Article December 8, 1956 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Charles E. Dietze, Frank W. Marshall

From an article by Charles E. Dietze in Front Rank, St. Louis, Missouri

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles ... might well he characterized by its central theme: the expanding gospel. Each chapter seems to add further evidence of the fact that the early followers of Jesus were men and women who felt that the "good news" of Christ Jesus was too good to keep. They were moved by a compulsion to share it with the world. ... The church grew in numbers because it constantly grew in vision and outreach. It is as though the church multiplied itself by an inner compulsion not for numbers, but for sharing the gospel. In that sharing, the field is the world. ... God is world-wide in His love and His concern. The church dares not to be less universal.

Among the thinking people of our world, there are none who deny the validity of Jesus' way of life for meeting the needs of the world. It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting. It is rather that it has not been sufficiently tried. ... The church at this moment in history is the only fellowship which can bind the peoples of the world together. Nothing else like it exists in the world. Through the gospel of Christ it can unite different races, different classes, different nations into one body whose allegiance is not to itself or to any kind of exclusiveness, but to God, whose love is broad enough to encompass all men and whose concern for all men never ceases.

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