Modern methods in church work; the gospel renaissance

Front matter

Jopyridit

Chap. . Copyright No...

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Preface

I am indebted for the information which has made possible the helpful mention of their church work. I only regret that it has been necessary so often to condense the reference to their work and methods employed. To the Eev. Walter Laidlaw, Ph.D., and the Rev. Winthrop Hageman, Ph.D., who kindly placed before me the manuscript copy of the report of the Sociological Canvass of the Fifteenth Assembly District, New York, I have to offer my special thanks. I would also make grateful acknowledgment of the helpful assistance of Mrs. Laura C. Dunlap, in matters of tabulation and the arrangement of certain material. It is with regret that I find myself unable to make such mention as I should like to make of the painstaking favors which I have received from Christian workers, and I can only make this general acknowledgment, and express my deep obligation.

G. W. M.

New York,

December, 1896.

VI

Contents

Chapter Page

iNxrvODUCTioN xvii

I. Cardinal Principles 1

Introduction

By CHARLES L. THOMPSON, D.D.

This book is timely. It speaks to an opportunity. An intelligent discussion of the best methods of church work is one of the strongest needs of the times. It is often said that what the Church needs, to secure her purity and progress, is to get back to Christ. There is a truth in this, although it is sometimes over-stated. We have some inheritance of mistakes in the theology of the fathers, and it would doubtless advance the simplicity of theological statement and conduce to the unity and harmony of the Church, if we would be content to express truth in the divine simplicity which marked his words. But we have departed from the simplicity of the early Church quite as much in the principles and methods of church work as in the forms of theological statement. The simple ways of apostolic times have very much been lost sight of in the modern administration of church affairs. Both in the principles of Christian life and in our ways of expressing them, we have gone a long way from the early Church, and without any sharp sense of our departure.

Christ himself organized no church. From him we get the foundations of religious belief, for he was a religious teacher. But we cannot get from his words or example an illustration of the divine order of Chris-

INTRODUCTION.

tian service as developed in an organization. To be sure, the germs of Cliristian life are all to be found in what he said and did. But we must look to the lives of the apostles and of Christ for an exemplification of the principles they received from the Master. Their hands had touched the hand of Jesus Christ, and in considering the life and ways of the early Church, we are as near to Christ in organic church life as it is possible to get. Christ promised to his disciples the guidance of the Holy Spirit in organizing the Church. They sought that guidance and yielded themselves to the promised direction and control.

The Acts of the Apostles is, therefore, a hand-book of Christian life and work, to which we must look as expressing the mind of Christ himself. At the same time we must not forget that it was also a development. Its essential principles were immutable ; but its methods easily took form and color from their surroundings. In general, we may say the Apostolic Church consisted less in definite forms of thought or systems of administration than in a certain great spirit which enabled its members to mould it to the necessities of the times and to give themselves without stint to its service, and die without hesitation for its extension. In the second chapter of that book, four great characteristics of the Apostolic Church are given to us in the familiar words, "They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer." Here are four great truths on which as on four pillars the early Church rested: love of truth, love of one another, frequent remembrance of Christ, and constant prayer. These are the changeless factors of the church life. Now when we think how the primitive Church lived on these truths with joy and gladness, and died for them xviii

INTRODUCTION.

in triumph, and when by contrast we consider how formal and spiritless a thing modern church life frequently is, we cannot but be impressed that there has been a departure from the divine ideal, and that it will be only by a struggle that the Church will get back to the power of those truths as they inspired those lowly disciples. The power of the truth is measured by its effects. So measured, these truths are seen to be almighty. It was a time when all God's people were God's priests, when there was no proxy service of one for another, when all men, women, and children held themselves, as under personal obligations, to give themselves for Jesus Christ. The spirit of sacrifice was not the privilege of the few, but was for a time the common heritage of all the people of the Lord. It is the purpose of this book to hold these cardinal principles in strong light and to show how the Church of to-day has peculiar opportunity for translating them into a service somewhat akin to the noble service of the Apostolic Church. Thus, for example, this book lays stress on church co-operation or the unity of the Church, in that it carries our thought back to the unity of the early Church, one of whose first articles was this, " the people were together." That should be as true to-day as it was eighteen centuries ago. The distinguishing mark of the Church of Christ is found in the simple fact that her members are believers in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ. The Church, therefore, is not a company of people organized on congenial social lines ; it is not a school compacted on theological lines; it is not a club banded together to do benevolent work. The bond that binds them is the bond of Christian faith; it is communion of faith, and it is as strong as the power of Him on whom that faith rests. Recent studies in church history have disclosed

xix the fact that the unity of the churches of the first century consisted not in the_identity of the organization, but in a common faith and love. The germs of the different organizations of to-day may all be found in apostolic or sub-apostolic times. Varying forms of government did not then prevent unity of life and service. They should not do so now.

