Church meeting

“ Yet we had a glorious four days’ meeting, with preachings, conferences, a communion, a season of baptizing, and a class meeting, which, according to the custom of the church, precedes the communion as a preparation. People came six, nine, or twelve miles. The native pastor, Mr. Thompson, preached an able and moving sermon upon trust in God. The regular meeting will be at the same place in July. This Church has a dignified and efficient deaconess, who looks after the many little things in the parish, which a woman can do better than anybody else. ”

“ The large prayer meeting hall is usually crowded, the attendance including not only members of the church but hundreds who are not members of any church. It is no unusual sight to see all the various rooms of the Lower Temple thrown into one by the raising of the sashes, and this vast floor packed as densely as possible, while a fringe of standers lines the edges. People will come to these prayer meetings though they cannot see the platform, though they must lose much of what is said. ”

“ Another service very dear to the members of Grace Baptist Church is watch meeting. The services begin at eight o'clock New Year's Eve with a prayer meeting which continues until about half after nine. An intermission follows and usually a committee of young people serve light refreshments for those who want them. At eleven o'clock the watch meeting begins. It is a deeply spiritual meeting, opened by the pastor with an earnest prayer for guidance in the year to come, for renewed consecration to the Master's service, for a better and higher Christian life both as individuals and a church. ”

“ Your committee are glad to find that this feature of denominational work is strongly emphasized by the Executive Board, and that these churches, poor though they be, are taught that giving as well as receiving is a necessary factor in their growth, and that in true worship alms as well as prayers rise before God as a memorial.
Another noticeable item in the report is the building of meeting-houses. Indeed, the report characterizes the past year in its Southern work as one of “building activity.” Every church that is to become permanent must have its house dedicated to God. ”

“ To-day our quarterly meeting convened, and it was signally owned by the holy Head. In and over the first meeting was a sweet solemnity, which lost none of its sweetness after separation to transact the weighty business of the Church, which to me never seemed more weighty. I was mercifully helped again to spread the important prospect before the Church, which received its full and cordial unity, and many living testimonials were given forth to the power and goodness of Him [77] whose ways are not as our ways. ”

“ And if it be signified, privately, that any Person or Persons are not able to bear the usual expence attending the ordinance, the Church is to bear that expence, as on those occasions there is much damage done to the Chapel.
22.—That the baptized Persons, and all those who were admitted as Members at the Church Meeting, shall be publicly received at the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, when the Articles of Faith shall be read to them, an address be given them, with singing and prayer, when they are to receive the right hand of fellowship from the Minister, the representative of the Church. ”

“ The manifestation of our common participation in each other's gifts cannot be fully given at such meetings, if the whole meeting is, necessarily, conducted by one individual. This mode of meeting does not, however, take off from those who have the gifts of teaching or exhortation the responsibility of edifying the church as opportunity may be offered. ”

“ They are not an intrinsic feature; and I fear the speakers at them have sometimes shown tendencies to overlook so rare an opportunity of distinctively putting the Church forward before such unusual audiences. More general topics, I make no doubt, win more certain plaudits; but at a Church Congress 'working men's' meeting what may be really useful in the highest degree should surely have been considered rather than what was popular. ”

“ The members of the participating churches in such a meeting are placed under unusual circumstances which often serve to repress rather than develop their activity, and thus the labor falls on only a few more prominently gifted persons; whereas, a meeting in which the responsibility rested on only one church would have drawn into active work the mass of its members, and secured to it the blessing which such general activity brings. ”

“ Let us consider the way in which these great forces get to work. I will take the meetings of the Church as my illustration. I am not one who says that the only kind of Friends’ meeting is a meeting for worship. I believe that there are three or four types of Friends’ meetings, in all of which we may have personal responsibility and group fellowship and the spiritual power and guidance of Jesus Christ. ”

“ Still a fair representation of the congregation has always delighted to meet in the class-room every Thursday for praise and prayer. I assured my friend and substitute, Mr Cameron, that at this exercise he would be loyally supported by Messrs Rennie, Torrance, Wright, Fraser, A. Cameron, and others, and that he would find the re-union at once delightful and refreshing. To me our Prayer Meeting has always been 'a feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.' I crave for it your prayers always, and your presence as often as possible. ”

“ The next day being the fourth of the week, we attended Friends’ monthly meeting held at Plainfield, for Rahway and Plainfield. The meeting for worship was large, many of the neighbouring people of other societies coming in, to whom the gospel was freely preached in the demonstration of the spirit, solemnizing the assembly, and truth was raised into victory over all. My mind was also comforted in the meeting for discipline, in observing the harmony and brotherly condescension of Friends, in the orderly conducting the affairs of the Church. ”

“ NEW PORTAGE CONFERENCE.
This meeting of the elders and brethren was a joyous one—the number of elders I do not recollect, but there were some eighteen or twenty, representing several little branches of the church.
The brethren from a distance were in good spirits, and manifested an unshaken confidence in the gospel which they had embraced. The church at New Portage numbers one hundred and more, many, or the most of whom, were present at the meeting on the Sabbath. ”

“ And such a person or persons should be men whose duty it shall be to stay until the Conference is over, attending every meeting, and paying the strictest attention to all instructions given and to all Church business transacted. ”

