Editorial January 31, 1914 Issue

Practical Preaching

Archibald McLellan

The fact that church attendance has so largely fallen off in late years has greatly disturbed church people, and many have been the expedients tried for the purpose of reversing this condition, the latest being the "Go-to-church Sunday" movement which is now holding the attention and the hopes of so many religious people. Of this movement The Chicago Evening Post writes, editorially, as follows:—

We are watching an interesting movement in Chicago. A concerted effort is being made to reinterest the people in the church. The effort is in itself an admission that there has been a drifting from the church, a growing indifference to its message and its claims.

Obviously little is to be gained by increasing the congregations for one day, and those who are so earnestly engaged in the present campaign would be greatly disappointed were that to prove the net result of their labor. The hope is that if a special effort can effect a contact between thousands of non-churchgoers and the church, the contact will deepen into a permanent relationship for many. If that hope is to be realized, there must be some consideration by the churches of the reasons for the popular indifference which it is now sought to overcome.

Men who are six days engaged in the struggle for existence, their minds burdened with the anxieties of providing for material wants, their hearts heavy with the compulsory service of mammon, their ideals battered and besmeared in the heat and mire of the conflict, ask of the church what hope it offers of emancipation from this thraldom.

It is a real thraldom. If men are to taken interest again in spiritual things, they must find some way of freedom for their spirits. The needs of the body, not of choice but of necessity, so press upon them now that they have neither time nor space for spiritual exercise. The immediate concern is not the righteousness that will win them mansions in heaven, but the righteousness that will create better conditions on earth. Under existing conditions it is the merest mockery to say to a man with nothing but his job between him and hunger for himself and his family: "Take no thought for the morrow."

It is not enough to cry out that this is a materialistic age. The cry is a weary platitude on the ears of those who are the unwilling slaves of materialism. If the church is spiritual force it claims to be, it must prove its claim by courageous and effective warfare against those conditions which have made men the servants of things rather than things the ministers of humanity.

Evidences are many that the church is awaking to this opportunity and obligation as never before. There are signs of a spiritual revival, not of the old heaven-and-hell type so much as of a God-and-my-neighbor kind. The Evening Post wishes success for the go-to-church movement, a success that will mean closer intimacy between the church and the masses of the people.

It is obvious, as the Post says, that "little is to be gained by increasing the congregations for one day," and the results of this movement will depend largely on the impression made upon those who attend on this particular day, an impression which it is hoped will convert them into regular attendants. The problem then would seem to be to present Scripture truths on this particular Sunday in such a way as to convince the wayfaring man that religion is not simply theoretical or academic; on the contrary, that it is a daily help for daily needs. He must be assured that religion is in fact able today as of old to "bind up the brokenhearted" and "to comfort all that mourn." Last but not least, it must be demonstrated to him that the sick are even now healed through Christian ministry as in the days of Christ Jesus and the early Christians. In short, to the man to whom the daily bread for himself and family is the most pressing need, the church must offer that "living bread" of which the great Teacher said, "He that cometh to me shall never hunger ; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst," and with the same assurance that it will relieve his anxious thought. It must prove to them "that labor and are heavy laden" that the Master's yoke is indeed easy and his burden light by showing how the burden of sickness, want, and woe may be lifted from shoulders bowed under their weight of care. Just to the extent, then, that the full gospel of Christ Jesus is preached and practised, in other words, religion is made practical, to that extent will the churches appeal with conviction to that large class of people whom they have thus far failed to reach.

To one who has carefully studied this problem, it is evident that the reason why church attendance has fallen off is because the churches have not met the needs of those who expect to receive practical benefit through religion. The problem, then, is not one for the unchurched people to solve, but for the churches themselves to consider. It is also evident that the churches must change their ways before they can expect the unchurched masses to change theirs. If, on this so-called "Go-to-church Sunday," the churches fail to expound and make practical the full gospel of Christianity, including the healing of the sick, they must not expect any great permanent increase in their congregations. Christ Jesus commanded his followers to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils : freely ye have received, freely give." Obedience to this commandment, religion made practical, will fill the churches every Sunday.

Archibald McLellan.

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