18-The Administration of Service
CHAPTER XVIII THE ADMINISTRATION OF SERVICE THE WORLD COMMUNITY THE service of the church may never stop at the geographical boundaries of its immediate neighborhood. Its sympathy and helpfulness must go out to all men everywhere. This is required by the great Head of the church who himself came to redeem a world community. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.”
Practical expediency, however, would impel the church to become missionary even if there were no specific direction from its Master. Saint Paul likened the church to an organism, the human body, and declared that when any part suffered, the whole body suffered with it. This figure is quite as applicable to society as to the church. The Great War through which we have just passed emphasized afresh the fact of social solidarity. Modern inventions, such as the steamboat, the telegraph, the submarine cable, the telephone, the aeroplane, make it impossible for any social group to live in isolation. Whatever happens anywhere is of immediate consequence everywhere. Opportunities for friction and misunderstanding have been multiplied a thousandfold. It is inconceivable that society can hold together if the old selfishness continues to dominate the life of the world. Further advance in civilization waits upon the creation of a larger body of good will than now obtains. And the church itself, which is a part of society, will be involved in the general catastrophe that must certainly follow a refusal to bring the world community under the control of Christian ideals. This world community begins where the local community leaves off. It ends only with the last person in the utter
203 204 THE PASTORAL OFFICE most parts of the earth. That portion of the world community which lies within the United States is generally called home-missionary territory, and that lying outside the homeland is designated as the foreign-missionary field. But it is all one service. We cannot choose between them.
We are bound to minister to both. The primary aim, of course, in all mission work is to teach the religion of Jesus and apply the saving power of his gospel to all the ranges of life. This requires not only the maintenance of a corps of evangelists in the mission field but the establishment of educational institutions, medical dispensaries, homes, hospitals, and trained technicians of all kinds, such as agriculturalists, chemists, biologists, engineers. Ultimately the purpose includes the Christianization of all social, industrial, and international relationships. To serve the world community the church must provide (i) workers and (2) money. The administrative problem consists of devising means to awaken such missionary interest in the church that there will be no lack either of persons willing to invest their lives in this service, or of equipment to permit them to serve effectively. And this interest must be permanent, not spasmodic. It should be such as to make every member of the church an intelligent missionary, in spirit and intention, though possibly not engaged professionally in missionary service. This is the problem of the important subcommittee on missions of the great Committee on Service, which must “unite and correlate every parish interest which pertains to the propagation of the gospel at home and abroad/” i. Interest in any matter that is sustained and abiding must rest upon knowledge. The first great item in the missionary program of the local church, then, will be “Missionary Education’ 3 a. There are several institutions through which this educational work may be accomplished in the average church (i) The Woman’s Home Missionary Society and sub THE WORLD COMMUNITY 205 sidiary organizations among the young people, such as the Queen Esther Circle, Home Guards, etc.; (2) the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society and subsidiary organizations, such as The King’s Daughters, Little Light Bearers, etc.; (3) the Sunday school, which, according to the law of the church, must be organized as a missionary society; (4) the Epworth League, with its Department of Missions; (5) the organized Bible Class; and (6) the pulpit. It will appear at a glance that it is unnecessary to set up any new organizations for this task. The real problem with so many collaborating institutions is that of coordinating and distributing the work so that there will no waste or needless duplication of effort. b. The materials of missionary education consist of (i) historical matter concerning the great periods of missionary expansion in the growth of the Christian Church, beginning with the story of the early church in the Acts of the Apostles; (2) biographies of great missionary leaders; (3) habits, customs, history, and ideals of races and national groups which are the objects of missionary endeavor; (4) the social aspects of mission work as appears in its influence on education, science, industry, and politics; (5) the study of particular mission fields and current events in those fields; (6) the great non-Christian religions of the world, for example, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Taoism, Shintoism, Confucianism, etc.; with particular reference to the points at which they resemble, and differ from, Christianity; (7) the theory and practice of missions, explaining the great policies adopted by mission boards and the Methods generally employed in missionary endeavor; (8) the history and success of the more important Protestant mission boards. The Missionary Education Department of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York city, will be glad to suggest suitable textbooks on these subjects, such as have been issued from time to time by the Missionary Education Movement of American Protestantism.
