The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 21

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

21

American officer in 1864. At the risk of his own
life he rescued the lieutenant after he had been
cruelly tortured by his savage captors and was just
about to make him the victim of a cannibal feast.
For this brave deed he received the personal thanks
of President Lincoln. Kekela spent the closing
years in Hawaii after having lived to see that the
Marquesans burned their spears, broke in pieces
their knives, and entered upon a. new life. Robert
Louis Stevenson, the noted writer, says in his book
The South Seas of one of these Hawaiian mission-
aries, Maka by name: “The best specimen of the
Christian hero that I ever met was one of these
native missionaries.” He also speaks of Kekela’s
heroic rescue of an American seaman from the
clutches of cannibals and gives in full the simple
and touching letter written by Kekela to President
Lincoln in acknowledgment of his gift. After quot-
ing the letter, Stevenson remarks: “I do not envy
the man who can read it without emotion.” Thus
the history of Christian missions in the Hawaiian
Islands also reveals the power of the Gospel to
“make all things new.” F. J. 1.

The Church’s Great Need.

Commenting on the decline of the Jewish nation
and its final overthrow and captivity by the Babylo-
nians, some one has written: “The Jews did every-
thing under the sun to save their nation from the
terrible calamity except the simple and only thing
that could save them, namely, a turning to God and
hearkening to His Word.”

Our Church, too, is doing many things in her
struggle to maintain herself in the life and work
appointed by her Lord. Our Church is spending
money and organizing forces to devise and secure
a financial support which will adequately supply the
growing need at home and abroad. There are many
voices to be heard in various parts of our Church,
which, like the prophets in ancient days, are telling
us that she is not making much progress despite the
efforts put forth. Our missionaries at home and
abroad are declaring: “Our income is just enough
to enable us to take care of what has already been
undertaken; we are unable to expand the work, un-
able to reach out farther.” Other boards of the
Church are making the same kind of statements.

Hundreds of churches are making no gains what-
ever; hundreds of Home’ Mission churches that
have been subsidized by the Home Mission boards

for years, in their present state of existence are still

requiring thousands of dollars to keep their doors
open. They may. be compared to trees with never
an extra leaf, never a new bud, never any fruit or
added growth. Not a few of our city churches are
growing not so much by the addition of members
gained by confirmation as by members moving from
the rural districts to the towns or cities or from the
congested parts of cities to the newer sections.
I venture to say that hundreds of churches in the
suburbs of our larger industrial centers gain the
greater part of their growth through the acquisition
of new members from the older congregations of
these same cities. The Church as a whole thereby
enjoys no growth.

It would seem from this that the greatest need
of the Church, in order that she may carry out her
God-given purpose at home and abroad, is a more
vigorous and positive growth. Of course, the
Church needs more money, and she needs more
missionaries, and she needs more other workers.
The Church also stands in need of greater liberality
on the part of her members. But, after all, the
great thing she needs is more life. Only if the

‘Church follows the Lord’s directions in fruit-bear-

ing can she expect to live and grow. Had Israel
listened to God’s Word and lived a godly life, it
would not have been led to Babylon into captivity.

The one thing that will produce a live, fruit-
bearing Church is to go forth in Jesus’ name and,
trusting in His promises, to save life. The Church
must feel toward a dying world just as Christ felt.
The Church must share with the Savior that same
passion for sinning men in city or country, in
America or abroad, that revealed itself so plainly
when He stood upon the heights overlooking Jeru-
salem, stretched out His hands towards the great
city, and cried: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how
often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings !” .

The plant only grows by reaching out and chang-
ing the dead, inert soil into living fiber, leaf, and
fruit. When once the plant no longer does this, its
days are numbered, and it soon dies. It is the same
with the Church. Her blessed mission and purpose
is to change and convert from death to life; and
only as she does this, will she live. Surely it is most
important that the Church ever bear this vital truth
in mind. If we once emphasize personal evangelism
in all our congregations as we are making an effort
to emphasize the every-member canvass and the ~
giving of more money, we may hope to be more
successful in meeting the increasing demands and