A 
 
 Handbook 
 
 for 
 
 Candidates 
 
 Prepared by 
 Gilbert N. Brink 
 
 9Mb' 
 
 THE AMERICAN BAPTIST 
 HOME MISSION SOCIETY 
 23 E. 26th St., New York, N. Y. 
 
 4 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 This “Handbook for Candidates” has been com¬ 
 piled with the hope and prayer that it may prove 
 helpful as a guide and councilor to those who are 
 called into “The World’s Biggest Business,”— 
 ihe business of Christianizing all nations! Lest 
 some one might be discouraged and cry out 
 “Who is sufficient for these things?” as he reads 
 these pages, he is reminded that these standards 
 are ideals toward which we all should strive in 
 spite of the fact that we each come short of their 
 attainment. We “hitch our wagon to a star” con¬ 
 fident that thereby we shall climb the higher. 
 
 The data here presented have been gathered 
 from reports upon conditions and service require¬ 
 ments in mission fields the world over, and espe¬ 
 cially from the reports issued by the Board of 
 Missionary Preparation, New York, to which this 
 booklet is under great debt both for fact and the 
 form of statement. 
 
 For a more extended treatment of the matters 
 presented here, the reader is referred to these re¬ 
 ports, which can be secured from the Board of 
 Missionary Preparation, 25 Madison Avenue, New 
 York City. 
 
 1 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2019 with funding from 
 Columbia University Libraries 
 
 https://archive.org/details/handbookforcandiOOamer 
 
Handbook for 
 Candidates 
 
 I. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS. 
 
 t. Physical Qualifications: A sound bodily 
 constitution and unimpaired health should be pos¬ 
 sessed by all missionaries and are an absolute 
 necessity for every candidate for the Latin Amer¬ 
 ican fields. In whatever section the missionary 
 in Latin America may labor and with whatever 
 alleviations of sea breeze and elevation, he will 
 miss the ozone of the United States. He will 
 feel the power of the tropical sun and will realize 
 the importance of a physique that can offer due 
 resistance to the depression and wear of the 
 tropics. 
 
 (1) Physical Examination: Every candi¬ 
 date should be able to pass a physical exam¬ 
 ination equal to that of a first class insurance 
 risk. Candidates for tropical fields should be 
 examined if possible by a physician acquaint¬ 
 ed with the conditions and effects of a trop¬ 
 ical climate. 
 
 (2) Correct Habits of Living: The regula¬ 
 tion of diet, the taking of regular exercise, 
 the enjoyment of recreation, the elimination 
 of worry, and the poise of mind and soul 
 which is based upon a calm trust in God, are 
 all important factors in the preservation of 
 good health in the tropics and will be neg¬ 
 lected at one’s peril. 
 
 (3) Strong and Steady Nerves: The phys¬ 
 ical ability to labor continuously and to stand 
 the strain of emergencies demanding mental 
 and nervous expenditure is a great asset. The 
 missionary needs strong and steady nerves 
 to carry him through the wear and tear of his 
 daily work in tropical lands. Those who are 
 high strung nervously soon find the tax on 
 their strength greater than they can bear. 
 
 (4) A Good Digestion: Missionaries are 
 very dependent upon native food products 
 A good stomach is an excellent asset any¬ 
 where, but it is of peculiar importance in 
 mission fields where proper foods are not 
 
 3 
 
always to be had. A weak digestion and a 
 tendency to bowel troubles will militate 
 against one attacked by sprue or dysentery, 
 both of which are common in tropical 
 countries. 
 
 (5) Ability to Sleep: Many workers on 
 the field mention this as a very important 
 part of the missionary’s physical equipment. 
 Sleeping accommodations for the travelers in 
 the country districts are generally primitive 
 and often extremely trying. Many mission¬ 
 aries are often obliged to spend much of 
 their time in travel. If they cannot sleep un¬ 
 der difficulties and amid discomforts, they 
 will not be able to continue long in their 
 work. 
 
 With wise attention to diet, rest, the sun, 
 and preventive hygiene, the missionary may 
 thrive and labor effectively for a lifetime in 
 tropical America. 
 
