THE MINISTER AS A BIG BROTHER.
  By Rev. W. Spencer Carpenter, Pastor of Allen A. M. E,
                Church, Philadelphia, Pa.

             BIG brotherhood in the ministry-the throw-
             ing of a strong arm about a pastor whose
             struggles, like our struggles, are hard, and
             whose problems, like our problems, are
             weighty.  Big Brotherhood!  Comradeship!
             Synonymous  terms but not generally ap-
plied where the ministry is concerned.
    In the legal profession a reputable lawyer will not under-
bid his brother nor try to take from him his practice. True,
in the law courts, one lawyer will measure his strength with
his legal opponent but at recess those lawyers will go to lunch
together. In the medical world a reputable physician will not
condemn openly the mistakes of his brother-practitioner; in-
stead he will help that brother out of his difficulty and spare
no advice concerning future treatments in the case before
them. We have seen this evidence of big brotherhood be-
tween lawyers and physicians, but is this brotherhood evi-
tenced among us as ministers?
    If there be a profession or calling where big brotherhood
is essential to the furtherance of its many perplexing and ex-
acting problems, that profession is the ministry. The min-
istry is composed of men, none of. them perfect, but most of
them possessing high ideals and a lofty conception of God.
In their development toward their ideals and their individual
conception of God, they seek to make their messages ring with
a power of intensity which leaves no room for anyone to
doubt their sincerity or loyalty to their call to preach.
     Yet in cities and towns where there are more churches
than one, Rev. A.'s message may differ in style or fervor or from
                              107




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 29, Num. 2

Minister as a Big Brother

Spencer

Volume:  29
Issue Number:  02
Page Number:  107
Date:  10/1912