pee ARCHIVES _ MISSIONARY RESEARCH LIBRARY The PREPARATION of ORDAINED MISSIONARIES ; \ t BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION 25 Madison Avenue, New York PRICE 10 CENTS i > Pan 4 ) tourp . : a mn m F ‘ nt — “ H : i ; } of ; ha ee NRT ‘) yee ee ee ; ha ON 17 BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION Professor Frederick L. Anderson, D.D. Reverend James L. Barton, D.D. Professor Harlan P. Beach, D.D. David Bovaird, M.D. Professor O. E. Brown, D.D. Professor Ernest DeWitt Burton, D.D. Miss Helen B. Calder Professor Edward W. Capen, Ph.D. Professor W. O. Carver, D.D. Reverend Wm. I. Chamberlain, Ph.D. Reverend George Drach | Reverend James Endicott, D.D. Professor Daniel J. Fleming, Ph.D. Dean H. E. W. Fosbroke, D.D. Miss Margaret E. Hodge President Henry C. King, D.D. Professor Walter L. Lingle, D.D. Right Reverend Arthur S. Lloyd, D.D. Reverend R. P. Mackay, D.D. President W. Douglas Mackenzie, D.D. Professor Paul Monroe, Ph.D. John R. Mott, LL.D. Reverend Frank Mason North, D.D. Principal T. R. O’Meara, D.D. President C. T. Paul, Ph.D. Professor Henry B. Robins, Ph.D. Professor T. H. P. Sailer, Ph.D. Miss Una Saunders Professor E. D. Soper, D.D. Robert E. Speer, D.D. President J. Ross Stevenson, D.D. Fennell P. Turner President Addie Grace Wardle, Ph.D. Reverend Charles R. Watson, D.D. Reverend Stanley White, D.D. President Wilbert W. White, Ph.D. President W. Douglas Mackenzie, D.D., Chairman Fennell P. Turner, Secretary Reverend Wm. I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., Treasurer Reverend Frank K. Sanders, Ph.D., Director 25 Madison Avenue, New York ARCHIVES ; MISSIONARY RESEARCH LiBRAa Grad F THE PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES THE REPORT OF A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE BOARD OF MISSIONARY PREPARATION o Dr. Ropert E. SPEER, Chairman Rey. Joun H. Stronc, Ph.D. | DEAN JAMES E. RussELL, LL.D. PRESIDENT HENRY C. KING, Ph.D. PRESIDENT W. W. Moore, D.D. PRESIDENT E. Y. Mutuins, D.D. BisHop W. F. O_pHam, D.D. PRINCIPAL T. R. O’Meara, D.D. PRESIDENT C. T. PauL, Ph.D. PRESIDENT W. W. Wire, Ph.D. Rev. GEorGE DracH PRINCIPAL ALFRED GANDIER, D.D. PRESENTED AT THE THIRD ANNUAL MEETING IN KANSAS CITY, MO., JANUARY, 1914, PUBLISHED IN THE THIRD ANNUAL VOLUME OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE BOARD. REPRINTED MARCH 19, 1918. Board of Missionary Preparation 25 Madison Ave., New York City ef 4 “i IAGO. fu ‘ A ok eh Ys uv \ eS Vey ity Wey: Ye raed if Nore eye Taaroranine AG. tase aut . : is GT: ue iy ore, ea uke coke Hs . A is oy e 5 4 rs aN ver Pe, it ‘aNd -) “age aaa ae + as ela ? ry , Fos TE rs Lat Sane 3 ean cas ae v a RENN cy SEE Eigtsun “a oR AL: neh peck fhe OY APute Gap. i eye aE feadayd, Mes OEE! SAL BAO ME CW Suds wie = Rests tes ae aes a KG ASL: a bs ee oa wees) TENE ee LSE, (ASA aw ie tbh Sean Pate fe ty FX 1a sat a he 8 Peaaeeaeh whee Bats WO pHa reane oa) OL 8 _ Seale Ps 9 | ye: ‘ Aan a GRADE Vill Sea nae iA avn iit nie 6 DIT EL, Satie Sere) Ke ehat Hetids iM FEE CHAR is EN YP Ph CES I, it Bee Hs AG RIGS SBYSE. ot i ath Edita, Bie ° et; ee ARCHIVES MASSIONARY RESEARCH Lioghay THE PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES I. THE Present PLace AND NEED oF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES This Committee was appointed to report upon “the forms of missionary service calling for ordained missionaries and the importance of these in relation to other forms of work” and upon the preparation of such missionaries. The situa- tion both at home, among the colleges and universities and abroad in the present needs and problems of the missionary work, makes an inquiry into the place and preparation of the ordained missionary and a statement of the results of that inquiry not only desirable but indispensable. Two para- graphs from a letter from the Rev. R. A. Hume, D.D. of Ahmednagar, India, will bring this situation before us: I have been increasingly solicitous lest various new and important lines of missionary service might excessively and harmfully interfere with the one spiritual aim of foreign missions. I have been a leader in promoting and con- ducting general philanthropic effort in the Marathi Mission of the American Board, such as famine relief work, etc., etc.; also in planning and securing money for industrial work. Nevertheless, I am not a little anxious because the spiritual work of personal effort to win men and women to loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour; shepherding such people; inspiring and guiding churches; the education and training of indigenous leaders, etc., etc., should be neglected. I see all about me places in this very mission where the fruitage of the devoted work of past years in these most important lines is not being reaped, and is even being lost because other desirable and necessary lines of missionary work are receiving foreign leaders and money, and are becoming very important agencies. E. g., in the important station of there are three ordained mis- sionaries and three lay missionaries. These three laymen are good Christian men, but they do not feel as interested in the development of church work and of the old lines of evangelism as ordained missionaries ordinarily feel. Also they distinctly consider themselves not qualified for such work as much as they themselves would like to feel. On my recent furlough in America I was asked to be present at several 3 A PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES student gatherings. The last Conference of this kind was near the mouth of the Oregon River, near Portland, Ore. It was a fine Conference. The Y. M. C. A. leaders who organized and conducted the Conference were personally interested to a high degree in having some of the students who were present become foreign missionaries. I was given opportunity to conduct a Mission Study Class, to make platform addresses, and to have frequent opportunities for personal intercourse with the young men who were present. I was surprised to find, if I remember right, nine young men in agricultural colleges express some desire to become foreign missionaries. But there was hardly one student who was present who had a distinct purpose of becoming an ordained missionary. I hope and presume that this was an exceptional case, and that in other student bodies a larger per- cent. of men in colleges are looking forward to becoming foreign missionaries who will be ordained ministers. However, apparently the secretaries of the Foreign Missionary Boards are finding difficulty in securing candidates who wish to become ordained mis- sionaries. We should deal a little more fully with each of these aspects of the situation: (1) At home the whole trend of education in the public schools and the State universities and increasingly in other schools and colleges is toward studies which do not prepare for the ordained ministry and which less and less prepare for any but commercial and scientific pursuits. Students are given a bent which leads them on into agricultural or engineering courses or some other forms of preparation which have so closed in upon them by the time the missionary call reaches them that they must either go on in these courses and seek an opportunity for such missionary service as may be open to men so trained, or else lose a good deal of what they have taken in going back to secure the prelim- inary preparation for the ministry. The Seminaries have not enough students at present to supply the needs of both the home and the foreign fields. For the year ending June 30th, 1912, there were 182 theological institutions in the United States with 11,242 students. There were 68 agri- cultural schools with 92,732 students, and 115 schools of medicine with 18,452 students, and 128 schools of dentistry and pharmacy with 14,353 students. The number of men entering the ministry, while increasing, is short of the home PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 5 demand. And the additional men needed for the home and the foreign fields, who must be turned toward the ministry in college life, if they are to be secured, are, in the present conditions, men who have not taken Greek or the general studies required for preliminary preparation for the ministry and who have already begun and gone well forward in studies having a different goal. And this tendency is con- firmed by the impression that there is as large a place, if not a larger place, in the foreign field for other kinds of men as for ordained men. There is a large and imperative place for such other men which makes it possible to hold the mis- sion field before them as the field of best investment for their lives, but the current impressions and tendencies among young men are enormously in error as to the proportionate importance of the different forms of Christian service both at home and abroad, and the supply of ordained men suffers in consequence. The problem of recognizing the just claim of American education to fit boys and young men for pro- ductive industrial work and at the same time of securing the right preliminary education for those who are to give their lives to ethical and religious service and of getting and holding the right men for such service in the face of the overwhelming pressure of educational utilitarianism is a problem for the Church to face and to face now, and its solution is essential if the most needed class of missionaries is not to fail. Our own judgment is that the solution lies with Christian pastors and in the right guidance by Christian homes of Christian boys for whom their parents can be led to cherish the ideals of the largest service. (2) On the foreign field the present situation has been created by the growth of specialized forms of missionary service—doctors, teachers, industrial workers, agriculturists, engineers, etc., with the consequent development of what some, though not all, of the early missionaries regarded as the secondary and even questionable forms of work. Judson 6 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES had this thought in mind when he wrote in 1832 to some students at home: Beware of the greater reaction which will take place after you have acquired the language and become fatigued and worn out with preaching the Gospel to a disobedient and gainsaying people. You will sometimes long for a quiet retreat, where you can find a respite from the tug of toiling at native work—the inces- sant, intolerable friction of the missionary grindstone. And Satan will sympa- thize with you in this matter; and he will present some chapel of ease, in which to officiate in your native tongue, some government situation, some professorship or editorship, some literary or scientific pursuit, some supernumerary translation, or, at least, some system of schools; anything, in a word, that will help you, without much surrender of character, to slip out of real missionary work. Today, however, we see clearly that it is the spirit, the aim and the result of the work which determine its real character, and not its particular form, and we have made a place and shall make a larger place for the trained teacher and for the men for other specialized tasks which are an essential part of the missionary undertaking. No men recog- nize this more clearly than the ordained missionaries. It