>C? 5 0 ^vS-< Of P V J^'/^OGfGAL MISSIONARY FURLOUGH / BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION 25 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK ) THE BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION The Board of Missionary Preparation for North America was created in 1911 by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America to make a thorough study of the many problems involved in adequate preparation for foreign mis- sionary service in all fields. Its membership represents Boards of Foreign Missions, general as well as candidate secretaries, professors in theological seminaries and in special schools and departments for missionary training, and others whose study of the missionary enterprise or of educational methods especially qualifies them to advise. The annual reports of the Board are printed in the annual volume issued by the Foreign Missions Conference. It issues many pamphlets, carefully revised at intervals, on the various phases of missionary preparation. These pamphlets are widely used by Boards for the information of their foreign missionary candidates. It is believed that they meet adequately the needs of such candidates for suggestions which may help them to make the wisest use of their oppor- tunities during their college and professional study. Other series render the same sort of helpful guidance to the young missionary on the field during the first term of service and in anticipation of the first furlough. The Board holds from time to time conferences at which those who are responsible as administrators or as educators for the promotion of proper policies in missionary prepara- tion are brought together with missionaries of experience and with specialists to unite in their formulation. The reports of these conferences are published by the Board. The Board also employs a Director who gives his entire time to correlating and extending its activities. Candidate secretaries of Foreign Mission Boards, teachers in schools which train missionary candidates, and others interested in special problems of missionary training are invited to cor- respond with him at the office of the Board of Missionary Preparation, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City. THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION Reverend Stanley White, D.D., Chairman Reverend William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D. Professor Daniel J. Fleming, Ph.D. Reverend Arthur R. Gray, D.D. Reverend Cornelius H. Patton, D.D. S. Earl Taylor, LL.D. President Wilbert W. White, Ph.D. BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION 25 Madison Avenue, New York City BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION Rev. W. B. Anderson, D.D. Rev. James L. Barton, D.D. Prof. Harlan P. Beach, D.D. Dean O. E. Brown, D.D. Prof. Ernest DeWitt Burton, D.D. Miss Helen B. Calder Dean Edward W. Capen, Ph.D. Prof. W. O. Carver, D.D. Rev. William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D. Rev. George Drach, D.D. Rev. James Endicott, D.D. Prof. Daniel J. Fleming, Ph.D. Rev. Arthur R. Gray, D.D. Miss Margaret E. Hodge Pres. Henry C. King, D.D. Prof. Kenneth S. Latourette Rev. James H. Lewis Prof. Walter L. Lingle, D.D. Rev. R. P. Mackay, D.D. Pres. Wilbert W Pres. W. Douglas Mackenzie, D.D. Prof. Paul Monroe, Ph.D. John R. Mott, LL.D. Rev. Frank Mason North, D.D. Prin. T. R. O’Meara, D.D. Pres. C. T. Paul, Ph.D. Rev. Joseph C. Robbins, D.D. Prof. Henry B. Robins, Ph.D. T. H. P. Sailer, Ph.D. Miss Una M. Saunders Prof. E. D. Soper, D.D. Robert E. Speer, D.D. Mrs. Hume R. Steele Pres. J. Ross Stevenson, D.D. Fennell P. Turner J. G. Vaughan, M.D. Prof. Addie Grace Wardle, Ph.D. Robert P. Wilder Rev. Stanley White, D.D. White, Ph.D. Pres. W. Douglas Mackenzie, D.D., Chairman Rev. William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., Vice~Chairman Fennell P. Turner, Secretary Rev. Frank K. Sanders, Ph.D., Director 25 Madison Avenue, New York PREFACE Some years ago a committee, appointed by the Board of Missionary Preparation, of which President Charles R. Watson, D.D., then the Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, was the chairman, after consultation with a very wide range of missionaries, prepared a small pamphlet entitled “How Should a Missionary Spend His Furlough?” which was published by the Board of Missionary Preparation, This proved to be very useful and went through a series of editions. The growing interest of missionaries and executives in determining the most helpful use of the furlough and the evident willingness of all concerned, both on the field and at home, to deal with it in a truly scientific fashion, led to the holding of a conference on the Most Profitable Use of the Missionary Furlough, in December, 1919. This conference, which was attended by a representative group, took as the basis of its discussion a report (made by a committee appointed by the Board of IMissionary Preparation of which Dr. Stanley White, of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, was the chairman) which was in turn the outgrowth of a detailed questionnaire, sent out to a large number of representative missionaries and answered in detail by an unusually large percentage of those addressed. This conference, through its ovm committee, summed up its conclusions in a report which made a number of specific suggestions regarding the proper organization required, both by mission Boards and by mis- sions in the field, for dealing efficiently with the furlough problems of the alert missionary.^ This report was given wide circulation in North America and throughout the American mission world early in 1920. It bids fair to achieve in good measure the end in view. The conference also expressed the definite judgment that a thorough revision of ‘ The report issued by this conference is reproduced in an appendix, page 29. the previously issued pamphlet regarding the furlough should be undertaken by the committee of the Board of Missionary Preparation which had submitted the above-mentioned report to the conference. In response to this request the committee presents the following report, which seeks to include the valued suggestions of the early leaflet, but has been wholly rewritten. As in case of the first issue the furlough is dealt with in broad fashion, not merely as it relates to the interests of the junior missionary. These interests predominate, but any helpful treatment of the furlough question must of necessity view the subject as a whole. The committee has spared no pains to make the report an accurate reflection of the soundest administrative and missionary judgment of today. The furlough problem is perennially a fresh one. New aspects are constantly coming into consideration. It is the desire of the Board of Missionary Preparation to keep this pamphlet up to date. Any helpful suggestions from any critical reader will at all times be received with appreciation. They should be sent to the undersigned. Frank K. Sanders, Director of the Board of Missionary Preparation. August, 1921. CONTENTS PAGE I, Introduction 7, 8 II. The Various Values of the Furlough 8-12 1. Physical reinvigoration 8 2. Mental upbuilding 9 3. Spiritual stimulus 9 4. Contact with the homeland 10 5. The cultivation of the churches at home 10 6. Co-operation with the mission Board 11 7. The maintenance of a perspective 11 8. Other values 11 III. Preparation for the Furlough 12-14 1. Preparation for the first furlough 12 2. Preparation for later furloughs 14 IV. General Questions Relating to the Missionary Furlough 14-19 1. Its frequency 14 2. Its length 15 3. The allowance while at home 16 4. The distribution of time 18 5. The missionary’s location 19 V. The Administrative Machinery Needed 20-22 1. Furlough administration on the field 20 2. Furlough administration at home 20 3. The advisory service of the Board of Mission- ary Preparation 21 VI. The Practical Management of the Missionary Fur- lough 22-25 1. The assurance of physical well-being 22 2. Ways of mental energizing 23 3. The obtaining of spiritual stimulus 24 4. The acquiring of practical experience 24 PAGE VII. The Contributions of the Missionary Furlough to the Missionary Enterprise 25-27 1. The cultivation of the home church 25 2. The magnifying of the cause of missions 26 3. The promotion of international friendship 26 4. The wise formulation of missionary policy. ... 