Is This The Bible Way?
Every child of God should rejoice over the growing interest in the church to spread the gospel throughout the world; but as we rejoice in that, we should also take heed that the work is done according to the Scriptures. It was a sincere desire on the part of the disciples of a century ago that gave rise to the missionary society. They wanted to carry the gospel to the lost, but chose an unscriptural way to do it, and thus they defeated their own purpose. Today there are those overzealous souls in our ranks who are so desirous of "getting the job done" that they forget the need for proceeding on scriptural grounds. With them the important thing is to get the job done, and they are often more concerned about how other religious groups are doing it than they are about how it was done in the days of the apostles.
Paul tells us that the Scriptures will "thoroughly furnish us unto all good works." That surely includes the work of spreading the gospel to the whole world. Peter says that God "hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." That does not leave room for us to look elsewhere for the needed things in the preaching of the gospel to the lost. As we contemplate the task before us today, we all should turn our eyes back to the New Testament. Although some tell us that we should no longer cry out for men to go back to the Bible, we must go back if we are to do the Lord's work in the way that will be pleasing unto him. Let us learn how Paul and others did the work, and let us carefully pattern the work today after that. Human wisdom then and now would have condemned them to failure, but in one generation they preached the gospel to the whole world. Following the Lord's way, they succeeded; and if we will follow his way, we will succeed as well.
The missionary society began a century ago and appeared harmless to most of the brethren of that era, and only as it developed into its full dimensions was it recognized as a detriment to the cause of Christ by most lovers of truth. A practice now followed in doing the work of the Lord may appear harmless to most folk, but it has potential dangers in the years ahead. I am speaking of the practice of one church overseeing the work of another. Sometimes it is in the same city, other times in another section of the same state, but often in a distant state. The condition is the same regardless of the distance. Let us ask these questions: Is there a Bible example for such a practice? Do we read of any such arrangement in the New Testament? If we cannot, how do we justify any such practice? Have we not taught that there is nothing larger than the congregation? When we have one church overseeing another, do we not have something larger than the local church? Today we sometimes have one large church overseeing the work in a number of places in widely-scattered sections of the country. We thus have a "mother" church, with a lot of "little" churches all overseen by one eldership. Brethren, you cannot read of any such thing in the New Testament. The papacy got a healthy boost when the big church in a district took the oversight of the little ones. We do not have that, but is it not about the same in principle?
The argument is made that if the large congregation is to spend its money in establishing the cause in a place, it should have the right to say how the work is carried on. That is good reasoning, but there just is not any Bible for such a practice. Nadab and Abihu could easily have reasoned that fire is fire, and that it made no difference, but we know that it made the difference between obedience and disobedience. To them, the difference between life and death. It is suggested that both the large and small congregations are agreeable to such an arrangement, but when has an agreement made an unscriptural thing scriptural? No matter who agrees, if we cannot find a "thus saith the Lord" we had better leave it alone. Another claim for this arrangement is that "it works"; but let us remember that Moses disobeyed God at Kadesh, but the water came to quench the thirst of the starving people. It appeared to the casual observer that all was well, but Moses missed the promised land because he failed to do what the Lord said in the way he was told to do it. Let us take care lest we miss heaven in our failure.
Someone may say that the above remarks are from one not interested in spreading the gospel, but far from it. Much of my preaching has been done in neglected fields, and for the past eighteen months I have been working in western North Carolina, where there are only about one hundred twenty-five faithful Christians in a population of nearly a half million. I am interested, but believe that if we are to succeed properly we must do it in the way given in the Bible. Instead of wanting to hinder the progress, I want to see much more done in the way of preaching the gospel where it has not gone.
How, then, can larger congregations scripturally go about planting the cause in new fields? For the answer, turn to the record in Acts 13 and 14. We find that the church at Antioch, at the direction of the Holy Spirit, sent forth Barnabas and Saul, with Mark as a helper, to the work of spreading the gospel. They went through Cyprus and into Pisidia, establishing the cause in various cities. They planted churches, but we have no record that they put those churches under the direction of the church in Antioch. Instead, we read that before returning to Antioch they went back to some of those places and "ordained elders in every church?' Those churches had gone along "on their own" until Paul and Barnabas returned. Under Christ they were working in the service of God. The church in a North Carolina town, although it has only ten members, has the same rule, the New Testament, that the large church in Texas or Tennessee has. We are still members of Christ's body, and we are all bound by the same teachings. When Paul and Barnabas had finished the preaching tour, they returned to Antioch and reported all that had been done.
In this New Testament example we have the record of preachers being sent by a congregation and then returning to report of the work done and progress made. We do not have any hint that Antioch took or even considered taking the oversight of any of the churches planted. Let us be silent where the Scriptures are silent. Churches desiring to spread the borders of the kingdom should select faithful men and send them out to the new field. The sending church has a perfect right to call on the preacher for reports of work done, and so on; but, brethren, we have no scriptural right to take oversight of the church in another city regardless of conditions. Let us take care not to wreck the great progress in spreading the gospel as the advocates of the missionary society wrecked it a century ago. Preaching the gospel in the Bible way, we can take the gospel to every nation in our day.