tion for the secular clubs of our day. This is a wonderful way to get into homes where parents are not church- related. A pastor or a church cannot compromise convictions or clutter a schedule. Yet the minister ought to be in touch with the civic life of his area. Then there should be evangelistic patterns of outreach. The sustained effort of a campaign is becoming more difficult. It may be necessary to vary the formula. A weekend of hospitality evangelism, in which meals are served and youth reached, has been very effective. There ought to be more involvement in tract dis tribution. There can be other cam paigns of a briefer nature. There are so many ways to reach out in our community if we are only willing to do it. There’s another area which calls for the pastor’s complete involve ment. That is worship. As far as I ’m concerned, the Sunday school should be the church at study; the morning service, the church at worship; the youth groups, the church in train ing; the evening service, the church in fellowship; and the Wednesday night service, the church in prayer as well as perhaps activity. Let’s be careful to eliminate duplication of extra nights. We must be more ef fective in the outreach of the Gos pel. More churches should try to involve their young people in the evening service. They may consider some of the new formats which are found in our present life-style. I’m certainly not advocating art forms of our day. Is it possible, however, to adapt some of these things with out compromising bur convictions and message? We should know what the younger generation is thinking and how it’s reacting. Our whole consuming purpose should be to reach them for Christ. The fourth area of pastoral con cern is education. There has been an ever-changing role of the pastor in 5
causes ! We need convictions and con victions come from the Word of God. The second thing on the church’s program is outreach. This isn’t just visitation. We must be geared to reaching people both inside the church and out. A current phenome non going on in Southern California in that young couples are returning to the church. What a wonderful opportunity to reach these young couples for Christ. Have a cradle roll which is a mainline instead of a sideline. The experts tell us that if we were able to enroll all of the babies in a given year with our pres ent facilities, we could only take care of about 50% of them. This is a tre mendous opportunity for evangelism. The pastor should also promote a visitation program. It's simply good business to ring doorbells. The flow of love should always be outward. There are two kinds of visitation, di rective evangelism and friendship evangelism. We must cultivate peo ple. Be sure the mechanics of your plan have been tested and that they work. “Plan your work and work your plan.” The church might also take on a limited program of social service. Delinquency is on the increase. There is need of foster homes. Family counseling services are vital within the church. The divorce rate is alarming today. People should be able to receive spiritual help in their desperate times. Our whole purpose should be for the sake of love of souls. It is also possible to sponsor functions of community interest. This could be parent-teacher nights for the Sunday school. A Christian psychologist or expert can talk di rectly to them about their problems. Craft programs can sometimes be geared to evangelism. A public rela tions function can be used to adver tise the church, creating the proper image in the community. There should be club work for boys and girls, furnishing a spiritual competi
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