tihvavy of ^he theological ^tminary PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY Rufus H. LeFevre :BX9878 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/ourchurchabroadOOhoug Rev. E. M. Hursh, West Africa. Rev. Joseph Cosand, Japan. Bishop A. T. Howard. ,.s^^fck Rev. P. W. Drury, Porto Rico. I < '-^^ Rev. H. W. Widdoes, The Philippines. Rev. E. B. Ward, China, The Bishop and Superintendents of Our Foreign Fields. :^ sv*^ «T rp» ff(fl ^ A JuN 11 1952 X^'J'PI QAL 8t^ ®ur OIl|urrl^ Abrnab BY SAMUEL S. HOUGH, D.D. Secretary of THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST OTTERBEIN PRESS Dayton, Ohio Copyright by UNITED BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE Dayton, Ohio 1916 First Edition of Ten Thousand Copies Published February, 1916 Revised and Reprinted October, 1916 T^O our missionaries and native pastors, who, through the living sacrifice of their lives, are planting the church of Christ abroad. ^,5^ CONTENTS Chapter Preface Page I. GOD PREPARING AMERICA FOR WORLD LEADER- SHIP 13 Religious Liberty and Protestant Ideals. Missionaries Sent to America. Infidelity Aggressive. Evangelical Christianity Winning. Making a Strong Home Base. Birth of Foreign Missions in America. United Breth- ren Foreign Missions. A Challenge to Faith. A Cen- tury of Progress. II. BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 34 Pioneer Work and First Fruits 1855-1865. A Period of Test 1865-1875. Organizing and Extending the Work 1875-1885. Training Schools and New Missions 1885- 1895. Lengthening the Cords 1895-1905. Remarkable Expansion 1905-1915. Three Administrative Bodies. II. CONDITIONS SURROUNDING THE NATIVE CHURCH China. Japan. Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. Africa. IV. THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 88 Winning Souls to Christ. Self-Support. Missionary Extension. Producing a Christian Literature. Train- ing Schools. Co-operation and Unity. Auxiliary Agencies. A Model Pastor. JOINING HANDS WITH OUR CHURCH ABROAD ... .123 A Three-Fold Vision Necessary. Antioch a Model Church. Rising Tide of Missionary Interest. Our Greatest Needs. Intercessory Living-Link Churches. Laymen Consecrating Their Talents and Their IMoney. The Missionary Prospect. PREFACE It is a sacred matter to write or read the story of the acts of the Holy Spirit through consecrated lives. The footprints of God are clearly seen as we trace the missionary achievements of the past. The purpose of this book is to set forth the provi- dential preparation of the churches of America for a world-wide missionary propaganda, and to intro- duce to our homes and churches the groiving native churches in our five foreign fields. Comparatively little is here said about individual missionaries, but much emphasis is given to the fruitage and glory of their work as seen in the activities and victories of the native Christians. There is a growing desire for an answer to such questions as : Where can I find a brief statement of the beginnings and growth of our work abroad? Wdiat progress has been made in establishing a na- tive church? What are the conditions surrounding the native Christians? Are the churches becoming self-supporting, and are they being taught to win souls and to extend the gospel privileges to their own countrymen? \\'hat agencies have been es- tablished to train native leaders? How can the churches of America co-operate more effectively with our churches abroad? The answers to these and other questions will be found in the chapters of this little book. I am greatly indebted to missionaries and others for valuable material and hearty co-operation ; and to my wife, more than to all others combined, for inspiration and enriching suggestions. Dayton, Ohio, January 21, 1916. ILLUSTRATIONS Page The Bishop and Superintendents of Our Foreign Fields 2 Bishop A. T. Howard. Rev. E. M. Hursh — West Africa. Rev. Joseph Cosand — Japan. Rev. P. W. Drury — Porto Rico. Rev. H. W. Widdoes — Philippine Islands. Rev. E. B. Ward— China. Our Responsibility and Opportunity Abroad 12 Philip William Otterbein 19 Missionary Memorial Tablet 20 Our First Foreign Missionaries ol Rev. W. J. Shuey. Rev. D. K. Flickinger. Dr. D. C. Kumler. Mrs. A. L. Billheimer. Mrs. Lucy Caulker Curtis, One of the Two First Converts.... 38 The First Chapel and Missionary Residence Erected Abroad.. 38 A Rescued Castaway in the Foundling Home, China 55 One of Our Self-Supporting Congregations 56 The Christless Millions G5 Worshipping the Japanese Emperor During His Illness 66 A Group of United Brethren Pastors and Christians, Japan 66 Filipinos Who Have Not Had a Chance 79 Students in the Young Women's Bible Training School, P. I... 79 The Transforming Power of the Gospel 80 An African Ju Ju Leader. Rev, R. Cookson Taylor. A Bible Class for Men, Juana Diaz, Porto Rico 93 Patients Waiting at the Dispensary, Rotifunk, West Africa... 93 Converts at Siu Lam, China 9-1 LTnion Printing Plant, Porto Rico 113 Editorial Room in Our Publishing House, Philippines 113 The Boys' Grammar School, Canton, China 114 Our Kindergarten, Tokyo, Japan 114 Missionary Group Leaders, Annville, Pa 131 A Congregation in the Philippines 132 United Brethren Chapel, Cava, P. 1 132 I GOD PREPARING AMERICA FOR WORLD LEADERSHIP America is the steward of a great heritage. No one can read the story of the coming of Prot- estant Christianity to the United States, and of its remarkable growth in spite of stupendous dif- ficulties, without having a much larger apprecia- tion of the vitality of the world-conquering gos- pel of Jesus Christ, and also a quickened sense of our great obligation to pass on to other nations that which has so enriched ours. God's hand so clearly seen in the beginnings and development of our country, produces the conviction that America has been providentiallv prepared to be a mighty force in the universal spread of the gospel in this hour of world crisis Religious Liberty and Protestant Ideals Many of America's first settlers came to this country for the purpose of securing religious freedom and to publish evangelical Christianity. The religion of the Pilgrim fathers made them restless. God had spoken to them : "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee ; and I will make of thee a great na- tion." The Mavflower headed westward was but 14 OUR CHURCH ABROAD another exodus from a land of persecution to the land of promise, where a new commonwealth was about to be born in which equal civil and religious rights were to be enjoyed by all. Later, the hand of God was clearly revealed in the triumphs of the British colonies over the French and Indians. This opened the way for the English language, religious liberty, and Prot- estant missions to spread over the vast territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes. This whole section of our country was thus saved, as we shall see later, from the blighting, aggressive power of French infidelity. Missionaries Sent to America A strong factor in establishing Christianity in the United States was the missionary propaganda carried on in our country by Christian leaders in England, Holland, and Germany during the eighteenth century. America was regarded as one of the most promising mission fields of the world two centuries ago. In the year 1701, there was chartered in Eng- land "The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." The first missionaries sent by this society to the United States were Revs. George Keeth and John Talbott, who landed at Boston, June 11, 1702. Mr. Keeth trav- eled from Maine to South Carolina on a tour of investigation. He reported : "To many, our message was as the sowing of seed, who probably never so much as heard a GOD PREPARING AMERICA 15 sermon preached before we came. . . . There are good materials prepared for the building of churches, of living stones, as soon as ministers shall be sent among them." Other missionaries were sent to different parts of the country, including Rev. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This English missionary society was supporting sev- enty-seven workers in the United States at the time of the American Revolution. The society in Scotland "for Promoting Chris- tian Knowledge" sent five missionaries to the American Indians between 1741 and 1748. David Brinard, who conducted powerful revivals among the Indians, was supported by this society. Irish Presbyterians and the Moravians sent mission- aries to our country also during this same period. Holland Challenges Germany. The destitute Dutch and German colonies in the United States sent earnest appeals to Holland and Germany for missionaries. The Dutch Reformed Church of Holland was rich in money. Germany and Swit- zerland were rich in men, but the devastating wars had made them poor in money. Accord- ingly, the Dutch Reformed Church challenged Germany and Switzerland to furnish the men, and they would furnish the money to send mis- sionaries to America. Rev. Michael Schlatter was accepted as a can- didate, and sent as a missionary to Pennsylvania in 1746. After five years of service, he returned to Holland and gave a report of his missionary 16 OUR CHURCH ABROAD work. He urged the committee to send out six additional missionaries. His report was received with much enthusiasm, and he was authorized to proceed to Germany to secure the new workers, and to offer to each missionary his traveling ex- penses to America and a salary of one hundred and eighty dollars a year. After visiting Her- born and Heidelberg universities and St. Gall, Switzerland, without securing the necessary workers, Mr. Schlatter returned again to the University of Herborn. He presented the vast field for service in the new world, the spiritual destitution of the people, and the urgent need of missionaries. He informed the young men that the Christians in Holland had put up the money, and he urged them to accept the challenge by giving their lives to this work. Professors Schramm, Arnoldi, and Rau, of the University of Herborn, were men of deep spirituality and of wide knowledge of the living movements of their day. They were leaders in the aggressive work of the kingdom and were in hearty sympathy with this missionary undertaking. A Remarkable Volunteer Band. With such a spiritual atmosphere as prevailed at Herborn, and with such aggressive leadership, it is not surpris- ing that Philip William Otterbein, later the founder of the United Brethren Church, Henry William Stoy, John Waldenschmidt, Theodore Frankenfield, John Jacob Wissler, and John Cas- per Rubel, the "flower of the young ministry of GOD PREPARING AMERICA 17 Nassau," stepped to the front and volunteered for foreign service. There was no small stir among the students, and the brothers and other relatives of Mr. Otter- bein, Avhen it was reported that he had volun- teered for service in America. His mother "hastened to her closet, and after being relieved by tears and prayers, she came from her chamber strengthened, and, taking William by the hand and pressing that hand to her bosom, she said : *Go ; and the Lord bless thee and keep thee . . . and with much grace direct thy steps. On earth I may not see thy face again, but go !' " On departing for his far-away field, the pro- fessors of Herborn gave Otterbein a strong testi- monial, which concluded as follows : "We recommend him to the protection of the Almighty, and we pray that He might give him the richest divine blessings in the work to which he has been called and to which he is so willing to go, and we wish him. from the bottom of our souls, success." Rev. Mr. Schlatter then went with his candi- dates to The Hague in Holland, and he thus described some of them to the committee : "Otterbein, quiet and pious ; Waldenschmidt, honest and sincere ; Stoy, intelligent and kind- hearted ; Wissler, greatly gifted and generous." They all passed a satisfactory examination and were there consecrated as missionaries. 18 OUR CHURCH ABROAD The company set sail for America, and after three and a half months at sea, they landed in New York, July 27, 1752. Rev. John Muhlenberg, a pioneer missionary of the Lutheran Church, on meeting these new workers, addressed them in the Savior's words : "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Germany thus furnished the missionaries while Holland gave the money to send them forth. In all, thirty-nine missionaries were supported by the Dutch Reformed Church of Holland in the United States during the eighteenth century. To the praise of the unselfish Dutch Reformed Church it should be said that they gave of their money to support not only missionaries to their own Church in the United States, but to the Ger- man Reformed Church as well. This early missionary efifort prepared the Chris- tian church and Christian leaders in the United States to meet the great tests that followed. Infidelity Aggressive During the period of the American Revolution, the work of the Christian churches was seriously interfered with, and there was a marked decline in spirituality. Practically no revivals took place from 1775 to 1795. To make matters worse, a movement was started in France to create books and pamphlets on infidelity and circulate them in the United States. Many infidel clubs were organized in Philip William Otterbein .-^ MISSIONARY MEMORIAL TABLET Unveiled at Otterbein University on May 6, 1915 GOD PREPARING AMERICA 21 different parts of our country. These were in affiliation with similar organizations in France. Their avowed purpose was to destroy Christian- ity. Their atheistic propaganda was carried on systematically and with great persistence. Some of the leading statesmen and scholars were among its advocates. The movement was carried into the colleges, and after a number of years, there were few professing Christians in Yale, Harvard, or Princeton colleges. When John Adams became President of the United States in 1800, he described the situation as follows : "The most precious interests of the United States are still held in jeopardy by the dissemina- tion of those principles subversive of the founda- tion of all religious, moral, and social obliga- tions." So powerful and wide-spread w^as this move- ment that some made the prediction that in "two generations Christianity would altogether disap- pear." But God raised up able, indigenous leaders to meet this onslaught of infidelity, though their work had to be carried on with very meager equipment, for the British authorities had refused to allow English Bibles to be printed in the United States up to the time of the Revolution, and the supply of Christian books and tracts was very limited. 22 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Evangelical Christianity Winning Prominent among those who championed the cause of Christianity was Dr. Timothy Dwight, who became president of Yale College in 1795. He found organized atheistic clubs and many infidels in the school. Among the subjects for class disputation, Doctor Dwight selected this one, "Is the Bible the Word of God?" He told the students to do their best. He heard all they had to say and he answered them. He advocated in a convincing manner the fundamental truths of Christianity. A powerful quickening from God came to the college, and infidelity skulked and retreated. Revivals of religion were taking place in dififer- ent parts of the country and the tide was turning in favor of God and evangelical Christianity at the opening of the past century. Thus, through the sacrifices and victories of the eighteenth century, the United States emerged with the English as the official language and with Protestant Chrsitianity fighting a winning battle against infidelity and preparing to put on the full armor of God for the evangelization of the whole country and of the world. Who can imagine what the religious, political, and social condition of our country would have become had the French gained the ascendency instead of the English, with French Catholicism and infidelity in control? And who can estimate the importance of the early missionary propa- ganda in our country and of the far-reaching work GOD PREPARING AMERICA 23 of Philip William 'Otterbein, Francis Asbury, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Gilbert Tenent, James Manning, Michael Schlatter, John Muhlenberg, and their co-laborers during that critical formative period? Making a Strong Home Base The victories of the Christian leaders in church and state during the eighteenth century, from 1700 to 1800, prepared our country as far west as the Mississippi River for an unparalleled mission- ary propaganda. An Expanding Mission Field. Through the Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, that vast and rich territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains came under the Stars and Stripes. All of this was then opened for the first time to Protestant missions ; for under Spanish and French control Protestant worship had been strictly forbidden, and at the time of this pur- chase, not a single Protestant church had been established west of the Mississippi River. Again, through the exploration of Lewis and Clark in 1805, the great Oregon country was opened and later became a part of the United States ; and thus Protestant missions had an open door from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is estimated that not more than five hundred thousand persons were living west of the Alle- gheny Mountains in 1800. A great stream of emigrants then began to move westward. In a single month, a gate-keeper on a Pennsylvania 24 OUR CHURCH ABROAD turnpike counted over five hundred wagons filled with three thousand emigrants going westward over one road. In 1812, there were one million persons west of the Alleghenies, and in 1830, four million. Organized Missionary Activity. The spirit of missionary activity and organization took a firm hold on the churches in the East. As early as 1796, a missionary society was organized in New York. The Missionary Society of Connecticut was formed in 1789; and the year following, the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society was organized. From 1801 to 1818, sim- ilar societies were formed in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, and Vermont ; but the field of operations for all these was limited to Maine, Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania. To meet the vast needs west of the Alleghenies, it became apparent that the missionary societies in the East must increase their activities and unite their forces. Accordingly, in 1812, the Mas- sachusetts and Connecticut missionary societies united in sending Samuel J. Mills, the hero of the Haystack Prayer Meeting, and J. F. Shermerhorn on a tour of investigation west of the Alleghenies. They journeyed through Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- nois, and southward through Kentucky, Tennes- see, Mississippi, and Louisiana, counseling with the governors of the States and territories and gathering the most careful data of the moral con- ditions of the people. In all Mr. Mills spent about three years in these tours, preaching as he GOD PREPARING AMERICA 25 went and forming Bible and tract societies. He made the first official report on the spiritual con- dition of the people west of the Alleghenies. His report, which made a profound impression on the Christian leaders of the East, concluded as fol- lows : "This vast country contains more than a mil- lion inhabitants. Their number is every year increased by a mighty flood of emigrants. There are districts containing from twenty to fifty thou- sand inhabitants, entirely destitute. 