The Church a Training School

The church of Christ is organized for service. Its watchword is ministry. Its members are soldiers, to be trained for conflict under the Captain of their salvation. Christian ministers, physicians, and teachers have a broader work than many have recognized. They are not only to minister to the people, they are to teach the people to minister. They should not only give instruction in right principles, they should educate their hearers to impart these principles. Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessing can be retained only as it is shared.MHH 76.4

The monotony of our service for God needs to be broken up. Every church member should be engaged in some line of service for the Master. Some cannot do as much as others, but everyone should do his or her utmost to roll back the tide of disease and distress that is sweeping over our world. Many would be willing to work if they were taught how to begin. They need to be instructed and encouraged.MHH 76.5

Every church should be a training school for Christian workers. Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings, how to conduct and teach Sabbath school classes, how best to help the poor, care for the sick, and work for the unconverted. There should be schools of health, cooking schools, and classes in various lines of Christian help work. There should be not only teaching but actual work under experienced instructors. The teachers should lead the way in working among the people, and others, uniting with them, will learn from their example. One example is worth more than many precepts.MHH 76.6

Let all cultivate their physical and mental powers to the utmost of their ability, that they may work for God where His providence shall call them. The same grace that came from Christ to Paul and Apollos, that distinguished them for spiritual excellencies, will today be imparted to devoted Christian missionaries. God desires His children to have intelligence and knowledge, that with unmistakable clearness and power His glory may be revealed in our world.MHH 77.1

Consecrated workers who are educated can do service in a greater variety of ways and can accomplish more extensive work than can those who are uneducated. Their discipline of mind places them on vantage ground. But those who have neither great talents nor extensive education may minister acceptably. God will use anyone who is willing to be used. It is not the most brilliant or most talented person whose work produces the greatest and most lasting results. Men and women are needed who have heard a message from heaven. The most effective workers are those who respond to the invitation, “‘Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.’” Matthew 11:29.MHH 77.2

It is heart missionaries that are needed. A person whose heart God touches is filled with a great longing for those who have never known His love. Their condition impresses him or her with a sense of personal woe. Taking life in hand, the heaven-sent, heaven-inspired messenger goes forth to do a work in which angels can cooperate.MHH 77.3

If those to whom God has entrusted great talents of intellect put these gifts to a selfish use, they will be left, after a period of trial, to follow their own way. God will take workers who do not appear to be so richly endowed, who have not large self-confidence, and He will make the weak strong, because they trust in Him to do for them that which they cannot do for themselves. God will accept their wholehearted service and will Himself make up their deficiencies.MHH 77.4

The Lord has often chosen for His co-workers people who have obtained only a limited formal education. These men and women have applied their powers most diligently, and the Lord has rewarded their industry, their thirst for knowledge, and their fidelity to His work. He has seen their tears and heard their prayers. As His blessing came to the captives in the courts of Babylon, so He gives wisdom and knowledge to His workers today.MHH 77.5

Men and women deficient in school education, lowly in social position, have, through the grace of Christ, sometimes been wonderfully successful in winning souls for Him. The secret of their success was their confidence in God. Daily they learned of Him who is wonderful in counsel and mighty in power.MHH 77.6

Such workers are to be encouraged. The Lord brings them into connection with those of more marked ability, to fill up the gaps that others leave. Their quickness to see what is to be done, their readiness to help those in need, their kind words and deeds open doors of usefulness that otherwise would remain closed. They come close to those in trouble, and the persuasive influence of their words has power to draw many trembling souls to God. Their work shows what thousands of others might do if they only would.MHH 78.1