET PEOPLE TO
THINKING. A commonplace
advertisement does very
little good, but an
advertisement so phrased as
to awaken the
attention of those who see
it and set them to
thinking, accomplishes great
good. Of course one
ought not to stoop to
anything which is in a true
sense undignified, or
grossly sensational, to
awaken attention; but an
advertisement may at the
same time have proper
dignity, and yet set forth
the truth in such a striking
way that even the
godless cannot help but
notice it. For example, a
sermon was announced upon
"A Converted Infidel's
Preaching." This part
of the advertisement was in
large black letters on a white
background. At
least one infidel came to
find out what this
infidel preached about. The
converted infidel was
Saul of {307}
Tarsus. What he preached about is
found in Acts 9:20. That
verse was the text of the
sermon. The infidel
mentioned was deeply impressed
and went to the inquiry
room, and two weeks after
looked me up and told me
that both he and his wife
had accepted Christ. Several
years before that a
sermon had been preached on
"A Bitter and
Brilliant Infidel
Converted." One of the leading
daily papers was deeply
interested as to who this
converted infidel was, and
sent for an outline of
the sermon. Of course it was
Saul of Tarsus, and
the sermon was printed
Monday with great letters
running clear across the top
of the page, "A
Bitter and Brilliant Infidel
Converted." Another
sermon was announced on the
subject, "Five Things
That No Man Can Do
Without." Tickets were
scattered all over the city
with the announcement
of the subject upon them.
Even the schools took it
up, and the teachers discussed
with their scholars
what were the five things
that no man could do
without. The sermon was
really a Bible Reading
upon such texts as
"Without holiness no man can
see the Lord,"
"Without faith it is impossible to
please him."
3. IN YOUR ADVERTISEMENTS,
MAKE MUCH USE OF THE
SCRIPTURE THAT WILL
CONVERT. There are many who
will read your
advertisements who will not go to
the church. Put enough
Scripture on the
advertisement to convert
them.
4. ADVERTISEMENTS OF
RELIGIOUS SERVICES SHOULD BE
WELL PRINTED. They should be
printed so they can
be readily seen, and so that
they will make an
impression upon the mind. It
is well oftentimes to
have them printed in such a
way that people will
like to keep them as
souvenirs, and thus they will
go on doing their work for a
long time.
5. USE BULLETIN BOARDS. (1) Every church should
have one or more large
bulletins standing out in
front of the church
constantly. On these
announcements should be made
of the services of
the church, regular or special,
from time to time.
Something should always be
upon the bulletin. The
notice should be constantly
changed so that people
will be looking for
something new. If there is no
special service to be
announced, a striking text
of Scripture can be put upon
the bulletin. It is
usually desirable to {308}
have these bulletins
on feet so that you can move
them from place to
place.
(2) There should also be
large bulletins in
conspicuous places
throughout the city, places
where many cars and people
pass. The announcements
upon these bulletins should
be in such large
letters that they can be
read easily by people in
cars or on foot as they go
by. One bulletin in a
good place is worth ten in
poor places. Make a
study of locations for your
bulletins.
(3) Secure wherever possible
the use of the
bulletin boards of theaters.
There are oftentimes
seasons of the year when the
theaters are closed,
and many theatrical
proprietors will be willing to
allow you the use of their
bulletins, if not free,
for a small compensation.
Just the class of people
you wish to reach will
notice advertisements on
these bulletins.
6. USE THE PUBLIC BILLBOARDS
OF THE CITY. This is
a very successful way of
advertising. Have your
notices larger and more
striking than those of
others. Do not have too many
words upon them, but
big letters that can be read
a block or more away.
A very small body of
Christians once used all the
bulletin boards of Chicago
with enormous notices,
stated in a very striking
way, about the coming of
Christ. There was no notice
at first as to where
their meetings were to be
held. Thousands of
people in the city wondered
what it all meant, and
who put these notices up.
The whole city was
talking about the meaning of
it. Reporters were
sent here and there to find
out who was back of
it. When the meetings were
held they were attended
by large audiences.
Unfortunately they had but
very little to give the
people when they got
there, but as an
advertisement it was a notable
success. Of course these
things cost money, but
they usually bring in more
than they cost. But
cost however much they may,
if they win souls for
Christ, it pays.
7. A LARGE VAN WITH
ADVERTISEMENTS ON ALL SIDES,
DRIVEN UP AND DOWN THE
THICKLY TRAVELED STREETS,
IS A VERY USEFUL AND
COMPARATIVELY INEXPENSIVE
FORM OF ADVERTISEMENT. In connection with
evangelistic meetings
recently held in Chicago a
van eighteen feet long and
ten feet high was
covered with black cloth, on
which {309} was
printed in white letters the
announcement of the
meetings and speaker. This
was driven up and down
the main thoroughfares and
read by thousands. Many
may say that this is
undignified, but it serves to
fill the church and bring
men to Christ. It is
better to sacrifice your
dignity and fill your
pews and save souls, than to
keep your dignity and
have an empty church and
allow men to go down to
hell.