206 THE PASTORAL OFFICE c. The methods which have been employed successfully in many churches in presenting this great body of material include the following: (i) Sermons, lectures and addresses by the pastor and other informed persons, particularly missionaries engaged actively in the home field or returned on furlough from the foreign field; (2) the distribution of missionary literature and periodicals; (3) the organization of mission study classes; (4) creating a missionary atmosphere by hanging on the walls of the church the pictures of persons who have gone out from its membership into professional religious work as ministers, deaconesses, foreign missionaries, etc.; (5) correspondence with these and other workers in the field; (6) amateur theatricals and pageants dealing with missionary subjects; (7) institutes and conferences. d. A unified program of missionary education might have some such appearance as this, taking into account the organizations, the materials, and the methods that are usually available, I. Sermons, Addresses, Stereopticon Lectures 1. The Pulpit, once each quarter.
2. The Sunday school, once a month if possible.
3. The Epworth League from four to six times a year.
4. The Woman’s Organizations as frequently as can be arranged.
II. Study Classes, conducted by the following organizations, no two covering the same subject or appealing to the same group, 1. Woman’s Home Missionary Society.
2. Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society.
3. The Epworth League.
4. The Sunday school, in all departments taking cer tain Sundays for missionary lessons.
NOTE. Competent leadership is all important. It is better to have one class with a strong leader than several THE WORLD COMMUNITY 207 led indifferently. The best results are secured when the class can meet weekly, perhaps in connection with the midweek service.
III. Missionary Literature 1. Distributing such free literature as may be pre pared by the benevolent boards of the church.
2. Subscribing for church papers and missionary periodicals and textbooks.
3. Calling attention occasionally to important articles and books on mission subjects and fields, published by the secular press.
IV. Entertainments, Pageants, etc.
Two or three each year given cooperatively by the young people of the church who are members of several missionary organizations. e. The aim of all true missionary education is to produce the “missionary person” one who is filled with the missionary spirit. This spirit will express itself in many ways.
Such a person will always pray for missions. Intercessory prayer has ever been a most important factor in extending the Kingdom.
Again, the “missionary person” will always give himself his time, and thought, and service up to the full measure of his ability. A good program of missionary education should keep a stream of people going from the strong to the weaker churches in a spirit of helpfulness. More particularly, it should develop a corps of volunteer workers for distinctly home missionary tasks. The type of missionary interest that becomes enthusiastic over the Chinese in Peking but despises the representatives of that same race who populate our American “Chinatowns,” may well be suspected of unreality. Genuine missionary interest seizes upon the opportunity that lies nearest at hand. And out of the many who are willing to engage in part-time service, an occasional young man or woman will be prompted to 208 THE PASTORAL OFFICE consecrate a whole life to this special task. Always the pastor and lay leaders of the church should be alert to advise and encourage, or to restrain, perhaps, such young people.
Finally, the “missionary person” will give of his means to make it possible for others to do what he cannot do give his whole time to missionary work. The subcommittee on missions will seek constantly to increase the missionary giving of the church. This matter of finances will receive more attention in a later chapter devoted to that subject.
It appears, then, that the program for recruiting and giving must be supplemented by another program of missionary education, and the two articulated into a single great world program, MISSIONARY RECRUITING AND GIVING
I. Prayer 1. Individual prayer for missions.
2. Organizing bands of intercessors.
II. Recruiting 1. Life service conferences in the local church and at summer institutes.
2. Constant attention by the pastor and others to the matter of personal guidance in life-work decisions.
III. Giving 1. Stewardship Campaigns.
2. Financial canvass for support of the Benevolent Boards of the church* 3. Supporting the mission work of local organiza tions.
BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR FURTHER STUDY H. P. Douglass, The New Home Missions.
R. E. Diffendorfer, Missionary Education in Howe end School THE WORLD COMMUNITY 209 Louise Creighton, Missions: Their Rise and Development, E. C. Moore, The Spread of Christianity in the Modern World.
George A, Miller, Missionary Morale.
A. J. Brown, Rising Churches in Non-Christian Lands.
J. E. McAfee, World Missions from the Home Base.
C H. Patton, World Facts and America’s Responsibility.
E. W. Capen, Sociological Progress in Mission Lands.
W. H. P. Faunce, The Social Aspects of Foreign Missions.
R. E. Speer, Missionary Principles and Practice; The Gospel and the New World.
Fred B. Fisher, The Way to Win, Chapter IV.