T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
May, 1938
227
“ EXCEPT A CHILD BE BORN AGAIN” [ Continued, from Page 193]
who was converted in your first mission in Liverpool, and she has been an angel of light in the whole parish. I know of sixty- seven persons whom she has led to Christ in the past year.” One afternoon in a meeting in a city in Australia, hundreds of children professed to accept Christ. I do not think the minis ters thought much o f it, but if the children had been men and women—bankers, lawyers, and the like— the pastors would have thought more of the results, but to them of what consequence was a child? That night when I gave out the invitation, among those that arose were a finely dressed gentleman and his wife. The minister standing beside me on the platform became very much ex cited and said, “ Look there, look there.” I replied, “ I am looking; what about it?” He said, “What do you suppose he means?” I replied, “ He means what he says, that he accepts Christ.” “ But,” he said, “ that man has been the mayor of our city, and he is now president of our racing association. What -can he mean?” I went down to the gentleman- and his wife and found that they both had clearly accepted Christ. As I finished my conver sation with the man, he said, “W ould you like to know what led us to do what we have done tonight? My little boy was at your children’s meeting this afternoon and accepted Christ, and he came home and told his mother and me that we must come and accept Christ, too, and that is the reason we came and accepted Christ.” No one seemed to think it meant much when that little boy decided for Christ, but if he had not, the former mayor and his wife would not have been converted. 4. Because they have so many years to serve Christ. If a man is converted at the age o f sixty and a boy at ten and they both live to be seventy, the man will have ten years in which to serve Christ and the boy sixty, and the boy’s conversion is as much more important than the man’s as sixty is greater than ten. Save a man at sixty, and there is a soul plus ten years of service; save a boy at ten, and there is a soul saved plus sixty years of service. 5. Because if the children are not con verted as children, some will never be con verted. The overwhelming majority of the people in our churches today were converted before twenty-one years o f age. This is not because Christianity is a childish thing. It is because every year that one remains away from Christ after he is seven or eight years old, he becomes more entangled in sin and worldliness, and every year it becomes harder for him to break away. If we should take out of our churches all those who were converted before they were twenty-one years of age, there would not be enough members left to man the churches. 6. Because if they are not converted as children, most of them will be lost forever. There are in Chicago today hundreds and thousands of children, who, if they are not converted as children, will spend eternity in hell, for it is doubtful if they will ever
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What other schools have done you cando. Last year more copies of the All Bible Graded Series were printed anddistributedfor that summer quarter than any summer quarter be fore. Thismeanslargersummerattend ance for the schools using this series— andmore schools throughout the land determined to stop the summer at
G ’ u u / e c t S e r i e s
tendance slump. There is tragedy in summer losses because many boys and girls are never regained for the Sunday School—the logical place for them to accept Christ as Saviour. Investigate this series that will help you eliminate these losses. BIBLE—MORE BIBLE—ALL BIBLE Expanded curriculum, simplified and revised, covers all years from Primary through Young People. Send 10c toward postage for free sample copies (previous quarters— specify departments); also compendiumof 780lessons. If current manuals are wanted regular price applies: Teachers 25c, Pupils 10c. THE SCRIPTURE PRESS Dept, k b , 800 North Clark Street Chicago, Illinois Let Us Evangelize the Russians in U. S. A. and Canada! The Russian Gospel Association is Evangelical, Evangelistic and Interde nominational, and is trying to get the Gospel out, through the Russian speaking missionaries and the printed page, to the Russian people in U.S.A and Canada. Continual calls reach our office for Russian-speaking mission aries. There is a wonderful opportunity now to win great numbers for Christ. A few places have already been opened. Many homes have been visited during the past year among the Russian people. Will you pray earnestly for this urgent call and need? Write for information about the work among the Russians in U. S. A. and Canada. The Russian Gospel Association, Inc. Peter Deyneka, General Director (Copy “ Russian Gospel News'* sent on request) Dept. K 64 W. Randolph St., Chloaqe A Challenge to Christians Win the Children for Christ A new Book— “ Let the Little Children Come Unto M e!” Price 40c—By Frances Louise Bennett Write for catalogue of True to the Bible Literature W ILLIAM H. D IETZ 10 So. Wabash Ave. Dept. 18 Chicago
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into the church, we make no special sys tematic attempts to train them in Christian doctrines and Christian living. The old catechetical method was not perfect, but it was far better than the no method at all that we pursue at present. The children received into the church should be arranged in classes and should be trained systemati cally in the great fundamental truths of the gospel and the great principles of Chris tian conduct. This should be done patient ly and with untiring efforts. If we had done this in the past, there would not have been the deadness and destitution that there is in our churches today. Hundreds of men and women who are now leaders in commercial and political affairs were once Sunday-school children, and if the Sunday- school and church had taken hold of them seriously and had led them to a definite acceptance of Christ and then had carefully trained them in Christian doctrine and con duct and service, they would have been even a greater power in the church today than they are in commercial affairs and politics. Long years of growth in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ will make the converted Sunday-school child a mighty power for Him. And growth implies life, the life that begins when the child is born again.
be converted afterwards as adults. If we realized this as we ought, would we not give ourselves as we have never done be fore to the conversion of the children? IV. When the Children are Converted, They Should be Received into the Church. When a child is converted, we frequently try to keep him out of the church. This policy is madness. But people say that if the child is thoroughly converted, he will stand fast. Why do we not say that about the adults? Because we want their money and their influence in the church! This is a shameful thing to be forced to say, but facts warrant it. When a child is born into our home, do we leave that child out side the home on the porch, saying that if the child is truly born it will not starve nor freeze? Why then should we pursue this mad policy about the children that are born again ? Why do we not give more atten tion to them than we do even to the adults? V. The Children Who are Converted and Received into the Church Should be Trained for Life and Service After Being Received into the Church. Here again, the church is making a great mistake. Even when we take the children
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