Build A House
Minister’s Work
“The auditing committee has not always tried with most humble prayer for guidance, to act in every case towards the servants of Jesus Christ as they would toward the person of Christ, or as they themselves would wish to be treated. But said Christ, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” It is a very serious matter that men by the word of their mouth, and some in a hardened sang-froid manner, have decided that means shall go to the workers in the field. I will give you a chapter in my experience. We have found it necessary to build a home, and have hired carpenters, painters and others to do the several portions of the work. The master workman has two dollars per day, working eight hours only. As soon as the eight hours are over, the tools are laid aside and work ceases.
These men do not receive according to the amount of work done, but according to the hours worked. If a man is not an apt, quick workman, but loiters over his work, that is the loss of the one who pays him. Another may be a much quicker workman, showing that he has intelligence and can use it; his aptitude and correct judgment may be a treasure to him and a satisfaction to his employer, but he may receive only the same wages. After the week’s work is done and payment made, the amount of work done has nothing to do with the sum received. A slow unprofitable man never thinks it his duty to make up for his want of sharp thought, but receives his pay as his right. These men have not the burden of dealing with human minds. Senseless material and building materials are all they are dealing with. They can hammer just as loud and energetic as they please, and it hurts not the soulless material.
But God’s shepherds who are to watch as well as to labor for souls, as they that must give an account, can not work in this way, The chosen missionary must go forth under all circumstances, moving his family from place to place, and from country to country. This moving is expensive. In order to exert a good influence, the wife of the missionary must set a proper example in neat and tidy dress. Her children must be trained and educated with much painstaking effort, for everything must be made to tell in missionary lines. The laborer who represents Christ must dress plainly and yet properly, as becoming a minister of Christ. The ministers of our conference cannot say they have a home, for they are sometimes in this country and sometimes in that. The people for whom they labor are poor, but Christ came to preach the gospel to the poor. This is the work the Lord’s shepherds are to do.
Money is consumed in traveling from place to place, in settling and unsettling every few months, in buying household goods and selling them again or venturing transportation. The entire family have no release from their efforts; for they must always appear cheerful and fresh, that they may bring sunshine into the minds of those who need help.
Banner March 15, 1905,
