PROF. H. T. KEALING.
Church Problems
A RECITAL OF FACTS AND
A CALL FOR CORRECTION
By H. T. Kealing
Editor A. M. E. Review
Nashville, Tenn.
Nashville, Tenn.
A. M. E. SUNDAY SCHOOI, UNION
1910,
VESTIBULAR.
Written plainly and prayerfully, it is hoped this booklet may be read
with an open mind and weighed in a just balance. It is full time
preachers took account of their office as teachers, and the people faced
their obligations to render service, aside from their feelings.
Spiritual exaltation, or "getting happy," has so long been recognized
as the aim and reward of church attachment that sound doctrine
touching work, duty, faithfulness, reflection, brotherliness and
purity is sometimes timidly presented and sulkily received. To all
thus described, it is sufficient to say that Psalms lies between Job and
Proverbs—the one reciting life under trial; the other, calm instruction.
In each case where a problem has been set forth in this book, a sug¬
gested solution has been given; and therein is the value of these pages,
if value they have.
H. T. KEALING.
(3)
CHURCH PROBLEMS.
The Church as an institution has always had its problems;
as each is solved, new ones arise; nor can the moist hope¬
ful, if they be also thoughtful, look forward to a time when
adjustments will be so perfect that all problems and fric¬
tion will disappear and the Church stand forth placid, un-
vexed, in all things doers as well as hearers of the word.
This is so in the very nature of things. The plan of the
Church iis perfect and divine; it is let down from God out
of heaven; but men, the material upon which the Church is
to work, are full of defects, shortcomings, wilfulness and
headiness; and therein lies the cause of friction, lethargy,
malice and maladjustment.
Why should it cause surprise, then, when trouble comes
upon the Church as it seeks to save the rebellious or stir
the faithless? Many a human father, trying to draw his
erring son from the gambling table, is set upon and
wounded for his noble and natural solicitude, not because
he is at fault, but because his son is; and even when,
through courage and persistence, he does succeed in res¬
cuing his boy and housing him safely at home under
a promise to do better, there will come times when the
boy will shock his father by some uncouth word or
action learned in the former places of sinful resort; or,
worse still, there will be restless hours of spiritual relapse
(5)
6
Church Problems.
when the boy will break his vow and return to his vices,
needing a second rescue.
Exactly so is it with the Church of God in its work of
rescuing men from sin; as has been said, it is perfect in its
plan and purpose in going after the lost; but it is dealing
with a wicked and perverse generation that will bring con¬
fusion and variance occasionally into the household of God;
not because the spirit of the Church is at fault, but be¬
cause it has not yet fully won the spirits of its sons to per¬
fection. In fact, it is the holiness of the Church that brings
its problems. A human institution whotse rites, ceremonies
and practices give way and shape themselves to the angu¬
larities and deformities of the men who join it, can quickly
bring peace out of confusion by yielding the point at issue
to a majority vote. Not so the Church. It must stand with
one for righteousness against a thousand who oppose it.
There, "God and one are a majority." But such a
course is sure to breed confusion, throes and fears of dis¬
aster. Still, the Church is sent among sinful men, and
these, wholly or partly persuaded, are to form its earthly
membership, and that is all there is to it. Were the Church
on earth made up of angels, there would be peace, but no
conversions; grace, but no growth in grace; happiness, but
no helpfulness; singing, but no breaking down; praying, but
no repentance; preaching, but no confessing. But thank God,
instead, it is made up of men,—the communities' worst striv¬
ing to become better; the adulterer who loathes his past; the
liar who seeks to buy the truth and sell it not; the Zacche-
uises; the Magdalenes; the Sauls; the sorcerers; the lepers;
the Bartimeuses; the Samaritan women; the devil-possessed,
and the Iscariots of earth. And herein lie its glory ani
Church Problems.
7
its trials, its praise and its problems. These people are sin¬
ful, but they have come into the Church to thresh out the
way of salvation. They are, in much that they do, at
enmity with Christ, the Head of the Church; but they have
publicly laid down their iarms and all fighting is an after¬
thought. Better a thousand times is it to get for a
disciple a Simon Peter who will deny his Lord once and
weep bitterly for it afterwards, than it is to leave
him wholly to a life of swearing and denial; better
even a Judas within who will betray for money and
then, through the lash of a Ohurch-awakened conscience,
wish he were hanged, than a Judas who has never been near
the Master and has no remorse over dishonesty.
Here, then, we repeat, is the cause of our Church problems
—in the imperfection of those who make up its member¬
ship; and this, too, is the very cause and justification of the
Church in the world. More; it is the chief and only glory
of the Church that the sins and swash-bucklings of those
who constitute its numerical weight, have never been able
to isway or swamp its divine principles. In the day of Pop¬
ish wealth and pretension, it was the Church which rebuked
papal pride by silently pointing to Him who had not where
to lay His head; when permission to commit sin was sold
in the open market, it was the Church that vetoed indul¬
gences by sternly affirming that God does not look upon sin
with the least degree of allowance; when the bloody In¬
quisition taught hate and sought blood because men desired
to commune privately with God, without priestly interven¬
tion, the Church whispered, "Blessed are they which are
persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the king¬
dom of heaven;" when formalism was about to smother out
8
Church Problems.
vitalism in worship, it was the Church which declared that
circumcision availeth nothing, except it be of the heart;
when science and human learning sought by logic and ex¬
perimentation to test spiritual truth and experience, it was
the Church which taught that such things are hidden from
the wise (without experience) and revealed to babes and
sucklings (who have it).
Thus, in every case, friction by reason of the perversity,
pride or carnality of men in the Church has been abated by
the action of the unchanging and unmodified principles of
the Church, rebuking, correcting, restraining or inspiring,
as the need was.
ii.
THE CHURCH BRINGS CONFUSION.
It is not too much to say that a deal of the confusion and
inconsistency among men would never have been, except for
the Church. That was Christ's meaning when He declared
He came not to bring peace, but a sword. It is only
because of a high standard that men fall short; it is only
because of requirements to be righteous that men sin; it
is only because of the injunction to love all men that war
and selfishness and overreaching bring sorrow. In the
sense, then, that God forbids us to do as our sinful hearts
elect, the Church brings confusion and incites resistance.
Is it well, therefore, to withdraw the Church and its teach¬
ings from among men that they may have no condemnation
and no sense of sin ? A vessel on the high seas has struck
a rock and is sinking. The life boat is launched full of pas¬
sengers and sailors pull away from the wreck. The storm
finally abates and the passengers have time to study each
other. They are a motley crowd, some Jews, some Chinese,
Church Problems.
9
some Negroes, some Germans, some English and some
French. Worse still, some are refined and some coarse even
to vulgarity and filth, ,some quiet and some ceaselessly talka¬
tive, some friendly and some contemptuous, some devout
and some scoffing, some pure-minded and some vicious in
word and deed; in short, a most incongruous assemblage are
they. Soon quarrels break out, fights begin, the scurrilous
jest disturbs the devout prayer; some attempt to steal the
small stock of food and the strong begin to trespass upon the
rights of the weak. Finally, when food is gone and death
seems but a question of a few hours, a rescuing vessel is
sighted and they are all taken aboard. Then it is that each
selfish and quarrelsome one begins to feel the ishame of his
conduct, and seeks out those whom he has outraged and
abused and, with tears of deep contrition and regret, con¬
fesses his fault, asking forgiveness. Then what joy! what
fellowship! what peace there is for the rest of the voyage!
