On this page are quotes from the pen of Ellen G. White concerning self-supporting ministry in the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I encourage anyone reading this to go to the referenced source and read these quotes in their full context and to also study this further in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy with an open mind to "hear what the Spirit is saying unto the Church." I do not want to be guilty of taking any quotes out of context to try to influence one way or the other.
IF, AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR, SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS HAD ENTERED THE SOUTH AS THEY MIGHT HAVE DONE, WHAT A DIFFERENT PLACE THE SOUTH WOULD BE TODAY. SCHOOLS AND SANITARIUMS WOULD HAVE BEEN THE MEANS OF TRANSFORMING MANY SECTIONS. BUT WHEN A FEW OF OUR PEOPLE CAME SOUTH SOME OF THEM RETURNED TO THE NORTH WITH A STORY SIMILAR TO THE REPORT OF THE TEN SPIES WHO RETURNED FROM CANAAN. AND AS A PEOPLE WE HAVE BEEN MORE READY TO BELIEVE THIS FALSE REPORT THAN TO ACCEPT THE LORD'S OWN WORDS CONCERNING THE FIELD AND ITS PEOPLE. {PH012 10.1} IT IS THE DEVIL'S PLAN.
TO GET US TO SEE THE GIANTS AND THE WALLED CITIES. THIS HAS BEEN A MOST EFFECTUAL WAY ON HIS PART OF POSTPONING THE COMING OF THE LORD. THE FAILURE OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS TO START SCHOOLS, FARM SCHOOLS, SELF-SUPPORTING SCHOOLS, WHEN THE LORD SAID OPEN SUCH SCHOOLS, HAS STRENGTHENED THE PREJUDICE OF MANY TOWARD THE SOUTH. NOW, WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN DONE UNDER FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES MUST BE DONE IN THE MIDST OF DIFFICULTIES. STILL, LET US REDEEM THE TIME, AND SAVE OURSELVES AS A DENOMINATION AS WELL AS GIVE THE WARNING TO THOSE WHO KNOW IT NOT. {PH012 10.2}
"The Southern field must be worked intelligently." The work of the South cannot be accomplished by coming South for a short time and then returning to the North. {PH012 10.3}
"I wish to say that the Southern field is a world of its own. The work here will have to be carried forward independently to a large degree. The workers in the field will have to exercise judgment as to the best ways of advancing. This field needs workers who will say, I will not fail nor be discouraged." {PH012 10.4}
"We must not lose sight of the neglected parts of the vineyard. Men may say that it is a waste of valuable time and money for strong men and women to go out into these hills, and out-of-the-way places to labor. . . . Some may say, 'If I were engaged in this sort of work, some connected with the church would discountenance me.' What if they should?" {PH012 11.1}
MUCH OF THE WORK WILL HAVE TO BE MADE SELF-SUPPORTING. THERE IS MORE TO DO IN A SHORT TIME THAN CAN BE DONE IF MEN WAIT TO BE SENT AND PAID FOR THEIR WORK. A SELF-SUPPORTING WORKER IS TO HAVE YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT:-- {PH012 11.2} "When God inspires in men and women the desire to help these poor, neglected, ignorant ones, to educate them, to establish schools, to teach them to be self-supporting, should we not encourage these workers? Should we not do all in our power to help those who work for the people of the South, both white and black?" {PH012 11.3}
