O ne unfailingly effective shot in the arm for spiritually anemic congregations is a potent mis sionary program. Proof of this fact has been piling up at the Church of the Open Door, Los Angeles, for a quarter of a century. Backbone of this year-round mis sionary program is a week of meet ings each spring, featuring 50 or more display booths, representatives in cos tume, dramatic decorations, and panel discussions, addresses and film showings on missions, that draw a daily attendance of over 1,000. This year, the church is observing the silver anniversary of its Annual Missionary Conference, April 25 to May 2. Speakers and demonstration booths will represent 48 areas—prac tically every world-field—where its 114 supported members labor. And opportunity will be afforded for a long look back to the beginnings of this missionary emphasis which in reality marked a turning point in the life of the church. In the bleak spring of 1930, every one suffered the bite of hard times. Sale of the beautiful church building was much more than a threat. It was a tragic probability. “ In the face of all this,” recalls William G. Nyman, missionary com mittee chairman of those early days, “we determined to double the num ber of supported missionaries (we had 20 then), and we set about it, with vision, sacrifice, and faith in God. I honestly believe it was that deter mination and action that helped us financially as a church, through those desperate depression years, and en abled us to save for the Lord’s glory this downtown Christian testimony in the heart of Los Angeles.” Doubled missionary activity not only spared this fortress of evangeli calism, but it also marked the be ginning of innumerable benefits. For example, the church’s annual missionary budget has soared from $15,000 in 1930 to $135,000 at pres ent, and it will probably go higher this year. Where 20 missionary mem bers formerly were supported, now the church missionary family num bers 155, of which 114 are supported. Another result of increased mis sionary giving was the purchase in 1947 of a location for workers on fur lough. A court in suburban Glendale, consisting of seven cottage units, is providing a home, rent free, to sup ported missionary families. The church pays for major furnishings, decorating and repairs, while seven organizations sponsor one cottage each, providing other needed items and extending welcome to the occu pants. 14
how one church buill
By M ildred M . Cook
to the present day, the Church of the Open Door has been blessed with under-shepherds who have been both far-seeing and faithful. Three ministers have served in the past twenty-five years. P. W. Phil- pott, at the helm when the first Annual Missionary Conference was held, was followed in 1932 by Louis T. Talbot, and five years ago by J. Vernon McGee. “ I believe,” declares Dr. McGee, the present pastor, “ that the growth in all departments of the church that we have experienced through accel erated missionary activities is trace able to the fact that we are proceed ing along the lines of a thoroughly scriptural principle. We have seen that strength flows into the church that obeys Christ’s command to be ‘witnesses . . . unto the uttermost part of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).” The strength of which Dr. McGee speaks is observable in an inter-relation be tween the church’s missionary pro gram and its sustained interest in Bible study, some 1,500 to 2,000 peo ple coming regularly each Wednesday evening for that purpose. Significantly, comment from Dr. Talbot, the second in the trio of lead ers mentioned, is unobtainable at present. As Chancellor of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, he is on tour of the continent of Africa, in a ministry to and on behalf of mis sionaries. On treks to the Orient, India, Latin America, Australia and elsewhere— often to isolated regions where no white man ever before has gone—his business is to encourage the Lord’s servants on the field and at the same time obtain first-hand in- THE KING'S BUSINESS
Many of the benefits are in tangible—like the influence upon the youth of the church and Bible In stitute. As a constant feature, mis sionaries in costume, exhibits, pro jects, and showers for home-coming and outgoing workers fascinate the young people. Two regular attractions of the annual conference— the sym posium, in which many topics are discussed in down-to-earth panel par ticipation, and the life investment service which always culminates the week’s meetings — have crystallized the thinking of scores of challenged young people. Declares the Secretary of the Mis sionary Committee: “Many of our missionaries are individuals who either grew up in this church or took training at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Almost without excep tion they testify to the direct in fluence of the Missionary Conference upon their decision to devote their lives to service in the lands in which they now labor. They tell us it was here that they heard the call to their life work.” Among them are Rev. and Mrs. Harold Amstutz, Africa; Mrs. Charles A. Roberts, China; Miss Carol Terry, India, and Mr. and Mrs. W ill iam G. Nyman, Jr., M exico, to name just a few. The question arises: How does one go about developing a program of this kind? A missionary-hearted leader is a must. When that individual is the pastor, progress is all the more rapid. From the days of its founding in 1915, with the internationally famous evangelist, the late Reuben Archer Torrey as its first pastor, right down
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