The Church of God is such a life-boat that is essaying
to save a motley crowd of sinking sinners, some apparently
too foul to be worthy; yet it takes all in, for are not all
equally under the Captain's care? There will surely be
quarrels, bickerings, murders, as they ride the stormy ways
of life's sea together, looking for a saving ship to land them
at their destination, their haven, or heaven. What shall be
done? Shall all the vile, the rough, the ignorant, the spite¬
ful and the isinful be cast overboard, or should they have
been left on the sinking ship to die? No one would say so.
Their lives are dear to them; they are entitled to just treat¬
ment. This rescue is not a social question; it is not an
aesthetic matter; not even a matter of convenience or con¬
geniality, else there would have been first class and second
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Church Problems.
class life boats provided. These people are entitled to a
chance of being saved because they are human beings, no
more, no less; and despite their disagreeableness of per¬
son or practice, when they are finally taken on board the
old ship of Zion to make the Other Shore, they will, in the
joy, the plenty and bounty of the new life, feel shame and
sorrow for their past faults and with tears and tender
hearts make the humble confession that marks a new spirit¬
ual birth into a higher humanity than they have ever known.
Thus, it is that the Church is justified in bearing with the
weak, that, through a fraternal forbearance, they may be
won to God and saved.
Besides, this is only ordinary wisdom. The world uses
the material it has, and there is an allowance in even the
most exact sciences for the imperfection of material. The
mariner corrects his compass according to the influences
that affect it; the carpenter knows that when he measures
off ten feet of plank, he must make allowance for the width
of the mark or line, though geometry tells him a line has
no width; the railroad builder must leave space between the
ends of the rails, in order to prevent spreading and an acci¬
dent, though these ispaces cause bumping; the civil engineer
provides for the swayings of vehicles and the wobbles of bad
drivers by making his roadway wider than the wagon to
pasis over it; the meteorologist knows the limits of mercury
in the thermometer, and hence sometimes substitutes alco¬
hol. In all activities, allowance is made for the imperfec¬
tion® of materials, and so the Church, to do its real work,
must provide for the shortcomings of its material, which
consists of men of all sorts and kinds.
Those, therefore, who believe the Church is failing be-
Church Problems.
11
cause its way is troubled, do not reason well; these things
belong to the material the Church works with, and are in¬
cidents to the development and refinement of human souls.
hi.
OLD AND NEW PROBLEMS.
I
The problems that confront the Church change their
character, at least outwardly, with the times. In Christ's
time it was a question of substituting faith and love for
types and shadows; in Paul's, of dealing with Grecian cul¬
ture and mythology; in the days of the early Fathers, with
the blood lust of the barbarians of Europe; in the Middle
Ages, with internal corruption and priestly immorality; in
the reign of Charles II., of England, it was vain pleasure
versus simple lives; to-day, it is commercial selfishness and
the indulgence of wealth versus the Golden Rule and the law
of Love. Of course, in each of these times, some of all of
these infidelities to Christ's teachings existed, but we men¬
tion those which for generality of practice in each age seem
to have been characteristic of it.
Since Luther's time there has arisen new problems in¬
cident to the multiplication of denominations and creeds,
involving not only the legitimacy of these creeds, but often
the fundamental question of the oneness of Christ's follow¬
ers. To this cause are to be traced some of the blackest
crimes of history, such as the massacre of St. Bartholomew's
Day and the persecution of Protestants in the Netherlands.
Most of the Church problems of those days were ques¬
tions of belief rather than of conduct, if we except ceremo¬
nial conduct. A broad distinction between the mooted mat¬
ters then and now may be described as being the stress now
placed upon life rather than on theology. Instead of a
12
Church Problems.
man's being consigned to hell now because he does not be¬
lieve he is drinking the actual blood of Christ when he com¬
munes, his ultimate destination after death is decided by
whether his life entitles him to take communion at all. It
is no longer a matter of peculiar or characteristic dress so
much as of consistent life. In other words, there is every
indication that religion is becoming more and more a spirit¬
ual thing, in which forms, though used, are considered more
and more as accidents and accessories. It is no longer the
cup, but the contents, that interests us.
Even in what may be called the exclusive churches be¬
cause they have denied to other beliefs the possibility of
ecclesiastical legitimacy or even post mortem salvation, such
as the Catholic, the Episcopal and the Baptist, there has
been such a softening of asperity that the possibility of
neutralizing a heresy by a life of love, uprightness and
useful activity, is admitted. Papal infallibility, Apostolic
succession, close communion and the election of the saints
are becoming more and more debating society subjects, with
little direct or conscious influence upon the fraternizing of
the different branches of God's Church, especially in the
face of a great national calamity or in the advancement of
social and civic excellence. It was a Catholic bishop who
not long ago wrote in approval of the world missionary
movement. It was an Episcopal rector who won the love
of all the people by minimizing Apostolic legitimacy to ex¬
alt a life hid with Christ in God. It was a Baptist minis¬
ter who rated the form of baptism as less than what it
typifies and invited all Christians to commune in his church.
And no Presbyterian will respond to a desire to set forth
the preposterous doctrine that some are fore-ordained to
Church Problems.
13
destruction from the beginning and that there are infants
in hell a span long. No; actual service, human sympathy,
loyalty to Jesus Christ are the slogans now, believe what you
may. With the Church to-day faith without works is in¬
deed dead.
The new Christianity, for it may be called so for want of
a better term, is best set forth in its meaning and work by
such organizations as the Christian Endeavor Society, the
Baptist Young People's Union, the Young Men's Christian
Association and the Student's Volunteer Movement, in which
little is said about doctrine, after allegiance to Jesus Christ,
a yearning for the Christ life and a desire to iserve others,
are asserted.
But with this new conception of what the work of the
Church is, have come new problems created by the very
superiority of the new thought. Many who could be zeal¬
ous in attending church to fight for a dogma in the past, fall
away now when the call is for a recital of Christian experi¬
ence instead. The old vestments feel more comfortable than
the new; it is iso much more exciting to crack the head of a
dissenter than to bind up the wounds of the man who fell
among thieves. Consequently, their pews are vacant. In
their estimation, when the minister ceases to "preach the
gospel" in order to meddle with the doings of men, that is
more than they can stand. They are for pure religion, not
applied. What they want is a learned discussion of such
vital questions as, Where did Cain get his wife? Who was
Melchizedec? Was Judas responsible for his betrayal of
Christ? Do men go to heaven at once or stop in an inter¬
mediate place after death? What is the unpardonable sin?
With the passing of these halcyon days have gone the
14
Church Problems.
pew-holders who enjoyed them. They are now mourners
over the decadence of the Church. But we need not be great¬
ly concerned over the fate of the Church in such cases. It
has been strengthened spiritually, though diminished nu¬
merically, by the absence of isuch Christians. The problem
presented here is simply the conversion of some former
church members who took their amusement in a church in¬
stead of in a club. To them religion has never been a real
thing guiding and glorifying their lives. It has been a toy, a
goissip center, a corner for Scriptural conundrums. It never
did strike in and become an answer to that deeply personal
question, What must I do to be saved ?
