THIS dream which is coming true began ten years ago. It was the vision of all kinds and types of human need being met through the spiritual life of the local congregation. It envisaged a constant outreach of evangelism because the members themselves were spontaneously impelled to share their growing experience of the living Saviour, It saw the people of the church doing the Work of the church on the highest spiritual levels.

      The test of any local congregation is not the size of its membership or the number of its auxiliaries but the reality of the individual Christian's surrender to Christ. Our task is not to fill churches with people, but to fill people with Christ,

      When Christians of thirty and forty years standing begin to come alive for Christ, awakening out of their spiritual torpor; when homes threatened with disaster are reconstructed under God's control; when good homes are made better Christian homes and provide the background for an increasingly vital Christian experience; when defeated individuals are finding the answer to their personal problems through a Christ-centred and Christ-guided life; when your people are accepting the age-old challenge to leave all to follow Christ: when the programme of the church life and fellowship is so Spirit inspired that it works for a maximum living for Christ; then we have something of the local church which Jesus died and rose again to create.

      We cannot dodge this by saying that such a standard is too high. We ought to repent of everything which is less than this and steadily commit ourselves to all our Master says He wants us to be.

      Christianity is like the measles, when you have the real thing others can't help catching it. If we are not winning men we are sinning. No man is the disciplined Christian, Christ, his Master, wants him to be, until he has a growing family of spiritual grand-children.

How the Dream Began:

      It began where I believe all spiritual revival must begin--it began with me and it must continue with me, the minister of the local church. outwardly I was successful. Inwardly I was almost overwhelmed with defeat and despair. I had no answer for the great and crushing problems in the lives of the people around me, for I had no answer to the problems within myself.

      Under the good providence of God I met a man who helped me face my much needed spiritual catharsis. Day by day, for about six weeks, I let the Holy Spirit show me my sins, big and small. I wrote them down. Then I went and confessed these sins to my friend. It was the most morally brave thing I had done until that moment. I, who, until that moment had only lived to make myself a successful minister then began the slow and disciplining business of really wanting God to do His will through my life.

      Several important factors came out of this experience. I was learning to live in the open with others, i. e., as guided I confessed my sins as shown me by the Holy Spirit.

      To this day a spiritual cutting edge depends on, "Have I confessed my most recent sins to another as well as to God". This made it possible for God to use to help another any part of my life which He chose or guided. Fellowship with others on highest spiritual levels was being discovered as a new field (almost unexplored in our churches) for Christian living. The reality and necessity for God's guidance and not our own wisdom was being learnt.

      Nasty, involved and hopeless problems in the lives of people were beginning to be seen as possibilities for God's grace and wisdom to solve. Previously I had held this as a theory, now I was learning to see how God could work out solutions in actual lives and situations,

Fellowship

      True Christian fellowship seems mainly possible to us in small, vital, Christian cells. It takes a long time--years in fact--for some of us to become committed to Jesus Christ. It is hard to achieve this committal in isolation. It is quickest, and best done in fellowship--in a vital, contagious, Christian cell.

      Every church needs little groups of men and women who are learning what it means to fully and utterly commit themselves to Jesus Christ. We need a Christian cell where we can hold each other up to our maximum living for the Saviour, where we can live in the open about our sins and failures and lack of faith, where we can be challenged In love, and where we can pray for each other.

      Most Christian fellowship as we know it today is only carried on behind deeply entrenched individualistic isolationism--often not much more than liking those to whom we are temperamentally drawn and disliking, in various degrees, those we don't click with temperamentally.

      A cell can start with two people. I now attend four such cells, but for twelve months only two of us met together. Cells, like people grow in spiritual vitality. They cannot be organised. You do not begin by announcing you are going to begin one. Somewhere in the church is the man or woman hungering for real fellowship in Christ with another. Let the Holy Spirit guide you to that person--and let Him add to the fellowship. Experience has taught that people need to be awakened, perhaps through personal contact or some felt need, before being invited to participate in a cell. Folk can be brought into a group who don't want to grow spiritually. The spiritually satisfied or spiritually smug soon drop off.