'xAnd how shall they hear without a preacher?' " In response to this appeal, twelve preachers were sent out from Massachusetts immediately, and others followed year by year. Many pioneer-preachers, in all the communions of the East, plunged into the moral wilderness of the West on their own initiative, without being supported by any society or conference. More than a dozen Uriited Brethren preachers were thus at work in Ohio and Indiana when Mills made his famous missionary tours. It was largely through this individual effort that the Miami Conference was formed, in 1810, and the Mus- kingum, in 1818. But the onward march of the population into the States and Territories west of the Alleghenies made it more and more clear that their spiritual needs could not be met without more statesman- like missionary plans. Agencies Multiplied. The American Bible So- ciety, formed in 1816, the American Sunday 26 OUR CHURCH ABROAD School Union, in 1817, and the American Tract Society, in 1825, became powerful agencies for the reinforcement of missionary work. Many denominations organized active home missionary societies during the years from 1819 to 1850. The Presbyterian, Congregational, Dutch Reformed, and Associate Reformed churches united in forming "The American Home Missionary Society," in 1826. This so- ciety, in 1829, sent sixty-two missionaries into Ohio, eighteen to Indiana, twelve to Illinois, ten to Michigan, and nineteen to other western States and Territories. The United Brethren Church organized twelve conference home missionary societies from 1838 to 1848. Some of these contributed funds for missionary work in the far West. Printing and publishing agencies, Sunday- school boards, and church-erection societies, Young People's societies, and Young Men's Chris- tian Associations and Young Women's Christian Associations began to be organized to help for- ward the great work. Many denominational colleges and theological seminaries and other schools were established for the training of Christian leadership. The growth in Protestant church membership from one decade to another throughout the cen- tury, was most inspiring. GOD PREPARING AMERICA 27 Birtli of Foreign Missions in America Having received missionary aid from other countries, the churches of the United States early recognized the obligations and privileges of send- ing the gospel to non-Christian lands. The American foreign missionary movement had its birth in a student prayer meeting at Wil- liams College, Massachusetts, in 1806, at which Samuel J. Mills, after prayer and counsel with four associates, made his famous declaration, "We can do it if we will." This led to the forma- tion of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in 1810. In the work of this board, the Presbyterian and Reformed churches united for some years with the Con- gregational Church. The Massachusetts legislature at first refused to grant a charter to this foreign missionary so- ciety on the ground that "America has no religion to export." The Christian leaders are said to have replied, "Religion is a commodity of which the more you give away the more you have left." After reconsidering the matter, the legislature granted the charter, and this society sent Gordon Hall, Samuel Newell, Samuel Nott, Jr., Luther Rice, Adoniram Judson, in 1812, to India and Burmah as America's first foreign missionaries. The Baptist Foreign Missionary Society was organized in 1814. The Methodists began foreign missionary work in 1832. Many other commun- ions organized foreign missionary societies from 1835 to 1850. 28 OUR CHURCH ABROAD United Brethren Foreign Missions Many of the leaders of the United Brethren Church were early interested in foreign missions. While a number of sporadic efforts were made from 1840 to 1850, the first local foreign mission- ary society in the denomination was formed in Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio, in 1852. In commemoration of this fact, and in recognition of the fifty students who have gone out from Otterbein University to foreign mission fields, a bronze tablet was unveiled at the Sixtieth Anniversary Meeting of the Foreign Missionary Society, held in Westerville, Ohio, May 6, 1915. Some months after the action at Otterbein University, the Sandusky Conference organized a foreign missionary society and petitioned the General Conference as follows : "Resolved, That our delegates to the ensuing General Conference (1853) are instructed to pray said Conference to take such measures as will create an effective foreign missionary society; that we, as a Church, may confidently look for- ward to the time, not far distant, when the Church of the United Brethren in Christ will have active missionaries in foreign lands." Early in October, 1852, the Scioto Conference formed a foreign missionary society, and a week later, the Muskingum Conference took similar action and voted the following: "That we congratulate our friends at Wester- ville for waking up the foreign missionary enter- prise, and, although few and feeble, yet it has GOD PREPARING AMERICA 29 resulted, as we believe, effectively in waking up action in some of our annual conferences." The Allegheny Conference, on January 7, 1853, formed the "Allegheny Conference General For- eign Heathen Missionary Society." It seemed difficult to get the churches to undertake actual foreign missionary work as distinct from frontier work, and hence special emphasis was placed on both foreign and heathen in the name of this society. A General Missionary Society Organized. At the General Conference in May, 1853, ''The Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society of the United Brethren in Christ'* was organizea and a constitution adopted which remained prac- tically unchanged down to 1905, when the Gen- eral Conference created "The Home Missionary Society" and "The Foreign Missionary Society" as separate and distinct organizations. Some of the strongest personalities of the Church were associated with the origin and de- velopment of our missionary work. Bishops Glossbrenner, Edwards, and Weaver were early promoters, and each served for a period as pres- ident of the board. Rev. J- B. Ressler was the secretary of the committee which prepared and reported to the General Conference the constitu- tion of the society. Dr. Lewis Davis was the chairman of the first Executive Committee. But the one who did most to arouse the Church to action, was Rev. John C. Bright, who served as the first secretary of the society. 30 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Aims and Purposes. The clear insight and deep convictions of the first directors of our foreign missionary work are revealed in the aims and purposes they announced at the first meeting of the society, held at Westerville, Ohio, June 1, 1854: "That this Missionary Board will make it a primary object to give the gospel of Christ to all men in all countries in its unmixed and original purity. ''That we are more than ever convinced of the obligations resting upon us as ministers of Him who said, 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gosepl to every creature,' and also as members of the Christian church in general, to give the gospel, the whole gospel, to the heathen abroad as well as to our fellow countrymen at home. "That, in the opinion of this Board, one of the first duties of the missionary after arriving in a heathen country is to apply his mind to acquire a knowledge of the language or dialect of the natives, so that he may be able as soon as pos- sible to speak to the people in their own tongue and without an interpreter. "That we place but little confidence in the building up of missionary schools for the purpose of teaching the heathen a foreign language and a foreign literature ; yet we advise our missionaries as soon as practicable, to erect schools for the purpose of teaching the heathen a more perfect knowledge of their own language, and the ordi- nary science pertaining to civilized life. And GOD PREPARING AMERICA 31 also by the aid of their schools let the Scripture be given to the heathen in the language wherein they were born, as soon as possible. "That, while we believe it will be many years before our missions in heathen countries will become self-supporting, yet we will labor to pro- duce this result as soon as possible. "That we do most earnestly and affectionately request all our ministers and members of the Church to make it a regular business to pray for the success of the missionaries, and particularly for those of our dear brethren who may be endur- ing the hardships and privations incident to a missionary life in an uncivilized country." Going and Groziing Immediately following the organization of our missionary society, a remarkable period of mis- sionary and evangelistic activity took hold of our denomination, and within eight years there- after the communicant membership of the Church more than doubled, increasing from forty-seven thousand, in 1853, to ninety-four thousand four hundred and fifty-three, in 1861. The Woman's Missionary Association, organ- ized in 1875, became a powerful agency in the education and enlistment of the women, girls, and children of the Church in the extension of the kingdom. A Challenge to Faith It was a great challenge to faith to attempt the work of foreign missions in the United 32 OUR CHURCH ABROAD States at the beginning of the past century ; for at that time, as already mentioned, there was not a single Protestant church west of the Mississippi River, and there were but few churches in the East and most of these were with- out equipment. The achievements of God in the United States and in all the world as a result of the century's work, abundantly justify the wis- dom of the early leaders in developing missionary work for America and for the non-Christian lands simultaneously, thus lengthening the cords and strengthening the stakes at the same time. For the United States, the century was one of remarkable growth in population, and still more remarkable in missionary achievements. The population of the United States increased nine- teen-fold from 1800 to 1916, growing from five million three hundred and eight thousand, to one hundred million. The Protestant church mem- bership multiplied sixty-eight-fold during the same time, increasing from three hundred and sixty-four thousand eight hundred and seventy- two, to twenty-five million. A Century of Progress Abroad The century brought marvelous transforma- tions in foreign mission fields. Messengers of God have gone into all parts of the world ; continents have been explored ; highways established ; lan- guages reduced to writing; and the Word of God has been translated into six hundred different lan- guages and dialects. Schools and medical work GOD PREPARING AMERICA 33 have been established and a native church has arisen in each foreign field, which now aggregates in membership three million two hundred and fifty thousand souls. In addition, there are more than four million adherent church members. Much of the foundation work for the evangeliza- tion of the non-Christian world has been accom- plished. A great harvest of souls is being gathered. A new world now confronts the Christian churches of America. Since the beginning of the European war, the waiting millions in non-Chris- tian lands look to our country as to no other for Christian leadership. Our country has been blessed to be a blessing. The inspiring work of our own missionaries and their native associates in laying the foundations of the kingdom of God in destitute lands, will be given in the chapters that follow. II BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD The Christian's chief possession and the world's greatest need is Christ. The greatest privilege of the Christian is to share this great possession with the hungry, waiting world. No student of God's Word or close follower of Jesus Christ will question for a moment that Christ's coming and work of redemption were for a world, nor will such a one have a lower aim for his life than had his Master. ''The church was established," say Robert E. Speer, "to spread Christianity ; and when, in any age or in any land, she has forgotten this, she has paid for her disobedience. So long as there are any unreached men in the world or any unreached life, the business of the church is her missionary duty." Christ made this unmistak- ably clear when he said : "As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you." "Go ye into all the world and preach the gos- pel to every creature." "If ye love me, ye will keep my command- ments." Africa Chosen First Field. It was solely in the spirit of loyalty and obedience to Jesus Christ that our fathers undertook the great work of BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 35 carrying the g-ospel to the non-Christian world at a time when our Church numbered but forty- seven thousand members. It was not theirs to question the expediency of such a move. Theirs was the duty to obey Christ. So, with genuine heroism, they chose Africa as our first foreign field, "because," as they said, *'it is the most needy field, and the one most difficult to culti- vate." At the first session of the Missionary Society, at AVesterville, Ohio, Tune 1, 1854, Rev. W. J. Shuey was appointed to locate a mission in Africa. The Executive Committee, in November follow- ing, appointed Rev. D. K. Flickinger and Dr. D. C. Kumler as missionaries to accompany Mr. Shuey. They set sail from New York, January 23, and they landed at Freetown, West Africa, Feb- ruary 26, 1855. To the civilized world, Africa was then but little more than a huge interroga- tion point. Its vast area, greater in extent than the United States, China, and India combined, was filled with hundreds of tribes who had never seen a white man. Pioneer Work and First Fruits 1855-1865 * Our early missionaries had to open the work amid strange and most depressing conditions. The half of what they suflfered in hardships, fevers, and loneliness has never been told. Soon after landing in Africa, they made frequent trips of investigation by small boat for the purpose of 36 OUR CHURCH ABROAD finding a location for the mission. Mokelli, on the Jong River, was finally selected as the first station. The town was diflicult of access and did not fully satisfy those who selected it. Illness befell the little party of missionaries, and by the end of fifteen months they had all returned to America ; so the work was not opened at this point. Conditions, in general, in Sierra Leone were found so discouraging and dark that the board, at its meeting in June, 1856, passed the following resolution : "We would not conceal the fact that the moral and physical conditions of Africa present gigantic obstructions to the progress of the gospel ; and were it not for the vast importance connected with its evangelization, and especially for the positive command of Christ to go there and preach, we should abandon the work in despair. We trust the Church has counted the cost and will stand by the board in every emergency." A year later, the board authorized Doctor Flickinger to investigate Liberia Avith a view to locating our African mission there. But after Doctor Flickinger's visit to Liberia, he returned to Sierra Leone fully persuaded that, though dark as was the outlook, it was the place to begin our work. After a number of interviews with Chief Caul- ker at Shenge, the latter offered a beautiful site for the mission, consisting of one hundred acres of land on a cape extending out into the sea. Rev. W. J. Shuey Rev. D. K. Flickinger Dr. D. C Kumler Mrs. A. L. Billheimer Our First Foreign Missionaries Mrs. Lucy Caulker Curtis One of the two first converts The First Chapel and Missionary Residence Erected Abroad BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABkOAD 39 A small, portable, frame chapel, which had been made in New York, was sent to Africa this same year and erected at Shenge by Rev. J. K. Bill- heimer and Dr. \\'. B. Witt, the missionaries on the field at that time. This chapel was twenty- four by thirty feet and was divided into three rooms. It served as a home for the missionaries, a church, and a school building. The First Fruits. After three years' labor, the missionaries were encouraged by the conversion of Thomas Tucker, about twenty years of age, and Lucy Caulker, a girl of fourteen, the daugh- ter of the chief. The latter, because of her stand for Christ, suffered great persecution. Her con- sistent Christian life in the home bore fruit some years later in the conversion of her father. She was a faithful and efficient worker in the church at Shenge until her death, in 1910. When Rev. Mr. Billheimer returned to Africa for the third term, in 1862, he was accompanied by Mrs. Billheimer, who went out as the first woman missionary from our Church. Mrs. Billheimer, who is still with us, declares : "These two converts saved the mission at times from utter discouragement. I don't think any one knows which of the two was converted first. Thomas Tucker was faithful to God and devoted to Mr. Billheimer. The missionary could not have endured the hard climate, the sickness, and privations without the loving service of Thomas. He was always with him on his missionary jour- neys. Long afterwards, we learned that faithful 40 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Tom slept every night at the door of the hut in which the missionary was sleeping. No one could pass Tom to harm his friend." The first decade closed with but two converts. A Period of Test 1865-1875 There was no missionary on the field from April, 1864, until December, 1866, when Rev. and Mrs. O. Hadley arrived at Shenge. They found things in a very discouraging condition. During the two years and a half when the work was left without a missionary, heathenism had almost overpowered the two converts and the small beginning which had been made. But Mr. Had- ley hopefully wrote : "Because Satan has his seat here, shall we faint and give up the conflict and go home like cowards, leaving all the vast field to him? Who shall stop to count numbers or money against the souls of the heathen?" For two years and a half the Hadleys served faithfully in Africa, which was the longest term of service any missionary had spent in that field during the first two decades. He literally wore out his life in the work. He was brought home sick, and died one week after their arrival at their home near Lafayette, Indiana, April 28, 1869. Africa Again Without a Missionary. The Gen- eral Conference of 1869 took up the matter and strongly urged that the mission in Africa be aban- doned ; but the faith-daring secretary. Doctor Flickinger, pleaded for its continuance, declaring that "a glorious harvest of souls shall yet be gath- BEGIXXINGS AXD GROWTH ABROAD 41 ered there by the church which will sustain labor- ers in that field." There were no men to send and no money with wliich to send them, but the Gen- eral Conference voted to keep the way open and authorized that men and money be sent as early as they could be secured. The work in the meanwhile was left in the hands of a native pastor, Mr. Williams, who had been secured from a mission school in Freetown, and who had been given supervision of the work during the former absence of missionaries on the field. A year later he died, and the infant mission striving to get a start was left destitute. This served as a challenge to the board, and a year later. Rev. and Mrs. Joseph Gomer, colored missionaries from America, were sent to the field. Mr. Gomer labored in Africa for twenty years. A beautiful incident illustrating the influence of his life, is told by a missionary who followed him at Shenge. The missionary was one Sabbath morning teaching a class of children.' Instead of using the name of Christ, he told them he would tell them of a man and then they were to guess his name. After describing Christ as best he could, telling them how he left his home and came to live among us, how he loved everybody, how he never did anything that was wrong, how he always went about doing good, etc., the children unanimously exclaimed, "It was Mr. Gomer !" First Churches Organized. Prospects bright- ened as more missionaries were added to the force. A call was issued in America through the 42 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Church papers for special gifts amounting to three thousand dollars for the erection of the first chapel. This was located at Shenge, anjd later another native chapel was built at Bompetook, fourteen miles south of Shenge, to which place the missionaries had been itinerating. At these points were organized the first congregations abroad with a total membership of twenty-four. Among the converts was Chief Caulker, the father of Lucy Caulker, one of the first converts, and the man who had given one hundred acres for the mission station. The conditions for membership laid down for the very first organization, were : "A man had to give up all but one wife, free any slaves in his possession, surrender membership in the Porro Society, be no user or seller of liquor. No woman was admitted who was the wife of a man possess- ing other wives." The significance of these con- ditions and what they meant in the lives of the converts, will be better appreciated after seeing the social and religious conditions in which the church abroad is born and developed, as discussed in the following chapter. At the close of the second decade, we had two organized churches with twenty-four members, one mission house, and two chapels. Organizing and Extending the Work 1875-1885 The most important event of the third decade was the opening of work by the Woman's Mis- B.EGIXXIXGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 43 sionary Association, in 1876, at Rotifunk, about fifty-five miles northeast of Shenge. Rotifunk at this time was a stronghold for slave traders, but in a few years the mission had secured the favor of the chief, who gave his influence toward enforc- ing the observance of the Sabbath in his town. There was a hearty response among the people. An interesting freewill offering was brought at the dedication of the chapel at Rotifunk. It con- sisted of sixty acres of land, five binkes of rice, one cow, one country cloth, and $27.14 in cash. Two weeks after the dedication of this chapel, war broke out and continued for two years, greatly interfering with the work. New Stations Opened and Mission District Formed. New stations were opened during this decade and additional day schools and Sunday schools were organized. Chiefs became interested and donated land for these stations averaging one hundred acres or more at Rotifunk, Palli, Rem- bee, Mambo, Mofus, Tongkoloh, and Bompetook. Industrial training was also introduced. On March 