DEAR FRIENDS:

With this issue Torch and Trumpet completes two years of work. Two years packed with the enjoyment and the excitement of service! Two years of laborious effort to achieve objectives we would be the first to admit were not perfectly attained.

As we close the books on our second season we would give an accounting of our stewardship to our readers and supporters.

It may interest you to know that the Grand Rapids area members of Reformed Fellowship, Inc. have met bi-weekly to discuss those issues which are vital to the Reformed faith and the welfare of the Church militant. In addition, various commissions from our membership have been appointed to concentrate on specific problems, whose mandate it is to give guidance to the Fellowship and others on these matters. The series of articles discussing a truly Christian piety was the product or such a commission.

Time for the work of the Fellowship and the magazine has not been ,easy to find, since everyone involved carries a full load of pastoral, professional, or business obligation. It is with gratitude to our Heavenly Father that we do complete this year’s work, therefore. Without his care and enabling grace the project could not have been completed at all.

We direct a special word of thanks to all who contributed articles to Torch and Trumpet last year. It has been very gratifying to have the cooperation of so many within, not only, hut also without our group that we might provide you with worthwhile material for your development in the Truth and for your encouragement in the Christian pilgrimage.

Reader response in 1952 was again most gratifying. It will interest you to know that our family of readers covers a very wide area geographically and ecclesiastically. A relatively high percentage of the total number of Torch and Trumpet subscribers are residents of foreign countries, and not inconsiderable has been our response from conservative pastors and teachers in denominations beyond the narrower circle of those we usually consider Calvinistic or Reformed. It has not been our wont to devote much space to the publishing of letters of commendation, but we can’t resist sharing a line from a letter sent us by a Congregational pastor in the state of Connecticut. Sending us a list of more than 20 names of friends whom he recommends as potential subscribers, he adds: “I cannot speak too highly of Torch and Trumpet. It’s not only a feast, it’s an exercise. I have every copy…and I have read every word, and have been greatly profited thereby.”

Because we are hopeful of widening further our testimony to the Truth of the Word of God, we are glad to have on hand several letters requesting all back issues for libraries at colleges located in various communities from Hartford, Conn. to Denver, Colo. It was also heartening to receive subscriptions during 1952 from numerous church libraries, ordered, we believe, in the hope that our church members may he stirred to do more faith-strengthening reading than is the custom of many in this amusement-crazy time.

Nor may we fail to mention the generous support of those who have sustained this project with their money. It is easy to understand that we cannot publish this magazine for two dollars per year, especially in view of our limited subscription.

Here is where you can help the publishers of Torch and Trumpet! Renew your subscription promptly when it falls due. If you can, give an extra subscription to that serviceman friend whose lonesome hours could profitably be engaged in this type of reading, or to some other person whom you desire to benefit.

Torch and Trumpet for next year plans many new feature articles you will not want to miss. Missionary Egbert Andrews in Formosa has agreed to describe the strategic significance of that island for current Christian missions. Dr. Peter Y. DeJong, familiar to am readers, has promised to tell us of the work in his new field as missionary to South India. The Fuykschot series on Christian social action and the Bruinsma series on a Reformed church music will continue. Commitment has been received for a series of articles dealing with techniques of evangelism in today’s America. These are only a few of the projects we will carry forward into print this next volume, the Lord willing.

Finally, brethren, pray for us! This is a labor of faith and prayer, demanded by our commitment to the Lord and his Truth. We sincerely confess to our weakness and imperfection. We believe, however, that this is a time to speak forth boldly that men of piety and conviction may be moved “to a more serious study of the Word and the Reformed heritage, that we may all put on the whole armor of God and be better equipped to fight the good fight of faith” (Cf. vol. I, no. I, page I) . Therefore we again invite you, Christian friend, to join us in our crusade for the Christ and his Kingdom of Truth -that we may all be found occupying our assigned place about the camp, torch in hand, and trumpet clearly sounding! REFORMED FELLOWSHIP, INC.

P.S. It has grieved us no little to hear that some have not received their copies of back issues of Torch and Trumpet. If you are one of these, will you inform us by sending the number and volume of copies you failed to receive? Address youI’ communication to: REFORMED FELLOWSHIP, INC., 63 Jefferson Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids 2, Michigan.