The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1913-03-26
EVANGELISM UNDER FIRE
DIR. Chapman Utters a Warming
Against Sensatianalism, Conn.,
melcialism aud Vulgar
ity
tBy j. Wilbur Chapman. d. D.

liza have read in the American pa
peis AN account OF the Conference
un Evangelism held III SeplDmDoi
IN the Moody Bible Institute. AVG
sentences IN the reports which nave
reached US nave arrested my atteh-
,iuu. me one was read IRON d let
Ter to Dr. Gray, The Dean o. tne
institute, in which the wIIter Is re-
pOrled saying tnat evangelism IA,
me united states has developed
INTO commerciallsm and professional
lsm.' the other Is attributed -
my friend Dr. r. +. Iayior. pastor
" the First BAPTIST church, INDIA
napolis, IN which he is reported W
nave sala: Nv men l began my evan
gelistic work, well known cVah-
,geiiist asked me to come to mis- cot
Lage that he might teach me the
tricks OF the trade and tell me nov
70 secure an offering. Tor, sara
ne, i nave got the olner evangei-
lists skinned a mile in this part o.
my work could wish that TINS
portion OF the conference had been
neid behind closed doois. 1t does
not make Christian work any cas-
Ter to give the world and those cp-
posed TO evangelism an Opportun-
ity to rejoice over criticism made
OF the work OF workers. however
just and necessary these criticisms
may be. and 1t would seem only
tsir that DR.. Taylor should have
given the name o. the svangeiist
who said he had them skinned =
mile" in taxing an offering. 1t
hardly SCENE fair that svanselists
In general should rest under such
4 charge. l am hoping. however.
severe the arrangement of evan
gelists and evangelistic workers may
nave been, the conference may do
good. 1t Is. however. a little bit
unfair to censure all evangelists be-
cause some have failed, just as it
would be unjust to arraign all min
listers because some of them have
forfeited the right to stand behind
the sacred desk. l have not been
much In the United States for the
past three years; but l have no hes
itation in saying that the evangel-
lists whom l know intimately. and
with whom / was for SO long a
To
Their professional nor CONNER
cial:" they were men of God with
out exception. They made great
sacrifices to do their work, and not
one of them received an adequate
income. and yet l never heard
them complain. That there has
been a drift toward extreme sensa-
tiona evangelism In the United
States. no one knows better than
1: no one deplores it more. Sensa-
tionalism, commercialism, vulgarity,
the greed for money-wherever
these things exist, have no rightful
place in evangelism. and the church
has a right to cry out in no un-
certain tones against such things.
and to withhold her approval of the
men who continue to work along
such lines. All Christian work is
more difficult today than even
three. years ago. Pastors every
where are bemoaning this fact. as
well as evangelists. We have found
all over the world that men are la
boring in many instances. with al
most breaking hearts because of
the sparse results to be seen as
the result OF their labors. If evan
CYCLISTS, are extreme and unwise in
method. II they make wild and I'M
dignified statements; If they de-
scend to vulgar expressions; am
wondering II the church has mot
some responsibility for such a con-
dition of Affairs. She does not train
her evangelists. nor does she con-
troll them. They are. as a rule, a
law to, themselves. and sometimes
xhat- nv, nf