20, 1880, at a meeting at Shenge, the field was organized into a ''Mission District" with the following charter members : Revs. J. Gomer, D. F. Wilberforce, J. C. Sawyer, J. P. Hero, J. W. Pratt, and B. W. Johnson. This organization put hope into the hearts of the missionaries and the Church at home, for it gave promise of permanency. In 1883, the Mendi Mission of the American Missionary Association (Congregational), located contiguous to our field in Africa, was transferred 44 OUR CHURCH ABROAD to us under an agreement whereby that associa- tion paid five thousand dollars annually for six consecutive years for the support of this work. The Freedmen's Missionary Aid Society of Lon- don also donated $6,000 for the support of mission work under our board in West Africa. A monthly periodical, "The Early Dawn," was published for a number of years and became the pioneer Christian publication in our foreign fields. At the close of the third decade, there were twelve missionaries on the field, twenty-four native workers, and nine organized churches with a membership of about two hundred and fifty. Training Schools and Nezv Missions 1885-1895 An important event in the fourth decade was the founding of the Rufus Clark and Wife Train- ing School at Shenge. This institution was made possible by a gift of five thousand dollars from Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Clark, of Denver, Colorado, in 1886. The stones for the building were taken from the ruins of John Newton's famous slave pen on Plantain Island, a few miles off the mam- land at Shenge. Thus the wrath of man was made to praise God. The graduates of the Rufus Clark and Wife Training School are among the ablest Christian workers in Sierra Leone. Simultaneous with the founding of this school for boys, was the erection of the Mary Sowers Home for Girls at Rotifunk. The purpose of this school was to give the mission an opportunity to BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 45 do a permanent work for girls by taking them into the mission home and keeping them there until their training was completed. While a num- ber of girls were attending the day schools, they were constantly being taken away and either sold as wives or slaves, and the mission was powerless to prevent it. Revival at Rotifunk. This decade records a remarkable answer to prayer which brought great encouragement to the little church abroad. In 1890, special meetings for prayer for a revival at Rotifunk were held during the annual meeting of the Woman's Board, simultaneous with meetings for the same .purpose among the missionaries at Rotifunk. A most wonderful revival w^as the answer. Among the many converts were rum- sellers who closed out their business ; also the old chief, eighty years of age. His conversion reminded the missionaries of that of Saul of Tar- sus. Near the close of this decade, work was opened among the Mendi and Yonnie tribes. China Mission Opened. In the year 1889, the Woman's Missionary Association sent Rev. George Sickafoose, accompanied by Miss Austia ■Patterson (now Mrs. H. K. Shumaker) and Miss Lillian Schafifner, to open a mission in China. They decided to locate on the Island of Honam. with a population of three hundred thousand, a section of the large city of Canton. After com- pleting the task assigned him, Mr. Sickafoose returned to the United States, and at the expira- 46 OUR CHURCH ABROAD tion of one year Miss Schaffner was compelled to return on account of illness. Aliss Patterson studied the language, and, with the aid of a Bible woman, she was soon engaged in house-to-house visitation. She w^as reinforced in 1891 and 1892 by Dr. Halverson and Dr. Re- gina M. Bigler. A dispensary was opened in 1893. These were years of great hardship and suffering. The missionary and his purpose were poorly un- derstood by the Chinese. Bubonic plague raged in Canton, and our missionaries, in seeking to relieve suffering, were mobbed and nearly killed. Stories were current that the foreign doctor ad- ministered drugs to hasten death and then used the eyes of the dead for medicinal purposes. Almost simultaneous with the opening of evangelistic work in our China mission, was the beginning of educational and medical work — the two most powerful allies of the preached Word. The fourth decade closed with sixteen mission- aries on the fields, twenty-one native workers, and ten organized churches with a membership of four hundred. Lengthening the Cords 1895-1905 "Expansion" was the watchword of the fifth decade. A new mission was opened by the For- eign Missionary Society in Japan in 1895, and one in Porto Rico in 1899. The Woman's Mis- sionary Association opened work in the Philip- pines in 1901. BEGIXXINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 47 Mission Opened in Japan. The rising power of Japan as a result of her victory over China, chal- lenged our Church to open a mission in that empire. It was thought worth while to win the aggressive millions of Japan to Jesus Christ and to turn their active lives into channels for the uplift of the world. Rev. and Mrs. A. T. Howard were our first missionaries to this empire, the work having been opened under Japanese leadership. As Japan had already good provision for medical and day-school work, chief emphasis was given to evangelism and the raising up of a strong native ministry. In the year 1900, our mission entered into co-operation with the Doshisha University of Kyoto for the training of native leaders. Seven years after the founding of our Japan mission, we had eight splendid Japanese ministers and evan- gelists, and the Japan Mission Conference was organized in 1902. With this staff of Japanese leaders, preaching places were opened in different sections of Tokyo, Kyoto, and other important centers. At the close of the decade, there were seven organized churches, with a membership of two hundred and fifty-eight, most of whom be- longed to the student class. The first chapel was built in a very congested section of Tokyo. Spe- cial classes for women were organized and home visitation begun. Missionaries Follow the Flag to Porto Rico. Four months after Porto Rico became an Amer- ican possession, our mission opened its work in 48 OUR CHURCH ABROAD that island. Headquarters were located at Ponce, and Rev. and Mrs. N. H. Huffman and Rev. and Mrs. Philo W. Drury became our pioneer mis- sionaries. Within a year, the mission was con- ducting a day school, night classes, Sunday school, and preaching services in English and Spanish. The first church was organized at Ponce, a city of thirty thousand inhabitants, with ten members, ten months after the landing of the missionaries. The building of our first church at Ponce in 1902, and the organization of the mission into a Mission District two years later with three or- dained ministers and three other preachers, gave a decided impetus to our work in the island. Confronted with the great need for Christian literature in the language of the people, a print- ing press was purchased and a monthly periodical was issued, which rapidly gained wide circulation and became the. nucleus of the now splendid union paper of the island, "The Puerto Rico Evangelico." At the close of this decade, there were seven organized native churches with a membership of two hundred and forty-four. Our Missionaries Enter the Philippines. Early in 1901, the Woman's Missionary Association sent Revs. S. B. Kurtz and E. S. Eby as our pioneer workers to the Philippine Islands ; but the permanent location of the mission was not fixed until 1904, when Rev. and Mrs. H. W. Wid- does selected San Fernando, Union, as head- quarters. Work was begun by the distribution BEGIXXIXGS AXD GROWTH ABROAD 49 of tracts and the organization of a Bible class of twenty-five members. Cava, a town of four thousand inhabitants, four- teen miles from San Fernando, was visited. Many of the people had bought Bibles from a colpor- teur who had passed through the town, and they were eager to know the truth. Here, on Easter Day, 1904, our first church in the Philippines was organized, with eighteen members. From this little congregation have gone out five young men as ministers of the gospel. Much persecution was suffered by these first Protestant Christians, but most of them remained faithful. Before the close of the decade, four churches were organized, with a membership of one hundred and thirty-two. Bible institutes were held for the inspiration and training of workers, and a weekly paper, "The Naimbag-a-Damag" published in Ilocano, was started. Massacre and Reconstruction in Africa. The fifth decade in Africa was marked by a general uprising- over Sierra Leone, during which five of our missionaries at Rotifunk were massacred, in May, 1898: Rev. and Mrs. I. N. Cain, Dr. Mari- etta Hatfield, Dr. Mary C. Archer, and Miss Ella M. Schenck. Rev. and Mrs. L. A. McGrew, who were stationed at Taiama, were held as prisoners for some time, and were then taken to a sacrificial rock in the Taia River and were beheaded. A beautiful incident is told of Mrs. McGrew : After the mob had taken her husband's life, she asked permission to pray, and, kneeling down on the 50 OUR CHURCH ABROAD blood-stained rock, she prayed for the forgiveness of that angry mob, after which she bravely sur- rendered her life. During this insurrection, all our mission sta- tions were destroyed, save Bonthe, and the Chris- tians scattered and many were put to death. Immediately following these dark days, a num- ber of the native pastors, without direction or compensation from the board, took up itinerating work for the purpose of encouraging and strength- ening the hearts of the scattered flock. Four months after the massacre, Dr. and Mrs. J. R. King heroically set their faces toward Africa 'for their second term, to begin the work of re- construction. No record of church members could be found. After three months' effort, sixteen na- tive pastors and teachers were brought together. Four day schools and twelve preaching places were reopened. Union headquarters were located in Freetown with Doctor King as superintendent, for the work of both the General and Woman's boards. New missionaries were sent to the field, and churches were organized and buildings reconstructed. Al- bert Academy, a training school for young men, was opened in Freetown, in 1904. Important new stations were opened. At Moyamba, the head- quarters of the district government, a girls' board- ing school was opened, and boarding schools for boys at Rotifunk and at Shenge. Another important move in the reconstruction of work, BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 51 was the organization of a church in Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. The awakened interest among the African Christians, and their willingness to help to their utmost ability in a financial way, were manifested in the erection of a splendid stone church at Roti- funk as a memorial to our seven martyrs ; also the large brick church at Bonthe. These build- ings were erected almost exclusively with funds contributed by native Christians. The medical department, Avhich had barely made a beginning before the uprising, was reor- ganized at Rotifunk. Days of Test in China. The work in China, as in Africa, passed through a season of sore test and trial due to the Boxer uprising. The mission- aries were compelled to leave their stations ; though none of them lost their lives, the prog- ress of the work was much retarded. During this decade, our first chapel and dispen- sary were built in Canton, near the spot where our iTiissionaries were mobbed a few years be- fore. A day school for boys was opened, and a school for girls, which has since developed into Miller Seminary. The work was extended to surrounding towns and cities by occasional itinerating trips. Col- porteurs accomplished splendid results through the sale and distribution of Bibles and Christian literature throughout the country. Siu Lam, at present one of our strong stations, was opened during this decade. When Rev. Mr. 52 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Ward first visited that city, he was greeted with a shower of bricks and broken crockery and the cries of "Foreign devil !" and was driven out. The reader will be interested in noting the vic- tories achieved recently in Siu Lam, as given in a succeeding chapter. At the close of the decade, thirty-one mission- aries were at work in our five fields, and eighty- one native workers. There were thirty-eight or- ganized churches with a membership of one thou- sand four hundred and twenty-nine ; two dispen- saries ; thirty-eight Sunday schools ; six Christian Endeavor societies ; and fourteen day and board- ing schools. Remarkable Expansion 1905-1915 A strong educational campaign was carried forward among the home churches during this period. Systematic study of missions was taken up by many churches, and forty-five thousand copies of foreign mission books were read and studied during the ten years. Great Growth Abroad. As a result of this thor- ough educational propaganda, the gifts from all sources to foreign missions increased during the first half of the decade from forty-eight thousand to one hundred thousand dollars annually, thus making possible an inspiring growth in the work abroad. New missionaries were added to the staff, and a number of our largest buildings abroad were erected at this time. Through the BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 53 splendid gift, from yir. Ralph Leiniger, of seven thousand dollars, which was supplemented by other gifts, a substantial building was supplied for Albert Academy, Freetown. The Hatfield- Archer dispensary, at Rotifunk, was built largely with bricks made by the boys in the industrial school at that place. The Girls' Boarding School at Moyamba, West Africa, the Foundling Home in Canton, China, and excellent mission headquarters in Japan, Africa, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, were erected during this period. Chart Showing the Growth in Membership on Our Mission Fields Decades 1855 1865 1875 1885 1895 1905 1915 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 Members In recent years the Sunday schools and Chris- tian Endeavor societies became strong recruiting and training agencies ; day schools were multi- plied, and organized native churches were planted in most of the important centers abroad. All these are growing rapidly and are passing through the formative, critical period of their career. 2 1 24 ■ 250 ■ 4on s ^1429 ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^■6432 54 OUR CHURCH ABROAD This growth brought new requirements for the missionaries and native leaders. A Christian lit- erature in the vernacular was created, and strong^ emphasis given to strengthening the spiritual life of the church membership and to inculcate prin- ciples of evangelism and self-support. Intensive Training Work. To reach the ulti- mate goal for foreign missions — namely, to estab- lish a strong native church — well qualified native leaders are of supreme importance. To supply such leaders for the rapidly growing churches abroad, our missions planned for a number of training institutions. The Young Women's Bible Training School was established at San Fernando, Philippine Islands, and the Bqys^Grammar School in Canton, China; the Miller Seminary for girls was transferred from Canton to Siu Lam, China; and the Albert Academy was greatly strength- ened as a training agency. For the sake of econ- omy and efficiency, in addition to co-operating with the Doshisha University in Japan, our mis- sions united with other communions in China, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands in estab- lishing schools for the training of native pastors. Philanthropic work was undertaken in China. The Foundling Home was established in Canton for the saving of baby girls, tens of thousands of whose lives are recklessly destroyed each year. In response to repeated and urgent calls from the Kono country. West Africa, for a missionary, the mission opened work among the sixty thou- sand of this needy tribe in 1910. During the same r V A Rescued Castaway, in the Foundling Home, China BEGIXXIXGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 57 period, our missionaries in the Philippines began work among the primitive, untouched tribes of the Ig-orrotes. At the close of the sixth decade, we had sixty- four missionaries on the field ; one hundred and seventy-four native workers ; one hundred and two organized churches, with a membership ot six thousand four hundred and thirty-two ; one hundred and sixteen Sunday schools, and forty- three day and boarding schools. The medical work had grown until over thirty thousand pa- tients are treated annually. The following sta- tistical table will give in detail the growth of six decades : Decades 1865 1875 1885 1895 1905 1915 . Missionaries 2 « 12 in 31 64' Ordained Native Workers 4 25 Total NaUve Worlvers 24 21 81 174 Organized Churches 2 9 10 38 102 Conimimicant Members 2 24 250 400 1,429 6.432 Sunday Schools 13 10 38 llfi Simday- school Enrollment ... 503 6!J6 2.243 7,199 Young People's Societies 1 G 34 Members in Young People's Societies 35 239 765 Day and Boarding Schools ... . 12 9 14 43 Pupils in Day and Boarding Schools 426 594 901 1,669 Dispensaries 2 2 8 Cases Treated ... ... ... *165,741 Value of Mission Property $25,000 $30,000 $76,927 $259,678 *For six years. Perfecting Admijiistratkc Work Much attention was given during this period to the study of the principles of missionary admin- istration with a view to greater efiiciency. The Woman's Missionary Association, at the General Conference of 1909, sought closer co-op- eration with both the Home and Foreign mission- 58 OUR CHURCH ABROAD ary societies. By the action of this Conference, representatives from the Woman's board became members of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Committee of the Foreign Missionary Society, and thus the entire work in our five for- eign fields was united under one administrative body. This has brought unity to the work abroad, and it gives to the missionaries and native church the united intercession and support of the entire Church in America. This plan of co-operation is generally considered the ideal relation of General and Woman's boards, toward which other denom- inations are working. Three Adiniuistrative Bodies In carrying forward this world-wide enterprise, three administrative bodies are at work : First, the Foreign Mission Board in the United States; second, the Mission Council in each foreign field, which is composed of all the foreign missionaries ; and third, the Foreign Mission Conference in each field, composed of the missionaries, native workers, and lay delegates. Each of these has its distinct function : The Foreign Mission Board has the responsi- bility for the selection and sending forth of the missionaries, and for the formation of such pol- icies as will meet the ever-changing conditions and needs of the growing native churches and institutions abroad. The Foreign board is also responsible for the education and enlistment of BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH ABROAD 59 the home churches in the support of foreign mis- sions. The Mission Council in each field is charged with the responsibility for all institutional work, such as higher educational, medical, industrial, and philanthropic enterprises, and the general oversight of the entire field. Each missionary is expected to study the problems of the whole mis- sion and catch the vision and inspiration of the entire work, while giving special attention to the specific task to which he has been assigned. This enables the Mission Council in its annual sessions to reach the wisest possible decisions for the promotion of the work as a whole. The Foreign Mission Board relies more and more on the in- sight and judgment of the missionaries as ex- pressed in the findings of the Alission Council, which council forms the connecting link between the home board and the native church on the field. The Foreign Mission Conference in each field is now a well-organized body which receives and passes on reports of workers, and creates com- mittees to study and report on various important phases of the work ; it disciplines its own mem- bers, -stations the pastors to their fields of labor, and plans largely for its own work in evangelism, self-support, and self-extension. The native church abroad is rising to the place of supreme importance. It is the permanent or- ganization of the future, and both the Foreign Mission Board and the Mission Council exist solely for its development. Ill CONDITIONS SURROUNDING THE NATIVE CHURCH To establish a strong native church in each non- Christian land, is the goal of foreign missions. The glory of our work abroad is not in the build- ings erected nor in the number of foreign mission- aries on the field, but in the living, growing, native churches at work to win their fellow coun- tryrnen to Christ and to change their environment to conform to Christian ideals. In this chapter, we shall seek to enter into fellowship with the native pastors, the native churches, and the