Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours

Chapter 1

XIV. EPILOGUE A PRESENT-DAY CONTRAST

INDEX -- 5 of 372 -- EDITOR’S GENERAL PREFACE IN no branch of human knowledge has there been a more lively increase of the spirit of research during the past few years than in the study of Theology. Many points of doct

Chapter 2

I. INTRODUCTORY

IN little more than ten years St. Paul established the Church in four provinces of the Empire, Galatia, Macedonia, Achaia and Asia. Before 47 A.D. there were no Churches in these provinces; in 57 A.D. St. Paul could spea

Chapter 3

I. Was there any antecedent advantage in the position or character of the

cities in which St. Paul founded his Churches? 10 MISSIONARY METHODS We must inquire (1) whether he deliberately selected certain strategic points at which to establish his Churches? (2) Whether his success was due to th

Chapter 4

IV. Was there any peculiar virtue in his method of dealing with his

organized Churches? This will include the means by which (1) Discipline was exercised and (2) Unity maintained. I shall try to point out as occasion offers where and how far we now follow or refuse the Apostle’s method.

Chapter 5

V. Finally I shall call attention to certain principles which seem to lie at

the back of all the Apostle’s action and in which I believe we may find the key to his success, and endeavour to at least show some of the ways in which the Apostolic method might be usefully employed today. -- 18 of 37

Chapter 6

II. STRATEGIC POINTS

IT is quite impossible to maintain that St. Paul deliberately planned his journeys beforehand, selected certain strategic points at which to establish his Churches and then actually carried out his designs. The only argu

Chapter 7

I. The object which he set before himself was the establishment of the

Church in the province rather than in the city, town, or village in which he preached. Thus he was called not to Philippi or to Thessalonica but to Macedonia. So Apollos is said to have passed over into Achaia when he 18

Chapter 8

2. Secondly, he confined his work within the limits of Roman

administration. It is perfectly clear that in preaching in South Galatia, St. Paul was evangelizing the Roman province next in order to his native province of Cilicia, in which there were already Christian Churches. Betw

Chapter 9

3. Thirdly, St. Paul’s theory of evangelizing a province was not to preach

in every place in it himself, but to establish centres of Christian life in two or three important places from which the knowledge might spread into the country round. STRATEGIC POINTS 19 -- 22 of 372 -- This is import

Chapter 10

III. CLASS

IN these days there is a strong and apparently growing tendency to lay great stress on the importance of directing attention to some particular class of people in a country which we desire to evangelize. We have had a st

Chapter 11

IV. MORAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION

THE places at which St. Paul established his Churches were centres of Roman and Greek civilization. Now when we speak of Graeco-Roman civilization we generally have in mind the lofty teachings of the great philosophers,

Chapter 12

V. MIRACLES

MIRACLES hold an important place in the account of St. Paul’s preaching in the Four Provinces, and since this is one of the grounds on which is based the argument that his methods can have little or no bearing upon our w

Chapter 13

VI. FINANCE

IT may at first sight seem strange to speak of finance as one of the external accompaniments of the preaching, rather than as part of the organization of the Church. But it is as it affects St. Paul’s approach to his hea

Chapter 14

I. He did not seek financial help. In his first contact with strangers and in

his dealings with the Church he was careful to avoid any appearance of money-making. Among the heathen there was a large class of teachers who wandered from town to town collecting money from those who attended their lec

Chapter 15

II. Secondly, St. Paul not only did not receive financial aid from his

converts, but he did not take financial support to his converts. That he could do otherwise never seems to have suggested itself to his mind. Every province, if not every Church, was financially independent. The Galatian

Chapter 16

1. By our eagerness to secure property for the Church we often succeed

in raising up many difficulties in the way of our preaching. We sometimes, especially perhaps in such a country as China, arouse the opposition of the local authorities who do not desire to give foreigners a permanent ho

Chapter 17

2. We load our missionaries with secular business, negotiations with

contractors, the superintendence of works, the management of a considerable establishment, to which is often added anxiety about the supply of funds for providing and maintaining the establishment. In this way their atte

Chapter 18

3. But in creating these missionary establishments we not only

overburden our missionaries with secular business, we misrepresent our purpose in coming to the place. It is of the utmost importance that the external manifestation of our purpose should correspond with the inward inten

Chapter 19

4. By importing and using and supplying buildings and ornaments to the

natives which they cannot procure for themselves, we tend to pauperize the converts. They cannot supply what we think is necessary, and so they learn to accept the position of passive recipients. By supplying what they c

Chapter 20

5. It is often said that these financial bonds help to maintain unity. Native

congregations have before now been held to their allegiance by threats of the withdrawal of pecuniary support. But unity so maintained, by an external bond, is not Christian unity at all. It is simply submission to bonda

Chapter 21

6. By the establishment of great institutions, the provision of large

parsonages, mission houses, churches, and all the accompaniments of these things, we tie our missionaries to one place. They cease to be movable evangelists, and tend to become pastors. From time to time they go out on t

Chapter 22

7. Further, these establishments make it very difficult for any native to

succeed to the place of a European missionary. The Christians gathered round the station are very conscious of the advantage of having a European in their midst. He has influence with governors, merchants, and masters. H