      The basis on which a Christian cell operates are four:

      * Love. We are challenged to love a man to his maximum yieldedness to Christ. We will challenge--in love--any and all sin. We will love him to his highest.

      * We will be honest to a man's face, never behind his back. We will always speak the truth--in love.

      * We shall live in the open about ourselves. James 5:16, "Confess your sins one to another," is the basis for becoming real with one another. We always confess our own sins--not another's.

      * If the Holy Spirit is at work, we shall grow. When we are not winning we are sinning. But we grow by attraction.

      In the cells with which I am associated some were inwardly defeated as I was, some just decent Christians who needed a lot of spiritual pepping up, some badly neurotic, some with the most of life behind them are finding a new spiritual vitality. All are finding spiritual stimulus and vitality through the sharing of others' lives and spiritual experience.

      In one group we begin by quietly realising the presence of God in our midst. Then for twenty minutes or so, names, situations, missionaries, needs, are mentioned by various members of the group, and we silently pray: "Lord, be all you want to be in . . . life", "Lord, your will be done in that life or situation". We then share the challenge of Christ to our own lives during the week. Perhaps some passage of scripture which has been powerful In our living, some situation we need to face, sins to be overcome or ways in which Christ has led us. We seek to be guided in what we say. In this way we don't funk the hard things nor ramble.

      Another group begins in prayer for two or three minutes. Then going round the group each one shares what they have found in the chapter set for the day. Each week a chapter of some book of the New Testament is followed through and each one brings the passage that has helped them and why. Some very illuminating things have come to light in this way. Then follows a season of prayer and a time of sharing where we have been living with Christ throughout the week. There is often a tremendous challenge in this group.

      Another group meets for lunch each week. With discipline one or other will present a challenge from some passage of scripture o r some truth which may be talked over. One may share his need of Christ in a certain area of his life. Each of the men attending affirms that this group is a big inspiration to his Christian witness and living through the week. We alwa ys close by kneeling in prayer.

About Groups

      As a cheek we sometimes use Bill Cohea's suggestions about groups:

      1. Be led in prayer with the person or persons with whom you should have fellowship.

      2. Honesty about your concerns, discouragements, frustrations, and victories is the key to deep communication,

      3. The best preparation for a meeting is to prepare yourself.

      4. Side-step controversial matters and arguments.

      5. We need love, not competition, in our relationships, so God blesses our fellowship when we "prefer one another." If we have love we can be perfectly frank and honest, challenging each other to go forward in taking new steps and assuming greater responsibilities.

      6. Talk out of experience not theory.

      7. Use the Bible if you have recently struck a passage that has especially helped you. Encourage one another to read the Bible daily in your devotions.

      8. Pass on your faith by having "witness" meetings at least once a month. Add a few new people as you feel guided . . . but add new people.

      9. Use your imagination. See new prospects on your own, over tea, etc. see each other outside the meeting.

      10. Begin and end with prayer. Encourage people to pray out loud. Commitment is the way of growth, so encourage people to close in prayer by taking new steps.

      11. Grow as a community of those who love Christ, for me desire to share our lives with each other in the same way that Christ shared His love with us.

      12. No solo flights. Team with men and women in your area. We fly by squadron.

Continuous Outreach of Evangelism.

      Evangelism is the task of the whole membership of the local church carrying out a constant, God-guided evangelism. Sunday night evangelism is not enough. A God-controlled, God-guided evangelism means God-controlled deacons.

      Many of our elders and deacons shirk this in one way or another.