But there is another class who do attend church regularly,
especially in the mornings, who are there for respectability's
sake. Everybody else who is anybody and every stranger
in the city will be there, all the styles will be there and the
social announcements of the week are to be heard there; so,
of course, they must be there, and there they are, chamois
rag and all. Of course, it would be socially unpardonable
for these attendants to weep and streak their powdered fac¬
es, or show emotion and tickle their "swell" acquaintances;
so they sit and take in the situation. Poor clothes-bound
bodies and society-bound souls! They rejoice in using
the fires of gospel grace to freeze their souls, the church
machinery being to them a great spiritual ice plant where
their sense of sin evaporates and their love congeals! These
are a greater problem to the Church than the absentees; for
they hear and hear not, see and see not, and frequent ap¬
peal unheeded hardens their hearts, till the very sound of
the Gospel call to service becomes empty and meaningless.
Theirs is a dangerous state indeed.
Church Problems.
15
But let none lose heart, for there has never been a day in
the worst hit Church when the faithful remnant was not
there with the fires of Christian zeal burning in their
hearts, waiting, ready, anxious, and asking as for a favor,
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? These constitute the
Gideonic three hundred ready to lap water in dog-like haste
and informality that they may win the battle for the God of
their salvation. Every Church that has such a remnant
can be saved and can save others.
IV.
PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY.
Leaving now the problems created by the membership of
the Church as to spiritual things, let us turn to some others
affecting the unchurched, the young and the temporal pros¬
perity of pastor and people. Some of these problems, if
not all of them, belong to all the different denominations, but
it is the desire of the author that to each reader they should
have a specific and personal point so that there shall be no
aspect of glittering generality in this discussion.
Some of the problems we are to consider are traceable
directly to the laity of the church, some to the pastor, and
some belong jointly to both.
Doctrinal Ignorance.—This is a fault belonging espe¬
cially to the pews, though it is shared by many of our minis¬
ters also. Very few of the church members know what their
church believes. They take an obligation on joining which
supposes they do; not only, however, are they ignorant of
what they are called upon to express a belief in at the time,
but they never inform themselves afterwards. If there is any
justification for different denominations at all, we should ex¬
pect to find it mainly in their beliefs concerning the teachings
16
Church Problems.
of /the Bible and the theology growing out of them; but our
members know nothing of these things and do not feel called
upon to know. They leave such things to the preacher, and
he, if he is ignorant or uninformed, may stray as far from
the beliefs of his church as he pleases without rebuke, be¬
cause very few know when he is straying, as they themselves
do not know what is the approved belief.
Every member should, therefore, be instructed in the be¬
lief of his denomination. He should not be a Methodist
solely because his parents or friends are; but should, in ad¬
dition to such partiality, have a reason for the faith that is
in him. It is a species of falsehood to agree that you believe
in something you know nothing about, yet that is what you
do when you say you accept the doctrines of Methodism
without knowing what they are.
Nor is it meant that every church member should take a
course in theology to do this.
Doctrinal Thought.—There are certain cardinal points
in Methodism that every Methodist ought to know and these
can be acquired without becoming a theologian. For in¬
stance, the tripod upon which the Methodist Church stands
is the Bible, the Twenty-five Articles of Religion and the
Discipline of the Church; yet how many know them? It is
true there is a kind of second-hand knowledge of the Bible
and parts of the Discipline, but who knows anything about
the Twenty-five Articles, which are more the formal expres¬
sion of our doctrine than either of the others?
Doctrinal Practice.—Then there are certain acts grow¬
ing out of our doctrines which, while knowing, as we must,
we ought to be able to give a reason for when they are ques¬
tioned or ridiculed. Some of these are—
Chwrcln Problems.
17
(a) Receiving probationary members.
(b) Baptizing by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion.
(c) Baptizing infants.
(d) Holding class meetings.
(e) Open communion.
Is it not true that the average Methodist is brought to an
embarrassed silence when these, especially the first three,
are brought into question by non-believers ? Well, it should
not be so. There is a reason for each of these practices and
the humblest Methodist ought to be able to give it when
called upon—nothing less is intelligent denominationalism.
Again, to select a few other beliefs, Methodists believe in
Perfection, Sanctification, the possibility of Falling from
Grace and Heart-felt Religion, or the New Birth. How many
of them can give a reason for such faith? If there is a
reason (and you may depend upon it beliefs so old must
stand upon some reason), all ought to be familiar with it.
It is the more incumbent because these views are being con¬
stantly challenged by denominations composed of some of
the most intelligent, and frequently the young are won away
from uis by our muteness when we are called on to defend
our faith.
To overcome these points of ignorance in the body of our
membership, pastors ought to preach, at stated intervals,
doctrinal sermons, which, taken in series, will cover all
Methodist belief. If necessary, they ought also to lecture
in the class-meetings from week to week, and even take
some time at their official board meetings to prepare their
stewards and class leaders for instructing their members.
This instruction is more necessary in a Methodist Church
than in a Baptist, because a simple belief in immersion is
18
Church Problems.
considered sufficient to make a good working Baptist, while
Methodism is a much more highly organized and complex
organization, requiring more reason and spiritual insight to
grasp its body of doctrines which tend to minimize the form
and magnify the spirit.
v.
GETTING TO THE CORE.
The points to be corrected in the matter of laxity on the
part of church members are neither new nor numerous; their
importance lies in their weight and in their chronic char¬
acter. Let us now briefly consider some of them.
Bible Reading:—Much of the difficulty in getting the
people to link a Christian life to Christian profession lies
in the fact that our church membership does not read the
Bible. Few have Bibles accessible in their homes and still
fewer read them, rather depending upon the preacher's ser¬
mons and 'Scripture lessons for what they get of the Word of
God.
Yet upon J3ible truth depends all that there is in religion.
One who does not get God's message sometimes straight
from the Lord without the intervention of a third party, can
never feel the Father is in personal correspondence with
him; hence his religion will be the weakened reflection of an
object reflected from more than one mirror. Engravers
tell us they prefer an original photograph from which to
make a cut, as a cut from a cut is blurred and dim. So we
must get the image of God engraved in our hearts directly
from the portrait of Him in the Bible and not from a pul¬
pit image drawn from the Bible image, if we want clear im¬
pressions of His form and our relation to Him.
The hideousness of sin, the despicability of hypocrisy, the
Chvurch Problems.
19
danger of lethargy and the beauty of holiness must ever de¬
pend upon the Bible presentation of theise things rather than
man's comment upon what the Bible says. Men often ex¬
cuse
"the things they are inclined to,
And damn the ones they have no mind to;"
but God's Word never glosises over or avoids condemnation
of any sin, however popular. Adultery, fornication, lying,
stealing, murder, drunkenness, gluttony, selfishness, secta¬
rianism, truckling, cruelty, cheating—all these and the whole
category of unrighteous acts are called by their right names
and given the same unsparing lashing. Unlike the pastor
who often preaches about heaven because he sees so many
going to hell, and talks of the day when Jesus washed our
sins away, because he is afraid to tackle the need of a later
laundering right now, the Bible declares the whole counsel
of God. We shall never get "a whole Gospel" preached in
all the churches till we get it from the Bible readings, for
there is sometimes too much cowardice in the pulpit to risk
the collection by telling a truth that makes the people
angry because it fits them.
Nothing but a regular and systematic reading of the
Bible for ourselves will reveal the whole will of God con¬
cerning us and make of the Church a set of live and lively
Christians, keeping the whole law for conscience' sake.
To encourage Bible reading among the people, let the
preacher announce in advance some of the subjects upon
which he will preach, and give collateral passages from the
Bible to be read by the congregation—passages bearing upon
the history of the Biblical characters to be mentioned, the
customs of the times, and so on. At first, only a few people
20
Church Problems.
will respond; but as it comes to be understood that those who
read understand and enjoy the sermons better, the readers
will grow in number till the Church becomes a Bible reading
one and "dry" sermons will be a thing of the past.
