Chapter 6—Colonizing at Institutional Centers
We Are Not to Colonize
In our day the Lord desires that His people shall be dispersed
throughout the earth. They are not to colonize. Jesus said, “Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Mark
16:15
. When the disciples followed their inclination to remain in large
numbers in Jerusalem, persecution was permitted to come upon them,
and they were scattered to all parts of the inhabited world.
For years messages of warning and entreaty have been coming to
our people, urging them to go forth into the Master’s great harvest-
field, and labor unselfishly for souls.—
Testimonies for the Church
8:215
(1904).
Scatter to Unwarned Places
Many of the members of our large churches are doing compar-
atively nothing. They might accomplish a good work if, instead of
crowding together, they would scatter into places that have not yet
been entered by the truth. Trees that are planted too thickly do not
flourish. They are transplanted by the gardener, that they may have
room to grow, and not become dwarfed and sickly. The same rule
would work well for our large churches. Many of the members are
[22]
dying spiritually for want of this very work. They are becoming sickly
and inefficient. Transplanted, they would have room to grow strong
and vigorous.
It is not the purpose of God that His people should colonize, or
settle together in large communities. The disciples of Christ are His
representatives upon the earth, and God designs that they shall be
scattered all over the country, in the towns, cities, and villages, as
lights amidst the darkness of the world. They are to be missionaries
for God, by their faith and works testifying to the near approach of the
coming Saviour.
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