Another characteristic of the early Church was, that they had all things in common. That does not mean communism. It only means that believers held all possessions as the stewards of Christ, ever ready to distribute according to the necessities of his people and his kingdom. In harmony with this idea it is one purpose of this book to declare that the commercial spirit should not rule in the house of God, and that distinctions between rich and poor are not in harmony with the mind of the Master or the practice of the early disciples. The right use of money is one of the living questions in the administration of church affairs. In these days, when tremendous wealth is in the hands of- God's people, what results might be anticipated if the spirit of the consecration of property ruled them as it ruled the early Church !

The chapters of this book which insist that the property of the church should be in daily and common use for church work illustrates that article of the Apostolic Church which says that they " continued daily with one accord in the temple." The temple then was a far more sacred building than any of our modern churches are, but at the descent of the Holy Ghost the temple doors were flung open. Henceforth it was not to be a place of occasional resort, but an ever3^-day home, its doors open every day, and every day thronged by those who gathered there to meet each other and meet the Lord. That does not mean that there should be public

INTRODUCTION.

services constantly; but it means that Christianity should be so active that its central gathering-place should manifest that activity, as closed doors and darkened windows cannot do. If the Church is a light-house, its light should be burning every day ; if a rescue station, its boats should be manned every day; if a school, its classes should be open every day; if a temple, its altar should be accessible every day.

The church building should be the centre, but it should not be the circumference, of Christian activity. The diffusion of Christian activity throughout the community is expressed in that article of the early Church which says, the disciples " were breaking bread from house to house." Their life was an evidence of Christ's words of commission to his people, " I send you forth." If the Church has healing power, let her go to the sick ; if comforting power, let her be as an angel to the sorrowing ; if lifting power, let her find those who have fallen. The Church must not stand and beckon ; she must ''go." Her ministry should be as penetrating as human misery and as comprehensive as the pity of God ; and her members should be swift to seek and to save that which is lost, — lost anywhere and in any sense. The church which would be true to the principles which Christ announced and the example he set must ferret out human sin, sorrow, and ignorance and bring them to the light of the truth which she possesses.

Considering now the divine model of what the Church should be, it must be evident that in some things we have departed a long way from that noble example. We have gone away from the simplicity, from the personal devotion, from the self-sacrifice of the Apostolic Church. The Church is rich and powerful and has the eye of the nations ; but we have lost something to secure which we could well afford to give

INTRODUCTION.

up some of the visible signs of our greatness and power. And whatever we may think of particular forms and methods of church work, the conviction is getting hold on the conscience of Chi-istendom, that if we would be equal to the tremendous obligations of these times, some of that simple faith and that cheerful consecration of the primitive Church must come back to us. We talk of the dangers of scepticism, and that Christianity to be secure must meet it ; and so it must, but the cogency of the argument which Christianity presents depends at last upon the vigor of Christian life that is back of the argument. "We speak of the social trials that surround the community, the alienation of class from class, and the conflicts these conditions render inevitable. We must meet these trials and engage in these conflicts, not in a lifeless round of merely respectable and nominal Christianity, but in a certain intensity of Christian truth and sentiment, in the union of believers panoplied in the old doctrine, locking arms across the dividing lines, in the old fellowship of the apostles, living every day and everywhere the great truths that we profess.

All great ages of church history have been adventurous, from the days when Joshua claimed Canaan to the day when the Wesleys left the Church that they might dwell among and uplift the people. We are coming upon the most adventurous times now, — a crusade not for the dead Christ's tomb, but for the living Christ's cross. To be a Christian is to be a crossbearer, to enter into the sacrificial spirit of the Master, like Paul to be the slave of Jesus Christ ; and all this that the Kingdom of Heaven may take its place on the earth, that all life may be divine, and that the blessings of society, education, and government may be inbreathed with the spirit of the living God. To secure this result xxii

INTRODUCTION.

there need be nothing new, but the old Gospel in the full measure of its power applied to individuals and to the whole structure of society.

