Torch, Spring 1984

ii l Waali New Testaments for the people of Ghana who have not had the Word of God in their own tongue; purchase of a camp to win young people to Christ in Australia; purchase of a truck for use in Liberia, West Africa; purchase of a van for a fundamental Bible college; the building of a high school classroom in the Central Afri– can Republic; and purchase of a gen– erator for a missionary hospital in Af– rica. Again, in the missionary area, the church felt burdened to begin a Mis– sionary Evangelism Training pro– gram whereby a missionary couple spends one month with our evangelism pastor in both textbook and on-the-job training in' order to learn how to better reach people for Christ. While they are here for that month, they live in a completely fur– nished apartment provided by the church . This makes it economically possible for missionaries to partici– pate . In the year 1983, a School of Church Growth was begun to help pastors and church lay leaders here in the United States to launch out in growth and lengthen their cords in the ministry of outreach and evangelism. During the year, thirty men enrolled and spent one week in Elkhart . They came from Illinois, Michigan, In– diana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Liberia, West Africa . _ What a great blessing it has been to hear the reports of success that they have sent back to us . With God's help these men are launching out by faith with a determination to grow. Just one year ago the church cele– brated a Jubilee Sunday to rejoice in the fact that all of the indebtedness on our properties was completely liquid– ated . As a result of freeing money that was scheduled for indebtedness , the church voted to give all it would have used for debt retirement each year as an extra gift to missions. What a great impact this has had, and we thank God for the opportunity; the responsibility is heavy for a larger church to be good stewards of God's blessing . There are other distinct advantages for a larger church such as exploring new avenues of teaching ministries both to our church and to sister churches . In the past, literally scores of churches throughout the Midwest have been helped through our annual Sunday School Conference . A record attendance of 1400 was reached at one of these conferences. People came from more than a hundred churches and spent a day and a half attending some of the seventy to eighty different workshops. They went home thoroughly blessed of God and renewed in their desire to reach their community for Christ through their Sunday schools . Another service to the entire Chris– tian community has been a Christian school ministry. Elkhart's First Bap– tist is in its second decade of Chris– tian school ministry with nearly seven hundred students enrolled at present in kindergarten through the twelfth grade. By providing Chris– tian education, this ministry benefits the people of some seventy churches around our community. For these smaller churches this could be a fi– nancial burden, ~me which would cause them to collapse . Another wonderful area of oppor– tunity for a larger church ministry is that of music. Because of the in– creased availability of funds and per– sonnel , the church can afford to have an extra special musical event geared to reach the entire community for Christ. In the past two years we have had a special Easter Musicale which has attracted thousands of people to the four performances during the Easter Week; and through this minis– try we have seen many come to Jesus Christ as Savior. In addition, two taped televison programs have been sent out over prime-time televison. What does the future hold for such a large church in these days of great pressures and responsibilities? If there is one word that must describe the larger church, it would be the word "vision." For without vision the people perish. The church can never retreat, can never seek to maintain the status quo , can never rest on its accomplishments. Rather, it must constantly have vision and seek to ad– vance for the glory of God. It is ac– countable to the chief Shepherd for its care of the sheep of His pasture and for reaching the untold millions throughout the world. Dr. Daniel Gelatt is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Elkhart, Indiana, and is a member of the President's Associ– ates of Cedarville College. He is also a member of the Council of 18 for the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches and is a trustee of Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. 13