Church of the Month Feature
TOOLING UP FOR A NEW LINE
by W. M. Whitwell, Pastor First Baptist Church Salem, Oregon
Rev. W. M. Whitwell
“ the only thing we know for sure about the * future is change.” We hear this frequently. “Change” is the order of the day and this is exem plified in practically every area of interest includ ing advertising, construction, education, medicine, philosophy and church activity. Local churches must engage in vigorous programs of re-evalua tion, resulting in new methods and vigorous com munity penetration. “ Change” is “key” for churches too. First Baptist Church of Salem, Oregon is 108 years old, has 1500 members, an average Sunday school attendance of 750, morning worship of 800 and evening worship of 350. Leaders and members are realizing the time has come to “tool up for a new line.” The annual model change of the auto mobile industry requires annual tooling up at great expense. Local churches have no need to change the “ line” (message) but an urgent need to up-date the “ tools” (methods). One hundred and eight years of service for Christ in the same location can result in the accumulation of precedents, methods or lack of methods, pride in the past and the immobile conviction which says, “We’ve always done it this way.” Increasing populations, availability o f more funds, advanced methods of teaching and adminis tration and new ideas in personal evangelism all call for “ tooling up.” The population of Marion County, in which our church is located, is predicted to increase 190 per cent in the next 32 years. Seven
out of every ten persons in Oregon are untouched by any church at all. With the population of 2,000,000 persons that means 1,400,000 people un reached. We believe our program of tooliiig up to meet this challenge will stimulate other churches in a similar situation. An ecclesiastical “ tooling up” job means many things. RENEWED SCRIPTURAL CONCEPT OF THE PASTOR-MEMBER RELATIONSHIP The man-gifts of Christ to the church recorded in Ephesians 4:11 and 12 serve the immediate pur- pose of “perfecting the saints.” The word trans lated perfect was used in that day to refer to mending torn fish nets and also with reference to outfitting a ship for sea-going duty. The function of pastors is therefore to pour their lives into the members, thus repairing and outfitting them spir itually that they in turn may pour their lives into their neighbors’ lives. Pastors are coaches, not players on the team; managers, not laborers; di rectors of visitation, not primarily callers; shep herds, not sheep. This scriptural concept desperate- ly needs renewal in the minds o f both pastors and members of churches. The pastor who spends most afternoons calling in the community may be oper- ating in an unscriptural manner, spending a dis- proportionate amount o f time outside his spiritual family to which he has been called. He may be sub- stituting aimless friendliness for hard study, in tense administrative planning and in-service train ing of his leaders. On the contrary, the pastor who
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Left: Teen Spree meeting in action with youth minister, Pastor Louis O. Iriks, standing in back. To his right is Director of Teen Spree, Mr. Bob Crabtree. Right: Panorama view of Mickey Park property on Willamette River purchased recently for varied church use. 44 THE KINQ'S BUSINESS
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