There must be the preaching of the Gospel: *'As ye go, preach." Every great work has begun there, — Paul at Ephesus, Augustine at Rome, Savonarola in Florence, Luther at Erfurth, Wesley and Whitfield among the colliers and peasants in England.

There must be continuous evaDgelistic work, by which is not meant continuous revival service, but such personal work as will bring people at all times to personal commitment to Christ.

There must be a purpose to apply the whole Gospel to the whole man, to meet the people at every point of need, physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual.

Surrounding all church work there must be a spiritual atmosphere, secured by the character of the workers, by religious exercises connected with all the departments of the work, and by keeping alwaj^s supreme the principle that we do it all in His Name and for the supreme end of saving souls. There will then be no danger in any kind of institutional work. Above all and sanctifying all, we must get nearer to Christ. We must recall the words of the Master to his disciples when they were striving for pre-eminence, " I, your lord and master, am among you as he that serveth." Then we shall see the divine dignity and glory of the service committed to us.

This book deals chiefly with methods of church work ; but it suggests methods and pleads for activity on no ground lower than the top of Calvary. Christ sacrificed for us necessitates a sacrificial church, whose ways of working are flexible to every new occasion, but whose spirit is as changeless as the spirit of Christ.

xxiii

MODERN METHODS IN CHURCH WORK.

Chapter I. Cardinal Principles

It would be strange indeed if the closing years of this century, which stand so signally for progress, for invention, for unparalleled industrial and commercial achievement, for material and political development and attainment, when philosophers are writing of the "Evolution of Evolution" and a decade marks greater results than a century was wont to do, — it would be strange if these closing years recorded that all other departments of life had moved forward with accelerated energy and power, but that the Church alone in its great mission had stood still. And the Church, we are wont to say, has before it infinite possibilities !

Whatever may be suggested by a superficial glance at the religious world, a careful study of the facts shows that the Christian Church has entered upon a new era, — an era of fast spreading the Kingdom. The prophecy ' ' Greater works than these shall he do ; because I go unto my Father," ^ is being fulfilled. More souls are being reached daily in this dawn of the twentieth century than ever before in the history of the 1 John xiv. 12.

1 1

MODERN METHODS IN CHURCH WORK.

Church. New methods have been adopted. Work is aggressive. There is a " sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees." True, this era has not fully come, but it has come as day has come when

" doth the morning starre appeare Out of the East, with flaming locks bedight."i

The growth of Christianity is shown "in that in 1800 there was one Evangelical communicant in every 14.50 inhabitants in the whole country. In 1850 there was one in every 6.57 inhabitants. In 1870 there was one in every 5.78 inhabitants. In 1880 there was one in every 5 inhabitants. In 1890 there was one in every 4.53 inhabitants. These figures indicate a very large relative gain upon the population, — three communicants in the same number of inhabitants where there was one in 1800. . . . Where the population since 1800 has increased twelve fold the communicants of these churches increased thirty-eight fold, or over three times as fast relatively." ^

The wide and increasing influence of Christianity on the thought and life of the world is shown in many ways : a few3^ears ago any consideration of the Gospel principles in the study of sociology was regarded as unscientific ; now the commandment Love one another AS I have loved you is the basis of our sociology. The influence of Christianity is further seen in its raising the tone of citizenship; creating a regard for the rights of others ; imposing obligations upon the wealthy to share their abundance with those less fortunate ; inculcating the principles of justice ; emphasizing the duty of humanity to children, to the poor, to prisoners, and to all suffering classes ; inciting to con-

2 Problem of Religious Progress, by Rev. Daniel Dorchester, D.D., pp. 594, 595.

CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.

stant endeavor in the interests of peace and the arbitration of grievances between men and nations.

Along with this increasing influence and extended power of Christianity., a great change has been coming over our churches. The indications of* a return to the Chi'istianity of Christ lie open to our sight on every side. A new and more strenuous spirit of helpfulness characterizes the inner and outer life of the churches ; they are becoming more humanitarian. And in the larger and more vital appreciation of the gospel of service, of love, and of human brotherhood, they are becoming more practical, — going into the fuller life of human relationships, in which tl>e capabilities of fellowship, love, and sympathetic helpfulness are liberated, expanded, and enriched, — and are seeking that the spirit of Christ may be realized in the life of the family, the community, the church, and the nation, and become wholly the informing life of the world. In other words, that which marks the new era in church life and methods is the recovery of the full teaching of the early Church, — that the office of the church is to heal and to teach as well as to preach. If we call such work " new," it is only because we have lost sight of it for several hundred years; for the work is as old as the Apostles, and bases its claim upon the teachings of the Son of Man.

