tant feelings become wildly en raged until common sense is lost. But in the name of God, the churches must face reality or bear the vile stigma of cowardice. We mourn that the early Church had a glorious opportunity to suffer persecution for Christ’s sake and think that in these high and easy days persecution is a thing of the past. How absurd! As long as the Church lives in an evil world there will always be persecution. There will always be adversity as long as there is an adversary outside of hell. There will always be hardship as long as there is ah area in life where the cross is not honored. There will always be rebellion as long as Christ is not regnant in every heart. The Church stands on the spirit ual frontiers of society. If there is to be a crusade for lasting right eousness it is God’s will that the Church lead the way. It is true that conquering racial tensions by the love and power of Christ will not bring in the millenium. However, today that is one of many chal lenges to the Church. Tomorrow there will be others, and tomorrow and tomorrow, until He returns from on high. But there will be no victories of tomorrow if the battles of today are lost. If we empty self of pride and follow God with comage nothing will be lost. It is the same struggle and the victory is as sweet as al ways. It is winning others to the only Saviour of men, joining hands and hearts with new men, and go ing on for others yet to be won. The devil wants us to think this is some new and strange problem. It is not. Our need for love is the same, our equipment is the same, our goal is the same, and be those souls colored or white, rich or poor, brilliant or stupid, our oneness with them in Christ is as glorious as it ever was, and the hope we share together in Him shines as brightly as ever before. END.
them to do. God vindicates by giv ing souls and signs and wonders. The Church goes forward and new opportunities and new crises arise. Very well. When the evange listic task is momentarily hindered by race prejudice, there is no use in preaching- sermon after sermon on the subject. There is no use in making a big issue out of it. Talk doesn’t dissolve prejudice. Science bears this out. A Manual of Inter group Relations by Dean and Rosen ( U n i v e r s i t y o f Chicago Press, 1955) states: “ Within wide limits, prejudiced persons will accept and participate in a thoroughly mixed and integrated setting if integrated patterns are established and accept ed as appropriate by other partici pants in that situation.” This means that when a soul is reborn he is brought to the local congregation, baptized if necessary, introduced to the official board along with others and received in a Sunday morning service of wor ship. Some members inevitably threaten to leave the church. In a congregation of 400 you can expect one or two to leave, but not neces sarily. Their threats are usually empty. In a scientific study, 26 out of 237,476 left the church. If a minister is bullied by the Pharisees and influential members of the i flock, then he had better study the lives of John the Baptist, Paul and Peter to learn the mean ing of comage. Let him do God’s will. When the people see that “ in tegrated patterns are established and accepted as appropriate by other participants in that situation” then they will step in line. I know about feelings surround ing a minister. I know the feelings in the South. It is illegal for a Negro to sleep overnight in my wife’s home county of Comanche, Tex. I come from New York City and I have sensed how some white Protestant c h u r c h e s f e e l about Puerto Ricans in their neighbor hoods. Few of us realize how mili
causing bitterness. But there is unity in Christ. When He is lifted up He draws all men unto Himself. Here, look at the Church. Do you see the fruit of the Spirit? The world could look like that if it ac cepted Christ as the final solution to its human problems.” But if the world sees that hatred and suspicion among races are prac ticed by churches too, then the Church will not be heard when it talks about anything else. A holy Church is a Church of power but holiness does not consist of saying one thing and doing another. What is the difference what the Church shouts about sin and hypocrisy? The world has eyes to see. It may not want holiness but it can recog nize it. The challenge to many Bible- believing churches is immediate. Areas turn from white to Negro almost overnight. Churches have a choice. They can forget those souls for whom Christ died until all- Negro churches or non-Christian sects take hold. Or they can bring Christ to them and build them up in the faith right in the local con gregation. Some congregations may think that is a difficult decision. Read Acts 15 and remember that few Negroes and whites have ever hated each other as much as the Jews despised the Gentiles. Just where do you think the Church would be today if the courageous decisions in Acts 15 were not made? Where do you think the Church will be 50 years hence in America and South Africa if equally coura geous decisions are not soon forth coming? How to proceed is the question. The Book of Acts tells us. The pattern of Acts is as follows: crisis and opportunity met by faithful ness. God v i n d i c a t e s an d the Church flourishes. This is followed by new opportunity. That is, there is some opportunity or challenge to the Church. One or more disciples do what they know God wants
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The King's Business/November 1957
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