Wheeling Register

Work for Church Members.
The pastor of one of the churches in this city recently issued an "enlistment card," containing a list of services to be rendered by the members in connection with the general work of the church. These duties were divided with sufficient minuteness to make none of them burdensome, and to render it possible for every church member to find something upon the list which he or she could do. The cards were sent to every member of the church with the request that some one or more of the duties should be accepted, that a mark should be made against them as indication of a purpose to perform them, and that the card should be returned to the pastor. Some of these items of service were as follows: To conduct the fellowship correspondence with absent members; to canvass a certain limited district of the city; to teach in the Sunday School; to take part in the social meetings; to report on some field at the missionary meetings; to visit other members of the church in a prescribed neighborhood; to attend regularly the weekly prayer meetings; to join the Bible class or the Sunday school, etc. These various services were accepted by different members according to their own choice and ability, and the result, it is believed, will be a much more thorough performance of the church's work. It is probably true in every church that there is a more general desire among the members to engage in some service than they get credit for, and the fault is often with the pastor, if they do not undertake some work for which they are fitted. It is the pastor's duty to draw up the plans and specifications, and the more subdivided the work, the better. It is too often that the burden of church work is thrown upon a few members for the want of a division of labor and responsibility which might be effected with a little proper engineering. The apostle's comparison of the church to the physical body was never more applicable than in the multifarious phases of modern religious work, and with proper direction, it is possible to find a function for every member.