Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

Self-Supported Ministry
On this page are quotes from the pen of Ellen G. White concerning
self-supporting ministry in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I
encourage anyone reading this to go to the referenced source and read
these quotes in their full context and to also study this further in the
Bible and Spirit of Prophecy with an open mind to "hear what the Spirit
is saying unto the Church." I do not want to be guilty of taking any
quotes out of context to try to inuence one way or the other.

IF, AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR, SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS HAD ENTERED

THE SOUTH AS THEY MIGHT HAVE DONE, WHAT A DIFFERENT PLACE THE
SOUTH WOULD BE TODAY. SCHOOLS AND SANITARIUMS WOULD HAVE
BEEN THE MEANS OF TRANSFORMING MANY SECTIONS. BUT WHEN A
FEW OF OUR PEOPLE CAME SOUTH SOME OF THEM RETURNED TO THE
NORTH WITH A STORY SIMILAR TO THE REPORT OF THE TEN SPIES WHO
RETURNED FROM CANAAN. AND AS A PEOPLE WE HAVE BEEN MORE
READY TO BELIEVE THIS FALSE REPORT THAN TO ACCEPT THE LORD'S
OWN WORDS CONCERNING THE FIELD AND ITS PEOPLE. {PH012 10.1} IT
IS THE DEVIL'S PLAN.
TO GET US TO SEE THE GIANTS AND THE WALLED CITIES. THIS HAS BEEN
A MOST EFFECTUAL WAY ON HIS PART OF POSTPONING THE COMING OF
THE LORD. THE FAILURE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS TO START
SCHOOLS, FARM SCHOOLS, SELF-SUPPORTING SCHOOLS, WHEN THE
LORD SAID OPEN SUCH SCHOOLS, HAS STRENGTHENED THE PREJUDICE
OF MANY TOWARD THE SOUTH. NOW, WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN DONE
UNDER FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES MUST BE DONE IN THE MIDST OF
DIFFICULTIES. STILL, LET US REDEEM THE TIME, AND SAVE OURSELVES
AS A DENOMINATION AS WELL AS GIVE THE WARNING TO THOSE WHO
KNOW IT NOT. {PH012 10.2}

Come to Stay.
"The Southern eld must be worked intelligently." The work of the South cannot
be accomplished by coming South for a short time and then returning to the
North. {PH012 10.3}
"I wish to say that the Southern eld is a world of its own. The work here will

1 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

have to be carried forward independently to a large degree. The workers in the

eld will have to exercise judgment as to the best ways of advancing. This eld
needs workers who will say, I will not fail nor be discouraged." {PH012 10.4}
"We must not lose sight of the neglected parts of the vineyard. Men may say
that it is a waste of valuable time and money for strong men and women to go
out into these hills, and out-of-the-way places to labor. . . . Some may say, 'If I
were engaged in this sort of work, some connected with the church would
discountenance me.' What if they should?" {PH012 11.1}

Self-Supporting.
MUCH OF THE WORK WILL HAVE TO BE MADE SELF-SUPPORTING. THERE
IS MORE TO DO IN A SHORT TIME THAN CAN BE DONE IF MEN WAIT TO BE
SENT AND PAID FOR THEIR WORK. A SELF-SUPPORTING WORKER IS TO
HAVE YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT:-- {PH012 11.2} "When God inspires in men
and women the desire to help these poor, neglected, ignorant ones, to educate
them, to establish schools, to teach them to be self-supporting, should we not
encourage these workers? Should we not do all in our power to help those who
work for the people of the South, both white and black?" {PH012 11.3}
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SELF-SUPPORTING SCHOOL IS THUS
EMPHASIZED, "we must provide greater facilities for the education and
training of the youth, both white and colored. We are to establish schools away
from the cities where the youth can learn to cultivate the soil, and thus help to
make themselves, and the school self-supporting. Let means be gathered for the
establishment of such schools." {PH012 11.4}
SELF-SUPPORT IS AN OBJECTIONABLE WORD TO SOME, BUT "The whole
church needs to be imbued with the missionary spirit; then there will be many
to work unselshly, in various ways as they can, without being salaried."
{PH012 12.1}
THE PROMISE MADE THOSE WHO ANSWER THE CALL TO DO THIS SIMPLE,
HUMBLE WORK, IS THAT "He marks all that they do to help those in need of
help. In the heavenly courts, when the redeemed are gathered home, they will
stand nearest to the Son of God." {PH012 12.2}
Self-Support in Foreign Fields.
THE MADISON SCHOOL HAS BEEN INSTRUCTED TO TRAIN
SELF-SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES FOR FOREIGN FIELDS. IT IS
REMARKABLE HOW RAPIDLY THE MISSIONARIES IN FOREIGN FIELDS ARE
2 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

