by Vance Havner
Ye shall be witnesses unto me. Acts 1:8
What we say is a witness, too, but people are moved by the living witness as well as by the spoken testimony. It is slow business getting a congregation warmed up to a missionary program. But let a real live Spirit-filled missionary embody that program and see the difference! We have degenerated into money-raisers for a project or a budget, and what a weariness it is! “Next Sunday we must raise an offering for the orphanage, the church paper, the college.” The causes of Christ do not strike fire until we incarnate them. Dutifully soliciting funds for a church enterprise is hard going. One orphan can be more eloquent than an hour’s speech about the orphanage.
Christianity suffers today because it has become merely a big business in the minds of some and now we must raise the funds to keep the business going. It goes best when it is embodied in flaming witnesses. Christ is a Person, and He reaches other persons through persons, not merely through plans and propaganda. We are propagandizing the faith instead of propagating it.
by Vance Havner