27 VIII. Conclusion 28 Appendix I. The Findings of the Conference on the Most Profitable Use of the Missionary Furlough 29, 30 Appendix II. Practical Suggestions for a Furlough Calendar 31 Appendix III. Suggestions Regarding Deputation Service 31 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH I. Introduction The importance of the furlough in relation to missionary efficiency cannot be overstated. The total number of foreign missionaries supported by North American Boards and Societies in 1921 is well above eleven thousand. With the increasing frequency of furloughs deemed wise under modem missionary administration, and taking into account the great enlargement of missionary forces called for at the present time, it is fully within bounds to say that not less than twenty-five hundred missionaries will soon be coming annually to their North American homeland for regular furloughs. Inasmuch as the full period of absence from the field requires, as a rule, about fifteen months, an attempt to secure the wisest possible use of the missionary furlough takes into consideration, each year, some three thousand years of North American missionary time, which means an investment of more than a million dollars. Were the Prot- estant foreign missionaries of the whole world included within the survey, these figures, startling as they are, would be multiplied threefold. The effective spending of all this potential energy and of all this money justifies the most painstaking planning on the part of Boards, of missions and of missionaries. The scientific use of the missionary furlough has never been adequately considered. Its proper adjustments must grow out of the rich experience of missionaries, modified and interpreted in the light of the new problems which contin- ually face the mission enterprise. In former days the prin- cipal objectives of the furlough were the maintenance of the health of the missionary, his possible contribution to the education of the churches of his communion and the raising of its missionary budget. Today, emphasis is being given more and more, in addition, to the bearing of the furlough opportunity on the adequate preparation of the missionary to deal with his ever-broadening task. 7 8 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH The tragedy of the furlough question lies in the fact that even at the present time many missionaries are prevented by meagre resources, by strong family or local ties, by denomi- national financing or campaigning, or by other reasons, equally commanding yet not wholly defensible, from gaining the values which the furlough ought to have for one who has been spending his energy without stint for a term of burdened and anxious years on the field. Too many missionaries are obliged under existing conditions to spend their furloughs in tasks which bid defiance to the proper ideals of a furlough. The way out would seem to be a better organization of furlough conditions which will fix the responsibility for their betterment with some definiteness. II. The Various Values of the Furlough No two missionaries are exactly alike, in their needs or in the conditions which surround them. No formulation of values can ever be made which will fit the case of each indi- vidual missionary. It is possible, however, by drawing on instructive missionary experience to indicate the principal purposes which a missionary’s furlough ought to fulfill. 1. Physical Reinvig oration. — A prime asset of the mis- sionary is physical well-being. Without good health no adequate service can be rendered anywhere. He and his Board should aim to make each furlough contribute to the maintenance of vigorous bodily health. This should involve a regular medical inspection on the field during periods of service in order to guard against the breaking down of health. It certainly should involve thorough medical exami- nations, at the direction and expense of the Board, by a disinterested expert, at the very outset of each furlough, to serve the Board as a guide to the detailed treatment needed to restore or to enhance the physical well-being of the missionary and of his family. Such expenditures are regarded by all Boards as economical. They keep the missionary at his best. Aside from medical treatment, however, it is clear that an important value of the regular furlough to the mis- sionary will be found in a relaxation from the responsibility that work on the field always involves. This is found in THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 9 small measure in the comparative leisure of the voyage to and from the field, but notably in the entire change of climate, surroundings and interests enjoyed during the furlough. 2. Mental Upbuilding. — Every missionary realizes his need of a fresh mental stimulus and returns to his homeland keenly desirous of obtaining it. The junior missionary, returning home for his first furlough, feels this to a pre- eminent degree. He may well look upon the first furlough as being really the conclusion of his long course of thoughtful preparation for missionary efficiency, utilizing it, so far as conditions permit, as an educational opportunity. Much of the advance of recent days in missionary statesmanship has concerned itself with the furnishing of proper educational opportunities for those missionaries who realize their needs. Such opportunities are as truly, if not quite so obviously, needed for other classes of missionaries as for the medical missionary or for the teacher. Every missionary, in order to be fitted to grip his ovm responsibilities afresh, and to broaden his vision of the missionary program, needs to meet a new group of minds, to be confronted with other problems than his own, and to realize how his homeland has moved along since his last contact with it. 3. Spiritual Stimulus. — No missionary fails to crave the opportunity to make his furlough count in gaining a fresh intellectual and spiritual \’iewpoint, or a clearer apprehension of many of the rehgious problems -which he may have had to face in his public ministry or in private interviews. The pri-^dlege of sharing in the stimulus of a summer conference, of a pastor’s retreat or of a summer school is very highly valued. Even more precious may be the joy of sharing once more in the regular services of a congregation at home and of standing side by side -with those at home who have not been able to go out to the mission field, yet are in full and rich sjunpathy -with those who have gone. Such experiences in fellowship send the true missionary back to his task with renewed confidence, greater hopefulness, added zeal, and with a deeper appreciation of the value of such fellowship to the national Christians and churches of his field. 10 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 4. Contact with the Homeland. — An earnest missionary is in a very real sense in danger of expatriation. His real home is where he does his work. His adopted country has come to absorb his first and best thoughts. He may not realize this until after his first furlough, but it is true. A veteran missionary needs a furlough home, in order that he may not lose an essential social contact with his home base. He needs not merely to renew family ties, to continue old friendships and to make new affiliations, but to come into fresh contact with his own Board, its officers, and its constituents, and to renew his relationship with his homeland and its growing, changing interests. The more thoroughly he comprehends his own and his adopted people, the better able he will be to act effectively as a medium of mutual understanding, thus rendering a genuine international service. He who is to render such service, however, must not get too far away from the interests of his home people. 5. The Cultivation of the Churches at Home. — Every mis- sionary, however young, needs to renew an intimate con- nection with the group of churches which he represents. Moreover, junior missionaries have a recognized value in reaching with their stirring messages the hearts of young people. Yet it is particularly the privilege of the older missionary, returning for his third or fourth furlough and speaking with the authority of experience, to assist in cultivating the general interest of these churches in the missionary enterprise and to clarify their thinking regarding his own particular field and its outstanding problems. More and more, such capable missionaries, through the co-oper- ative organization of mission interests on the home field, are being enabled to serve a very wide range of Christian interests through their public addresses, their private inter- views, their printed articles and through their services in campaigns and at conventions. The thoughtful maintenance of a proper balance between the public service of a missionary and his personal growth in power and resourcefulness is a matter for constant consideration. THE MISSIONAET FURLOUGH 11 6. Co-operation With the Mission Board. — Similarly, the furlough ought to be the opportunity of the missionary, habitually welcomed and questioned by the officers and managers of his Board, to bring to them well-studied, first- hand information regarding his particular field, to advise with them, and with the special committee on that field, when one exists, regarding the program which should be promoted and the methods of attack commensurate with its problems, and to co-operate with the home secretaries in the discovery of candidates. 