\ x The Romance of Christian Investments in the Mission Fields AMERICAN BOARD % COMMISSIONERS Jr FOREIGN MISSIONS 14 BeaconStBeston FOREWORD The facts of the work abroad receive most of the publicity, and that is right. The results of the work in tabulated figures, in moral reforms, in training leadership are often traced. This num- ber of the Envetope Series tries to tell briefly the romantic story of the men and women who have made the FACTS and the RESULTS pos- sible. The reading of these pages will bring us all in danger of the sin of covetousness; for we may well wish that we also could be CAPITALISTS FOR CHRIST. The last chapter of Dr. Patton’s new book, entitled “The Business of Missions” is responsible for the germ idea of this pamphlet. ‘Thanks are due to the MacMillan Company for permission to refer to these pages. Brewer Eppy. Entered as second class mail matter at the Post Office at Boston, Mass. Accept- ance for mailing at special rates of postage provided for in section 1104, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on June 21, 1918. The American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, 14 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. Printed in JJ. S. A. nnual subscription, ten (10) cents. The Romance of Christian In- vestments 1n the Mission Fields Some day a clever pen will adequately describe the romance of the investments made by Christian investors in the great mission fields. A wealth of material lies ready for one who can graphically describe the planting of schools and colleges, of hospitals and social institutions, and the results in changed lives and transformed national ideals that have flowed in increasing streams from these beginnings. A number of instances have been gathered here to prove that the interest and sacrifice of individual givers have made possible most of the story of missionary advance in past years and will be the determining factor in all prog- ress in the years ahead. The proof of this important point carries its own moral to earnest friends. The story of the rapid development of great business combinations in America has tempted the journalist’s pen for years.. The poor boy that starts in the coal breaker or as office boy at the factory, rising to wealth and broad influence as a “man of affairs,’ will always thrill the American imagination. The great social reforms, which have been created and guided by missionary influence, have been told in monu- mental volumes like Dr. Dennis’s “Christian Missions and Social Progress” as practical bi-products of the Gospel of Christ. Before we gather illustrations from the distinct work of 3 the American Board, it is of rich interest to notice a few of the outstanding gifts made to the enterprise of foreign missions in other churches than our own. These instances are taken from the last chapter of Dr. Patton’s book to which we just referred in the Foreword. Over in India the work and fame of Dr. Wanless were aided by his partner in the home land, the late John H. Converse, President of the Baldwin Locomotive Co. in Philadelphia. Before the donor died in 1910, he knew that nearly a half million patients had received treatment as a result of his “far visioned generosity.” Louis H. Severance of Cleveland, made an original investment of $10,000 in medical work in Seoul, Korea. Later he multiplied it ten-fold and gave to that nation its strongest medical center. The industrial school at Dumaguete in the Philippine Islands which now trains 1,000 Filipino boys was made possible by a gift of $20,000 from the late Horace B. Silliman of Cohoes, N. Y. Dr. John F. Gouch- er, the head of Goucher College in Baltimore, made significant gifts to the mission field in the support of village elementary schools. More than 120 schools for boys and girls, pouring out graduates who serve today as pastors, teachers, and business men in India, were made possible by the careful and sacrificial gifts of this earnest man who believed in stewardship. The great Methodist College in Tokyo stands on land which Mr. Goucher gave. The greatest Methodist School in Korea thanks him as its home partner. West China Union University at Chengtu owes its existence to a similar , origin. Mr. John S. Kennedy of New York City, built up a fortune in the constructive development of the railroads of the Northwest and the copper mines of the Southwest. He followed the principles of careful investment in Chris- tian work through all his life, and when he died remem- bered forty-six institutions at home and abroad in his will. Over $3,000,000 of this estate found actual investment in the foreign: mission field. Sir Thomas Morton, a manufacturer, of Falmouth, England, gave to mission boards $1,875,000 to be used in establishing new mission stations. The famous Arthing- ton bequest divided $4,500,000 between the London Mis- sionary Society and the Baptist Society of England. Doubtless all these men had ample chances to say “No’’ when these very opportunities of investment first came to their attention. They had secretaries to protect them from begging appeals. They doubtless had doors to their offices that might have been shut. They could easily have turned aside at any moment to interests and pursuits of ‘their own. But they “went down the other side” like Kipling’s Explorer, and their personal interest has quickened the pace of the entire Kingdom as it spreads through the world today. Such men accurately valued the work of the missionary in its statesmanship, in its multiplying power, in the critical needs which give it background. They discovered in the