The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-17

dren. The aim of the movement is that every man shall so learn the gospel story that he can work out for himself the programme of Jesus Christ.
 Evangelism
 "The Bible is the message of God to man. Linked with this message must be the work of evangelism. As by inducing men to study the Bible we cause them to hear the voice of God, by evangelism we persuade them to heed that voice.
 Evangelism must pervade every de- partment. of the movement It must be the very life of it. 1t is the keystone to the arch. The good news of a re- deemer and of redeemable world gives the passion for social work, boys work, Bible study and missions. The moment we shun this word and what It stands for we lose the one factor by which we may succeed. This movement puts the first responsibility for evangelism on each church.
 ''The reproach that has sometimes been connected with this word has been due in part to evangelistic meetings in which individual and churches have eagerly adopted a plan by which it seem ed possible for them to fold their hands | and enjoy great revival metings while stranger to the community tried to do their work. A reaction is inevitable when the human instrument has been | used of God to awaken men has been withdrawn before these newborn men have become strong enough spiritually. ',rhe real work that makes the per manency must, in the great majority of cases, be done by the pastors and mem bers of the local churches This first emphasis is placed here and calls for an all the year effort to persuade mon to accept the good news that God wants men to live with him in fellowship with Jesus Christ.
 "On the other hand there is a large and definite place for the union evange- listic effort. Success of the highest char acter can be obtained in great mass meet ings when they arc sustained by the supported work of individuals and our churches. Then a true messenger of God from without may prove a great blessing to any community. This move ment contemplates just such campaigns seeking to mass the companies into bat talions for great assaults upon the indifferent and vicious who apparently are not reached in other ways By this two fold plans, why should not thousands yes hundreds of thousands-not re- spond to that spirit which beareth wit ness with our spirit that we are the heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ Jesus,' if so to be we suffer with Him that we may also be exalted with Him. Social Service
 When there is a reaction after a successful evangelistic campaign, we may be sure it has been due, in part, |, to the fact that the spirit filled man has not been directed to the perform ance of some appropriate task. The average church has an officer for every available post, who, as rule, does not care to be disturbed whether he tolls or slumbers at that post. What the new convert dol? asks the new pastor. He does not know the Bible well enough to teach in the Sunday school where there Is great need of teachers. The spirit is given to profit withar ana if work is not done, the fire dies down, for work is the fuel to the spiritual fire. This movement has already been intimated, looks upon all phases of so- cial work which make for better so- ciety, as Christian work. Earnest men and women have gone forth to work outside the church because as they saw the worlds need. as they heard the command Love thy neighbor as thy self they had to do something. The result is that today we speak of the church and social work as though things apart. Yet more than 90 per cent of social workers received their
 
 members of 1t. Future workers must come there say the social leaders. In reality the true church of Jesus Christ and true social service are inseparably yok ed together in the great command ment given by our Master
 At the Conference on Charities and Corrections, held in Boston, June, 1911. the church had a prominent place on the programme for the first time. At the first general session of the church and social work section in Fremont Temple, over 2000 were present and manifested the most intense interest in the discussion of the place of the church in society. Old attendants said it was the high water mark of all con ferences.
 'The full social programme will not be carried out save as it is pervaded by the purest religious passion. Hence at the meeting of the Religious Educa- tion Association held in Providence that dean of social workers, Miss Jane Addams. declared that Legislation and publicity will not suffice, that the day Is past in England and America when there was the demand for absolute separation from religion because 1t seemed to lack reality. She closed that address with stirring appeal to the church to enter into a real co-opera- tion.
 surely here IS task that will at tract the strong, red blooded spirit touched man and make him feel it is worth while to be a Christian. In fact this is the only hope of society Every community from the city crowd ed with it's millions to- the scattered farming distrcts has its social, political and industrial evils which are patent to all and which challenge the church. The leading social experts of North America are in this movement, have sent ringing message to the men of North America, and have prepared for the programme work chapter full of definite suggestions as to what to do and how to do 1t.
 One has said he approved this move- ment because il put the man who stands for individual salvation and the man who stands for social salvation on the same platform. Let us do better than that Let us have every man we'll balanced comb mbination of the two. It may be that we can begin with only sympathetic relation, but let us not rest until the most extreme evangelistic workers and the most extreme social worAers see the need of each other. Thus the church will fulfill it's mission of individual and social salvation.