“ When he was informed of this public reception he replied that that was prayer-meeting night and everything else had to give way for prayer-meeting, that he could not attend the reception on that night. That general had proved himself a man that can be depended upon. The Church of Christ in America owes more to him than to almost any other officer in the American army. Ministers learn to depend upon their prayer-meeting members. The prayer-meeting is the most important meeting in the church. ”

“ It is so persistently twisted and befogged and misunderstood, some of the very best people seem inclined to make our prayer-meetings into formidable church-meetings, for the purpose of hearing a succession of not very short sermons, rather than a social gathering of Christians, to sympathize with, and pray for and help each other, as I believe the Master intended them to be. ”

“ Seekers of religion came to the Altar and found a prepared Church to lead them to Christ. The meeting went on from night to night, and before the end of the week, each night brought scores of seekers. The good Pastor was now at home. In prayer, in exhortation, and in labor at the side of the seeker, he was a tower of strength. Among the laity there were also several excellent laborers, who rendered valuable services in the meeting. The revival reached all classes, from youth to old age, and gave to the Church many reliable accessions. ”

“ Matters of a general nature are submitted to a meeting of the whole community, consisting either of all male members of age, or of an intermediate body elected by them. Public meetings are held every evening in the week. Some of these are devoted to the reading of the Scriptures, others to the communication of accounts from the missionary stations, and others to the singing of hymns or selected verses. On Sunday mornings, the church litany is publicly read, and sermons are delivered to the congregation, which, in many places, is the case likewise in the afternoon. ”

“ On the first day of June, 1830, the first conference was held by the Church. Our number consisted of about thirty, besides many others who came to learn of our principles, or were already believers, but had not been baptized. Having opened the meeting by singing and prayer, we partook of the emblems of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. A number were confirmed who had lately been baptized, and several were called and ordained to various offices in the Priesthood. Much good instruction was given, and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon us in a marvelous manner. ”

“ I am hoping that you will institute an annual festival in order to testify your gratitude to its members who add so much to the beauty of the service of praise in the congregation. I for one bless God for our choir and their Christian labours.
"The Sabbath Morning Fellowship Meeting has my goodwill and sympathy. When I enter the pulpit the thought is to me inspiring that in an adjoining vestry several of our young men give a part of their hour of prayer to supplication to God for a blessing on my presentation of the Gospel. ”

“ And when the meeting is over they will not get their hats and see how quick they can get out of the church, but will begin to shake hands with one another, and there will be liberty there. A good many go to the prayer-meeting out of a mere cold sense of duty. ”

“ Amongst the body are many genial good-hearted folk-people who believe is doing right without telling everybody about it, in obliging you without pulling a face over it; and there are also individuals in the rank and file of worshippers who are very Pecksniffian and dismal, cranky, windy, authoritative, who would look sour if eating sugar, would call a “church meeting” if you wore a lively suit of clothes, and would tell you that they were entitled to more grace than anybody else, and had got more. ”

“ Benedict XV in his letter to the American Hierarchy, March, 1919, underlines very strongly the utility of these Catholic Meetings, "We learn," says the Holy Father, "that you have unanimously resolved that a yearly meeting of all the Bishops shall be held at an appointed place in order to adapt means most suitable of promoting the interest and welfare of the Catholic Church and that you appointed from among the Bishops two commissions, one of which to deal with social questions, while the other will study educational problems, and both will report to their Episcopal brethren. ”

“ A meeting for the whole congregation should be held each year at which reports are made and plans projected for the succeeding season. The pamphlets on the Missionary Committee and its work listed at the end of this chapter are earnestly recommended to the thoughtful study of every man who desires to relate himself effectively to the problem of making a missionary church. ”

“ Those who are absent will always know exactly when and where the next meeting will be held. No more important meeting is ever held at the church than this, and it ought to have the right of way one night in the week. ”

“ Every committee meeting is opened with prayer, and each night during the fair a prayer meeting is held. In addition, a committee is appointed to look after the throng of strangers visiting the fair, and whenever possible, to get them to register in a book kept especially for that purpose at the entrance. To all those who sign the register, a New Year's greeting is sent as a little token of recognition and appreciation of their help.
Much of the great tide of membership that flows into the church comes through the doors of these church fairs. The fairs are really revival seasons. ”

“ A church, therefore, is not a system of congregations confederated under a general government, but a single local congregation of Christian disciples associated in covenant and meeting together for worship. In this sense the word is commonly, almost uniformly, used in the New Testament.
Churches are Divinely instituted to be “the light of the world” and “the salt of the earth.” They are ordained for the glory of God, as “the ground and pillar of the truth,” in the proclamation of His Gospel and the establishment of His kingdom [p. 12] in the world. ”

“ The religious influence of the Congresses makes itself directly felt through the devotional apparatus which is provided as an essential part of their programme. Every Congress, at least from the one at Manchester, has commenced its session with a solemn service in the great church of the meeting place, followed by a concio from some distinguished divine, except in two cases where the want of any leading church caused service and sermon to be multiplied. ”

“ I see great reason for encouragement. We have 60 members on the ground whom I can find, and who seem to be quite as consistent as the average church members at the North. This, out of a list of 77, seems to me a pretty good showing. Half of the absentee list is accounted for by the former teachers who have not taken their letters, and students at Atlanta and Talladega. I have more reliable “prayer-meeting” members in proportion to our number than most pastors enjoy. “Pauses” in the prayer meeting have not yet been introduced. ”