Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-11-11

plain doctrines or Salvat1On. we are
living in an age when men want to
know what they are doing. They want /
to investigate. Every Lutheran pas
tor should have three catechetical
classes at least ten months OF the |
year during his whole ministry: one
for the little children above six years
of age and one for the regular catech-
umens from twelve to fifteen years
old, and one for adults of any age. |
Every member of the church should
have card in his pocket all the time
reading something like this:
am now ready to learn more fully
the way of salvation and to join the
next catechetical class of the .....-.....-
Lutheran Church.
name
Address ...........-..-.-...----.-.....-.
Then he should use his influence
on the man who works by his side.
on any man with whom he comes in |
contact, that needs the instruction, to !
persuade him to Join the next class
and get him to sign the card--it means
more than a verbal promise and /
promise him to start to the class with |
him and do it. Going after the in
dividual man where he works, or
lives. beats building tabernacles |
thousand times. The whole church |
should watch the open doors as God
opens them. Gods true revivals are /
planned by Him. If we will watch |
carefully, we will see the open doors |
into which He would have us enter.
Let me give one example. Our plan |
is to receive new members about |
Palm Sunday, or Easter Sunday, but |
this year, after preaching a funeral
sermon during holy week, three rail-
road men called me up and wanted |
me to start a new catechetical class
for them Here God opened a door.
We followed up Gods plan and had |
ten prayer services in ten districts
in one evening; and, by the use of an |
automobile, / visited all ten meetings, |
and offered one short prayer at each
meeting and asked all present II they |
knew anyone who should be Christ
ian and Join a new class. / received |
the names of fifty-nine people that |
night The next week l visited the |
| fifty-nine personally and got the prom
Use of fifty-two to join the class. What
was the result? l explained the
catechism briefly and on Pentecost,
baptized and confirmed fifty-eight
adults, mostly heads of families, ana
baptized fourteen of their children.
These people are now workers in the
church and are inviting others. Ev-
cry Lutheran in this country should |
be taught to extend the invitation to |
something definite, to a class to study |
the Scriptures. This is the most eff
fective invitation in the world. Let
the wording understand that he is
asked only to investigate and then
decide for himself after he under
stands; and the invitation appeals to |
him. There is no reason why the |
Lutheran church should not hold a |
series of meetings in the fall of the
year just before starting the catech-
etical classes, and make as strong b
plea as any evangelist for catehcu-
mems. AS the months of July and
August are vacations months and the
public schools are closed it is not a |
good time to carry on the catecheti- |
cal work. At this point l wish to
state that there is no better system
| in the world to win souls for Christ |
than good catechisation. Train a |
child in the way he shall go and when |
he is old he will not depart from it.
CatechiZed Christians may stray |
from the straight and narrow way fol- |
a while, but like the prodigal, they |
will come back home. They know
the truth and know the way back.
They have something to hold to; ana
like the disciples of Christ, hear and
learn Gods Word in and through
which the Holy Spirit operates on
their hearts day and night. 1t is an
easy matter to ridicule head-relig-
/ I,.t Cd dc fn n
the heart; and His command is to
search the Scriptures.
From all that has been said, let us
draw a few conclusions:
l. Let Lutheran pastors literally
"eat" the little book as John did &C
cording to the tenth chapter of Rev
elation and taste the bitterness OF the
law which condemns us and the sweet
ness of the Gospel which saves us
and 'prophesy again before many
peoples, and nations, and tongues,
and kings
| ii. Let us preach as dying men
to dying men and make a strong plea
in every sermon for souls to join the
catechetical class and learn the will
of God more fully and become intelli-
gent Christians.
| III. Let us not at this late hour,
when all other methods have been
reduced to the last struggle OF dy-
ing system, let down the high stand
ard of the best method God ever gave
to reach the world. The New Test
ament has only one sermon on the
Mount, but many catechisations by
our Lord, and the first when He was
only twelve years old, asking and
answering questions.
w. Let one of the great move
ments of the year 1917 be Lutheran
i o,rn oil cI