407 Number of additional missionaries asked for in 1 903 by Egypt, India, and the Sudan 485 Net increase in the force from 1903 to 1916 .... 78 Number still to be sent 407 407 HISTORY In the year 1903 an appeal came from the missions in Egypt, India, and the Sudan to the General Assembly in Tarkio for 485 mis¬ sionaries in addition to the force already on the field. This additional number meant that we would have one missionary, man or unmarried woman, for every 25,000 of the population. At that time the missionaries estimated that with this proportion of work¬ ers it would be possible to give every indi¬ vidual of the sixteen millions in our fields an adequate opportunity to know Christ dur¬ ing that generation, or thirty-three years. The Assembly heartily endorsed the appeal of the missions and called upon the Church to rise to its task and adequately occupy the fields. All this happened a little over fourteen years ago. This is what we have done in the fourteen years: We have increased the force of workers from 91 to 169—an advance of 78 workers, or 86 per cent. 2 HISTORY Our contributions have increased from $249,344 to $418,912—an advance of $169,568 or 68 per cent. Our Church membership has increased from 119,358 to 158,460—an advance of 39,102, or 33 per cent. The membership of the Native Church has increased from 17,994 to 45,569—an advance of 27,575, or 153 per cent. Not long ago some people began to think about these facts and to wonder how long at our present rate it would take to evan¬ gelize our sixteen millions. They also won¬ dered if the United Presbyterian Church was really doing its level best to accomplish the task. They decided that the best way to find out about these things was to ask the Church about them. So they issued a call for a Missionary Convocation of the whole Church to meet in Pittsburgh on January 30, 31, and February 1, 1917. The Convoca- 3 HISTORY tion met. There were 1,657 people there from all over the United Presbyterian Church. On the last night of the Missionary Con¬ vocation the great crowd stood and voted unanimously that the Church should lay plans to enter and evangelize our fields. They elected a committee of the following persons to co-operate with existing agencies in accomplishing this task: Rev. J. K. McCIurkin, D.D., Chairman, Rev. J. Alvin Orr, D.D., Rev. J. A. Thompson, D.D., Mrs. George Moore, Mrs. J. P. White, Miss Anna A. Milligan, Mr. Fred C. MacMillan, Mr. George C. Shane, Mr. E. M. Hill, Mr. W. P. Fraser, Mrs. H. C. Campbell, Rev. W. B. Anderson, D.D., Rev. J. K. Quay. Two clauses in the resolutions are espe¬ cially worthy of note: “The attendance upon this Convocation and the spirit that has dominated it, to¬ gether with the spirit that is in our colleges and seminaries, and that has been mani- 4 HISTORY fest in our missionary conferences and else¬ where, persuades us that God is moving upon our people to put into the fields at once an adequate force for the work that • has been providentially assigned. We be¬ lieve that the 407 additional workers that the fields are asking can and should be found and sent forth, and that we should return to our respective fields to pray and labor for the securing, equipping and send¬ ing this force in this, our day. “We record it as our conviction that in the end the only solution of the whole prob¬ lem is in a deepened spiritual life and a spirit of prayer that responds to our Lord's command that we pray the Lord of the harvest that He thrust out laborers into the harvest, and that is ready to answer that prayer by saying, ‘Here, Lord, am I, send me.' It calls for our returning to our homes to link ourselves with our Lord in His in¬ tercession for the lost world; for a program of prayer that shall be definite, persistent, and not abandoned till we have prevailed." 5 FACTS EGYPT—The failure of the “Holy War" marks the political downfall of the Moslem Empire. Egypt still remains as the great intel- fectual and missionary center of Moham¬ medanism. To win the land for Christ now will not only mean the salvation of Egypt's millions, but the saving of Pagan Africa from the blight of Islam that is now being spread by the Moslem missionaries. Modern education and science are doing much to win the Moslem away from his an¬ cient faith. Christian missionaries report an eager¬ ness to hear the gospel never before mani¬ fest among the Moslems. This is the supreme opportunity of Chris¬ tianity in the Valley of the Nile. Of the 10,269,449 Mohammedans in Egypt, not more than 1,000,000 are being reached by any Christian agency. We claim 2,963 of the cities and villages of Egypt as our share. After 60 years of occupation we have regu¬ lar work established in 288. (See map.) 6 FACTS INDIA—There are 9,374 cities and villages in our field in India, After 60 years of occupation we have regular work in 489. (See map.) The Mass Movement in India continues to grow at a tremendous rate. Whole villages are asking the missionaries for baptism and admission to the Church. .To refuse them will mean to lose them for Christ. To admit them untaught will mean to heathenize the young Church. It is utterly impossible to teach them with our present force. 