is from them that this demand for men of competent special- ized equipment is coming. Nevertheless, missionaries in every field are now recognizing that the specialized workers, while still absolutely insufficient, are relatively excessive. There should be more of them. But there should be still more of the ordained men. The main body of missionaries, the evangelistic leaders and constructive church builders, have fallen into a dangerous disproportion. They and their work have not been carried forward in an adequate corre- sponding development with our educational and philanthropic activities. Our clearer perception, moreover, of the real function of missions in the creation of a native church has not been accompanied by methods for the development of such a church based upon a true understanding of the meth- ods of training bodies of men and of the principles govern- ing the character-formation of institutions. The Rev. G. D. Wilder of Peking, in a letter to the Com- PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 7 mittee, describes the conditions which we are facing now in almost every mission field: For a long time the importance of dependence upon the native preacher for the great bulk of the work of planting the native church has been insisted upon— and rightly. This insistence seems to have had some influence on missionaries, however, to slacken their own evangelistic efforts until we now confront a new situation. The evangelistic missionary is being almost specialized out of exist- ence, and there is no corresponding increase of native preachers to the heathen masses. The Chinese student is like the student of every country—he imitates his teachers—and what he sees them do and count important he does and counts important. Accordingly as he sees his foreign teachers withdrawing from evan- gelism and specializing on education, etc., he, too, ceases to look to the ministry as the highest form of work for Christ and his country and plans for a life of teaching and other professional work. This year a class of some 25 graduated from our Arts College and some 18 had volunteered for the ministry, but only four of them enter the seminary; the rest seek places as teachers and Y. M. C. A. secretaries. Last year it was a little better, seven out of fourteen volunteers entering. In the street chapels in Peking, where the bulk of the preaching to non- Christians goes on, we find a great change during the past 15 years. Then each of the five missions in the city had one missionary, and some had two, who were giving their main strength to preaching in these chapels, many of them spending two or three hours a day in direct preaching and personal effort for individuals. They were assisted by the best educated Chinese preachers and by laymen. The chapels were in active operation from noon until dark daily. At present we find the missionaries of the city all engaged in teaching, super- intendence of out-stations, literary work or medical, so that they have no time for the direct evangelistic work. The curious part of the situation, and the alarming part, is that the work formerly done by the foreign speaker is not being done by the best educated Chinese speakers. They, too, are at work teaching or superintending church work among Christians or other philanthropic enterprises. There seems to me to be on the whole a great diminution in the total amount of scholarly preaching to the masses at a time when the students and thinking men are more interested and easily approached. They are drawn by scholarly preach- ing, but not by that they hear in the average mission chapel. I hope soon to investigate the chapels of the city to find out how much really vital and fresh preaching is done, but I am sure that the above statement is not overdrawn. Theologically trained men, both Chinese and foreign, are greatly needed in Peking and in most of the other stations of my acquaintance in order to overtake the present opportunity. If we do not continue to lead in this work the native preachers are not going to follow it up with vigor. In this field such missionaries are the backbone of the staff and must continue to be for a long time. Even in the Arts College we still must have teachers who are able to carry on strong evangelistic work if we are to expect our graduates to enter that work. Every Christian worker will meet objections to Christianity based upon the arguments of the rationalistic and materialistic schools of thought of forty years or more ago, and he should be trained in the most modern apologetic. 8 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES And this is not Mr. Wilder’s feeling alone. He represents here the solid consensus of missionary opinion throughout Asia, and it is safe to say, throughout the world. We know certainly, however, that he is expressing the view of the mis- sions in Asia; for in the Continuation Committee Confer- ences they have given unequivocal utterance to their con- viction that the present overwhelming need in Asia is for competent, thoroughly prepared evangelistic workers. The Shanghai Conference declared: We urge upon the missions and churches the extreme importance of greatly increasing the proportion of evangelistic workers, both missionaries and Chinese; and in order to meet the present emergency we believe that as many as possible of the existing forces should be set free for this work. The Peking Conference said: We cannot deprecate too strongly the tendency apparent in many quarters, owing to the exigencies of other necessary branches of the work, to obscure the direct presentation of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, or to relegate it to an inferior position in our plan of campaign, and we view with grave concern the disproportionately small number of those whose lives are entirely devoted to this task. We therefore urge the immediate necessity of setting apart a very much larger number of selected workers, both Chinese and foreign, for the organiza- tion and prosecution of purely evangelistic work, and that an adequate proportion of mission funds should be allotted for the purpose. ' All four of the National Conferences took the same view. The India Conference declared that the need “shown to be of paramount importance by the present situation” is “the clamant need of more aggressive, far-spread and conquering evangelistic effort” and for such effort and, indeed, allowing for exceptions, “generally speaking, missionaries should re- ceive a broad general culture and a thorough training in theology.” The China Conference declared: Our Lord Jesus Christ has laid upon His church as a primary duty the preaching of the Gospel to all nations. There come times in the history of nations when their need of the message of eternal life becomes manifestly urgent. It is such a time in China.now, and in God’s providence there is an opportunity corresponding to the urgency of the need. A great door and effectual is opened in China for the direct preaching of the Gospel. PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 9 While fully recognizing the great evangelistic value of all the educational, medical and other institutional work, the Conference considers it urgently impor- tant at the present time to provide for and to safeguard the maintenance of an adequate supply of workers, Chinese and foreign, for the organization, prosecu- tion and extension of purely evangelistic work, and urges that a due proportion of funds be allocated for effective equipment for this purpose. The Korea Conference said: On account of the fact that both missionaries and Korean leaders have been forced to put much time and energy into institutional work and into the main- tenance of organization in the growing church, less time and zealous effort than formerly have been given by them to the direct preaching of the Gospel to non- Christians. All missionaries and Korean leaders should be urged to put, as far as pos- sible, more time and zealous effort into the work of direct personal evangeliza- tion, and a definite time should be given by each missionary every year solely to evangelistic work among non-Christians. And, most significantly of all, the Japan Conference, speaking for a field where many have held that the day of the evangelistic missionary was at its close, declares that 474 additional evangelistic missionaries are required in order adequately to occupy the field, and that the greatest need of reinforcements is not now for the auxiliary methods of work, though wise use should be made of them, but for direct country evangelization, and that combination should be made “wherever possible in educational and other forms of work, in order to release as many missionaries as possible for direct evangelistic work.” The time has evidently come not only to say to young men who have definitely decided to give their lives to medical or educational work or other similar forms of service at home that they should consider whether the foreign field does not at this time offer them the largest field of service, but also to urge earnestly upon all young men who are not yet irrevocably committed to such forms of service that the present greatest need abroad is for trained evangelistic lead- ership and that the loudest call from the field is for rein- forcements of thoroughly prepared ordained men. 10 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES This is the unanimous view of the correspondents of the Committee. We wrote to fifty of the leading American and Canadian missionaries selected by the representatives of their own churches and from thirty of these have received a valuable series of letters. We deemed it wiser, in this case, not to send a formal questionnaire, but to write, instead, a letter which would draw out the strongest personal utter- ance upon these points: 1. The present place and need of ordained missionaries. 2. The reasons why ordained missionaries are so essential. 3. The preparation required by ordained missionaries. 4. To what extent is similar preparation required, in part at least, by other missionaries ? This general and personal form of inquiry drew forth some interesting suggestions which we shall present, and which specific questions might not have elicited. We have inquired, also, whether any institutions have sought to offer such a course of preparation as our corre- spondence indicates that the missionary body feels to be essential. II. Reasons Wuy ORDAINED MISSIONARIES ARE SO ESSENTIAL We have already indicated the general judgment of the entire missionary body as to the present place and need of ordained missionaries. But young men at home facing the problem as a life problem, and some of the Boards and mis- sionary agencies facing it as a problem of missionary policy for themselves, may ask why ordained missionaries and a larger proportion of ordained missionaries devoted to evan- gelistic work should be so essential. These are the main reasons, gathered from our correspondence: (1) The primary purpose of missions is to propagate the Gospel, to carry it to all nations, to naturalize it in the mind PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 11 and heart and life of the peoples to whom it is carried. How- ever much this work may be helped by symbol, it is funda- mentally and essentially a spiritual and intellectual task. The Gospel must be stated to new racial minds, its meaning, asso- ciated with countless localisms and traditions in our lives, must be voiced in its universal character to populations as unlike us as they are diversified among themselves. The messenger must know his own faith, must be able to appre- ciate the religious position of those to whom he goes, and to think out the approach and discern the access. He must know what the message of Christianity is, how it can be most persuasively stated to the people, what are the living elements of this old religion and what the errors and untruths which must pass away. New forms of doctrinal statement, new expressions and modes of worship, new institutional organi- zations will grow up. Men who know the history of Chris- tianity, who have studied its problems and development, who are prepared and ready to deal with life in its currents of intellectual and religious movement, are alone qualified to do fully the first and fundamental work of missions. These problems and necessities have arisen again and again in the history of the Christian Church, and a thorough study of that history will save men from repeating mistakes made in other ages and will guide them with the light which God has already given to His Church. Especially should missionaries have studied the missionary problems and poli- cies of the Apostolic age and of the other Ante-Nicene cen- turies and of the Medizval period and the extension of Chris- tianity throughout Europe. (2) The central and formative idea of missionary work is the Christian Church: The men who are to found and extend and guide such churches must be men who know what the church has been and is, who think in terms of the New Testament conception, and who, whether their church- manship is high or low, nevertheless know the reality of the 12 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES body of Christ by experience and accept it as the governing principle of their thought and work. And indeed, until there is a Christian constituency, every form of missionary work is limited. Education has neither the right foreground nor the right background, neither the right material to work with nor the right society to work for. Our correspondents present this consideration in varying forms: It seems to me that the ordained missionary is certain to continue to have a primary and indispensable place in the whole missionary movement. Although social applications of Christianity, education, medical work, etc., are entirely legitimate and in some fields quite indispensable elements of the missionary movement, not one of them is so central as the place filled by the theologically educated, ordained missionary. Of course, the exact function that such a mis- sionary will fill must depend upon his personality and the thoroughness of his training; but so long as the church remains central in the Christian movement, so long will the ordained missionary keep a place of central importance. I would only qualify what I have said by expressing my conviction that the other depart- ments of work may and should all be integral parts of Christian work, penetrated from center to circumference by the Christian spirit and feeding into the church. . . . It seems to me that it is very desirable for all classes of mis- sionaries to have some training in theology. By that I do not mean a full course in a theological seminary, but such well directed study after graduation from college as shall give them a command of the essentials of Christianity and of the Bible, both in themselves and in connection with non-Christian systems. Such study is essential, for example, in the case of almost all Young Men’s Christian Association secretaries in the foreign field if they are to render the greatest help to the church and the whole Christian movement. (Galen M. Fisher, National Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. in Japan.) The work of upbuilding the church can best be done by those who through their acquaintance with the history of the church and of doctrine are in a posi- tion to serve as guides. (J. C. R. Ewing, President Forman Christian College, Lahore, India.) The missionary is the referee in all perplexing problems of church govern- ment, of church worship, of creed and conduct. Church history repeats itself; and a knowledge of all the rocks and reefs, or shoals and mists, of wind and weather, that have threatened the ship during the past twenty centuries will not be amiss to the pilots of today. Every ordained missionary to the Nearer East should first, through the theological classroom, attend the Council of Nice. It is impossible to be a leader in the religious thought of the native church without theological training. And the caliber and culture of the native church leaders in China, Japan and India are of very high order. (Samuel M. Zwemer, Cairo, Egypt.) Medical, industrial, educational and women’s work can come to completion only where the church with its institutions is established, and this requires ordained men. (W. D. Schermerhorn, Garrett Biblical Institute, Illinois.) Another consideration is that the acquisition of an amount of theological PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 13 lore is not the only purpose ef a theological course; of equal importance is it that men be developed and established in the analogy of the faith and in Christian or church consciousness, so that they may the more readily and correctly meet the problems to be solved. This will lead to unity of thought and feeling among the missionaries of any mission—a factor of which the value cannot be over- estimated. (C. F. Kuder, Rajahmundry, India.) I would say without qualification that the relative place of the ordained mis- sionary is in respect of importance of service the first place. We cannot reverse the scriptural order—some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. The great end of the Christian church in mis- sionary work is the planting of the church on mission soil, and in this work the ordained missionary is of necessity the leader. Not only so, but the leaders in the native church must be pastors and evangelists; and to these the ordained missionary should furnish the highest example and inspiration. It would be a calamity indeed should the work of the ordained missionary be subordinated to other forms of Christian work. It is sometimes claimed that the training work is the first work that now claims the attention of missionaries and, there- fore, that the church should put her main strength on the building up of institu- tions for the training of men and the manning of such institutions. In regard to this it may be said that though the training in institutions is a work the importance of which cannot be gainsaid, yet the training does not begin in the institution nor end there. Who are the men who, passing through Chris- tian institutions, become leaders of their fellowmen and of Christian enterprises? They are the men who came from Christian homes or from a Christian environ- ment, away off, maybe, in some country district. The training began long before the institution was established. Sometimes we hear speakers minimize the early forms of evangelistic mission work, claiming that we have now reached the ideal in the establishing of mission institutions and the training of men and women. But such institutions could never have been established without a constituency, and it was the early forms, the more primitive forms of mission work—which even now cannot be abandoned—that have built up this constituency. Our Lord Himself had the wider vision when he said, “The sower and reaper shall rejoice together.” Nor does the training end in the institution. After men leave the institution of learning, full of zeal for Christian service, it is the ordained men of experience and of sympathy who are, or should be, those who will guide, help, suggest, counsel. The forces on the mission field never needed ordained men of the highest type more than they are needed today. (P. F. Price, Union Theological Seminary, Nanking, China.) (3) The great need of the Christian Church, as soon as it has begun, is trained native leadership. That is the great need of all the countries where foreign missions are carried on. These nations need trained Christian leadership. The supreme aim of all missionary education is to produce capa- ble Christian leaders. The most pressing need of these lands today is a trained native ministry. It is obvious that such 14 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES a ministry needs for its training men who themselves have been thoroughly over more ground than they are to cover with their students. In the college training of these min- isters and in the preparation of the large body of lay Chris- tian leadership required, lay educational missionaries may have a large part, but if the native leadership, lay and or- dained, is to be qualified to do its work in the expansion and guidance of the native church, it must have equipment and ideals which call for the work of some of the most thor- oughly prepared missionary teachers. Furthermore, the problem of guiding and cooperating with the native church and its leaders in the time of transition to its full indepen- dence is more difficult even than the problems which surround its beginning. In all the advanced mission fields this and the problem of fresh evangelization are the two great problems. It cannot be solved on a financial basis or in educational insti- tutions. It must be worked out between men who are church leaders. As Dr. W. A. Shedd of Persia writes in his letter: As the native church develops there is grave danger in its control by the mission through financial relations, administered by the mission body, a majority of whom may be not only unconnected with the evangelistic work of the church, so far as personal activity is concerned, but may be without special training in the history and ideals of the church. The true method is influence and not con- trol, and the true basis is character and not finance. The needed moral and spiritual power is not secured, of course, by theological education or by ordina- tion; but the special training and the special setting apart of the ordained mis- sionary are important aids to it. The relations of the mission to the growing church demand ordained missionaries. The problems arising in this field of new church creation demand the broadest possible equipment and a study of church history and the problem of racial relationships not yet offered to missionary candidates. (4) The most essential thing in the training of a native church and its leaders is to insure the dominance of the evangelistic spirit. The church and its leaders can never be made evangelistic by being told to be. They will be not what the missions and missionaries counsel them to be, but PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 15 what they see that the missions and missionaries are. For that reason the missions must saturate all their activities with the evangelistic spirit. The Shanghai Continuation Conference spoke of this: A strong evangelistic spirit should characterize every branch of the mis- sionary enterprise; all missionaries, pastors, teachers and other religious workers by their life and work should give the place of supreme importance to “proclaim- ing Jesus Christ and Him crucified,” and every member of the church should be impressed with the privilege and duty of sharing in the holy art of soul-winning. And to make sure of the dominance of such a spirit, Bishop Bashford is urging upon his Board the appointment of a yet larger proportion of ordained men. He writes to our Com- mittee: The evangelistic work, that is, the bringing of men into the Kingdom and the building up of men in Christian character for the future service of the Kingdom, is the end of all our efforts. This end bulks so large, in my thinking, that I would not bring any man to China, even for medical work or for educa- tional work, who does not make the interests of the Kingdom supreme. At just this point we are threatened by specialists and the emphasis which we, and they more fully than we, are inclined to place upon their special preparation and their special work on the field in medicine, science, etc. Hence I have urged the mem- bers of our own Board to send men of evangelistic spirit and, so far as possible, ordained men not only for all evangelistic work, but for teaching, and I am glad to add that we have a few ordained men in medicine, and I believe that upon the whole they are the most helpful physicians we have in China. On the other hand, I am very sure that it is utterly hopeless for foreigners, by their own unaided efforts, to expect to evangelize and Christianize the Chi- nese. Just as Christ seemed to lay quite as much stress upon teaching His dis- ciples and manifesting His spirit in healing the sick as in the direct preaching, so I am sure that the missionary body as a whole must devote its energies largely to training the Chinese as preachers and showing them by example how to preach, and through preaching build up the Kingdom. On this account I wish that our educators especially might be ordained men who could participate frequently in religious services and could discharge any religious functions. We are aware of the criticisms to which this plan is subject. Men complain that they cannot become specialists in medicine unless they concentrate all their energies upon their technical work. We can meet this difficulty in part by enlarging the number of teachers, physicians, etc., so as to permit some time for the spiritual work and yet leave the physician as much time for his technical work as he now has with the large amount of medical work and teaching thrust upon him. But the supreme end for which we are here is not the making of new contributions to science or medicine, but the raising up of a body of men fully trained and especially with a spirit which will insure still further progress on their part along special lines, but whose supreme aim is the building up of the Kingdom in China. 16 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES And it is not only the spirit of evangelism in all activities that is necessary. As we have seen, it is also a great enlarge- ment of the amount of direct preaching, of specific evangelis- tic work. This is needed not only because of the direct need for it, but also because, as Mr. Wilder’s letter has indicated, the only way to have direct evangelism fill a larger place in the native church and to raise up a larger number of men who will preach the Gospel, is for the missionaries and mis- sions to set the example, and for that purpose we need a far larger proportion of evangelistic missionaries. Two letters which we have received may be quoted, expressing the views of two experienced and careful men: Experience has reinforced my conviction that we ought to send mainly, and as far as possible, ordained men into the foreign field, and regard unordained men as exceptions for certain limited forms of work. I believe that men edu- cated theologically and ordained are better fitted to place the proper values ethically, morally and spiritually upon all other forms of work which are neces- sarily and confessedly subsidiary to the preaching of the Gospel, which is the supreme end of all mission work. It is becoming a harder fight on the field, as in home churches, to keep the spiritual aim and purpose in advance of the educa- tional and philanthropic. I am sure that the increase of men not educated theologically and whose work primarily is educational, or medical, or financial, does unwittingly weaken and obscure the spiritual aspects of the work except when they may happen to be exceptions to the general rule. We see many medical and educational workers in Syria, of our own and other nationalities, and—I say it advisedly—that unordained men have a much harder time and do less success- fully keep the spiritual aims of the work in advance of their professional aims and routine. Because the Syria Mission is largely surrounded by other forms of work, I would say that the Board would do well never to send us an unordained man unless it is physically impossible to obtain the ordained man. The closer contact with institutions of other nationalities, with consular and governmental business, is an additional reason why we should have ordained men if we would help keep spiritual aims clear and strong. (Franklin E. Hoskins, Beirut, Syria.) Every year adds to the forms of service required in this land. This con- stitutes not only ever-widening opportunity, but also constantly increasing danger. Missions are too ready to listen to every appeal which may be made that they open new forms and departments of activity for the betterment of men in all the spheres of their need. In other words, I feel that missions are in great danger of being converted into philanthropies in which the distinct Christian message is either entirely lost or is hopelessly obscured. In order to preserve the integrity of our missionary activity as a distinctively Christian propaganda, it is well to continue to emphasize the ordained Christian minister as the control- ling element in our missionary force of workers. Generally speaking, he is the PREPARATION OF ORDAINED. MISSIONARIES 17 only one who has systematic and fairly adequate training for the interpretation and exposition of our faith to a non-Christian people. It is for this reason that I deplore the sending out of so many men and women for our educational department whose training has been exclusively on common educational and pedagogic lines and who are not qualified either to intelligently teach our faith or to successfully meet the philosophic objections raised by the. bright youth of this land. I should like to have every missionary candidate (for whatever depart- ment he may be sent) confronted before leaving his native land with search- ing inquiries as to his theological and philosophical qualifications to present Christianity to a non-Christian people. But in any case I believe that the only hope for our cause in India lies in sending out men of deep spiritual experience and conviction, and, as far as possible, men theologically trained and ordained. This is the most important requisite in order to preserve for our missionary cause its distinct sphere as a Christian propaganda. From my experience of mis- sionaries and missions in India I am inclined to give prime emphasis to the above. To this I would add the observation that the large majority of the male members of every mission should be ordained men. It is an easy thing to spread out into many spheres of activity where the ordained man may not be absolutely needed or essential; I raise the question whether such forms of activity should absorb so much of the time and effort of a mission. (J. P. Jones, Pasumalai, Madura, India.) (5) The intellectual problems and resistances which Christianity is meeting upon the mission field demand men with a training directed to fit them for the discussions await- ing them. Asia is a great forum of debate today. The young men are not only studying the thought of the West, but doing some Oriental thinking of their own. Questions of religion and ethics and politics, ecclesiastical history and organization, the reunion of long-severed Christian denomi- nations, the place of non-Christian religions in the education of humanity, the adjustment of ancient Asiatic social prin- ciples to the new ideas, of the meaning and destiny of racial distinctions—new questions by the score are before the men who go to Asia in this decade. Dr. J. C. R. Ewing writes: The missionary who has had little or no opportunity of studying Christian doctrines and history and evidences, usually finds himself powerless in the pres- ence of the keen questionings that meet him as he comes in contact with the brighter minds of the non-Christian world. And he instances some of the simple and familiar ques- tions which the young men hur! at the missionary: 18 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES: Who died upon the cross? Was it God or was it man? If He was God, why did He cry out and say, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” If He was a man, how can we suppose that a man’s death could atone for the sin of a whole world full of men? Explain to me, please, the doctrine of the Trinity. You say that the doctrine of the transmigration of souls is not true; will you give me any argument outside the Christian Scriptures to prove your position on the subject? Some of the greatest of the Christians say that a part of the Bible is not God’s Word; which part is that, and how do you know that the rest is inspired? Will you give me any reason for believing that there is a state of con- scious existence after death? Of course, I want a reason outside the Bible, for that book is not with me an authority. And the Rev. J. Leighton Stuart of Nanking, China, adds: As to the advantage of theological education, even for missionaries engag- ing in other forms of work, I believe it desirable where possible, for at least one reason, which has been forced upon me by personal observation. In the great mission fields, Western philosophical and sceptical thought, as well as liberalized Christianity, are amazingly current, especially among students. A lay missionary is very apt to have read just enough recent popular theological literature to make him very free in discussing these matters with students, while lacking the poise and perspective that would probably have come with even a brief course in . theology and church history. And missionaries who do not meet so often these necessi- ties feel, nevertheless, the need of this training on other grounds: Now for the first general question in your letter: “The forms of missionary service calling for ordained missionaries and the importance of these to other forms of work.” The apologetic period of mission work in India may safely be regarded as being about over; while there are still large areas here and there in the country that are not occupied by any mission, it is, nevertheless, in general true that Christianity has been sufficiently long established to be well known; and it is equally true that it has so thoroughly commended itself to all classes of Hindus as to need no further defense. It is not too much to say that the greatest influence in India today—at any rate in the province in which I labor— is the Bible. History is repeating itself. As in the early Christian church a period of apologetics was followed by one of doctrinal development and expres- sion, together with the development of Christian life and worship, so it will be and has already begun to be in India. Hitherto the majority of accessions to Christianity came from the lower, usually unthinking classes, who docilely received what they were taught by the missionaries of the various denominations. But conditions have changed; not only is the number of well-educated, thoughtful Indian Christians increasing, but the prospect is that before long there will be large accessions from the more intelligent caste people—the gentry of the land. There will come a period of weighing and testing old doctrinal statements, and of comparison of denominational or distinctive doctrines. There is already a dis- PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 19 position to form a national Indian church—to throw off Occidental forms in favor of an, as yet, rather misty Oriental development, and this tendency the aspirations after political unity and nationalism will intensify. Much is being said and written nowadays of the “Oriental Christ,” and of the contributions that the Orient, especially India, will bring to Christianity. The cocksureness of inex- perience and immaturity in religious matters is proverbial, and, therefore, there will come a situation that will have to be faced seriously. This cannot be met by medical or industrial or educational missionaries if not equipped with a course in theology; nor by agricultural missionaries. It is the theologically trained and ordained missionary to whom we must look to meet this responsibility. (C. F. Kuder, Rajahmundry, India.) (6) It is recognized that in the early years of Missions the translation of the Bible and the theological text books needed called for men who had a knowledge of Hebrew and Greek and theology. But it needs to be recognized that the literary necessities of those days are immensely augmented today. Old Bible versions need revision, and while it is true that this revision must be chiefly the work of native Christian scholars, few, and in some fields none of these know the original languages of Scripture. This work calls, however, for a negligibly small number of men. But not so the new necessities for apologetic, homiletic and general Christian literature. A Christian literature needs to be created for the peoples of these mission lands. It is a gigantic task, calling for the highest talent and richest preparation. For some time to come an increasing number of missionaries who have had a thorough philosophical, literary and theological education will be needed for this work, and none but such men can do it. One correspondent writes: To give you an idea of what may confront a missionary and of what great value theological training is, permit me to give a bit of my experience. For the needs of my own work I have been obliged to write, adapt or translate, and then publish in Telegu, books on Isagogics, Church History, Symbolics, Catechisms, Elementary Dogmatics, S. S. Literature, Bible History, Sacred History,. Litur- gics and Homiletics. During my last year of service I was charged with the translation and publication of our Lutheran “Church Book,” a rich liturgy, orders for ministerial acts, and hymns. Had I been without a thorough theological training, I should never have been able to do this work. (7) We may group in this paragraph a number of reasons 20 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES advanced by our correspondents for the choice by young men of the work of the ordained missionary, and for the appointment of more such men by the Boards: For such work as our mission has undertaken in Honan, and it is in all respects the average kind of work done in North China, an Arts Course, followed by a full course in theology, leading up to ordination, is an excellent preparation. It develops all a man’s faculties, gives him a good all-round education, introduces him to many men in other professions, broadens his outlook on life, leads him to look well into the past, fits him for active work in the present, thus making him a living man in an intensely living practical age. ‘ A large number of the outstanding representatives of the Christian churches in China were and are still ordained. They studied Chinese, opened up the coun- try to Christian workers, founded missions, organized churches, wrote books, dealt with officials, established colleges, became educators and successful teachers, were enthusiastic evangelists and wise counselors, and bore the burden and heat of the day in very varied missionary activities. Something may surely be claimed for ordained men to whose credit so much of the best work done so far in China is due. Any method which has produced such good results should not be lightly abandoned. It will stand to be judged by its fruits. (Murdoch Mackenzie, Changte, China.) It is my firm conviction that a theological training with ordination to the Christian ministry is, all in all, the best preparation for a missionary—exactly because it is the general type of education best calculated to produce the type of manhood required. Even one who plans to be a medical missionary or an educator will, all in all, be a larger man and, therefore, a more effective mis- sionary if he shall have done some theological reading and prepared himself for religious leadership. If the purpose of the medical missionary is merely to administer drugs or perform operations, such training may not be of much use, but if he seeks to build up the Kingdom of God and to take advantage of the great opportunities given him in his practice, then the larger his personality, the more he embodies in his own person and consciousness the total life of the church and of the whole human race, the more effectively can he utilize his great opportunities. (Sidney L. Gulick, Kyoto, Japan.) We need on the field well balanced and strong characters. The full college and seminary course will go a long way toward settling a man in his character, balancing his judgment, giving him well formed conviction, etc. The man who has not had this training is very liable to be superficial, unstable, and too often erroneous in his teachings. (C. L. Brown, Kumamoto, Japan.) A sound theological course tends to give a balance to one’s mind. The man may forget all about Butler’s reasoning, or the substance of “De Incarnatione,” but his mind is surely the clearer, his judgment the saner, for having gone through the proper course. (B. M. Millman, Toyobashi, Japan.) An unordained man is always a man with only one string, e.g., if he is sent as an educational missionary and should not meet the requirements, there is no other form of service he will be likely able to enter. Were he ordained, he might succeed quite well as a district missionary. And then there is always the possibility of a man being sent alone to some place where there is no one to PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 21 administer the sacraments, unless he can do so. This, naturally, is of importance only when ordination is regarded as being necessary for the administration of the sacraments. Now for your specific question: “What do you believe to be the comparative importance of the work of ordained missionaries?” It outweighs all others and is the foundation of them all; no mission will succeed without the ministry of the Word and Sacraments. (C. F. Kuder, Rajahmundry, India.) There are reasons, I think, that make it advisable for male missionaries, as a rule, to be ordained. Medical missionaries are an exception and so are educa- tional missionaries engaged in such teaching as requires special technical training. But generally men whose position requires them to be leaders in educational work and who should be regarded in the community as well as the schoolroom as lead- ers, will be helped by having the status of ordained ministers. The training in ministerial work will also aid them in taking advantage of the evangelistic opportunities that will offer themselves in the community which should not be neglected. Missionaries engaged in theological training classes, of course, should be ordained. The need of maintaining the evangelistic tone in the missionary body enforces the advisability of educational missionaries being ordained. (W. A. Shedd, Urumia, Persia.) When we consider the work as it is, there is no place in the world where a broad and all-round training is needed like the mission field, and since our pur- pose is primarily that of Christianizing the people and doing religious work, the theological education should never be minimized. The fact is that in the changes of mission life, through deaths and the unexpected furloughs and changes of the field, a mission station is often likely to be short-handed. One may specialize as much as he pleases, but the fact remains that the exigencies of the case very often compel a man to undertake and look after work that is very far from that which he had in mind when coming to the field. Few can choose a kind of work and adhere to it through a long period. So many have to take up work quite different from that which they anticipated that I think that the training of the seminary is always in place and should not be omitted.” (J. L. Dearing, Yoko- hama, Japan.) I authorize you and others to say that from very wide experience during 39 years I do not know of any line of missionary service so inspiring, so urgent, so rewarding as that kind of service which the ordinary ordained missionary is called on to do. The best young men of India are hungering after an advanced education. They are quite open for heart-to-heart spiritual intercourse with mis- sionaries who will speak directly to them on spiritual things. The churches of India are in great need of preachers and leaders of an ordained standing from the West. (R. A. Hume, Ahmednagar, India.) Special attention should be called to the suggestion that the ordained missionary is the most generally useful and adaptive man. A score of services must be rendered in a mission for which no specialized worker can be sent out. Furloughs constantly break up the distribution of tasks, and throw on the other members of the station the duties of their 22 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES absent associate. A mission covers a wide area of territory, and problems arise in distant parts of the field which affect all the work and raise problems which go to the very heart of the church’s life. Some one must be ready to go off to live among the people, to cope with these problems. The burden of all these emergencies which arise daily in the work falls on the ordained evangelistic missionaries. The missions need more of them than of any other workers, and suffer most from the lack of them. (8) The missionary enterprise today is legitimately and of necessity a much more varied service than in Paul’s time, and every form of missionary work which is legitimate and necessary can claim an equal sacredness and satisfaction. But when young men are making their choice of the forms of action they are to pursue, it is just to press upon them these considerations which our correspondents have ad- vanced, and also to direct them to the example of the most powerful and successful