COMING TO SEE THE NEED OF SELF-SUPPORT IN THOSE FIELDS. FROM

INDIA, CHINA, KOREA, JAPAN, SOUTH AMERICA, AND AFRICA COMES THE
TESTIMONY THAT THE FUTURE SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARY MUST
HIMSELF BE SELF-SUPPORTING AND MUST TEACH HIS CONVERTS TO
EARN THEIR LIVING. {PH012 12.3}
THE OLD METHOD OF SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES BY A SALARY FROM
AMERICA IS BEING SUPERSEDED BY THE SANER METHOD OF
SELF-SUPPORT. GOD IS INSTRUCTING SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS TO
ADOPT THIS PLAN. WE OUGHT NOT TO CLING TO THE OLD METHOD AND
LET OTHER DENOMINATIONS OUTRUN US IN THIS MATTER OF REFORM.
{PH012 12.4} SOME WOULD COME
IF THEY KNEW HOW TO GO TO WORK. "THERE IS PLENTY OF LAND LYING
WASTE IN THE SOUTH THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN IMPROVED AS THE LAND
ABOUT THE MADISON SCHOOL HAS BEEN IMPROVED." THE SOIL OF THE
SOUTH CAN BE MADE THE MEANS OF SUPPORTING THE FARM SCHOOL,
AND STUDENTS FROM NEEDY PLACES CAN BE TAUGHT LESSONS OF
SELF-SUPPORT. {PH012 13.1}
"Properties will be oered for sale in the rural districts at a price below the real
cost, because the owners desire city advantages, and it is these rural locations
that we desire to obtain for our schools." {PH012 13.2} Medical Missionary
Work.
"I have been instructed that there are decided advantages to be gained by the
establishment of a school and sanitarium in close proximity. . . . There is a great
work to be done by our sanitariums and schools. Time is short. What is done,
must be done quickly." {PH012 13.3}
MANY COULD DO THE MEDICAL WORK NECESSARY IN CONNECTION WITH
A FARM SCHOOL WHO WOULD NOT ATTEMPT SANITARIUM WORK ON A
LARGE SCALE. EACH LITTLE SCHOOL SHOULD BE ABLE TO REACH THE
PEOPLE IN ITS COMMUNITY WITH THE TRUTH OF HEALTH REFORM; IT
SHOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE AND TO EACH SIMPLE TREATMENTS. EACH
COMPANY OF SELF-SUPPORTING WORKERS SHOULD FORM A CENTER
TOWARD WHICH THOSE IN NEED OF PHYSICAL HEALING WILL LOOK, AND
FROM WHICH WILL RADIATE HEALTH-GIVING LIGHT. {PH012 13.4}
THE CLIMATE OF THE SOUTH IS EQUAL TO THAT IN ANY OTHER PART OF
THE WORLD. SEVERAL MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE LIVED HERE WITH
COMFORT FOR CENTURIES. IT IS CERTAINLY NOT UNBEARABLE TO THE
MISSIONARY. THE FIELD HAS BEEN CALLED A HARD ONE, BUT THAT
SHOULD NOT KEEP A CHRISTIAN AWAY. CHRIST CHOSE TO LABOR IN THE
DIFFICULT PARTS OF THE WORLD, GOING INTO DARK CORNERS OF THE
3 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

