The Populous Northeast

The Populous Northeast The Populous Northeast
P. D. WlLMETH
55 Powell Avenue, Rockville Center, NY. The New Testament is a missionary book, breathing that spirit on every page. It is sat`urated and honeycombed from the song of the Angels on the Judean Hills to the last pages of Revelation. (See Luke 2:10 f; John 10:16; Matthew 28:18 fF; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8 f; Acts 8:1, etc.) The missionary spirit is germane to the life of any church, of any individual; it is the militant, conquering spirit of each. It is the essential function and life of the church. These are beautiful platitudes and easily said, but a statement by our Lord adds zest and inspiration to the hearts of men when they read, “. . . Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35.) There is something about a seething, congested, metropolitan area that makes one feel the words of our Master when it was said, “He had compassion on the multitudes.” (Matthew 14:14.) For all practical purposes we shall think of the “Populous Northeast” under three captions, namely, The Scope, The Obstacles, and The Methods of Approach.

I. THE SCOPE
It is almost beyond the imagination of any one to conceive just how many of the polyglot population of the world have never heard of primitive Christianity in our own nation. The Northeastern part of the United States is that portion of the world. If one should de`fine a line from the city of Chicago to the southeast to Cincinnati, thence to Richmond, Virginia, and on to the Atlantic seaboard, one would begin to visualize the immensity of this particular field. In this section are such cities as Detroit, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, and many other smaller cities too numerous to mention. But in the aforenamed cities we have very few churches. Detroit has more than any of them, Chicago ranking next, and Washington, D. C., next. There are a few disciples meet`ing in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston. New York City has a congregation of less than a hundred meeting in Manhattan. In the entire state of New York there is not a single congregation strong enough to support a minister for full time. There is not a single building in all the city of New York that churches of Christ can call their own. In New Jersey the case is still more acute. There is a small building (paid for) in Tabernacle, New Jersey, a small rural village. So far as this scribe is informed, this is the only church build`ing in all of New Jersey. There are a few groups meeting in the states of New Jersey, New York, Maine, and eastern Pennsylvania. Ohio, West Virginia, eastern Pennsylvania, and adjacent communities to Detroit, Chicago, and the southern states are not quite so virgin. All of this represents a population of possibly one-fourth to one-third the entire population of the United States. We have barely touched this on the outer edges, and have made little or no indenture on the fields already white unto the harvest.

II. THE OBSTACLES
Many and varied are the difficulties attending work in a virgin field such as this. Distances present a very pronounced problem in such places as New York, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and other cities of even less population. At present the nucleus of a new work may be scattered for miles and in different directions to the central place of worship. This at least provides a fruitful field for cottage prayer meetings or Bible classes. Indifference is another obstacle, pe`culiar to every field, but especially to those areas where the lust for pleasures, and love of monev have become the propelling attitudes. Modernism has played its part, and is one of the Devil’s most subtle weapons. Preachers in the denominational world have taught their followers to believe the Bible in “spots,” and so those tainted with that germ accept or reject the Bible at random. This is modern infidelity. Another very grave difficulty is the lack of places to meet for worship. Although a house of worship is not essential to worship, a place is. We read with delight of the church which met in the house of Caesar, or Aquilla and Priscilla, but they never grew much until they had permanent places of worship, and neither do we. The place of worship need not be extravagant or gaudy, but at least in keeping with the surrounding community. Possibly one of the greatest difficulties of our modern day is the lack of zeal to prosecute the Lord’s command to “GO.”

III. THE METHODS
Methods in this section will vary. What will work in one place will not necessarily work in another. The methods used by our Mas`ter will adapt themselves at almost any place tried. Personal Work was his primary method. He taught much, but seldom preached. It was not by accident that he was addressed, respected, and revered as1 a teacher. This method can be used very effectively. Those in various walks of life who come to sections where the church is weak, or is not established, can begin at once to build up a congregation. This may be slow at first, but it can be done. One of the best methods is for one, two, or three congregations to select a field where there is a possibility of a work, select a man, send him for a period of years, until a definite task is completed, and then give publicity to it. It is the firm conviction of this scribe that no work can be of much permanent value, or attract many outsiders without a building. Tracts, letters, periodicals, books, and materials designed for the untaught can be dis`tributed. Above all else there must be that determination and ?eal to see the Lord’s work prosper and grow before we will conquer this field. It will be slow and take many years, but let us not “grow weary in well doing.”

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Give the approximate population of seven great cities of the Northeast.
2. What is the approximate area of the Northeast? Compare it with Texas, Colorado, and California.
3. Describe the people that form this population.
4. What are their activities and interests?, What is their attitude toward religion and the church?
?. What per cent of the population are members of churches of Christ (New Testament type of the church)?
6. What difficulties are there for evangelizing the populous Northeast? What encouragements?
What ways and means do you suggest for its evangelization?
7. What can your congregation do about it? What can you do?