Whilst
being greatly influenced by Puritan thinking, DMLJ did not embrace the Puritan
idea that it was wrong to recognise the various times and seasons that came
around during the year. He did not
accept that these should be honoured above other times, but he did believe and
practice a policy in which the Christian calendar was recognised, but only
insofar that it provided an evangelistic opportunity to preach the everlasting
gospel to his congregation. Thus, at
Christmas time, he would make mention of the Babe of Bethlehem as he weaved
this into his Gospel preaching. He
believed that most people in the congregation, and those who would attend
church at that particular time, would have thoughts of Christmas in their
minds, being reminded about it in the high streets and through Christmas cards
being sent and received, so it would be a lost opportunity not to present the
Gospel to them, using this ‘hook.’ It
wasn’t a big thing for the Doctor, but he used it wisely as an evangelistic
opportunity.
I
followed the same pattern. Christmas and
Easter and Whit Sunday were relatively unimportant to me, but they were useful
in Gospel ministry.
No comments:
Post a Comment