Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-11-12

Hlole the prosperity OF our ChurCn:
than upon the question, GLOW can we
make our church more efficient in the
work of evangelization?' Anothercause
of the decline of the evangelical spirit
and work in the churches is that the
preaching of our pulpits is pastoral rath-
er than evangelistic. one result of this
is that the members of the chuI1;h lose
the evangelistic spirit and drop into the
habit of looking upon the church as Il
place of religious resort. for their own
comfort and cditication. rather than as IA
training-school for Christian activity in
the direction of soul-saVing. The life of
the church becomes Il social rather than
an aggressive one. and that life arranged
upon natural rather than spiritual lines.
This Stagnation of evangeli>tic life reacts
upon the members of the church. Since
they are not taught and trained to seek
the conversion of men. they are left al
most uninterruptedly to the pursuit of
worldly ends and thus the a%scendrncv of
secular and personal interests over the
things of the kingdom of God j. almost
everywhere seen. There j. not one lay
man IN twenty in our churches whom we
may call upon to do work in an inquiry
room. or send to make Il visit to an un-
converted soul with Il view of leading
him To Christ. The whole burden of the
spiritual work i thrown upon the pastor
and the very few brethren who NAV be
tuuUI tn holm i'm tIpsn tbiIr- 'El., ,it,-
l. the strategic point in the battle for the
worlds conversion to Christ, and yet the
cities are more neglected than any other
portion of the country. There are wards
III the city of Brooklyn in which there is
no evangelical church, in which there
are more people than the aggregate pop
ulation of some of our Territories. The
point has been well made that the city
gives the type as well as the name to
civilization. Among the changes need
ful to revive the evangeliStic gift, empha-
SIS was laid upon this: We must revive
and recognize the evangelistic Gift as IA
distinct order in the ministry. Young
men entering upon the work of the min
istry ought to be trained from the begin
ming with this end in view.
The subicct-mattcr of this paper deep
~ enlisted the interest of the Council
and elected sympathetic discussion, the
result of which was embodied in the
following resolutions:
HeSolr,d, That the council indor,c the rru.
clTl principles ot this paper. namely. the de-
nlind OF our times tor II more c%Ningcli,tic
ministry the duty of the whole church To
recognize hrr "Nnngrl>tic mission. and the
Obligation OF the churches To supply thi> dc.
maud ny lroNldlhE special training Tor tins
dl>tlncl branch of service by rrtdiu>ting their
methods To admit OF the tulhllincnt of this
mission by the Development OF the cu-upcr4t.
ton, IL far IT. possible, OF the entire member
ship ANA by the use OF the whole local church
a. the unit for the "vjngrlization OF the out.
lying population.
H%eSoired, That the council earnestly com.
mend 10 the further attention of our tungrc.
gational theological Summaries the need of
more itd"qnat" provision tor training Young
men rom the beginning OF their course OF
study IN ~" principles ANA the personal pros.
ecutlon OF practical cvangcli>tic work.
ReSoIreI, That the employment of rvangcl.
ISIS 10y ana under the authority ana dircc.
ton OF state and local conferences and
associations to labor when called for. either
by the churches or the needs of destitute lo.
c%alitics, be both commended AN advised.
He|"ireI, That The Rcvs. Lyman Abbott, j.
O.. Roberts, Josiah strong, j. e.. .John>on. MIR.
A.. :. barnes and the Rev. Geo. r. PuntrcoSt
be appointed II committee to refer to the rN-
'tlll\f tblllllllIItt OF the American HOnp
MISSIONARY society such suggestions IL they
may deem best toward the Organization ana
prosecution OF ~evhngclistic work under the
auspices o. that society among the churches
and throughout the country.
HeSoireI, That the paper lie printed scpa.
rately from the proceedings of the council for
wider circulation, and that To this end at least
fNr copies De sent to every minister whose
name appears in the year Book"
Were it not. Mr.. Editor. that fear il
would demand more space than YOU could
well devote to this correspondence. |
would like to give some account of the
action taken upon other important topics.
such aS "Churchcs upon the border land
of Self-support," upon which a valuable
paper was given by Rev. \. l.. Frisbie
of Des Moines, Iowa, and import resolu-
ton adopted; ''Ihe congregational
hurch and Christian Education" upon
which Rev. e II. Idle of Milwaukee
gave an eloquent and thoughtful paper:
he action of the council in urging con-
Eressional action in regard to the Chi
lese, in regard to Mormonism and in re-
gard to marriage and divorce.
The closing exercises. on Wednesday
orenoon Oct. 20, We're a fitting conclu-
ion to Il remarkable series of meetings.
he addresses of DIR. Noble gave eloquent
IMPRESSIONS to his appreciation of the
Immediate and prospective value to the
congregational ministers and churches
our land of these days of conference.
road and kindly discussion. spiritual
communion, and extension of Christian
cquaintance. To all this the united
elegates thought and felt. Amen.
-"She did wrong to look back didn't
ne Bessie:' "les. mamma" And