Missionary Churches - Active Workers vs. Idlers - John Nevius (1886)

"There is a great army of active workers at home, as well as idlers. ...In the early history of the Church, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, Christianity spread chiefly through the voluntary zeal of ordinary church members, and the work of the Apostles consisted mainly in superintending and organizing the companies of Christians thus gathered.  Their zeal was so great that persecution could not repress, but only intensified it.  If there is not that zeal and effort in the Church at home, it is much to be deplored.  Perhaps the want of it is due in a great measure to growing habit of leaving work for Christ to be done by those who are paid for it.  Where such an idea prevails, whether at home or on missionary ground, it tends to paralyze the power of the Church for good." - John Nevius, life-long missionary to China, 1886 - in The Planting and Development of Missionary Churches (p.35)