 2. Mental Qualifications: The average mis¬ 
 sionary task does not require acute powers of 
 argumentation so much as the ability sympathet¬ 
 ically to understand the mental traits of the peo¬ 
 ple for whom he labors. Mental adaptation is, 
 therefore, an important factor in the missionary’s 
 success, and linguistic ability is also greatly to be 
 desired. For without a mastery of the language 
 of the people it is not possible to understand com¬ 
 pletely their mental processes. 
 
 (1) Intellectual Preparation: The work of 
 the educational and of the literary missionary 
 demands an unusual mental equipment and 
 an intellectual preparation far beyond the 
 ordinary. Men and women are needed who 
 have breadth of view, who are intellectually 
 alert, who can think through a difficult prob¬ 
 lem with impartial accuracy, who are cour¬ 
 ageously loyal to the truth as they see it, 
 and who yet can respect the different opinion 
 of another; who know the technique of their 
 particular work, and who, above all, are in¬ 
 telligently and vitally Christian through and 
 through. 
 
 (2) Grasp of Christianity: The missionary 
 should have an adequate intellectual grasp of 
 Christianity as set forth in the Bible and in 
 the thought of Christians through the cen¬ 
 turies: in other words—the Bible and Chris¬ 
 tian doctrine. He not only needs to know 
 what Christianity is, but also how to apply it. 
 He should know how to apply it in work with 
 
 4 
 
individuals—which means training in Chris¬ 
 tian work under supervision; how to teach 
 it to children, youth and adults—which means 
 some knowledge of religious education and 
 psychology; and how to apply it to social 
 problems—which means an understanding of 
 these problems as well as of the social im¬ 
 plications of the gospel. 
 
 Spiritual Qualifications: Vital religion 
 
 should be the certain possession of every mission¬ 
 ary. It must be so vital that it sends him forth 
 on fire with zeal to lead others to a like ex¬ 
 perience. 
 
 (1) Personal Experience: A living experi¬ 
 mental knowledge of the great Christian es¬ 
 sentials is indispensable. He must have per¬ 
 sonal experience of the Saviorship of Jesus 
 and of the work of the Holy Spirit. Without 
 this knowledge clear and well defined, one 
 had better not venture to attempt the work 
 of a missionary. 
 
 (2) A Message to Others: “There is no 
 man so miserable as a missionary without a 
 message of life to lost men.” One will be an 
 utter failure unless Christianity is more to 
 him than a subject to be mastered. It must 
 be a life which has mastered him. Devotion 
 to Christ as the source of life and faith is the 
 foundation upon which all missionary effort 
 must be built. One should ask himself again 
 and again, Why am I preparing to become a 
 missionary? Have I anything to offer people 
 better than they now posses? Am I prepared 
 to teach and to live my faith in the presence 
 of those who are indifferent or even antag¬ 
 onistic to the claims of Christ upon them? 
 
 (3) Joy in Service: The normal Christian 
 in the early church possessed an exuberance 
 of joy, a buoyancy of spirit, a richness of per¬ 
 sonal experience which is not common today 
 among the Christians of the West. It is, how¬ 
 ever, characteristic of many of the Christians 
 on the mission field and should be character¬ 
 istic of the missionary also. It is not a thing 
 that can be acquired in a mechanical way by 
 dint of reading a specified number of books, 
 or pursuing a definite course of study. He 
 should pray and strive that Christ’s joy, which 
 he promised to his disciples, may be h’s own. 
 
 4. , Ecclesiastical Qualifications: The great 
 world-needs of our day demand missionaries 
 whose first loyalty is to the Kingdom of God. 
 
 5 
 
This demand need not ever obliterate proper de¬ 
 nominational distinctions. The missionary’s full 
 loyalty to his own denomination is assumed as 
 axiomatic. 
 
 (1) Comity Relations: Comity relations 
 
 and cooperation in missionary fields are sure¬ 
 ly in accord with the will of our Master. 
 Candidates who are out of harmony with the 
 spirit of Christian brotherhood and fellowship 
 among all the workers in the Lord’s vineyard 
 should seriously question whether they are 
 called to work in the foreign field. 
 
