A Fresh Approach to the Responsibilities of Church Administration A MINISTERING CHURCH by Gaines S. Dobbins Church administration is at the heart o f the total ministry o f the pastor. He must learn to administer as well as to preach or counsel. Dr. Dobbins says, “ The picture of the active minister preaching on Sunday morning to a passive congregation gives way to that o f an active con gregation inspired and led by a preacher-administrator.” An excel lent guide to more effective, more creative church leadership. $3,95 . . . and by the same author BUILDING BETTER CHURCHES A guide for pastors and church workers, dealing with every phase of church life, organization, and growth. $3.75 THE CHURCHBOOK Workable suggestions for guiding organized church activity, offering help on practically every subject to be faced in leading a church pro gram. $3 .00 Order from your favorite bookseller BROADMAN PRESS Nashville 3 , Tennessee
A MESSAGE by: Samuel H.
from the editor Sutherland
re: Immortality One of the most intriguing questions which can engage the attention of men is this : "If a man die, shall he live again?" In a recent issue of The Reader’s Digest there appeared a symposium on the subject, "Why I Be lieve in Imm or ta li ty ." Those who contributed to this discussion were promi nent individuals in public life. W i t h ou t exception, these leaders e xp ressed their conviction that the souls of men live on after death. This confidence as
expressed in their statements was based, in large measure, upon the human concept of what God could be expected to do. One of the writers summed up the matter by stating, "This earth furnishes no full draught of the cup of life but a sip of love, beauty, character and truth, and if death ends all, the cup is, as it were, ironically withdrawn. A trust worthy God would not behave like that. " Another concluded, "I prefer to believe he (man) lives on after death, con tinuing in a larger sphere, in cooperation with his Maker, the work he had here begun." Yet another stated, "My per sonal belief in immortality has been immeasurably strength ened by phsyical research." In contrast with all of these ideas which were purely man-made, it is reassuring indeed for the child of God to read the Word of God and to know the certainty of "thus saith the Lord." It is more than a little presumptuous for an individual, depending upon his human reasoning, to claim to know what an infinitely holy and infinitely loving God will do or will not do. In the final analysis, we have no way whatever by natural reason of coming to a conclusion as to what God is going to do under any given set of circum stances. We are finite in our knowledge and comprehen sion, and God is infinite in His. However, although we cannot possibly determine what is in the mind of God, we should be profoundly thankful that He has chosen to reveal His truth, including that which deals with the life beyond, and to give us the record of it in His Word, our Bible. We, as Christians, have this THE KIN G 'S BUSINESS
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