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SELF-SUPPORTING SCHOOL IS THUS EMPHASIZED, "we must provide greater facilities for the education and training of the youth, both white and colored. We are to establish schools away from the cities where the youth can learn to cultivate the soil, and thus help to make themselves, and the school self-supporting. Let means be gathered for the establishment of such schools." {PH012 11.4}
SELF-SUPPORT IS AN OBJECTIONABLE WORD TO SOME, BUT "The whole church needs to be imbued with the missionary spirit; then there will be many to work unselfishly, in various ways as they can, without being salaried." {PH012 12.1}
THE PROMISE MADE THOSE WHO ANSWER THE CALL TO DO THIS SIMPLE, HUMBLE WORK, IS THAT "He marks all that they do to help those in need of help. In the heavenly courts, when the redeemed are gathered home, they will stand nearest to the Son of God." {PH012 12.2}
THE MADISON SCHOOL HAS BEEN INSTRUCTED TO TRAIN SELF-SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES FOR FOREIGN FIELDS. IT IS REMARKABLE HOW RAPIDLY THE MISSIONARIES IN FOREIGN FIELDS ARE COMING TO SEE THE NEED OF SELF-SUPPORT IN THOSE FIELDS. FROM INDIA, CHINA, KOREA, JAPAN, SOUTH AMERICA, AND AFRICA COMES THE TESTIMONY THAT THE FUTURE SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARY MUST HIMSELF BE SELF-SUPPORTING AND MUST TEACH HIS CONVERTS TO EARN THEIR LIVING. {PH012 12.3}
THE OLD METHOD OF SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES BY A SALARY FROM AMERICA IS BEING SUPERSEDED BY THE SANER METHOD OF SELF-SUPPORT. GOD IS INSTRUCTING SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS TO ADOPT THIS PLAN. WE OUGHT NOT TO CLING TO THE OLD METHOD AND LET OTHER DENOMINATIONS OUTRUN US IN THIS MATTER OF REFORM. {PH012 12.4} SOME WOULD COME
IF THEY KNEW HOW TO GO TO WORK. "THERE IS PLENTY OF LAND LYING WASTE IN THE SOUTH THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN IMPROVED AS THE LAND ABOUT THE MADISON SCHOOL HAS BEEN IMPROVED." THE SOIL OF THE SOUTH CAN BE MADE THE MEANS OF SUPPORTING THE FARM SCHOOL, AND STUDENTS FROM NEEDY PLACES CAN BE TAUGHT LESSONS OF SELF-SUPPORT. {PH012 13.1}
"Properties will be offered for sale in the rural districts at a price below the real cost, because the owners desire city advantages, and it is these rural locations that we desire to obtain for our schools." {PH012 13.2} Medical Missionary Work.
"I have been instructed that there are decided advantages to be gained by the establishment of a school and sanitarium in close proximity. . . . There is a great work to be done by our sanitariums and schools. Time is short. What is done, must be done quickly." {PH012 13.3}
MANY COULD DO THE MEDICAL WORK NECESSARY IN CONNECTION WITH A FARM SCHOOL WHO WOULD NOT ATTEMPT SANITARIUM WORK ON A LARGE SCALE. EACH LITTLE SCHOOL SHOULD BE ABLE TO REACH THE PEOPLE IN ITS COMMUNITY WITH THE TRUTH OF HEALTH REFORM; IT SHOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE AND TO EACH SIMPLE TREATMENTS. EACH COMPANY OF SELF-SUPPORTING WORKERS SHOULD FORM A CENTER TOWARD WHICH THOSE IN NEED OF PHYSICAL HEALING WILL LOOK, AND FROM WHICH WILL RADIATE HEALTH-GIVING LIGHT. {PH012 13.4}
THE CLIMATE OF THE SOUTH IS EQUAL TO THAT IN ANY OTHER PART OF THE WORLD. SEVERAL MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE LIVED HERE WITH COMFORT FOR CENTURIES. IT IS CERTAINLY NOT UNBEARABLE TO THE MISSIONARY. THE FIELD HAS BEEN CALLED A HARD ONE, BUT THAT SHOULD NOT KEEP A CHRISTIAN AWAY. CHRIST CHOSE TO LABOR IN THE DIFFICULT PARTS OF THE WORLD, GOING INTO DARK CORNERS OF THE WORLD LIKE NAPHTALI AND ZEBULUN WHEN HE WAS ON EARTH. {PH012 13.5}