General Religious Reading:—Every congregation
ought to be posted in current religious thought as found in
the most recent approved books, in its own church papers,
magazines and Sunday School comments. If a church will
keep posted from such sources, two good effects will be pro¬
duced : first, if the preacher is himself not a reading man,
he will find himself compelled to read to interest the people;
or, second, if he is a progressive man, the people will soon be
alive to everything he may incidentally mention in his ser¬
mons and lectures. In other words, general reading makes
a live church.
If it be objected that the people will not buy the books
and papers they ought, this difficulty can be overcome by
having a church reading room where it is understood that
all are expected to go to post themselves upon what the
world is thinking and saying upon religious and church
topics. See to it that your reading room contains no daily
newspapers bringing into the church the secular news, the
murders, the traffic and soul destroying items of every day
life. Have in it first of all your own denominational papers
and magazines; then one or two only of the best general re¬
ligious papers, like the Independent of New York, the
Christian Endeavor World, the Christian Herald, the Sunday
School Times and the Missionary Review. Then have a few
books on the Harmony of the Gospels, a Concordance, a Com¬
mentary, a Bible Dictionary, a Church Discipline, a Church
History, a good map or atlas of the Holy Land, Egypt, Asia
Church Problems.
21
Minor and Southern Europe (Rome and Greece), with such
other works as can be afforded, bearing upon religious sub¬
jects. Let the pastor, or some well prepared lay member,
occasionally go in and give an outline of the phase of re¬
ligious thought that is attracting the attention of the world
just then, allowing all to indulge in a little free discussion in
low tones so as not to disturb other persons. The result in
a few weeks will be marvelous. It will wake up any dead
church on earth.
VI.
THE TRYING QUESTION.
So far what has been said has had reference chiefly to
those who attend church, but now we take up matters re¬
lating to getting a better attendance.
To Increase Church Attendance:—This is generally
recognized as the hardest problem the pastor has to deal
with, because many Sunday counter attractions are drawing
from the Sunday services in all our churches. The com¬
plaint is quite general both as to denominations and places.
In former days, when we had no parks, base ball games, ex¬
cursions, secret society meetings and few buggies for taking
drives, the church was our one great social as well as re¬
ligious center. Everybody went to church because there
was no other place to go. Now it is different and the church
must set its drawing and attracting power against the com¬
petition of the world.
Some have sought to meet the issue by advertising woman
and boy preachers, by announcing odd and almost sacri¬
legious subjects, such as "Taking Supper in Hell," "Christ
and the Devil in Debate," etc.; others have resorted to such
devices as sermons in the dark, acting the scene of the
22
Church Problems.
Prodigal Son, and even going so far as to do away with
preaching altogether, to get the people out.
As to any and all of these things, in so far as they de¬
part from the proper and serious work of soul saving, they
are not to be recommended, for to attract men to the church
for other than religious purposes is to aggravate the evil
that we complain of; it is simply adopting the worship of
Baal to catch his worshipers, and what good results when
they are caught? An irreligious or a frivolous thing is
not made sacred by being done in a temple.
No; the cure is deeper; the issue must be squarely joined
as a fight between worship and amusement, and on that it
must be won or lost. As for sensational devices, those men¬
tioned and others, only one attitude can be taken—they are
to be condemned when they divert the mind from solemn
and sacred feeling, or when they substitute theatrical rea¬
sons for devotional ones.
Where it is a part of the policy or practice of a church
to ordain women and boys to the ministry and settle them
in the pastorate, it is not the province of this utterance to
object; but where a church refuses to institute such a regu¬
larly ordained ministry, their clerical services only draw the
curious and fun-seeking and are a positive harm. Nor is it
any justification to say that many of them can preach better
than the pastors, for so can many gamesters and saloon
habitues; so could some parrots, if they were trained to
preach, but who would feel like he had been worshiping
God because the parrot preached well? Do not misunder¬
stand ; there is no intention to reflect upon the sincerity or
purity of women or boys who preach; they may be and
doubtless are, some of them, equal in all moral respects to
Church Problems.
23
other preachers or Christians, but the question is, Should
we resort to them as a drawing card to fill >our chuches in
denominations that refuse to give them the orders of the
full clergy?
The same query in a sense applies to sermons in the dark:
Do they minister to a spirit of worship or of curiosity?
As for acting the story of the Prodigal Son, it is sufficient
to recite the result of such an effort recently made. While the
people were all assembled on a hill waiting the Prodigal's
arrival from "a far country," the father and the elder broth¬
er, becoming hungry, surreptitiously ate up the barbecued
meat that represented the "fatted calf," so that when the
Prodigal did come, hot and hungry (for it was August), and
found his dinner gone, he pounced upon the father and the
elder son, gave them both a good beating, and escaped double
quick to the swine husk country before the police could catch
him. Not much worship there. Had he been caught, the
ring would have been put on hiis leg rather than on his
finger. Such sensational makeshifts for worship can never
'solve the problem of securing regular attendance at church;
for, be it understood, they are adopting worldly and irrelig¬
ious methods to spiritualize the people—a manifest im¬
possibility. "What communion hath light with darkness?"
The only way to handle this matter successfully is to bring
back to the church the spirit of Godliness which so many
have lost. In the last analysis, the attendance will depend
upon the preacher and his supporting body of members.
He must be able to interest them by feeding their minds as
well as by 'stirring their emotions. Then his members must
be taught that it is as much their duty to fill the church as it
is the pastor's. (1) The preacher should make himself
24
Church Problems.
known in the community outside of his denomination; he
should attend public meetings besides his own and always
be ready to say a helpful and thoughtful word to the people
who may be strangers to him. Some of these will want to
hear him again and will be found in his church the follow¬
ing Sunday.
(2) Let him also meet the workers and business men at
their duties and show them by kindly words that he has
sympathy for them in their every-day problems.
"You go and isee Rev. B ; if anybody can help you, he
can," said a business man to me recently; and the man he
sent me to was pastor of a different church from his own,
too. (3) Impress the members with their own duty to
take their friends to church and not to the park on Sunday.
(4) Learn your own members by name and show them
when you meet them that you know when they are absent
from service; also let them understand that each one is
expected to have a istranger in the pew beside him every
Sunday, if possible. (5) Encourage the regular attendants of
your church to write the names of strangers on cards and
hand them to the pastor during collection, when the pastor
sihould invite them to remain and shake his hand after serv¬
ice. (6) Also train the church officers to approach stran¬
gers and express pleasure at their presence.
It seems incredible, but churches do exist where the mem¬
bers seem to resent the presence of strangers. In a cer¬
tain city, the writer went to a strange church and was
twice rudely invited to get up with the statement, "You are
in my seat." The last time he went out altogether. It is
not necessary to say that such a church is apt to have va¬
cant seats.
Chwrch Problems.
25
(7) Have something new to preach about—not a new
Gospel, but new things about the old Gospel. Make the
people want to hear what you are going to say. (8) Have
courage to condemn the wrong, no matter if the head stew¬
ard is guilty. The people respect a brave preacher who
loves them too well to skulk when popular sins are up for
discussion.
VII.
TIME AND SOME OTHER THINGS.
We are now to consider a defect in pastoral administra¬
tion which is so general as almost to be hallowed by age and
common consent, yet it is one of the most serious we have to
discuss.
Beginning on Time:—Failing to begin on time is one
of the most common and chronic faults of our churches.