50,000 are now waiting to be admitted. Already we have been taking them in more rapidly than we can care for them, so that in 1915 on account of lapsed mem¬ bers, notwithstanding the fact that 4,521 were received on profession of faith, the Church in our India Mission showed a net decrease of 1,618, most of whom could have been retained by adequate leadership. All this has taken place among the out- castes. Signs of a Mass Movement among the upper castes are multiplying on every hand. When this comes the task will be still more challenging. 7 FACTS SUDAN—If you wish to get a conception of the unfinished task in the Sudan look at the page showing the combined maps of Africa and the United States. Our two mission stations, Doleib Hill and Nasser, are relatively about where Chicago and Cincinnati are located. With the exception of two stations of the Church Missionary Society, Doleib Hill and Nasser are the only mission stations in the area outlined in red. This territory contains about two and one- half million square miles. It lies south of the Sahara in the black belt of Africa. It is densely inhabited by millions of pagan child races of the world. Into this area the Moslem traders are ad¬ vancing and winning them to Mohammedan¬ ism by thousands, thus making them many times more difficult to bring to Christ. They will never again be so easily reached as now. In all this area (Southern Sudan) we have five missionaries at work. 8 9 It is 3800 Miles L,ong and 1200 Miles Wide It contains an Area of 2,400,000 Square Miles The only American Missionaries in it are those at Doleib Hill and Nasser and two Stations of the Church Missionary Society of England. 10 11 12 THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION FIELD IN THE PUNJAB, INDIA. POPULATION..5.433.095 NUMBER OF CITIES AND VILLAGES. 9.374. THE 489 BLACK DOTS INDICATE VILLAGES AND CITIES WHERE CHRISTIAN SERVICES ARE HELD THE 8.885 RED DOTS INDICATE VILLAGES AND CITIES WHERE NO SERVICES ARE HELD wcwtfiKiypi* */ J . a •* 6 iPA-smlrt T6GRAR 407 What it is? It is the slogan number of the 1917 Mis¬ sionary Convocation. It represents the young lives that must be added to our foreign missionary force if we are adequately to occupy our fields. We are now asking every man or woman missionary on our fields to be responsible for giving the Gospel to about 100,000. When the last of the 407 has sailed from New York we will have one missionary for every 25,000 Christless souls. 241 new missionaries to Egypt. 150 new missionaries to India. 16 new missionaries to the Sudan. We now have one missionary on the field for every 938 members in the Church at home. When we have added the 407 we will have one missionary for every 275 of the Church members at home. For the past thirteen years we have made a net increase in the force of missionaries at work by 6 missionaries a year. If we continue at this rate it will require 68 years to reach the mark of 407. Do you think we should wait 68 years? What can YOU do to shorten the time? 14 407 Where will they come from? There is only one source of supply—the young men and women of the United Pres¬ byterian Church of America. If during the next fifteen years 10 out of every 100 of the young people who enter our denominational colleges would go as mis¬ sionaries the 407 would be secured. Or if 13 out of every 1,000 of the members of our Young People’s Societies would go as missionaries we would have the 407. Are you under 30 years of age? Have you faced the question of investing your life in foreign missionary service? Keith-Falconer, the great missionary to the Moslem world, said: “While vast con¬ tinents are shrouded in almost utter dark¬ ness, and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors of heathenism and Islam, the burden of proof rests on you to show that the cir¬ cumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign field.” Are you ready honestly to face that chal¬ lenge with your Lord? 15 SIXTEEN MILLIONS This is the population of our three United Presbyterian Mission fields in Egypt, India and the Sudan. It is almost three times as many people as there are in the United States west of the Rocky Mountains. Placed in a line side by side with arms outstretched and fingers touching they would reach 18,182 miles or seven times the dis¬ tance from New York to San Francisco. If they were divided among the 1,057 or¬ dained ministers of the United Presbyterian Church at home and abroad, each minister would have 15,137. If you were to stand at a given point and watch them march by in single file, you would have to wait three months while they marched continuously day and night in solid line, before they ajl would pass. If every single member of the United Presbyterian Church, old and young, would go as a missionary, each one would have 101 souls all his own to win for Christ. Is my responsibility any less because the ocean lies between me and my 101? 