Chapter IV: Meeting for Examination of Candidates for the Church

No candidate should ordinarily come before the church without a previous examination by the pastor; and notice, therefore, should be given when and where he will meet persons desiring to unite with the church.

_Hints._--1. The time should be sufficiently early to give ample opportunity for making inquiries respecting an applicant, where the circumstances and character of the individual are not known. In the case of minors, consult the parents or guardians when practicable; it is a courtesy due to them, whatever their religious character or relations, and is often desirable in order to a full understanding of the character of the candidate. 2. Let the examination be thorough and faithful. The purity of the church, as well as the welfare of the candidate, demands this. It is far easier to arrest an application at this point than after it comes to the church. The absence of knowledge even of the fundamental principles of the Christian religion, on the part of many who are hurried into the church, is one of the alarming features of our time. Certainly, Christian experience is not a matter of mere blind emotion; and we have no ground for supposing its existence apart from distinct convictions respecting God and Christ and the foundation-truths of the Gospel. We are "born again by the Word of God;" and there can be no "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" without some definite idea of sin, of repentance, of faith, of God, and of Christ. It is never proper, therefore, to assume the fact of a Christian experience where there is no definite Christian knowledge. The duty in such cases is to instruct, not to baptize. 3. See that the candidate understands not only the general principles of Christianity, but also the distinctive doctrines and usages of the church and the specific obligations assumed in becoming a church member, so that his profession may be made intelligently. For this purpose, have your Articles of Faith and Covenant in printed form, and place a copy in the hands of every candidate. This will often prevent misunderstanding and subsequent difficulty; and the intelligence with which the step is taken will add much to the value of the profession. 4. It is well, when practicable, and especially when any considerable number are to be examined, to associate the officers of the church or some experienced brethren with you in this preliminary examination, that the responsibility may not all fall on you. For this, though informal, is ordinarily the decisive examination; the church very rarely rejects a candidate understood to be approved by the pastor. In some churches, whenever a name is proposed, a committee is appointed to hear the experience of the candidate and make necessary inquiries, and the candidate comes before the church only after their favorable report. This has the disadvantage of making public the name of an applicant and thus embarrassing the rejection, should that be desirable; but it has also the advantage of dividing the responsibility of the examination and relieving the pastor. If a committee is appointed, however, I think it should be a standing one, with the pastor at its head, and the names of candidates should be presented to it before being presented publicly to the church. 5. Beware of an ambition for mere numbers: a small body of well-instructed, earnest disciples is worth far more to the cause of Christ than a heterogeneous multitude undistinguished in spirit and life from the world. Seek in this, not newspaper publicity and laudation, but the approval of Christ, building the temple of God, not with perishable material, "wood, hay, and stubble," but with imperishable, "gold, silver, precious stones," which shall endure when the "fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."