Those unfamiliar with the nature of the new movement which stands for the realization of this Gospel idea of healing, teaching, and preaching, erroneously suppose that it finds expression only in churches working with what is called the '' mission element," and therefore not adapted to the wealthier churches, and of such colossal undertaking as to be impracticable for the poorer, country and village parishes. This popular impression has its rise, no doubt, in the attention

MODERN METHODS IN CHURCH WORK.

which the signal success of the Institutional church has attracted to itself, especially in the mission districts. But the forward Christian movement of our day is in the avenues of our city and in the suburban and country churches no less than in the mission " down-town " districts. Considering the environment of each church, the number of people within its reach, the results of the new methods in the avenue, village, and country churches have been as large proportionately as have those of the mission churches.

For churches illustrative of the forward Christian movement, I would mention the Open, the Free, and the Institutional church.^ Though different in name, they are one in spirit and aim, the detail work of the church being worked out according to the environment of each church. It is in the principles which underlie their work, therefore, that we are to find the idea for which the movement stands. A study of the movement reveals six cardinal principles : —

1. Evangelism is the first principle to be mentioned. By this is meant especially the saving of souls and the training and nurturing of Christian character ; the same emphasis being placed on the sacraments and preaching as has been done heretofore. The only reason for speaking of this is to present all the underlying principles of the new movement. This seems necessary, since there has been some confusion of thought, on the part of those who know the w^ork only at a distance, as to just what the new movement means and represents. Those persons are wide of the truth who think the sensationalist its representative, or who attribute to it any new doctrines.

That this is the spirit of the movement is evidenced

1 For convenience the term " Open church " will be used throughout this chapter as a comprehensive term for the new movement.

CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.

by the following quotations from two of its leaders and well-known men in the church. The Rev. Charles L. Thompson, D.D., President of the Open and Institutional Church League, in speaking of the Open church says : "It believes there is no other name but the name of Christ whereby men must be saved. It believes it will profit us nothing to gain the world and lose our soul, or life. It holds firmly to the supremacy of eternal life. Its ultimate is to bring men to the knowledge, faith, and service of the Redeemer. It would count church work a failure that did not result in lives renewed by the power of the Holy Ghost. More than this, it is willing to have its work tested and judged by its fealty to and success in the supreme work of bringing men to Christ." ^

Unmistakable, too, are the words of the Rev. Russell H. Conwell, D.D., pastor of the Baptist Temple, Philadelphia, one of the largest and most successful Institutional churches in the country. Dr. Conwell says : ' ' The mission of the Church is to save the souls of men. That is its true mission. It is the only mission of the Church. That should be its only thought. The moment an}' church admits a singer who does not sing to save souls ; the moment a church calls a pastor who does not preach to save souls ; the moment a church elects a deacon who does not work to save souls ; the moment a church gives a supper or an entertainment of any kind not for the purpose of saving souls, — it ceases in so much to be a church, and to fulfil the magnificent mission God gave to it. Every concert, every choir service, every preaching service, every Lord's Supper, every agency used in the chui'ch must have the great mission plainly before its eyes. We are here to save the souls of dj^ing sinners ; we are here for

1 The Sacredness of the Secular, p. 5. 5

MODERN METHODS IN CHURCH WORK.

no other purpose ; and, the mission of the Church being so clear, that is the only test of a real church."

But it will be helpful not only to have the statement of leaders in this work, but also the judgment of men outside the movement who have investigated the work.

Said the Congregationalist, in an editorial a short time ago : "To the query so often put, Is the Institutional church secularizing religion? this much at least can be said : It certainly has not had that effect upon the pastors and their fellow-laborers. It would be hard to find a set of men more ardent in their devotion to Christ than the men who are identified with Institutional work. Moreover, as respects the body of the membership, if the prayer-meeting be taken as the thermometer of spiritual life, or if a visitor comes in contact with the rank and file, he gains the impression that a strong and constant desire to save men permeates the entire church."