WORLD LIKE NAPHTALI AND ZEBULUN WHEN HE WAS ON EARTH. {PH012

13.5}
IT IS A BIBLE TRUTH THAT NO SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CAN RECEIVE
THE LATTER RAIN UNTIL HE FINDS HIS PLACE AND STANDS IN IT. "TO
EVERY MAN AND TO EVERY WOMAN HE HAS GIVEN HIS WORK." "GOD
DESIRES THAT EVERY MAN SHALL STAND IN HIS LOT AND IN HIS PLACE,
AND NOT FEEL AS IF THE WORK IS TOO HARD." {PH012 14.1}
THOUSANDS ARE STANDING IDLE IN THE MARKET PLACE. THEY ARE
WAITING FOR SOME ONE TO PUT THEM TO WORK. LET THEM ANSWER
THE CALL OF THE SOUTH AND GO FORTH WITHOUT ASKING A SALARY.
WHO SAYS, "HERE AM I, LORD, SEND ME"? THE SOUTH WILL DEVELOP IN
YOU THE SPIRIT OF THE EARLY PIONEERS OF THIS MESSAGE. WE NEED
THE SOUTH FOR THE PERFECTION OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER EVEN
MORE THAN THE SOUTH NEEDS US. {PH012 14.2} from An Appeal to
Seventh Day Adventists to Fulll Their Duty to the South

My brethren, I ask you in the name of the Lord, that you be careful how you
handle the donations that are made to the Southern eld. Not one dollar is to be
turned aside to any other eld. I entreat of you to be very careful. {8MR 202.2}
The Lord has instructed me that, from the rst, the work in Huntsville and
Madison should have received adequate help. But instead of this help being
rendered promptly there has been long delay. And in the matter of the Madison
school, there has been a standing o from them because they were not under
the ownership and control of some Conference. This is a question that should
sometimes be considered, but it is not the Lord's plan that means should be
withheld from Madison, because they are not bound to the conference. The
attitude which some of our brethren have assumed toward this enterprise
shows that it is not wise for every working agency to be under the dictation of
conference oicers. There are some enterprises under certain conditions, that
will produce better results if standing alone. {8MR 202.3}
When my advice was asked in reference to the Madison school, I said, Remain
as you are. There is danger in binding every working agency under the dictation
of the conference. The Lord did not design that this should be. The
circumstances were such that the burden bearers in the Madison school could
not bind up their work with the conference. I knew their situation, and when
many of the leading men in our conferences ignored them, because they did not
place their school under conference dictation, I was shown that they would not
be helped by making themselves amenable to the conference. They had better

4 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

remain as led by God, amenable to Him, to work out His plans. But this matter
need not be blazed abroad. {8MR 202.4}

There ought to be thousands at work in the cities, laboring intelligently. Not all
these workers should look to the conference for support. They should seek to
make their work self-supporting. A great many can do self-supporting work, but
some cannot. {9MR 310.1}
I am sorry that it should be thought necessary to delay the work in some places
because of territorial lines, and that it should be considered irregular for the
workers to sell books in certain territories where the eld is neglected. This has
held back the sale of our books. Changes should be made regarding this
condition. If territory that is claimed by a certain conference is not faithfully
worked for the circulation of our literature, those workers who have a burden
for that territory should not be forbidden the privilege of laboring there.--Letter
328, 1907.
Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D. C. July 19, 1984 Entire Letter Released
{13MR 389.4}

God's principles are the only safe principles for us to follow. Phariseeism was
lled with regular lines, but so perverted were the principles of justice that God
declared, "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar o: for
truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he
that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey" (Isa. 59:14, 15). How true these
words have proved. {20MR 143.3}
It is God who gives men wisdom by which to tell truth from a lie. Those under
His guidance almost instinctively separate the good from the evil. God is trying
to bring the backsliders in prominent places back to their senses. He corrects
the evils to which men who ought to know better, who have heard His warnings
and reproofs, have held fast as if evil were a choice commodity of which not one
grain must be lost. {20MR 143.4}
It is as hard today to break away from the regular lines as it was in Christ's day.
We have had great light. Let us not become narrow. Let us break the bonds
which bind us. Christ is the source of all true growth, the maintainer of all life.
By His Holy Spirit He communicates heavenly principles and furnishes spiritual
life. {20MR 143.5}

