1. A pastor should carefully study his people with the view of ascertaining11 and utilizing12 their special aptitudes14 and gifts. The prayer-room, the Sunday-school, the teachers’ meeting, and the pastoral visit all afford constant opportunities for this. One may show aptitude13 for teaching and may be entrusted with a Sunday-school class. Another has the weight of character and the tact15 of leadership which fit him for conducting a neighborhood prayer-meeting. Another has the solid judgment16 and clear discernment of character which will make him useful on a committee of discipline or finance. Another, though possibly not marked in exhortation17 or prayer, may have social qualities such as admirably qualify him for managing the details and arrangements of the social gatherings18 of the congregation. A pastor who will constantly act on the motto, A place and a work for every member, and will press this motto on those who conduct the different departments of work in his church, will soon find himself at the head of an active, living, and ordinarily happy people while yet he is not personally overburdened with the details of church-work. In some instances of eminent19 pastoral success, the chief secret has been in this power of developing and utilizing the gifts of the church.
2. The organization of associations within the congregation for different departments of work is another means [p. 104] of developing and utilizing the spiritual forces in the church. I have spoken in another place of literary and missionary20 organizations, but I may here add that an association for Christian21 work composed of young men in a church, and a similar one for young ladies, may often prove of great value—the one to act among young men, to attract and hold them to the church; the other for like service among young women. To such associations might be entrusted also mission Sunday-schools and distinct spheres of missionary effort. In a large congregation it is often desirable to organize committees for the care of the sick and the poor, and the visitation of strangers needing to be invited and welcomed to the congregation, and of erring22 and sinning ones needing to be won back to holiness and the church of God. In most places it is useful to have committees for the general visitation of the field occupied by the church, each committee being entrusted with a distinct district in it and made responsible for its cultivation23. In neighborhoods remote from the church much good is often secured in local prayer-meetings placed under the supervision24 of some judicious25 person. A thoughtful pastor, thoroughly26 supervising his field, will find constant work, and manifold forms of it, in which he can utilize either individuals or organizations in his church; and in doing this there is a double blessing—that which comes to the workers, in making them larger and happier Christians27, and that which comes to those for whom they labor28. Two things, however, are here to be observed: (1.) Organizations should not be so multiplied as to conflict with the general meetings of the church or with each other. Each should subordinate its arrangements to those of the church, and each should have its own separate, distinctly-marked sphere. (2.) They should be kept under the pastor’s supervision and subject to [p. 105] his guidance. It will be readily seen that this supposes care and tact on the part of the minister.
3. It is important that in this development of the forces in a church the pastor should mark those cases among the young in which special promise of intellectual ability appears and should inspire and direct them toward a higher education. Intellect is a gift of God: it is criminal to leave it undeveloped. Be thoroughly alive to this fact and impress it on the people. You will see young men and young women in your congregation who might, with adequate intellectual culture, occupy positions of power in life, and carrying into those positions a Christian character as well as a cultivated intellect might exert a wide and beneficent influence for Christ in the world. It seems to me one of the highest duties of a pastor to foster in such minds a desire and purpose for an education, and to facilitate in every possible way the attainment29 of that end. He should perpetually stimulate30 the people to a larger and higher intelligence, and never be satisfied unless numbers of the youth of his church are in higher institutions of learning. A failure to develop his people intellectually is a discredit31 to any minister.
4. Another important end to be secured is the development of ministerial gifts. The prayer-meeting, the Sunday-school, and the general work of the church will commonly, but not always, make these manifest. Sometimes a very diffident young man may possess them, but only encouragement will develop them. A pastor should be on the watch and should take occasion to call out the latent power. A few kindly32 words of encouragement have often developed a man of ultimately wide usefulness. Besides this class, there is much talent in the church that could be utilized33 in lay-preaching, where men of good speaking and spiritual knowledge, without relinquishing34 [p. 106] business pursuits, might be employed at destitute35 points to proclaim the Gospel. A pastor’s care is needed in seeking out and setting at work these gifts for lay-preaching, and thus multiplying the agencies for evangelization around him.
点击收听单词发音
1 pastor | |
n.牧师,牧人 | |
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2 utilize | |
vt.使用,利用 | |
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3 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 pastors | |
n.(基督教的)牧师( pastor的名词复数 ) | |
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5 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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6 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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7 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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8 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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9 attains | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的第三人称单数 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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10 stimulus | |
n.刺激,刺激物,促进因素,引起兴奋的事物 | |
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11 ascertaining | |
v.弄清,确定,查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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12 utilizing | |
v.利用,使用( utilize的现在分词 ) | |
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13 aptitude | |
n.(学习方面的)才能,资质,天资 | |
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14 aptitudes | |
(学习方面的)才能,资质,天资( aptitude的名词复数 ) | |
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15 tact | |
n.机敏,圆滑,得体 | |
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16 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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17 exhortation | |
n.劝告,规劝 | |
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18 gatherings | |
聚集( gathering的名词复数 ); 收集; 采集; 搜集 | |
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19 eminent | |
adj.显赫的,杰出的,有名的,优良的 | |
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20 missionary | |
adj.教会的,传教(士)的;n.传教士 | |
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21 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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22 erring | |
做错事的,错误的 | |
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23 cultivation | |
n.耕作,培养,栽培(法),养成 | |
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24 supervision | |
n.监督,管理 | |
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25 judicious | |
adj.明智的,明断的,能作出明智决定的 | |
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26 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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27 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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28 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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29 attainment | |
n.达到,到达;[常pl.]成就,造诣 | |
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30 stimulate | |
vt.刺激,使兴奋;激励,使…振奋 | |
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31 discredit | |
vt.使不可置信;n.丧失信义;不信,怀疑 | |
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32 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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33 utilized | |
v.利用,使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34 relinquishing | |
交出,让给( relinquish的现在分词 ); 放弃 | |
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35 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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