“AMERICAN MISSIONS”—By Leslie Diestelkamp

“AMERICAN MISSIONS”---By Leslie Diestelkamp AMERICAN MISSIONS
Leslie Diestelkamp, 3421 Aldrich Ave. S.,
Minneapolis 8, Minn.

Jesus said, “Go, teach all natons,” but by the condi-tions of my assignment in this lectureship, my field is America. Let it be remembered that while I speak ',of gospel needs and opportunities in America, I do not in any sense intend to minimize needs in other fields. Other men are here to discuss those fields, and what I say must not in any way detract from opportunites they present. We shall think, especally, of the United States of America, but we must also remember the challenge presented by opportunities in Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and South America. But my field is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. America, the land of freedom—freedom to think, to speak and to write without regimentation. America, where the gospel can be preached to every soul and no power can restrain us. America, where we can disagree with either the president or the preacher without fear. America, where every soul can have his own Bible, and where that Bible has had greater influence than anywhere in the world in recent years. This is the land of the “Bible belt.” In this fair land a million living souls have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine and are members of congregations that worship scripturally and regularly. In this great nation, the good seed of the Kingdom has been sown from shore to shore and from state to state. We have seen a great increase in the sowing process in recent years. One community after another has been invaded by faithful preachers, and hundreds of congregations have looked beyond their own immediate community, to send out a sower of the seed into the more distant fields—some 50, some 500 some 1000 miles away. In the last few years I have sometimes been asked, “Why does the church not prosper in American mission fields as it does in Germany and Japan ?” Without hesitation, I answer that it does prosper as much here as it does anywhere in the world, under the same conditions—that is, in proportion to money spent and men sent. America is not a harder field. Send money and men into Louisiana, Maine or New York as they have been poured into foreign work, and the results would probably startle us. Too often we have sent a poor boy into Montana, the Carolinas or the Dakotas and then have wondered why the work he does is not as glamorous as that done by two or more men with every financial resource in a foreign field. In this discussion I shall not try to emphasize one American field above another. For nearly eleven years I have lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota— North-Central States—but in this discussion, my field is AMERICA. America, where there are hundreds of counties and thousands of cities with no New Testament church. America, where we have one metropolitan area—Detroit, Mich.—with perhaps 40 congregations, and yet where there are 55 counties in that same state with no assembly of the body of Christ. America, where 8 or 10 states out of the 48 have within them perhaps 75% of all the Christians. America, where a great section of the “old south” stretching almost uninterrupted from the eastern border of Texas, around the Gulf of Mexico and up the eastern seaboard to our national Capitol, is, in spite of its closeness to the “Bible belt,” still a mission field. America, where, in the North-east, one fourth of our total population lives in an area much smaller than Texas, and yet these New England states and their neighboring states have perhaps less Christians than Dallas. Remember, this is with a population of PEOPLE 5 or 6 times greater than Texas, but with a population of CHRISTIANS less than Dallas. America, where, in the North-central and North-western states, there is a vast territory, stretching from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean, lying in one great body along our northern boundary, and comprising one-third of the total area of the whole U.S.A., but where it is easy to live 100 or more miles from the nearest New Testament church, where there are cities of half a million souls with less than 100 faithful Christians, and where there are whole states with less than 100 members of the Lord’s body.

These mission fields in our own land do not have the glamor of some others—the glamor of a far-away- land and a foreign language; the glamor of an ocean voyage or a trans-world flight—but they do have plenty of opportunties. America needs a lot of “missionaries” who are willing to live in the land of their birth and speak English. America needs a lot of churches who are willing to send a preacher to some field 500 miles away, over the plains or the mountains, as well as 5000 miles across the ocean.

Many people ask, “Why is the church so weak in the northern states?” They usually imply that there is something wrong with the people of the north, or perhaps something wrong with the churches of the north. That is not true. Here are four reasons why the church is weak in the north: First: So many northern people are first or second generation Americans. They have come so recently from a foreign land where the restoration movement was unheard of. Second: That movement had its principal origin and growth in the south and those states bordering the south. It hardly reached into the north at all. Third: When the division came, the northern part went digressive, largely—and too many brethren have been content to let it remain that way! Fourth—and most important: Too many congregations and too many preachers have been entirely too satisfied with results of gospel work at home, and have failed to grasp America’s opportunities. But we are on the march at last. Real growth is being made. In some sections there are now ten times as many Christians as there were 10 years ago. Northern churches are already sending out preachers into the fields and in other ways helping enlarge the kingdom there and elsewhere.

Perhaps the challenge is greater today than ever before. America’s mission fields are calling. It is often the call of some lone family, miles and miles from an assembly place. Sometimes it is the call of a small group in need of encouragement and training. Much too long we have contented ourselves with the old alibi: “There is plenty of mission work that needs to be done right here in Texas or Tennessee.” We also sometimes excuse ourself from personal participation in mission work by remembering that others are doing such work. We are too willing to let the other fellow do the work we boast about.

