The apostles were sent out by Jesus to preach the gospel to all the woad and this still remains the prime responsibility of the disciples of Christ today With this conviction the brethren and sisters of the Vernon Ecclesia set about to find the best possible method of bringing the Good News to Vernon inhabitants Our Heavenly Father chose to bless this work with wonderful success and It was felt that others in the brotherhoods might find a detailed account of this special effort helpful in planning their own campaigns.
For five months the ecclesia worked — and saved — towards a series of public lectures given by Bro Richard Stone of Los Angeles Calif April was picked as the ideal time of year in this locality too late for the public to be absorbed in winter TV programs too early for evening work in the garden Sunday Monday and Tuesday were chosen as the best nights to expect good crowds As a lead up to the campaign a five month contract was signed with the local bi weekly newspaper this to consist of a weekly news like column of 11 column inches entitled This Is Your Bible written by the local brethren and covering first principles Nine contacts were secured from this.
Considerable thought and discussion were given to lecture titles that would draw people out and to w hat should be the key notes of our advertising Original titles chosen were the End of Communism as Foretold in Bible Prophecy. ow Christ s Coming Will Change the World and What Must I Do to Gain Eternal Life? However the last two titles were felt to have limited appeal to the general public and were changed to 1,000 Years of Peace and The Bible Understand it or Perish but retaining the same subject matter All advertising emphasized the necessity of understanding the Bible and brought out the ability of the speaker as a Bible student It is interesting to note — with hindsight — that two of those now receiving instruction for baptism were brought out to the lectures by this emphasis upon the Bible.
Choice of hall was also investigated throughly as we felt this had an important bear mg upon the public s reaction to the first Christadelphian campaign in Vernon We decided to go whole hog and reserve a new hall seating 150 with comfortable theatre type seat — the place where all the posh events are held in town! A modernly decorated foyer provided space to suitably welcome visitors display literature and serve refreshments To many who came out this was their first opportunity to see the new hall — and at no cost!
Advertising
Contrary to traditional Christadelphian thinking our advertising dwelt upon the speak or more than is customary — we feel people come out to hear a capable speaker not because of their interest in any particular organization A good photograph was given prominence space was allotted to note the speaker s experience as a writer radio lecturer speaker and Bible school teacher and emphasis was given to the question period when written questions from the floor would be answered The question period turned out to be one of the most successful parts of the campaign many written and oral questions revealing a sincere desire for knowledge were received on all three nights and many visitors were impressed by Bro Stone’s sympathetic and tactful handling of what could have been touchy questions.
A large advertising budget (augmented by generous assistance from two Californian ecclesias) was set aside for the campaign advertising 5500 four page letter size flyers printed in two colours were mailed to every home in the Vernon and District area these were timed to arrive in the homes lust one week prior to the first lecture Bro Stone provided the material and Bio Maurice Stewart de signed the flyers The front page contained the photograph and brief note on the speaker and place and dates of the three lectures one page each was allotted to highlighting points of each evening s address This flyer in itself was a witness to the Truth.
Radio advertising was commenced four days prior to the first lecture and stepped up for the three days of the campaign We found the radio people reluctant to handle the type of copy we had in mind (they did not wish to offend other churches) so the brethren wrote and taped all the advertising messages consisting of 15 one hundred word tapes This was to our advantage as the mere introduction of a different voice on the airwaves.
This is of the Vernon Christadelphian Ecclesia inviting you to gave further attention to the message The radio station donated ten minutes of free time an hour before the Sunday evening lecture began but again were reluctant to have any member of then staff interview the speaker We prepared our own copy for the interview which was conducted by one of the brethren An interesting sidelight the radio station mixed up the first tapes playing them in the wrong order In an attempt to compensate for this rather bad start they doubled the number of tapes on the three days of the lectures resulting in six spot announcements a day One stranger who came out said he was tired of turning on the radio and hearing about the Christadelphians.
The newspaper advertising was similarly given very careful thought and preparation — not Just the standard Who What and Where ad — one ad alone requiring two hours to word and lay out We tried to be original warm and human in our approach for in stance one ad ran with a small introductory line, Skip the TV — Baby sit the kids —Leave the dishes in the sink – Come and Hear a stimulating Address on Another ad contained a paragraph of quite small type under the speaker’s photo. Christianity is not a weak, effeminate thing watered don for use of women, children and sissies on Sunday Christianity is a vital moving, living force for men and women with the back-bone to live it Christianity should be, and can be, a source of deep personal, daily satisfaction and hope. A week before the campaign the last ad of the five month series was devoted to a simple listing of the titles and dates of the campaign and in the same issue eight column inches were taken for another small ad. In the issue prior to the first lecture a half-page ad was taken with a big bold headline. Three Outstanding Lectures, and underneath were three write-ups, in paragraph form one for each lecture with time, place and date across the bottom of the ad On the same page the newspaper ran a half-column news item on the campaign and speaker The day of the second lecture a 36 column-inch ad ran.