 (2) A Broad Charity: A broad charity for 
 the opinions and beliefs of others and ability 
 to work cordially with those differing from 
 us both denominationally and racially is a 
 great factor in forwarding the success of the 
 missionary enterprise today. 
 
 5. Social Qualifications: These are particu¬ 
 larly important. Politeness and a scrupulous re¬ 
 gard for the sensibilities of others and the culti¬ 
 vation of courtesy and tact—always the mark of 
 the true Christian character,—are needed in all 
 missionary work, especially among foreigners, 
 and are essential in Latin America, where good 
 manners—“urbanidad”—are highly regarded. 
 
 (1) Americans Often Unwitting Offenders: 
 Americans often offend unwittingly, but none 
 the less harmfully to their influence, by their 
 democratic contempt for ceremony, prece¬ 
 dents, suitability of clothing for special func¬ 
 tions, and other details which they do not 
 consider essential. Particularly must mis¬ 
 sionaries to Latin American countries be gen¬ 
 tlemen of good parts and social qualities. 
 
 (2) The Way to the Human Heart: Kind¬ 
 ness, special attentions, and the little cour¬ 
 tesies of life will often open the way for the 
 gospel to hearts that would be closed to a 
 ruder approach. One writer from the field 
 
 says: “We need men of deep spirituality, 
 strong faith, diligent and continuous study 
 
 of God’s word, the habit of constant prayer, 
 sympathy and warm-heartedness, gentleness 
 and Courtesy.” 
 
 (3) Personal Character a Large Factor: 
 The personal character of the missionary is 
 a large factor in persuading men to hear and 
 receive the message. Men and women who 
 love their Master and the people to whom 
 
 6 
 
they go, and who with patience, good sense, 
 devotion, sympathy and tact serve Him and 
 them, have their place waiting for them in the 
 missionary field, and God will bless them in it. 
 
 II. PREPARATION FOR SERVICE. 
 
 1. Educational Preparation: The following 
 statement of “studies to be pursued by the mis¬ 
 sionary candidate” is that prepared by the Con¬ 
 ference of the Board of Missionary Preparation 
 with respresentatives of theological seminaries 
 and foreign mission boards of North America, 
 and represents the latest judgment of many ex¬ 
 perts in this field. 
 
 (a) Studies to Be Pursued by the Missionary 
 Candidate. 
 
 The student preparing for work as an or¬ 
 dained missionary should take a full colle¬ 
 giate and theological course, the latter in¬ 
 cluding courses in special preparation for for¬ 
 eign missionary service, or being supplement¬ 
 ed by such studies. His collegiate and sub¬ 
 sequent courses should include the following 
 studies: 
 
 (1) Studies Ordinarily Pursued in College. 
 A modern language, in addition to the study 
 
 of his mother tongue. 
 
 Greek. 
 
 General psychology. 
 
 Educational psychology, or the principles of 
 education. 
 
 History of philosophy. 
 
 General history, or the history of civilization. 
 Biblical history and literature. 
 
 Social and religious survey of the world. 
 Economics. 
 
 Human society and the laws of its organiza¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Some physical and biological science. 
 
 The above studies should ordinarily be pur¬ 
 sued in college, but, failing this, should be 
 taken later. 
 
 (2) Studies Ordinarily Pursued in Profes¬ 
 sional Schools: 
 
 The historical and interpretative study of the 
 Bible, preferably including the study of the 
 original languages. 
 
 Church history, especially of early Christian¬ 
 ity in relation to other religions. 
 
 Systematic theology. 
 
 Apologetics. 
 
 7 
 
The effective presentation of the Christian 
 message (missionary homiletics). 
 
 The historical and comparative study of 
 church organization and activity (church 
 polity). 
 
 The history, psychology, and philosophy of 
 religion. 
 
 Principles of religious education. 
 
 The history of missions, especially the mod¬ 
 ern period, accompanied by readings in the 
 biographies of missionaries. 
 