missionaries, in the study of the problems and conditions with which they are grappling. AVe will not be unreasonable in our judgment of conditions which now prevail in non-Christian lands, when we remember that our own ancestors were "a barbarous, savage people." "Most of the non-Christian nations are con- siderably higher in the scale of civilization and achievement than Europe was in the days of St. Paul. Augustine of Canterbury found no such orderly society in England as Morrison found in China. Boniface labored in Germany among more lawless tribes than Carey met in India." ^ 'From "Rising Churches in Non-Christian Lands," page 3. COXDITIOXS SURROUNDING CHURCH 61 Christianity can do as much for other races as it has already done for ours. The great trans- formation that came to England and Germany thirteen centuries ago, when Christian mission- aries first entered these countries, is now taking- place in many non-Christian lands. The adverse conditions and appalling needs abroad cannot be fully appreciated until one lives and works in the midst of them. China No other country in the world presents greater opportunities for Christian work, coupled with more complex problems, than does China. In studying conditions in that empire, one should keep clearly in mind the vast multitude to be reached. Every fourth person born on earth looks into the face of a Chinese mother. China has a population four times as great as the United States. A\^hen her multitudes have been led to Christ, one-half of the pagan world will have been conquered by Christianity. Ancestral Worship. The very core of the reli- gious and social life of the Chinese, whether they be Confucianists, Buddhists, or Taoists, is the worship of ancestors. It is so thoroughly a part of the warp and woof of their life that it forms one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of Christianity. .V man in China cannot commit any greater ofifense against his family, against society, and against the government, than to renounce the worship of his ancestors. The most lenient pun- 62 OUR CHURCH ABROAD ishment that can be meted out to him is to make him an outcast from his family. Many of our converts in China have suffered such ostracism. It is pitiable to see the millions upon millions in China calling upon the spirits of their dead an- cestors as their only source of help ! Prejudice and Superstition. A conservative, depressing atmosphere prevails everywhere in China and an inborn prejudice against any change in established ways. Multitudes live in constant terror of evil spirits. They are afraid to break w^ith any custom of the past, or to delve into the earth to secure its rich deposits of coal and iron lest they thereby disturb the old dragon and some calamity befall them. A superstition prevails that no one should be allowed to die in a house not his own, for there- after the property could not be rented. Hence, when nearing death, the sick are carried to the sti^eets or to some out-of-the-way place in their last agony. Dead bodies are kept for months and even years waiting for a geomancer to discover a lucky day and a lucky place for the interment. Hardly can the purchase of property, marriage, or any important event in life, be entered into without first consulting a geomancer. Adverse Physical Conditions. The struggle for existence in China is most intense. The average wage for the laboring man is about nine cents a day. Poverty, awful poverty such as we can scarcely imagine, is here ! Millions have not one meal ahead ; hence, famine always follows floods. CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 63 Sanitation is unknown. There is disease of every description. Leprosy is common and not segregated. There is no quarantine for conta- gious diseases. Plague is an annual visitor in South China. Doctor Oldt writes : "In the height of the plague season, it is sometimes almost im- possible to work in the dispensary because of the continual noise of passing funerals." It is said that three-fourths of the babies die in infancy because mothers do not know how to properly care for them. An experienced worker writes : "As we pass along the dismal, six-foot-wide street, with houses built tightly together, and crowded by the throng- ing multitudes of tradesmen and bare-backed coolies with the perspiration streaming down their bodies, we notice all classes of people. There are dirty, grimy children with their heads a mass of boils and their legs swollen with gangrene or running ulcers ; there is a man just recovered from the smallpox with the scabs still peeling from his face ; here is another with his hands eaten off by leprosy, passing so close that he al- most touches us. Wt shrink and wish we could postpone the trip until another day ; but there is no use — we are liable to see the same thing any day." Ignorance a Great Problem. One of the out- standing difficulties before the advancing native church in China, is the utter lack of school facil- ities. China has discarded her old system of edu- cation, which consisted in a course of examina- 64 OUR CHURCH ABROAD tions in her ancient classics and caused every student to face the past with his back to the fu- ture. In making this colossal change, the millions in China constitute the most striking educational need found anywhere. Only two per cent, of the children of school age can be accommodated in her present schools. Think of it, there are sixty- five million children in China without school fa- cilities ! The mission schools have led China to recog- nize the fact that it is important to educate girls as well as boys. There are still three times as many girls enrolled in the mission schools as are found in schools controlled by the state. China cannot have colleges which give Western education until she has high schools. The gram- mar and primary grades must come before the high schools ; hence, the modern teachers of China must begin at the beginning. There is an unprec- edented call for capable teachers. Think of the task of developing an adecjuate school system out of the chaotic conditions existing among the hun- dreds of millions in China ! Missionaries have been asked to take charge of the educational mat- ters of entire provinces. The opportunity of ages is right now upon the Christian church to educate Christian teachers and Christian pastors for new China. When it is known that ninety-nine per cent, of the converts in China are illiterate, the stupendous educational problem that confronts our mission- ary workers in that field will be recognized. How IR le Christl Millions Wait the Light Whose Dawning Maketh All Things New" Japanese Before the Palace Worshiping the Emperor During His Illness A Group of United Brethren Pastors and Christians, Japan CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 67 supremely important, therefore, is the work of our day schools, the Boys' Grammar School, and the Miller Seminary! Strength and Courage. The more one studies the Chinese people, the more he appreciates their many noble qualities. They have a profound re- spect for education and learning. Their literature is older than that of any other nation. Their young men are able to meet the challenge ot scholarship from any student class of the world. They have energy, industry, and an economy scarcely excelled anywhere. They have marvel- ous endurance, and are willing to suffer any per- secution for the sake of the gospel when they have once accepted it. Christianity Changing China. It took one hun- dred years for Christian missions to get a firm grip on China. After Robert Morrison, the pio- neer missionary, had worked twenty-seven years, there were but three converts. At the end of fifty-three years, in I860, there were only nine hundred and sixty native Christians ; but at the present time, there are over three hundred thou- sand. The officials, students, and the literati are now turning in large numbers to Christianity. During the last twelve months, twenty times as many persons were converted to Christ in our own mission in China as were won by all the Christian workers during the first thirty-five years of Christian effort. 68 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Japan The Christian workers in Japan are achieving excellent results in spite of great obstacles. No Conception of God. The great difficulty met with in Japan is the fact that nine hundred and ninety out of every one thousand have no con- ception of God. The doctrine of the personality of God as Creator, is hard to grasp by the Japan- ese, who live in a pantheistic atmosphere. The painful processes through which a soul passes in becoming a Christian, are strikingly illustrated by the experience of Mr. Ishiguro. He writes : "Modern education led me to give up the worship of idols. Then I did not have any religion, and my soul at that time was in great trouble and not at all satisfied. Then I went to higher Buddhism ; but the Buddhists do not believe in the future. They say there is no existence in the hereafter ; there is no hope. When" almost ready to despair of life itself, a missionary gave me the Bible and helped me to understand it. Then I believed, and great light came into my soul and Jesus Christ became so precious to me! Oh, my friends, you who live in a country where Christianity has taught that God is our Father and that he made the heavens and the earth, you cannot understand how dark were these problems to me !" No Sense of Sin. Where there is no God, there is no conscious transgression — no adequate sense of sin. It is proper to lie when it is convenient to do so. "It is almost impossible to make a Jap- anese boy ashamed of having told a lie," writes CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 69 a missionary. "Show him that his lie has in it an element of cowardice or disrespect, and he can be made to see the evil of it, but not because it is an offense against the truth pure and simple." Social vices abound where the sense of sin is obscure. Polygamy, in the full sense of the term in which it is used in Africa, does not exist in Japan ; but concubinage is sanctioned by custom. Immorality is very lightly regarded. Girls often give themselves to lives of prostitution in order to get money to help their brothers through school, or help the family through some financial crisis. One woman in every seven, between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, is or has been a prostitute. There is a Buddhist priest in Japan for every five hundred of the population, and the great majority of these frequent houses of ill fame and make no attempt to hide the evils of their lives. Marriage and Family Customs — Barriers. A great hindrance to missionary work is the mar- riage custom. A Christian leader writes : "Many young people of both sexes, especially women, hesitate to come out openly and confess Christ in baptism, in view of the fact that they may be shortly married to unbelievers in union with whom they feel it would be impossible for them to perform their Christian duties. To object to a husband selected for her by her parents, is re- garded a very serious matter, and in cases where it does occur it is often followed by serious conse- quences." 70 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Extreme filial loyalty in Japan, which is an outgrowth of ancestral worship, constitutes an- other barrier. When a young man is convinced of the truth of Christianity, as a rule, he at once finds himself confronted with the opposition of his entire family. Thousands in Japan are passing through the same test of which Mr. Kiyoshi Yabe writes : "When I became a Christian, my father was tremendously grieved. He at once came to me and asked if I had not lost my senses. He said, Tf you will give up the religion of your ancestors and embrace Christ, from now on you are no longer my son.' Thus my father left me, but I still saw vividly his sad expression. I tried to forget him but failed. For a few minutes I passed through a hard trial. I almost decided to go after my father and tell him I had changed my mii,id. While I was somewhat hesitating about my important decision, the Holy Spirit whispered to my troubled soul, 'If any man cometh unto me and hateth not his own father, and mother . . . yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.' When I lifted up my head, the solution of my problem was clear." The great majority of converts in Japan thus far have come from the larger cities where family restraints have been lessened either by distance or occupation. It is very difficult to win converts to Christianity in the smaller towns and in the farming districts. This accounts in part for the CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 71 fact that the vast rural sections of Japan, consist- ing of thirty-five million persons, are almost un- touched by Christian workers. Other Difihculties. The native churches have to meet the fact that many of the leaders of Japan have a misconception of Christianity. They don't see how one can yield unreserved allegiance to Christ and at the same time be true to the em- peror and Japanese ideals. The majority of the students in Japan are ag- nostics. Modern scientific education has under- mined their belief in the realities of the old reli- gions. A great multitude of them are adrift con- cerning all spiritual realities. The religious cen- sus taken in the University of Tokyo, illustrates the spiritual conditions of the students generally in Japan. Of the five thousand students of this university, six reported themselves as Confucian- ists, sixty as Christians, three hundred as Bud- dhists, one thousand as atheists and three thou- sand six hundred as agnostics. A Great Change. A wonderful change has taken place in Japan the last fifty years. The missionaries and native Christians have had to meet the stupendous difficulties mentioned, with great patience, tact, and perseverance. The prog- ress of Protestant missions since 1872, when the first native church was organized with eleven members, is truly inspiring. There are now one hundred thousand Protestant Christians, with many more adherent members. 72 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Living witnesses for Christ are found in every walk of life — lawyers, editors, professors in uni- versities, judges, and members of the National Diet. The present Japanese chief justice of Ko- rea is a Christian. There are no mass movements in Japan as are found in India. Every step taken is by winning individuals one at a time, often through long processes, away from prejudice and superstition; hence, the victories achieved represent much in sacrifice and power on the part of the mission- aries and native members in Japan. The twentieth anniversary of the United Breth- ren mission in Japan, was recently celebrated. Our nineteen native churches, with a member- ship of over one thousand, and twenty-one Sun- day schools, are directed by well-trained, efficient leaders, thirteen of whom are ordained pastors. President Ibuka, one of Japan's strongest na- tive leaders, declares : ''Christianity is bringing into the language and literature of Japan, new world views, new ideals of life, new conceptions of sin, and new thoughts of God. The people are turning their eyes and thoughts to Christianity as that source of power adequate to the great task of a moral renewal of the people "Looking over the past fifty years, and remem- bering all that God has wrought, we may go for- ward with good courage and in strong confidence that the Land of the Rising Sun may one day be made the Land of the Risen Son of Righteous- ness." CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH IZ Porto Rico Gild the Philippine Islands The usual order of missionary development has been reversed in Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. The seed of the gospel in the natural order takes root first in the life of some individ- ual ; then it spreads to other lives and permeates the community; and last of all, the civil govern- ment is changed. But in the Philippine Islands and Porto Rico, through the providence of God, a government — the product of Christian civiliza- tion — was given to the people ; then Protestant missionaries were sent to preach and to teach the living Word, with the immense advantage of working under a Government which stands for protection, liberty, and opportunity. When for humanity's sake the Stars and Stripes were placed over Porto Rico and the Philippines, in 1898, God had a far-reaching purpose for the uplift of all Latin countries throughout the world. Poverty of the People. When the American missionaries entered Porto Rico and the Philip- pines, they were greatly impressed with the ex- treme poverty of the people. In the Philippines, the Friars had secured and held the most valuable land, and they rented the same at exorbitant prices. Thus the mass of the people were kept in abject poverty. In Porto Rico,, at the time of the American occupation, over one-half of the entire population were without remunerative occupations. Much of the land was owned by persons who lived in Spain, and the interior of the island was without 74 OUR CHURCH ABROAD passable roads. To make matters worse, one- fifth of the inhabitants were rendered homeless and a million dollars' worth of property was de- stroyed, in 1899, by a great hurricane. Want of School Facilities. At the time of the American occupation, but few schools were in operation in Porto Rico, and these of inferior g-rade. In the rural districts, comprising over seven hundred thousand persons, there were only fourteen so-called schools, with an enrollment of possibly two hundred and fifty pupils, and these .for boys only. When the Americans took posses- sion of the island, eighty-five out of every one hundred of the population above the age of five could neither read nor write. In the Philippine Islands, the situation was even more deplorable. Of the seven million peo- ple inhabiting the islands, it is said that only a few thousand boys and girls were in school at the time of the American occupation. One of the most inspiring incidents in all his- tory took place in 1901, when the transport "Thomas," with five hundred and forty-five trained American school teachers landed at Manila. All of these were teachers of experience or recent graduates of normal schools, colleges, and universities. They were stationed at differ- ent strategic places throughout the islands, and the great constructive work of modern education began. The growth of efficient schools in Porto Rico and the Philippines has been remarkable. In CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 75 Porto Rico, the number of children attending schools has increased during- the past seventeen years from a few thousand to two hundred and twenty thousand. In the Philippines, there were one hundred thousand pupils in the schools in 1903 ; three hundred and forty thousand in 1905 ; and at the present time, six hundred and thirty thousand children are receiving instruction in schools that rank high in efficiency. There are still in Porto Rico and in the Philippines a half- million children of school age without school fa- cilities. Immorality and Irreligion. A census was taken in Porto Rico soon after the American occupa- tion, which revealed the startling fact that one- third of the people living as husband and wife acknowledged that they were not married, and one hundred and forty-eight thousand six hun- dred and five illegitimate children were reported. Many of the Catholic priests, as is declared by their own historian, lived immoral lives. Some lived in open concubinage, and in nearly every town they were the leaders in gambling. "Like priest, like people" ; accordingly it is not surpris- ing that a large percentage of the people are im- moral. Many took refuge in the thought of the absolution from sin which the priest grants when confession is made. The immorality of the priests and the super- stition taught by the church, combined to produce a condition which caused thousands of the think- 76 OUR CHURCH ABROAD ing men to drift into indifference and utter unbe- lief concerning all spiritual realities. The priests put insuperable barriers in the way of legal matrimony by charging excessive mar- riage fees, and this encouraged illegitimacy. The Sabbath for ages has been the chief market and business day of the week, and the day for gamibling and cock fighting. For four hundred years, the Roman Catholic Church has had a religious monopoly in Porto Rico, and for over three hundred years in the Philippines. If ever a church had an opportunity to show what it could do, the Roman Catholic Church has had that opportunity in these islands. Its failure as a spiritual, moral, and educational force is abundant justification for the entrance into these islands of Protestant missionaries. It should be remembered that the Catholic Church in Latin countries is a very different church from the one of the same name in the United States, which, though far from being a true spiritual guide, has been enlightened by hundreds of years of contact with aggressive, spiritual Protestant- ism. One must visit Latin countries to appre- ciate