2. Consecration is the second cardinal principle; and a consecration too that is electric in its very thought. Not the consecration merely of one da}^ in the seven, or of a part of a man, or a part of his income, but the consecration of all of the man, all of his income, and all of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. The spirit of the new movement is all-inclusive in its claims, claiming not only that all of the man — body, soul, and spirit — and all that he has — time, talents, and possessions ^ are G-od's, but also claiming that all society — its business, labor, commerce, laws, institutions, everything — is His also. The Open church, therefore, believes in " sanctifying all days and all meana to the end of saving the world for Christ." And this emphasis on the sacredness of all things and of all the man is one of the principles which differentiates the new movement from the work of the past. Dr.

CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.

Josiah Strong recognized this when he said: "This broader conception of the mission of the Church, while it has been held by individuals, has never been grasped by the Church herself. She has deemed the world a hopeless wreck, and herself commissioned to save out of it as many as possible, whom she is to land on the heavenly shore. It has not yet dawned on her that she is to save the wreck itself. She has sought to fit men to do God's perfect will in heaven instead of consciously aiming to hasten the answer to her Lord's prayer, ' Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.' She does not seem to have perceived that God had the loorJd in his heart and plan. ' God so loved the luorkr that he gave his Son for its redemption. Christ came into the world, not to condemn it, ' but that the ivorld through him might be saved.' " ^

3. Ministration is the third cardinal principle of the Open church. It aims, as Christ's body, to furnish the material environment through which his spirit can be practically expressed to the age in which it exists.^ It seeks to reach all sides of a man, — not only the spiritual side, but also the physical, intellectual, and social nature of man. It therefore " seeks to become the centre and source of all beneficent and philanthropic effort, and to take part in every movement which has for its end the alleviation of all human suffering, the elevation of man, and the betterment of the world." ^ This is simply following the example of Him who came not to be ministered unto but to minister ; who went about doing good, healing the sick, comforting the aflfliicted, feeding the hungry, and sitting with the sinner that he might show him the way of Life. The

1 The New Era, p. 236.

2 Platform of the Open aud lustitutioual Church League, United States of America.

MODERN METHODS IN CHURCH WORK.

welcome of Jesus Christ was a gracious welcome, his ministry was for all^ and the common people heard him gladly. " The men who are active in the new religious movement are not foolish enough to suppose that they can literally imitate Christ under the conditions of modern life and have any good grow out of it ; but they endeavor in all ways to put his spirit into the life of to-day, so that the churches may be to the men of the present time what he was to the men of his time." ^ Therefore the Open church seeks to minister unto others so freely and nobly that the plainest people will gladly come ; and ministers, with the church open seven days in the week, with provision for helpful amusements and recreation removed from temptation, with libraries and reading-rooms and means for social intercourse, and ever ready and helping hands in time of misfortune, loss, sorrow, disaster, and affliction. This ministering unto the whole man means too, where needed, kindergartens for children, club-rooms for men, training-classes for young men and young women, the Helping Hand for mothers, and nurseries where mothers who are compelled to work out for the day may leave their children knowing that their care and education will be provided for.

It is in this work, at least in a part of this work, that the new movement has been criticised ; it being urged that such beneficent and philanthropic efforts should be left to charitable societies instituted for that purpose. It may be answered that if the Church delegates such work to outside societies it loses a great blessing. The good of doing is reactive upon the doer, is not alone felt by the recipient. The curse of men has been their content to do for others by proxy. Let

1 The Institutional Church, b_v George Willis Cooke, " The New England Magazine," August, 189G, p. 647.

CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.

the Church go and do as the very hands and feet of God, and it will soon find that loving deeds are as potent as ever, that hard hearts are melted by the Christ spirit of love. God committed the poor to the care of the Church. It is the doing of beneficent and philanthropic work — precisely this kind of work ■ — which Jesus declared is the test that is to determine eternal destiny.^

The Duke of Argyle, speaking of Dr. Chalmers, says : " He obeyed the call of the Psalmist in considering the poor. And the result of his consideration was that the relief of and care for unavoidable poverty is the special duty and function of the Christian Church in its fullest and highest organization of combined laity and clergy. . . . He was not content with holding this view in theor}^ He undertook to show how it could be worked out in practice in one of the parishes of the great city of Glasgow with a population of more than one hundred thousand. He undertook to show that the free-will offering of his own parocliial congregation could be made adequate to the discharge of this great duty. He desired to show that the Christian Church, if it only knew how to drill and marshal its spiritual forces in facing and dealing with the causes of secular suffering and distress, could be and would be the greatest and best of all agencies in the world. And he did show it." 2