Suggestions to Those Holding Missionary Conventions

A Call to Service By Mrs. E. G. White

Christ labored untiringly to accomplish the great work that He came to this world to perform. His desire to save the lost race was manifest on all occasions. During His ministry He went about doing good. It was His mission to help those in need of help, to seek the lost, to lift up the bowed down, to heal the sick, to speak words of sympathy and consolation to the sorrowing and the distressed. His heart was ever touched with human woe. How earnestly He worked for sinners! How constant were His efforts to prepare His disciples to carry the Gospel message to the ends of the earth! He placed Himself on the altar of service, a living sacrifice. PH092 3.1

If Christ, the Majesty of heaven, worked thus, should we, His followers, spare ourselves? In these last days there is a great work to be done. Unceasing activity is called for. “Darkness hath covered the earth, and gross darkness the people.” Many are far from Christ, wandering in the wilderness of sin. They are strangers from the covenant of promise. The Lord is coming soon. Already the judgments of God are in the land. Shall we let the unwarned multitudes go down into darkness and death without a preparation for the future life? PH092 3.2

If we only realized how earnestly Jesus worked to sow the world with the gospel seed, we, living at the very close of probation, would labor untiringly to give the bread of life to perishing souls. Why are we so cold and indifferent? Why are our hearts so unimpressible? Why are we so unwilling to give ourselves to the work to which Christ consecrated His life? Something must be done to cure the terrible indifference that has taken hold upon us. Let us bow our heads in humiliation, as we see how much less we have done than we might have done to sow the seeds of truth. PH092 3.3

My dear brethren and sisters. I speak to you in words of love and tenderness. Arouse, and consecrate yourselves unreservedly to the work of giving the light of the truth for this time to those in darkness. Catch the spirit of the great Master-worker. Learn from the Friend of sinners how to minister to sin-sick souls. Remember that in the lives of His followers must be seen the same devotion, the same subjection to God's work of every social claim and every earthly affection, that was seen in His life. God's claims must always be made paramount. Christ's example is to inspire us to put forth unceasing, self-sacrificing effort for the good of others. PH092 4.1

God calls upon every church-member to enter His service. Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted to others, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Every one must learn to work, and to stand in his lot and place as a burden-bearer. Every addition to the church should be one more agency for the carrying on of the great plan of redemption. The entire church, acting as one, blending in perfect union, is to be a living, active missionary agency, moved and controlled by the Holy Spirit. PH092 4.2