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Olivet Nazarene University Digital Commons @ Olivet Herald of Holiness/Holiness Today Church of the Nazarene 10-24-1962 Herald of Holiness Volume 51 Number 35 (1962) W. T. Purkiser (Editor) Nazarene Publishing House Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_hoh Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, History of Christianity Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, and the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Purkiser, W. T. (Editor), "Herald of Holiness Volume 51 Number 35 (1962)" (1962). Herald of Holiness/Holiness Today. 602. https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/cotn_hoh/602 This Journal Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Church of the Nazarene at Digital Commons @ Olivet. It has been accepted for inclusion in Herald of Holiness/Holiness Today by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Olivet. For more information, please contact [email protected]. O B R A R Y . ' b u te * BOLIVIA OlVet Naza,reneCflllgg9' arket Scene, La Pas O ctober 21^, 1962 I I I Tlie Nazarene ■ I I I ■ HiainiiH iM N iM mnmmmmmmmmmum IMAGE is one of the overworked words in characterized by the glory of God’s pres­ the current vocabulary. In popular usage ence. Such a confrontation with God may it means an idea or impression. It is a produce a variety of responses among the good word often used effectively. But there people. Some may shout aloud His praise. is always the possibility that the one using Others may weep for joy. But there may it will yield to the temptation to fill in the be those who are subdued in silent wonder. conception he intends to give with his own Freedom in the Spirit is essential. Emo­ bias, thus producing a distortion. tional expression is 110 insult to intelli­ In former years we heard such expres­ gence. But regular irregularities become sions as the Nazarene sw ing, or the Naza­ formalities too. An effort to stimulate spon­ rene stam p. Now it is the Nazarene im age. taneity destroys it as effectively as sup­ The expression is used to convey a repre­ pressing it. sentation of the church. It is a good and ac­ In appearance and conduct the Nazarene ceptable use of the word. None should ob­ ideal is modesty and simplicity. But these ject to it. One who uses it should be can be spelled out in such legalistic terms guarded lest he color the picture with his as to produce spiritual pride, uncharitable own eccentric emphasis, and encourage * others to read into it their hobbies. Even this would not be disturbing if all would allow others the same license. But the G eneral greatest danger is that the true subject of Superintendent the picture shall be obscured by too much attention to accidents of the setting. We Williamson cannot accept syncopation, counterfeit, or figments of a stunted imagination. We de­ judgment of others, and a whitewash of sire a clear vision of the true likeness. assumed righteousness. A Nazarene should be a clear witness to In projecting a Nazarene image let us a vital experience of God’s saving, sanc­ agree that in witnessing, worship, and liv­ tifying grace. But he is not bound to de­ ing we shall seek to create the image of a clare it in identical words that may grow people whose supreme purpose is to pro­ threadbare from constant repetition. Other duce Christlikeness in every aspect of life. words of equal meaning and force may In Him alone our ideal is beheld. May we make our testimony more attractive and prove we have been with Jesus. And God understandable. grant that we may be called Christians as Every typical Nazarene service should be the disciples were at Antioch. By W, T. PURKISER The Problem Church our success, so we just see to it that he is a good preacher and that everybody knows he is a gootl MUCH is being written these days about problem preacher: we make him a good preacher.” children. It’s hard to know whether there arc more ol them than there used to be, or whether II Other churches have the problem of a “church we’ve just loutul out what to call them. boss.” Sometimes it is an “old guard.” Occasion­ Someone wisely observed that there really aren't ally these are good people who have clone so much any problem children. There are only children and been around so long they gradually assume with problems. For problem children are not that it is not they who belong to the church but born; they are made. It could well be that the the church that belongs to them. Other times these real difficulty is the problem parent, not the prob­ are folks who just have an unusually strong urge lem child. to “rule the roost,” and they are determined to Just as there are problem children, there are “rule or ruin.” More often than not, ruin is the problem churches. Again, it is possible that there result. are really no problem churches. There are only It is a wonderful asset to any congregation to churches with problems. Hut those problems can have a hard core of people who have been tested be acute, and they have a way of staying around and tried and who are thoroughly dependable. Hut year alter year without much change or improve­ such a nucleus becomes a liability if and when it ment. I.ike problem children, problem churches crystallizes and hardens into a determined minority need help. who resist all change as the work of the devil, I and make no room for progress and growth. Some churches have problems with their pastors. As a very young pastor, I went to a new charge When this happens once in a while, the difficulty for the first Sunday. Introduced in Sunday school, could well be with the pastor. Ideally, any man 1 sketched a bit of my vision for the church. When called of God could serve any church whose people 1 sat down, the Sunday school superintendent stood love God. Hut the ideal doesn’t always prevail. and said, “T hat’s fine. Now let’s all sing, ‘I shall Sometimes square pegs get into round holes, and not be, I shall not be moved.’ " They meant it too. when they do, the adjustment may be too difficult HI to make. Some churches, like some children, have the Hut when a church has problems with pastor problem of an exaggerated self-centeredness. Theirs after pastor, when no one seems to be able to meet is spiritual myopia—shortsightedness. They can­ the requirements of the situation, then the diffi­ not see beyond their own walls, or at most beyond culty is not the peg but the hole. For one reason their own community. or another, some churches have the reputation of Admittedly there is a certain priority to the being hard to satisfy. clamor of local needs. The pastor’s salary, mort­ The opposite also is true. Dr. J. B. Chapman gage payments, bills for utilities and supplies have told of a certain church which had the reputation to be paid. We live with these obligations, and ol always having a good preacher. One of the lead­ are not able to dismiss them from mind. Home ing laymen in that church was asked how they mission needs in other communities, world mis­ managed always to have such gootl and successful sions, college and seminary, and the far-llung work pastors. His reply was worth remembering: of the denomination are farther away and out of "We make our preacher a good preacher. All sight. When these are ignored, the disaster is as we ask is that we have a man who is earnest and real, but it is not as immediately apparent. who has it in him to make good, then we'll make But churches are like people. Over and over it him good. We pay him a good salary, furnish him has been proved— not that we cannot afford as a good parsonage, and look after his physical cam­ individuals to tithe, but that we cannot afford not ions and conveniences so that he has net worrv to tithe. God finds ways of blessing those with about these matters. Then we pray hard for him, faith enough to put Him first—to give, not the we keep him encouraged, we boost him and ad­ leftover tenth if any, but the first tenth. And over vertise him. lie is our man and his success is and over it has been proved that God finds ways OCTOBER 24. 1!H>2 • (f,87) 3 Fliere are large ones and small ones. There are old ones and young ones. There are problem churches in rural areas and problem churches in The Cover . cities. There is really only one thing they all Bolivia is a country of mountains and deserts, fertile have in common. They all have hope. valleys and vast plains. About one-third of its 3,500,000 people are Aymara Indians, one-third are of mixed We are reminded that we should not be prob­ blood, and one-third are Spanish. Early contacts of the lem-conscious, but power-conscious. This is true. Church of the Nazarene in Bolivia came in 1908 with Let us be conscious of our problems only long the evangelistic work of Rev. and Mrs. Frank Ferguson, missionaries in Argentina. Systematic work was begun enough to sense our need. Then let us become in 1945 when Rev.

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