this contrast. Different Classes To Be Reached. In Porto Rico, there are the very poor or peasant class, the middle class or the laboring people, and an official class many of whom have been Spaniards. In our field there are one hundred thousand, mostly of the middle and peasant classes, and the strength of our mission work in Porto Rico is CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 11 found in the large number of earnest working people who have been enlisted. These are defi- nitely at work to completely occu])y the territory assigned to our communion. In the Philippine Islands, our native churches are working among three distinct types of people. The territory allotted to us contains about three hundred thousand inhabitants. Along the coast are the Ilocanos ; in the foothills of the moun- tains are found the Bagos ; while scattered through the mountains of the interior are thou- sands of wild and pagan Igorrotes. The native church finds in each of these classes peculiar difiiculties. All of the adverse conditions already mentioned will apply to the Ilocanos. The Bagos are partial- ly civilized, and were in a transition stage when the Americans took possession of the islands. As a result, they have been quite open and ready to accept the gospel. The Igorrotes of the interior are wild pagans and they have resisted all attempts to educate and civilize them. They are animists, worshiping the spirits which abide in the mountains, in the stars, in the streams, and in the air. Such a spirit they call an anito. Anitos are worshiped by feasts, offerings of animals, grain, and liquor. Although the American government maintains peace and a form of government among these people, the real rulers are the old men of each village. One of our missionaries who has studied this tribe closelv, writes : "The old men are the 7S OUR CHURCH ABROAD priests, prophets, law makers, judges, and medi- cine men. No hut is built, no journey taken, no field planted, no grain harvested and no couple married without the counsel or aid of the patri- archs of the village." A few day schools have been started for the children of these wild, pagan tribes, and these are meeting with considerable success. This moun- tain tribe will yet be conquered by the religion of Jesus Christ. Great Transformation. One may travel the world over, and he will not find anywhere else such a transformation as has taken place the last seventeen years in Porto Rico and in the Philip- pine Islands. On the one hand, the American government has been building roads, introducing sanitary conditions, developing a stable represent- ative government, and establishing an excellent school system. On the other hand, the American missionaries have been placing the Bible in the hands of the people, winning converts, organizing Sunday schools and churches, and establishing Christian institutions of learning for the training of native workers. The greatest change in these islands is the spiritual transformation wrought by the gospel in the lives of seventy thousand of the people. After studying conditions at first hand in all our foreign fields, it is the writer's conviction Filipinos Who Have Not Had a Chanct 0"% f-^ a f) ^' Mi.'"', y^ a Students in the Young Women's Bible Training School, San Fernando, P. I. CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 81 that Africa presents the most stupendous diffi- culties of any mission field in the world. One of our missionaries who has been working for ten years in the midst of pagan conditions, says : "It is absolutely impossible for one who has been born and trained in a Christian land, a land of churches, schools, and innumerable up- lifting influences, to realize in any adequate sense the thick darkness that pervades primitive Afri- can life. No matter how low and destitute of pure ideals a person might become in a Christian land, if he chooses to change the course of his life he can, if he will, have access to all the uplifting, wholesome forces with which he is surrounded. But in Africa, the people, individually or collec- tively, whether at work or at play, w^hether in the daily routine or in the participation of special religious ceremony, are controlled by a realm of spiritual darkness inhabited by legions, of spirits whose favor, if obtained at all by an individual, family, or town, must be sought through sacrifice and various other efforts. This must be done before tilling the farm, before building a house, and, in brief, throughout the whole course of life at every turn and crisis." As we seek to enumerate the difficulties with which the native churches in Africa are con- fronted, let us remember and pray for our native leaders, who are struggling against tremendous odds in that field to lead their little churches into the light and liberty of Jesus Christ. 82 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Many Different Tribes. There are many hun- dreds of different tribes in Africa, each with its own language, customs, and jealousies. Our workers in Sierra Leone are laboring among four different tribes, the Mendis, Temnis, the Sher- bros, and the Konos. An effort has been made to reduce some of the tribal languages to written form and to prepare the religious literature in the native tongue. It has been found as difficult to teach the natives to read and write their own language as to read and write the English lan- guage. Since English is the official language, our missionaries are teaching it in all our schools. Polygamy. In Africa, polygamy is an integral factor of society. Many regard it the greatest single obstacle with which Christian workers must contend. A man in Africa is rated well-to- do in proportion to the number of wives he has. There is no family life in pagan Africa as we understand that term in America. Woman is degraded and treated little better than a slave. The first wife often urges her husband to get otner wives. The burden of the work will then be distributed. The problems that arise out of polygamy are many. One of the conditions of membership in the church is that a man must have but one wife. The reader will at once rec- ognize the difficulties that arise when a man who has taken a number of wives while in heathenism, desires to become a Christian. Many times there are children of a number of wives recognizing the same father. To put away all the wives but CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 83 one, with their children, means to deprive the children of either the protection of their father or the care and support of their mother ; while the wives who are put away find themselves unpro- tected. Add to this the reproach that public sentiment brings upon a woman in Africa who is not married. This problem is keeping many con- verts from coming into full church membership. Fear of Evil Spirits. The native Africans are in constant fear of evil spirits. They have been led captive by the power of darkness and have organized societies with a view to appeasing the devil and to destroy their enemies. Belief in witchcraft and fetiches, or charms, is universal. There is a charm to protect them from death by wild beasts, and another to keep strangers from killing them, and a great variety to keep their property from being stolen. The charm or medi- cine is used also in swearing a death curse on their enemies. Many die annually because of these dark practices. The writer found pagan Africa instead of being passive, to be intensively active in the works of darkness. Fanatical beliefs in charms or fetiches have grown to such an extent in some sections of Africa as to lead to the sacrifice of human lives that the charm may be anointed with human flesh, so as to give the one possessing the charm the power over his enemies. To obtain the human victims to replenish these charms from time to time, societies have been formed, each member of 84 OUR CHURCH ABROAD which is expected to furnish a victim in turn. The British gOA^ernment has been seeking to stamp out these evil practices. Recently eight persons were tried and found guilt}^ and were executed. Rightly understood, this condition calls oiit one's profound sympathy, for the people are in darkness and are blindly seeking for the light. They feel a wrong has been done and some sacri- fice must be made. They fear the evil spirits, and hence the sacrifice is made to devils — a con- dition such as Paul found when he wrote I. Corin- thians 10 : 20, "The things which the Gentiles sac- rifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God." And now consider what has been said in the foregoing as applying to a territory three thou- sand miles in width from north to south, and which stretches from Freetown eastward across Africa a distance greater than from New York City to San Francisco. In this vast area, there are numberless tribes with a population of over eighty million, at least fifty million of whom are not included in the present missionary plans for the Dark Continent. Mohammedan Advance. Into the midst of such a situation as has been described, Moham- medanism has been advancing down over Africa for thirteen centuries. The Mohammedan priests proffer to the pagan African a simple declaration that there is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet. They allow the black man plural wives, and they ofifer him powerful charms to drive away evil spirits. Under these circumstances, the rapid CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 85 advance of Islam in Africa is easily understood. It is estimated that there are from forty to fifty million Mohammedans in Africa. Sierra Leone is on the advance line of Islam. The districts in the northern part of Sierra Leone are now from fifty to seventy per cent. Mohammedan, while the southern part is almost entirely pagan. In Free- town and the adjacent colony, Mohammedanism increased fifty per cent, from 1900 to 1910. Illiteracy a Problem. The British government has done but little to provide schools for the people. One of the great problems of our mission work in Africa is that of education. There are three hundred thousand children of school age in Sierra Leone, and for all of these there exist but one hundred and fifty-eight schools with an enrollment of ten thousand two hundred and ninety-two. Of these, one hundred and fifty-one are mission schools with an enrollment of nine thousand two hundred and seventy-one; five are Mohammedan schools, which have but seven hun- dred and seventy-eight pupils, and two are gov- ernment schools with an enrollment of two hun- dred and forty-three. It will be seen by this that only one person in twenty-five of school age in Sierra Leone has school privileges. The United Brethren mission has done excel- lent work in establishing primary and secondary schools. These schools received, the past year, one thousand dollars in grants from the British government in recognition of their efficient work. The emphasis our mission places on manual train- 86 OUR CHURCH ABROAD ing and other practical features of Christian edu- cation, has had a good effect on other schools in Sierra Leone. Pioneer Workers. The hinterland of Sierra Leone, with its pagan difficulties, was almost untouched by Christian missions when the United Brethren Church began work in 1855. The gos- pel banner set up by our brave missionaries and their native co-workers, has been dispelling dark- ness and bringing deliverance to thousands of sin- smitten souls. God-filled native Christians are the Good Samaritans ministering to the wounded man of the Dark Continent. Africa will yet be won to Christ. "I know of a land that is sunk in shame, ,Of hearts that faint and tire ; And I know of a Name, a Name, a Name, Can set that land on fire. Its sound is a brand, its letters flame — I know of a Name, a Name, a Name, Will set that land on fire." Difficulties Call Great Souls to Action. As we review the conditions, the problems, and the ap- palling difficulties in our five foreign fields, in the midst of which our loyal native leaders and their infant churches are fighting the good fight of faith, we can understand how noble Christian men and women of America are willing to for- sake their friends and their homes to have a share in such a task at the front. CONDITIONS SURROUNDING CHURCH 87 "It is great to be out where the fight is strong, To be where the heaviest troops belong, And to fight for man and God. Oh, it seams the face and it dries the brain, It strains the nerve till one's friend is pain, In the fight for man and God." IV THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK God's method of developing churches in all lands is given in Ephesians 4:11-13: "And he gave some to be apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." First comes the apostle. The word "apostle" means "sent forth." A foreign missionary is an apostle — one sent to preach Christ where he has not been known. The foreign missionary often performs the functions of prophet, or preacher, and of evangelist also. The missionary wins the first converts and organizes them into native churches. Native pastors are then called out, trained, and placed over the churches, and teachers are raised up in local churches to instruct and guide the children and church members. All of these leaders are provided to direct the church membership "unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ." THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 89 Developing Native Churches and Native Lead- ers. The apostle, or foreign missionary, starts the church, guides it in its initial steps, and gradually turns over responsibility to the native church as fast as it is able to direct its own work. Under the blessing of God, our missionaries have mastered the eight languages through which their message must be conveyed, and have won the first converts. The missionaries and the na- tive pastors have organized one hundred and four native churches. In addition, there are six hun- dred and twenty-nine preaching-places, in some of which we hope soon to have organized churches. God has raised up, under the labors of our mis- sionaries, one hundred and eighty native work- ers — in Africa, seventy-three ; in China, forty- four ; in Japan, twenty-two ; in Porto Rico, seven- teen, and in the Philippine Islands, twenty-four. Thirty-two of these are ordained preachers ; oth- ers are licensed preachers pursuing courses of study with a view to ordination. Laying Foundations Amid Adverse Conditions. To lay the foundations of the kingdom of God in non-Christian lands, is an unspeakable privi- lege. It is important that the native church from the very beginning be of such a type as shall enable the spirit of God to work powerfully through it. As we consider the work of the churches abroad, we should keep in mind the depressing 90 OUR CHURCH ABROAD conditions and stupendous difficulties with which they are grappling, as set forth in the previous chapter; also the fact that more than one-half of our churches abroad are less than seven years old and are taking their first steps in obedience to God. With prayerful sympathy let us follow them. Winning Souls to Christ The missionary and the native pastor must be evangelistic — must be soul-winners — in order that the entire native church may be a powerful evan- gelistic agency. No missionary or native pastor is qualified for his work unless he has a vivid and abiding sense of the divine reality and power of the gospel message. In the presence of the mighty powers of dark- ness, nothing but a firm belief in the supernatural, miracle-working power of Jesus Christ will suf- fice. Our native pastors must be able to stand alone in the midst of thousands who oppose them and declare their allegiance to Christ, who said, "Behold, I give unto you power . . . over all the power of the enemy." They must believe and act upon the belief that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and that it is the only thing in the world that can transform character and lead every individual won to be a winner of others. Many Avenues of Approach. The conditions in our foreign fields are such that much prelim- inary seed-sowing must be done, sometimes THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 91 through a period of long years, before large num- bers can be led to Christ. A great variety of evangelistic agencies and methods are employed. Souls are being saved through conversations with individuals, visits in private homes, Bible-class work, street-chapel preaching, evangelistic services at dispensaries, and by student evangelistic bands ; also through the distribution of Bibles and books over wide areas by colporteurs, and by the circulation of our weekly and monthly religious papers. The Sunday school, Young People's societies, and church services are often made evangelistic. Power of the Bible Class. One of the most fruitful agencies in soul-winning has been the Bible class. Many of our first converts were won in these classes. Often the testimony is heard, "It was the Old Book that captured my heart and changed my life." The municipal judge of Penuelas, Porto Rico, owned a large grocery store at which, as in all such stores in Porto Rico, strong drinks were sold. The judge was persuaded to join a Bible class in the study of the Gospel of John. He became interested, secured a Bible of his own, and spent much time in reading it. He soon made a public profession of his faith in Christ. Then came the crisis. The judge discovered he could not be responsible for the selling of liquors, and so at great personal sacrifice, he closed the business. Then he wrote : *'I am now free from the liquor business, and I am happy I can be a 92 OUR CHURCfl ABROAD true Christian. I want to be baptized and to join the church." The judge was baptized by Bishop Mathews when he visited Porto Rico, and was received into the church with great joy. Until his recent death, he was a pillar of strength in his local church. Training Students in Soul- Winning. Evangel- ism is a part of the program of our more ad- vanced schools abroad. The students of the Albert Academy are organized in an itinerant league and the members go to all parts of Freetown every Sunday morning, giving the gospel in the Mendi, Temni, and Creole. This league spends every Thursday night in special prayer for their work. The girls of the Miller Seminary are co-oper- ating in evangelistic meetings in Siu Lam, China, by chorus singing, and by visitation in the homes where the men have already been won to Christ, with a view to leading the wives and daughters to a decision. After talking and singing the gospel for a long while in one home that was crowded to overflowing with neighbors, the meeting was dismissed but no one moved to go. They were eager to hear more. The graduates of the Young Women's Bible Training School of the Philippines have done effective work in evangelistic meetings in many towns. Standards on Evangelism. The Spirit of God is coming with more and more power upon the native churches abroad. In Africa, where the most desperate conflict rages between light and A Bible Class for Men, Juana Diaz, Porto Rico m ■■ M ^H'^"' '~ Pl^ 4 ^ It B V^Hi Jif ' j P/a3I A ' ■»■ BL .^. -^ ^^■I^^H^'i HP ^^^^^S^^ A:*" -^ i.t . 'rjPhH^B A Group of Waiting Patients at the Dispensary, Rotifunk, West Africj «w ^m^.: THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 95 darkness, the native pastors and missionaries approved the following evangelistic standards : 1. "That we will place no value upon any work we do, whether it be in the pulpit, school- room, workshop, or dispensary, unless it be done with a view to the glory of God in the salvation of precious souls. 