For this the minister is more to blame than the people, be¬
cause he is their leader and trainer and ought not to let them
lead him in wrong directions. Not to appreciate the value
of time is a very serious fault. No foreman of a factory
or business house could hold his position ten minutes, if
he could not get has men to work exactly on time; for time
loss is money loss. No church has a right to make me lose
time because I am on time; in other words, if I am to have
to set everybody back who has any engagement with me be¬
cause the church sets me back, it will often be better for
me to stay away from church. Thus we see that prompt¬
ness in beginning services will increase church attendance.
Some one may object that where people work for others,
they cannot get to church on time. That is a mistake.
They may not get to church at the usual hour set for others,
but why not fix an hour suitable to their employment and
begin on it? The objection to setting one hour and be-
26
Church Problems.
ginning another is, as hais been said, first, that it makes
others who take you to mean what you say, lose valuable
time; and, secondly, that the church is not training the
people—the very thing it is for. Remember the force of a
habit. Late in one thing, late in all. He who wastes
time cannot save money. Time is preparation for eternity.
Ending on Time :—Next to beginning on time is ending
on time. When an audience has gathered, don't forget
that it has only so much time planned to give for service.
Not only dinner, but sick visitations, care of children, other
services and many other things are thrown out of gear
by holding church over-time.
Sometimes that very thing makes a man's first visit,
his last. Just because you are long-winded and enjoy
holding ,the morning service till half past one or two in the
afternoon, or the evening service till eleven at night, is
certainly no indication that the audience enjoys it also. The
best sign of a well organized and regulated church is a def¬
inite time to begin, a definite time to continue and a definite
time to end. If you do not have these, then you must
take what you can get for a congregation and take them
when you can get them—always the sign of a poor church.
If you begin :at 11 a. m. and preach not longer than forty
minutes, closing services at 12.30 noon, you will have good
congregations when other churches are nearly empty, es¬
pecially if you have something to preach to the people,
when they do come. It is an infallible recipe.
We expect railroads to have a time schedule and run by
it; no less should the Gospel train run by a time card.
Notice how particular the United Christian Endeavor
Society is to hold just one hour. People have learned that
Church Problems.
27
if they have just one hour to give, that just one hour will
be required, and 0 what warm, high pressure meetings they
do have!
Reading Promiscuous Notices:—Not only does this
lengthen the services, but it tends to make the church a
kind of Devil's auction block to cry out all kinds of wares,
some of them opposed to the teachings of the church and
some of them actually opposed to good morals.
Festivals, fairs, excursions, water-melon feasts, 'possum
suppers, socials which are really dances and card parties,
moving pictures and what not are all reeled off with pain¬
ful impartiality from the pulpit. A well-ordered church
announces the regular and extra meetings, the meetings of
church auxiliaries and such social affairs as are under con¬
trol of the church, occasionally a noted lecture and matters
clearly for the good of the public, and then stops. It is a
fair presumption that what the preacher announces, he en¬
dorses and it is a good rule to go by, too. Then, again,
what announcements are to be made, should be before, not
after, the sermon.
The first aim of the church is to leave a spiritual im¬
pression and this can only be done by making the sermon
the last word. To preach an effective discourse on the
Crucifixion and then crack jokes about the man who out¬
ran a ghost, will hardly help to bring on a revival; no more
will the announcement of a 'possum supper after the cele¬
bration of the Lord's Supper leave a very reverential feeling
with the dismissed people.
If circumstances are such that promiscuous notices must
be handled, have a bulletin board at the entrance to the
building and call attention to it.
28
Church Problems.
VIII.
MONEY AND SOME OTHER THINGS.
Now we come to the temporal economy of the church as
represented in its money affairs. The church must have
money; how shall it get it? If there are right and wrong
ways, what are they?
Collections and Money Matters:—Here, perhaps, we
touch upon the most demoralizing practice of all. We
probably get more money and lose more grace by our dis¬
orderly way of raising the regular collections than in any
other thing we do. Coming after all the religious exercises,
including the sermon, which may have been a masterly de¬
liverance, full of the Holy Ghost, we enter, like a plunge
from a warm to a cold bath, upon the money raising for
the day.
A rollicking march time song is what we like best and
in the midst of loud exhortations from the preacher and
the stewards to come right on now and help out, we rise from
our seats, adjust our skirts, fall into line in the aisle and
sail away, chattering, laughing and beckoning, to help out
the jolly parade which means twenty people to the dollar,
or a nickle apiece; sometimes, three for a dime. During
this time general visiting is going on, every-day affairs are
talked over, engagements for the week made and a general
social all over the church is in progress. Those whose eyes
were dimmed with the tears of tender thought as they lis¬
tened to the touching sermon are now almost convulsed with
laughter as they tell or listen to a "good thing;" those who
recently gave their hands to the minister, asking for pray¬
ers, now find that their case is not a serious one after all,
and so ends the impression. And then, when it is all a little
quiet, we are told by the preacher, who is now so funny that
Church Problems.
29
every time he slaps his hands for order, we listen expecting
another joke, that he will not let us go till we give him just
fifteen cents more to make even money.
Lots of fun at collection time; the only time to show and
see the new dresses; only five cents in hand and right of way
up the aisle and you are qualified; lots of fun at collection,
we repeat; but what of the religious impression? You got
the money, but didn't you lose something ?
It is not necessary to do all this. Just as the, people were
trained into it, they can be trained out of it. Let us never
forget that order is heaven's first law, and that the minister
is sent, not to conform to what hurts, but to transform, to
reform. We have some churches which do not take the old
time table collection which we have just described; large
churches, too; yet they get as much money as the others.
You say the people will not give unless you let them parade.
Why? Because they want to show themselves. Then by
your own confession you are encouraging wrong, for they
are giving from a weak and sinful motive, instead of for
the support of the Gospel and as a duty. It is the business
of the pulpit to train the people out of this. Again, just
such practices are what make our young people who have
been away to school and seen the different ways of the Pres¬
byterian and Congregational churches, finally leave our
church and join these. There is no use to quarrel about
it; it is impossible to train the young to love order and
orderliness and then whip them into line for disorder and
confusion by fussing about their disloyalty. It is not dis¬
loyalty, but incompatibility.
Of course, the people must be trained gradually; no one
expects a great change to be made in a day or even a year;
30
Church Problems.
but the sad thing too often is, it is not being even attempted
in most places. Meantime, the young people are slipping
away.
To show the possibility of raising money properly, we beg
to be particular in our mention of Bethel Church, Chicago.
At one time it was said that this immense congregation
would not give money unless the people were allowed to
parade to the (table, but the last time we were there, the
morning collection was taken up by ushers in baskets and
it was as large as the usual collection the old way—about
$40.00, as we remember it. It is all in the training.
Begin the reform by showing kindly the effect upon the
services and upon trained people of the usual noisy table
collection. (Jet the consent of the people to give in the
better way for duty's sake, and not for show. They will
respond if the preacher is wise and patient. The great
trouble is, under our itinerant system, that a progressive
minister may be succeeded by a non-progressive who will
insist on going back to the old way. The remedy for this is
to have the lesson taught to all the preachers in ithe Annual
Conference by the Bishop in his morning talks, till all learn
the lesson and it becomes the uniform and approved method
of the whole church.
But where the Bishop is himself against it? Then, you'll
have to wait for a new Bishop.
