From World War to
World Brotherhood. . . A Message from the Federal Council of the Churches of
Christ in America in Special Session at Cleveland O., May 6-8, 1919
The great war for world freedom and righteousness has been
fought and won. In this victory, quicker and less costly to our own land than
we dared to hope, our Christian faith sees the hand of God, working as always
to bring good out of evil through the service and sacrifice of devoted men and
making even the wrath of man to praise Him.
For such cause for gratitude as this, it is surely our first
duty as Christian churches to summon our people to reverent thanksgiving to
Almighty God, not only for the victory He has given our cause, but for the
heroic endurance and sacrifice in all the nations that have made it possible;
for the idealism to which it is consecrated; for the new spirit of united
endeavor which it has called forth; and for the open door of opportunity which
has swung wide before our generation. With such prayer and thanksgiving will go
also a prayer of consecration to the unfinished tasks for which victory has
opened the way and whose achievement is essential to a just and enduring peace.
But this deliverance and opportunity have been won at
fearful cost; and the Christian churches are foremost to recognize our common
obligation to those hearts and homes and nations that have borne this cost
vicariously for us all. In the great task which lies before our generation, or
restoring the waste places and binding up the wounds of the world, and of
caring for those who have borne the burden and the heat of the battle, our
churches would take, not only an active, but a distinctive part. Theirs is the
ministry of mercy, theirs peculiarly also the ministry of comfort and
reassurance. To all devastated and impoverished regions of the earth our
generous relief must be sent as the evangel of hope as an earnest of spiritual
fellowship.
To help in the restoration of the Christian churches and in
the development of evangelical faith, is a special obligation and an alluring
opportunity for the churches of Christ in America.
With all homes and hearts in sorrow we must seek to share
our Christian faith in immortality and our Christian conviction that no
sacrifice for a better world is ever in vain. To every returning soldier and
sailor we must bring our gratitude as patriots, our active cooperation in
finding gain his place of usefulness in the nation’s life, and our challenge as
Christians to lifelong service in the Kingdom of God.
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