      God cannot work in many churches, because the best men, the elders and deacons, have Him only on the circumference of their personal and individual lives. For them the church is only a side-show in their lives. There is great need in many churches for minister and deacons to work out together what their surrender to God will mean in the life and programme of their church. This is begun by the minister getting in the open with the deacons, sharing the real tasks and opportunities and difficulties of reaching men for Christ. He must also be in the open about himself, what he is, his struggles, his strengths, his weaknesses. If a minister keeps in the open with the deacons in this way he will find he is developing a loyal support for the very highest things of Christ as he works with the deacons for the kingdom of God in the local, church.

      The best evangelism in the church is not the "special effort" variety (but let us by all means reach some) but the evangelism which goes on when the members of the church have so obviously found a radiant way of life that others come wanting to find out about it, The whole background against which evangelism is carried out has changed. It may take a year or two to get a man to his first committal to Christ. We need vital Christians taking prolonged and real interest in men and women, winning their confidence, showing genuine loving concern and interest, using God-given opportunities for witness. All evangelism must be saturated in prayer. If we are not prepared to pray for a man we shouldn't witness to him--and we ought to be always witnessing.

      The cells already mentioned can and do reach people through their deep needs. Individuals who have a real and growing experience of Christ will always be attracting and helping others to find Him. We ought to be constantly letting the Holy Spirit guide us to ways in which the whole church can witness and testify, to the saving grace of Christ. This is the whole church's business, not one man's, and the church can and is learning to do this essential witness to Christ.

Christian Homes.

      Christian homes are the foundation of the nation. As go the homes, so go the nations. Two Christian young people in love don't necessarily make a Christian home. Nor is it bad people whose homes are threatened with break-up. Two people really in love can break up their home because they never had adequate ideas about creating a Christian home.

      We give much time and thought to youth work and rightly so, but much of what we have tried to do with young people has been hindered or destroyed by what is in their home. Most young, people are married in chapels, thus every minister should give marriage guidance. Even yet most young people have not had proper sex education. Harmonious sex adjustment is a necessity for a harmonious well-adjusted marriage.

      Helpful counselling which introduces young couples to a Christian attitude to sex in most cases is needed. A book such as Helena Wright's "Sex Factor in Marriage" should be read and the couple encouraged to ask questions if they want to. Young couples have always been told to come back to me if they 'need further help on this matter and some have been glad to avail themselves of this. It goes without saying that no man should counsel on this subject who is not thoroughly versed in the Christian approach to sex and marriage, and who himself has not found adjustment.

      The most important thing in any marriage is the growing, yieldedness of both partners to Jesus as Lord and Master. Ways in which a spiritual basis to marriage can be achieved may be given by suggesting grace before each meal,

      Valuable hints on the "Family Altar" and its conduct should, be given. W. R. Hibburt's "Altar of Love" can form a splendid basis for the family altar for the first twelve months and whenever a "refresher" course is desired thereafter. Personally, I go over 13 points which will give guidance and iron out likely difficulties on money matters. We ought also, before and after marriage, help young couples to work out how their homes can become God-guided places where He can reach people.

      Local churches should show much more concern for young married couples. At least once a year there should be a service in which married people can renew their marriage vows to each other and in which there is a reminder of what goes into creating a Christian home,

      A married couple's Ashram, so organised that families can be boarded out or catered for over a week-end, and which truly gets down to what is the content of being a Christian mother and father, and of what goes into making Christ truly the head of the home, can give a felt impetus to homebuilding in the local congregation. Further, we need to get a vision of our homes reaching out to others in need. Homes dedicated to Christ and with a Christ-inspired vision of what He can do through a home can have an outreach to men and women and be the means of meeting needs which cannot be met in any other way. Too many Christian homes are content to be happy and good. Homes with a vision can, like individuals, be used by God. No church is fulfilling the task Christ wants it to unless it is not only building good homes, but is also inspiring men and women with a vision of how Christ can reach out to others through their homes,

Spiritual Counselling.

