An Apocalyptic Imperative for Action
As those words about “work for this time” indicate, Ellen White had a powerful sense of urgency about mission, and while this was probably enhanced by her years in Europe and Australia, they did not create it. Rather it stemmed from her understanding of eschatology and soteriology. She desired that as many people as possible would be brought into a saving relationship with Jesus as quickly as possible, and believed this put the onus on the church (and hence church members) to act. As she wrote in 1903: “Many to whom have been committed the saving truths of the third angel’s message fail of realizing that the salvation of souls is dependent upon the consecration and activity of God’s church.” She was in no doubt that before Jesus returned, the everlasting gospel would be preached to the entire world, but this meant that by giving the gospel to the world (or not) it was in the power of our Lord’s disciples to expedite (or delay) the Second Advent.GOP 348.1
In 1892 she wrote to Ellet J. Waggoner, who had been called to serve in Great Britain, encouraging him to act boldly. “The fact that things move slowly in England is no reason why the great missionary work shall move slowly to meet men’s habits and customs. . . . The Lord’s business requires haste; souls are perishing without a knowledge of the truth.” In her 1898 tract An Appeal for Missions she proclaimed: “Unless your hearts are touched as you see the situation in foreign fields, the last message of mercy to be given to the world will be restricted, and the work which God would have done will be left undone.” Also in 1898, in The Desire of Ages, she eloquently declared:GOP 348.2
So now, before the coming of the Son of man, the everlasting gospel is to be preached “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Revelation 14:6, 14. God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world.” Acts 17:31. Christ . . . does not say that all the world will be converted, but that “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” [Matt. 24:14.] By giving the gospel to the world it is in our power to hasten our Lord’s return. We are not only to look for but to hasten the coming of the day of God. Had the church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in . . . great glory. GOP 348.3
Christ’s statement in Matthew 24:14, quoted here, was foundational to Ellen White’s understanding and promotion of global mission, and informed her urgency on the matter. From it she derived one of her most important missional principles, namely, that every Adventist is responsible for reaching the world. She returned to this theme time and again, repeatedly using the language of Matthew 24 and Revelation 14, presenting total church-member involvement in mission as an apocalyptic imperative. She did not mean that every member was obliged to serve as a foreign missionary: those who could not go could give or pray, or witness at home. But she saw global proclamation of the gospel and the third angel’s message as a primary concern of all Seventh-day Adventists.GOP 349.1
In 1902 she affirmed: “The heaven-appointed purpose of giving the gospel to the world in this generation is the noblest that can appeal to any human being. It opens a field of effort to everyone whose heart Christ has touched.” The same year, writing to German-American Adventist leaders, she averred: “God has qualified His people to enlighten the world. He has entrusted them with faculties by which they are to extend His work until it shall encircle the globe. In all parts of the earth they are to establish sanitariums, schools, publishing houses, and kindred facilities for the accomplishment of His work. The closing message of the gospel is to be carried to ‘every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.’ Revelation 14:6.” GOP 349.2
In a sermon to the 1903 General Conference session, she enjoined her listeners: “Our question is to be, What can I do to proclaim the third angel’s message? Christ came to this world to give this message to His servant to give to the churches. It is to be proclaimed to every nation and kindred and tongue and people. How are we to give it?” She took this statement and reused it three times, indicating its importance in her thought. Later in 1903, in an article in the Review, she used it in adapted form in an article in which she reminded readers: “As grateful recipients of Heaven’s blessings, believers are to diffuse the light of truth to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” She went on to use the rephrased interrogatory: “Let every Seventh-day Adventist ask himself, ‘What can I do to proclaim the third angel’s message?’ . . . This message . . . is to be proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. How are we to give it?” This was part of a section she excerpted and adapted into a separate testimony that was published three more times in 1904 in American Adventist periodicals. GOP 349.3
In 1905 she wrote to the medical missionary Daniel H. Kress: “There is a work to do all over the world, and as we near the time of the end, the Lord will impress many minds to engage in this work.” Writing in 1907 on the education of missionaries (in an article published the following year), she declared: “As we draw near to the coming of Christ, more and still more of missionary work will engage our efforts. The message of the renewing power of God’s grace will be carried to every country and clime, until the truth shall belt the world. Of the number of them that shall be sealed will be those who have come from every nation and kindred and tongue and people. From every country will be gathered men and women who will stand before the throne of God and before the Lamb.” GOP 350.1