Oliver R. Barclay, “The Battles Today”
Vision and Continuity in Our Time, FES Singapore, 2009, p23-28
…It would be wrong to become a church substitute, or to make fellowship or worship primary, as these activities are obviously best experienced in a far wider community than merely a student circle. Matured leadership and discipline is needed as it is easy for a new generation of leaders to create uncertainty by their questioning of the methods, organization and principles of the work when they really need to reaffirming the basic concepts of what such a movement is all about…
However, if discussions about the structures and methods of organization become central, distraction from the simplicity of the main aims as well as dissension among the staff may occur. There is a need to constantly help one another to be thrilled by the marvelous privilege of being God’s witnesses in this filed… The challenge is to be able to go over the same ground in fresh ways with continual enthusiasm. We must therefore strive to keep the fundamentals fundamental in our work. There is always a temptation that as a new generation arises, tiredness of the fundamentals may allow the relatively unimportant enthusiasms of younger leaders to become too important and distracting. The search for a new, clearer vision can become the search for some secondary emphases to replace what is and always must be primary. The basic emphases of the Bible are too offensively simple for some people! (24-25)
We need to be frequently asking ourselves, “What are the real battles to be fought today?” We must attack the real enemy so that we be less likely to fight one another! (25)
One of our key policies must be to give young leaders real responsibility so that they learn by their mistakes as well as by their successes. (25)
The great danger on the issue of vision and continuity in a student movement is that of our failure to keep some of the simple and fundamental things in the fundamental position - the encouragement of personal prayer and Bible study; the emphasis on life as well as doctrine; the importance of the whole life of our group being part of the witness in membership basis; the trustworthiness of leaders; the practical authority of the Bible; the certainty of the Cross. (25)
We must not just continue to do things because they were successful in a previous generation, but they must serve the same fundamental purposes as before. The fact that something is new or acceptable to the culture of a new generation, does not mean that it is helpful to our witness. (27)
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