7. The Maintenance of a Perspective. — The busy mis- sionary lives a day at a time. He is dangerously prone to absorption in the interests of his small district or of his country. He is cramped by innumerable petty details, narrow streets, unresponsive people, sometimes by a hostile or depressing atmosphere. An occasional furlough will help him to see his missionary area as a whole and to evaluate it continentally and internationally. Set free from the engross- ing claims of his station, or of his department of work, or of his immediate task, he will be able to survey dispassionately the years of his own active service, to view his mission in its relationship to the whole work of his Board and the work of his denomination as compared with that of others. He will be able better to estimate the real influence of Christian teaching and life on his adopted people. Such perspectives are of the highest value to the thoughtful student of the whole enterprise of missions. They enable the missionary to return to his own absorbing task with fresh energy and with renewed enthusiasm and to estimate it in its relation- ships to all other important tasks or movements. 8. Other Values. — A furlough has many additional values for the active, thoughtful, alert missionary. Each one has his own method of utilizing his free time, some seeking to gain through observation a knowledge of successful methods of church management, or of social service, or of evangeli- zation. Others study progress along strictly professional lines. Still others enjoy denominational and interdenomina- tional service. Very many find opportunity, particularly in 12 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH these days, for molding public opinion on the platform and through the pubhc press. There are always a few whose physical weakness compels them to be inactive. N o unchange- able practice can be laid down. III. Preparation for the Furlough One very important reason for past failures to use the missionary furlough to its best advantage has been a lack of preliminary planning. Furlough efficiency involves much thoughtful adjustment. The date of arrival in the homeland is often too late for the wisest allotment of furlough time and opportunity. It should, rather, be the time for a final judgment with regard to arrangements which have been given some previous consideration. 1. Preparation for the First Furlough. — The first mission- ary furlough is probably the most important one of all to the missionary. It affords an opportunity for self-measurement, for specific adjustment to a long and active future, and for the thoughtful conclusion of the long course of preparation. Later furloughs will prove more valuable for deputation work because of the added field experience; but missionary administrators have practically agreed that the predomi- nating objective of the first furlough should be educational opportunity. In order to make the most of this opportunity every junior missionary should begin months in advance, as his busy life affords opportunity, to plan for the furlough. During the first term on the field he should have gained an ability to use the vernacular of his district or area, a real acquaintance with its people, their history and their ways, and a thorough introduction to the responsibilities of mission fife. Each young missionary looking forward to a fife of grave respon- sibility needs to determine as wisely as possible his or her fines of special usefulness. Such a determination will nor- mally rest on the judgment of the missionary community even more than on that of the individual missionary. It is highly desirable that each missionary unit on the field develop some special means of studying each one of its THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 13 junior missionaries during this first term of service with a view of assisting in such a judgments It goes without saying that any such plan should receive the approval of those to whom it is to apply and should be managed with scrupulous friendliness and fairness. Once made, this judgment may indicate the line of special study which the young missionary should undertake during the first furlough. On the other hand, the furlough may be needed even more definitely for meeting some deficiency in preparation gradually realized by the missionary. Any clear apprehension of specific need which approves itself to the missionary and to his associates on the field is likely to be approved by the Board at home. One of the truly significant movements of our own time in missionary education is the increase in candidates who have speciahzed along particular fines. This development is the natural outcome of new educational and missionary ideals. All the home colleges are encouraging their students to specialize. These students come to mission Boards with a very real sense that the best they have to give to the service of God on the mission field is embodied in those capacities which they have thus begun to develop. There is a corre- sponding condition on the field which creates a demand for specialized training during the furlough. The furlough serves a double purpose in such cases: it enables the narrowly trained specialist to generalize and the man of general training to develop some single capacity. Young people who are going to the field for the first time are rarely able to determine the fines along which they will work to best advantage during a long future. The first term of service will often reveal capacities, sometimes unsuspected, and will suggest a wise fine of specialization to be undertaken ’ dming the first furlough, which will fit the recipient for leadership of the mission in some special capacity. Such leadership may, of course, be incidental to the continuance of established responsibilities. There is involved in all this some change in the present regulations, so that young people who have specialized for a particular task may have reason- 1 See further, page 20. 14 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH able assurance that, when they return to the field, they will be given the opportunity to do the work for which they have prepared. Such a procedure becomes more certain when a mission develops the plan of friendly co-operation referred to above. 2. Preparation for Later Furloughs — With growing expe- rience the missionary may regard himself as being in need of physical recreation and of a general stimulus, rather than of some specific fine of long continued study. It will none the less be worth his while to plan his later furloughs with some definiteness and so as to include some real study. One mis- sionary reports the habit of beginning, months in advance of his date of starting homeward, a furlough notebook for the collection of suggestions to be realized during the anticipated furlough. It is increasingly possible during a year at home to utilize at least the brief term of a summer school in obtaining a fresh command of resources and in renewing an acquaintance with old studies from a point of view that is fresh. The more clearly the veteran missionary has certain definite purposes in mind, whatever their char- acter, the more hkely he is to achieve them. IV. General Questions Relating to the y Missionary Furlough 1. Its Frequency. — In the early decades of the missionary enterprise, furloughs, though not unknown, were relatively rare. As conditions of travel improved they came to be planned at ten year intervals. Gradually the length of standard terms of service in the field has been reduced until today, for mission fields lying within the temperate zone and offering reasonable vacational privileges, a period of seven years has been recognized as the average furlough term, while for fields lying within the tropics