IT IS A BIBLE TRUTH THAT NO SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CAN RECEIVE THE LATTER RAIN UNTIL HE FINDS HIS PLACE AND STANDS IN IT. "TO EVERY MAN AND TO EVERY WOMAN HE HAS GIVEN HIS WORK." "GOD DESIRES THAT EVERY MAN SHALL STAND IN HIS LOT AND IN HIS PLACE, AND NOT FEEL AS IF THE WORK IS TOO HARD." {PH012 14.1}
THOUSANDS ARE STANDING IDLE IN THE MARKET PLACE. THEY ARE WAITING FOR SOME ONE TO PUT THEM TO WORK. LET THEM ANSWER THE CALL OF THE SOUTH AND GO FORTH WITHOUT ASKING A SALARY. WHO SAYS, "HERE AM I, LORD, SEND ME"? THE SOUTH WILL DEVELOP IN YOU THE SPIRIT OF THE EARLY PIONEERS OF THIS MESSAGE. WE NEED THE SOUTH FOR THE PERFECTION OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER EVEN MORE THAN THE SOUTH NEEDS US. {PH012 14.2} from An Appeal to Seventh Day Adventists to Fulfill Their Duty to the South
My brethren, I ask you in the name of the Lord, that you be careful how you handle the donations that are made to the Southern field. Not one dollar is to be turned aside to any other field. I entreat of you to be very careful. {8MR 202.2}
The Lord has instructed me that, from the first, the work in Huntsville and Madison should have received adequate help. But instead of this help being rendered promptly there has been long delay. And in the matter of the Madison school, there has been a standing off from them because they were not under the ownership and control of some Conference. This is a question that should sometimes be considered, but it is not the Lord's plan that means should be withheld from Madison, because they are not bound to the conference. The attitude which some of our brethren have assumed toward this enterprise shows that it is not wise for every working agency to be under the dictation of conference officers. There are some enterprises under certain conditions, that will produce better results if standing alone. {8MR 202.3}
When my advice was asked in reference to the Madison school, I said, Remain as you are. There is danger in binding every working agency under the dictation of the conference. The Lord did not design that this should be. The circumstances were such that the burden bearers in the Madison school could not bind up their work with the conference. I knew their situation, and when many of the leading men in our conferences ignored them, because they did not place their school under conference dictation, I was shown that they would not be helped by making themselves amenable to the conference. They had better remain as led by God, amenable to Him, to work out His plans. But this matter need not be blazed abroad. {8MR 202.4}
There ought to be thousands at work in the cities, laboring intelligently. Not all these workers should look to the conference for support. They should seek to make their work self-supporting. A great many can do self-supporting work, but some cannot. {9MR 310.1}
I am sorry that it should be thought necessary to delay the work in some places because of territorial lines, and that it should be considered irregular for the workers to sell books in certain territories where the field is neglected. This has held back the sale of our books. Changes should be made regarding this condition. If territory that is claimed by a certain conference is not faithfully worked for the circulation of our literature, those workers who have a burden for that territory should not be forbidden the privilege of laboring there.--Letter 328, 1907.
Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D. C. July 19, 1984 Entire Letter Released {13MR 389.4}
God's principles are the only safe principles for us to follow. Phariseeism was filled with regular lines, but so perverted were the principles of justice that God declared, "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey" (Isa. 59:14, 15). How true these words have proved. {20MR 143.3}
It is God who gives men wisdom by which to tell truth from a lie. Those under His guidance almost instinctively separate the good from the evil. God is trying to bring the backsliders in prominent places back to their senses. He corrects the evils to which men who ought to know better, who have heard His warnings and reproofs, have held fast as if evil were a choice commodity of which not one grain must be lost. {20MR 143.4}
It is as hard today to break away from the regular lines as it was in Christ's day. We have had great light. Let us not become narrow. Let us break the bonds which bind us. Christ is the source of all true growth, the maintainer of all life. By His Holy Spirit He communicates heavenly principles and furnishes spiritual life. {20MR 143.5}
There are those who make efforts to carry matters according to their own ideas and preferences. Take heed; do not let human wisdom lead you to divert means into new channels before the work is perfected in places where important enterprises have already been started. But understand that this is not meant to hinder any individual worker from entering any place to which he is directed by the Spirit of God to do house-to-house work. This is work that ought to be done. All the efforts that can be made should be made to reach the people in every place. But it is not right for our workers to make a large outlay of means in a place just because human ambition has been aroused. {14MR 48.1}
There are those who criticize everything in which they have not voice or influence. Such ones weave selfishness into their work. Let those who have been reproved for criticizing cease this unkind, unchristlike work. If they have wisdom to do the work of God, let them go into some city where the truth has not been proclaimed, and work as self-supporting missionaries. Let them show what they can do, instead of pointing out the mistakes made by those who have put all their strength of mind and body into the work, and who have striven with all their might to bring the work to its present stage of advancement. The Lord is not with those who, instead of putting themselves in the place of the workers who are sacrificing, stand by as onlookers, criticizing what they think is not right. {14MR 48.2}
Be careful what moves you make. Put heart and soul and strength into perfecting the work already begun. I have little confidence in movements made from impulse. Too many such movements have been made in erecting large buildings for school and sanitarium work. [By] this [means] the cause of God has been thrown into confusion and financial embarrassment. {14MR 49.1} Be sure that the Holy Spirit is guiding; and then move forward solidly and wisely.--Letter 87, 1902.
Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D. C. September 27, 1984 Entire Letter {14MR 49.2}
My brother, I wish to say to you, Be careful how you move. You are not moving wisely. The least you have to speak about the tithe that has been appropriated to the most needy and the most discouraging field in the world, the more sensible you will be. {2MR 99.2}
It has been presented to me for years that my tithe was to be appropriated by myself to aid the white and colored ministers who were neglected and did not receive sufficient properly to support their families. When my attention was called to aged ministers, white or black, it was my special duty to investigate into their necessities and supply their needs. This was to be my special work, and I have done this in a number of cases. No man should give notoriety to the fact that in special cases the tithe is used in that way. {2MR 99.3}
In regard to the colored work in the South, that field has been and is still being robbed of the means that should come to the workers in that field. If there have been cases where our sisters have appropriated their tithe to the support of the ministers working for the colored people in the South, let every man, if he is wise, hold his peace. {2MR 99.4}
I have myself appropriated my tithe to the most needy cases brought to my notice. I have been instructed to do this, and as the money is not withheld from the Lord's treasury, it is not a matter that should be commented upon, for it will necessitate my making known these matters, which I do not desire to do, because it is not best. {2MR 99.5}
Some cases have been kept before me for years, and I have supplied their needs from the tithe, as God has instructed me to do. And if any person shall say to me, Sister White, will you appropriate my tithe where you know it is most needed, I shall say, Yes, I will; and I have done so. I commend those sisters who have placed their tithe where it is most needed to help to do a work that is being left undone. If this matter is given publicity, it will create a knowledge which would better be left as it is. I do not care to give publicity to this work which the Lord has appointed me to do, and others to do. {2MR 100.1}
I send this matter to you so that you shall not make a mistake. Circumstances alter cases. I would not advise that anyone should make a practice of gathering up tithe money. But for years there have now and then been persons who have lost confidence in the appropriation of the tithe, who have placed their tithe in my hands, and said that if I did not take it they would themselves appropriate it to the families of the most needy ministers they could find. I have taken the money, given a receipt for it, and told them how it was appropriated. {2MR 100.2}
