The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1957-03-28
One Man Looks
At God
(By Charles w. Carlson. Pastor,
st. Marks Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Oakland Maryland.)

This week we will consider the
words of Christ as recorded in
Matthew 1868:
When he saw the crowds, he had
compassion for them, because they
were harassed and helpless, like
sheep without a shepherd. Then he
said to his disciples: The harvest
is plentiful, but the laborers are
few; pray therefore the Lord Of
the harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest.
Though on the surface il looks as
if there are more Christians than
those who do not believe in this
country of ours, there is no lack
of places that Christ can be
preached. For though there are
many on the rolls of our churches,
not all of these by any means are
true believers in Christ, and then
there are still many millions in
this country who do not even go
so far as TO have a formal relation
ship with any church. And when
we look throughout the world, we
find non-Christians past the billion
mark to which we can 60 with the
gospel. The Harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few"
Practically every denomination
in Christendom feels the lack of
ministers. Most churches have a
need for far more in the full-time
service of the church than they
now have. There are many congre-
cations throughout our nation who
are without the leadership Of a
pastor. This is serious problem in
many respects II shows first of all
that churches themselves are not
placing a high enough premium on
getting the best of their young
people to go into the ministry.
When you indicate the wide diff
ference in salary scale between an
engineer, for instance, and mini
ster, you begin to see the point.
While the material rewards are
certainly not the basic reason
man should choose any calling for
his life's work. certainly the re-
wards should at least indicate the
relative importance of the calling.
When you realize that the average
worker is making
more money than the average mini
ster, who spends some seven or
even more years in preparation for
this work, it seems rather ridicu-
lous. The ministry is not the only
area where this factor is a prob
lem when you look at it from the
that all Christians should
be subject to the same response
bilities to spread Christ to the
worlds as the minister The minister
is pastor to his flock, but he cam
not live the whole Christian life
for his people. He can guide them,
but it is the task of all Christians
to ''go into all the world" preach
ing and living a gospel of redemp-
ton.
One of the first answers that
receive when talk to people about
their responsibilities as LAY evan
gelists" is that they don't know
enough. Well, the way l look at it
IS if the people do not know enough
about their Lord to talk about
Him, and spread His word to their
friends, neighbors, and any one else
Who needs it, then they had better
earn There is no lack of oppor-
unity to learn. Most Sunday
Church Schools teach the Bible
pretty well, and any person who
Ido 9OllC III OuSi PuCAAN oSAiOOi
should be able to read English, and
here are many good modern trans
atoms of the scriptures, so that
any person should be able to read
and find out for himself lot Of
What Christianity is and should
mean. Of course there are ques-
ions, but any pastor worth his
Ealing will be more than willing to
1elp, and we must never undercut
he power of direct inspiration by
he Holy Spirit, to all who seek out
he Word of God in sincere prayer
for guidance.
The harvest is plentiful, the OPP
oortunities are great, but the la
borers are few Should it be the
pastors responsibility alone to Wis
it the sick, comfort the dying,