 Principles and methods of Christian missions. 
 Phonetics, and the scientific method of lan¬ 
 guage study. 
 
 The above studies should be taken in a the¬ 
 ological seminary, in a special missionary 
 training school, or in a university. They 
 should be accompanied by practical Christian 
 work under competent guidance, and be pur¬ 
 sued under influences adapted to develop the 
 Christian life. 
 
 (3) Studies Usually Taken on the Field: 
 The language of the missionary’s field. 
 
 The history and literature and the economic 
 and social conditions of his field. 
 
 To all of the above it is desirable to add 
 in most cases, 
 
 Hygiene. 
 
 Sanitation. 
 
 Business methods. 
 
 First aid to the injured. 
 
 Music. 
 
 (b) The Length of the Course. 
 
 The amount and importance of the work to 
 be done in the field of special missionary prep¬ 
 aration is so great, that no student ought to 
 sacrifice the thoroughness and completeness 
 of his theological curriculum by attempting to 
 cover both the regular and the special studies 
 in three annual sessions of the ordinary 
 length. With a sufficient faculty and with a 
 school year of sufficient length the curriculum 
 might be so arranged as to make the special 
 missionary preparation an organic part of the 
 curriculum. 
 
 Such a course might, for example, include 
 the following studies: 
 
 Old Testament, 192 hours. 
 
 New Testament, 192 hours. 
 
 Church History, 192 hours. 
 
 8 
 
Systematic Theology, 192 hours. 
 
 Missionary Homiletics, 96 hours. 
 
 Religious Education, 96 hours. 
 
 History of Missions, 96 hours. 
 
 Apologetics, 48 hours. 
 
 Church Polity, 48 hours. 
 
 Principles and Methods of Missions, 48 
 hours. 
 
 Such a curriculum can be covered in twenty- 
 seven or twenty-eight months, or in four 
 years of seven months. 
 
 (c) Some Courses to Be Pursued by Candi¬ 
 dates for the Home Ministry: 
 
 In the conviction that the responsibility of 
 the missionary enterprise rests equally upon 
 those who stay at home and those who go to 
 the foreign field, we recommend that stu¬ 
 dents looking forward to the work in the 
 home field should, as far as practicable, in¬ 
 clude the following studies in their courses 
 of training: 
 
 The history, psychology and philosophy of 
 religion, including a clear presentation of 
 the character and fruitage of each religion 
 at the present day. 
 
 The history, principles and methods of Chris¬ 
 tian missions, including the basis of their 
 claim upon the home church. 
 
 Home organizations, and administration of 
 the student’s denominational board and 
 other missionary agencies. 
 
 The presentation of missions, and the develop¬ 
 ment of missionary spirit within the parish. 
 
 The study of missionary movements, biog¬ 
 raphy and work in specific fields. 
 
 Such of these courses as he can take, will 
 be in addition to the special study he makes 
 of the Home field itself, in which particular 
 attention is given to our city conditions, to 
 our rural problems, to our social unrest and 
 to our flood of immigration. To these the 
 student should add private reading in Mis¬ 
 sionary Biography. 
 
 The following comments on some of the 
 studies in the courses recommended are for 
 the most part those submitted by a commit¬ 
 tee of which Dr. Robert E. Speer was chair¬ 
 man, and are given here because they illus¬ 
 trate where the emphases are being placed 
 today. 
 
 9 
 
(1) Theology : All agree that theology 
 must be one of the main subjects. The em¬ 
 phasis, however, is not upon such a descrip¬ 
 tive word as dogmatic or systematic, al¬ 
 though there is full recognition of the im¬ 
 portance of that which these words connote; 
 it is rather such adjectives as Biblical or his¬ 
 torical or comparative. And the issue which 
 such comparative study should deal with is 
 not so much what Calvinism has to say 
 against Arminianism, for example, but what 
 Calvinism has to say against its own exag¬ 
 geration in the Hindu doctrine of Karma, 
 or the mechanical fatalism of some schools of 
 Islam; not what Arminianism has to say 
 against Calvinism, but what it has to say to 
 its own distortion in the antinomianism of 
 Hindu pantheism, or to theories of divine 
 propitiation which make free grace look 
 pallid. Theology, in other words, needs to 
 be taught against a background of real 
 knowledge of what the theological problems 
 are on the mission field, and what the task 
 is of interpreting Christian truth to the hu¬ 
 man minds which are actually to be dealt 
 with. 
 
