THE MODESTO MANIFESTO
“See then
that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise.” Ephesians 5:15
"In 1948, 31-Year-old Billy Graham
was coming off a successful stint as a Youth for Christ evangelist and entering
a period of independent ministry that would last almost six decades. His
revival team was young and charismatic, and as Christianity was entering into its
heady postwar boom, Americans were flocking to revivals. Some sought salvation,
but others had different aims. Politicians saw the revivals as a hedge against
communism; entertainers saw a chance to promote themselves. Temptations loomed
large, and to guard against allegations or the actual abuse of money, sex, and
power that had felled previous evangelists, the Graham team decided to take
concrete steps to avoid the slightest whiff of controversy. (Dowland)"
The team gathered in their cramped hotel
room in the dusty little cow-town of Modesto, California, and they drew up a
compact that became famously known as the “Modesto Manifesto”. Though they produced no actual
written document, this manifesto detailed God-honoring provisions for "...distributing money
raised by offerings, avoiding criticism of local churches, working only with
churches that supported cooperative evangelism, and using official estimates of
crowd sizes to avoid exaggeration. These policies would help Graham and his
team avoid charges of financial exploitation and hucksterism...(Dowland)", as well as help
retain and maintain the integrity of the ministry for the next 60 plus years. Specific measures were agreed upon to help
keep a strict level of accountability among the leadership to maximize the
effectiveness of their outreach.
It is truly amazing to look back now, and see how God honored the commitment made by these men in this manifesto, and He powerfully protected and blessed the ministry of Billy Graham; not only keeping him from falling into scandal, but in making his ministry the most dynamically effective tool of evangelism in the modern era. Even more amazing is that, all these many years later, those basic principles still apply to the local
church and ministry outreaches today. So much so, that we have just recently taken
the liberty to modify these ministry principles, and incorporated them into our church bylaws, as part of our guiding principles for spiritual and corporate leadership.
Therefore, our church leadership team has resolved:
1)
To never exaggerate attendance figures,
financial data, salvation statistics, or any other measurement of ministry
success, in an effort to seek the approval of man and his criteria for
achievement. Therefore, we guard ourselves against lying and deceit as a means
of self-promotion, both personally, and in regards to all of the ministries
associated with our church body.
2)
To take a very conservative approach to the distribution and stewardship of all of the resources that the Lord brings into
the ministry, (i.e. financial, material, & salaries, etc.).
Therefore, we diligently guard against financial thievery, wasteful and
inappropriate spending, and the fraudulent use of kingdom resources.
3)
To never allow ourselves to be put into
a situation where we find ourselves alone with a member of the opposite sex, other
than our spouses or family members, if at all possible. Thereby, we guard
against all forms of sexual sin, impropriety in all human relationships,
negligent moral discretion, and even the appearance of evil. In this, we not
only keep ourselves pure before the Lord, but we also prevent the stumbling of
a brother or sister in Christ, the diminishing of our own ministries or the
ministry of the Body of Christ worldwide, or worst of all, bringing shame to
the name of Christ.
4)
To never criticize or gossip about fellow
members of the body of Christ; either pastors, ministers, or members of local
churches and Christian ministries. Therefore, we guard against the prideful
tendencies of the human flesh to seek to exalt itself at the expense of others.
This does not exclude the need for exercising biblical discernment, and warning
others in the Church concerning doctrinal error, but merely the sinful practice
of speaking evil of others, and making judgmental statements about them.
By Pastor Glen Mustian
Works Cited:
Dowland, Seth, Christian History Issue 111 in 2014