2. ''That we ask the Spirit of God to guide us in making soul-winners of every man, woman, and child now within the fold. 3. "That those who seek admission into the church shall be made to feel that a test of their sincerity in accepting Christ is a passion on their part to make him known to others." These workers looked squarely at the condi- tions of the church and the needs of the unevan- gelized, and, after beholding the riches and glory of Jesus Christ through Bible study and prayer, they went forth to their great tasks. Soon after this, the power of God began to fall on them. One wrote : "I have received a new spiritual bur- den for the salvation of souls. Nine persons have earnestly asked for prayer." "I feel," declares another, "there is nothing too hard to be at- tempted in the name of Jesus Christ." Within a few months, great revivals broke out at Roti- funk, Ronietta, Taiama, and other stations, and many of the leading men of these towns, includ- ing chiefs and Mohammedans, were converted. Fields Ripe for Evangelism. During the open- ing years of mission work in the Philippines, and in Porto Rico, large numbers came to hear the 96 - OUR CHURCH ABROAD missionaries, and many were ready to indicate their acceptance of the gospel message without seriously considering the cost of the step about to be taken. In many cases, it meant merely that the people were turning away from the Roman Catholic Church which had so grievously op- pressed them. But the tests and training for church membership soon sifted the sincere, gen- uine converts from those who had received the seed on stony ground. In Porto Rico, at the regular weekly services, as well as in the special evangelistic meetings, opportunity is frequently given for making public confession of faith. Hence, all the meetings are more or less evangelistic, and there has been a natural and splendid growth on profession of faith right through the years. The Sunday school in Porto Rico is given an exalted place, it being the only morning service in the churches. The attendance is generally larger than the church membership. The ses- sions of the school are often very evangelistic. Winning Souls in the Sunday School. The writer Avill always remember with inspiration a visit to our Sunday school at Ponce, which is now the largest school in our foreign fields. The lesson taught was the third chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. The superintendent re- viewed the lesson at the close of the session in an impressive, winning manner. Then he re- quested that all bow their heads in prayer. He appealed to those present who had heard the THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 97 Word to accept it at once and to respond to the love of God, who sent his Son ."that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have ever- lasting life." The moment was most impressive. AVithout being unduly urged, eleven persons quietly arose and ^made the great decision. The session closed with two or three voluntary pray- ers, and the names of those who had made the choice were secured and enrolled in a class for further instruction and intercession. Soul-Winning First Place in Quarterly Meet- ings. Much emphasis is given to the quarterly meetings in our fields abroad, and evangelism holds a central place even in the business meet- ings. Our workers in Africa are now planning the most extensive, thorough quarterly meetings ever held. In a visit to the Philippine Islands, the writer was especially interested in the reports submitted at the quarterly meeting by lay preachers, who serve without salary. Some reported as many as one hundred and sixty personal interviews with men whom they sought to lead to Christ during the three months. Men like old Pio Dungan give half of their time to evangelism. "Every other week is the Lord's," said old Pio, as he started out on his tour of vil- lages covering seven days. The influence of this one man has been remarkable. "For the gospel's sake I have lost very many friends," says Pio, "but I care not ; I have a Friend who loved me 98 OUR CHURCH ABROAD and gave himself for me, and I will continue to tell of his love as long as I live." Powerful Institutes. Much attention is given in all our foreign fields to the training of native workers in institutes. The Bible institute held in the Philippine Islands in March, 1914, started a mighty evangelistic movement. The native workers and the missionaries sought during this institute for the deepening of their own spiritual lives. One morning, after a period of united prayer, it was thought best to dismiss the forty workers that each might go to his own room and spend the morning in meditation and prayer. The next morning, all were assembled for regular class work, but when the institute opened, the spirit of prayer so swept over the hearts of all that they continued in intercession for three hours. Many wept and acknowledged their lack of faith ; others confessed their sins to God and to one another, and rededicated their lives for the winning of others to Christ. Native pastors, volunteer workers, and deaconesses went forth from this institute to enter into an evangelistic campaign which resulted, during the twelve months that followed, in adding four hundred and fifty-eight souls to the native church — by far the largest number of converts received during any year since the beginning of the mission. The power of this evangelistic movement in the Phil- ippines continues unabated. A Layman Starts Two Churches. A guard in the prison at Kyoto, named Mr. Toda, was led THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 99 to Christ while attending an English Bible class. From the very beginning, he had a strong passion to win his family and neighbors to Christ, and secured the co-operation of Mr. Ishiguro to hold gospel meetings in his own home. Largely through the efforts of this layman and the testi- mony of his earnest Christian life, our Second United Brethren Church in Kyoto was organ- ized. Later, Mr. Toda and famil}^ moved to Osaka, the largest commercial center in Japan. Here he set to work to win souls, and in a short time persuaded the United Brethren Mission to give ninety dollars for the fixing up of a private house for public worship in a district of one hundred thousand people without gospel privileges. God blessed the effort, and when the writer visited Japan, he found there a native church of seventy- five wide-awake Christian men and women work- ing enthusiastically to save their great city. A Three Years' Campaign. The Christian workers of all the churches in Japan are now engaged in a well-directed three years' evan- gelistic campaign. Two of the leading tracts for wide circulation in this movement, were prepared by Mr. Ishiguro. Bishop A. T. Howard, who was present in Japan wdien this movement was launched, says : "This great campaign is drawling together men who have never w^orked side by side before. It is enlisting such new workers as Mrs. Hiraeka, a member of one of the most famous, w^ealthiest, 100 OUR CHURCH ABROAD and most exclusive families in Japan, and Mr. Moromura, a well-known banker. Not only stu- dents and ordinary groups, but also the highest officials, are hearing the gospel, in a somewhat adequate way, through this movement." Union evangelistic meetings were held in Ky- oto in November, 1915, when great multitudes witnessed the coronation of the emperor. Three meetings were held daily, and twelve hundred decisions are reported. One hundred and fifty- eight persons signed cards preferring our First Church, Kyoto, where Mr. Ishiguro is the pastor. A New Day for Siu Lam, China. When our missionaries began work in China, they met with stubborn and persistent opposition everywhere. Nothing but sublime faith and great perseverance could have sustained them through the years of severe test. After much patient, faithful work, the most remarkable revival in the history of our China mission is now taking place in Siu Lam. Prep- aration for this work began three years ago when Rev. and Mrs. F. W. Davis were sent to Siu Lam as evangelistic missionaries. After making a careful study of the field, Mr. Davis reported that Siu Lam presented a matchless opportunity for soul winning. It is a city as large as Akron, Canton, and Dayton, Ohio, combined. Here is located our flourishing Miller Seminary, and a new hospital will soon be erected. The people of Siu Lam belong to the middle class and many of them are educated. THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 101 Planning to Evangelize an Entire City. The United Brethren Church is directly responsible for the evangelization of this city of four hundred thousand, and the towns adjacent. The task is a stupendous one ; but, facing all the difficulties involved, yiv. Davis declared: ''JVe must come to God zvitli a robust faith that zvill send us bounding to our task, able to triumph over every difficulty f He proposed to divide the city into ten districts and erect a street chapel in each, with a Chinese preacher and a Bible Avoman in charge. This will give each native pastor, when he can be secured, a parish of forty thousand. When the plan is fully inaugurated, the native pastors of the dis- tricts will meet once each week with the mis- sionary in charge, for Bible study, prayer, and for the discussion of their practical problems. This will afford the rarest Christian fellowship, promote unity of effort, and give to each native pastor spiritual enthusiasm, and a tongue of fire. Once each year, the entire force will assemble and hold a great union evangelistic meeting. A Series of Victories. It was a comparatively easy matter to plan thus for the evangelization of a great city. The test came when the mission- ary attempted to put this plan into operation; for he found the native church impotent before its gigantic task. Accordingly, he set to work to master the native language more perfectly and to get into close, sympathetic fellowship with the native workers and the church membership. The missionary found much indift'erence and opposi- 102 OUR CHURCH ABROAD tion, but, by winning one at a time, he led them to discover their possibilities in Christ through Bible study, prayer, and the consecration of their talents and their money to God. It took more than a year to prepare the native Christians for an evangelistic campaign. Then two evangelistic meetings were held each day for four successive days. Wonderful power from God came upon the people, and one hundred and fourteen of the leading citizens of Siu Lam decided for Christ. Some of them were teachers, others students and business men, the majority of them young men between the ages of fifteen and thirty years. All of these were organized into Bible classes, and received instruction in the fundamentals of the Christian life and in soul-winning. After three months of study, prayer, and training, forty-four of them were, in one day, baptized and received into the Church. Rev. E. B. Ward, our superintendent in China, was present at Siu Lam at this memorable time. "It was a day long looked for," writes Mr. Ward. "From the days of Doctor Shumaker on down to the present, many of us have hoped to see what our eyes saw in Siu Lam on June 20, 1915. I was only a visitor and a witness. It rained and the people got wet, but their ardor was not dampened. The church was filled. After the sermon, the candidates for baptism were asked to come forward. It began to look as though the front of the church would have to be enlarged as they kept coming. Two deep they stood, on THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 103 the men's side, and then the line extended across the entire place. I recognized many, who in other days were bitter opponents, now acknowl- edging Christ before their neighbors and receiv- ing the once despised but now sacred rite of baptism. "In the evening, the native pastor, Wong Sun Shan, Mr. Davis, and I went to Kau Chau Ki, the flourishing young mission of the Siu Lam church and now worthy of itself to be called a church. The services held reminded one of the gospel team work carried on in America by busi- ness men and students. We three were the team. No sermon was preached, but witness was borne to the reality of salvation and God's power to help. When Mr. Davis called for decisions, eleven men took their stand on the spot." A Still Greater Campaign. The inspiration of each victory at Siu Lam is translated into larger purpose and plans. During the opening days of 1916. another series of evangelistic meetings were held in Siu Lam in connection with the sessions of the annual con- ference. A mat shed large enough to accommo- date one thousand persons was erected. The stu- dents of the Miller Seminary took part in gospel singing and in personal work. Admission to the afternoon and evening meetings was by ticket. The shed was crowded and many were turned away. One hundred persons made the great sur- render and joined Bible classes. 104 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Self-Support To win large numbers to Christ is but the first step in the work of an aggressive church. Each young convert must be taught the principles of Christian stewardship and of social service, and be directed in the practical application of these principles to the local church, in the home, and in the community. The work of instructing and directing 3^oung converts, is recognized as a very important part of the task of both the mission- aries and the native leaders. Our ablest workers abroad are teaching the infant churches that the privilege of receiving the gospel carries zvith it the obligation of self-support and of giving the gospel to others. When a local church abroad is about to be organized, its leaders are taught at the beginning that the native church must be responsible for its own support, and that if mission funds are to be used at all, the same must be considered as simply a grant-in-aid until such time as the native church can support its own work. A vital prin- ciple is here involved. Though the native Chris- tians are very poor, yet it is as important to awaken the spirit of self-help and of missionary giving in a church in China or Africa, as it is in America. Native Money for Native Pastors. It may take years to reach it, but the wisest leaders abroad hold that the ideal should be, ''Missionary money for the support of foreign missionaries, and native money for the support of native workers." Na- THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 105 tive pastors and churches in non-Christian lands are taught not to look to the United States for their support, for this would hinder the growth in self-support. If they must receive aid, the mission itself gives help, with the distinct under- standing that it will be for a brief period only, until the native Christians are able to support in full their own work. As a rule, is has not been found wise to assign to an individual or a church in America the support of a native pastor abroad, for if the native Christians learn that their pastor is being supported with funds from America, it will lessen their sense of responsibility in the sup- port of their own pastor, and such a course will also deprive the native pastor of the incentive to develop a self-supporting, aggressive congrega- tion. It is entirely proper and desirable for Chris- tians in America to support foreign missionaries and native evangelists who are not dependent upon local churches for their support; also scholarships in schools, or shares in the entire work of a field. Rapid Growth in Self-Support. A large place is given at the annual conference and institutes abroad to the discussion of such themes as Christian stewardship, systematic giving, and the importance of developing self-support and self- propagation. The educational campaign and ev- ery-member canvass for funds for local needs and benevolences, have been introduced into the na- tive churches. 106 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Japan was the first foreign mission conference to adopt a definite policy on self-support. In that field, all the current expenses of the local church- es, and at least part of the pastors' salaries, are contributed by the native membership. Some of the churches are almost self-supporting. The workers in Porto Rico have been empha- sizing- systematic giving, both in the local churches and in the Sunday schools, for a num- ber of years, and good progress has been made. A definite policy of self-support is being worked out in the Philippines, and the native churches in that field are seeking to raise twenty-five per cent, of their pastors' salaries this year. In Africa, under the wise supervision of Rev. E. M. Hursh, there has been a gain of one hun- dred and fifty per cent, in gifts for self-support, during the last two years. Individual native churches contributed, last year, from thirty to four hundred and twenty dollars for self-support and for missionary work. One-fourth of all the offerings lifted are designated for missions. The churches at Bonthe and Freetown have now assumed the full support of their respective pas- tors. Until recently, but little progress was made in China toward self-support, but the spirit of self- help is now taking a firm grip on the Chinese pastors and churches. Siu Lam Becomes Self - Supporting. The achievement in self-support at Siu Lam, illus- trates the difficulties involved, and also what THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 107 can be accomplished by enthusiastic, faithful workers. One who took part in the effort, writes : "The church at Siu Lam, like most other places in China, had entrenched itself behind three false positions regarding self-support : First, we are too poor ; second, we are too weak ; and third, asking for money will hinder people from enter- ing the church. "They were shown first that the stock argument of poverty was no excuse. One Chinese pastor said, 'You must not think that the reason the Chinese church is not self-supporting is because we do not want self-support; we are actually too poor.' 'That is exactly what I do think,' was the reply. 'You don't sufficiently want self-sup- port or you would have it. The churches of Macedonia out of their poverty had sufficient not only for self-support, but also contributed gener- ously to the poor saints at Jerusalem also. Not only so, but Korea is poorer than China, and they have many self-supporting churches. Don't you see that your trouble does not lie in your poverty at all? It is in your heart and your spiritual attitude toward Christ and the church.' "The second argument was usually put in this form : 'We are still children.' To this we re- plied : 'We refuse to recognize you as children, and you should refuse to regard yourselves as such. You are men, not children. Regard your- selves as men, and you will be strong and quit yourselves like men.' 108 OUR CHURCH ABROAD /'Their third objection — 'Asking for money will hinder people from entering the church' — had caused them to take on a subtle form of false pride. Some were actually ashamed to take up an offering in the Sunday services. They had to be shown that giving is a grace, an act of worship, an offering well pleasing to Gody and not something of which to be ashamed. "In addition to frequent preaching along this line for a year, we prayed that the Lord would do what man with his best teaching and method cannot do, namely, quicken their consciences and impel them to give as God had prospered them. The average wage of the membership of the church was secured, and they were shown what could be done by giving a tenth of their income. The ambition for self-support began to take hold of the church membership. The every-member canvass was made for funds to support the native pastor and all local needs. The result was a glad surprise. The church was put on a self-support- ing basis at once, and at the end of the year after proper instruction and inspiration, the congrega- tion pledged to double its offerings for the ensu- ing twelve months. "The greatest blessing-, however, is not the dol- lars and cents, but the new spirit of faith and service which the increased sense of responsibility has brought the church. They all have now a common interest in the development of the church, and are not only paying members, but working members." THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 109 Missionary Extension Missionary giving is an essential part of the work of the churches abroad. The rising native churches must complete the evangelization of their ovvai countries, after the work has been properly started by foreign missionaries. They must, therefore, be early taught the missionary function of the church. In Porto Rico, the last Sunday of each quarter is considered missionary day. Missionary in- struction is given, and all the offerings of the Sunday schools and local churches, on that day, are devoted to missions. As a result of these gifts, six substantial chapels have been erected in needy places. A Church Erection Society has been organized by the annual conference in the Philippines. Of- ferings are lifted for this church-erection fund. This society has already loaned money to aid in the erection of three permanent chapels. Offer- ings are also lifted in the Philippines for the support of a missionary of their own who is laboring among the Igorrotes. In Africa, great strides have been made in missionary giving and in the erection of new chapels, from funds contributed by native Chris- tians. Missionary Day has become a great occa- sion. The native churches support three mis- sionaries of their own, one at Pendembu, one at Yonnie Banna, and one at Kangahu. The con- ference in Africa approved the following as an inspiring goal toward which the native churches no OUR CHURCH ABROAD are working: "When a church has become fully self-supporting, it should aim to give as much for the extension of Christ's kingdom in other parts as it pays for local expenses and pastoral support.'' Producing a Christian Literature Ever since Martin Luther threw a bottle of ink at the devil, printers' ink has been a strong factor in combating the powers of darkness and in extending Christianity throughout the world. In the midst of such an abundant supply of Christian periodicals, tracts, books, and maga- zines as is found in America, it is difficult to even imagine the destitute condition in our foreign fields and the hunger of the native pastors and Christians for any kind of Christian literature. One of the strongest factors in our work abroad has been the installation of printing presses and the creation of a vigorous Christian literature in the vernacular, adapted to the