missionaries the true fibre and quality of their work, and they judged it in terms of spiritual importance. Each one of them must also have learned to trust the Board that sent those missionaries forth. They believed in the work- 5 er and the work and made themselves partners in the enterprise. Instances Under the American Board The history of our own Board is full of similar instances where the vision and consecration of one man or woman has enriched the whole page of the Board’s story. We need only refer to that first legacy of $30,000 of Mrs. Norris of Salem, coming at the beginning when the enter- prise of foreign missions. was struggling for existence in the heart of our churches, to see a case where the gift of one person established new standards and helped to create the missionary era of modern church history. The most important legacies in the Board’s history were those of Asa N. Otis, of New London, and S. W. Swett, of Jamaica Plain. The former was a merchant who came to the aid of the Board in one of its darkest hours. “The face of the sky changed” as a direct result of his munificent legacy of one million dollars to the Board’s work, the largest legacy yet received. ‘He was a quiet and careful observer of the Board’s work, who had read for years the Missionary Herald, and who had come to have confidence in the policy and business management of the Board.” One-third of the total sum was invested in the support of native preachers and teachers on their fields, one-third in the enlargement of the Board’s work, and one-third in the opening of new missions and stations. After a brief five years the second largest legacy from Mr. Swett poured out its treasure. From these two gifts 6 five new missions were opened. One of them shows today the most encouraging and striking advance of any mission field under the Board’s care. Today the work in Mexico, in Northern Japan, in the Province of Shansi, and in Southern China, and on the Coast of West Africa, are the direct results of these legacies. Great areas and unknown thousands have thus received the Gospel Story through the determined purpose and insight of these two donors. Mr. J. W. Harris of New London, was a successful business man. Toward the end of his life he made thoughtful investments through the Board. Thirty-four years ago he set aside $100,000 for the expansion of our famous Doshisha College in Japan. It was a struggling institution of doubtful promise at that time. The land for new buildings and enlarged capacity made possible by his gift brought it into prominence. It has never ceased growing since that day. Then it had but few students. Today the number is over 3,700 and since the destruction by the earthquake of several great universities near Tokyo, the trustees expect the University to enroll above 5,000 within the next two years. Its graduates are occupying leading positions of Christian influence in all Japan. Its influence is perhaps greater than any other single Christian College in that Empire. This gift broadened the whole educational policy of the Doshisha. It came a few months before the death of the consecrated founder, Neesima, who wrote, “A donation like this is unknown and unprecedented in Japan. This sum came in just the right time.” The present successor of Neesima, the famous Dr. Ebina, 7 leading Congregational pastor and President of the Doshisha, comes to America this month to tell our friends of the Doshisha’s great past and greater future, with its enlarged usefulness and the new obligations resting upon it since the earthquake. ‘Mr. Christopher Robert, of New York City, made a first investment of $10,000 in Robert College, Constantinople, which has given a trained leadership to portions of the South East of Europe. Whatever hope beckons today in the Near East, the final result will be traceable in no small degree to the graduates of this college and of those directed by this Board throughout Asia Minor. One of these, the New International College at Smyrna was built from a great gift by Mrs. John S. Kennedy. In Pasumalai, India, the Union Bible School owes its commanding position in its union work in training the Christian workers for several denominations, to the gift of a Montreal woman, through Dr. J. P. Jones, and another gift through the present Principal, Dr. John J. Banninga of a woman in a city of New England. What satisfaction must be felt by such earnest spirits who have found an investment that brings annual returns in enriched Chris- tian leadership in the corners of the earth where the need is blackest. Only three miles away in Madura, the American College, with its 464 students today, can point to its two outstand- ing buildings, one given by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and the other the Ellen James Science Building given by Arthur C. James, of New York City. The number of students in this college has increased 180% in ten years, 8 and 50% in the last five years, although its plant has not expanded in the years since the armistice. The Broadway Tabernacle in New York saw the vision of Christian education in China, and led by a few con- secrated laymen, gathered $40,000 to bring “Jefferson Academy,” named for their famous pastor, to its present state of efficiency, as a leading Middle school in all China. The other day we mailed a letter from Dr. Frank Laubach, of the Philippines, to his “Prayer Regiment,” made up of literally hundreds of individuals who have a definite stake with him in that union work in Manila, which is binding together the interests of many denomina- tions and is seizing the present