they had no place for Christians to meet. They had been assemblying in a home but now there were too many. They needed to build a church yet they could not afford the property needed'for the struc ture. One of the elders stood up in a meeting and said, "You know, I am pretty old now and I do not expect to be alive much longer. I was thinking the other day that I do not need this big house and lot. You take them." When the young er men heard this, they said, "If he is willing to give his house and lot, don't you think we ought to be willing to build him a house?" They all agreed. The next day a little one-room house was being erected on the back of the lot. Within a week they finished it and were tearing down the former house. Within a month they had a church built on that land. It was the first church in the city that had ever seen Christians worship be fore. It all happened because a man was willing to give. When I was in Korea recently, I was told how a man took the sav ings out of his bank and gave it to the church so that they could build a place to worship. There was not enough money to finish the roof and the rains were coming. One day the Korean elder went to the Christian mission hospital and asked the doctor if he could sell one of his eyes for $25.00. He ex plained his need for more money to give to the church. He wept when the doctor talked him out of selling his eyes. He protested, "But I do not have anything else to give." Out of little, these people have given much. In contrast, out of much we have frequently given very little. We give
Indonesia there were some places where Christian literature was dis tributed. Those who did not like it came along and took it to be burned. In one place where this happened, the wind carried the flaming pages of Scripture up into the air and down on a bamboo roof of the mosque of the local prayer house. It was set on fire and burned to the ground. The people thought it was the judgment of Cod upon them for burning a Holy Book. The whole atmosphere of the village changed. In another village, however, Christians were definitely not wel comed. They built their own church for the first time. After the service one night and they had all gone home, someone called out to say that the church was on fire. The believers came running with buck ets of water but it was too late. The flimsy structure burned quick ly. They did not get angry and go out after the guilty people. In stead, they joined hands around the burning embers singing the doxology and praying for the peo ple responsible. When those who were guilty saw what had been done, their hearts melted as they observed the love of God in action. More of the village people came to find out about the Christian mes sage. They realized that here was faith which teaches that people ought to love those who despise them, and to pray for their ene mies. The strength of the church is measured in every land in terms of the vitality of Christian people and their love for one another. The de pendence must be upon the Word of God and prayer. I think of a community out in India where
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