I write this to you so that you shall keep cool and not become stirred up and give publicity to this matter, lest many more shall follow their example. --Letter 267, 1905, pp. 1, 2. (To Elder Watson, Jan. 22, 1905.) {2MR 100.3}
I have seventy-five dollars from Brother _____, tithe money, and we thought that it would be best to send it along to the Southern field to help colored ministers. . . . I want it specially applied to the colored ministers to help them in their salaries.--Letter 262, 1902, p. 1. (To Elder and Mrs. J. E. White, Oct. 23, 1902; Biography Vol. 5, p. 396.) {2MR 100.4}
You ask if I will accept tithe from you and use it in the cause of God where most needed. In reply I will say that I shall not refuse to do this, but at the same time I will tell you that there is a better way. It is better to put confidence in the ministers of the conference where you live and in the officers of the church where you worship. Draw nigh to your brethren. Love them with a true heart fervently, and encourage them to bear their responsibilities faithfully in the fear of God. "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity" [1 Tim. 4:12].--Letter 96, 1911 (Published in The Early Elmshaven Years, p. 397.) {2MR 101.1}
[Release requested for Review and Herald articles prepared by Arthur L. White.] {2MR 101.2}
I have recently been instructed that no one should be advised to pledge himself to spend two, three, four, five, or six years under any man's tuition. Brethren, we have no time for this. Time is short. We are to hold out urgent inducements to the men who ought now to be engaged in missionary work for the Master. The highways and byways are yet unworked. The Lord calls for young men to labor as canvassers and evangelists, to do house-to-house work in places that have not yet heard the truth. God speaks to our young men, saying, "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. {SpM 308.3}
The Lord must be given an opportunity to show men their duty and to work upon their minds. No one is to bind himself to serve under the direction of any human being; for the Lord himself will call men, as of old he called the humble fishermen, and will himself give them the education he desires them to have. He will call men from the plow and from other occupations, to give the last note of warning to perishing souls. There are many ways in which to work for the Master, and the great Teacher will open the understanding of these workers, enabling them to see wondrous things in his word. {SpM 308.4}
The signs that show Christ's coming is near are fast fulfilling. The Lord calls for canvassers and evangelists. Those who will go forth to this work under his direction will be wonderfully blessed. {SpM 308.5}
Let our churches be guarded. Let our people work intelligently, not under the rule of any man, but under the rule of God. Let them stand where they can follow the will of God. Their service belongs to Him. Their capabilities and talents are to be refined, purified, ennobled. In this lower school--the school of earth,--they are to be prepared for translation into the school of heaven, where their education will be continued under the personal supervision of Christ, the great Teacher, who will lead them beside the living waters, and open to them the mysteries of the kingdom of God. {SpM 308.6}
Before leaving Australia, and since coming to this country, I have been instructed that there is a great work to be done in America. Those who were in the work at the beginning are passing away. Only a few of the pioneers of the cause now remain among us. Many of the heavy burdens formerly borne by men of long experience are now falling upon younger men. {9T 257.1}
This transfer of responsibilities to laborers whose experience is more or less limited is attended with some dangers against which we need to guard. The world is filled with strife for the supremacy. The spirit of pulling away from fellow laborers, the spirit of disorganization, is in the very air we breathe. By some, all efforts to establish order are regarded as dangerous--as a restriction of personal liberty, and hence to be feared as popery. These deceived souls regard it a virtue to boast of their freedom to think and act independently. They declare that they will not take any man's say-so, that they are amenable to no man. I have been instructed that it is Satan's special effort to lead men to feel that God is pleased to have them choose their own course independent of the counsel of their brethren. {9T 257.2}
Herein lies a grave danger to the prosperity of our work. We must move discreetly, sensibly, in harmony with the judgment of God-fearing counselors; for in this course alone lies our safety and strength. Otherwise God cannot work with us and by us and for us. {9T 257.3}
Oh, how Satan would rejoice if he could succeed in his efforts to get in among this people and disorganize the work at a time when thorough organization is essential and will be the greatest power to keep out spurious uprisings and to refute claims not endorsed by the word of God! We want to hold the lines evenly, that there shall be no breaking down of the system of organization and order that has been built up by wise, careful labor. License must not be given to disorderly elements that desire to control the work at this time. {9T 257.4}