opportunity of interpreting Christ in vital terms to the leaders of the new Philippines. These individuals gave sums large or small, but their interest has made them a vital factor in the story of the growth of Christianity under our flag in these troubled Islands. Visit Foochow, China. As you enter the great com- pound of the American Board, you will be told it stands as a monument to the Christian investments of many individuals. The gifts of one hundred people or more erected Dr. Kinnear’s hospital which has done a successful work for many years, und seems likely to become the center of a union medical work with rich possibility in that city. The gifts of Mrs. D. Willis James, through Mrs. Kinnear, in different years enlarged the compound, adding institutions and residences which have made pos- sible an expanding Christian work. The new church which is now building in Arrupukoti 9 in far-off India could not have been possible except for our church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and for the gift of a consecrated farmer in Massachusetts who is at his work every day from 5.30 in the morning until 10.00 at night, but the profits of his labors find many thrilling invest- ments in the mission field. Here it is possible that some reader may feel that there is no use in thinking and caring, as an individual for missions unless he be a millionaire and can make these large and significant-gifts. ‘The size of the gift is not the point. Every man and woman who hears the challenge in the modern missionary story and decides to become in- terested; who reads the first missionary story in leaflet or book or missionary magazine and determines to know more of this work with its alluring and satisfying account of success and of progress in places of greatest need, is exactly in the footsteps of these men who have made mis- sionary history in the past century. Individuals like this absolutely saved the Board from critical retrenchment in 1921 and again in 1923. Without that thoughtful knowl- edge and personal commitment as partners to this work, we would today be under a shadow of increased debt and heavy discouragement. : Do we care or do we dodge? ‘That is the fundamental question in the missionary story today. If one hundred thousand individuals in the churches are coming to care more and more, then we will win the day for righteous-. ness and for God; but if the majority of that one hundred thousand turn aside, then the missionary message waits another generation. Io Two Outstanding Instances The story has often been told of the greatest single gift ever received by the Board from living donors. A secre- tary had the privilege of laying before two people a possible investment in the score or more colleges and normal schools under the Board’s care. As the plans took shape, it was apparent that a Foundation in the name of one of the Board’s best friends could most readily meet the needs. A gift of a million dollars was made as the D. Willis James Foundation for Higher Educational Work, and for the past years it must be credited as one of the most potent factors in the success of the American Board. Twelve years ago a manufacturer of shoes was told that many towns and cities in the mission fields had asked for a preacher and were ready to hear of Christ. His gifts began. They have been widely scattered through the world. In this brief limit, the total of enrolled new members of our Christian churches has passed beyond 17,500. The story has often been told of the ten evange- lists placed in the Northern part of the Province of Shensi under the Rev. Watts O. Pye. Ten years ago the name of Christ was unknown and no worker was giving full time in that half province in the name of Christ. ‘Today there are 130 organized groups in that field, now extending miles beyond the Chinese wall into Mongolia. In 1922 alone, the total number of new baptized members brought into the churches passed 3,000. In these years, the estimated total of baptisms flowing from this first investment and its continuing increase from year to year, has reached a total of 10,000. II Only the pen of a genius could dramatize the results to civilization of some great invention or of an outstanding leader who has impressed new ideals upon his fellowmen who troup after, but in these instances noted above there is an added spiritual note of Eternity for the soul that can interpret it. Once Christian leaders have begun to lift the solid mass of ignorant and helpless fellowmen, new light of vast possibilities pours down upon the homes and cities and hearts of that region. All the beauty and power that Christ gives to a soul, is potentially hid in these gifts that have been laid upon His altar. Christ once blessed five fish and two barley loaves to meet the needs of a multitude. Today that blessing falls upon the check books of individ- uals who in His name and as His present day partners, invest themselves and their capital under the miraculous multiplying process of His Gospel. An hundred other illustrations could be given; but these are enough to prove that personal interest is the vital factor that is needed today in “Missions” and that will yet reap a harvest that will shame the rate of the mustard seed or the 100-fold “corn in the earth.” The Relation of Such Gifts to the Board’s Budget It is time to expand these instances into a general principle. Stand before a wall map of the American Board institutions scattered over its twenty missions. The Finance Committee tell us that the present replacement value of the Board’s property on the mission fields