H. J. PATTERSON, who is now conducting a part-time ministry at Burwood, Victoria, has made an outstanding contribution to Churches of Christ in Australia, over a period of more than fifty years. He graduated from the College of the Bible, Glen Iris, in 1917, and then gained his Master of Arts degree at the Melbourne University. He has served in a number of churches in Victoria and New South Wales, and for seven years served with the Woolwich Bible College as both lecturer and principal. He has also lectured at the College of the Bible, Glen Iris, and is well known for his contributions in "The Australian Christian."

Tomorrow's Minister

by H. J. PATTERSON.

      As this topic was given me and the matter given at a recent Federal Conference of Churches of Christ, I am not sure that the subject fits the man. On the judgment of some I might have better qualified to write on "yesterday's minister." On that subject one might be able to conduct a rather disturbing, if not profitable, post mortem.

      And yet some little knowledge of our movement plus my fifty years and more experience may enable me to present some things not entirely innocuous or devoid of meaning for our young men who enter the new age of tomorrow.

      May I say at the outset that I treat the term "Minister" in the modern sense and not in the Biblical. I use it of a person called in a special way to "The Ministry" and I do not include Sunday School Superintendents, Teachers, Elders, or Deacons, however much these may be entitled to be called ministers in the New Testament sense. At the risk of being misunderstood, I use the term of one called by God through the Holy Spirit; it may be through a church to a special ministry within that church or the churches. He may adopt the role of Evangelist or Pastor, or Administrator, or whatever else falls within his particular scope of office within the church of tomorrow. And to narrow it down still more, the Minister within Churches of Christ Tomorrow--"Churches of Christ" here to be taken in a denominational sense.

      I entered a world where things seemed stable, settled and secure. Those were the "horse-and-buggy" days, for there were no motor cars, no aeroplanes, no radio or television, or X-ray or Telstar, etc. While I was a boy the Boer War was fought, but it was merely a matter of rifles and horses with a bit of a show-down occasionally, because the Dutch Boers were not easily cornered, but were eventually made to mind their own business by an "invincible British Empire." Today we are a part of a Commonwealth which seems to be falling apart; not any longer an invincible Empire backed by a navy second to none. And we live under the threat of being blasted off the face of the earth at any moment in a cataclysm of fire.

      Since the Boer War, we have suffered two World Wars and there has been tremendous technological advance. So much so that pigs can fly and man any day now may visit the moon. Ninety per cent of all scientists who have ever lived are living today, it is said.

      When I entered the world it was an age immediately preceding that when many nations long sleeping were beginning to awaken. John R. Mott, in his "Decisive Hour of Christian Missions", did much in an attempt to make the church alive to what was happening, and later he tried to stab us awake to the situation in such books as "The Present Day Summons." But the church, following its earlier conquests, sometimes behind the guns of its national sponsors and guardians, had already begun to take things easy.

      Today we are in an age of ferment in many lands and Christianity is already being greatly threatened and harassed by (i) the rise of atheistic communism, for which the church itself must share some of the blame. Such books as "The Long Road to Freedom", in relation to China, will serve to show what I mean. (ii) The rise of popular pseudo-science which pays little attention to moral and spiritual

values and which gathers men about it because the church failed sufficiently early to understand or recognise true science. (iii) The resurgence of new life in non-Christian religions. (iv) In our own land, with which we are immediately concerned, there is a soul-damning prosperity which does little more than to make us feel satisfied with saving our own souls and indeed makes us feel that they have no need of salvation at all. We have T.V. and washing machines and travel, to comfort us as we never before enjoyed; and to take out of our hands the dirty work, the hard work, the not-so-nice work, the migrant and the people of "the lower stratum of society." We are concerned with getting and having and possessing, and all this in the shadow of millions of hungry people who live next door to us and present to us the rising world tide of colour. And a new situation is presented us in Australia in that we have a common frontier with Indonesia in New Guinea.

      These and many other situations confront us, such as the drift from morals to a declared political and national use of destructive weapons which may at any time blot out our civilisation. Because of these things mentioned above

      1. This is of absolute importance in a world in which the church is being threatened as never before; at least not since the early times of the church. "United we stand; divided we fall" is awfully true. But this should not be the only reason. For some, such unity is required mainly on a political basis which one suspects is back of such sponsoring of certain types of missionary effort in New Guinea.

      2. This unity was that which first gave rise to our existence and it was the thing for which Jesus prayed and Paul pleaded. Had there been no plea for unity there would have been no Thomas and Alexander Campbell, no Barton W. Stone. We never would have heard of them. Read again "The Declaration and Address." Barton Stone said of the Springfield Presbytery, "We will that this body die, be dissolved and sink into union with the body of Christ at large for there is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling."

      3. But even our movement has not survived the threat of division. May God forgive and heal us. The world needs Christ presented in one body and we dismember it over trivialities; and even now are in the danger of the dead hand of the past taking control here in Australia and running us on the side-track of rusty impotence. Here in Australia we have the task to present unity within and to foster it with others who love Christ and His church. The Minister of Tomorrow has this great responsible task ahead and from this he must not shirk, nor must he ever think to build up a denomination at the cost of unity.

But of what?

      1. Dean Kershner, in his booklet on "The Restoration Plea", said. "Only a complete restoration of the Apostolic Church seemed to promise common ground for harmonious unity . . . It could not be styled properly either Catholic or Protestant in the ordinary usage of these words for its object was to go back of both Protestantism and Catholicism to restore the original church of the New Testament age." I would like you to note some statements or parts of them

      "A complete restoration of the Apostolic Church."

      "Restore the original church," or as in another pamphlet,

      "An unqualified restoration of primitive Christianity."

      2. Now, what on earth do we mean by such a statement? What is meant by "primitive Christianity" and the "Apostolic Church'"? Is it Christianity as lived? If so, was it ever more than imperfect? And do we wish to restore imperfection? If we read carefully the letters to the young churches we shall know how imperfect the church was. And even Peter was to be blamed, i. e. if we take Paul's word. Or is it Christianity as an ideal? And if so, can we restore something that never was? And further, can we restore a church in which the Apostles so largely featured when they are no more? Perhaps it is the representation of certain facts to be believed and a way of life as presented in Christ that we should try to follow. This, however, cannot properly be entitled restoration.

      3. The late A. R. Main said, "Members of Churches of Christ are at one with believers in practically all communions regarding fundamental truth. We believe in God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God, and the Holy Spirit, in the universality of sin and the necessity of a life of godliness and charity, in the coming again of the Lord to be judge of the quick and the dead." This, of course, is not a creedal statement. However, it does indicate that there is among all communions a fundamental unity which today must be brought out and exhibited to the world.

      Now what are the "facts to be believed" as mentioned above? Who are to be the judges and who the interpreters? We answer that the facts are presented to us within the Bible, but always the judges and interpreters remain human beings.

      And what must we attempt to restore? Not primitive Christianity or an Apostolic church for there was imperfection within it. The goal is surely an ideal and as such has never been reached. But let us go on pleading for the ideal as presented within the New Testament if not within the Church.

      If we are committed to the objective of Restoration we must plead for unity, and the more we lose sight of the goal of unity the more divisive and break-a-way groups there will be. Have we by-passed this to become a denomination pleading for what we call restoration as the end rather than the means to the end? If we drift into that position we are virtually denying all for which the fathers of the movement lived.

      I have already mentioned the fostering of Christian Unity, but here I return to it under the heading of Restoration.

1. He must work for a restoration of a church united in STATESMANSHIP.

      We must be able to look at a world and a world situation and not at a local situation only. We need to take a leaf out of John R. Mott's book on Christian missions or to look again at William Carey and his map of the world.

2. Work for a church united in OVERCOMING ITS PROBLEMS.

      The early church was faced with tremendous problems in the admission of the Gentiles. The breaking down of circumcision, together with its binding nationalism, was a colossal task. But the church faced it together. There was no continuing split between Jew and Gentile. Today the church is again faced with such a problem in the colour question. Let the church of God, irrespective of nation in which it happens to be, face the problem together.

3. Work for a church united in having AN EARNEST CONSIDERATION FOR ALL CLASSES OF MEN.

      Protestantism is largely a middle-class religion. It does not make a great impact on the labouring classes. Roman Catholicism seems to have a greater hold here. Why? Is Protestantism too good, too fashionable, too much the church of the "haves," too well off, too well dressed? I tremble for the church when I see it in all latest and most expensive cars, when a lady in church one Sunday appears in the latest and most fashionable dress and hat, only to be outdone next Sunday by the lady in the seat opposite. There have been occasions when folk have remarked concerning a special church service, "You would have thought it was a fashion parade!" And all of this in the light of great world need for the Gospel and bread. Our stewardship needs an over-all examination. It is not so much what we do by way of giving, even of tithing, but what we are doing with the remainder of which we have more than enough.

      Relative to the above, Professor Masao Takenaka, in an address on "The Church and the Industrial Community," said, "Many of the workers think Christians are good people--this means they are nice people. Kind, not get angry, no smoking, no drinking, kind to women and children . . . They believe the atmosphere of church is good for women, children and feminist men. But not for struggling men in a secular world." And, "Christian is intellectual and middle class people. We are ordinary workers and their language and standard of life are different and we do not feel at home with them." "Christians are conservative. They are timid in taking part in our common struggle for justice and improvement of working conditions. They are not only too far from us, but also even if we speak out, they act like neutral observers."

      The church in its outward form may be over-emphasised when the vital thing is of the heart and spiritual. I think I would rather be a Quaker with a true, loyal heart than like some folk who believe that since one is immersed in water and comes to the Lord's Table, that is all that matters.