needs of each field. A good supply of tracts, Sunday-school and Young People's society helps and periodicals, is now coming from our own presses. In Africa, a printing plant has been introduced as a department of training in the Albert Acad- emy, and the "Sierra Leone Outlook," a strong Christian periodical, is issued monthly. As this is the only religious paper in Sierra Leone, it is read with interest and profit by Christian workers of other missions as well as of our own. The United Brethren mission in Japan is giv- ing strong support to the Christian Literature THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 111 Committee, an interdenominational organization which is supplying high-grade tracts, book- lets, and other publications for the Japanese churches. Dr. Joseph Cosand, our superintend- ent, has recently prepared books which have greatly enriched the literature of Japan. In South China, a strong, interdenominational agency has been formed to create and publish evangelical literature for their native church. Great Achievement in the Philippines. Our missionaries in the Philippines have assisted in the translation of the Bible into the Ilocano dialect and they have provided a high type of literature suited to the needs of the native churches. The Methodist mission has united with us in the production and circulation of an excel- lent mission paper, the "Naimbag a Damag." By this union of effort, this periodical has the largest circulation of any religious paper in the Philip- pines. An evidence of the growing power of the native leaders, was shown recently in the elec- tion of Rev. John Abellera as editor of this excellent paper. Mr. Abellera was the first of our native pastors to be ordained. He is a grad- uate of the Union Bible Training School at Ma- nila, and has had wide experience g.s teacher, pastor, and conference evangelist. He thus brings to this important position a heart and mind Avell trained for the task. A Union Printing Plant for Porto Rico. Mis- sionary workers in all denominations are seeking 112 OUR CHURCH ABROAD to form a strong union printing establishment in each foreign field. Porto Rico has worked out a good example of what can be done in form- ing such a union movement. In 1912, the Presbyterian and Congregational missions entered into an agreement with our workers in Porto Rico for the publication of a union paper, the "Puerto Rico Evangelico." The paper was printed on our press at Ponce, and Rev. Philo W. Drury was the editor and pub- lisher. This union effort was so successful that, in July, 1915, the Baptists and Disciples, and in March, 1916, the Methodists, united with the mis- sions already named, to make this paper the of- ficial organ of the six missions. The periodical has been increased in size to twenty pages in ad- dition to the cover, and the subscription placed at fifty cents per annum. The circulation of this paper has already advanced to nearly five thous- and copies. A native leader has been elected editor. Rev. Mr. Drury being managing editor. This union printing plant has been made the depository of the best evangelical books and publications prepared in other Spanish-speaking countries, and the American Bible Society has placed here its supply of Bibles for the island. Porto Rico has thus perfected a union move- ment of vast importance for the enrichment of its native churches, which serves as an inspiring example for other mission fields. fe^ *:;^^* X'\'lji^^^. -.^i^^kl^mi *i « w Union Printing Plant and Bible Depository, Porto Rico Editorial Room in Our Publishing House, Philippines Rev. J. A. Abellera, editor of the union i)aper is seen at the desk to the right The Boys' Grammar School, Canton, China Our Kindergarten, Tokyo, Japan THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 115 Training Schools The remarkable awakening in non-Christian lands, commands the church to produce Christian leaders who will have the character, insight, and training necessary to pilot the native churches through the new opportunities and dangers that confront them. The question of training an adequate force of native pastors to meet the extraordinary situa- tion, is a very large one. It is impossible for the weak native churches to develop strong training institutions. This phase of mission work, there- fore, must be done largely by the home churches through the mission boards. The time will come when the native Christians will have sufficient resources and a leadership able to support and direct these training schools, but this will not take place for many years to come. In addition to the day schools, our mission in Africa is supporting the Rufus Clark and Wife Training School at Shenge, and a boarding school for girls at Moyamba. Our strongest training school abroad is that of the Albert Academy, which has done a magnif- icent work in the education of African leaders. Able native instructors are doing a large part of the work. In China, we have, in addition to the primary schools, the Boys' Grammar School, and the Miller Seminary for girls and young women. Na- tive teachers are on the facultv of this school. 116 OUR CHURCH ABROAD The growing Young Women's Bible Training School at San Fernando, supplies the only Chris- tian education for the girls of our entire territory in the Philippines. These schools are not able to accommodate the present urgent demands for training. Co-operation in Higher Education. There is no greater need abroad than that of better equipped training institutions. To provide such schools requires large sums of money; hence, the mis- sionary leaders of all the communions have been driven by the overwhelming need of the situation to combine their efforts in the support of strong, interdenominational colleges and training schools, rather than to erect at great expense many paral- lel and necessarily weak denominational institu- tions. The United Brethren Church has taken a strong position in this union of effort for higher education. In Japan, we have been co-operating with the Doshisha University by supplying a missionary professor and by supporting a Japan- ese teacher. In the Philippine Islands, the Pres- byterians, Methodists, Baptists, Disciples, and United Brethren have united in a Union Theo- logical Seminary at Manila. In Porto Rico, the United Brethren and Presbyterian missions have joined in a training school for native workers at Mayaguez ; and in China, we are co-operai:ing with other missions in a union theological college at Canton. THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 117 Co-operation and Unity Facing the great, unoccupied fields all about them and their many problems, foreign mission- ary workers of evangelical churches have been driven to close co-operation. Their plans are being correlated and their forces federated with a view to bringing the combined strength of the churches upon their tasks. In Japan, great strides have been made in the union of native churches. The goal toward which Christian leaders are working in the Philippine Islands and in Porto Rico, is that of one evangelical native church. Rev. Mr. Widdoes, of our mission, is chairman of an interdenominational committee in the Phil- ippines which is working out a comprehensive plan for one aggressive church. Mission work has advanced to such a stage in Porto Rico that at the Regional Conference held in March, 1916, definite plans were approved look- ing toward the formation of one evangelical church for the island. Mr. Drury, of our mis- sion, was elected secretary of this union. The various missions in each field can co-oper- ate effectively with such a church which will thus become ultimately strong enough to direct and extend its own work. Our missionaries and na- tive pastors have been taking a prominent part in these important movements. Auxiliary Agencies The foreign mission enterprise is a many-sided one. Jesus Christ is for every life and all of life. 118 OUR CHURCH ABROAD The gospel has a messag-e for the body, mind, and soul. In addition to the many departments of work already mentioned in this chapter, it is necessary to promote industrial, philanthropic, and medical work abroad. In many of our schools, much attention is given to manual train- ing, and in Africa practical farming is a feature of industrial instruction. A Home for Outcast Babies. In South China, extreme poverty causes thousands of parents to cast away their baby girls. These would perish unless picked up by Christian workers. The United Brethren mission is conducting the Foundling Home for the care of these cast-away children. In this orphanage, thirty-one little lives are now being transformed. This home for the survival of the unfittest furnishes an object lesson of the love, sympathy, and helpfulness of Christianity, and also an example of what the Chinese themselves will do in a larger way in the better days ahead. Power of Medical Work. To describe ade- quately the great work of our medical mission- aries, would require many pages. When our dispensary was opened at Rotifunk, West Africa, in 1901, only two hundred different patients were treated the first year. Larger num- bers kept coming from all sections of Sierra Leone. Three thousand patients were treated annually, then five thousand, and last year over eight thousand different patients received help, and their voluntary payments for medicine more THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 119 than met the entire expense for salaries of work- ers and the upkeep of the dispensary; many other patients were treated at sub-dispensaries. It is difificult to estimate the power of this medical work in not only relieving pain, but in destroying faith in a fetish or charm. In China, we have been conducting medical work in Siu Lam, where a new hospital is now being erected. The influence of the dispensary at Canton has been increasing through the past twenty years. Since the great flood of last summer, as many as three hundred and fifty persons are treated on one dispensary day. The evangelistic opportunity afforded by this medical w^ork is boundless. Native pastors and trained Bible women assemble the waiting pa- tients in adjacent rooms, and there they are taught about Christ, the great Physician. The message of God's love and grace is g'iven to thirty thousand different persons each year at our dis- pensaries. Many of them travel long distances to receive treatment, and hear for the first time the news qf a Savior, and they go back to their own villages to tell of the things they have seen and heard. The door is thus opened in new dis- tricts and towns for the entrance of gospel mes- sengers. A Model Pastor As we think of the conditions abroad and re- view the wonderful work now carried on by the 120 OUR CHURCH ABROAD native churches, it is more and more clear that the native pastors hold a position of greatest im- portance in non-Christian lands. The achievements of Rev. R. Coqkston Taylor, who served for twenty-one years as an efficient native pastor in West Africa, illustrate the power and possibilities of many pastors now at work in our foreign fields. An Evangelistic Preacher and Christian Stew- ard. Mr. Taylor was a strong evangelistic preacher. He won many converts to Jesus Christ. His power in leading native Christians to honor the Lord with their substance was truly remark- able. While sympathizing with the poverty of the people, he believed that they would be poorer still by withholding what belonged to God. With Mr. Taylor, raising money for kingdom extension was as much a religious act as winning souls to Christ. He succeeded in enlisting others to invest their lives and money in the cause of God because he himself gave all his strength and from one- fourth to one-half of his meager salary to Chris- tian work. A Great Builder. When he was appointed pas- tor at Bonthe, West Africa, there was need of a new church building. Inspired of God, he set to work to enlist his native brethren and the whole community in erecting a splendid new church. It required almost eight years to raise the money, gather the materials, and complete the building, which is regarded the best church ever erected in our foreign fields. Nine-tenths THE NATIVE CHURCH AT WORK 121 of all the money for the new building was con- tributed by the native Christians and their friends in Africa. When broken in health and nearing the time of his departure, Mr. Taylor requested that he be •carried back into the house of God. There he sat, looking at the altar, the pulpit, and then at the communion rail where he had received the vows of new converts and administered the Holy Sacraments. Then, after prayer, he was carried back to his home, and a little later was received up on high. Estimate of a Friend. Concerning this servant of God, Dr. John R. King, who knew him inti- mately for many years, writes: ''We often joined in public services in the house of God, and I had sweet fellowship with him in his own home. "We tramped together* on long itinerating marches under a burning sun, and through Sher- bro swamps. We sat in council over financial problems far into the night. "He was a strong preacher and always preached with a purpose. Wherever he labored, his min- istry was fruitful in converts. Once I counseled with him concerning the employment of another worker. When I remarked, 'He is a gifted speaker,' Mr. Taylor replied, 'Yes, but his preach- ing is not of the character that would convert a soul.' "I shall cherish as long as I live the memories of this good man, and I entertain the hope that 122 OUR CHURCH ABROAD they will heighten the joys of the 'communion of saints' in heaven." A beautiful tablet on the interior walls of the Bonthe church contains the following: IN MEMORY OF R. COOKSTON TAYLOR BORN MAY 19, 1859. DIED JULY 4, 1906. FOR MORE THAN TWENTY-ONE YEARS HE WAS AN HONORED MINISTER OF THE UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH. DURING HIS NINE YEARS' PASTORATE AT BONTHE HE ERECTED THIS CHURCH WHICH STANDS AS A MONUMENT TO HIS INDOMITABLE COURAGE. SUBLIME FAITH. UNFALTERING INDUSTRY AND SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTION. HE RESTS FROM HIS LABORS BUT HIS WORKS DO FOLLOW HIM. V JOINING HANDS WITH OUR CHURCH ABROAD God is leading American Christians into en- thusiastic co-operation with the missionaries and native churches abroad. Christian leaders are discovering that when a local church is willing to instruct its members, organize its forces, and actually attempt to obey the great commission to "preach the gospel to every creature," it can rely absolutely on God's promise, "Behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut." A Threefold Vision Necessary For a church to reach its maximum power, three conditions must be fulfilled : It must have a vision of the living Christ ; it must have a vision of its responsibility in behalf of the millions still without Christ ; and it must have a vision of the boundless possibilities of a church obedient to Christ. First: A Vision of the Living Christ. Many churches have not yet discovered the living, con- quering Christ, who said, "Behold, I am alive forevermore" ; "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye . . ." Missions did not originate with man. Christ him- self is the authority for the program to evangelize 124 OUR CHURCH ABROAD the world. ''Ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Christ is now living and directing this greatest enterprise in the universe. His eyes are upon the church, his only agency. He expects every mem- ber to be a co-worker with himself. When Paul discovered his resources in Christ, he exclaimed, ''I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me." It was the vision of the larger Christ that drove Livingstone into the heart of Africa and moved Morrison to say he was ready to go "where the difficulties were the greatest and to all human appearances the most insuperable." This omnipotent Christ, who so lovingly calls men to accept him as Savior, with all authority commands the saved one to be a witness to the ends of the earth. He saves us that we may be enlisted in service. His resources are promised only to those who obey him. Second: A Vision of the Church's Responsi- bility for the Waiting Multitudes. The claims of the Christless peoples of the earth must be brought, in a sympathetic, living way, to the indi- vidual members of the local churches. They must see the vast multitudes in Africa, China, and the islands of the sea, as Christ sees them — torn and prostrate, in the hands of the enemy. The Protestant churches of the United States and Canada have assumed six hundred millions in non-Christian lands as their share for evan- JOININCx HANDS ABROAD 125 gelization. The United Brethren Church, by ac- tion of the General Conference, has taken five millions abroad as its minimum share to evan- gelize. On an average, every local church of one hundred members in our denomination, is thus responsible for the giving of the gospel to one thousand four hundred souls now in darkness. A pastor, who has led his church to great achievements, says : "I believe that God designed to lay the burden of the whole world upon every church, that every church might thus find out that it has a whole Christ with whom to bear that burden." In order to bring the vision of the urgent needs abroad to our whole church membership, it is of the utmost importance that active agencies be formed for missionary instruction and training in every Young People's Society, Sunday School, Woman s Missionary Association, and in the entire local church. Every Christian must be an advocate, and should constantly pass missionary messages on to others until the whole congregation is in- formed and inspired. Third: A Vision of the Possibilities of An Obedient Church. The surest way to develop a local church is to enlist its members to do their utmost for missions. Dr. Samuel Miller, who did so much to put the missionary atmosphere in Princeton University, says: "If I were asked how a church would be most likely to rise and grow, I would say w^ith 126 OUR CHURCH ABROAD confidence, let it begin in good earnest to pray and exert itself for the sending of the gospel to the benighted and perishing. However small its strength, let it arouse that little and engage in fervent prayer with heart-felt love for souls, and contribute to the Lord's treasury, and the very efifort will tend to enlarge and build it up." God has given us the vision of our resources in Christ and the knowledge of the multitudes abroad without the gospel, that our churches may be led to consecrate their talents and their pos- sessions to him for the uplift of mankind. Every minister and local leader owes it to his risen Lord, to the heathen world, and to his own church, to be as thoroughly conquered by the self-sacrificing, compassionate spirit of Christ, which is the spirit of missions, as those who go out as missionaries. Hundreds of pastors are entering into the joy described by Andrew Fuller, the great pioneer of the Baptist Church : "There was a period of my ministry," says JVir. Fuller, ''marked by the most systematic effort to comfort my serious people ; but the more I tried to comfort them, the more they complained of doubts and darkness. I knew not what to do, nor what to say. At this time, it pleased God to direct my attention to the claims of the perishing heathen. I felt that we had been living for our- selves and not caring for their souls. I spoke as I felt. My serious people wondered and wept. They began to talk about a Baptist mission. We JOINING HANDS ABROAD 127 met and prayed for the heathen ; met to consider what could be done among ourselves for them ; met and did what we could ; and whilst all of this w^as going on, the lamentations ceased, and I, in- stead of having to study how to comfort my flock, was myself comforted by them. They w^ere drawn out of themselves ; that was the real secret. God blessed them while they tried to be a blessing." Antioch a Model Church The church at Antioch has been regarded as a model church. There was a great difference between the church at Jerusalem and the one at /Vntioch. The Jerusalem church was narrow and prejudiced, composed chiefly of Jewish converts, who had never risen to the conviction that Chris- tianity was a world-conquering religion. But the church at Antioch, which was com- posed largely of Gentiles who had come out of the degradation and superstition of old, idolatrous religions, w^as the first to obey the command of Christ to witness to all the world. Antioch gave Christendom tzco important things, the Christimi name and Christian missions. ^Vhile this church was fasting and praying, the Holy Ghost called Paul and Barnabas for mis- sionary work. 