8. TRANSPARENCIES ARE VERY
USEFUL AND INEXPENSIVE
AS A MEANS OF ADVERTISING
MEETINGS. A
transparency consisting of a
wooden frame, say
eighteen to twenty-four
inches in length, and
twelve inches high, with
white cloth around the
four sides on which are
printed in black letters
announcements of the
meetings, can be made by
almost anybody for a little
cost. To the wooden
bottom of the transparency,
tallow candles are
secured. When the candles
are lighted, and the
transparencies carried up
and down the street,
they will attract more
people than the most
artistic printed matter. The
novelty of the thing
is one of the strongest
points in its favor. As
many as possible of these
transparencies should be
sent out every evening.
Sometimes it is well to
organize the whole crowd of
transparency bearers
into a procession and send
them through the more
thickly populated part of
the city. They may be
laughed at, or even stoned,
but what matters that
if people are brought out to
hear the Gospel and
saved? I know personally of
three conversions in
two days from the
transparencies that were carried
up and down the streets of
Chicago.
9. _Cards twelve by eighteen
inches printed so
that they can be read from
the street are very
useful, not only for special
meetings, but to
announce the regular
services of the church or
mission, and all kinds of
special services._
These should be handed
around among the members of
the church, or mission
workers and their friends,
to hang up in their windows.
A man who placed one
of these cards in his window
sat behind the
curtain of another window
and watched results. It
seemed as though almost
every one who went by,
men, women and children of
all classes, stopped to
read the sign through. Good
is often accomplished
by placing a pointed text in
the window where
people will read it. Many
have been blessed by
these texts. People are very
ready to co-operate
in {310} this kind of work.
A single church
found several hundred
persons in its membership
who were willing to put
these cards in their
windows. When a large number
of cards are noticed
on different streets, they
at once awaken comment
on the part of the
passers-by. They wonder what is
going on, and go to the
church to find out. Still
larger cards, or better
still, bulletins that are
inexpensive, can be
furnished to such members of
the church as have stores.
These bulletins can be
placed out in front of the
stores. They can be
even used to advantage in
private houses, where
the houses stand in
conspicuous places.
10. BANNERS ACROSS THE
STREET ATTRACT ATTENTION.
These, however, are very
expensive, and should not
be used unless it is in a
place where very many
people pass.
11. ELEVATED CARS AND
SURFACE CARS CAN BE USED TO
ADVANTAGE FOR ADVERTISING
PURPOSES. We all know
how many people read the
advertisements that are
seen in the elevated and
other cars. This form of
advertising, however, is
very expensive, and if
the city has been well
placarded is unnecessary.
If the great billboards are
used all over the city
it is doubtful if anyone
will see the
advertisement elsewhere that
does not see it on
the billboards.
12. SMALL INVITATION CARDS
SHOULD BE USED WITHOUT
STINT. These should be
handed out on the street
corners, should be carried
into houses, saloons,
hotels, stores. It is well
for the pastor on
prayer-meeting night to have
a supply of these
tickets present, and before
the meeting closes
have them handed out to each
individual, urging
them to take them and give
them out. The same
method can be employed in
other meetings. Very
frequently when Mr. Moody
was not getting the
attendance at his services
that he desired, he
would have a large supply of
tickets at one
service, and have them
distributed among the
people to give out, and at
the very next service,
there would be a large
increase in attendance.
13. IT IS WELL SOMETIMES TO
TICKET A MEETING, AND
ALLOW NO ONE TO ENTER BEFORE
A CERTAIN TIME
WITHOUT A TICKET. This puts
a premium on admission
to the services, and people
believe that it is
something {311}
worth going to. Of course these
tickets should be free, but
people should be
obliged to take some trouble
to get them, to send
a stamped envelope or call
at a certain place to
get them. If you do ticket a
meeting, be sure to
keep faith with the people.
Never say no one will
be admitted up to a certain
hour without a ticket,
and then let people in
whether they have a ticket
or not. The people who have
taken the trouble to
get a ticket will justly
feel that they have been
outraged.
14. NO OTHER FORM OF
ADVERTISING IS AS GOOD AS
PERSONAL INVITATION.
Whatever else is done to
advertise the meetings, be
sure to get individuals
to talk about the meetings
to individuals, and to
urgently invite them to
come. There should be a
systematic canvass of the
entire neighborhood
where meetings are held. The
names and addresses
of all non-church goers
should be secured. Notices
should be sent again and
again to these non-church
goers. They should be
followed up by letters and
postals. These things cost
money, but these are
the methods that are used by
successful business
houses in building up their
business, and the
church of Christ can afford
to be no less active
and earnest than a business
house.
