ae ae Rise 
 
 Interdenominational 
 Missions 
 
 A Statement and a Plea 
 
 By 
 HENRY W. FROST 
 
 HOSE who are acquainted with ecclesiastical his- 
 le tory will recognize the fact that the older the 
 church has become the more difficult it has been 
 
 to maintain it in purity of doctrine and fulness of life. 
 This is true of the church as a whole, and also of those 
 parts of it which have gone to make up its denomina- 
 tional system. As to the church at large, the apos- 
 tolic period, not the present, was the time of soundest 
 doctrine and largest spiritual activity; and as to de- 
 nominations, the historic churches, such as the Roman, 
 Greek, Coptic, Armenian and Syrian, are outstanding 
 and sad evidences of the possibility of doctrinal de- 
 clension and the ultimate quenching of spiritual life. 
 
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 Protestantism 1s an open acknowledgment of the 
 
 above facts. If, in times past, there had been no for- 
 
 saking of vital truth and energy there would have been | 
 
 no Reformation and thus no Protestantism. ‘The fact. - 
 
 that there are to-day throughout the world an almost © 
 innumerable number of Reformed Churches is the 
 proof of a past decadence in doctrine and life, and this, 
 of a fundamental and universal kind. Tuther, Calvin, 
 Cranmer and other reformers were far more than poli- 
 tical agitators. They were those who protested against 
 heresy and apostasy and who sought to lead back the 
 church to scriptural faith and practice. All of these, 
 at first, attempted to purify the existing ecclesiastical 
 systems from within. But when they found that this 
 was impossible, they broke away from traditions and 
 established a new order of things. In doing this, they 
 sought to found their religious systems on the basis of 
 apostolic testimony and example. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the Reformation did not 
 wholly reform. For instance, the Anglican Church, 
 of England, and the Lutheran Church, of Germany, 
 represented in a measure, doctrinal and spiritual com-_ 
 promises. Certain seeds of falsehood were thus left in 
 their soil and it was not long before these grew up 
 and bore fruit. As one result of this condition, two 
 protesting parties in England came early into being, 
 both of which raised their voices against existing 
 abuses in the State Church: the Purists (or Puritans), 
 who at first clung to the Church and sought to rectify 
 it; and the Separatists, who abandoned the Church and 
 made an effort to establish a new system of creed and 
 practice on more primitive lines. These movements 
 proved powerful and far reaching in their effect. It 
 is a fact, however, that even this development did not 
 end the reforming tendency, nor the need of it. Asa 
 
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 é consequence, separatist movements continued. Such 
 ee England was the: movement ‘of the Methodists; 
 later, of the Plymouth Brethren; and still later of the 
 Salvationists. And such have been similar move- 
 ments, in earlier and later times, in the British and 
 German Colonies and in the United States. It has 
 ‘thus come to pass that there are now in existence, not 
 only Reformed Churches, but also Reformed Re- 
 formed Churches, such as the Episcopal Church and 
 the Reformed Episcopal, and again, the Presbyterian 
 Church and the Reformed Presbyterian. In each of 
 these cases, it was the older and larger church which 
 was separated from, and this because of supposed doc- 
 trinal and spiritual declension. One does not mean 
 to imply that these separatist movements always re- 
 presented exact truth and full life. Each, however, 
 attempted to reach such and was a protest against what 
 was believed to be unscripturalness of creed and 
 action. 
 _ Brethrenism gave promise, for a time, of bringing 
 to pass the re-establishment of apostolic conditions, 
 and many godly men and women turned eagerly to it. 
 But it was finally discovered, in spite of much mani- 
 fested truth and life, that it also was weak through 
 the flesh, so that it came to be generally conceded that 
 this new system, as in the case of denominationalism, 
 had failed to fulfil its idealism. The effect of this 
 was to leave men perplexed and discouraged. As a 
 result many persons concluded that an altogether pure 
 and vital ecclesiastical organization could not be 
 hoped for.on earth and that further separatist move- 
 ments would prove valueless. But in spite of general 
 failure and disappointment, Christians retained their 
 longing for better things. For this reason, devoted 
 mien, while remaining and being willing that others 
 gs 
 
should remain in their churches or assemblies, began 
 to plan and produce new spiritual activities, these being 
 simple in form and sound in doctrine and making 
 much of prayer, faith and dependence upon the Holy 
 Spirit. At first, these efforts were largely individual ; 
 but finally they became corporate, and thus they gave 
 rise to inter-Christian movements. It was in this way 
 that Interdenominational Missions had their beginning. 
 As to these last, it is important to keep in mind that 
 they did not come into existence simply because there 
 were large unoccupied fields of labor. Waiting fields 
 gave direction to the movements which took place, but 
 the cause of them lay behind and was far more sig- 
 nificant in character. Spiritually-minded men and 
 women were once more reaching out after apostolic 
 conditions, both in faith and practice, and, not being 
 able at times to express their desires through their 
 ecclesiastical organizations, they felt constrained to do 
 so in other ways. It was in this manner that Interde- 
 nominational Missions were, at last, formally or- 
 ganized ; and it was also in the same manner that they 
 came to be founded upon doctrinal and spiritual bases 
 of a primitive and positive kind. It may be added that 
 most of these Missions continue to lay strong em- 
 phasis upon evangelical truth and living, seeking to 
 maintain both their personnel and service in close har- 
 mony with apostolic teaching and example. 
 
 This brief résumé of church history has been given 
 in order to set forth a few simple but important con- 
 clusions, these being as follows. First, there is every 
 reason to believe that the various interdenominational 
 missionary Societies have come into being as a direct 
 result of the working of the Holy Spirit. Second, the 
 Spirit in producing these Societies has had for His 
 object, not only the occupying of unoccupied fields, 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2021 with funding from | 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/riseofinterdenomOOfros 
 
but also thes securing of a further safepuardime | ote 
 , fundamental | ‘doctrines and an additional aa oe 
 
 are not separatist movements ie in character or 
 spirit, but they seck to peels spiritual union of a ; 
 
 
 
 
 fellowship. And ee these societies, having given ee 
 themselves to the evangelization of the unevangelized a 
 parts of the world and also having sought to estab- | 
 lish themselves upon apostolic truth and practice, have 
 laid themselves under a sacred responsibility of a two-- Aes 
 fold kind; first, they are obligated, by the condition of a 
 the Heathen world, not to relax their efforts of evan- — 
 gelization, but rather to increase them; and second, — 
 they are called upon by the present wide departure | 
 from evangelical truth and practice to do their utmost iy 
 to maintain themselves in purity of doctrine and ful- Pa 
 ness of life. Mis 
 In view of the above deductions, is it too much to a 
 ask Christians at large to include the various inter- an 
 denominational Missions in their intercessions before a 
 God? ‘There is no reason, apart from divine inter- 2 ze 
 position, why these Missions which began so well He 
 should not end as other spiritual organizations have a 
 done, in the loss of truth and power. But God is able 
 to make them stand, if only they may be remembered 
 before Him by praying and believing saints. We > 
 plead, therefore, that the Lord’s intercessors will hold 
 them in remembrance, praying that they may be kept 
 what God would have them be both in testimony and — ty 
 life. If this shall come to pass, then, and then only, — ees 
 they will prove their right of existence and will con- | 
 tinue to be a blessing to the church and world. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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