A LETTER FROM M.R. ZIGLER
--AND THE REPLY
Editorial
January/ February, 1987
Volume 22, Number 1
M. R. Zigler was an outstanding Church of the Brethren leader who was
known for his many efforts in the ecumenical world and for his tireless
crusades for the cause of peace. Brother Zigler died on October 25, 1985
just a few weeks before his 94th birthday.
Known to many as "M. R." Bro. Zigler served on the Church
of the Brethren national staff from 1919 to 1958. From 1948 to 1958 he
served as director of the Church's work in Europe, and as its representative
to the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. During that decade
he helped develop such groups as Church World Service (CWS), Remittances
to Europe (CARE), the Heifer Project (HPI), and the Christian Rural Overseas
Program (CROP). M. R. Zigler was driven by the vision that Christians should
lead the way to a peaceful world.
During World War 11, M. R. Zigler chaired the Advisory Committee for
Conscientious Objectors and was executive secretary of the Brethren Service
Committee. Zigler helped to formulate the Civilian Public Service program
(CPS) which provided a format by which the historic peace churches could
administer work camps and provide alternative jobs for religious objectors
to war. It was he who formed the National Service Board for Religious Objectors
(now known as the NISBCO).
Brother Zigler helped launch the Brethren Volunteer Service program
(BVS), the On Earth Peace Assembly (OEPA), and the Brethren Encyclopedia
published in the 1980s as a cooperative effort of the five major Brethren
bodies. Four Brethren colleges had granted him honorary degrees. During
his lifetime he visited all but twenty-five of the more than one thousand
Church of the Brethren congregations across the nation.
Brother Zigler was a man of stature, wisdom, and integrity. He was a
personal friend. One day, ten years ago this month, I received a letter
from M. R. which expressed his concern about diminishing membership in
the Church of the Brethren, and his conviction that all the vast efforts
for peace (for which he so tirelessly labored) were not really the Church's
total mission. For the benefit of the larger Church, we publish the letter
in this issue of the BRF WITNESS, along with my reply to
Brother Zigler. M. R.'s two children, Robert S. Zigler and Mrs. Geraldine
Z. Glick, have both given permission to print the letter. Geraldine says,
"Sometimes my father would ask people to keep things confidential and then
change his mind at a later date, so I am sure he would give you permission
if he were alive today." Thanks to Robert and Geraldine for their generous
agreement to allow the letter to be published.
--Harold S. Martin
A LETTER FROM M. R. ZIGLER
New Windsor, Md. 21776
January 31, 1977
Dear Brother Harold Martin:
There is one thing that I hope to live to enjoy. Time is getting short
for me. I seem to remember how the Church of the Brethren for a period
of time grew in numbers. We felt a deep concern for the lost sheep.
Now we have a new day. Do you see any hope for a growing Church in the
future? It gives me pain to read about the decline. I wonder where we lost
the way. Oh how can we know the way to increasing more in numbers and in
spirituality? I appreciate every effort at Elgin and at the Conference.
Also, the people at the Valparaiso (Holy Spirit) meeting, and all that
you do in the Brethren Revival Fellowship.
I am working on the "ON EARTH PEACE" program, and I feel comforted when
I can get someone to give up the sword, but that is not baptism. It is
a value, but not the real evangelism. To find the "lost" and bring them
into the fellowship of the church, forming the Body of Christ is so important.
I believe there are people who can do this part of the Christian order,
and some cannot. Billy Graham can get the crowds, but even his work does
not crowd the churches. Maybe his way is the way. But for Brethren, I wish
our churches would be crowded with people seeking to know the truth. I
feel bewildered. I place the problem in the fact that I will be 86 years
old next November. I feel the Christians are facing problems that we don't
know how to meet. I do not stand for numbers, but I know that we are supposed
to find the lost sheep.
I am not asking you to answer this problem, I have had hope that your
insights might bring a new day among Brethren. You are doing well, but
how can we who love the Church, have the joy of seeing many people coming
into the community of faith?
Please keep this letter confidential. Guess I am just a tired old man
and somewhat depressed. But as long as I live, I shall be true to Brethren
principles and the Community of faith.
Here is twenty dollars for the Brethren Revival Fellowship. I wish it
could be more. Inflation is disastrous. I have enjoyed being a Brethren
and am thankful for those who led me through the years. I don't think the
age ever comes when a person does not need another Brother's help to keep
on going.
With Christian love,
M. R. Zigler
THE REPLY
TO M. R. ZIGLER'S LETTER
York, Pa. 17404
February 2, 1977
M. R. Zigler
Box 188
New Windsor, Md. 21776
Dear Brother M. R. Zigler:
Your letter was received and read today with great appreciation. I rejoiced
and wept and prayed.
I rejoiced because of the good work you have done in behalf of
peace and reconciliation down through the years, and because of your commitment
to stand by the Brethren understanding of the Gospel throughout life.
I wept because I felt a tug on my own heartstrings as I shared
with you a concern over the lack of numerical and spiritual growth within
the Church of the Brethren.
I prayed that God will bring you comfort in your sunset years.
I was reminded of the words found in Isaiah 46:3-4 where God says to Israel:
"I guarded your coming into the world at the time of your birth; I protected
you during the days of your youth; I've been with you during the trials
of manhood; and now in old age-I am the same God-I will carry and deliver
you."
