In connection with our camp meetings in
past years, God's servants have improved many precious opportunities
for instructing our people in practical methods of presenting
the saving truths of the third angel's message to their friends
and acquaintances. Many have been taught how to labor as self-supporting
missionaries in their home communities. Many have returned home
from these annual gatherings to labor with greater zeal and intelligence
than hitherto.
It would be pleasing to God if far more
of this practical instruction were given the church members who
attend our camp meetings, than has usually been given in years
past. Our general workers and our brethren and sisters in every
conference should remember that one of the objects of our annual
gatherings is that all may gain a knowledge of practical methods
of personal missionary work. This phase of our camp meetings
is outlined in Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, as follows:
"God has committed to our hands a
most sacred work, and we need to meet together to receive instruction,
that we may be fitted to perform this work. We need to understand
what part we shall individually be called upon to act in building
up the cause of God in the earth, in vindicating God's holy law,
and in lifting up the Saviour as 'the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world.' John 1:29. We need to meet together
and receive the divine touch, that we may understand our work
in the home. Parents need to understand how they may send forth
from the sanctuary of the home their sons and daughters so trained
and educated that they will be fitted to shine as lights in the
world. We need to understand in
regard to the division of labor and how each part of the work
is to be carried forward. Each one should understand the part
he is to act, that there may be harmony of plan and of labor
in the combined work of all."--Pages 32, 33.
"Properly conducted, the camp meeting
is a school where pastors, elders, and deacons can learn to do
more perfect work for the Master. It should be a school where
the members of the church, old and young, are given opportunity
to learn the way of the Lord more perfectly, a place where believers
can receive an education that will help them to help others.
. . .
"The best help that ministers can
give the members of our churches is not sermonizing, but planning
work for them. Give each one something to do for others. Help
all to see that as receivers of the grace of Christ they are
under obligation to work for Him. And let all be taught how to
work. Especially should those who are newly come to the faith
be educated to become laborers together with God. If set to work,
the despondent will soon forget their despondency; the weak will
become strong, the ignorant intelligent, and all will be prepared
to present the truth as it is in Jesus. They will find an unfailing
helper in Him who has promised to save all that come unto Him."--Pages
49, 50.
In some of our conferences the leaders
have hesitated to introduce these practical methods of instruction.
Some are naturally inclined to sermonize rather than to teach.
But on such occasions as our annual camp meetings we must never
lose sight of the opportunities afforded for teaching the believers
how to do practical missionary work in the place where they may
live. In many instances it would be well to set apart certain
men to carry the burden of different lines of educational work
at these meetings. Let some help
the people to learn how to give Bible readings and to conduct
cottage meetings. Let others bear the burden of teaching the
people how to practice the principles of health and temperance,
and how to give treatments to the sick. Still others may labor
in the interests of our periodical and book work. And let chosen
workers take a special interest in teaching many how to handle
Christ's Object Lessons and Ministry of Healing.
Many have never learned how to sell the
books dedicated to the advancement of our institutional work.
But such should not excuse themselves. They should study diligently
how they may do their part faithfully in connection with the
circulation of these precious books. Our schools and sanitariums
must be conducted on a high plane of efficiency, and a solemn
responsibility rests upon us all to help place these institutions
on vantage ground by giving the relief books a wide circulation.
God will be glorified by everyone who takes an active interest
in the work of placing these books in the hands of the multitudes
who are in need of the saving truths of the gospel.
The opportunity we have of doing good by
striving to carry out the Lord's plan for the relief of our schools
and sanitariums has been presented to me over and over again
in connection with the Southern California Conference. The conditions
there are unusually favorable for a long-continued effort to
push the sale of Christ's Object Lessons and Ministry of Healing.
Our brethren and sisters in Southern California should never
weary of this plan for raising money to meet the debts that have
accumulated. The students of the Fernando school, and the nurses
of the three sanitariums that have been established, can ill
afford to lose the precious experiencesin missionary work that
come to those who handle the relief books. And the conference
can ill afford to lose the results, spiritual as well as financial,
that would accompany a continued effort of this sort.
But years have passed, and students who
should have been gaining rich experiences in actual missionary
work have not been encouraged to launch out heartily in the sale
of Christ's Object Lessons. Church members in many places have
daily met with strangers,--tourists, men and women of means and
influence,--and yet such opportunities as these for circulating
Christ's Object Lessons and Ministry of Healing have been allowed
to pass by unimproved. Many honesthearted persons who could have
been reached by diligent, wholehearted effort have not been given
the light of the third angel's message.
Had the Lord's plan been followed, His
name would have been glorified, and many spiritual victories
would have been won. Those having means would have been more
able and willing to come up to the help of the Lord when He was
leading out in an extraordinary manner in the establishment of
strong medical missionary centers in the vicinity of great thoroughfares
of travel. Students would have received a training that would
have greatly increased their efficiency as practical missionaries
at home and abroad. Churches would have been revived with spiritual
blessings. Many would have been won to the truth, and these would
have brought into the cause their influence and their means.