missionary who ever gave his life to the propagation of Christianity in other lands. What method did Paul pursue? In what forms did he cast his mighty and enduring action? He directly assailed his prob- lems. He took his living Gospel and went with it confidently out upon human life. In city and town and country he preached Christ. He left behind him centers of new life, and he did not forget or abandon them. On the contrary, with ceaseless care he held fast to them, revisited them,.wrote to them, sent men to them, sought to make each of them a living nucleus in the new body. He was forever on the watch for likely young men whom he bound to Christ and to his own missionary ideals, and whom he carefully trained in the most powerful of all schools, the school of his own blazing personal companionship. His ambition to push out the bounds of the Church to the rim of the world, to reach the unreached, to make the church a shining moral light and a ‘glowing social fellowship and a resistless Christian argu- PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES — 23 ment, and his theory of the Church as a free and living body —these are the ambitions and the theory which we need today, and which call especially for missionaries of Paul’s method and spirit and equipment. The Committee has set forth with deep sympathy and general agreement these arguments for a larger preponder- ance of ordained men engaged in the most direct, aggressive and comprehensive evangelistic work. And we would press these arguments with all our power upon the attention of our young men, realizing that it is the inadequacy of the supply of capable ordained men which prevents the Boards from increasing the proportion of such missionaries. At the same time, we recognize, as our correspondents have done, the large and increasing place for other workers, and desire to guard against any unnecessary comparisons which might discourage young men who are not intending to enter the ministry from considering the claim of the foreign field. It will suffice to quote from two of our correspondents: There is much work to be done on the mission field, however, for which the ordinary theological course does not in any special way fita man. Many mission agents are required. Architects are needed to build houses of many descriptions. Where industrial work is carried on teachers are called for. So, too, where work is done for the blind. Colporteurs require foreign Christians to oversee and direct them. Schools of all grades demand qualified educationalists. Many types of men are needed to reach large bodies of students. Y. M. C. A. work will call for goodly numbers of practical Christian enthusiasts. Newspapers and magazines appeal for thoroughly qualified Christian editors. These are but specimen samples of a large number of callings demanding the best types of Christian men our Western lands can produce, but not necessarily men who have been theological students. With the opening up of China to Christian influences an ever-increasing band of workers will be urgently called for to meet the clamant demands of that ancient empire. Ordained men who desire service in some of the directions mentioned above are sure to give a good account of them- selves in these, but the point aimed at is that for many of these Christian activi- ties men not ordained are admirably fitted. Where the needs are so varied, no class of worker should be excluded. Have ordained men by all means, if they can be spared, but do not set a premium on one class of men when there are so many others who could do good work. (Murdoch Mackenzie, Changte, China.) The need for theologically trained men will no doubt continue to the end; but these needs of the mission field demand economic, social and educational ‘help as well as the moral and the spiritual. Under these circumstances it would 24 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES be futile to compare the relative importance of men sent to meet these real, though varied, needs. I think that it would be ideal if all the industrial, agricultural and educa- tional workers we sent abroad had a theological education. It would be ideal if more of our leaders at home could have the advantage of a thorough ground- ing in such things. But I feel that this is so far from being actually practicable that it ought not to be insisted upon. The requirements in any one of these lines of work mentioned above are so great that a man can hardly acquire the mastery in his line and give three years besides to the seminary. And I believe that mastery of the line for which a man goes out is essential. I attribute some of our greatest failures in the Punjab to the fact that men have been set to tasks for which they were not prepared, although they had had a theological training. (D. J. Fleming, Lahore, India.) While, however, our correspondents assert the great op- portunities for other workers than ordained evangelists, and decline to require a full theological course for them, there is a general agreement, as there was in the Continua- tion Committee Conferences, that all missionary workers ought to have a thorough Biblical training and as much of a philosophical and theological equipment, also, as could be given them. The Hankow Conference held that: Whenever possible, a broad and thorough general education should precede special missionary preparation. A good Biblical training is indispensable for every kind of missionary work, and, in addition, sufficient theological instruction to insure an intelligent understanding of the Christian faith. Moreover, it is extremely desirable, in fact necessary, that any man or woman who comes out as a missionary should have had personal and practical experience of Christian work at home. It declared also that missionaries to China ought to have “some education in the religions, history, literature, social institutions and national characteristics of the Chinese peo- ple.” And the National China Conference held that “all missionaries should be well grounded in Bible study.” Our correspondents go further than this and urge the desirability of a good theological and pedagogical equipment for all mis- sionaries who are to take a man’s full part in the present-day missionary situation. The missionaries who have written to us are prepared for any relaxation of traditional modes PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 25 of training, or any combinations or rearrangements which will give the equipment actually needed, but they believe in the necessity of a solid religious training for all missionary workers. It seems to me that it is very desirable for all classes of missionaries to have some training in theology. By that I do not mean a full course in a theo- logical seminary, but such well directed study after graduation from college as shall give them a command of the essentials of Christianity and of the Bible, both in themselves and in connection with non-Christian systems. Such study is essential, for example, in the case of almost all Young Men’s Christian Asso- ciation secretaries in the foreign field, if they are to render the greatest help to the church and the whole Christian movement. (Galen M. Fisher, Tokyo, Japan.) It seems to me very desirable that all male missionaries, except medical, should take a full seminary course. So strongly do I feel this that I have never ceased to urge upon my own son to take the full theological course, though his whole bent hitherto has been toward educational work. However high a man’s qualifications may be for educational or other work, I hold that his best equip- ment is a term of years at evangelistic work. I can’t otherwise see how any man is to adequately know a foreign people. He must talk with, sleep with, converse with, listen to and preach to and intently pay heed to every sentence the evan- gelist may utter when preaching to his countrymen if he would be efficient and know the people. We pity men in the homeland who have to get their training for the ministry from men who have never been in the pastorate. How much more should we expect students to be handicapped who must get their training from foreigners, who do not know them nor the conditions under which they live! (J. Goforth, Changtefu, China.) No mission work attains its end that is merely benevolent or philanthropic. Saving life, healing the sick, teaching the ignorant, training the dependent, are all good and useful, but their full value in relation to advancing the Kingdom will be realized, not only when the workers do these things in Christ’s spirit, but when they turn their opportunities to account by adequately presenting the Gospel and the claims of Christ to the souls with whom they deal. While it may not be possible for many missionaries other than those pre- paring for ordination to take a full theological course, it is most desirable that all should know Christianity not only practically, but in its basic, its fundamental doctrines, and its application, so as to state and defend and apply it as occasion may offer. For lack of this knowledge and power many remain silent when they ought to speak, and, conscious of weakness in the presence of opponents, they suffer shame and defeat. Every missionary should have at least a knowledge of the Bible, its struc- ture, its growth, its messages, its fundamental doctrines and teachings, the com- mon objections and answers suitable. Special attention should be given to an apologetic, having in view evidences fitted to appeal to the genius and mind of the people, and the objections presented from the side of their faiths. (W. A. Wilson, Indore, India.) I see many and great advantages in specialized work, but see also not a few ? 26 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES dangers that need to be avoided. As a general thing, in most of the departments of missionary work, the ordained man who has specialized in some particular department will be a more valuable worker than he who has had only the specialized training. His views, his understanding and his sympathies are broader. (S. R. Gammon, Lavras, Brazil.) I think the theological course is desirable for men expecting to spend their lives in educational work as well as in direct evangelistic work. On the other hand, China is not only substituting Western courses of study for her classical works, thus revolutionizing her old curriculum, but she is changing her methods of study. Hence, the study of pedagogy is of immense advantage to the teacher in China. The demand for such study, together with the demand for special preparation in the subject which the candidate may be expecting to teach, may require a four years’ postgraduate course divided between the theological studies and studies in pedagogy and in the special subjects which he expects to teach. I am aware that I am making large demands upon candidates for mission work. But it ought to be clearly understood that for such a masterly people as the Chinese and the Japanese, and I think also for the people of India, it is simply useless to send any persons save men capable of large and distinct leadership, and I think it is impossible to train such leaders without an eight years’ course added to the ordinary high school course given in America. (Bishop J. W. Bashford, Peking, China.) Limitations of age and expense, apart from other consid- erations, may make such a suggestion as this last imprac- ticable, desirable as many of our correspondents regard it, but there can be no difference of opinion about the need of adequate training on the part of other than ordained mis- sionaries to enable them to cope with the real problem of mission work, such as the psychology of inter-racial religious influence, the domestication of what seems to be a foreign faith in a mind and soul long tenanted by unlawful masters, the development of the Christian Church in an atmosphere alien to its fundamental principles, the adjustment of new truth to life set in age-long habit by processes of peaceful transition which shall not compromise truth, etc., etc. Fur- thermore, young men. going out to missionary service must look forward twenty or thirty years to the work which they will then wish to be doing, and the places of importance they should then be occupying, and should take the prepara- tion which will fit them not only for high school management or elementary college teaching now, but also for broad exer- z PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 27 cise of power and efficient leadership of movements and men when they are no longer boys. . III. THe PREPARATION REQUIRED BY ORDAINED MISSIONARIES The third general inquiry addressed to our correspondents related to the sort of preparation needed by ordained mis- sionaries. 