15. NEVER FORGET THE PAPERS
IN YOUR ADVERTISING.
(1) First of all MAKE AS
MUCH USE AS POSSIBLE OF
THE NEWS COLUMNS OF THE
PAPER. Most newspapers
are willing to assist to the
utmost of their
ability in pushing the work
of any church that
shows it is alive and
aggressive. If notices and
descriptions of meetings,
and outlines of sermons,
and other interesting matter
is sent to them, they
will publish it. They will
often send reporters to
the meeting if there is
anything worth reporting.
It is not fair to leave it
to the papers to find
out what is going on when it
is more our interest
than theirs that is in hand.
If you are not
satisfied with the reporting
of the newspapers by
their own people, usually
you can report the
meeting yourself and they
will accept your report
if it is readable. Of
course, if the newspapers
get the idea that a man is
trying to advertise
himself, they will despise and
ignore him, as they
ought to, but if it is a
legitimate making public
of the work that he is at,
the papers appreciate
it. Many ministers and
churches complain of {312}
not getting satisfactory
reports from the
newspapers, but they are
more to blame than the
newspapers. They think that
the newspapers ought
to know that they are alive
and important, but
newspaper men are very busy
men and cannot be
expected to know everything.
They abuse the
newspapers and then wonder
why the newspapers do
not support them.
(2) MAKE USE OF THE
ADVERTISING COLUMNS OF THE
NEWSPAPER. This should not
be done too generously,
as it is not necessary, but
an attractive
advertisement should now and
then be put in the
amusement column. I say in
the amusement column,
for that is the column read
by people looking for
some place to go, by
travelers and commercial men,
by the very class which the
church wishes to
reach, and oftentimes fails
to reach. A very large
church that we know, whose
audience used to fill
only one floor, advertised a
special evening
service with a special
subject, in the amusement
column of the paper. The
following Sunday evening
the church was filled
upstairs and down. There
were perhaps 800 or 1,000
extra people present.
The church kept up this special
advertising for
only a week or two, but the
church has kept full
from that day to this,
though more than five years
have passed.
16. IN YOUR ADVERTISING
NEVER FORGET GOD. All your
advertising will come to
absolutely nothing unless
God blesses it. His guidance
should be sought as
to how to advertise, and His
blessing upon the
advertisements that are sent
out. A minister of
the Gospel who found it
difficult to get men to go
out with the transparencies
finally decided to
carry them himself. As he
went down one of the
leading streets of the
neighborhood, he did not
enjoy the work, but he
prayed that God would bless
the transparency to the
conversion of some one.
The next night a man came to
another member of the
church and told him how he
had been brought out to
church by seeing the
transparency at a certain
point, and how he had been
converted. This other
member called the minister
who had carried the
transparency, and introduced
him. The minister
questioned him, and found
out that it was
undoubtedly by his
transparency this young man had
been attracted as he stood
upon the steps of a
hotel. Thus he found that
his prayer was answered.
A few evenings after another
young man told his
story, and he {313}
had evidently been converted
by means of the same
transparency as it was
carried back up another
street. God is willing to
bless everything we do, our
advertising as well as
our preaching, if we do it
to His honor and under
His guidance, and we should
look to Him to thus
definitely bless it.
{314}
@17 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CONDUCT OF FUNERALS
I. IMPORTANCE OF FUNERAL
SERVICES AS A MEANS OF
REACHING MEN WITH THE
GOSPEL.
Funerals offer an excellent
opportunity for
getting hold of people and
winning them to Christ.
Many will attend a funeral service
out of regard
for the deceased or his
family, who will not go to
any other religious service.
Atheists, skeptics,
and utterly irreligious
people, are often seen at
funeral services. It is a
time when peoples'
hearts are made tender by
sorrow, and when men are
solemnized by the presence
of death and the
nearness of eternity. He is
a poor minister of
Jesus Christ who does not
seize upon such an
opportunity for preaching
the Gospel and bringing
men to Christ. It was once
the writer's privilege
to conduct the funeral
services of a man who up to
a short time before his
death had been an out and
out infidel. His wife was of
another faith. A
little while before his
death I had pointed him to
Christ, and he had found forgiveness
of sins, and
had died rejoicing in the
Savior. As I stood by
his casket, many of his old
infidel friends were
gathered around him. The
opportunity was seized to
preach the Gospel. The
hearers were reminded of
the long-standing infidelity
of their friend, and
then of how his infidelity
had failed in the
trying hour, and how he had
found hope in Christ.
As the sermon closed, I made
an appeal to any who
would then and there accept
Christ as a Savior.
One man stepped forward, and
reaching his hand
across the coffin said,
"I have been an infidel
just as my friend who lies
here, but I will now
take Christ as my
Savior," and he gave me his hand
upon it then and there. The
wife of the man was
also converted and united
with our church and
became a very faithful
member. {315}
II. HOW TO CONDUCT A FUNERAL
SERVICE.