As you implied in your letter, probably none of us has all the answers
that are related to the Church's present lack of growth. There are several
factors, I believe, that have contributed to the dilemma within
the Church of the Brethren today. My personal conviction is that one basic
cause for the decline over the years, has been a setting aside of complete
confidence in the truthfulness of the Bible. More about that at the conclusion
of this letter.
I believe too that the statements which follow are legitimate matters
that have contributed to the Church of the Brethren's decline in numbers
and in spirituality:
1) The Church's failure to uphold the Bible doctrine of nonconformity
to the world. And by this, I refer not merely to dress, but to the larger
scope of nonconformity (including the unwillingness of many of our young
Brethren to serve in alternative service during the war years). The Church
too often tried to win the world's approval and has gone down the road
of accommodation to the spirit of the age.
2) The Church's failure to exercise discipline and to maintain high
standards of commitment for its members. NCC staffer, Dean Kelley, in his
book Why Conservative Churches Are Growing, says:
"What costs nothing accomplishes nothing; if it costs nothing to belong
to a community, it can't be worth much." Kelley convincingly shows that
the more strict a church is about who may join, and the more demanding
a church is of those who belong (doing it charitably of course), the more
rapidly it will grow. The Church of the Brethren has been too lenient with
its membership standards.
3) The Church has offered fellowship, entertainment, and knowledge about
personality adjustment, etc.--but has not persistently offered its one
chief commodity--salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Other specialized
non-religious organizations can offer commodities such as respectability,
civil rights, planned parenthood, etc. The Church has often become a mere
social club, and not a soul-saving center.
There are other factors that have contributed to the lack of numerical
and spiritual growth within the Church of the Brethren-such as the advent
of television, the effects of affluence, the general loss of respect for
authority in our society-but the root cause, in my opinion, is related
to the fact that once the doctrine of a final trustworthy Bible is abandoned,
eventually more serious deviations follow, and the Church heads toward
a further shipwreck of its faith.
For example: The Bible presents no picture whatever of human beings
moving from a dark animalistic past, to a present moral and intellectual
sophistication. The beginnings of the human family are clearly stated in
Genesis 1:26-27. The first man and the first woman are pictured in the
Word of God as being intelligent and articulate and capable
individuals who lived beautiful lives in the midst of a perfect environment.
The Bible describes how human degeneration came about (Genesis 3:1-13;
Romans 5:12). Furthermore, the Bible predicts that degeneration will
continue until human beings produce a world so corrupt that life itself
will be nearly impossible (Matthew 24:21-22).
But from our Church publications, and Sunday School materials, and from
the shared verbal testimonies of leading churchmen among us-I have sadly
discovered that most Brethren leaders no longer accept these simple Bible
facts. And if the early Bible accounts of man's beginnings are not reliable,
then the rest of the Bible lacks credence as well. The result has been
an underlying change from the traditional Brethren principle that
the New Testament alone should be our rule of faith and practice, to the
assumption that the human mind is sufficiently capable of directing the
affairs of life.
Directions within our Brotherhood have been set often by those who have
accepted the idea that the human mind is the ultimate authority, and thus
many Brethren activities down through the years have centered not so much
around telling people about the Saviour, nor portraying the biblical concept
that human beings are sinful and need conversion, but the pagan idea that
people are basically good but need improvement. Thus, true evangelism (winning
the lost) was
neglected, and social action programs were given priority.
The Church program has been without emphasis on a redeeming message,
and over the years, those who have been members of the Church of the
Brethren have experienced an erosion of their faith and character. Our
members have sometimes been taught a wrong view of man, of the Scriptures,
of the Person and work of Christ, and of the certainty of future judgment.
A return to the theology of the Bible is long overdue, and as I see it,
such a return is our only hope.
Brother Zigler, my heart is much impressed with your words: "I am working
at the ON EARTH PEACE program, and I feel comforted when I can get someone
to give up the sword, but that is not baptism. It is a value, but not the
real evangelism. To find the 'lost' and bring them into the fellowship
of the Church, forming the Body of Christ, is so important." With these
profound words of yours, I heartily agree.
Social action (including efforts toward world peace), should be part
of our work, but it is not true evangelism. The two (social action and
evangelism) belong to each other, yet are independent of each other. Neither
is a means to the other, for each is an end in itself. Both social
action and true evangelism are expressions of unfeigned love for the human
family. However, there is a certain urgency that attaches itself to evangelism-and
over the years, the Church should not have neglected social action, but
it should have given greater priority to evangelism.
Nothing is so destructive to human dignity as alienation from God, and
the Church of Jesus Christ is the only institution that has an answer for
the human family's spiritual dilemma. My hope and prayer is that
the Church of the Brethren will on a large scale adopt a biblical theology
of man and of salvation, and that along with these, she will strongly emphasize
the Anabaptist/ Pietist distinctives. This, I believe, will lead to church
growth--and to the extent that men and women experience a spiritual conversion-to
that degree it will lead to better communities.
Thanks again for writing, Brother Zigler. May Jesus Christ indeed guide
and guard you well, until He calls or comes.
A brother in Christ,
Harold S. Martin
Editor, BRF WITNESS
P.S. The check you enclosed has been forwarded to the treasurer and
you will receive an acknowledgment from him. Thanks much for your support.