Less Preaching, More Teaching
At our camp meetings one or two laborers should not be required to
do all the preaching and all the teaching in Bible lines. At times greater
good can be accomplished by breaking up the large congregation into
sections. Thus the educator in Bible truth can come closer to the
people than in a large assembly.
At our camp meetings there is much more preaching than there
should be. This brings a heavy burden upon the ministers, and as a
consequence much that requires attention is neglected. Many little
things that open the door to serious evils are passed by unnoticed. The
minister is robbed of physical strength and deprived of the time he
needs for meditation and prayer in order to keep his own soul in the
love of God. And when so many discourses are crowded in, one after
another, the people have no time to appropriate what they hear. Their
minds become confused, and the services seem to them tedious and
wearisome.
There should be less preaching and more teaching. There are
those who want more definite light than they receive from hearing the
sermons. Some need a longer time than do others to understand the
points presented. If the truth presented could be made a little plainer,
they would see it and take hold of it, and it would be like a nail fastened
in a sure place.
It has been shown me that our camp meetings are to increase in
interest and success. As we approach nearer the end, I have seen that
in these meetings there will be less preaching and more Bible study.
There will be little groups all over the ground with their Bibles in their
hands, and different ones leading out in a free, conversational study of
the Scriptures.
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This was the method that Christ taught His disciples. When the
great throngs gathered about the Saviour, He would give instruction
to the disciples and to the multitude. Then after the discourse the
disciples would mingle with the people and repeat to them what Christ
had said. Often the hearers had misapplied Christ’s words, and the
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