Very few directions are
needed as to the proper
conduct of a funeral
service. It should be
conducted very much as any
other Gospel service,
with a special reference of
course to the
circumstances.
1. IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE
WISELY SELECTED MUSIC,
RENDERED IN THE POWER OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT. One
needs to be careful in
regard to hymns sung at a
funeral service. Some hymns
that are supposed to
be especially choice for
such an occasion are
sentimental trash. Hymns
that are suitable for the
funeral of a Christian are
oftentimes not suitable
for the funeral of an
unconverted person. A good
soloist who can sing
effectively in the power of
the Holy Spirit is a great
help. A song properly
rendered at such a time is
likely to prove the
means of some one's
salvation. There is no place
where a godless singer is
more utterly out of
place than at a funeral, and
there is no place
where a consecrated singer
is more likely to be
used of God.
2. Great dependence should
be placed upon the
reading of the Word of God.
Passages should be
selected full of comfort for
the sorrowing, but
also passages that drive home to the minds of the
unsaved the lesson of the
occasion, namely, the
nearness of death and the
certainty of judgment.
The Scriptures should not be
read carelessly, but
with the purpose of
impressing their truth upon
the hearts of the hearers.
The presence and power
of the Holy Spirit is
greatly needed to this end.
3. THE PRAYER IS OF GREAT
IMPORTANCE. It should
not be, as funeral prayers
so often are, a mere
attempt to say nice things,
a smooth- flowing
current of really
meaningless words: it should be
a real prayer, and a prayer
of faith. There should
be petition to God for His
comfort to those who
are in affliction; there
should also be prayer
that the lesson of the hour
should not be
forgotten, and direct prayer
for the conversion of
the unsaved who are present.
4. GREAT WISDOM AND SKILL
ARE NECESSARY IN THE
SERMON OR ADDRESS. All
unwarranted eulogy of the
deceased should be
renounced {316} utterly. If
there have really been
things worthy of imitation
in the life of the one who
has departed, it is
well oftentimes to mention
these, but to do it not
for the sake of glorifying
the dead, but for the
sake of instructing the
living, and leading them
to the imitation in these
respects of the one who
has gone. If the one who
lies in the casket has
been beyond question a true
child of God, it is
well to call attention to
the fact, and emphasize
how it pays at such an hour
to have been a
Christian. It is well
sometimes to drive home the
thought, that if some of
those who were present
were in the casket instead
of the one who is
there, there would have been
no hope. There should
always be a direct appeal to
the unconverted to
accept Christ then and
there.
If the deceased was an
unsaved man, there need be
no personal reference to him
at all. Of course
there should be no
pronunciation of doom upon him,
but there should be a plain
declaration of the one
way of salvation through
Jesus Christ. This truth
should not be applied to the
deceased, but to
those who are still living.
They can draw their
own inferences as to the
application, but
experience proves that in
such an instance, if the
work has been wisely done,
the hearers will apply
the truth to themselves
instead of to the
departed.
If there have been any
special circumstances in
connection with the death,
these should be laid
hold of as a point of interest
that can be made to
lead up to the truth. For
example, if the deceased
was clearly a true child of
God, and some of the
friends are Roman Catholics,
it is well to
emphasize the truth, backing
it up well by
Scripture, that the deceased
has not gone to
purgatory, but has departed
to be with Christ. It
was once my privilege to
conduct the funeral of an
earnest Christian woman,
almost all of whose
relatives were Roman
Catholics. The church was
filled with Roman Catholics.
I made no reference
whatever directly to the
Roman Catholic church,
but dwelt at considerable
length upon the truth
that those who have been
saved by a living faith
in Jesus Christ pass into no
purgatory of torment,
but pass at once to be with
Christ. I did not use
the word
"purgatory." The Roman Catholic audience
listened with great
attention, and I have reason
to think that the sermon was
blessed of God. Of
course if direct reference
had been made to the
fact that the woman had
come {317} out of the
Roman Catholic Church and
become a Protestant
there would have been
trouble at once and no good
accomplished.
ALWAYS FOLLOW UP YOUR
FUNERALS BY VISITATION. When
you have been invited to
conduct the funeral
services of any person in a
home, you have a right
of entree into that home.
Use it to the utmost.
Take advantage of the
circumstances. Deal with the
people while their hearts
are still tender with
their great grief, and if
possible lead them to
the Savior. Many an
irreligious home has become a
Christian home because a
wise minister has
followed up the advantage
that has been given him
by his being invited to
conduct a funeral service
there.
{End of CDLF etext edition
of _Methods of
Christian Work_: _Book Two
of _How To Work For
Christ_ by R.A.Torrey.}
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