Chapter 23

8. Finally, these endowments will sooner or later become a source of

fresh difficulties. These buildings, etc., are legally held by foreign missionary societies, which have their headquarters in foreign countries. Sooner or later the native Church will grow strong, and will insist on mana

Chapter 24

III. Thirdly, St. Paul observed the rule that every Church should

administer its own funds. He certainly never administered any local funds himself. He did indeed bear the offering of the Church in Antioch to -- 71 of 372 -- Jerusalem in the time of the famine; he also, with others,

Chapter 25

VII. THE PREACHING

We have three examples of St. Paul’s preaching in the Acts: the sermon at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts 13.16-41), the speech at Lystra (Acts 14.15-17), and the speech at Athens (Acts 17.22-31). We have also five incidental r

Chapter 26

VIII. THE TEACHING OF CONVERTS

FROM what has already been said it is manifest that St. Paul did not go about as a missionary preacher merely to convert individuals. He went to establish Churches from which the light might radiate throughout the whole

Chapter 27

numbers; but we cannot train them to maintain their own spiritual life. We

cannot establish the Church on a self-supporting basis. Our converts often display great virtues, but too often they remain dependent upon us for generations. Having gathered a 112 MISSIONARY METHODS Christian congregati

Chapter 28

IX. THE TRAINING OF CANDIDATES FOR

BAPTISM AND ORDINATION WE have tried to discover what teaching St. Paul gave to his converts. This teaching followed, it did not precede, baptism. For baptism, apparently very little knowledge of Christian truth was requ

Chapter 29

X. AUTHORITY AND DISCIPLINE

WITH the appointment of elders the Churches were complete. They were fully equipped. They very soon became familiar with all the orders of ministry both permanent and charismatic.139 They no longer depended necessarily u

Chapter 30

1. Fornication. The prevalence of sexual immorality in the Gentile world

was one of the difficulties which most grievously vexed the Jewish party in the Church. They argued with perfect reason that if Gentiles were admitted into the Church without being compelled to keep the law of Moses, the

Chapter 31

2. Litigation. Some of the Corinthian Christians had apparently been

prosecuting their brethren in the heathen law courts. Obviously this was an offence likely to bring the Name into disrepute. The simplest way to deal with it would have been to forbid it by decree, and to threaten any of

Chapter 32

3. Eating of things offered to idols.158

At the Jerusalem Council it had been decreed that the Gentile Christians 154 MISSIONARY METHODS should abstain from things sacrificed to idols. At Corinth some of them not only eat things sacrificed to idols: they attend

Chapter 33

4. Marriage and Divorce. But it may perhaps be said that there is one

subject of the first importance upon which St. Paul does very distinctly lay down the law. It may be argued that the whole of the seventh chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians dealing with marriage is written i

Chapter 34

XI. UNITY

WE have seen that St. Paul did not set out on his missionary journeys as a solitary prophet, the teacher of a solitary individualistic religion. He was sent forth as the messenger of a Church, to bring men into fellowshi

Chapter 35

XII. PRINCIPLES AND SPIRIT

IF we look out over the mission field today, we see that we have made most amazing progress, and that our labours have been more than abundantly blessed. We see that we have established missions all over the world throug

Chapter 36

1. We have allowed racial and religious pride to direct our attitude

towards those whom we are used to calling “poor heathen.” We have approached them as superior beings, who are moved by charity to impart our wealth to destitute and perishing souls. We have used that argument at home to

Chapter 37

2. Lack of faith has made us fear and distrust native independence. We

have imagined ourselves to be, and we have acted so as to become, indispensable. In everything, we have taught our converts to turn to us, and to accept our guidance. We have asked nothing from them but obedience. We hav

Chapter 38

1. St. Paul was a preacher of a Gospel, not of a law. His Epistles are full

of this. He reiterates it again and again. It was not simply that he was a preacher of a Gospel in contradistinction to the preachers of the Jewish law; he was a preacher of Gospel as opposed to the system of law. He liv

Chapter 39

2. He practised retirement, not merely by constraint, but willingly. He

gave way for Christ. He was always glad when his converts could progress without his aid. 198 MISSIONARY METHODS He welcomed their liberty. He withheld no gift from them which might enable them to dispense with his prese

Chapter 40

XIII. APPLICATION

THE question may well be asked, How far is it possible to follow today the Apostle’s methods which I have tried to set forth in the preceding chapters? It is plain that our Missions have up to now proceeded on very diffe

Chapter 41

2. He can train them for retirement by retiring. He can retire in two

ways, physically and morally. He can retire morally by leaving things more and more in their hands; by avoiding to press his opinion; by refusing to give his opinion lest, as is often the case, APPLICATION 211 he should

Chapter 42

XIV. EPILOGUE A PRESENT-DAY CONTRAST

IT may perhaps add point and reality to the argument which I have tried to set forth in the preceding pages, if I illustrate it by examples taken from modern life. I have imagined two men working under fairly similar cir

Chapter 43

numbers. In such cases we should have to consider carefully whether it was worthwhile to

keep them at the price. They ought to have the case set clearly before them; and obviously it is essential that they should know and feel that the missionary is solely devoted to securing their true welfare. But if they