'T am confident," says Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, "that no day of more sacred joy had as yet dawned upon the church at Antioch than that upon which Barnabas and Paul were sent out to preach the gospel. Here, then, is something new under the sun. Nothing like this had ever been done by the 128 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Jews ; nothing like it had been seen among the Greeks and Romans. Never had any nation among them concerned itself with the spiritual condition of another. Not until this vessel left the harbor of Seleucia had there been any organized effort of any kind for the purpose of conferring a new and beneficent religion upon another race than their own. And when these brethren did go forth, they went not with earthly weapons, or protected by the edict of an emperor, but carrying only the truth and eager to tell the wondrous story of redeeming love. It was an undertaking as heroic as it was novel ; and it was at once the fruit of that grander mission on which the Lord himself had come from heaven to earth, and the evidence of its reality and power." Who can doubt that the members of the church of Antioch followed these missionaries whom they sent forth, with increasing interest, fervent prayer, and hearty support? After the remarkable experiences of their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas returned to their home church, and rehearsed ''all things that God had done with them, and how that he had opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles." Surely, the missionary interest in that first Gen- tile church must then have been intense ! The church at Antioch was wonderfully blest of God and became one of the .great churches throughout the centuries. When Chrysostom was the pastor, some three hundred years after the founding of the church, the city had a popula- JOIXIXG HANDS ABROAD 129 tion of two hundred thousand, one hundred thou- sand of whom were professing Christians. Thus the church at Antioch was a mighty evangelistic force in its own city, while it sent forth mission- aries to distant parts. Rising Tide of Missionary Interest There is a growing hunger among the churches of our denominations for missionary facts and an increasing desire to do the full will of God. Mis- sionary instruction has become an essential part in Christian training in every live Young People's society and Sunday school. In addition to mis- sionary instruction in these departments of the church, Christian leaders recognize the impor- tance of forming mission-study groups for the en- tire local church. An Entire Church Studying Missions. With a view to getting the entire congregation at Ann- ville, Pennsylvania, to investigate our foreign missionary work, a committee of five canvassed the entire membership and placed one copy of "Our Church Abroad" in every home. Twelve groups Avere then formed for its investigation. Over three hundred persons took part in the group study. Men who were never before known to talk missions, began to inquire, "What can we do to meet this need?" A combined, culminating meeting was held in the church. The interest was so great that a proposition was submitted, and after brief discus- sion, unanimously adoi)te(l, that the congregation 130 OUR CHURCH ABROAD support Dr. Regina Bigler, of China, as its rep- resentative. As a great climax, one of the mem- bers quietly informed the pastor that he and his wife would give five thousand dollars for a new dispensary building for Doctor Bigler. The pastor. Dr. S. F. Daugherty, then wrote, "I have had many great days and blessed experi- ences and triumphant victories, but that culmi- nating meeting, April 9, 1916, was decidedly the best in my whole life. It has opened my eyes anew to the fact thai when our people know, they will do." Systematic Giving to Missions. Possibly no local church in our communion furnishes a better example in systematic giving to missions and other benevolences than does the First United Brethren Church at Barberton, Ohio. Through the long pastorate of the late Rev. U. M. Roby, this congregation became one of the best organ- ized, best informed, and most vitally active churches in the denomination. Rev. Mr. Roby directed his work on the principle that "it is bet- ter to put ten men to work than to do the work of ten men." He recognized the fact that the range is too great to depend entirely on the pulpit for the instruction necessary to develop a strong missionary church. Accordingly, he formed mis- sion-study groups and classes for instruction in Christian stewardship and in soul-winning. Mr. Roby did his best work to vitalize 'and direct the local church by teaching and training the local leaders of his church. r C ni O ft 2 < 3 A Congregation in the Philippines, One Year Old Many such need help to build adeqviate chapels United Brethren Chapel, Cava, P. I. Gifts from the members of the Otterbein Charge, East Ohio Conference, made possible this chapel JOINING HANDS ABROAD 133 Before the every-member canvass was made for gifts to missions and other benevolences, a most thorough, interest-creating, educational campaign was always conducted, and the response from the congregation from year to year was increasingly great. \Mien the United Benevolent Plan was adopted by the General Conference, this congre- gation assumed voluntarily a larger apportion- ment for the general benevolences than the con- ference committee assigned them. Though the membership w^as large, they raised annually over three dollars per member for benevolences. The secret of the powder of the Barberton church can be traced to the superi(^r leadership of the pastor. He brought to the church messages on the living movements of the kingdom, and thus delivered them from provincialism ; he set before the congregation definite tasks large enough to call out their utmost endeavors ; and he had the wisdom and courage to lead his forces to do heroic things. "We make a mistake," says Mr. Roby, "when w^e fail to bring to our people the challenge of the difficult. A\'e have dishonored our men by putting too much emphasis upon our penny collections and insignificant tasks to which we have called them. Many of our people can and will give from one hundred dollars to five hundred dollars annu- ally to the cause of missions when they see its real significance. Hundreds and thousands of others will be glad to bring their fifty cents a week and a dollar a week for the great w^ork. If 134 OUR CHURCH ABROAD we can give our men men's work to do, we shall not find them wanting." Our Greatest Needs After a visit to all our fields abroad, during which I had but a glimpse, as it were, of the vast multitudes, hungry, restless, and utterly hopeless ; after associating with the missionaries and native leaders at their lonely stations, many of whom are far removed from any Christian associations and almost overwhelmed by pagan darkness ; after being permitted to look into the deepest longings of their hearts and to know something of their superhuman problems ; after seeing the infant churches" rising above their stupendous difficul- ties ; and after viewing the vast fields as yet un- touched by Christian workers, I came home with two overwhelming convictions : First: The absolute necessity of equipping what we have already started and of enlarging the work. Scores of native churches are worship- ping in mere shacks, utterly unfit for church pur- poses. The type and character of the native churches are being established. It is absolutely impossible for them to be properly taught and trained without church buildings. Native Chris- tians, whose wages range from but nine to twenty- five cents a day, have brought their churches to partial, and some to full, self-support, and they are doing all they can to provide land and ma- terials for their church homes. They need at this time assistance from America to erect church buildings in places ranging in population from JOINING HANDS ABROAD 135 four thousand to four hundred thousand, in nearly all of which ours is the only church, and through our effort alone will' Christ be known. It is necessary that we provide also, training- school buildings, a dispensary, a hospital, and missionary residences. Our missionaries represent the best men and women our colleges and churches can produce. They are willing to suffer any sacrifice or any pri- vation, and are only ambitious to work at their highest point of efficiency. Crowded into cramped, unsanitary quarters, some of our most efficient workers have broken in health just when they were ready for effective service, and others can- not be more than fifty per cent, efficient with such surroundings. There is unspeakable need of airy, sanitary houses, with proper surroundings, for our missionaries, to say nothing of what is due their little children. Coupled with this equipment is the need for extending the work. We must have additional missionaries and a much larger force of native workers in order that we may speedily give gos- pel privileges to the two million five hundred thousand in our own fields yet untouched. *T hear the voice Of One who calleth, Calleth sweet and clear For me to reap for him A harvest white. Oh, soul of mine, rise up and answer him Before the night, 136 (3UR CHURCH ABROAD The long night falleth, And the day be gone, thy day be gone." After the investigations abroad, my second con- viction is: That the greatest need is that of fer- vent intercession. Great as is the need for more workers at this time, when each missionary on the field is forced to bear a double responsibility, pressing as is the need for funds to adequately equip and extend the work abroad in this hour of wonderful open- ness and opportunity, yea, far greater than these is the call for intercession. It is a call to churches; it is a call to individual men and women who will see in it their greatest opportunity for service, and who will, after ascer- taining the needs, give themselves to the winning of victories by way of the throne. Only through united, fervent, prevailing intercession for our workers abroad and the infant churches, will they be baptized with power from on high. In no other way will the powers of darkness be driven back and the work be made gloriously trium- phant. The missionaries and native leaders who have had the constant intercessions of a group of individuals or of some church at home, are the ones through whom God has been winning the greatest victories. Intercessory Limng-Link Churches No greater joy or keener sense of partnership can come to a local church than in the selection of some representative abroad, whose work shall JOINING HANDS ABROAD 137 be their work, and who will continuously support their substitute at the front by definite prayer and by sacrificial giving. With the church and mis- sionary thus linked, they together share the bur- dens ; together they share the victories and the joys. It strengthens the missionary to know he has back of him a sympathetic, prayerful church. For the local church, this definite work forms a basis for the study of missions, for prayer, and for the broadening outlook on the work of the kingdom. Ithaca Circuit Supports a Representative Abroad. This is a day when the country church is coming to the front. These churches well deserve the increased interest awakened in their behalf. The next decade will witness great for- ward strides by our country churches. The Ithaca Circuit in the Miami Conference, consisting of three appointments, has ventured large things for the kingdom by undertaking to intercede for and to support a representative of their own abroad. Rev. M. I. Comfort, the pastor of this charge, has been creating a missionary atmosphere in the churches and Sunday schools of this circuit. There developed a growing desire on the part of the members to do something larger than they had yet attempted. In October, 1915, the leaders of this country circuit conferred with a view to supporting a representative of their own abroad, in addition to a full benevolence budget. The matter was pre- sented to each local church. All were asked to 138 OUR CHURCH ABROAD think and pray about it. It was agreed that the Sunday schools should be enlisted. The needs of the work abroad, and the specific work of their substitute at the front, were presented in a strong way to each Sunday school. One class took the support of their representative ten days ; another thirty days ; and individuals took from one to seven days ; two families each took the support for one month. Voluntarily and with great enthusiasm, this country charge has entered into this joyful part- nership with the church abroad. Great Work of Church and Sunday School at LaCro'Sse, Kansas. The church and Sunday school at LaCrosse, Kansas, has taken an entire mission- ary family into their hearts. During the past decade, the Sunday school of this church paid one hundred and forty dollars annually for the support of the work at Sabanetas, Porto Rico. The young men and young women of the church and Sunday school have had not only good mis- sionary instruction, but excellent training in giv- ing. It is not surprising, therefore, that the leaders of the church at LaCrosse were convinced that the time had arrived for them to do something adequate to meet the great opportunities now open in our foreign fields. They requested the privilege of supporting a missionary family at one thousand dollars in addition to the regular benev- olence apportionment. JOINING HANDS ABROAD 139 In order to get the matter started, the Sunday- "school superintendent, Mr. James H. Little, who was to lead the mid-week prayer meeting, an- nounced that, if the people would come out, they would hear something unusual and have an oppor- tunity presented to them in which they would be interested. What it was, none of them knew. The room was filled. After a short opening ser- vice, the people were shown our mission fields, the area and population of places where there is not a single missionary at work. They were shown how large a field most of our missionaries have and the number of people they reach ; also what other churches and Sunday schools are doing for missions, and the present urgent need for workers and more money. All present were then asked to express them- selves on whether they were willing to take hold and lift. Quite a number were in favor of taking some definite part in the work. After prayer, the superintendent was instructed to bring the matter before the Sunday school. At the close of the lesson, the proposition was presented to the church and Sunday school, and by the consent of the pastor, nearly all the time allotted to the preaching service was given to a full discussion of what it means to support a missionary. Questions showing an intelligent interest were asked and answered. When the vote was taken, all but one voted in favor of undertaking the support of a missionary family. Pledge cards were distributed and all were asked 140 OUR CHURCH ABROAD to meditate and pray over the matter for one week before deciding what they would do. But the interest already aroused was so great that one class pledged immediately fifty dollars and an- other one hundred dollars. Great enthusiasm pre- vailed when the pledges were lifted and counted on the following Sunday. The next day, the fol- lowing telegram was received by the Secretary in Dayton, which tells the story: "Prayers anszvered. LaCrosse church and Sunday school pledge one thousand dollars for the support of Rev. IV. H. Widdoes and family in the Philippines.'' The superintendent of the school then wrote : *'Our hearts were full to overflowing to our Father for opening the minds and hearts of the people, and their pocketbooks as well, and we had to sing, 'Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.' " Notwithstanding the fact that many of the members of the LaCrosse church lost their entire wdieat crop during the summer that followed, through a hail storm, the pledges were paid promptly and the full thousand dollars in cash were received before the year closed. "As to the situation now at the end of the year," w^rites Mr. Little, "every obligation of the church has been paid in full, including the entire budget, and there is enough money in the treas- ury to refurnish the entire inside of the church and make needed improvements. The people were never so thoroughly united for service as right now. Our experience is that the Lord never goes JOIXIXG HANDS ABROAD HI back on the man or church that honors him in giving-. 'So shall thy barns be filled,' and not only the barns, but ourselves will be filled with the blessings that can come only through con- secrated, systematic giving. The more we give for the other fellow, the more we have for our- selves ; but this is not the reason why we give ; we give for the joy of giving — it is more blessed to give than to receive. "The Lord has been good in showing us the need and helping us to realize that this is our opportunity. // we can keep the young folks in- terested in the zi'ork as they are nozu, it zvill mean much for the church of the next generation. If the church only could be awakened and be led to understand that it is not so much the money right now, though that is sorely needed, but it is the education given to the young people in Chris- tian sacrifice and giving, that will amount to so much more in the years to come." The influence of the prayers and eft'orts of this little church of two hundred and fifty members, has been felt on the other side of the globe. In the Philippines, Rev. Mr. Widdoes says they never before had such power. Congregations in other sections of our Church are taking up the support of individual mission- aries. 142 OUR CHURCH ABROAD Laymen Consecrating Their Talents and Their Money Christian laymen are now studying as never before the needs of the whole world, and they are giving their business ability, their time, and money to make Christ known everywhere. For- eign missions furnishes an objective big enough to call out the best endeavors of Christian lay- men ; it delivers from provincialism, and it devel- ops faith and stalwart Christian character. Lay- men at their own expense have gone to the mis- sion fields and have studied the conditions and needs personally. These, in addition to giving large sums of money, are strong advocates of the cause. In scores of churches, through the leader- ship of laymen, complete transformations are taking place. A business man and his wife in eastern Penn- sylvania had planned to refurnish their living room ; but when they heard the call for funds to send out delayed missionaries, they counseled and prayed about the matter, and decided to do with- out the new furniture for their home, and to give five hundred dollars for the support of their own representative abroad. Laymen in other parts of the church are also supporting substitutes at the front. On January 1, 1916, the following message was received at the Foreign Mission Rooms, from a grandson of Dr. D. C. Kumler, one of our first foreign missionaries : "In extending to you my New Year's greeting, it gives me pleasure to en- JOINING HANDS ABROAD 143 close a check, the balance of the thousand dol- lars toward a new church or missionary residence abroad. It represents real sacrifice — no vacation for several years, and the doing without many thing-s I have wanted for myself or family; but I am grateful for the opportunity to give." The Missionary Prospect Notwithstanding the disastrous European war, the outlook for Christ's world kingdom was never brighter than now. In our own fields across the seas, there is every reason to believe we are on the eve of a great ingathering of souls. The native pastors are rising to the place of aggressive lead- ership. The spiritual life of our growing native churches is deepening, and they are marshalling their forces for larger conquests. Viewing the whole non-Christian world, it can be truthfully said, that the next ten years will doubtless witness the most glorious victories for the kingdom that have ever taken place. A double responsibility now comes to America since the Christian forces of Europe and Great Britain have been so greatly reduced by the war. God has given us our great material resources and our large number of trained, consecrated. Christian young men and women to meet the unparalleled needs abroad at this time. In the face of such opportunities, shall we not all pause and ask our hearts the searching ques- tions given by J. Campbell White : 144 OUR CHURCH ABROAD ''Hoiv long zvoiild it take to plant the church of Christ in every community of the zvorld and make disciples of all the nations, if all other Christians ivere to give this great program of Christ the place in their lives that it has in mine?" "Have I any moral right to expect or to demand of other Christians, even preachers and mission- aries, any service or sacrifice for Christ that I am not -ci'illing to give or make myself T' The great mission work performed by Ger- many, Holland, and England in behalf of America two centuries ago ; the self-sacrificing labors of the early missionaries in the United States, which made possible our great Christian churches ; and the heroic work of the foreign missionaries in preparing the way in the fields abroad for the present victorious native churches — all of these combine to challenge us to meet our opportunities with faith in God, with sacrificial living and giving, and with undiscourageable intercession. ''He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat. Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubi- lant, my feet ! Our God is marching on."