June-July 1989

For 108 years the most gigantic breeding ground for missions that the world has ever known has been lumbering along under a name which is strangely unknown to many Americans: Christian Endeavor.

But it was not something “done in a corner”! In 1892 it packed Madison Square Garden with 30,000 people.

In 1895 it practically threw a gridlock into central Boston, with 56,425 registered. Tents seating 10,000 were erected. Twenty-five auditoriums were pressed into duty, and 825 meetings were held during the week. The next year, in Washington, D.C., 75,000 showed up.

In 1900, at London, 40,000 delegates flowed in from all parts of the globe. The highest church officials and most famous preachers took part. By 1930, the great world meeting in Germany drew delegates from 112 countries and 80,113 organized local societies.

Right now in this country it is strongest in those states, like Pennsylvania, which have a lot of rural churches. Christian Endeavor marks the origin of the very idea of youth meetings in churches. Its “hallmark” is the fact that it allows (and requires) young people to run their own meetings, emphasizing the participation of every individual in the meeting at every meeting! The newest, shyest person must at least stand up and read out a Bible verse when that moment comes.

But the most unusual feature of such youth meetings is perhaps the fact that no adult ever stands up in front, except when officers are installed, and then only as a speaker, not as one who is presiding.

As a training ground for leadership this rigorous system has phenomenal power. Public schools don't approach the kind of on-your-feet exposure of Christian Endeavor meetings. I think the first time I was ever on my feet talking to a group was in reading a Bible verse assigned to me in a Jr. CE group. Or, for example, CE is where Tony Campolo got started.

Think of it! Generations of church leaders all over the world have derived from this great movement that began in the United States...before two powerful forces almost killed it (in this country).

One force, ironically, was from denominations active in the Ecumenical Movement. At about the time of the organizational meeting of the World Council of Churches (1938), the Presbyterian (Northern church) denomination decided to fight Christian Endeavor and establish its own “Westminster Fellowship,” scheduling its regional meetings on the same nights! Other denominations active in the Ecumenical Movement did similar things; the American Baptists called their groups “Baptist Youth Fellowships.”

One of the factors in this move was for these more “culturally established” denominations to rid themselves of the evangelical emphasis on “decision services, altar calls, and pietism in general.” Yet formal ecumenism has never approached the practical ecumenism of this marvelous movement, nor achieved as extensive a global network.

The second force against the movement was a non-theological factor which came into the picture later on as more and more people moved into cities and into larger churches. In such congregations accountability almost inevitably drops and leadership development lags as professionals take over more of the functions of the church, including youth work. The basic idea of Christian Endeavor, to let young people run their own meeting, tends, therefore, to be unacceptable to paid youth pastors, who may feel they have to be up in front in order to earn their pay.

For us at the USCWM, the reason to follow and foster this amazing movement is the fact that it derived from and constantly promoted the mission movement, and may still be the largest, most fertile breeding ground for new mission efforts.

Not very well known is the fact, uncovered by one of our graduate students, that the very first Christian Endeavor meeting (in 1881) was a gathering of young people brought together as a mission-focused group, by a pastor's wife who was also then active in the great women’s missionary society movement.

This explains why the structure of every local, organized Christian Endeavor group contains a “Missionary Committee” which takes charge of the meeting once a month.

Contrast this with the mission-less world of the professional youth pastors today. I have seen huge fold-out announcements of nationwide meetings for youth pastors, with, say, 200 workshops on practically every topic—not one of them in any way related to missions.

The CE pledge itself does not mention missions as such. Yet, while Harriet Clark's husband thus generalized the purpose of that very first youth meeting, he, Francis Clark, did not do away with the missionary dimension. This pastor and his wife, as they traversed the globe in the cause of CE, held constantly in mind “as a given” the missionary meaning of their work. Their concern for the millions of young people in China and India is reflected by the fact that the CE movement in India is still a major force—however much it may be overlooked by the mainline ecumenical movement. We have yet to learn just what behind-the-scenes contribution in China's amazing lay-led Christian movement has derived from Christian Endeavor.

Christian Endeavorers of the world, unite! And if you, MF reader, want further information about this dimension of global Christianity, and its potential contribution to the countdown of the Great Commission, please write to me personally, and I'll give you some leads.

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