or in countries presenting conditions of unusual hazard and strain, the term has been placed at from five to three years. Some Boards shorten these standard periods slightly for unmarried women. Several of them permit a missionary to choose a short furlough of six months at home after four years of service in place of a whole year at home after seven years of service. THE MISSIONAEY FURLOUGH 15 The chief disadvantage of this last mentioned arrangement is that so short a furlough is often only usable for physical rest. It is hardly fair, however, to base a furlough poUcy on so narrow a purpose. The missionary has a right to have a furlough which may be used predominantly for self-improve- ment. The period most in debate is the first period on the field. Many wise missionaries believe that seven years makes too long a period for the average jimior missionary, and that a period of five years, as the first term on the field, is preferable. Within five years the missionary worth keeping on the field should have acquired the experience essential for that period and should have attained a sufficient grasp of the language to prevent serious loss of facility through a year’s absence. He is in some danger of growing stale and unpro- ductive, because of the strains of the first years. A furlough for study fits into actual needs and, as a rule, returns the young missionary to the field with true eagerness, with renewed enthusiasm, and with a deepened impression of the meaning and the worth of his own task. 2. Its Length. — The prevailing judgment in regard to the length of the average furlough varies between twelve and fifteen months. The latter estimate usually covers two summers at home and the corresponding avoidance of two trying seasons on the field, when the work is at a minimum. There are those who advocate more frequent and shorter furloughs, where the expense of travel is not too great, in order to relieve the mission in the field from the necessity of furnishing a substitute to look after the missionary’s work and to enable the missionary on furlough to avoid the burden of setting up housekeeping. Such shorter furloughs may be advantageous for the veteran missionary, where feasible, but they lessen greatly the opportunity for definite study or for extensive participa,tion in deputations or campaigns at home. All furloughs should vary in length in accordance with the time taken by the Board for its purposes, several months, at least, being allowed for strictly personal use. The general consensus of opinion seems to be that the 16 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH standardized practice is thoroughly wise, but that departures from it should be always permissible for specific reasons. For missionaries to tropical, debiUtating regions furlough arrangements have to be adjustable. 3. The Allowance While at Home. — The question of a proper allowance to missionaries on furlough deserves thoughtful consideration by every mission Board. Not alone has there been a marked increase in hving costs of every sort in recent years, applying particularly to the conditions amid which the missionary and his family must live, but also there are expenditures, often quite essential, which are sometimes overlooked. On the field a home is provided for the missionary; during the furlough a house or a fair rooming allowance is equally necessary. Some Boards suspend a missionarj^’s salary while he is travelling from or to the home base, yet make no personal grant beyond a carefully audited expense allowance for that period of travel. This arrangement affords a missionary family very shght oppor- tunity for any unauthorized pleasure or profit. Many Boards begin to pay the furlough allowance at the end of the month to which it applies, placing the missionary some- times in an embarrassing and almost chronic condition of indebtedness. Few missionaries on furlough are granted, as a matter of course, a small miscellaneous allowance to cover such minor expenses as the postage, stationery and telegrams demanded by efficiency in promotion. Few of them feel able to buy coveted books and magazines or to attend lectures and concerts. Yet these matters are important. Freedom from worry and an abihty to share, on a self- respecting basis, in the life of the home community entered are very essential factors in the usefulness of each furlough. Many missionaries worry so much that they fail to recuperate properly. They feel unable to attend inspirational meetings, or to undertake educational courses, because of the added expense. Such inability bears very heavily on the wife and mother. These restrictions are both unwise and unjust. A missionary occasionally goes back to his field with debts THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 17 incurred, because his Board has refused to face his necessary outlays. One whose name is honored in missionary circles once declared that his first fmiough cost him almost twice his allowance, and the second one almost four times as much. Most Boards have already concluded that the furlough allowance should be determined on the basis of the reason- able expense of travel, of fife at home and of proper oppor- tunity. The furlough is not a period of inaction but of change. The allowance should afford that change without any assumption of debt. In case of those who are pursuing special studies a Board should provide for necessary tuition fees, if these are not remitted by the institution. It should likewise provide for railroad travel, especially if some distant institution is selected after consultation with the Board. Possibly the furlough organization of each Board should deal with each case separately and provide for all such expenses connected with these studies as are found to be in excess of the mis- sionary’s normal furlough expenses, providing, of course, that the missionary finds himself unable to meet these expenses and pro\dding the Board approved of them before they were incurred. Among the arguments by which a Board can justify such expenditures are: (a) These studies aim to increase the missionary’s efficiency in the work of the Church. (6) Lacking such help from the Board the missionary must go back to his field imperfectly equipped, (c) The conditions of the mission field and of the missionary’s life abroad place hmitations upon him, even when they become a general stimulus to his whole personal development, which make him desire such training as can be available only at home, (d) Sober business judgment justifies such investments, (e) The missionary force on the field regards such expenditure as imperative. There are, of course, not a few missionaries who are able, through their families, or by reason of private means, to provide for these special expenditures. It is their privilege and their duty to do this. Such cases are exceptional. Most missionaries must look to their Boards for the training needed. 18 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 4. The Distribution of Time. — No definite rule can be framed for the distribution of the missionary’s furlough time. This must vary with the individual. Every missionary, however, should have an idea of the way in which he would like to distribute that time, and every department or com- mittee to which is assigned the important responsibility of furlough management should give it generous and serious consideration. The primary requirement of the missionary is a period of rest and recreation, presumably among friends. No serious work should be undertaken immediately upon arriving in America. Those who are not unduly debilitated will profit more by one month at a good sanitarium, or at an out-door camp of some sort, than by three or four months of ordinary visiting, which always involves excitement and extra strain. Those who have children at school in the home- land should have an opportunity to spend a month or so with them alone, so that the family unity may be maintained. Quite as important as the initial period of rest should be another similar period just before returning to the field. It is unwise for a missionary to plunge into the active respon- sibility of the field directly after a period of strenuous activity at home. The voyage should be helpful physically, but, according to the best medical opinion, it is insuflScient for the adequate restoration of energy. Those affected by seasickness particularly require the rest. These periods of physical recreation at either end of the furlough allow ample time between for the achievement of the