I HAYE A CLIQUE IN MY CHURCH iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih
by Rev. James B. Franklin
I T STARTED IN A SMALL GROUP. First, only two, then three, ten, fifteen and finally it grew to such a large number that this group could not be ignored. You know the kind o f thing I’m talking about. All the critics of the church have learned to de scribe these people very well. They are the ones who “ run the church” ; they’re the group you couldn’t break into with a can opener. They get all of the com mittee appointments, have most o f the notable jobs and make all the decisions. I have a clique like this in my church. Well, not exactly like it, but a clique anyway. The thing finally blossomed after I had been pastor of this small church for two years. A couple got together and decided something had to be done. They talked to others and agreed on a course o f action. They would con sider a proposal and present it to the body of deacons and then, if the deacons agreed, they would present it to the church. By the time this thing became Rev. James B. Franklin, a gradu ate of Howard Payne College and Southwestern B a p tis t Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, is pastor of the First Baptist Church of Kingsville, Texas.
ices actually began the revival spirit had already permeated the church, the people and the town. The results? More made a per sonal profession o f faith in the Lord Jesus than in the recent his tory of the church. Many others of like faith and order united with the church and a host of people renewed their vows to God. But these results disappointed the clique. So another little group formed to prepare and up-date the prospect list, arrange for fur ther contacts with the people who were not reached. The deacons visited in the homes of the new members; literature and encour aging letters were mailed or tak en to these new people and efforts were made to integrate these folks into the total ministry of the church. The results of this ministry brought as many more decisions in the services of the church as were made in the re vival. A staunch follow-up pro gram kept the church in contact with others who were not yet reached for Christ. Yes, I have a clique like this in my church. Really I wonder what a church would do without one. Maybe nothing. I also won der what would happen if every church did have one. Revival ? Nation-wide? World-wide? EE
known to most o f the church members, it had caused such a change in the climate o f the serv ices that one could sense it as he sat at worship. The music was affected; Sunday School classes buzzed with it; very little in the church program seemed unaf fected. This little “ clique” had really started something. Do you know what it was? Re vival ! The two which grew to three became the revival steering com mittee. The ten, fifteen and finally the large number became over 100 persons. You couldn’t use a can opener to get into a group at all; you needed only to attend an nounced prayer m eetings in homes. The notable jobs and deci sions were determined a fte r prayer for themselves, for the evangelist and singer, the pastor and the lost and unenlisted. This clique reminds one of the first eleven who grew to 120, then three thousand, and five thousand more and by the end of the first century and a half A.D., had grown to over a half million Christians. This clique felt that evangelism and personal witness ing were so vital to the life of the church that they set out to see just what God would do with a group who prepared themselves for revival. Then before the serv
12
THE KING'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs