 WHAT 1,000 FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS CAN DO TO HELP?
Dear Bro. Bob:
Your note was most welcome. It is so refreshing to find a brother who sees the extent of the danger facing us and wants to do something about it rather than just wring his hands and talk about it.
The 1000 people I wrote about could be men or women....young or old, preachers or not. They just need to be willing to work with us in praying for God’s intervention and help, for others who will help us and for those who are struggling with the enemy in their local congregations. Just today I got an e-mail from a brother in Nevada whose congregation is bring torn to pieces by this problem. He is distraught and discouraged. He needs our prayers and encouragement to keep on keeping on.
As to specific ways to help:
- A helper could have duplicate copies of my monthly Christianity: Then and Now made and distribute them within his congregation and mail them to the other congregations in his area. That could be a city, county, region or state, depending on his resources and the number of congregations involved. A copy shop can duplicate the paper for something like .20 per copy or maybe less. It could be done on a copy machine owned by the congregation or by some businessman who wants to help.
- Or the helper could provide the funds and I would mail the churches from here. It costs me $ .50 per month to mail two copies to each church....addressed to Minister/Elders. I have a directory of Churches of Christ in America and can tell you how many congregations are in a given city or state and furnish the addresses. Some are providing the funds so I can mail churches in their area.
- The helper could persuade his congregation to underwrite the cost of the mailing to their city, county or state....or some other state.
- He or she might persuade the ladies’ Bible class to take this as a project or recruit several individuals to pitch in and help on a regular basis so we could blanket a chosen area.
- The helper could assemble his own monthly packet of materials from various sources and mail them to the preachers and elders of his area. One brother in Ft. Worth area does this.
- The helper could talk to individual Christians and persuade them to pitch in and help us mail the paper from here..
- There are some tracts that need to be written and printed. The helper could assist us in providing the funds to print one or more titles. We need a tract to cover every aspect of the change movement.
I have taken it upon myself to read and review the books written by the change agents and those of our brethren who are responding. When I write the reviews I send them out to those who are helping. Eventually they are used in the paper and on the website. These you can share as you wish. Perhaps you can send them to your web contacts, fellow-Christians and preachers.
Among the projects we need to attend to are getting the CTN paper to our missionaries overseas. I say this because historically, false teachers always make a run for mission outposts. New converts, with no depth of knowledge and experience are easy targets for them.
We need to get it to all the churches in Canada. Probably have no more than 200-250 there. If you know of a good preacher or congregation up there. We could work through him since postage from the US to Canada is quite high. We need to be able to send it to preacher students in our colleges.
Since the change movement seems to flow from our Christian Schools, we need to make sure we send it to every church in the vicinity of those schools. For example we are now mailing all of the churches in Nashville, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Abilene, Nebraska, Oregon and Los Angeles. Other cities needing attention are, Lubbock, Montgomery, Parkersburg, Searcy, Florence. This is not to say that all of the schools in those cities are promoting the change agenda, but we are trying to practice preventive medicine to stop the spread of a deadly contagion. We need to vaccinate even healthy people.
Another project that needs attention is to include pertinent tracts and inserts in our mailings. Using the bulk mailing permit we can have up to 3 ½ ozs. in each piece we mail. I have already included a tract, a sermon and the Strategy sheet I sent earlier. My thinking is, if we can put into the hands of preachers and elders materials that would help them fortify their members’ faith, they will be encouraged to order quantities to give to each family. For example Bro. Wayne Jackson has an excellent tract on Choirs and Solos in Worship. We could send that along with each set of papers mailed for .30, the cost of the tract. A thousand tracts would cost us $300 plus postage. Other good tracts need to be sent from time to time.
For your information, We are now mailing to approximately 1800 churches and preachers. We cover all the congregations in 28 states....primarily in the mission states. Many others receive the paper in the other states, but not every church gets it.. We could add Iowa, Indiana or Wisconsin, each for approximately $65 per month. The change problem is at work in New York, with at least two congregations in its grip.
I want to stress again that we do not want to form any kind of organization. We just want to find sound and faithful brothers who will work together for the common good of the kingdom of Christ. Each will answer to his own elders and Christ. We will help each other, keep each other informed and plan our efforts for the best results. I don’t wish to form a clique or faction or to build a fiefdom for myself and I am sure you feel the same.
May God bless and use us to his honor and glory. May it be that when we finish our course on this earth, the church will be stronger and larger than when we first became members of it.
John Waddey
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