purposes which are close to the heart of the missionary and of those about him. The young missionary in his first furlough ought to have eight or nine months for study, for the simple reason that such courses as he needs are planned, as a rule, to run through an academic year. Such d young missionary will have a reasonable amount of time during those months to preach or speak, while making his studies his principal objective. Educational and medical mission- aries and other specialists will need some months at least during each furlough for observation and training. Veteran missionaries will not, as a rule, require any such amount of time for study, unless they are seeking to acquire the mastery THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 19 of some highly specialized subject, although they of all men need to keep abreast of progress. A summer term at some university or at a first-rate summer school, when the longer residence at a standard institution is not feasible, will usually afford them the intellectual opportunity they crave, leaving considerable time for the administrative forces to use in introducing the missionary to his Church and, through him, the churches to his field. The necessary adjustments of the dates of arrival and departure are not difficult to arrange. 5, The Missionary’s Location. — Most missionary fur- loughs are spent in the home country. To an increasing extent the missionaries who are thinking in terms of the whole missionary problem of their adopted people are, with the approval of the Boards, broadening their perspective and adding to their strength by visiting other countries along the route of travel in order to study their special problems and to meet their leaders. In the future, as in the past, a certain few will find it profitable to make an extended stay in Europe for purposes of study of this sort. The location of the missionary at home has usually been determined by his desire to be near relatives, or to provide educational advantages for his children, to live economically, or to have special opportunities for study. The tendency to make provision at first-rate educational and social centers, whereby missionary families can live together for a year at a reasonable expense, and the movement toward the provi- sion at university centers of accommodations which enable missionaries to enjoy educational advantages without undue expense are to be heartily commended ^ and should be multiphed. The whole question of location is of very great importance to the missionary on furlough. The wrong location may render the furlough quite unprofitable. The friendly counsel and co-operation of each mission Board may be highly serviceable to the missionary in this particular. ‘ For interdenominational or non-denominational opportunities of this sort the Director of the Board of Missionary Preparation, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, may be consulted. 20 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH V. The Administrative Machinery Needed It will be perfectly clear that the furlough cannot manage itself nor can the missionary be held responsible for its efficiency. The problem of the wise use of the furlough is properly an administrative problem, both on the field and at home, deserving and demanding a more thoughtful attention than has hitherto been given to it. 1. Furlough Administration on the Field. — The valuable conference held December, 1919, in New York City, on “The Most Profitable Use of the Missionary Furlough,” made specific recommendations regarding the best method of assisting the missionary on the field to determine the w’isest use of his furlough. It suggested that each mission in the field be asked to create some method of guiding the studies and other activities of each of its junior missionaries during the first term on the field, so as to enable a report to be made to the Board at home in advance of the first furlough regarding any deficiencies in training which ought to be remedied, such special abilities as were worthy of cultivation, and the particular type of service for which the missionary seemed peculiarly fitted, and to enable the mission on the field and the young missionary to reach a common conviction concerning the plans which should, if practicable, be carried out during the first furlough. A mission committee, properly chosen, tactful in its methods and friendly in spirit, could be of very great value, not alone to the junior missionary, but to older missionaries, assisting them to reach a conviction regarding the wisest possible plans for a prospective furlough. It might work out a simple efficiency test for its own area which would enable a young missionary to measure his own progress and would give his seniors a basis of estimation. Such tasks are delicate but not unimportant. Any practicable method, however, of attaining the end sought is to be commended. 2. Furlough Administration at Home. — To give all plans relating to the use of furloughs their maximum efficiency each home Board should provide definitely through some kind of standing committee for the systematic management THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 21 of furlough arrangements. Such a committee, on which the corresponding secretary or secretaries should, of course, be amply represented because of familiarity with the field and the missionaries, would wisely have an executive, often the secretary of the candidate department, responsible for attending to the multifarious details. Without such an executive furlough ideals are difficult of realization. On behalf of the committee the executive secretary could take an initiative with missionaries with furloughs in prospect in regard to their wisest use, could carry on all furlough corre- spondence, could arrange the necessary administrative details relating to the furlough at home, and, as far as possible, reach these determinations, not only through correspondence, but by an individual contact with the missionary and a friendly study of his whole case. He could “follow through,” so as to be able to make finally a definite estimate of the values gained by the missionary during the furlough to the mission to which he belongs. With such an executive behind him the average missionary would be spared much embar- rassment. The service needed is personal. Much wise, friendly, thoughtful planning is required, if missionaries, the churches and the Boards are each to profit in the fullest degree by each furlough. 3. The Advisory Service of the Board of Missionary Prep- aration. — Whatever a group on the field or a friendly and able administrative committee at home may conclude regarding the plans which each missionary should carry through, there will usually remain a number of technical questions to be solved regarding the best possible way of accomplishing them under the existing limitations of oppor- tunity and previous experience. Such a solution calls for an intimate knowledge of actual conditions at educational institutions and semi-educational enterprises which neither the missionary nor his natural advisers may possess. He is in some danger of making an inferior use of his time and opportunity. The Board of Missionary Preparation exists in part for the purpose of giving such advice on consultation, either prior to the return to America or at any stage of the 22 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH furlough. The Board is the efficiency expert of the Boards collectively on matters relating to missionary training, and welcomes at any time a request for information or advice. Lists of educational institutions of various types, of assem- blies and conventions, of observational centers and the like cannot well be published in a permanent pamphlet. Infor- mation regarding such matters is always available at the office of the Board at general missionary headquarters, 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, or will be obtained at request. A visit to these headquarters, while unnecessary, will reward the missionary on furlough by affording some idea of the extent of co-operative responsibility for the mis- sionary advances of today and a glimpse, at least, of the remarkable Missionary Research Library. VI. The Practical Management of the Missionary Furlough The furlough, as suggested on pages 8-12, has a variety of values for the missionary himself. The realization of these values justifies the following suggestions: 1. The Assurance of Physical Well-Being. — Sound, vigo- rous health is a supremely important