5 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

There are those who make eorts to carry matters according to their own ideas
and preferences. Take heed; do not let human wisdom lead you to divert means
into new channels before the work is perfected in places where important
enterprises have already been started. But understand that this is not meant to
hinder any individual worker from entering any place to which he is directed by
the Spirit of God to do house-to-house work. This is work that ought to be done.
All the eorts that can be made should be made to reach the people in every
place. But it is not right for our workers to make a large outlay of means in a
place just because human ambition has been aroused. {14MR 48.1}
There are those who criticize everything in which they have not voice or
inuence. Such ones weave selshness into their work. Let those who have
been reproved for criticizing cease this unkind, unchristlike work. If they have
wisdom to do the work of God, let them go into some city where the truth has
not been proclaimed, and work as self-supporting missionaries. Let them show
what they can do, instead of pointing out the mistakes made by those who have
put all their strength of mind and body into the work, and who have striven with
all their might to bring the work to its present stage of advancement. The Lord
is not with those who, instead of putting themselves in the place of the workers
who are sacricing, stand by as onlookers, criticizing what they think is not
right. {14MR 48.2}
Be careful what moves you make. Put heart and soul and strength into
perfecting the work already begun. I have little condence in movements made
from impulse. Too many such movements have been made in erecting large
buildings for school and sanitarium work. [By] this [means] the cause of God
has been thrown into confusion and nancial embarrassment. {14MR 49.1} Be
sure that the Holy Spirit is guiding; and then move forward solidly and wisely.-Letter 87, 1902.
Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D. C. September 27, 1984 Entire Letter
{14MR 49.2}

My brother, I wish to say to you, Be careful how you move. You are not moving
wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated
to the most needy and the most discouraging eld in the world, the more
sensible you will be. {2MR 99.2}
It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by
myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not

6 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

receive suicient properly to support their families. When my attention was

called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate
into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work,
and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the
fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way. {2MR 99.3}
In regard to the colored work in the South, that eld has been and is still being
robbed of the means that should come to the workers in that eld. If there have
been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the
ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is
wise, hold his peace. {2MR 99.4}
I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my
notice. I have been instructed to do this, and as the money is not withheld from
the Lord's treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will
necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do,
because it is not best. {2MR 99.5}
Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs
from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to
me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most
needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who
have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is
being left undone. If this matter is given publicity, it will create a knowledge
which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work
which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do. {2MR 100.1}
I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances
alter cases. I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering
up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have
lost condence in the appropriation of the tithe, who have placed their tithe in
my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it
to the families of the most needy ministers they could nd. I have taken the
money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated. {2MR
100.2}
I write this to you so that you shall keep cool and not become stirred up and
give publicity to this matter, lest many more shall follow their example. --Letter
267, 1905, pp. 1, 2. (To Elder Watson, Jan. 22, 1905.) {2MR 100.3}
I have seventy-ve dollars from Brother _____, tithe money, and we thought that
it would be best to send it along to the Southern eld to help colored ministers.
. . . I want it specially applied to the colored ministers to help them in their
salaries.--Letter 262, 1902, p. 1. (To Elder and Mrs. J. E. White, Oct. 23, 1902;
Biography Vol. 5, p. 396.) {2MR 100.4}
7 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

You ask if I will accept tithe from you and use it in the cause of God where most
needed. In reply I will say that I shall not refuse to do this, but at the same time
I will tell you that there is a better way. It is better to put condence in the
ministers of the conference where you live and in the oicers of the church
where you worship. Draw nigh to your brethren. Love them with a true heart
fervently, and encourage them to bear their responsibilities faithfully in the fear
of God. "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in
charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" [1 Tim. 4:12].--Letter 96, 1911 (Published in
The Early Elmshaven Years, p. 397.) {2MR 101.1}
[Release requested for Review and Herald articles prepared by Arthur L.
White.] {2MR 101.2}

