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For that training-that spiritual
development of God's CHARACTER,
God qas given his Church a DUAL
responsibility:
1) "Go ye into all the world"
and proclaim the GOOD NEWS-an–
nouncement-of the coming king–
dom of God.
2) "Feed my sheep."
But in FEEDING the "sheep," de–
veloping in them God's spiritual
CHARACTER, God has given them
THEIR PART in supporting, backing
up, the great commission : "Go ye
into all the world."
This first and great commission
was given to the apostles. To a
lesser extent evangelists were used
in carrying forth the message.
Other leaders- ordained minis–
ters- were stationary, yet even the
local pastor of a church may hold
evangelistic services in his area–
not the "soul-saving crusade" type,
but lectures ANNOUNCING and
PROCLAIMING as a witness the
coming KINGDOM OF Goo (the true
gospel)!
This ENTIRE GREAT COMMIS–
SION-proclaiming the GOOD NEWS
of the coming kingdom, and "feed–
ing the sheep"-is a COMBINED ad–
ministration and function of the
Church .
The individual lay member HAS
HJS VITAL PART in proclaiming the
GOOD NEWS (gospel) to the world.
How? Not by going out and him–
self proclaiming Christ's message
to the neighborhood or to the
world. That is done primarily by
the apostles, to sorne extent by
evangelists, and to even a lesser
extent in local areas by local pas–
tors. (The chief responsibility of
local pastors is supervision of and
preaching to the local church.)
But the ENTIRE CHURCH OPERA–
TION is one WHOLE, organized into
various operations and administra–
tions
(1
Cor. 12:5-6).
Part of the Lay Member
For example, what part does the
individual local member have in
taking the gospel message to ALL
THE WORLD? This is done primarily
and directly by the APOSTLE. In
this latter half of the twentieth
century it is done also by radio,
television and in PRINT!
In the first century it was done
by personal proclamation. Then
July/Auguat 1986
WHAT PART did the individual lay
member have in it? MUCH! With–
out this larger body of lay mem–
bers the apostle could do nothing!
Notice a scriptural example:
Peter and John had been proclaim–
ing the message at the Temple in
Jerusalem. A miracle had been
performed by Peter and a large
crowd had gathered. As a result
Peter and John were thrown in
prison overnight, and severely
threatened . Their lives were in
danger. They were unnerved.
They went immediately upon re–
tease to the lay brethren (Acts
4:23). They needed the backing,
support, encouragement of the
brethren. They fervently PRAYED!
Peter and John sorely NEEDED this
loyalty, backing and the prayers of
the lay members. THEY WERE ALL
A TEAM TOGETHER!
The author, Christ's apostle, can
say emphatically that the apostles,
evangelists, pastors and elders
could not carry on the work of God
without the loyal backing and con–
tinua! encouragement of the lay
members.
Neither can the individual lay
member develop and build within
him God's holy, righteous and per–
fect CHARACTER without the opera–
tions of the apostle, evangelists,
pastors and elders. All these vari–
ous members God HAS SET in his
Church are interdependent- mu–
tually dependent on one another.
They form a TEAM- an ORGA–
NIZED SPIRITUAL ORGANISM- ut–
terly different from any secular
and worldly organization!
How, more specifically, does
this mutual dependency operate?
God Has Provided Modern
Methods
In general , the whole operation of
the Church costs money in this late
twentieth-century world. Facilities
and methods are available to the
Church for performance of its
commission that did not exist in
the first-century world. Without
the tithes and generous freewill of–
ferings of lay members the Church
commission could not be per–
formed in today's world.
Without the fervent and prevail–
ing continua! prayers of all mem–
bers the work could not be accom–
plished. Without the continua!
ENCOURAGEMENT of lay members
and those over them locally, those
of us operating from headquarters
could not bear up under the perse–
cutions, oppositions, trials and frus–
trations.
Also, in reverse, the lay mem–
bers need just as urgently the en–
couragement, teaching, counseling
and leadership from headquarters
and local pastors.
An example of the former: 1 fre–
quently receive large cards-often
beautifully illustrated or deco–
rated-signed by the hundreds of
local members of churches, giving
encouragement and assurances of
loyalty, backing and support. Lay
members scattered over the world
simply cannot conceive fully how
much encouragement and inspira–
tion this gives the one Christ has
chosen to lead this tremendous
worldwide activity, God's CHURCH!
The assurance of the earnest
PRAYERS crying out to God contin–
ually from these thousands from all
parts of the earth inspire the confi–
dence of FAITH to persevere in the
direction and oversight in this
great work!
Specifically, HOW is God ' s
Church organized today-HOW
does it operate in this modern late
twentieth century?
Christ's gospel message-the
kingdom of God-goes out world–
wide in dynamic POWER by radio,
by television, and by the mass-cir–
culation magazine,
The Plain
Truth .
This unique magazine of
more than eight million copies
monthly, in seven languages, is full
color, effectively and interestingly
carrying Christ's gospel. Then,
sent free on request are millions of
copies of attractive booklets and
even full books. A campaign of
dynamic full-page messages ap–
peared as advertisements in leading
newspapers,
The New York Times,
The Wa/1 Street Journal, LosAn–
geles Times, San Francisco
Chronicie,
and other daily newspa–
pers. Large space has been used in
the London
Times.
A mimeographed
Pastor Gen–
era/'s Report
is mailed from head–
quarters weekly to all ministers.
Twice monthly a tabloid newspaper
The Worldwide News
goes out to
all members. Monthly a handsome
full-color magazine
The Good
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