 (2) Comparative Religion: Our correspon¬ 
 dents lay emphasis upon the necessity of 
 teaching Comparative Religion, and of teach¬ 
 ing it truly, and with as great an approach 
 as possible to reality. It is easy to set up the 
 non-Christian religions in a classroom and 
 demolish them. Their weaknesses are abso¬ 
 lutely fatal to them in our thought about 
 them, but those who hold those religions 
 have reasons for doing so, which they are 
 prepared to state and argue. Of course, no 
 one can be brought face to face with the 
 reality of these religions, until he actually 
 meets them on their own soil; but as far as 
 possible, Comparative Religion should be 
 studied in the atmosphere of reality and jus¬ 
 tice should be done to the actual problems 
 which are to be faced. 
 
 (3) Apologetics: The study of the actual 
 apologetic problems which men encounter 
 when they attempt to propagate Christianity, 
 which differ in different countries. How can 
 men as they are when we meet them be con¬ 
 vinced of the truth of God in Christ and 
 brought to faith and new life in Him? How 
 is this greatest of all problems to be studied 
 and solved? 
 
 10 
 
(4) Church History: Every one empha¬ 
 sizes the importance of Church History both 
 as the history of the development of doctrine 
 and as the story of evangelization. As one 
 of our correspondents puts it: 
 
 “A prospective missionary should take all 
 he can obtain in the History of Religions, and 
 their comparison, where the distinctive fea¬ 
 tures of Christianity are well emphasized, and 
 most especially every form of study empha¬ 
 sizing God in history. 
 
 Missions are making church history now, 
 just as it was made in Asia Minor, or in 
 Germany, or in Scotland in the past, and a 
 study of past church history as the record of 
 actual evangelization is the most immediately 
 fruitful study an ordained missionary can 
 undertake. 
 
 The missionary to Latin America will be 
 handicapped in his work if he is ignorant of 
 her history and unacquainted with the his¬ 
 toric development of the Papacy together 
 with its modifications resulting from the ad¬ 
 mixture of Indian superstitions. This is 
 especially true in Mexico with the cult of the 
 Virgin of Guadalupe. 
 
 (5) Christian Transformation of Society: 
 A fifth subject is closely related to the two 
 just mentioned and may, indeed, be melted 
 into them. It might be called church politics. 
 It is something more than ecclesiastical pol¬ 
 ity. It is the science of missions, the method 
 of propagandism—how to found Christian in¬ 
 stitutions and to introduce Christian princi¬ 
 ples into life. Sociology is another subject 
 which belongs to the same group. Whatever 
 the title, the field to be covered includes the 
 problems of the relation of Christian ethics 
 to life, the transformation of society into con¬ 
 formity to Christian ideals, the relation of 
 church and state, and similar themes. 
 
 (6) The Science and Art of Education: 
 The word pedagogy used to express what is 
 meant by this title, but the educationalists in 
 self-defense seem to have discarded it. The 
 missionary is a preacher of the Gospel. All 
 missionary preaching must of necessity be 
 teaching. How to teach, how to teach others 
 to teach the secret of communicating truth, 
 of developing character, of making truth con¬ 
 tagious so that it will spread itself—these are 
 
 11 
 
fundamental necessities for the ordained mis¬ 
 sionary. He needs such a training as our 
 Lord gave the Twelve. 
 
 (7) The Bible: The Bible, whether in the 
 original languages, or in English, or in all, 
 is to be mastered by the ordained missionary 
 as a part of his training for his work. Here, 
 too, our correspondents urge something more 
 than mere perfunctory teaching. They urge 
 that men should be put in possession of 
 methods of study which will endure the 
 strains which are to come, that they get solid 
 ground under their feet regarding the things 
 that are central, so that when they go out 
 and have to stand alone, they can stand alone. 
 So one correspondent writes: 
 
 “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 personally 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.” 
 