I have recently been instructed that no one should be advised to pledge himself
to spend two, three, four, ve, or six years under any man's tuition. Brethren,
we have no time for this. Time is short. We are to hold out urgent inducements
to the men who ought now to be engaged in missionary work for the Master.
The highways and byways are yet unworked. The Lord calls for young men to
labor as canvassers and evangelists, to do house-to-house work in places that
have not yet heard the truth. God speaks to our young men, saying, "Ye are not
your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God's. {SpM 308.3}
The Lord must be given an opportunity to show men their duty and to work
upon their minds. No one is to bind himself to serve under the direction of any
human being; for the Lord himself will call men, as of old he called the humble
shermen, and will himself give them the education he desires them to have. He
will call men from the plow and from other occupations, to give the last note of
warning to perishing souls. There are many ways in which to work for the
Master, and the great Teacher will open the understanding of these workers,
enabling them to see wondrous things in his word. {SpM 308.4}
The signs that show Christ's coming is near are fast fullling. The Lord calls for
canvassers and evangelists. Those who will go forth to this work under his
direction will be wonderfully blessed. {SpM 308.5}
Let our churches be guarded. Let our people work intelligently, not under the
rule of any man, but under the rule of God. Let them stand where they can
follow the will of God. Their service belongs to Him. Their capabilities and
talents are to be rened, puried, ennobled. In this lower school--the school of
earth,--they are to be prepared for translation into the school of heaven, where

8 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

their education will be continued under the personal supervision of Christ, the
great Teacher, who will lead them beside the living waters, and open to them
the mysteries of the kingdom of God. {SpM 308.6}

The Spirit of Independence [MANUSCRIPT READ BEFORE THE

DELEGATES AT THE GENERAL CONFERENCE, WASHINGTON, D. C.,
MAY 30, 1909.]
Before leaving Australia, and since coming to this country, I have been
instructed that there is a great work to be done in America. Those who were in
the work at the beginning are passing away. Only a few of the pioneers of the
cause now remain among us. Many of the heavy burdens formerly borne by men
of long experience are now falling upon younger men. {9T 257.1}
This transfer of responsibilities to laborers whose experience is more or less
limited is attended with some dangers against which we need to guard. The
world is lled with strife for the supremacy. The spirit of pulling away from
fellow laborers, the spirit of disorganization, is in the very air we breathe. By
some, all eorts to establish order are regarded as dangerous--as a restriction
of personal liberty, and hence to be feared as popery. These deceived souls
regard it a virtue to boast of their freedom to think and act independently. They
declare that they will not take any man's say-so, that they are amenable to no
man. I have been instructed that it is Satan's special eort to lead men to feel
that God is pleased to have them choose their own course independent of the
counsel of their brethren. {9T 257.2}
Herein lies a grave danger to the prosperity of our work. We must move
discreetly, sensibly, in harmony with the judgment of God-fearing counselors;
for in this course alone lies our safety and strength. Otherwise God cannot work
with us and by us and for us. {9T 257.3}
Oh, how Satan would rejoice if he could succeed in his eorts to get in among
this people and disorganize the work at a time when thorough organization is
essential and will be the greatest power to keep out spurious uprisings and to
refute claims not endorsed by the word of God! We want to hold the lines
evenly, that there shall be no breaking down of the system of organization and
order that has been built up by wise, careful labor. License must not be given to
disorderly elements that desire to control the work at this time. {9T 257.4}
Some have advanced the thought that, as we near the close of time, every child
of God will act independently of any religious organization. But I have been
instructed by the Lord that in this work there is no such thing as every man's