Rallies and Special Collections.—These are different,
of course, from the regular collections for current expenses,
and must be given special mention. Money to pay old debts,
to build new churches, to repair old ones, to buy organs, etc.,
is usually raised by organizing the church into clubs and
assessing each a certain sum. Here again the greatest
Church Problems.
31
success is had by impressing the duty of members to do
their part. While it is usually necessary to have social
occasions to raise it, we should be careful to allow or en¬
dorse nothing that compromises the holy character of the
church, and barters respect for gold.
Competition is so keen and the struggle so great some¬
times where there are too many churches for the popula¬
tion, that they have been known to countenance dancing,
card-parties and wine drinking to raise funds. It is hardly
necessary -to say that for God's glory it is better for such
churches to go down than to succeed.
Excursions where drinking, dancing, card playing, spoon¬
ing and dark corner conversations go on unhindered and
young girls are besieged by old reprobates for their com¬
pany and a kiss are more the devices of hell when the church
conducts them than under any other control; and no mother
ought to be a party to her daughter's downfall by allowing
her to attend one. The practice also of allowing girls to
beg on punch cards or in little boxes, barrels and eggs, is
a bad one, for they are likely to be insulted by some ruffian
to whom, in their innocence, they apply. Nothing that hurts
or exposes a single girl is good for the church, no matter how
much money is raised thereby. If there must be such beg¬
ging, let the old sheep who "know the road" go out. Noth¬
ing can hurt some of them.
The very best way to raise money for any of the purposes
necessary is to make up a budget, just as a government does,
of the amount needed to run the church, including both the
ordinary and extra expenses; then make an estimate, based
on past records, of the amount reasonably to be expected
from regular collections; after deducting this from the total,
32
Church Problems.
divide the remainder by the number of active members, and
you will have the sum each member ought to pay or raise.
For instance, suppose the amount needed to pay all running
and extra expenses for 1911 is $8,000 and that the usual
collections amount to $2,000 a year. That leaves $6,000
still to be raised. If the active membership is 300, that
means that each member ought to pay or raise during the
year, in addition to collections on Sunday, $20.00. This as¬
sessment raised, there would be no need of the numerous
entertainments which take iso much time, worry and money
that the membership is really taxed twice as much, while the
church gets only half as much.
Using the Full Strength op the Church :—Few pas¬
tors count on all of their members working and they usually
find what they expect. Why not expect, as Lord Nelson
said England did, "Every man to do his duty?" Go after
the droneis, the grumbling and lazy members by putting
them at the head of something. Let them be set out in the
open where people can see them, and you will be surprised to
find how much they will do. It is nothing more than the
old story of focusing public gaze upon a man till his self-
respect overcomes his laziness and he moves. Organize the
church into this and that kind of band or auxiliary, taking
care to put each person where he or she will feel responsi¬
bility, and you will increase the working power of your
church 50 per cent. It is far better to put a useless old
member to work than it is to take in a new one. If you
can't keep busy those you have, why do you want more?
Our most successful pastors will tell you that the secret is
to make even the humblest member feel that he is important.
To handle men, one must understand human nature. Keep
Church Problems.
<23
tab on your members by having a faithful record kept of
each one's activities and let him feel that you know what he
is doing; it will spur him up as nothing else will.
IX.
HANDLING THE YOUNG.
However excellent the older membership may be, unless
there is attachment on the part of the young, the church
cannot grow. Therefore, the great problem is to hold the
young. Some try to do thiis by scolding, but they need to
know that religious vinegar is no better for catching human
flies than the other kind is for catching diptera. Just as
our homes must be made bright and happy, so must our
church homes be before we can see the young joyously and
numerously going up to the house of the Lord.
How to Hold Your Young People:—Use them and
amuse them. By that is meant that provision must be
made for the social yearnings of the young. Whether the
old folks like it or not, youth seeks more pleasure than age
does, and if we try to miake it sit in the Amen corner with
us all the week, the Devil will have a recruit in a short while.
Young people ought to have fun, they ought to be allowed to
laugh and skip and play at innocent games, and what is
more, they will do it. How much more sensible, then,
for the church to provide for their innocent enjoyment,
under its own eye, than to drive them out to be tempted of
the Devil?
It is absolutely necessary to arrange for young Christians
to have what they call "a good time," by providing young
peoples' societies like the Christian Endeavor or Epworth
League where they may meet and play as well as meet and
pray.
34
Church Problems.
Those who live so far in the past that it is a sin to laugh,
must expect to lose their young people. The church can well
afford to serve free refreshments to the young occasionally,
letting them feel that they are cared for and thought of, as
truly as their parents are. Failure to do this, as much as
anything else, is causing our children to go towards the
Episcopal and Catholic churches, which, say what you will,
look out for their young. It is not necessary to have dan¬
cing and card playing to do this either. In fact, nothing but
other forms of amusement can overcome the dancing and
card playing evil. To stop the consumption of tainted food,
provide sound victuals. That is a far better remedy than
a dry lecture on ptomaines. It is morally as true as it is
physically.
Make much of your young peoples' senior and junior or¬
ganizations, then; throw your soul into the A. C. E. League
and see the young people throw their strong, vigorous ac¬
tive lives into the church work, while, like a magnet, they
draw still others into the fold. Don't be afraid to spend a
few dollars to give them free ice cream once in awhile. You
are only paying a small interest on what they give to you
by their contributions to the weekly collection.
A rule in farming is that the farmer who takes all off and
puts nothing back on the land, will soon have a worn out
farm. Apply this rule to the soil you are cultivating in
God's vineyard and you will see at once that you owe your
young people something. Pay up.
You will notice that the Church was the last organized
body among men to take into account that "all work and
no play makes Jack a dull boy." Factories have long had
their weekly half-holidays; schools and colleges, their ath¬
letic associations; intellectual societies, their gymnasiums.
Church Problems.
C5
Only in comparatively recent times has the church included
a place in religious life for the lighter moods of its young;
and even now very little consideration is given to it in our
colored congregations. The greatest opposition to it is found
among the older people, who cannot understand that the way
they came is not the only way. But somebody must keep the
church abreast of the advancement seen in other depart¬
ments of life, even though some think it all heresy.
Starting With the Sabbath School.—Children trained
in the church are apt to be loyal. They acquire the habit of
attendance and this continues through life, if the proper
interest has been aroused. This arousing of an abiding
interest in the church through Sunday School training de¬
pends, first of all, upon the competency of the preacher*
to act as a referee in biblical matters, and his constancy in
attendance every Sunday. Once let the idea prevail that
the pastor does not care much for the Sabbath School, as it
will if he stays away; or comes in only to hurry the exer¬
cises through to make way for church services, and the
foundation is laid in the child's mind for wishing to stay
away also, a thing which he will certainly do when he gets
larger. A youth thus lost to the Sabbath School is usually
lost to the church also.
Secondly, the interest of the pupil is dependent upon the
ability of the superintendent and the teachers to keep
things lively. Slow singing, dry praying, and stilted talk¬
ing will kill any school. Charts; pictures; stories; new
songs, quick, bright and snappy; noted visitors, and dozens
of original devices ought to be used to keep the children
anxious to be present every Sunday. The teachers ought
36
Church Problems.
to know the lessons themselves through and through, so
that the truths are made to live in the little minds.
Nothing is quite so pitiable as a teacher who cannot say a
word or ask a question without bending his eye upon the
quarterly to find both question and answer. If that is all
there is to teaching, the child can take his quarterly home
and look up question and answer without going to Sunday
School at all.