In such places as Southern California,
where thousands of tourists, many of them in search of health
and strength, are constantly coming and going, special and continuous
efforts should be put forth to scatter the bright rays of light
and truth. The books Ministry of Healing
and Christ's Object Lessons are peculiarly adapted for use in
tourist centers, and everything possible should be done to place
copies of these works in the hands of those who have leisure
and inclination to read. Especially do those who are seeking
for restoration of health need the book Ministry of Healing.
Every favor able opportunity for reaching this class is to be
improved.
My heart has rejoiced as I have learned
of a revival of the relief work in Southern California during
the past few months. At Loma Linda some of the nurses have been
given a special training for the work of selling Ministry of
Healing; and as they have visited homes in the neighboring cities
and villages, the blessing of heaven has rested richly upon them,
and favorable impressions have been made in behalf of our people
and their work.
At the Fernando school the teachers have
recently led out in reviving an interest in the sale of Christ's
Object Lessons. Bands of students, after prayerful study of the
book, have visited Los Angeles in company with their teachers
and have gained a sound, solid experience which they prize above
silver and gold. This kind of work is, in fact, one of the means
God has ordained for giving our youth a missionary training;
and those who neglect to improve such opportunities lose out
of their lives a chapter of experience of the highest value.
By entering heartily into this work, students can learn how to
approach with tact and discretion men and women in all walks
of life, how to deal with them courteously, and how to lead them
to give favorable consideration to the truths contained in the
books that are sold.
Our greatest burden should be, not the
raising of money, but the salvation of souls; and to this end
we should do all in our power to teach students how to lead
souls to a knowledge of the third angel's
message. When we are successful in the work of soulsaving, those
who are added to the faith will, in turn, use their ability in
giving the truth to others. When we labor diligently for the
salvation of our fellow men, God will prosper our every effort.
To the presidents of conferences, and to
others in positions of leading responsibility, I would say: Let
us do all in our power to impress upon the teachers connected
with our educational institutions the great value of the blessings
in store for those who seek diligently to make the best possible
use of the gift, Christ's Object Lessons. Let us encourage the
teachers to unite with many of their students in a prayerful
study of this book, preparatory to going out with them into active
field work. Let us help the educators to understand their responsibility
in this matter. Let us do all we can to revive the Christ's Object
Lessons work and to inaugurate plans for an active campaign with
Ministry of Healing.
As teachers and students engage heartily
in this line of work, they will gain an experience that will
fit them to do valuable service in connection with our camp meetings.
Through the instruction that they can give to the believers in
attendance, and through the sale of many books in the places
where such meetings are held, those who have been in the school
will be able to do their part in reaching the multitudes who
need to be given the third angel's message. Let teachers and
students nobly bear their share of the burden of showing our
own people how to communicate the message to their friends and
neighbors.
When we follow plans of the Lord's devising
"we are laborers together with God." Whatever our position,--
whether presidents of conferences, ministers, teachers,
students, or lay members,--we are held accountable
by the Lord for making the most of our opportunities to enlighten
those in need of present truth. And one of the principal agencies
He has ordained for our use is the printed page. In our schools
and sanitariums, in our home churches, and particularly in our
annual camp meetings, we must learn to make a wise use of this
precious agency. With patient diligence chosen workers must instruct
our people how to approach unbelievers in a kindly, winning way
and how to place in their hands literature in which the truth
for this time is presented with clearness and power.
My brethren and sisters, let us not become
weary in well-doing. During His earthly ministry, Christ traveled
on foot from place to place. Wearied, as He ofttimes was, His
human nature taxed to the uttermost, yet He was ever ready to
heal all who came unto Him, and to teach them the way of life
eternal. Though often physically exhausted, He left not His work.
There was a world to be saved. He made every sacrifice possible,
in order that light and truth might shine forth.
The Lord God of Israel desires us to link
up in holy union with Himself and exercise the living faith that
works by love and purifies the soul. He desires that we shall
be a working corps of laborers endowed with adaptability for
His service, and to such He promises power to win a glorious
victory for Him.
The men who stand as leaders in any part
of the solemn work of the last gospel message must cultivate
and cherish broad views and ideas. It is the privilege of all
who bear responsibilities in the work of the gospel to
be apt learners in the school of Christ. The
professed follower of Christ must not be led by the dictates
of his own will; his mind must be trained to think Christ's thoughts
and enlightened to comprehend the will and way of God. Such a
believer will be a follower of Christ's methods of work.
Our brethren should not forget that the
wisdom of God has made provision for our schools in a way that
will bring blessing to all who participate in the enterprise.
The book Christ's Object Lessons was donated to the educational
work, that the students and other friends of the schools might
handle these books and by their sale raise much of the means
needed to lift the school indebtedness. But this plan has not
been presented to our schools as it should have been; the teachers
and students have not been educated to take hold of this book
and courageously push its sale for the benefit of the educational
work.
Long ago the teachers and students in our
schools should have learned to take advantage of the opportunity
to raise means by the sale of Christ's Object Lessons. In selling
these books the students will serve the cause of God, and, while
doing this, by the dissemination of precious light, they will
learn invaluable lessons in Christian experience. All our schools
should now come into line and earnestly endeavor to carry out
the plan presented to us for the education of workers, for the
relief of the schools, and for the winning of souls to the cause
of Christ.