The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-11-15
OUR CHURCH NOT SUFFICIENTLY
EvANGELIsTIC: WHY?

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policy more aggressive on the part of our Church
After proving as he thinks that we are not Sufhc
emily evangelistic he states some of the princlp'
causes of the failure.
1. The most obvious reason, and the on
most commonly urged by our Presbyteries
is the vant Of money.
In an important sense the whole Churcl
is the source from which each Presbyter.
may draw its supply of men for this work
But not so in regard to funds. Except il
rare and extraordinary cases, each Presby
terry must raise the funds needed in its bounds
for evangelzation. Not unfrequently those
which need most are able to raise least. Ir
the days of prosperity our people were no
generally trained to "honor God with their
substance and the first fruits of all their in
crease" Many are now actually poor. AL
of them are relatively poorer than formerly
In Difference to the cry of poverty, some Ses
sions have not given their people the oppor-
tunity of contributing to evaDgelistic work.
Ministers too often fail to instruct their peo-
pie on the subject of "laying by in store
for the Lord, and to present the evangelistic
cause at all, or they do it so timidly and OBJ
scurely as to amount to encouragement to
the exercise of the peoples liberality.
2. The next most obvious reason for our
want of evangelistic work, is the paucity OF
ministers. We have said that in an impor-
tsnt sense, the whole Church is the source of
supply to each Presbytery. This proposition
would soon find practical limit if our Pres
byteries would undertake to employ as many
men as their fields need. As whole, our
supply is too small for all the work that We
see to be done. 1t is known that We have
many ministers unemployed in preaching for
a part or the whole of their time. Having
looked over the figures of some other Church
es, the writer thinks that our loss of labor
from this source is not so great as the average
of other Churches. If it be possible for
Presbyteries to gain anything from this
source, by all means let it be done. But it
is exceedingly doubtful if they can gain
much. In the present state of things we
suffer absolutely by not sending the gospel
to destitute regions; and we suffer relatively
from the fact that other more aggressive and
stronger Churches 60 ahead of US, crcum-
vent US, and catch the ear of the people,
Instances might be multiplied.
The standard of education required by us
explains our scarcity of ministers. While We
adhere to our standard, We must expect a
very limited number of ministers. For
hereby We limit the sources of supply to ed
lcated men, who are always lean minority
n our land. While we adhere to our pre-
ent rule, and advocate an educated ministry,
honesty compels US to count fairly the cost
It which we are cherishing it. Possibly the
Iction of the Assembly respecting lay exhor-
ers, taken some years ago, but not much
arried out by PresbyterieS, might be made
o furnish some supply of laborers. Posi-
'ly our people may so rally upon the Educs-
ion fund as to enable it to take up young
nen at much lower point in their education
han it can now do, and in this way enlarge
he source of supply. At present neither of
heSe results is in sight; and We must make
p our minds to hear the familiar echo given
rom our courts, " The harvest truly is plen-
eous, but the laborers are few"
The problem, however, is, Are our present
orces wisely distributed? p? We must work
nth what material we have. Our limited
lumber prevents our extending our lsbors as
7idely as We could wish to do; but this fact
eed not prevent our being more evangelistic
nth our present force. We should still be
3. Another cause that hinders this work is
he Vant of more general and thorough
pirit of evangelistic work. We note as one
# the most hopeful signs for the future that
he spirit of missions seems to be growing
lpon US.
The Presbyterian Church long since chose
. conservative policy. Our practice has been
90 conservative. We have rested too much
IN our pastorates. We have allowed gen.
,ration to slip away from US to too large
degree, while We were planting and training
school for the education of some future
generation. Accordingly, We have provided
'Or recruits to our number, and conducted
heir education too largely with reference to
pastoral qualifications, and proportionately
TOO little with reference to present evsnge-
stic work. Our young men are willing
enough to practise self-denial where they see
;he value of it. But it would be strange if
hey failed to imbibe the prevalent sentiment
that the evangelistic work is of inferior i'm
or if they should be expected to as
sumo the responsibility of a more aggressive
policy than their fathers have chosen
Taught on all sides that the pastoral Office is
Of SO much greater Importance than the evan
yelistic, and so much more in harmony with
our established policy, they gladly avail them
selves of opportunities for accepting the for
mer, as offering the larger sphere of USE
fulness," without the Inconvenience and dis.
comforts of the latter. To ministry edu-
Gated as ours is, the pastoral work is usually
much more pleasant than the missionary
work. Ministers are human, and not raised
ohova the inHnencas of narsonsl con