Some have advanced the thought that, as we near the close of time, every child of God will act independently of any religious organization. But I have been instructed by the Lord that in this work there is no such thing as every man's being independent. The stars of heaven are all under law, each influencing the other to do the will of God, yielding their common obedience to the law that controls their action. And, in order that the Lord's work may advance healthfully and solidly, His people must draw together. {9T 258.1}
The spasmodic, fitful movements of some who claim to be Christians are well represented by the work of strong but untrained horses. When one pulls forward, another pulls back, and at the voice of their master one plunges ahead and the other stands immovable. If men will not move in concert in the great and grand work for this time, there will be confusion. It is not a good sign when men refuse to unite with their brethren and prefer to act alone. Let laborers take into their confidence the brethren who are free to point out every departure from right principles. If men wear the yoke of Christ, they can not pull apart; they will draw with Christ {9T 258.2}
Some workers pull with all the power that God has given them, but they have not yet learned that they should not pull alone. Instead of isolating themselves ,let them draw in harmony with their fellow laborers. Unless they do this, their activity will work at the wrong time and in the wrong way. They will often work counter to that which God would have done, and thus their work is worse than wasted. {9T 258.3}
On the other hand, the leaders among God's people are to guard against the danger of condemning the methods of individual workers who are led by the Lord to do a special work that but few are fitted to do. Let brethren in responsibility be slow to criticize movements that are not in perfect harmony with their methods of labor. Let them never suppose that every plan should reflect their own personality. Let them not fear to trust another's methods; for by withholding their confidence from a brother laborer who, with humility and consecrated zeal, is doing a special work in God's appointed way, they are retarding the advancement of the Lord's cause. {9T 259.1}
God can and will use those who have not had a thorough education in the schools of men. A doubt of His power to do this is manifest unbelief; it is limiting the omnipotent power of the One with whom nothing is impossible. Oh, for less of this uncalled-for, distrustful caution! It leaves so many forces of the church unused; it closes up the way so that the Holy Spirit cannot use men; it keeps in idleness those who are willing and anxious to labor in Christ's lines; it discourages from entering the work many who would become efficient laborers together with God if they were given a fair chance. {9T 259.2}
To the prophet the wheel within a wheel, the appearance of living creatures connected with them, all seemed intricate and unexplainable. But the hand of Infinite Wisdom is seen among the wheels, and perfect order is the result of its work. Every wheel, directed by the hand of God, works in perfect harmony with every other wheel I have been shown that human instrumentalities are liable to seek after too much power and try to control the work themselves. They leave the Lord God, the Mighty Worker, too much out of their methods and plans, and do not trust to Him everything in regard to the advancement of the work. No one should for a moment fancy that he is able to manage those things that belong to the great I AM. God in His providence is preparing a way so that the work may be done by human agents. Then let every man stand at his post of duty, to act his part for this time and know that God is his instructor. {9T 259.3}
I have often been instructed by the Lord that no man's judgment should be surrendered to the judgment of any other one man. Never should the mind of one man or the minds of a few men be regarded as sufficient in wisdom and power to control the work and to say what plans shall be followed. But when, in a General Conference, the judgment of the brethren assembled from all parts of the field is exercised, private independence and private judgment must not be stubbornly maintained, but surrendered. Never should a laborer regard as a virtue the persistent maintenance of his position of independence, contrary to the decision of the general body. {9T 260.1}
At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general management of the work have, in the name of the General Conference, sought to carry out unwise plans and to restrict God's work, I have said that I could no longer regard the voice of the General Conference, represented by these few men, as the voice of God. But this is not saying that the decisions of a General Conference composed of an assembly of duly appointed, representative men from all parts of the field should not be respected. God has ordained that the representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority. The error that some are in danger of committing is in giving to the mind and judgment of one man, or of a small group of men, the full measure of authority and influence that God has vested in His church in the judgment and voice of the General Conference assembled to plan for the prosperity and advancement of His work. {9T 260.2}
When this power, which God has placed in the church, is accredited wholly to one man, and he is invested with the authority to be judgment for other minds, then the true Bible order is changed. Satan's efforts upon such a man's mind would be most subtle and sometimes well-nigh overpowering, for the enemy would hope that through his mind he could affect many others. Let us give to the highest organized authority in the church that which we are prone to give to one man or to a small group of men.