If one has ever been into the great Sunday School at
Bethany Church, Philadelphia, presided over by John
Wanamaker, and seen the intense interest, the wide Bible
knowledge and the keen attention displayed, he has obtained
a revelation on what a real Sunday School means. Nearly
all of these children graduate into regular church-goers as
they grow up. It ought to be so in all of our chuches; and
it can be with the preacher, the superintendent and the
teachers working in loving unison, first in the weekly teach¬
ers' meeting and, secondly, in the School itself.
One pastor in Texas built up the largest Sunday School
in his town by giving a little piece of candy to every small
boy and girl he met, accompanied by an invitation to at¬
tend his School the next Sabbath; they flocked there in
large numbers. Even the bootblacks hurried through with
their Sunday morning "shines" to be present. Such methods
will be criticised by some, but after all, the criticism hangs
not so much on the kind of bait used, as it does on the value
of the instruction given after the children were drawn. If
a man knows of a better method, he should use it; but if
he has no method and cannot fill his own school, he ought
not to act the high critic upon those who get results by
methods which seem to him trivial, if they are not positively
wrong.
Church Problems.
37
X.
USES OF THE CHURCH (BUILDING).
There is a very general practice of using the church for
all kinds of entertainments; but occasionally we find pastors
and congregations who object to the practice. They argue
that the place where the eternal interests of the soul are
looked after; where our fathers and mothers are joined to¬
gether; where our children are baptized; where our souls
yield to the gentle persuasion of the Master; and where our
beloved dead are consigned to mother earth after life's fitful
fever is over—that this place should at no time be given over
to the frivolous joke, the selfish barter of goods, the swagger
of self-importance, the guffaw of impious laughter, the
eating of ice cream, the litter of peanuts, and the
shouts of games. They are right. The law of asocia-
tion makes those places sacred which are used for sacred
things. One can never feel that the Lord dwells in an
auditorium which Satan can rent when he wants it. When
our minds run back to the tender things of the past, they
are jarred, to say the least, by the remembrance of some
inconsistent or incongruous occurrence. Therefore, the place
where we listen to preaching and where we pray and sing
praise, should not be marred in our memories by thoughts of
worldly amusement.
The basement of the church may be used for secular
purposes, but the main auditorium ought not to be. Where
there is no basement, a hall may be used. But, you say, if
there is neither basement nor hall available? The answer
is a question: If there is no right way to do a thing, what
should we do?
38
Church Problems.
Allowable Uses Besides Preaching.—There are meet¬
ings which, while not religious nominally, are really in¬
tended for the moral uplift of the people. Such meetings are
lectures intended to instill high purpose, inspire hope and
give useful information. Temperance meetings, all kinds
of Christian organizations and gatherings to consider great
sanitary and hygienic questions, such as the prevention of
tuberculosis, are ;so intimately related to the moral, as well
as the physical well-being of the people that they are also
permissible. The point is, not the specific meeting, but the
purpose of the meeting. Like all other questions, this must
be decided by the candor and commonsense of the officiary.
Jesus Christ very well established the principle when he
drove out the money-changers from the temple, but took
part in a discussion of the law therein, and declared for
healing the people on the Sabbath day.
The Institutional Church:—This may be defined to
be a church wherein, besides religious worship, are con¬
ducted such other activities and recreations as, under re¬
strictions, are helpful to the community, but which have
heretofore been given over to secular or anti-religious
bodies. These activities include lectures, schools, day and
night, nurseries, dispensaries, athletics, music, art and civic
study.
This kind of church cannot yet be said to have gone be¬
yond the experimental stage, for it has been found difficult
to prevent the institutional features from dwarfing the de¬
votional. It seeks to operate, of course, on the theory that
to religionize the secular and recreational pursuits of men
is to offset the selfishness and sin of the saloon, the pool¬
room, and the club; but as a fact, too often it is found that
Church Problems.
39
instead of the visitors being drawn away from sinful or
frivolous association, they draw some of the church away
from the weightier things and tend to make the church it¬
self a club.
The Institutional church is a good thing when we have
learned to handle it and not let it handle us. In time, we
shall learn how to unite the needs of body and soul in our
church ministrations so that hungry and lonely men may
not only be fed and given companionship, but also be
preached to iand converted.
Should the Church Be Locked?:—Catholic churches
are never locked; they are open to any one who wishes to
turn in awhile to meditate and pray; and while some may
object to our turning to that church for lessons to Protest¬
antism, we thoroughly believe the practice is a good one.
Where else can the stranger go to weep, to pray, to pour
out a surcharged heart, or to seek Divine help in the midst
of the struggling self-seeking crowds of the city, but to
the church? He tries the door; it is locked; Satan seems
to whisper, "Go into that saloon over there; it is always
open; they will be glad to see you, and will give you some¬
thing to brace you up." Is it strange that at last he enters
there ?
The objection is sometimes made that vandals may steal
or injure the belongings of the church, if it is left open on
week-days. But, as was just said, the Catholics do it with
seldom any complaint of vandalism. There is not much
to steal in a Protestant church except Bibles and hymn-
books, and in most of them very few of those. It might
not be a bad thing if a few Bibles were taken. The story
goes that a man was once converted by reading a Bible he
40
Church Problems.
had stolen. But there is little danger of stealing in such
cases. It is more likely that the real reason we lock our
churches up is because the janitor does not want to be
bothered cleaning up after the people during the week.
Surely that is not a sufficient reason for locking God's house
against one of his children.
Let the church be open so that men may "dwell in the
house of the Lord." We sing,
"The happy gates of Gospel grace,
Stand open night and day."
Let the figure be a fact; let the hospitality of God's house
equal that of man's, where the string of the latch is always
on the outside for those who would enter as friends.
XI.
MAKING CONVERSION HARD.
What do you mean when you tell a sinner to give his
heart to God? What is being born again? What is meant
by having one's sins washed away?
These questions become very pertinent when we consider
that thousands are kept from accepting the Saviour be¬
cause they do not understand them, and that comparatively
few of our preachers try to explain them. It should not be
forgotten that they are all figures of speech which are not
to be taken literally, and unless one understands how to
translate them into literal speech, they mean absolutely
nothing. What is understood by a new heart? Certainly
not a new thumping, beating fleshy muscle suspended in
the left breast to supply blood to the body. Yet, so long
has the impression been used untranslated that some think
a "change of heart" has something to do with this muscle;
Church Problems.
41
and if you take this meaning from them, then the ex¬
pression loses all significance, and they drop the phrase
as a meaningless statement used as a part of the preacher's
stock in trade.
We speak of loving a person with the whole heart; of
being broken-hearted; of a wicked heart; of a tender heart,
and so on, till it is not strange that we actually come to be¬
lieve, either consciously or subconsciously, that in the heart
lies the seat of the affections, of likes and dislikes. It is a
great mistake, and comes down to us from the ancients who
believed that the stomach and the heart were where all the
emotions resided. Doubtless, they got the idea from the
fact that anything out of the ordinary or expected caused
the heart to palpitate and act abnormally; or they noted
that the action of the stomach was retarded or hastened by
these unusual occurrences They, therefore, noticing the
effect of excitement upon these organs made the mistake
of substituting the effect for the cause. It is not the quick¬
ening ,of the heart that produces love, for instance, as the
ancients thought; but love that causes the heart to quicken.
One might as well believe the raising of the hair causes a
man to be afraid, or the wrinkling of the face causes
sorrow.