asset for any missionary. Many, indeed, have accomphshed wonders, although ignor- ing every hygienic law and possessing only fragments of a real constitution. These are, of course, exceptional cases. The reUgious efficiency of any missionary is commonly only in fair proportion to his physical vigor. One unvarying use of a furlough should, therefore, be the physical reinvigoration of the missionary. This ought to involve five steps for which each Board through its furlough organization should make regular provision: (1) A careful medical appraisal at the very outset of the furlough by a competent diagnostician, skilled in discovering weaknesses; (2) a course of treatment at a sanitarium, if necessary, for any weakness which such an independent examination develops; (3) a period of genuine rest under conditions approved by a competent medical adviser, at the outset of the furlough and just before its close; (4) the postponement of all other objectives until the medical adviser is satisfied THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 23 as regards the physical status of the missionary; and (5) another medical examination, as a sort of insurance, just before sailing. True physical well-being involves much more than a bodily organism which is able to function normally and a sense of restfulness and energy. The missionary is entitled to more than a change of climate and of the scene of activity; he ought to enjoy himself with books and music and friends. He is tempted by conditions on the field and at home to be too intense, too fully absorbed by missionary problems. Relaxation pays. Some missionaries look back upon a furlough as a sort of nightmare, to be forgotten, if possible. Such experiences are usually due to financial anxiety; they should be practically impossible. 2. Ways of Mental Energizing. — Of equal value with physical well-being to the missionary is mental alertness. Most missionaries feel mentally impoverished by the con- tinual drains of active service, with its meagre opportunities for study or reflection. They crave a mental freshening and find it in a variety of ways. Some desire to take a regular course of study; others crave stirring companionship; still others find their most helpful stimulus in contact with new problems in rehgion, or in society. All crave access to good hbraries, to museums, lectures, concerts and the like. A few weeks spent at a well-developed summer session, such as that at the University of Chicago, or at Harvard, or at Columbia, or at Chautauqua, which aims to furnish for the leaders of communities a strong cultural program, intensively handled, is of the greatest advantage to the active-minded missionary, who is not following some well-defined course of study. He may come in contact with a new world. Many of his positions will undoubtedly be challenged, but that sort of challenge is mentally healthy. A specific course, however short, on some neglected theme of study is worth far more than desultory attention. Much mental stimulus is derivable from an intimate, social contact with the churches and with their normal con- stituency. The missionary on furlough should set himself 24 THE MISSIONAEY FURLOUGH the task of convincing a few unconventional, free-speaking audiences, such as boys, working men, business men, or old friends, of the real values of missionary work. He will gain and will give fresh viewpoints. He will be fortunate, if he comes in contact also with minds which challenge his own conclusions, forcing him to reconsider and restate his cherished ideas. 3. The Obtaining of Spiritual Stimulus. — Every true mis- sionary desires to be continually enriched in spiritual expe- rience and looks forward with eagerness to a quickening of his entire religious life during a furlough. This will sometimes be achieved through good courses of Bible study or of theology and kindred subjects at a summer school, or through courses of reading; more generally it will be gained in renewed participation in the familiar worship of earlier days, in con- ference with like-minded friends. Often a great spiritual uplift and outlook will come through one of the great annual meetings of his Church, or in the inspiring fellowship of a devotional retreat. What Keswick has been to hosts of British Christian workers, Chautauqua, Winona, or North- field seek very definitely to become to American leaders. 4. The Acquiring of Practical Experience. — Nearly every missionary is responsible for the inauguration, or for the management of enterprises in regard to which he has had no adequate experience. He highly values an opportunity to see the same conditions when handled by experts. The manager of an industrial training school for boys or girls could gain much value out of a brief sojourn at such a school as Hampton, studying the problems of management as there worked out. A missionary from a crowded Oriental city might profit greatly by a short term as a temporary, unpaid associate of the head of a great institutional church plant. A missionary interested in the methods found useful in dealing with the wretchedly poor would gain many ideas out of a brief contact with the work of a city missionary society, if well managed, or of a first-rate welfare board or charity organization society. A teacher should not fail to inspect a series of schools of the type for which he is, or is to be THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 25 responsible. A medical missionary needs to study hospitals and to frequent clinics. A mission Board can well afford to pay the small cost involved in such inspections. Obviously these opportunities cannot be Hsted. The specific needs are too varied and individual. The Board of Missionary Preparation is ready to offer its services in helping to connect a real need with its best available solution. VII. The Contributions of the Missionary Furlough TO THE Missionary Enterprise Aside from the benefits which accrue directly and per- sonally to the missionary during a furlough, there are other values which may mean much to the cause of missions. 1. The Cultivation of the Home Church. — At the last conference on the Missionary Furlough a veteran missionary expressed the opinion that the first furlough should be largely devoted to further education; the second one, in about equal proportions, to self-improvement and to the cultivation of the churches; and the third and later ones rather fuUy to such service as the missionary is able to render his Church. No exact scale can be or should be laid down; yet the missionary of ripe experience should be eager to find opportunities for meeting such ministers and churches as are open to him. No other person can speak with his power or with his assurance. It is unreasonable that this obfigation should be laid upon him without regard to his special ability, his convenience or his plans. The proper committee and executive of the Board will be needed to lay ' out his route, to secure openings for him and serve as a managing agency for him. Few missionaries can open doors without a promoting agency. But given proper conditions, the service such a missionary can render is beyond com- putation. Not all missionaries are fitted for this task. Some dislike it so greatly, because of real or imagined unfitness, that their service is of little value. Under suitable management the number of those who are really unusable is much reduced. Each Board can discover those who truly stimulate the churches. THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 26 //■ The cultivation of the churches may be carried out in a great variety of ways: through sermons from the pulpit, lectures to all kinds of clubs, articles for the press, books interpreting a field and discussions with classes or at forums. An active-minded missionary can thus enlarge to a con- siderable degree the missionary constituency of his Church and increase the respect and the enthusiasm of the regular supporters of mission work. Such service calls for careful preparation by the missionary while still on the field. He is under moral obligation to make his message as interesting as possible. He should prepare himself with great care to give a constructive as well as entertaining picture of the field and its needs with an appro- priate background of national history and conditions. The missionary enterprise can be so presented as to stir and convince hard-headed business men. 2. The Magnifying of the Cause of Missions. — The missionary, of all men, can forward or check the progress of the mission cause