Seite 11 - Testimonies to Southern Africa (1977)

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Counsel to Missionaries en Route to Africa
7
argue his own ways and plans, for he may have an education in a
certain direction and possess certain traits of character which will
be detrimental to the interests of the work if allowed to become a
controlling power.
The workers are not to stand apart from one another, but work
together in everything that interests the cause of God. And one of the
most important things to be considered is self-culture. There is too
little attention given to this matter. There should be a cultivation of all
the powers to do high and honourable work for God. Wisdom may be
gained in a much larger measure than many suppose who have been
labouring for years in the cause of God, which no man has yet attained.
There are men who have narrow ideas, narrow plans, and work in a
narrow groove.
This will be the danger in entering a new field,—to plan and bring
all the powers to bear to get along in the most inexpensive manner.
Now, while the state of the treasury demands that there should be
constant economy, there is danger of an economy which results in
loss rather than gain. Our growth has been, in untried fields, generally
slow because of the seventh-day Sabbath. There stands a sharp cross
directly in the way of every soul who accepts the truth.
There are other truths, such as the non-immortality of the soul, and
the personal coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven to our earth in a
short time. But these are not as objectionable as the Sabbath. Some
will conscientiously accept the truth for its own sake, because it is Bible
truth, and they love the path of obedience to all the commandments
of God. These objectionable features of our faith will bar the way
to many souls who do not wish to be a peculiar people, distinct and
separate from the world. Therefore, great wisdom is required to be
exercised in the matter of how the truth is brought before the people.
There are certain clearly defined ends to gain at the very introduction
of missionary effort. If the plans and methods had been of a different
character, even if they necessarily involved more outlay of means,
[9]
there would have been far better results.
At some places there should be a slow beginning. This is all they
can do. But in many places the work can be entered into in a more
thorough and decided manner from the very first. But there must be
no haphazard, loose, cheap manner of work done in any place. The
work in Old England might have been much farther advanced now