CIRCULAR LETTER, 1907
Elkhorn Baptist Association (KY)
The Importance of MissionsRead by Bro. R. K. Kelley. Adopted.
To the Churches, of the Elkhorn Association, when convened with the Silas Baptist Church.
Grace, Mercy and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus our Saviour, to all the Churches in the strongest bonds, of Christian Love and Fellowship.
Greetings: God hath given us another year, rich in Divine Favors, and Holy Privileges for well-doing, and as we stand in the shadow of the twilight of the old year, we (as churches,) might well be overcome with the sense of a scrutinizing self-examination regarding the use we have made of past opportunities, and privileges for growth and advancement.
Has each Church in the varied departments, of her work measured up to her capability and opportunity under God for the fulfilling of her Mission? Have we actually grown in Sunday School enthusiasm? Has each maintained regular preaching during the entire year? Have we striven and sought, particularly for the winning of unsaved to Christ? Have we prayed for and given to the support of our Christian Educational Work? Have the great missionary enterprises of District, State, Home and Foreign Missions made such burning appeals to our hearts, as to enlarge our contributions, broaden our sympathies, and heighten our visions to an intelligent grasp of the problems, and a ready responsiveness to their needs? What has been the weight of our influence in our respective communities, as a people of God? Have we held high the Bible Standard of morals and ethics? Have we pointed the lost to the
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Lamb of God as the only hope of Salvation and have we insisted more on regeneration than reformation? "Marvel not that I said ye must be born again." Have these words lost their force or not? Have we been the "Light of the world and the Salt of the earth." to our respective communities during past year? In short would this question be too pertinent or personal," If every Church in the association were just like me, what kind of an association would this association be? What do we see in the retrospective past to brighten our prospective future.In consideration of the vastness of the work the Lord hath committed to His Church and the supreme importance of its being well done we are impressed with the terrible responsIbility that follows such privileges and opportunities as have come to us during the past year.
May we not resolve to do better this coming year? To be sure the new year will bring to us just as much as our capacity is enlarged for receiving, just the measure of our faith to undertake and execute through the power of God. May not the motto of the Immortal Carey be our motto for the coming year? Expect great things of God, Get great things from God. We are assured that the Lord is able to make the future radiant with hope and expectancy, for every Church. And we can say with that great hero of faith Adoniram Judson that our future prospect is just as bright as the promises of God. Our God never fails or gives up. Is not the celebration of the Robert Morrison Memorial of the beginning of the first protestant work in China attended by marvelous growth and development strikingly significant of the Lord's power in Christian Missions? Is not the building of that Railroad through the center of the Dark Continent also for the Evangel of the Cross of Christ? Are not the gracious revivals of India and Wales glorious manifestations of Spiritual Power? May not every Church have this power? Is not our greatest need a spirit filled Church and a spirit filled ministry? For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against the powers. Is not the Lord more anxious to give the Holy Spirit than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children?
"Awake, awake, put on thy strength to Zion; put on thy beautiful garments O Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more come mto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean."
Lord Jesus help us to tarry at the throne of grace until we are endued with power from on high, to do the Master's Work.
Respectfully submitted,
R. K. KELLY.========================== [From Minutes of the Elkhorn Baptist Association, 1907. The title is supplied. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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