is not less than $12,000,000. Look at this map with Christ 12 standing at your shoulder. From His point of view these are the light centers He wanted to see spread over the earth. ‘These missionary compounds within which are gathered the boarding schools and colleges, the normal schools and Bible training schools, from which the leaders are pouring forth, are striving to achieve the very things that Christ did in those Three Years. If His heart ached with the needs of the diseased and the ignorant then, He must rejoice in these all-too-slight efforts to multiply His work an hundred-fold today. How much of that vast plant do we imagine has been made possible by the regular income of the Board received through church envelopes from year to year? This is an exceedingly important question. The Board’s annual budget is of course absolutely vital and fundamental to any progress. It pays the salaries of the missionaries and all the expenses of promotion. It meets the wages of our 7,000 native workers in those institutions; it meets the running expenses of our hospitals not met by payments and fees from the patients; in short, it carries on the current work, but it cannot build buildings nor plant institutions nor make possible endowments, nor expand the future of those mission centers. It seems likely that of the present plant invested on the mission field, more than nine-tenths has been given by individual donors enlisted by mis- sionaries in their correspondence, in their personal visits in the home land, and by the Board’s publicity. The real advance of the Board’s work is thus to be at- tributed to the consecration of individual checks. ‘There is the romance of Christian investment on mission fields. 13 There is the heart of the story of victory told year by year through the lives of these missionaries. Has it ever dawned upon us that most of the advances recorded from year to year have thus come from in- dividuals, who “have seen a great light,” and that the first vision was caught by those who drew the check here in the home land before those “in darkness” ever had their chance to see? It is equally true that in future years many of the significant advances. yet to be made on mission fields will become possible because of just such extra gifts of in- dividuals over and above the regular budget of the Board. In one of Billy Sunday’s famous sermons, he describes the angels leaning over the battlements of Heaven, cheer- ing on the winners in the struggle for Righteousness on earth below. These Heavenly witnesses will see not only the conflict on the far-flung front in distant lands, but with true insight they can see the business desk and the quiet library where these first decisions of faith and con- secration are being made each day by some partner of Christ seated before a check book. The thrill of romance may not consciously be present, but in the great drama of the Kingdom this is the dramatic moment that calls forth both our faith and our faithfulness. A Church of Individuals That is the point. We speak of the gifts of a “denom- ination,” but only individuals make up the total. Every victory becomes possible only when the individual is stand- ing ready to lead. It is an individual layman who puts 14 his business ability as a salesman into the Every-Member Canvass to make it at once successful and spiritual. It is an individual, perhaps a woman, who persuades the im- portant members of the church committee, or who adds the fire of her enthusiasm to the pastor’s leadership to bring the loyal church to 100% achievement. Again, it is an individual, probably a Sunday School teacher or an overbusy Superintendent, who gives his school the missionary programs and leads the children into the secret of sharing and the principles of stewardship when they gather their missionary offerings. Some such teachers doubtless inspired the loyalty and consecration behind most of the gifts listed in the pages above. It is an individual who brings to this church and to that church — nay, to a thousand churches, a new desire to accept its share of the task and go through obstacles and past objectors to the joy of “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Christ must want to say just such words to the churches, to the laymen, to the pastors, today when their share of the task of world-winning has been born valiantly as a spiritual trust. “And Each for the Joy of the Working” That’s it. We serve God as individuals, not in the mass; but we serve Him best moving with others in the same line. Our Congregational churches today are mar- shalling their forces with new efficiency and effectiveness. In our Year Book the totals recorded from year to year are growing. Look up one moment from the task to see that we are working with Christ and not alone. In the local parish there may be discouragement. In the heart 15 of earnest women toiling toward the quota of Auxiliary or Branch, the victory note may be distant and faint at times. But the great total of faithful works in the whole Church is building the walls of the Kingdom of Righteousness. Romance in the Making The foregoing pages have been written largely in the past tense, but there is a future tense in this story as well. The American College in Madura has a library 40x 24 ft. The stacks with their 10,000 volumes leave an actual space for readers of less than 400 square feet, 20x 20. Can you imagine that library equipment in a modern college of 464 students? On the blueprints the new library will have one floor of a wing in the new Science Building which must now be built. Somewhere an