 The Bible should be taught as a living mis¬ 
 sionary book, as Arnold taught Roman his¬ 
 tory, and as he taught the Bible, too. 
 
 (8) Christian Dynamics : Men should 
 
 study the dynamics of Christianity. What 
 are the secrets of power? What makes some 
 kinds of Christianity and some Christian men 
 effective and fruitful, and others not? What 
 truth has the vital energy in it? What habits 
 of personal life condition power? The Gos¬ 
 pel is to go to the world, not in word only, 
 but in power. The latter as well as the for¬ 
 mer should be the subject of study and of 
 solicitude. 
 
 (9) Philosophy: A good course in the 
 History of Philosophy will prove of great 
 advantage to the missionary in Latin Amer¬ 
 ica. The Latins read philosophy more read¬ 
 ily than fiction. Young men who know noth¬ 
 ing about grammar, geography or history, 
 will read Tolstoy and Spencer and talk with 
 enthusiasm about them. 
 
 12 
 
(10) Phonetics: All experienced mission¬ 
 aries are in agreement as to the desirability 
 and importance of the study of phonetics, the 
 science of language and the best modern 
 methods of language study. 
 
 (11) Modern Languages: No one should 
 think of taking up the work of a missionary 
 without the determination to master the lan¬ 
 guage of the people among whom he works. 
 No standard of excellence in the acquisition 
 of the language on the part of our mission¬ 
 aries can be too exacting. The cand'date who 
 is looking forward to work in the Latin 
 American fields of our Home Mission Society, 
 should take all the Spanish he can get in high 
 school and college, and should read as widely 
 as possible in its literature even before going 
 to his field. The people love their beautiful 
 language, and those missionaries who speak 
 it perfectly, as some do, are endeared to those 
 to whom they speak, while imperfect or incor¬ 
 rect speech is a real hindrance in spite of the 
 courtesy and true kindness of the people. 
 
 2. Preparation by Practice: Before leaving 
 for the mission field, the candidate should have 
 had his first lessons in dealing with the spiritual 
 needs of individuals. He should have learned 
 tact and the various methods of approach and 
 should so taste the joys of this work,—which is 
 the very heart of the missionary enterprise,—that 
 he will ever be the bearer of the evangel. Noth¬ 
 ing can take the place of successful experience in 
 dealing with the unconverted, in bringing them to 
 a personal acceptance of Christ as Savior and 
 Lord. 
 
 III. THE MISSIONARY AT WORK. 
 
 1. The First Year's Work: 
 
 (1) Language Study is the primary task 
 of the first year for most missionaries at 
 work among those who speak another tongue. 
 It is advised that not more than six hours 
 per day be given to the direct study of the 
 language and that this be supplemented daily 
 by a study of one‘s environment and of the 
 people and in chatting and visiting with them. 
 It should not be inferred, however, because 
 of the emphasis placed upon the study of the 
 language during the first year, that this study 
 is to cease when the examinations are past. 
 The missionaries should never stop this study. 
 
 13 
 
To do so is really a crime against missionary 
 efficiency and should be regarded as such. 
 Nothing short of complete mastery of the 
 language should be the ideal. 
 
 (2) Reading: During this first year one 
 should read widely books that interpret the 
 life, history and customs of the country. It 
 is a year for orienting one’s self in his new 
 environment. 
 
 (3) Contact with Other Missionaries: It 
 is desirable that the new missionary have fre¬ 
 quent contact with the older missionaries on 
 the field, for their practical experience will 
 be invaluable as a corrective to the first judg¬ 
 ments formed by the newcomer as he carries 
 on his studies and investigations. And then, 
 too, the personal contact and fellowship with 
 the veterans in the service will be a source 
 of inspiration and a joy to him. 
 
 The demands and responsibilities of his 
 work accumulate so rapidly that every ad¬ 
 vantage should be taken of this first year of 
 study. 
 