in the locality where he settles down to spend his furlough. If he shares the life of the community in a real way, while being known as a missionary, he usually wins its regard and respect. Whatever he does to justify and cultivate this attitude of the community not only affords him many natural opportunities to give a clear picture of the problems of his field and of his relation to them, but dignifies and establishes the appeal of the missionary enter- prise to many who would otherwise misconceive its value. ^ 3. The Promotion of International Friendship. — The missionary has a third general function, which increases in importance with every decade during which the world is growing smaller. He can do more than most men to inform those with whom he is in contact in the homeland concerning the real qualities of the people among whom he has been laboring. There are few persons equally qualified to under- stand and to interpret that people to his own nation. He is not merely their defender and advocate, but their brother and “next friend.” The missionary knows that a people THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 27 referred to contemptuously by many of his countrymen as “Chinks,” or “Japs,” or by some such slighting term, is worthy of respect ; and he can do more than any one else to transmit that feeling of his to his own community. When English-speaking peoples respect a nation of another type they have laid a basis for real friendship. The missionary in years to come may be the most important factor in the promotion of genuine internationalism. He is an ambassador of Christian brotherhood. He must do this work through voice and pen, as the opportunity comes. Women from the foreign field have a special opportunity through women’s clubs which they should not be slow to grasp, as opportunities develop. Whoever has a real message worth hearing, based upon fresh and reliable knowledge, need have no lack of hearers in America in these days. Such an one, however, must be reasonably aggressive, seeking opportunity rather than waiting for it. 4. The Wise Formulation of Missionary Policy. — Mis- sionary statesmanship is the exclusive product, neither of the office and the hbrary, nor of active service. It must utilize ripe experience of many sorts, face actual situations and be based on data from every source. Reference has already been made to the opportunity, valued highly by every able missionary, to discuss with the proper authorities at the home base the Board’s policy in his field, and to express his own judgment with reference to the details of administration to which he is definitely related. Such conferences have a bearing upon general policies. There are those, today, who would favor an annual confer- ence of furloughed and retired missionaries, controlled in large measure if not wholly by them, as a means of giving expression to experienced missionary opinion on questions of missionary efficiency. The Foreign Missions Conference affords no free forum of the sort. The meetings of the Inter- national Missionary Union offer the closest approach of today to such a conference and might easily develop into an annual gathering of great significance. 28 THE MISSIONAET FURLOUGH VIII. Conclusion It is clear that the furlough is an important section of the well-organized missionary life. To neglect its opportunities is to make a serious error. It should be thoughtfully con- sidered by the missionary himself, by his mission on the field, by his Board at home, and by those with whom he may be associated during the furlough. It has possibihties of value which are only in rare cases fully realized. It should, under normal circumstances, contribute in varying proportions to three needs of the missionary. (1) To his happiness. It is tragic to have a young, energetic, valuable missionary write during his eighth year of active service, “One is not so anxious to return to America after the experience of the first furlough.’’ Each furlough should be recalled with keen satisfaction. (2) To his efficiency. At the close of each furlough the missionary ought to be prepared better than ever before to face with resourcefuness and confidence the growing responsibilities of his sacred task. (3) To his range of thinking. Each furlough, through contact with broadening influences, through reading and through observation and reflection, should accustom a missionary to think of his work from a delocaUzed, judicial point of view, which will enable him to balance his enthusiasm by sound judgment. Proper organization will help to develop the best values of the furlough, but organization by itself is insufficient. Every missionary should be an active, not a passive, factor in the process. The furlough is, in an important sense, his affair; it will be a success or a failure in proportion as he is wilUng to contribute thought and pains to its success. With reason- able initiative on his part the other agencies will tend to collaborate successfully. When this takes place the furlough will be given its true place as an important element in missionary efficiency. THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 29 APPENDIX I The Findings op the Conference on the Most Profitable Use OF THE Missionary Furlough A Conference on the Missionary Furlough, under the auspices of the Board of Missionary Preparation, was held at 25 Madison Avenue, New York City, on December 2, 1919. It had a net attendance of one hundred and ten. Sixty- three were missionaries, representing nineteen Boards, fifteen denominations, and nineteen missionary areas. Twenty-seven of these were general mis- sionaries, thirty were educational missionaries, two were medical missionaries, three were doing hterary work and thirteen were doing miscellaneous forms of work among women. Forty-six delegates represented twenty-nine North American mission Boards; sixteen represented faculties interested in problems of advanced missionary training. The China Continuation Committee had one representative, while the Board of Missionary Preparation furnished sixteen. Thus the Conference was quite representative. Its findings were as follows: The Conference on the Most Profitable Use of the Missionary Furlough, reco^zing that there is an insistent demand from every mission field for missionaries who are thoroughly trained for service and that such thorough training is a matter of careful individual adjustment during a term of years, and believing it to be of great importance from the administrative point of view that careful attention be given to a wise use of the missionary’s first period on the field and his first furlough as a unit of preparation for full, per- manent service, makes the following recommendations : 1. That a far more systematic use of the first missionary furlough should be distinctly reckoned as an essential part of the training of young missionaries, and that each mission Board in North America be urged to adopt a policy providing for the use of the first furlough as an opportunity for securing the additional preparation which is contemplated. 2. That the duration of the first term of service on the field should conse- quently be shortened to a maximum length of five years, it being understood that as a rule this period will be suSicient for a thorough introduction to the specific missiona^ area, to its language requirements and to the task to which the individual missionary is called. 3. That the first furlough should be at least one full year in length, in order that there may be available an adequate amount of time for securing the needed preparation, either in such study or in the acquisition of such forms of definite practical experience as will equip the individual for the task to which he is to return. 4. That, in order to give a training emphasis to the first furlough, the use of the young missionary in deputation work should be reduced to a minimum. 5. That the wise use of the first furlough requires the co-operative judgment and action of at least three factors — the young missionary, the mission group on the field to which he belongs, and the Board at home. 6. That each mission in the field be asked to create some method of guiding the studies and other activities of each of its junior missionaries during the first term on the field, so as (1) To give each one the benefit of the frequent counsel of those of mature missionary experience; (2) to enable and encourage the young missionary to find the task for which he is best fitted and to avoid the danger of his becoming involved in too many differing phases of the work; (3) to enable a report to be made to the Board at home, in advance of the first furlough of each missionary, regarding his competency for further service, any deficiencies in training which might be remedied, such special abilities as are worthy of cultivation and the particular type of service for which he seems peculiarly fitted; (4) to enable the mission on the field and the young missionary to reach a common conviction concerning the specific plans which should, if practicable, be carried out during his first furlough. 