9 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

being independent. The stars of heaven are all under law, each inuencing the
other to do the will of God, yielding their common obedience to the law that
controls their action. And, in order that the Lord's work may advance
healthfully and solidly, His people must draw together. {9T 258.1}
The spasmodic, tful movements of some who claim to be Christians are well
represented by the work of strong but untrained horses. When one pulls
forward, another pulls back, and at the voice of their master one plunges ahead
and the other stands immovable. If men will not move in concert in the great
and grand work for this time, there will be confusion. It is not a good sign when
men refuse to unite with their brethren and prefer to act alone. Let laborers
take into their condence the brethren who are free to point out every
departure from right principles. If men wear the yoke of Christ, they can not
pull apart; they will draw with Christ {9T 258.2}
Some workers pull with all the power that God has given them, but they have
not yet learned that they should not pull alone. Instead of isolating themselves
,let them draw in harmony with their fellow laborers. Unless they do this, their
activity will work at the wrong time and in the wrong way. They will often work
counter to that which God would have done, and thus their work is worse than
wasted. {9T 258.3}
Unity in Diversity
On the other hand, the leaders among God's people are to guard against the
danger of condemning the methods of individual workers who are led by the
Lord to do a special work that but few are tted to do. Let brethren in
responsibility be slow to criticize movements that are not in perfect harmony
with their methods of labor. Let them never suppose that every plan should
reect their own personality. Let them not fear to trust another's methods; for
by withholding their condence from a brother laborer who, with humility and
consecrated zeal, is doing a special work in God's appointed way, they are
retarding the advancement of the Lord's cause. {9T 259.1}
God can and will use those who have not had a thorough education in the
schools of men. A doubt of His power to do this is manifest unbelief; it is
limiting the omnipotent power of the One with whom nothing is impossible. Oh,
for less of this uncalled-for, distrustful caution! It leaves so many forces of the
church unused; it closes up the way so that the Holy Spirit cannot use men; it
keeps in idleness those who are willing and anxious to labor in Christ's lines; it
discourages from entering the work many who would become eicient laborers
together with God if they were given a fair chance. {9T 259.2}
To the prophet the wheel within a wheel, the appearance of living creatures
10 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

connected with them, all seemed intricate and unexplainable. But the hand of
Innite Wisdom is seen among the wheels, and perfect order is the result of its
work. Every wheel, directed by the hand of God, works in perfect harmony with
every other wheel I have been shown that human instrumentalities are liable to
seek after too much power and try to control the work themselves. They leave
the Lord God, the Mighty Worker, too much out of their methods and plans, and
do not trust to Him everything in regard to the advancement of the work. No
one should for a moment fancy that he is able to manage those things that
belong to the great I AM. God in His providence is preparing a way so that the
work may be done by human agents. Then let every man stand at his post of
duty, to act his part for this time and know that God is his instructor. {9T 259.3}
The General Conference
I have often been instructed by the Lord that no man's judgment should be
surrendered to the judgment of any other one man. Never should the mind of
one man or the minds of a few men be regarded as suicient in wisdom and
power to control the work and to say what plans shall be followed. But when, in
a General Conference, the judgment of the brethren assembled from all parts of
the eld is exercised, private independence and private judgment must not be
stubbornly maintained, but surrendered. Never should a laborer regard as a
virtue the persistent maintenance of his position of independence, contrary to
the decision of the general body. {9T 260.1}
At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general management of
the work have, in the name of the General Conference, sought to carry out
unwise plans and to restrict God's work, I have said that I could no longer
regard the voice of the General Conference, represented by these few men, as
the voice of God. But this is not saying that the decisions of a General
Conference composed of an assembly of duly appointed, representative men
from all parts of the eld should not be respected. God has ordained that the
representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a
General Conference, shall have authority. The error that some are in danger of
committing is in giving to the mind and judgment of one man, or of a small
group of men, the full measure of authority and inuence that God has vested in
His church in the judgment and voice of the General Conference assembled to
plan for the prosperity and advancement of His work. {9T 260.2}
When this power, which God has placed in the church, is accredited wholly to
one man, and he is invested with the authority to be judgment for other minds,
then the true Bible order is changed. Satan's eorts upon such a man's mind
would be most subtle and sometimes well-nigh overpowering, for the enemy
would hope that through his mind he could aect many others. Let us give to

11 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM

Self-Supported Ministry

http://restorationministries.angelre.com/selfsup...

the highest organized authority in the church that which we are prone to give to
one man or to a small group of men.

HOME

12 of 12

11/30/2014 01:30 PM