16 SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS Out of the 16,000,000 in our fields on an average one dies every minute, 1,440 a day, 525,600 a year. If the calculation on page 14 is correct we are going to take 68 years to provide the additional 407 missionaries necessary ade¬ quately to occupy our fields. During those 68 years 35,740,400 will die. At least or.e-half of that number, or 17,- 870,200 will die WITHOUT HAVING HAD EVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW CHRIST. That is almost 2,000,000 more than the present population of the fields. That is 113 times the membership of the United Presbyterian Church. That means that during the next 68 years for every single member of the United Pres¬ byterian Church 113 people in our foreign fields are going to die without even a chance to hear of Christ IF WE CONTINUE TO ADVANCE OUR FOREIGN MISSIONARY WORK AT THE RATE AT WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GOING FOR THE PAST THIRTEEN YEARS. 17 WHAT DO WE DO WITH OUR TITHE? Income of the United States in 1916 (official) .$40,000,000,000 Average income per capita.. 400 Average income (omitting children) . 500 One-tenth of this . 50 Number of members in the United Presbyterian Churph 158,460 The tithe of the United Pres¬ byterian Church on this basis . $7,923,000 Suppose we would keep one- half of this for local ex¬ penses . 3,961,500 Suppose we would give the other one-half to benevo¬ lences at home and abroad 3,961,500 Suppose we would give the General Assembly’s appor¬ tionment of this amount, or 40 per cent, to Foreign Missions . 1,584,600 What we actually gave in 1916 to Foreign Missions. 435,474 Shortage to Foreign Missions ALONE on the basis of the tithe . 1,149,126 Additional amount asked for to support the 407 . 794,600 If we would pay to Foreign Missions 40 PER CENT. OF ONE-HALF OF OUR TITHE we would have enough to finance all the work we are now doing abroad, and enough to sup¬ port the 407 new mission¬ aries asked for, and in addi¬ tion to this we would have each year a SURPLUS of $354,526 WILL A CHURCH ROB GOD? 18 DO I QUALIFY? “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my dis¬ ciple.” This is the only “property test” that Christ ever imposed on His disciples. It is the only standard that He recognizes—the standard of absolute renunciation for Him. He does this not because He wants to make us poor, but because it is only in this way that He can make us rich. It is not because He wants our money, but because He wants us. The tithe will not do. The nine-tenths must be His as surely as the one-tenth. One-tenth was the Jews' minimum. Christ's minimum for His disciple is “all that he hath.” That means “Stewardship.” We are the possessors. God is the owner. Last year the United Presbyterian Church gave to Foreign Missions one-twentieth of its tithe. We gave all told for Kingdom work at home and abroad barely more than one-third of our tithe. Are we ready to admit that we owe less to God under grace than the Jew did under law? “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my dis¬ ciple.” DO I QUALIFY? 19 WHAT THE AVERAGE CON¬ GREGATION COULD DO The average United Presbyterian congre¬ gation has 162 members. * 2 /> cents a day from each member would pay the salary of a married missionary in Egypt or the Sudan, or . $1,500 * 22{ 0 cents a day from each member would pay the salary of a married missionary in India, or. $1,320 *1% cents a day from each member would pay the salary of a single man in Egypt or the Sudan, or . . $850 *1% 0 cents a day from each member would pay the salary of a single man in India, or . $780 fl cent a day from each member would pay the salary of an unmar¬ ried lady in Egypt, India or the Sudan, or . $600 *Gifts designated for any of the items marked (*) may be sent through the regu¬ lar channels of the Church and credited to the congregation among its regular “Mis¬ sionary Offerings." -{-Gifts designated for the item marked (f) should be sent directly to the treasurer of the Women’s General Missionary Society, Mrs. J. B. Hill, 5845 Marlborough Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., and will be credited to the congregation under “Contributions to Wom¬ en’s Work” in the General Assembly Min¬ utes. 20 WHAT A GROUP OF 15 PEOPLE COULD DO *27Yi 0 cents a day from each would pay the salary of a married mis¬ sionary in Egypt or the Sudan, or $1,500 *2434 0 cents a day from each would pay the salary of a married mis¬ sionary in India, or. $1,320 *15!