SPECIAL MISSIONARY PREPARATION BY EDWARD WARREN CAPEN, Ph. D. Organizing Secretary The Hartford School of Missions HARTFORD CONNECTICUT LOP2 soe x x Special Missionary Preparation HE question of the preparation needed for securing greater missionary efficiency was brought into prom- inence by the report of Commission V. to the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in June, 1910. So great was the interest excited that the leading Mission Boards of Great Britain have created a Board of Mis- sion Studies, with a paid secretary, to take up this whole matter, and similar action has been taken by the Mission Boards in the United States and Canada. The concensus of opinion on the part of missionaries and board secretaries is that the preparation now required is inadequate and that the standards for appointment must be raised. This makes the subject of special missionary preparation of vital importance to all who purpose or even hope to spend their lives in the mission field. Four questions concerning this special missionary preparation naturally arise : I. Why is it needed > I]. What should it include > Ill. Who need it > IV. When and where should it be secured ? I. Why ? For two reasons: 1. The new environment. a. Education is raising the intelligence of the people among whom the missionary works. Dp 4 The Christian school is brought into com- petition with secular schools, which often have finer equipment and even better trained teachers. The missionary - finds around him a growing body of men who are trained in the thought of the West and who are familiar with the vices as well as the virtues of the West from which the missionary comes. b. A new industry, which is animated by the materialistic spirit and adopts western meth- ods, is producing unfortunate industrial con- ditions. ‘These increase the difficulties of Christianizing Oriental life and complicate the missionary problem. c. Reform movements are springing up under leaders who are sincerely desirous of im- proving the conditions of life, but who are often visionary and inefficient in their efforts. d. A new nationalistic spirit is found in the chief mission lands. This leads to polit- ical unrest, to jealousy of foreign influence and to an emphasis, with modifications, upon old customs, institutions and beliefs. Keen resentment is aroused by an unsym- pathetic attitude even on the part of the missionary. The new missionary policies. Partly because of this new spirit of nationality and partly because the development of the native church makes a change possible, the missionary movement must add to its original and permanent work of evan- gelism and the organization of churches, the work of education, of authorship and of leadership in intellectual and institutional life. Success in such work calls for a higher degree of specialized training than where the missionary is almost the only responsible worker. II. W hat ? All special missionary preparation presupposes the proper physical, intellectual, ethical and spiritual qualifications. It should have as its foundation the best college, university, and professional training pos- sible. In addition, it should always include the fol- lowing seven subjects : 1. The Missionary Message. Knowledge of this is the most fundamental necessity of every mis- sionary, whether theologically trained or not. It includes familiarity with the Bible and with the essential truths of Christianity. A missionary is worse than useless unless he has a vital Christian message. 2. The History, Institutions, Customs, Thought and Religion of the People of a Specific Mission Field. Without a sympathetic appreciation of the peo- ple, their past and their point of view, great efficiency is impossible. 3. Pedagogy and Psychology. Mission education cannot hold its own unless it is under thoroughly trained teachers. Nearly every missionary either has some connection with educational work or is dealing with people who have many of the char- acteristics of childhood. In either case a knowl- edge of the science and art of teaching is needed. 4. Comparative Religion. Efficiency in presenting the Christian message may be greatly increased by a knowledge of the common elements in the religious thought of the race, the highest attain- ments of the non-Christian religious thinkers, and the ways in which Christianity meets needs which no other religion can satisfy. 5. Sociology. The work of the missionary neces- sarily has an influence upon life, customs, and institutions ; he is working in the midst of great social changes, and he needs to understand these in order that he may be able to relate his work to them. 6. The History and Science of Missions. For nineteen centuries the Church has been carrying on missionary work. ‘The lessons of this experi- ence should be placed as the disposal of the missionary, who needs a broader view of the missionary problem than is obtained in any one field. ‘This is the testimony of missionaries. 7. Language. Investigations indicate not only that the learning of the vernacular is the bug-bear of the missionary but that this is a point at which he falls short of a reasonable expectation. In pronunciation, idiom and vocabulary it is the exceptional missionary who can express himself freely even upon all phases of Christian truth, or who can be heard with pleasure by a scholar. At the time when English can be more widely used, the people’s toleration of imperfect speech is lessening. In most fields the language is taught in the good old way, in disregard of all recent progress in the art of teaching languages scientifi- cally. Missionaries in China declare it quite possible to save from six months to a year in pre- paring the missionary to take up his work. Phonetics, the scientific understanding of the structure of language and new methods of teach- ing have revolutionized this department in Europe and should be applied at once to the missionary’s preparation. Ill. Who? Every missionary candidate needs this prepara- tion. Missionary authorities hold that the time is rapidly approaching when such special missionary preparation will be required of practically every candidate, just as now the leading boards are demanding a full university and professional training. The schools of America train students to meet American problems in an American environment. The problems of India are as different as its climate or its social organization and no one can attain real efficiency without special preparation. The same is true of each mission country and for no one field is the training identical with that for any other. Special preparation is needed for each country and each branch of work. IV. When and Where ? The preparation of the missionary does not end when he sails from the home port. In a sense it has just begun, for all his life he should be working to get a better mastery of the thought, language and customs of the people around him. But whenever possible, he should make sure of laying the founda- tions deep and strong, before active service begins. Unless this is done before he reaches his field, the pressure of work and his lack of preparation as to the methods of such study will prevent his accom- plishing much. He will either neglect it or flounder aimlessly. “This means that the foundation work for the study of the language and the field should be laid here. As regards all the other subjects, the bulk of the study must be done at home or it will remain undone. ‘This applies to the history and 8 methods of mission work, and to comparative relig- ion, sociology, psychology, and pedagogy. The missionary should never cease to be a student of the Bible but he should acquire before sailing the appetite for it and should learn the best methods. Conclusion. Every one who contemplates devoting his life to the work of foreign missions should aim at securing as broad a culture as possible, especially emphasiz- ing those subjects included in special missionary preparation, upon which he can secure courses of study. In addition, he should arrange to take a full year of specialized graduate work, during which deficiencies can be made good and a broad foun- dation laid for an understanding of the peculiar problems of the country in which he expects to spend his life. Until recently this special prepara- tion has been impossible, but now there are a few centres at which it can be secured, and with their facilities and the opportunities they offer each pro- spective missionary should become acquainted.