individual is preparing to write that check for $10,000. In the same college there are accommodations for 165 boys in the dormitories, or about one-third of the present student body! $10,000 will house another hundred of these boys. ‘There are no adjacent boarding houses and no possibility of any other solution. An individual will soon write a check to meet this need. The North China mission by unanimous vote has put first in all its list of needs, the finding of a fund of $4,000 a year with which to educate the trained leaders who must immediately be found for the churches and schools of the whole Mission. {$1,000 a year will train ten men to be the outstanding leaders in our Chinese churches. The Spirit of God is working in that situation at this moment, preparing the men for training in China and preparing the 16 friends here at home to make possible the plan. The Chinese Church is standing ready and waiting for its leaders. It is the strategic moment for this particular advance. On the north shore of Mindanao, at Cagayan, there are 200,000 people without any adequate medical aid whatso- ever. It is our missionary district. Rev. Frank Woodward has told the story to certain individuals. More than half the necessary $30,000 is in sight. He needs $13,000 more to build that hospital. There is the operating room and its equipment for $1,000; there is a ward of twelve beds for $4,000; there is the administration office for $2,000. That is another station where a new chapter waits to be written. Yonder in Shensi,; are two score cities where new churches have sprung into existence within five years. They are just finding their courage. Thus far they have supplied the buildings and the schools without much help from us. The next step to dignify those churches before the cities and to multiply their usefulness is to provide adequate premises. The local members will raise the last dollar possible. Watts O. Pye writes that sometimes $400 from America is just the difference between “yes” and “no” in that crisis of building or renting an adequate Chinese court with its surrounding rooms for the new church. In the capital at Yulinfu, $1,000 from us will be doubled by gifts already gathered by church members and will provide the buildings on the chosen site now in their possession. That church will surely be one of power, full of rich possibilities, but the thrill of the romance must first strike someone who can write a check. 17 Personal Interest Such vital work cannot be depersonalized by the details of our machinery for benevolence. It may be a present danger of our Apportionment Plan that we emphasize the convenience of a united appeal to the point of losing the personal interest of the givers. ; That collection envelope in which the gifts are placed from week to week is a dead thing. It cannot speak. It has no voice to tell the needs of men and women who will be uplifted by the gift it carries. Rightly understood it becomes the very palm of Christ. It is our most direct channel through which personal sacrifice and interest can be invested in “the other cities also’’ which weighed upon the heart of Christ. ‘Through it we touch the unchurched prairies, the mining town, the slum, the immigrant through the Home Missionary Society. ‘There we lift the forty or more schools in the Southland with their devoted teachers and all the work in foreign tongues under the American Missionary Association or uphold the ideals of Christian Education in the colleges and in our own Bible Schools - through the Education Society. j Through that envelope we give a part of our time, in- terest and personal service in hospitals, schools and homes in all the mission fields where we ourselves cannot go. If this conviction lives in the churches new figures will be written on subscription cards in every canvass. A new thrill of personal interest interprets every need and every victory beyond the horizon. A new sense of brotherhood springs up to bind us in the fellowship of all mankind. Christ Himself becomes a closer partner in life. 18 Conditional Gifts and Legacies There are TWO IDEAL WAYS to show personal interest in the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions :— FIRST, by giving to the Board a sum of money during lifetime and making a legal con- tract with the Board so that you or a designat- ed beneficiary will enjoy the income of said fund at a fixed rate for life, and the assurance that afterwards the capital sum will go into Christian work under the Board. This is one of the safest investments possible. Hundreds of careful people have taken advantage of this method and many others will take advantage once they understand it. Write to Frederick A. Gaskins, Treasurer, for further details. SECOND, by giving money to the American Board by the way of a legacy. Will you not now consider the privilege of putting ‘“Mis- sions” into your will? For over a century the Board’s funds have been wisely managed and have produced income for work of the Board, and in all cases the exact wishes of the donor have been carried out. You can select the type of work you most approve. Your will proves your interest. THE AMERICAN BOARD 14 Beacon Street - - Boston, Mass. Reew Bis KNOWWN MINISTER much beloved by his people for honesty of mind and fairness of speech said recently of The Missionary Herald “Its interesting, readable, instruct- ive, attractive and altogether fine” Would you become well-known for your breadth of view, your general knowledge of world affairs, your unconquerable faith in God and Man? 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