primary task of the church is to preach the gospel to all the world, not forget ting the section in which the church is located or adjoining areas. Then lifting eyes to mission fields the world around, the church will invite missionary speak ers. A missionary budget will be stressed and the young people of the church will be reminded repeatedly that to be one o f God’s missionaries is one of the greatest calls in all the world. Strong emphasis will be placed upon young people’s work, for the young peo ple are the future leaders, not only of the local church, but also of world-wide Christendom. The church will invest much of its local energy upon reaching its own young people. Then there should be a consistent program for the training of workers. No work advances beyond its own leadership. The church is under real obligation to train those who will assume a God-approved place of leader ship. Then there should be a careful community contact. The fact that the church is placed in the local community gives it a responsibility that cannot be ignored. Finally, the church is to furnish a place for warm Christian fellowship. It should be a place where folks love to meet one another. It should be a place of the right kind of social activity and a spot where folks can laugh as well as cry. Surely here is a splendid outline for churches to follow. in 1952. May God give us the grace to continually look to Him for His loving guidance over the affairs of His church, even the church which the Lord loved and for which He gave Himself. The Mysterious Picture In many papers throughout our land, during the past month, there appeared a picture taken from the air showing two bombers flying in a cloudy sky for mation. Between these two bombers could be seen clearly a likeness of Christ with His hands outstretched in a gesture of peace. The story of the pic ture was interesting. A young airman flying over Korea had supposedly snapped a dogfight between a UN plane and a Communist plane. He had sent the picture home to his mother in Chicago to be developed. The mother was amazed to see the image in the clouds and she supposedly sent the copy to her brother in Ashland, Kentucky. A certain Mrs. Dobbins received a copy of the picture from a neighbor who got it from her daughter-in-law who bought it for a dol lar from a woman who got it from an unnamed man. The Daily Independent of Ashland printed it in its columns. It was an unusual success and the picture went out far and wide. Reprints were given away or sold at a dollar apiece and it appeared in many other papers the country around. But in spite of all the publicity, no body seems able to track down the mother in Chicago, the brother in Ash land or the photographer son in Korea. Then the truth came out. A certain air force Staff Sgt. Roy C. Burnham T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
we want a year of power, a year of con quest, a yeas of enablement, it must be the result of a year of prayer. There should be private prayer, prayer without ceasing, concerted prayer where two and three gather together and where hundreds meet. This is God’s own basis for success. This is God’s own pattern for victory. “ In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:6 R.V.). Emphases for 1952 From the busy pastor of a small but highly successful church, we have re ceived the following outline of what the emphasis on the church life will be dur ing the coming year. In the first place, a large place is to be given to Bible preaching and teaching. The Word of God will be accorded great honor. The people in the church will be encouraged to bring their Bibles to service and the young people in the Sunday school will be given recognition for bringing their Bibles with them. The sermons are to be expository in nature and mid-week services will emphasize the direct study of books of the Bible. The church Shall be in every way possible a Bible-believ- ing and Bible-studying church. There will also be emphasis upon prayer. In every service which is held prayer will form a* part. As often as possible a list of objectives for which to pray will be presented and the friends of the church will be asked to partici pate in concerted prayer. The bulletin of the church will carry prayer requests and accounts of answers to nrayer. The members of the church will be exhorted repeatedly to pray without ceasing. God’s graciousness in giving the answer will be noted regularly and praise given to Him. The church will endeavor to live in an atmosphere of prayer. Then there will be missionary en deavor. It is to be understood that the
A Year of Prayer for a Year of Power
The world stands on the threshold of a new year. Before us are 365 days which can be filled with a demonstration of the power of God or the weakness of man. In today’s world stands the church of Jesus Christ which, in the minds of many, is the last surviving bulwark of civilization and peace. Shall the church be a poor, inefficient, powerless, mean ingless group of people or shall it be a strong, efficient and efficacious power for God, in the face of the world’s great problems ? The difference between fail ure and success on the part of God’s people in a very large measure depends upon their faithfulness in prayer. Consider now. The very basis of the church’s operations is a spiritual, super natural one. The church claims to have connections with the limitless, exhaust less, resistless God. This power is nec essary because Christian people face a supernatural foe. Satan is no myth. The Scriptures never treat him lightly. He is a cruel, cunning and merciless tyrant, a liar and father of lies, the enemy of all that is good and the opposer of God’s will in the world. Christian people are in themselves no match for his might. There is absolutely no hope that the church will ever do an effective job un less some method of curbing his machin ations is advanced. How then shall this be accomplished? In great wisdom, God has given to the church a most marvelous weapon of defense and offense. It is prayer. By simply lifting one’s heart to God, pray ing on the basis of what Christ has ac complished, the believer may lay hold of God’s omnipotence. This power may be used to stem the artful schemes of Satan and to bring to pass the will of Christ. There is no power comparable to it. In fact, it is absolutely indispens able to the performance of the Christian life. What utter folly for Christian peo ple to endeavor to do the will and work of God on any other basis than that of a constant prayer life! As we look forward then to 1952, may God give us grace to see clearly that if Page Four
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