1. All are agreed as to the importance of what in America and Canada we know as a full college course or its equiva- lent as a foundation for the later theological training. Adoniram Judson feared in 1832 that too much stress was beginning “to be laid on what is termed a thorough classical education,” but our correspondents without exception argue for the most thorough and comprehensive general educa- tional equipment. The proportion of ordained missionaries who have had a full college course is very high, perhaps higher than in the case of any other body of men. Of the graduates of American Medical Colleges for the year ending June 30th, 1913, the percentage of men holding degrees in arts or sciences was less than 19. The percentage is prob- ably between 90 and 100 in the case of the men sent out by some of our older mission Boards. The high standards of the missionary Boards in this matter, making full allowance for the case of exceptional men, should be maintained. By all means let a man take his full college course as a preliminary to his theological studies. Perhaps nowhere in the world is a thoroughly educated man required so much as in the non-Christian Orient. . . . I should like to add my personal conviction that the mission field demands now more than ever before men with the best qualifications. The candidate for the mission field should have a first-class education. He should be (indeed, he must be, if he is to be in the true sense of the word successful) a man of refined tastes, able to respond to the fine sentiments and instincts of the thoughtful, and in many ways the cultured, Oriental. He must, above everything else, be a man of deep spiritual experience and insight. In short, he must be more than an ordinary man. It is not only an error in policy, but it is criminal to send second- rate men to the non-Christian fields, and especially to the Orient. (W. E. Taylor, Shanghai, China.) 28 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES The demands in a country like India on the culture, the mental capacity, the intellectual resources and the moral and spiritual possessions are so great that the very best discipline and widest culture and most thorough and varied scholar- ship is never wasted and can in a consecrated life be turned to fruitful account in the service of the Gospel. Of course, there are spheres of labor among certain classes where, with inferior attainments, effective and fruitful work can be done, and there is room for all truly spirit-energized men somewhere. But the churches should keep up their ideal to the highest and keep before their candidates for foreign service the highest standard of culture and intellectual attainment, as well as eminence in spiritual gifts and graces. It will be borne in mind that there are, however, some spheres where men who cannot profit by the severer course of training may render fruitful service. Yet when it is asked “Is a full college course desirable as preliminary to the theological course?” I would unhesitatingly answer, “Yes.” The fuller and more thorough the better. A college degree counts for much in India, and the culture for which it stands counts for more. (W. A. Wilson, Indore, India.) Yes, “a full college course is desirable as preliminary to the theological course.” The great mission fields of the Levant, India, China, Korea and Japan are now getting the highest form of scholastic education, and the broadly edu- cated missionary more readily commands their respect and deference. Long observation in India convinced me of this. As the study of language and the translation and revision of the Scriptures may become the duty of any mission- ary, the study of language in method and accuracy should be prominent in the college course. (T. J. Scott, Bareilly, India.) It seems to me that for most workers the college course is essential, as well as a strong, but much modified, theological course. The time is here when men with short-cuts in training show up badly. They do not have the minds to handle large and difficult problems. Our problems are international and interdenominational, and into many of our joint committees are projected dis- cussions which only strong men can take up. Only strong men are wanted. The mediocre type of men can be substituted far better from the ranks of the Chinese of that class. The same salary that supports a weak man will support a strong man. Why not only the strong man? (R. F. Fitch, Hangchow, China.) 2. All are agreed, also, that the foreign missionary should have a theological training as thorough as that of the min- istry at home. Some think that the training should be some- what different in character. They would change the empha- sis of studies. ) For such as have foreign missions in view, more of mission history (i.e., modern church history, which is ancient history in modern guise), mission polity or science, Christian ethics, and comparative religion. For those going to the foreign field there should be more of the comparative studies than for the American workers. Less attention should be given to those subjects specially calculated to qualify PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 29 one for a “settled pastorate” and more to Bible, comparative religion, world movements, etc. Others would have the course, with the exception of some electives, the same for both home ministers and foreign mis- sionaries, for reasons set forth in such letters as these: It is my feeling that a man preparing for the home pastorate needs in gen- eral the same education as one preparing for the foreign field. He needs the same building of personal character and the same world-vision to do his best work. I also think that every pastor should specialize on some foreign country. It is highly important in my judgment that the rank and file of our church members should acquire that cosmopolitan outlook and world consciousness which comes only with considerable familiarity with other lands, and this can be best developed through a ministry which has this cosmopolitan spirit and out- look. No man can build his own section of the Kingdom of God who does not see its relation to the world-wide Kingdom. (S. L. Gulick, Kyoto, Japan.) Every Christian minister should have the missionary spirit. At some time during his theological course of study each man should be compelled to face the question of deciding on his field of labor, in the light of all the relevant facts bearing on work at home and work abroad. Few men should venture to say that they are not called to be missionaries abroad. The man who feels assured that his sphere of Christian service is in the homeland has probably greater need of getting into touch with the varied aspects of modern missions than he who purposes to go abroad. To do his best work on the “home base” he must know much of the fields in which his former fellow students are laboring. To inspire his congregation with missionary zeal he must himself be full of it. To lead his young people to study prayerfully and sympathetically the great mis- sionary problems of our time he must first do so himself. If he goes through a full theological course and comes out at the end of it with no missionary enthusiasm there is something wrong with teachers and students both. The con- viction is growing stronger with me that the solution of many great missionary questions and problems should be found in our theological colleges. The college which in twenty years has turned out few or no men for the mission field, or enthusiastic missionary advocates in the homelands, has much to be answerable for. If every man should be a Christian, every Christian a missionary, and each congregation a center of missionary activity, what should each theological class be? Surely the Divine Power House for generating the mighty spiritual forces that are to transform communities and nations. (Murdoch Mackenzie, Changte, China.) 3. There is a remarkable agreement, also, in the judgments of our correspondents, with regard to the specific studies which ordained missionaries should have taken either in the theological schools or as part of their preparatory collegiate or university course. The following, taking for granted the more obvious college studies, is a list of the subjects sug- 30 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED. MISSIONARIES gested, upon which, though with exceptions as to an occa- sional item, there is a general concord: Modern languages, Sanitary Science. Systematic theology. especially German. Hygiene. Church history. Greek. First aid to the injured. Apologetics. Phonetics. History of philosophy. Music. Missions and world History of civilization. Art. movements. History of religion. Business methods. Early conflict of Christi- anity with Heathenism. Political, economic and diplomatic history of foreign mission fields. Principles of religious Sociology and civics. Comparative religion. education. Ethnology and anthro- The science of missions. Pedagogy. pology. Missionary biography. Biblical pedagogy. Astronomy. The Bible. Psychology. Economics. Political and economic Biology. geography. The comments on some of these special subjects should be noted. There is a strong emphasis on the value of thorough language study, some urging the acquisition and retention of a working knowledge of New Testament Greek and some the mastery of German. Theology, it is held, should be studied in a world air, with the eyes on large hori- zons, with a closer touch upon the problems of the actual propagation of Christianity throughout the nations. As one writer puts it: A study of theology, largely historical, is important in order to enable the missionary to understand the large variety of beliefs he will meet. I think per- sonally that thorough Bible study is better than formal theology to lead to the definite personal convictions that are very