The Fundamentals - 1910: Vol.12

Pastoral and Personal Evangelism 43 “If you fail, do not be discouraged, but determine to get nearer to God and to gain more power through your apparent failure. Write a good letter to the one you have failed to reach or failed to find after repeated calling. Many have been won by correspondence. He knows you are interested very definitely if you write. “Win back to service the Christian man who has lost in­ terest, and lost touch with Christ and the Church.” Robert Speer has well said, “When we love men for what we know Christ can make them, we shall go after them for Him.” We might add, “To persuade one soul to lead a better life is to leave the world better than you found it.” God has certainly a very definite work for individuals to do in His Kingdom, and the Christian worker needs to realize that his duty is to set people to work and to train them in this service. Another very effective method is by correspondence. So many times when we do not find people at home, or when we are not able to approach them as we desire, if we would sit down and write a direct and personal letter, it would have its weight and influence. Several years ago I knew a pastor who was very much discouraged with his work, who entered upon this method, and it resulted in a large accession to his church at the next communion. He has always been a different man and valued aright the power of the pen in personal correspond­ ence. It should not be a substitute for a personal interview, but is a wonderful addition to it, and where the one is denied the other can be used. The ways and methods for reaching others are manifold, and thank God they are as diversified as the personalities and training of those who are workers. God has new methods and ways to use constantly, but we must be alert in this great work, and reach out in faith and in earnestness. One of the best means of reaching others is to be able to put one’s self directly in the place of another, to feel his temptations, to understand his difficulties, and to be willing to meet him upon his own ground and with his own needs. If we

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