1. This is primarily Christ Himself.

      This he must do as he is able in his own life. If he must live in poverty, he must take it and be prepared to do it. This may be very hard to do in an Australian situation, and he may never be challenged with it. Who knows? If he must suffer wrongfully for the sake of Christ, he must bear it gladly. Let him do what is right, cost him what it will. "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me." If there is one thing more than others that Jesus condemned it was hypocrisy in the dress of orthodoxy.

2. The Living Word through the Bible.

      But what Bible? God has not printed our Bibles nor has He translated them, but He does speak to me in and through the Word as it becomes intelligible to me. The great need today is that it be presented in the language of the people. Tyndale, in his day said, "I will one day make the boy that drives the plough in England to know more of the Scripture than the Pope does." Shakespeare died five years after the publication of the Authorised Version of the Bible, and to read Shakespeare intelligently we need a dictionary, notes and a glossary. Language, in its words and meanings changes, and so does its forms. We today, do our young people a dis-service when we read out of the Authorised Version,

made over 350 years ago. It must be a living word.

3. The Living Word through INTELLIGENT PREACHING AND TEACHING.

      In his "Unfinished Task," Stephen Neill wrote, "And we who preach and teach must make a fresh attempt to give clear Biblical exposition. The preacher must be a teacher of the Bible. Nothing in this world is easier to produce than continual exhortation along well-worn lines of Christian tradition." We must bring it down to earth.

      Must it be more cultured? Must we have "nicer" services? Why did Moody appeal to young university men in his day? He was not a cultured man. It was said that he did not use the best of English. But there was a certainty and a fire and an earnestness which conveyed the impression of reality. It was real.

      It must be related to life here and hereafter. And when we say "here and hereafter" let us not forget things to come. We are so concerned with housing, social problems, juvenile delinquency, etc., that we tend to forget there is another side to the gospel. J. B. Phillips in "New Testament Christianity" says, "Sometimes one gets the impression that Christians are falling over backwards to disavow the other-worldliness. Yet to have the soul firmly anchored in heaven rather than grounded in this little sphere is far more like New Testament Christianity . . . Unhappily for us the whole subject of the Second Coming of Christ has been for many years the play-ground of cranks and fanatics. This has not only made us shy of dealing with the question ourselves, but reluctant to believe in the blessed hope as a fact at all . . . I do not see why, because this important New Testament hope has been a stamping ground of the fanatical, we should be cheated altogether of what is essentially a part of early Christian teaching."

4. In order to restore the Living Word, YOU MUST HAVE A SENSE OF MISSION.

      (a) Evangelism and Mission in the local situation is a thing about which the church talks glibly but does little of practical value, maybe because it does not know how. "A Mission" and the holding of such give a false impression, though it may be of some value. High pressure evangelism with a man of oratorical power and ability can never do the work of the church. As T. W. Manson, British New Testament scholar said, "The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was not an affair of brilliant preachers addressing packed congregations. We have, as far as I know, nothing much in the way of brilliant preachers in the first 300 years of the Church's life. There were one or two brilliant controversialists, but I suspect they made more enemies than friends; and the greatest of them all, Origen, was probably over the heads of most of the people most of the time. The great preachers came after the time of Constantine the Great; and before that, Christianity had done its great work and made its way right through the Empire from end to end. When we try to picture how it was done we seem to see domestic servants teaching Christ in and through their work, small shop-keepers through their trade, and so on, rather than eloquent propagandists swaying massed meetings of interested enquirers."

      (b) It looks as if you will need to develop the Lay Apostolate. What are your potential converts in your Sunday evening services? For years I have seen more non-members present in the Sunday morning meetings than in the evening. Where are the people? Perhaps watching T.V. with some of the members of the church while the minister goes home sick at heart and discouraged. This will not do the job with which we have been commissioned as a church.

      (1) A worshipping fellowship and a real fellowship. Not necessarily an order of service or a liturgy which is man-made, for the Holy Spirit does not usually do a progressive work through hide-bound and rigid forms. And I say this in full light of the need for a recognition of the majesty and person of God and the need far improvement in the tone of our worship services.

      (2) We need a fellowship of commuted men. Not committed to get a minimum salary or to the securing of one's future materially. If that were the issue we were then headed for professionalism, from which may God save us. We must be committed primarily to the meeting of the world's need of salvation from sin. For this there are rich compensations.

      (3) Committed to prayer, beginning with ourselves, for this is a necessary part of restoration.

      (4) To whom was the Holy Spirit given but to men who were united praying people, sure that Christ lived and who believed in his ultimate triumph.

      We could have discussed much more, including the drift from Christian standards and the living on the civil plane and according to the Civil Law, but not above it, personalities and relationships with Church Boards, the place of television and radio. There are problems in plenty, but also joys and encouragements if the church is really the Church and we will all work together as a true fellowship in saving men from sin for God.