All thought, all feeling, all emotion is in the mind. With¬
out the mind, there is no sentiment, no sensation. This is
as true of learning to love God as it is of learning to com¬
prehend a mathematical truth.
It must follow, then, that conversion is purely an act of
the mind; it is first intellectual, then emotional; and for
one to be converted, he must decide to change. This is
isimply an act of the will. Like other decisions, it may
42
Church Problems.
produce deep emotion, or there may be only the quiet satis¬
faction that comes from feeling that one has made a wise
decision. It is not true, and here is where we mislead the
seeker after Christ,that all converts have a sudden or instan¬
taneous rush of incontrolable joy in accepting Christ. Some
have, and some have not. A person's temperament counts
here as in all other things he does or feels,
One may be converted as quietly and as easily as
he may make any other decision; or he may be so over¬
whelmed at the vast import of his act that he cannot con¬
trol his feelings at all. But what right has one man to in¬
sist that another is not saved because they act differently?
My neighbor might just as reasonably insist that I am
not clothed because my suit is not cut to fit him; or he
might just as truly claim that the same tailor did not make
both suits because they are of a different pattern. Judge
not. Let God decide the question of sincerity. It is ours
to issue the call and register the response, leaving God to
divide the called from the chosen.
The Old Doubting Thomases :—Many of our preachers
really agree to the soundness of the position here taken,
but because of the unbelief of the older members of the
church and their slighting remarks when a person professes
conversion without shouting, or at least making some kind
of a physical demonstration, they will not take a stand for
such conversions. They assume a terrible responsibility
when they keep a soul from heaven by refusing or failing
to teach the truth, whether the old people like it or not.
As Christ converted them in the way suited to their needs
and they expressed their forgiveness according to their own
temperaments, others should be allowed equal freedom with¬
out criticism.
Church Problems.
43
It is, to say the least, ungenerous to deny to others what
you can never prove they do not have; nor is it honoring
God to confine Him to your opinion of how He should save
souls. Is it not also a little egotistic to claim all the
knowledge of God for ourselves, when sheep not of our
fold claim they know Him, too?
It cannot be too emphatically stated and reiterated that
acceptance of Christ, or conversion, is an act of the will, a
calm and well-considered decision of the mind, and that
this act of decision and determination is what is meant by
having a "new heart," being uborn again," having our "sins
washed away," and "getting religionand that this is true
independently of how we feel or act at the time of making
public confession of this decision.
That that peace which God calls "my peace" will come
in time and clothe us as with a garment, there can be no
doubt, but that is no part of our doing, nor can we fix the
time when Christ will pour out His Pentecost. We have
nothing to do with that. It is God's business and we ought
to let Him attend to it. I have heard people say they do not
remember the time when they did not love Jesus, and I have
heard others say they remembered the very day and hour
when Christ spoke peace to their souls, I believe them both.
The Methods of Great Evangelists:—Have you ever
studied the methods of the great evangelists? They press
men to stand up and make a decision. Never do they tell
sinners to sit still till they feel happy. No; all their effort
is to have men come forward and say they accept Christ.
That, to their minds, is conversion and some of the most
faithful servants of Christ have come through just such
conversion. Finney, Moody, Torrey, Chapman, Bishop
Simpson and Bishop Grant—all of them, have led men to
44
Church Problems.
Christ by the way of an instant and calm decision to
walk no more in the old way, but rely on Jesus for strength
to come into the blessing. Unless we have had more of a
revelation of God's will and purpose than these men, who are
we that we should say, "Unclean!" to the children of the
Kingdom who have entered by another gate.
Again, that is the teaching of the Bible everywhere.
"Whosoever will;" that is, whoever wills, has eternal life
offered him. Nowhere are we taught to make feeling the
test of our salvation, for the simple reason that feeling is
beyond the will. If we could regulate the feeling, who
would not be happy all the time? There would be no more
tears, no more fears, no more despondent moments, especi¬
ally after we had been converted and knew that heaven was
God's gift to us; but was there ever a Christian who did not
know sadness and dark days ? Did not even the Son of God
Himself feel forsaken when He asked, "My God! my God!
why hast thou forsaken me ?" But, thank God, through all
kinds of feeling and even in a numbness of soul where we
cannot feel at all, we can remain His, steadfast and immov¬
able, always abounding in the works of the Lord.
Let us, then, cease to keep men from Christ by the way
we tell them to come. Urge them to make up their minds,
will to follow Jesus, decide right away and act; and let us
take these first steps for conversion, for the new birth,
knowing that the Lord is mindful of His own and that He
is able to keep them against that day. Let us pray for the
feeling, but not in advance of the acceptance, of which feel¬
ing is the handmaid to follow and not to precede. We are
to accept the invitation to the feast before we can expect
to taste the rich flavor of the food; and the moment we ac¬
cept the invitation we are guests. Never doubt that.
Church Problems.
45
Let us be about our Father's business in our Father's
way and the time of awakening for which we have long
prayed will come with a rush and the world will indeed be
taken for Christ in this generation.
SUMMATION.
A fair summary of the vital parts of these pages may be
given as follows:
Teach the people the 'doctrines of the church;
Lay out a course of Bible reading for the congregation
related to the sermons you preach;
Provide for general religious reading for the congregation
by establishing a church reading room, excluding the secu¬
lar papers;
Preach a whole Gospel and avoid theatrical devices to
draw curious crowds;
Break up talking and irreverent lightness, both before the
service begins and after the benediction;
Don't read promiscuous notices in the church, and read
what you do read before, not after, the sermon;
Break up the noisy, disorderly, old-time "table collection"
by substituting the basket collection taken at the seat by
ushers;
Begin on time whatever happens. If the time-honored
hour does not suit, fix another, but keep the one you fix;
End on time. Make one hour and a half the regular serv¬
ice, and don't preach over forty minutes;
Secure better attendance by putting real instruction into
the sermon; also by training members each to bring a new
stranger every Sunday;
Increase the working strength of the church by organizing
the inactive members into clubs, committees and auxiliaries,
and keep track of them;
46
Church Problems.
Provide social games and gatherings for the young people
where occasionally free refreshments are served;
Let the pastor mingle freely with the people not of his
church, and speak at public meetings whenever possible, so
as to impress himself as a citizen;
The presence of the pastor makes, in large part, the suc¬
cess of the Sabbath School;
Use the auditorium of the church only for religious
services and keep it open all the time;
Preach that conversion is a decision of the mind, an act
of the will, and should be made independently of feeling.
CONTENTS.
I. Church Problems 5
II. The Church Brings Confusion 8
III. Old and New Problems 11
IV. Problems of To-Day 15
Doctrinal Ignorance 15
Doctrinal Thought 16
Doctrinal Practice 16
V. Getting to the Core IB
Bible Reading 18
General Religious Reading 20
VI. The Trying Question 21
To Increase Church Attendance.... 21
VII. Time and Some Other Things 25
Beginning on Time 25
Ending on Time 26
Reading Promiscuous Notices 27
VIII. Money and Some Other Things 28
Collections and Money Matters 28
Rallies and Special Collections 30
Using Strength of the Church 32
IX. Handling the Young 33
How to Hold Your Young People... 33
Starting With the Sabbath School. . 35
X. Uses of the Church (Building) 37
Allowable Uses besides Preaching.. 38
The Institutional Church 38
Should the Church Be Locked?.... 39
XI. Making Conversion Hard 40
The Old Doubting Thomases 42
The Methods of Great Evangelists.. 43
Summation 45
HOW TO LIVE LONGER!
The Gospel of Good Health
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