important. Church history with special attention to the causes and means of the expansion of Christianity and also the working out of Christian principles in society is important. (W. A. Shedd, Urumia, Persia.) And Church history and Government, as Dr. Shedd holds, should be studied as the living story of the past effort of the Church to meet and solve the very problems with which missions deal today, and all world history be reinterpreted in terms of the redemptive effort of God. PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 31 A prospective missionary should take all he can obtain in the history of religions, comparison of religions, where the distinctive features of Christian- ity are well emphasized, and most especially every form of study emphasizing God in history. The Bible is history, but it is peculiarly God in history for the redemption of man. There are some noble books along this line—Bunsen—but we need more, and I believe that the missionary history of the past century ought to be ready to supply them. While I am not exactly conversant with the details of many seminary courses, I have an impression that there are many minor courses which might give way to these major courses of God in history. (F. E. Hoskins, Beirut, Syria.) As to ecclesiastical history, let it be general history rather than denomi- national. We are living in such a big age that the man who does not have a sympathetic knowledge of the history of other churches besides his own is enough to cause heartaches when he speaks. When it comes to church government, why cannot our seminaries come out upon bigger ground? Let us study the governments of all our larger churches, with the idea of learning how the best elements in all may be incorporated in fullest richness, in the ultimate Church of God, the Universal Empire of Christ. The Congregational Church stands for individual liberty, the Presbyterian Church for representative government, and the Episcopal for executives (not always sufficiently constitutional). But all these three elements are to be found in all efficient business and political bodies, for the sake of efficiency. In the ultimate Church of Christ we shall embrace all these elements. (R. F. Fitch, Hangchow, China.) This emphasis on Bible Study is especially noticeable, as two out of many expressions will suffice to indicate, and we may quote these fully as illustrating the attitude of mind of devoted and efficient missionaries on this and other aspects of our inquiry: | In the vast choice of electives which are now open to college students, from the standpoint of what I have seen in Japan, . . . I would master German and make it as ready a tool for reading at least as English. . . . I would get thoroughly familiar with the history of European civilization. Philosophy, especially modern philosophy, should receive much attention. Psychology and sociology should likewise be pretty well mastered in their general outlines. A fair knowledge of the physical sciences is highly desirable—astronomy, chemistry and physics. I would not spend much time on mathematics. For those going to Japan a good general course in art is highly important. Ability to sing is of great importance. Special ability for solo singing or any solo instrumental work is highly appreciated and in constant demand. In the theological school I would master the English Bible—get the assured results of modern Biblical scholarship as to origin, author, historical exegesis, etc. Stiff courses in the History and Philosophy of Religion should accompany a thorough course in the history of the church and the Christian theology. Systematic theology gripping together the results of all these courses should provide the student with such a world-view and such conceptions of God, man 32 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES and the world as the present state of human knowledge warrants. Modesty on the part of the theologian as to problems still under discussion is also of the highest importance. Of course, no person can study all non-Christian lands and all pagan religions with equal fulness. Hence the history, religions and customs of the land to which one goes should be the object of special study. Yet some general knowl- edge of other lands and their religions and history is also desirable. (S. L. Gulick, Kyoto, Japan.) Regarding the nature of theological preparations, I find it difficult to form a clear-cut opinion. One sees so many instances of men called to do a type of work entirely out of the range of their anticipation in coming to the field. For instance, I looked forward to a life of simple evangelistic work, largely in coun- try districts, left most of my books in America at the advice of an old mission- ary, and thought that further theological study would be a species of self- indulgence. I find myself in a theological school, teaching Greek in Chinese, dealing perforce with recent Biblical criticism, the bearings of evolution and science generally on Christian truth, and all the difficulties that beset theological students in our home seminaries. One is tempted to say that almost every subject that relates itself to modern life in the curricula of Western seminaries will be of service here. Apologetics, based on present-day objections to Christianity and to religion in general, constructive Biblical scholarship, of course, compara- tive religion, Christian sociology (sociology and its related ideas being current everywhere among educated Chinese and Japanese), practical knowledge of music, especially for leading in singing, are some of the things that suggest them- selves to me. While Hebrew will doubtless be introduced into our theological schools in the near future, I do not see any advantage in its being studied to any extent by missionary candidates. All this amounts to little more than saying that such men should have practically the same course as those who look forward to the ministry at home. For both classes the supreme need is the study of the English Bible, in the light of modern scholarship, but with the old attitude of reverent belief in it as the Word of God, His message to the nations. (J. Leighton Stuart, Nanking, China.) Very special emphasis should be laid on the importance of the study of methods of education. Missionary preaching is essentially teaching and the evangelistic missionary en- gaged in itinerating work needs a thorough elementary knowledge of the principles of teaching, while the ordained men who are to engage in educational work should have both general training in pedagogy and specialized preparation for the work which they are to do. Wherever possible, missionary appointees should have their fields designated at the beginning of their senior year, in order to be able to shape their elective studies and reading during the last year of their preparation. PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES 33 Behind the question of the study of the Chinese language on the field lies the problem of student preparation for Chinese missionary candidates before they leave the homeland. Much might be done by the Mission Boards if they pursued a definite policy of determining the appointment of men at least one year before they were sent out to the field and by advising them upon a course of study in matters concerning their land of destination during their last year at home. In China, for instance, a knowledge of Chinese history, Chinese phi- losophy, the reading of the Chinese classics in an English translation, and, above all, a sympathetic study of the religions of the land, would do very much to re- move misconceptions from the minds of intending missionaries and bring them to the close study of the language and contact with the people with minds more or less in sympathy with the Chinese point of view. It is, unfortunately, the case that few men, unless of a specially energetic mental habit, can find time and opportunity to acquire information along these lines such as might be given them by a year’s quiet course of intelligent reading in selected colleges and wniver- sities. Efficiency in the preparation of missionaries for work among Chinese is a matter not only for the missions on the field, but also for the home Boards in their dealings with candidates for service. (Chinese Missionary Recorder, July, 1908, pp. 359-360.) 4. A small minority of our correspondents favor the study of Hebrew: In regard to Hebrew, I would unhesitatingly say “yes.” The study of Hebrew is important, especially if pursued according to Harper’s Inductive Method. I personally received more help from that method of studying Hebrew in the sub- sequent study of the Chinese language than in any other one study in either college or seminary course. (P. F. Price, Nanking, China.) I do not think there is any subject the student could substitute for Hebrew that would prepare him equally well for the mission service where his work will necessarily be largely of the nature of teaching. (W.R. Foote, Wonsan, Korea.) Yes, “a full course in Hebrew,” especially for those looking to work in Moslem fields. It will be useful not only in the connection just given, but in the study of Arabic and its literature, and of the Koran, (T. J. Scott, Bareilly, India.) The storm center of the Old Testament has been the specialty of experts in Hebrew for a great part of the nineteenth century. Higher critics rule out unceremoniously men who are not good Hebrew scholars. Unless Hebrew is taken up the reverent student is seriously handicapped. It means that on many topics he is scarcely entitled to have or express an opinion. It has always been a matter of regret to me that Chinese language studies made it hard for me to keep up Hebrew study. (Murdoch Mackenzie, Changte, China.) Four out of five, however, of those who have written to us have substituted other work for Hebrew study in their plan for the preparation of ordinary ordained missionaries. 5. We have examined the courses of study offered in vari- ous institutions for the special preparation of ordained mis- 34 PREPARATION OF ORDAINED MISSIONARIES sionaries, and the tabulation of several of these will suffice to show what progress has been made at home toward meet- ing the needs which have been expressed. The problem be- fore our theological schools is not an easy one, and it is more difficult now than it has been. They have to deal with an increasing proportion of matriculates who have had an inad- equate general preparation. They are called upon to supply studies which should have been taken in the preliminary course. Most of the work outlined above, for example, is work which the student should have covered in college, and some of it is work which he must do for himself in general reading, either before or after reaching the field. But the curricula which we present indicate how earnestly some in- stitutions have endeavored to meet the requisitions of the missionaries. These two curricula are three-year courses offered by two seminaries, the number of hours per week being indicated in each subject: Junior Class Comparative Religion ........ 1 hr. Old Testament History and Literature 60 2 hrs. The Principles of Education. .2 hrs. : 2d sem. Methods and Course of Study.1 hr. Science and Practice of Tropical Hygiene .........+.- 2 hrs. 1st t’m MsseInns