What the Church Means to Me

the Church Means to Me, by
Wilfred T. Grenfell

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Title: What the Church Means to Me A Frank Confession and a
Friendly Estimate by an Insider
Author: Wilfred T. Grenfell
Release Date: May 4, 2007 [EBook #21323]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE CHURCH MEANS TO ME ***

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MY IDEAL CHURCH IS CHARACTERIZED SOLELY BY THE
VERY SIMPLEST INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD, OLD STORY,
AND EACH MEMBER DESERVES THE NAME OF THE "FRIEND

OF ALL THE WORLD"

WHAT HAS THE CHURCH MEANT TO ME? IT HAS MEANT
THE AGENCY THROUGH WHICH I RECEIVED SUCH
SPIRITUAL SIGHT AS I HAVE. IT HAS MEANT THE BODY
THROUGH WHICH HAS COME TO ME STRENGTH IN
WEAKNESS MANY TIMES, COMFORT IN TRIAL, HELP IN
TIME OF NEED

WHAT THE CHURCH MEANS TO ME
[Illustration]

WHAT THE CHURCH MEANS TO ME
A FRANK CONFESSION AND A FRIENDLY ESTIMATE BY AN
INSIDER
BY
WILFRED T. GRENFELL, M.D. (Oxon.)
Superintendent Labrador Medical Mission
THE PILGRIM PRESS
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO

Copyright, 1911 By Wilfred T. Grenfell
THE PLIMPTON PRESS [W · D · O] NORWOOD · MASS · U·S·A

WHAT THE CHURCH MEANS TO ME
The Church to me means all who, consciously or unconsciously, are
forwarding God's kingdom on earth. In the broad definition of the
Master it means "all those who are not against us." The way in which
men associate for worship, or in which they consider it most
remunerative to invest their efforts to forward the kingdom, gives them
no right to arrogate to themselves the title of God's Church. Any body
of men saying, "We are the Church," seems to me ridiculous.
If they try to exclude at the same time those who approach their Maker,
or who are endeavoring to do faithfully the things Christ would
approve, only in some other way, then they become offensive also. I am
firmly convinced the world is coming to this view, and I am glad it is
already beginning to express it. Through "the Church" the salvation of
the world must come. I have no use whatever for the critic whose heart
is set on her destruction or who muckrakes it for a revenue. By this I
mean the Church Invisible, known only to God's Holy Spirit.
STANDARDS WHICH CHRIST WOULD CONDEMN
The "offense" of the visible churches that tells most against them today
in the minds of educated men is not worldliness or unfaithfulness; it is
their inability to shake off their untenable position as judges of others.
The "Church" in Jesus' day judged him unfit to live. Upon Luther,
Wesley, and many of the best servants of the human race the churches
to which they belonged passed similar sentences. Even the suggestion
of the "holding-up-of-skirts," of this "I-am-holier-than-thou" attitude,
because I think differently, is repellent and has not yet met the fate that
certainly awaits it, before there can be a reign of universal peace.
Science has taught us that doubt, quite as much as faith, leads to the
apprehension of truth. There are countless men, skilled in the exact
sciences and in scholarship, possessed of wealth and rank, who find it
impossible to define their position in words, yet whose humility and
charity make us love them, whose deeds are just such as those which
have come down the ages as Jesus' own selection for the most
convincing evidence of his Sonship of God. We all know today men of
inferior attainments and lives who not only know themselves to be

infallible, but haven't the grace to leave even such men alone, and who
have interpreted their call to the "ministry" as simply a mandate to set
every one else intellectually right. I know that that which is hidden
from the wise can be revealed to babes, and that our talents--namely,
social position, wealth, and brains--merely enlarge in God's sight our
capacity for service, and therefore our responsibility. But I know also
that the prizes of our high calling can be purchased only by our fidelity
in following, and that involves other than intellectual processes.
THE CASE OF THE WORKING MAN
As for the working man, to my mind if he doesn't join a visible church
today it is simply because he doesn't see any good in it. The teachings
of the Church's Master still appeal to him,