Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

work.")ESYOUNG PEOPLE'SSECRETARYung PeopleAnother evangelistic feature of theyear was Bible Mastery Month conducted during January. The material onFirst Thessalonians and the other helpssent out to the congregations was prepared in my office.Little has been heard of special meetings this past year. But enough hasbeen reported to indicate a growing desire to bear personal testimony to thesavingcessfulpower of Jesus Christ, All sucevangelistic meetings may betraced to persons doing personal work.And if among our people there is thispersonal endeavor we need not be concerned if there are few series of publicmeetings.Work in the Presbyteries.At the autumn meeting of New YorkPresbytery, it was reported that a congregation and a mission station had beendisorganized in 1953,and the presbytery felt that if a congregation werelost another one should be started. This,I believe, is a sound principle for generalpresbyterial action.A committee of Church Extension wasappointed, and, at its request, I wenton two occasions to help determine asuitable location for the new field. Threeareas were suggested as possibilities.Through contacts with Chambers ofCommerce and real estate firms, wewere able in every case to locate largerapidly developing housing projectswhere there were no churches withintwo to five miles. Through a series ofunforeseeable incidents, the Lord ledus to a development called East BendPark, some seven miles southeast ofPoughkeepsie. There near a housing project of 400 homes, so restricted that noteven a fire-house was permitted, a newdevelopment of 400 homes was opening on which the owner offered tosell four acres of ground for churchpurposes. A canvas of the communityshowed some 17% of the residents favorable to a new church starting nearby.Two problems now confront the presbytery in opening this new field. First, isthe man, then the means.The right person seems to be the mostdifficult of the two. Yet here is pioneering work as challenging as that of ourforeign mission fields. Some may say,August 25, 1954"But that is the Home Mission Secretary'sI have had a place forthis type of work in my program fromthe beginning. But from the very nature of my assignment I cannot go intoa limited area for a year or more to theneglect of ministration to other presbyteries of the Church. Whoever entersupon the work of this or other new fieldsmust become a part of the communityand look forward to spending severalyears in the development of a new congregation. He can count on Synod'sHome Mission Secretary as his righthand helper with frequent visits andassistance as he requests.Recently I met with a committee onfinance in New York City to discussways and means for promoting the project at East Bend Park. Presbytery'sactions on the suggestions is not yetreported.In another presbytery I was asked toconduct a calling campaign in a discouraged vacant congregation. This wasdone over several days throughout amonth. The results were most encouraging. At a meeting to call a pastor theattendance was well over 50% of themembership and far above the averageSabbath morning services. The congregation took heart and is now waiting forits pastor-elect to be ordained and installed.The Christian Amendment Movement.Some four years ago I was appointedby the Christian Amendment ExecutiveCommittee to arrange the program fora hearing, should one be held. I askedDr. John Coleman to act as chairmanof the testifying group, and together weworked out a program and a list of witnesses, which was approved by the Executive Committee.With the likelihood of a hearing appearingrather remote, it seemed unwise to urge the witnesses to preparetestimony immediately, lest by the timeit were needed it should have to be rewritten. Reference material was sentout to them all, and one or two soonhad their testimony in my hands.At Piqua, Ohio, I interviewed Rep.McCulloch, chairman of the HouseJudiciary subcommittee which wouldhear the bill, On two trips throughWashington, I interviewed Rep. Harrison of Nebraska who introduced thebill into the House.Unexpectedly, on Friday, May 14,word came that a hearing was scheduledbefore the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the following Monday, May 17.With but three days to prepare, activitytook on a furious pace. Many of ourscheduled witnesses could not appear onsuch short notice, but once again theLord led, and by the time of the hearing a groupof witnesses as competentas could have been hoped for were inthe Senate hearing room, and for fourhours the chairman of the subcommittee heard our testimony and our discussion.The prayers of the Church continueto be offered that the testimony of thatday shall not go unheeded.Young People's WorkDuring last summer I attended fourof the six youngpeople's conventionsand one of the junior camps, havingparts in each program. Excellent programs had been arranged by the youngleaders. The fellowship, instruction, andinspiration of these gatherings cannot bemeasured.Through the winter the young people'sStaff met regularly and tried definitelyto continue its program of interest toall the young people's societies. Onaccount of the national convention noCrusader's Corps was planned for thissummer.The major work with the young people through this year has been in preparation for the national convention. Anexecutive groupof fine consecratedyoung people held a two-day meeting atThanksgiving vacation, besides monthlymeetings since January. The CovenantSigning Service was made the focalpoint of the convention and much ofthe program was framed to lead to thesigning as a climax, and from that pointto move continuingly forward. We thankGod for His answer to our prayer thatthe program be not our own but His.Many changes have been made and ithas been clear to us that God changedthe program and the speakers to conform to His will. Multitudes of detailshave required attention and some, I con-121