      Spiritual counselling is not being seriously undertaken in our churches. It is still regarded as the work of specially trained or specially gifted men. It ought to be the normal thing in every congregation. For this work spiritual insight is more important than psychological training. Every minister, if he follows the practice of his Master, would give hours of his time every week to this important work, but the average minister is so overtaxed by the demands of organising a modern congregation that he completely throws out arty suggestion that he may need five or six hours in any week to sit at leisure to give spiritual counselling to people who need it. Not, do the deacons and members realise how important it is that their pastor should do this work.

      Homes are breaking or are in trouble, individuals carry, crushing personal problems, nervous breakdowns crop up here and there, good Christian people are developing neurotic tendencies, and all these should be receiving special spiritual counselling. There is need for guidance and counsel on all aspects of living which the minister out of his growing store of wisdom and experience should be giving, and in any church where the work of the Holy Spirit is in evidence there should be individuals becoming dissatisfied with their Christian experience who want to grow spiritually--these and other aspects of living demand that churches should see to it that their minister has adequate time to give all the spiritual counselling needed. People, whose problems have a spiritual origin are going to doctors and psychiatrists; they should be going to Christian ministers skilled in spiritual counselling.

The Equipment

      God can train a man in spiritual counselling and the following personal equipment is essential. A man must himself quite obviously have an increasingly growing experience living Saviour, He must know from first-hand personal experience the power of Christ to change men. To undertake spiritual counselling should be to enter into a secret compact with God to pray in faith for Christ's cleansing and delivering power in the life of the one we are counselling.

      The basic requirements of the spiritual counsellor are:

      * The counsellor must have faced all his own sin, failures, defeats and share these with another.

      * He should live in the open with others about his pride, sin, victories, prejudices, self--all that the Holy Spirit is showing him to be when measured against the life of Jesus.

      * He must obviously be finding Christ to be the answer to his own life, circumstances and situations.

      * He must be willing to share any part of his life with another as God directs him.

      * He must be practising God's guidance and leading in his own life and affairs. Only as God leads will some unravel the tangle of their lives. The spiritual counsellor to help such people must have complete confidence in the Holy Spirit's guidance and leadership in such matters.

      * He must have unbounded confidence in Christ's power to meet and solve the problems and needs in any person's life. There are no exceptions to this.

      * He must never take sides either for or against people, but always take God's side, God's part in every situation.

      * He must be an unfailing channel of love and patience.

      * He must give all the time needed even if this extends over years.

      * He must see more than the situation as presented to him; he must see origins, causes, reasons.

      * For this he will need deep penetration into motives and the self-deceptions we all deal in. This demands constant reliance upon the Holy Spirit for the insights which liberate.

      * We must learn not only to detect the causes of trouble and upset, we must also learn to help people build into their lives the positive power that lies in faith in God,

      This word from Oswald Chambers must be the conviction of the counsellor: "The Lord seems to come to us in every individual case we meet--'Believest thou that I am able to do this?' Whether it be a case of demon possession, bodily upset, mental twist, backsliding, indifference, difference of nationality and thought--the challenge is to me: Do I know my risen Lord? Am I wise enough in God's sight to bank on what Jesus told me? Am I foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world to do it? or am I abandoning the supernatural position, which is the only one for a missionary (or Christian), of boundless confidence in Jesus?"

      Let us not try to be psychologists. We come to offer men and women Christ. His cleansing for their sin. His all sufficient grace for their defeats and failures. His never failing presence for their confusion and frustration. His guidance and solution on all matters. Christ is Himself the answer and He alone has the answer. Many people want help but they don't want it in the only way they will ever get it. Till they want help in the way He can give, we may need to stand aside watching them try all the approved failures until they are willing to believe that Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

F. C. HUNTING--

      Graduated from the Federal College of the Bible in 1933. After graduating, he served the churches at Blackburn and Prahran, Victoria, then followed three years as Youth Director for our New South Wales churches. On the expiration of that term he served the church at Ann St., Brisbane, for a period, and has been with the Dawson St. church, Ballarat, Victoria, for the past six and a half years.