Some excuse themselves from work in new fields by saying, “You can’t preach plainly in the north.” That isn’t so! If a preacher doesn’t preach plainly in the north, it is because he doesn’t want to—he wouldn’t anywhere else. Some think modernism has largely taken the churches of Christ in the north, but that isn’t true either. With the exception of the Chicago area, modernism has not made much progress in American mission fields. Liberalism and compromise find new advocates among men who have gone into the newer fields in America.

What are the needs in American mission work? First we need men! Men of proven ability in defending the truth and proclaiming it understandably. We need men who can be trusted to preach the pure gospel even if the circumstances seem to demand a compromise. We need men who are willing to leave the encouragement of large audiences and fancy buildings and go into the rented halls and tiny meeting houses and convict, convince and persuade the few men and women and boys and girls who gather there. I don’t want to be misunderstood. I am not criticizing preachers who preach for large, established churches. I pray that the Lord will bless your work there. But let me beg you to give some of your life to work in new fields. Please do not alibi that you are not suited to such work. Be suited to it! Make yourself suited to it! Suitability to such work is not an inherited gift from your parents or from God, but it is a matter of your own will.

Please, also do not soothe your conscience by going into mission fields for a meeting or two. We need men who will go and LIVE with those people who have not heard the truth. Don’t say, “I’m needed at home.” Every gospel preacher in Dallas who has preached the truth for ten years could leave tomorrow and it would not materially hurt the cause of Christ there—or at least it should not hurt it—but if they would all go into a new field, it would be one of the greatest things that could happen to mission work. If one-hundred mature men— men of proven ability—men whose feet are already on the ground and who will not be swayed by modernism or any other ism—I say if one-hundred such men would go into mission work each year, and stay five years, the next decade could be the greatest in modern times for the cause of Christ. We need men of ability in new fields. Some brethren seem to think that a man is suited to mission work if he is an humble person and willing to “do personal work.” I say we need men in the newer fields who can preach. I am thankful that men in those fields are usually men of above average ability. But if there are men of superior ability, we need them in the newer fields, at least for part of their life. We need some of those $150.00 and $200.00 per week preachers in the needy fields of America. I am not criticizing men who get such salaries, 'if they need that amount and are worth it. But we need men who ARE WORTH such salaries— we need them in new fields. Of course if you get such support and say you will come to mission fields the church will suspect you are past your prime and will offer you about half that—and you should accept it and come. And, when you come for half as much, it will still not be a sacrifice. You may have to wear $5.00 shirts instead of $10.00 shirts; $40.00 suits instead of $80.00 suits; your wife may have to economize; you may have to eat hamburger instead of roast; you may have to feed your company meat- loaf instead of steak, but it still won’t be a sacrifice. And if you must think of such as a sacrifice, then stay where you are! Some preachers may say, “I can baptize more people in a month in Ft. Worth than I could in New York City in a year.” But brethren, what is our work? Baptizing? No. That should result from our work. Our mission, as Paul’s, is preaching the gospel. That must be done everywhere, regardless of the results.

We need men who will leave their hobbies at home; men who will forget what color a man’s skin is, or what brogue or colloquialism he uses; men who will be more concerned with fishing for men than fishing for fish. We need men who will preach sound words and live sound lives; men who will preach the whole truth and practice what they preach. We need men who have proven their ability to work where there are elders, but who also have the courage to go out and work where there are no elders. We need men who will go into the highways and by-ways of America. If you are one of those who must preach in the city, indicate your willingness to go to a new field and we promise to find you a city in America, larger than the one you are now in, that needs you. If you prefer smaller cities or towns, it will be easy to find many places begging for your services.

But, if we cannot have all the men we need in mission fields, then give us more boys. As long as I can remember, the young men have carried the burden of mission work. Of all the men I know who are now in America’s mission fields, a vast majority went into such work as very young men. Most such men have done magnificent work. Give us more and more of these young men just out of college, or who never saw the inside of a college, and who have that unbounding faith and zeal that is characteristic of youth. Give us more such young men who have the courage to face all of Satan’s forces, in and out of the church in order to take the gospel to the lost. Let us have more young men who KNOW THEIR BIBLE, and who have enough faith to believe that God will enable them to do h'is bidding. Mistakes they will make—some mistakes that older men would not have made—-but they will not make the mistake of failing to try. They will not make the fatal mistake of saying “I can’t” or “I won’t.” Yes, give us more boys, and then pray with us that God will bless them every one. In addition to men, we need godly women in the mission fields. Most men need a wife to encourage them, to help them teach other women and to share the joys and sorrows, the happiness and the disappointment, the eagerness and the anxiety of the lonely work in new fields. Give us more women who are willing to leave their mothers and go with their hus-bands—and then we shall have much less trouble getting men for the work in new fields.

But, besides manpower, America’s mission fields need money. We need the help of established churches to enable us to have the financial means to make the work prosper. One great need in almost all new fields is buildings. All too often a work is started in some hall and almost permitted to die there. A decent meeting place that can be used by the congregation any and all of the time is highly beneficial, even if the group is very small. Appeals go out over America every week for help on buildings. Such appeals may seem like a nuisance when you get them, but your response to them may mean the difference between success or failure to the new work. Usually it is unwise to GIVE a building to a new congregation. Usually it is much better for them, to simply enable them to get the building without unreasonable debt, but to let them pay for as much of it as possible themselves. Please, then, let me beg you to give due consideration to appeals for help on buildings. Will you help us by begging the church where you wor-ship to consider such appeals and respond to them in accord with the needs and your ability.

