Part 4. ACCOMPLISHMENTS

1. The Membership

ROM the foregoing discussion it is evident that the main object of the Free Methodist Church has not been to gain members and make a large church. This church takes too many unpopular positions to be accused of making size the main quest. As most people live and as most church members live, they could have no membership in this organization. Therefore, instead of having an “inferiority complex” as sometimes accompanies membership in a small church, one should feel a sense of satisfaction in being able to qualify for membership in a body which is rather careful in selecting its members.

     One large denomination has boasted that it must be right or nearly so because many people are seeking membership. Such an argument is, of course, the poorest possible since Christ declared, “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” While smallness is no proof of virtue or acceptance with God, it is most certain from the above and many similar Scripture passages that large size cannot be a proof of God’s favor or correct doctrine or practice.

     Nevertheless, some preachers among us have excused their failure or near-failure by declaring that the people in these times do not wish to take the narrow way. Such excuses should be received with no favor. While it is true that this will never be a popular way, it is also true that the Holy Spirit is with men and women who take His way and will bless and give a substantial degree of success to those ministers and people who do not excuse themselves but pay the price for salvation and the progress of the work.

     Those who believe that all the Christians are in one denomination are narrow and foolish indeed. The fact is that some Christians may be found in perhaps fifty different denominations. In some of these churches the percentage of Christians according to the New Testament standard must be very small; in others the percentage of Christians in the total membership may be high or very high. It is foolish to assume that in any church all are Christians.

     Some will argue that if in a certain church there are one or a few Christians, then he can be in that church and be a Christian, which does not at all follow. God gives to each of us individual leadings. God may and often does demand of one a certain church membership. If he will not take that membership he may lose his touch with God entirely. The question cannot be, “What shall this man do ?“ but “What does God require of me ?“ Also some people have made up their minds that they do not wish to belong to a church where the majority are sinners, where the spiritual state is low, and where nothing is required in religious life, lest they fall into that looseness and lose their souls. Some are so “in. earnest to get to heaven” that they desire to be in a church where they are surrounded with people of like mind.

     The Wesleyan Methodist Church broke from the Methodist Church on the issue of slavery in 1843. There was no special emphasis upon holiness, and it seems that in its early years the Wesleyan Church was not so strong in the teaching of that experience as is true at this time. And there were hardly any “holiness churches,” as they are now called. Holiness people were largely in the Methodist Church. Therefore in the beginnings of Free Methodism those dissatisfied with “New School Methodism,” who wished rather the Methodism of other times, tended to come into the Free Methodist Church. Later there have arisen the holiness associations (which have drawn their membership largely from the Methodist Church), and which have tried recovery of the church from within. And there have arisen several other holiness churches. Some of these have been similar in requirements to Free Methodism. Some of them have had a little lower standard than ours, and some have offered things which Free Methodism has not been willing to offer, all of which things have militated in some measure against the growth of the Free Methodist Church.

     However, the greatest reason why the growth of the church has not been as rapid as it should have been is not because our standard is too high, not because “the people do not want the narrow way,” and not because some others have offered a way a little easier than we will allow, but because we too often have lacked vision and zeal for evangelism. Too many are “at ease in Zion.” Too many lack the passion to carry the good news to the next neighbor and the next community.

     While it must be admitted that in the Free Methodist Church there are persons who apparently have never been converted or have backslidden, still the number of such is small compared with the vast majority who enjoy the grace of God. And many enjoy the experience of entire sanctification.

     In considering church membership it is good to remember that every year twelve hundred or more of our people die—we trust most of them have gone to the City of God. This number must be made up before we show any gain in membership at all.

     Nevertheless, we do show numerical growth as is indicated by the following statistics. These figures in all cases show probationers and members in full connection, and they include members under sixteen, which were formerly classified either as probationers or full members. For the later years they show also the preachers, who for years had no place in membership statistics. Accurate figures for the beginning years are not in all cases available. However, on page 117 will be found the growth in membership as we are able to find it.