Letter to Christians

By L.E. Ketcherside

[Page 10]

     Dear brethren: Do you ever have day dreams? I have had many that never materialized. Three years ago, upon retiring from the building business, I laid my tools aside, but last Monday morning I loaded them in the old Ford, and started to Bismarck to begin work on a basement which will form the meeting place for the brethren now meeting in a schoolhouse at Middle Brook. The change in location is needed. The group is small but courageous. We will not appeal to the brotherhood for aid. We are borrowing most of the money, and by supervising the work, I can cut the costs more than $500, and still maintain my present teaching schedule.

     Our community wide Bible studies have created considerable excitement, resulting in organized opposition, which has slowed progress. This area is ripe for correspondence teaching, but I do not have the capacity to meet this need. That type of teaching could do the greatest good for the Cause of Christ.

     A sister wishes to know if, as is being reported, I advocate that women and children can do "evangelistic work." I reply that a scriptural evangelist is an official in the community of saints, as much as are elders and deacons. Neither women nor children (and very few men) can qualify for either of these three official functions. However, this does not exclude women from knowing the gospel of our Lord to the extent of their ability.

     I know it is difficult to disassociate the preaching of the gospel from a mental picture of a meetinghouse, an elevated platform, and a speaker's stand with a preacher behind it. just as long as that picture is in our minds we will sit around, while our time away, let the Cause of Christ and our neighbors and loved ones die, and be lost, while we wait for such a situation to develop. I do not teach that women and children can do the work of an evangelist, but preaching the gospel is only a part of such work, a part that every elder, deacon and saint is obligated to do to the extent of ability, and that includes you!

     A preacher in the west wrote an interesting tract. A Christian father secured a number of them to distribute among his neighbors. He read one aloud to his family while they still sat around the table after the evening meal. A little eight-year-old daughter was so impressed, she asked for five to hand to as many school chums. One of them took the tract to her mother. She and her husband read it, decided to obey the gospel, and were immersed by the brother the following day. Who converted that couple? There was no meetinghouse, pulpit, or raised speaker's stand with preacher in it, but the work was accomplished. If you love the Lord, you can at least proclaim the truth in this manner, and some will hear and obey. The only degree you need is an increased degree of love for the souls of men.