As me have no local TV station we felt two thirds of the TV advertising dollar was wast ed, so this type of advertising was confined to a spot a day for five days
A Good Response . . .
Thirteen brethren and sisters attended the public lectures Bro and Sis Douglas Shrimp ton travelled the near 800 mile round trip from Victoria, B C to assist us in the campaign and were a wonderful addition to our small group Eighty-two strangers came out for the first evening, 52 the second and 4 2 the third Fifteen were repeat visitors each night and eight more came out for two evenings A 15 minute organ recital was held before each evening meeting and many came an hour early to get a good seat Each visitor was greeted cordially at the door, given a copy of Glad Tidings together with a pocket folder made up for the special effort, and then conducted to a seat in the auditorium We tried to make each one feel welcome and to be all things to all men.
The question period following the addresses were very productive of oral and written questions — on two evenings we had to close without adequate time to answer all questions Some important fundamental truths were covered by Bro Stone in his replies To give all time possible to the question period on the last two evenings, hymns were excluded from the program.
The pocket folder provided for each visitor was imprinted on the face with a special welcome message and a brief note about the Christadelphians Inside was a printed program for the three evenings and containing also the hymns for Sunday night and a page devoted to follow up Sunday evening lecture titles Also were blank sheets for written questions and a pamphlet Who Are the Christadelphians? followed by on the second night, a pamphlet. Why Should It Be Thought Incredible That Christ Should Come Again. The third night we ran out of these two pamphlets and used “The Things We Stand For Finally, the folder contained a brief description of the Bible Correspondent Course and a separate application form for this.
Special supplies of all Christadelphian literature and pamphlets were of course brought in for the campaign and displayed right at the door Visitors were invited to help themselves freely and this they did.
To induce strangers to remain after the lectures so that we could get to know them better and answer any questions, the sisters served coffee and light refreshments Many stood around for nearly an hour, waiting opportunity to question the speaker This enabled us to find out those who woe really seeking and to invite them personally to Sun day evening lectures and Bible study group.
Follow up Work . . .
Bearing in mind Bio Mansfield s exhortation to put more work into our follow-up me thods on this Continent, we planned a special series of five Sunday evening lectures Our ecclesia is too small (11 active members) and too isolated to conduct regular evening lectures Renting a hall in the centre of town we planned five lectures to outline first principles leading up to baptism Twenty strangers attended the first one — all of whom had been out to the special effort and the average attendance of strangers for the five lectures was 13 Interest was so keen that we continued weekly for another month Bis Don Snobelen and Doug Shrimpton of Victoria and Wilf Bailey of Calgary, made the week-end trip once each to assist us in lecturing.
Of these visitors coming out to lectures, nine were interested enough to ask for a Bible study group, weekly The ecclesial Wednesday night group was discontinued in order to form a new group lust for strangers (the sisters who had then been deprived of the weekly study group retaliated by forming their own Thursday afternoon class’) Attendance at this new evening group was restricted to two Christadelphians — so that discussion amongst the newcomers would not be stifled by the presence of too many experts. Six teenage members of the C Y C also wanted to come to the new group but it was felt undesirable to mix young people and adults so another evening discussion group was formed Just for the teenagers Mimeographed notes are being prepared for use of these two new groups — these based on the “Instructor
Baptisms
The campaign proved a belief held by our ecclesial members — that there are many in the world at present in darkness but seeking the Light We do not feel that Vernon is a particularly religious town, more than any other town in Canada or U S A We were fortunate enough to hit upon the right methods of communication to reach those who were seeking Brother Richard Stone did an out standing work in preaching the Truth in simple but forceful terms with adequate and helpful Scriptural proof, contact was made with visitors long enough to recognize those who wanted further help, and of course, over and above all was the Lord God directing and guiding our efforts in His Name.
Six weeks after the campaign we had the Joy of baptizing the first fruits from it Sister Penny Arnott, who had been attending our Bible study group for five years Since then we have had SIX more ask for instruction for baptism These are all in the new study groups one teenager son of a brother and sister of our ecclesia, one gentleman who had been out to evening lectures the year previous and two husband and wife couples who had had no contact with us prior to the special effort All are receiving instruction on separate evenings of the weeks as well as at tending the weekly study groups The Lord willing with the enthusiasm and effort they are showing, these will all be ready for baptism this coming summer and our ecclesial numbers will have increased by more than half.
It has been a great Joy to all members of our ecclesia to share in this work of preaching the gospel and to see so much fruit from our labours The enthusiasm of these new converts will give us further impetus to carry on this work in preparation for the return of our Master.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One