The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1915, Page 41

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Che Lutheran Pioneer.

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY.

Se

PUBLISHED BY THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SyNoDICAL CONFERENCE OF NortH AMERICA.

REV. F. J. LANKENAU, EDITOR.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXXVII. ST. LOUIS,

MO., JUNE, 1915.

“JT Am Thy Shield.”’

Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield and thy caxceeding
great reward. — Gen. 15, 1.
Fear not, my soul; God is thy shield,
God shares with thee the battlefield.
His flaming presence shelters thee;
Thy measureless reward is He.

Girded with strength and undismayed,
Behold thy foes in ruin laid.

Behold the arm of mortals fail;
Behold the arm of God prevail.

O glorious Lord, exalted be;

Thou speakest words of strength to me,
Thou biddest fearfulness depart,

And deathless courage fills my heart.

Fear not, my soul, God is thy shield;
He shares thy crimson battlefield.
Though thousand thousand foes conspire,
Trust thy Redeemer’s shield of fire.
Ernest A. BELL.

The Supreme Business of the Church.

What is the supreme business of the Church?
It is to make Christ known to all men. Just be-
fore His ascension, at His last meeting with His
disciples, Christ summed up the task He had set
them and His whole Church for all time in these
words: “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jeru-
salem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth.”

Christ did not speak these words to the apostles
only, but to all His disciples, to His whole Church.
The Church is to begin, order, and keep up all
missionary enterprises. Missions are a common
obligation for all Christians. ‘The early Church
clearly recognized this, and lived up to its knowl-

No. 6.

edge; but at a later day this knowledge largely
was lost, and it is only gradually that our Chris-
tiams are once more recognizing the fact that the
Church as a whole is the God-appointed instrument
to make Christ known to all men, and: that the
Savior chose, fashioned, and fitted out the Church
for the work of making Him known to the world,
and of bringing lost mankind into His fold.
Christ’s parting words to His disciples tell us
that the chief work of His Church shall be to bear
witness of Him. Missions have the purpose to
present Christ to man as his One and All, as the
Truth, the Way, and the Life. The missionary
enterprise is not.a movement to increase commerce
and culture, it is not a scheme of civilization and
education, but its purpose is to preach the Gospel,
which is the power of God unto salvation to him
that believes. The sum of all true missionary work
is to make known Christ, the living, eternal Christ,
who is seeking and saving the lost, and is mighty
to save them to the uttermost. Civilization, educa-
tion, culture, and commerce will follow all mis-
sionary work as a matter of fact, but the direct
aim of missions is simply to make known Christ,
who, wherever He is received, makes all things new.
Christ’s last words to His disciples also tell us
that He is to be made known everywhere to all
men. The disciples are told to bear witness unto
Him “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth.” Nationality, race, color, climate, and
country shall be no barrier. Location and dis-
tance may point out the order in which to pro-
ceed with the work, but they shall not limit its
scope. ‘The disciples shall begin their work in
Jerusalem, but they shall not stop there. As soon
as possible they shall carry the Gospel into all