While we are discussing buildings, let me urge that money be spent wisely on buildings in mission fields —and, naturally this very suggestion is equal to saying that I do not believe it has always been so. We can build twice as many buildings, all completely adequate, if we will be more careful in our spending.

Too many appeals go out for money for buildings, each of which costs the fair price of two good buildings. Let me cite an example of careful spending. The new church in Vienna, Missouri recently erected a building that is adequate and is one of the prettiest buildings in the town, and the total cost was less than $3,000.00. I will probably be laughed at for mentioning such a figure, but I have pictures of the building in my pocket to show you, and I also have the list of expenditures. They did have many advantages— cheap native material, cheap labor, and no building code to meet, but IN YOUR TOWN, double the material cost, double the labor cost, and then double the whole thing to meet other needs, and you still have a building for less than $15,000.00. If you think my example is extreme, let me remind you that it has almost been duplicated in Pine City, Minn., and in Merrillan, Wis. It can be nearly duplicated in dozens of places, and where it can’t be duplicated, much, much money can be saved, and many, many more buildings can be built with the same money, by careful use of funds. Wild-eyed preachers in new fields need to quit advocating that “brethren down south have the money and we just as well get it.” All of us need to recognize our responsibility to make that money go as far as possible. But our greatest need for money in the newer fields is to support gospel preachers and gospel preaching. All over America faithful men are sacrificing much to preach the word of truth in destitute fields. Already dozens of men need your support. Worthy men in the North-east, in the South-east, in the Northwest and in the North central states, need your help. Other genuine men are ready to go into such fields, if they can find support. Someone may say that the preachers should go into mission fields regardless iof support. I shall not disagree—BUT WHICH PREACHERS? But let us never say that preachers alone must shoulder this task. Churches must be responsible. God has given the responsibility of spreading the truth to the church. If you worship with a church that is not trying to help in the mission fields, then let me beg you to put off your hypocrisy and just cut the great commission right out of your Bibles. Some of these days we must all stand before the Lord of heaven, and then brethren, it will be too late to put into practice the words we have quoted so often. Then it will be too late to remember that the last request of our Lord before he left this earth never again to set his feet upon it was, “Go into all the world.” It will be a sad fate then to remember that his hands were pierced with Calvary’s nails, his side was pierced by the soldier’s spear, his life was given, his blood was shed, for lost souls whom we have failed to give the gospel. In that day he will not ask about the souls we could not save— those whom we could not reach because of circumstances or because of the powers that be—but he will be concerned with those who face him unprepared because we ivould not take the gospel to them. A congregation does not have to have large sums available to help in mission work. If you can send $10.00, send no less. If you can send $500.00 or $5000.00, send it all to some worthy work or worker. I have no visionary plan that would convert America in next generation or even in the next century. God has not promised that even the most faithful efforts by all of his people would produce such results. He has commanded us to preach the word, and he has promised to be with us always and everywhere. He wants all men to hear the truth, and he has given us the task of proclaiming it to them. He expects us to do all we can—which is to preach the gospel to all men. What he wants us to do, we can do, with his help. If America does not hear the truth, it won’t be God’s fault, will it? Then whose fault will it be? Will you, my preaching brother, answer with me and admit that it is our fault. Will you say “Here am I Lord, send me?” And if you just can’t give that answer, will you help send someone else? Some anonymous author gives us the story of a Christian who grew interested in mission work. He first prayed, “Lord, save the lost.” Later he prayed, “Lord, send missionaries to the lost.” Still later he prayed, “Lord, if you don’t have somebody to send, send me.” Then in truest humility he prayed, “Lord, if you can’t send me, send somebody.” Finally he prayed, “Lord, send whom you will, but help me to pay my share of the expenses.” The Holy Spirit motivated Paul to write, “Today is the day of salvation.” For us, Christian friends, today is the day of opportunity to bring the saving gospel to a lost America. Now is the accepted time. Now, before it is too late. Now, while we have freedom to preach and while men are free to hear. Now, America is the land of opportunity. It is the land of gospel opportunity. America, where the gospel can be preached without a visa, or without persecution. Let us use America’s opportunities NOW, before it is too late—before opportunity flies away.

There was a door that stood ajar,
That one had left for me;
But I went seeking other doors,
To which I had no key.
And when at last I turned to seek A refuge and a light,
A gust of wind had shut the door,
And left me in the night. (anon.)

Let us never be content to stay at home with the gospel, but in our eagerness tc go, let us not forget or fail the opportunities in our own land, under our own flag and among our own countrymen.

Finally, this admonition and this plea to all Christians and especially to my preaching brethren, applying an old man-made saying to gospel work in new fields: “Push it! If you can’t push it, pull it! And if you can’t pull it, GET OUT OF THE WAY.”