/ 2 cents a day from each would pay the salary of a single man in Egypt or the Sudan, or. $850 *14|4 cents a day from each would pay the salary of a single man in India, or. $780 -j-11 cents a day from each would pay the salary of an unmarried lady in Egypt, India, or the Sudan, or .. $800 *Gifts designated for any of the items marked (*) may be sent through the regular channels of the Church and credited to the congregation among its regular “Missionary Offerings." jGifts designated for the item marked (f) should be sent directly to the treasurer of the Women’s General Missionary Society, Mrs. J. B. Hill, 5845 Marlborough Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., and will be credited to the congregation under “Contributions to Wom¬ en’s Work’’ in the General Assembly Min¬ utes. 21 CAN YOU TAKE A FOREIGN SPECIAL ? *$1,500 a year pays the salary of a married missionary in Egypt or the Sudan. *$1,320 pays the salary of a married missionary in India. *$ 850 a year pays the salary of a single man in Egypt or the Sudan. *$ 780 a year pays the salary of a single man in India. -j-$ 600 a year pays the salary of an unmar¬ ried lady in Egypt, India, or the Sudan. ' Gifts designated for any of the items marked (*) may be sent through the regu¬ lar channels of the Church and credited to the congregation among its regular “Mis¬ sionary Offerings.” fGifts designated for the item marked (f) should be sent directly to the treasurer of the Women's General Missionary Society, Mrs. J. B. Hill, 5845 Marlborough Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., and will be credited to the congregation under “Contributions to Wom¬ en's Work” in the General Assembly Min¬ utes. 22 CAN YOU TAKE A FOREIGN SPECIAL ? $150 to $450 a year will employ a native evangelist in Egypt. $ 30 to $300 a year will employ a native evangelist in India. $ 80 a year will keep a pupil in College in Egypt. $ 75 a year will keep a pupil in College in India. $ 50 a year will keep a pupil in the Ele¬ mentary School in Egypt. $ 30 a year will keep a pupil in Grammar or High School in India. $ 25 a year will keep a pupil in Primary School in India. $ 12 to $30 a year will pay the tuition of a pupil in a day school in Egypt. $25 to $50 a year will support a village school in India. $ 30 a year will support a village school in Egypt. $100 will build a village school in India. For more particular information as to names of individuals or institutions to be supported, write to the Board of Foreign Missions, 200 North Fifteenth Street, Phila¬ delphia, Pa. Gifts for any of these items should be sent directly to the Board of Foreign Mis¬ sions, 200 North Fifteenth street, Phila¬ delphia, Pa., Mr. Robert L. Latimer, Treas¬ urer, and may be credited to the congre¬ gation under “Specials to Work Abroad” in the General Assembly Minutes. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? The Convocation Committee presents this pamphlet to you with the conviction that as a member of the United Presbyterian Church you will want to make some re¬ sponse to the appeal of these tremendous unmet needs in our foreign fields with your prayers, your money or your life. The Committee itself is vested with no official powers. Its sole purpose is to sum¬ mon the Church to a realization of its tre¬ mendous opportunity and responsibility abroad. The Committee is not an organization set up to procure money or missionary vol¬ unteers. Its duties are simply to assist, In an unofficial way, the Board of Foreign Mis¬ sions and the Foreign Department of the Women’s Board. Whatever response the Church makes to the Committee’s appeal must come through the regularly constituted channels. If, as you read these pages, the Spirit of God leads you to a larger investment of your life or your possessions in His King¬ dom service abroad, will you not make this known by a letter to the United Presby¬ terian Board of Foreign Missions, 200 North Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa., or to Mrs. H. C. Campbell, Foreign Secretary of the Women’s Board, 209 Anderson Street, Pitts¬ burgh, Pa. 24 Additional copies of this leaflet may be secured by writing to the Secretary of the Convocation Committee, 200 North Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa.