Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1914-05-08
Law Eyanpelists

Lay Evangelists.
Evidently the Christian Advocate,
general organ of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, is not deeply
impressed with the idea of invoking
the services of the Rev. "Billy" Sun
day. 1t derides, in n respectful way,
the action of those Baltimore clergy
men who have arranged for visit
by Mr.. Sunday to that city in 1916
and warns them that while the
churches may await the coming of
the evangelist, the Devil will not de-
clare or respect any armistice and
old stand. The Advocate prefers the
personal evangelistic method recent
ly adopted in st. Louis. There the
church people agreed on a campaign
of two weeks, during which time each
of them was to devote special per-
sonal effort to arousing the con-
sciences of individuals and inducing
them to repent, amend their lives and
and adopt Christian fellowship. Each
denomination engaged undertook to
secure specified number of new
members. The Methodists worked
for 1000. AT the end of the two
weeks they had gathered in more
than 1000, and other denominations
did as well in proportion.
AS we understand it, the strength
and growth of the Christian religion
at its beginning were caused by the
fact that each new disciple immedi-
ately became an apostle and went
about to spread the Gospel and gain
new disciples. AS it is now, in near
ly every Christian congregation the
minister is regarded as, to use a Billy
Sunday expression, "the whole works"
The average member considers, appa-
rently, that going to church once ev-
cry Sunday, sending the children to
Sunday school, contributing some
thing to church purposes and setting
some kind of fairly good example
make the whole of Christian duty.
Active, aggressive work by the laity
is rarely done except on occasional
occasions. When there has been a
revival or a large accession the reg
ular minister is left to struggle alone
with mass of uninstructed, scat
tered, more or less weak material and
to organize it into a substantial, eff
fective, living force. He couldn't do
it successfully if he had the powers
of a captain in the regular army la
boring with n body of raw recruits.
v,
he can accomplish but little, compar-
atively, unless he has the help of the
veterans and the trained and taught
, soldiers and unless the recruits have
joined to fight and are taught to do
it. Yet if membership is at stand
still or dropping away, the minister
is blamed by those who spend more
time ticricising his doctrine, sermons,
grammar, pronunciation or delivery
than in helping him do what usually
he is trying faithfully to do.
In this country, according to the
last census, there are nearly 33,000,-
UOO COMMITMENTS Christian
churches. If each of these should
undertake to induce three persons in
year to become active Christians
not by professional methods or prose
lyting or intrusveness or noise, but
by patient, earnest appeal and argu-
ment-the nation would be one solid
and established mass of members,
and brethren.
The best progress we have made,
perhaps is that toward uniiication of
the denominations. We are Kidding
ourselves of our petty jealousies and
contentious among denominations and
learning to work together. Probably
the next long forward step will be a
general and real movement like that
! in st. Louis, an earnest cooperation
of the laity with the clergy in evan
| gelization. 1t would do more actual
permanent good than all the Sundays
who may develop and offer their ser
vices for prospects of liberal cash re-
turns.-Roanoke Times.