I have just returned from a series of meetings of the National Council of United Presbyterian Men. These area meetings, held in New York, Pittsburgh, Wichita, Chicago, and Sacramento, were attended by eight to ten thousand men (the exact total being uncertain since there were both full-and part-time attendants). It was an interesting, satisfying, and in many ways a thrilling experience, and it gave opportunity to sample the sort of thing that has been taking place among Presbyterian Men for over fifteen years.

The format of the meetings was the same in each of the five cities. Study materials on the chosen theme—this year “Stand Your Ground” (Eph. 6:14)—were sent out to chapters of United Presbyterian Men throughout the church. Selected men did special studies on the theme and were brought in before the area meetings for briefing sessions. At the meetings themselves the theme was presented in the keynote address and variously emphasized in inspirational addresses at the close of luncheons and dinners. There were also morning, afternoon, and evening study sessions under the leadership of the men previously selected and briefed. The series closed with a communion service and an address which gathered together the in-inspiration and content of the meetings. The men took back with them a small study booklet with the summation of the meeting topics, for later use in chapter meetings. Speakers included seminary presidents, chaplains, statesmen, industrialists, ministers, and representatives from other denominations.

This kind of thing which has been going on these years among United Presbyterian Men is matched by similar lay groups in other denominations. The so-called Southern Presbyterians (U.S.) have a single meeting of the same type every year, rather than area meetings. The Methodists also have a single meeting, with tremendous attendance. And so it goes. It is difficult to evaluate these meetings: so many things happen in so many different ways to so many different people. Moreover, effectiveness among the local chapters varies greatly because of widely different leadership, because of the pastor’s help or hindrance, and because of vital (and worthy) competition for time and energy by Mariners, entrenched Bible classes, athletic or musical groups, and the like. The ideal is to have the local chapter of men lose themselves in the total service of the church and so find their lives by losing them.

One thing is certain: there is tremendous inspiration in such meetings. All the speakers direct themselves toward this goal, each with his own approach. Group singing, under carefully selected leaders, is magnificent and moving. Great things come to pass in the give-and-take of small group discussions. The meetings, both large and small, are undergirded and interlaced with prayer, and many of the men come to crises marked by high resolve and decision.

It is hard to measure how a man is nurtured in his faith, but such nurture does occur. Perhaps the greatest help is gained by those who come from a lonely and frustrating local church scene to find themselves in the midst of hundreds of men from all segments of life, who are all deeply concerned with the same high dedication to Jesus Christ. Pastors slip in at the edges of the meetings and are encouraged by what they see. One layman, under the inspiration of such meetings, left a high position in industry to give his life to Christian education; another offered himself, with all his useful talents, to a mission board. A doctor and a television director have made the formation and support of chapters in their state their second vocation. Such effects are endless and endlessly varied. Meetings this year were marked by the attendance of younger men, some of whom are now headed for the ministry.

Other things are stirring among the laymen. Most of the major denominations have encouraged lay participation through studies and increased lay responsibility. But the Holy Spirit works “when, where, and how he pleases,” and no one is wise enough to guess what may come to pass out of all this. We should continually remind ourselves that although John Calvin was always a layman, never an ordained minister, “Calvinism saved Europe” (Fairbairn in the Cambridge Modern History is authority for this).

While seminaries reflect their confusions by endless tampering with curricula and are more than a little desperate about the drying up of the sources of new students, and while boards of Christian education simply do not know what they want to do, or should do, about making all their colleges church-related or even Christian and try desperately to satisfy Christ and high school sophistication in summer camps and conferences—while all this goes on, I say, laymen, with their stubborn simplicities about right and wrong, are slowly working their way out of the theological mists and the gray areas of modern ethics. They think that the Bible is true (or that it isn’t) and that a man can know enough (even if he can’t know everything) to move ahead in Christian living and holy obedience. Laymen, having been encouraged by the clerics, are now enthusiastically taking heart, and they regard some theological subtleties as highly interesting—and highly irrelevant.

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Another thing: are you aware of the emergence of lay prayer and Bible study groups all over the country? Samuel Shoemaker had things going in the Pittsburgh Experiment, and now offshoots of that lay movement are everywhere. As Elton Trueblood moves across the country, disciplined cells of Yokefellows appear. One can follow the trail of happy results left by Billy Graham, also. During a week in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Omaha, and Cincinnati, I sat in on lay groups of men who meet each week for prayer and study. These groups arose spontaneously in these cities, reflecting the movement everywhere—and they all seem to be playing for keeps.

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