30 THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 7. That each Board be requested to provide within itself for the systematic management of furlough arrangements through a standing committee, which shall have charge of all furlough correspondence with missionaries, receive the preliminary reports from the field regarding them, act upon necessary administrative details, such as the length of furlough approved, the place of residence during furlough, the special allowance required, the courses of study or practical experience, the institutions or organizations at which these courses may be pursued, and the non-educational demands made upon the missionary’s furlough time, and, finally, make a full report of the use made of the furlough to the mission to which the missionary belongs. 8. That each Board be requested to make financial provision for missionaries on furlough, based on a scale of needs in America, and supplemental provision for those unusual expenditures involved in carrying out the approved plans. 9. That, when a missionary on furlough has fulfilled in good faith the plans previously endorsed by his mission and by the furlough committee of his Board, he should, except in the event of some extraordinary and unanticipated situation on the field, be assured of being assigned to the work for which he has been preparing; and that it be suggested to mission Boards and to missions on the field that their present rules be so modified as to make this possible. 10. That the North American mission Boards be urged to encourage their missions in the field to make free use of the advisory aid of the Board of Missionary Preparation in planning for the work which the junior missionary is to pursue while home on furlough. 11. That each mission in the field and each committee on furlough at the home base be urged to give thoughtful attention to all missionary furloughs so that they may be the means of a complete refreshing — physical, intellectual and spiritual. 12. That the Board of Missionary Preparation be requested to prepare a fresh pamphlet on the Missionary Furlough, based upon its experience during the past few years and upon results gleaned in connection with this Conference and conferences in the field, this pamphlet to be used for the information and guidance of missionaries, missions in the field and mission boards and insti- tutions. 13. That the Board of Missionary Preparation be requested to provide for occasional conferences of those having executive responsibility in the various boards for the helpful use of the missionary furlough, that there may be abundant exchange of thought and experience on this important matter during the next few years. Rev. Stanley White, D.D., Chairman, New York City Rev. George Allchin, Osaka, Japan Rev. William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., New York City Rev. Paul Erdman, Zahleh, Syria Rev. Courtenay H. Fenn, D.D., Peking, China Prof. Daniel J. Fleming, Ph.D., New York City Rev. D. Willard Lyon, D.D., Shanghai, China Mrs. Hugo A. Muller, M.D., Urumia, Persia Prop. Clarence A. Neff, Foochow, China Rev. Cornelius H. Patton, D.D., Boston, Mass. Miss Ellen J. Peterson, Hangchow, China S. Earl Taylor, LL.D., New York City Pres. Wilbert W. White, Ph.D., New York City THE MISSIONARY FURLOUGH 31 APPENDIX II Pkactical Suggestions for a Furlough Calendar 1 . Second Year before Furlough. — Apply thoughtfully the suggestions of this pamphlet to your own case. Make out a tentative program for the wisest use of your furlough. Send a copy of this to your Corresponding Secretary for comment. 2. The Year before Furlough. — Consult your fellow missionaries and the mission regarding your revised program. Let the appropriate secretary or committee of your Board know the resulting judgment. Write home for catalogues of the institutions you think of attending. Take a medical examina- tion on the field for yourself and your family. It may develop reasons for altering your anticipated program. 3. The Furlough Year. — On the way home review and revise your program for the whole furlough year. Promptly advise your Board of arrival at home destination. Secure a thorough medical examination by a physician authorized by the medical officer of your home Board. Consult with the proper officer regarding final plans for the whole furlough. Take a period of rest, as ordered by the medical officer. Let those who would naturally wish to share in your furlough time know how your plans will work out. Work out your furlough program as finally determined. Try to reserve another rest period just before returning to the field. Have another thorough physical examination before sailing. APPENDIX III Suggestions Regarding Deputation Service The missionary who desires to share effectively in deputation work among the churches while at home may well keep in mind three suggestions: 1. An effective message implies adequate preparation. The time to begin such preparation is while on the field. Each mission field stands in certain important relations with the rest of the world, has pressing problems, excites general interest from certain viewpoints. Every missionary should be able to represent his adopted country as a whole and to give an audience some sense of its national values, as well as to represent his particular institution, station or district. One who speaks with conviction and authority out of a rich exp>erience, can always command an interested hearing. 2. A missionary message should be distinctly concrete. Apt illustrations out of personal or group experience are universally valuable, when tersely and clearly stated. Well-chosen lantern slides, curios or costiunes, and what- ever illustrates actual hfe, help to drive home the missionary message impres- sively. Such material is of httle value unless carefully chosen. 3. Before any audience the missionary may wisely try to achieve one or more of the following specific aims: (a) The broadening of the rehgious and mental horizon of every one of the audience. (6) The impression of practically minded men and women with the concrete values of missionary service, (c) The development of rehable supporters for mission work, those who will get behind it with their money and those who will support it by their intercessory prayers. The adding of those who help to meet the stated budget of the Board on which aU mission work depends is more crucial than pushing some local or personal need, (d) The kindling in some heart of a desire to volunteer for such a heroic task as that of the modern missionary, (e) The identification in the minds of the most spiritually minded hearers of the missionary enterprise as an inevitable and inescapable part of the spiritual task of the Church, depend- ent upon and contributary to the spiritual hfe of all those who “love His appearing.” PUBLICATIONS OF THE Board of Missionary Preparation OF INTEREST TO MISSIONARIES ON THE FIELD The Board of Missionary Preparation publishes, in addition to the large number of pamphlets relating to missionary preparation prepared specifically for missionary candidates, two series which are of partic- ular interest and value to junior missionaries. THE PRESENTATION OF CHRISTIANITY TO VARIOUS PEOPLES The Presentation of Christianity in Confucian Lands. Price 50 cents. The Presentation of Christianity to Hindus. Price 50 cents. The Presentation of Christianity to Moslems. Price 50 cents. The Presentation of Christianity to Buddhists. (Almost ready.) The Presentation of Christianity to Primitive Peoples. (/n course of preparation.) The Presentation of the Evangelical Message to Roman Peoples. THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THE MISSIONARY The Spiritual Life of the Missionary. (In preparation.) The Physical Life of the Missionary. (In preparation.) The Intellectual Life of the Missionary. (In preparation.) The Practical Life of the Missionary. (In preparation.) The Social Life of the Missionary. The Missionary in his Public Relations.