 2. The Later Years: 
 
 (1) Danger That Study Will Be Crowded 
 Out: There is great danger and as a matter 
 of fact, it generally comes to pass, that the 
 missionaries find themselves so burdened with 
 work after the first year that they do not find 
 or make time to pursue any line of study not 
 strictly demanded by their routine labors. 
 This is a mistake if God is to have the best 
 and most productive service from his work¬ 
 ers. It is gratifying to find that in nearly 
 every mission field the older missionaries are 
 recognizing as never before the dangers of 
 stagnating intellectually and the absolute ne¬ 
 cessity of advancing in knowledge and in 
 power to grasp and solve their problems, and 
 are therefore, singly and in groups, devoting 
 themselves to the thorough and progressive 
 study of subjects of special concern to them. 
 As already stated, the study of the language 
 should not stop with the examinations at the 
 close of the first year, but should continue 
 on through the years. 
 
 (2) The Desirability of Having Supple¬ 
 mental Interests: There is as much room for 
 such interests, carefully chosen, temperately 
 
 14 
 
pursued, and wisely co-ordinated, on the mis¬ 
 sion field as there is in the United States, and 
 it may make as real and vital a contribution 
 to the missionary enterprise as it often does 
 to the interests of the people at home. Such 
 an interest may be the making of a special 
 study of the literature of the country, a study 
 which will include both the classics and its 
 more modern works and their interpretation 
 of the life of his day. Or, it may take the 
 form of field studies through which the mis¬ 
 sionary seeks to know and interpret for oth¬ 
 ers the circumstances and conditions of the 
 people on his own field, and the factors that 
 are determining their character. A mission¬ 
 ary so interested will travel as widely as pos¬ 
 sible in his own and neighboring fields. He 
 will study the exact situation as he finds it in 
 each place and seek to understand it. His 
 studies will not be merely geographical in 
 character—valuable as these are—nor will they 
 be solely ethnological. They will include 
 both of these elements and also the social, 
 economic, and religious factors as they affect 
 the communities he is studying. He may 
 make his supplementary interest an intensive 
 study of the earlier religions of the country, 
 or he may make it a broad study of the 
 science of missions through the application 
 of discovered principles which have been ap¬ 
 proved under scientific tests. 
 
 This by no means exhausts the list of pos¬ 
 sible related interests, but whatever his inter¬ 
 ests may be, every missionary can make some 
 interpretation of his field to the world. It 
 cannot be done in a year. It must come 
 through long contact with some elemental 
 subject which has gripped the soul and which, 
 brooded over and studied on every side, at 
 last has become clear and illuminating. 
 
 (3) The Value of an Avocation: Some¬ 
 times one can find both recreation and an 
 opportunity for rendering a special service 
 through an avocation even though it may not 
 be connected directly with his mission work. 
 Avocations adopted as the result of a special 
 interest in the flora or fauna, or in the geog¬ 
 raphy of a country, have not infrequently 
 resulted in great good to the world. Wisely 
 chosen and guardedly pursued, an avocation 
 may prove a recreation, and a preserver of 
 health, as well as a benefit or service in itself. 
 
 15 
 
(4) Increased Efficiency : The most Com¬ 
 mon objection to the taking up of any avo¬ 
 cation will be the lack of time, for it is this 
 rather than any lack of inclination that will 
 be the real difficulty in prosecuting special 
 studies on the field. Seemingly this is a suf¬ 
 ficient reason; really the objection only takes 
 into account hours and an overflowing work 
 which cannot be overtaken no matter what 
 program is adopted, while it ignores the far 
 more important item of efficiency in the mis¬ 
 sionary vocation. 
 
 This all means that the missionary should 
 set himself to solve the problem of filling as 
 related to the threatening disaster of an easy 
 emptying. A systematic husbanding of min¬ 
 utes; the use of hours spent in travel on the 
 train, in boats, or in carriages, for thought 
 upon some pressing problem or for reading 
 some helpful discussion affecting it; the em¬ 
 ployment of a part of the annual rest period 
 in pursuing some special line of thought; the. 
 occasional interjection of vital discussions of 
 phases of missionary efficiency at missionary 
 gatherings. These all are possible without 
 taking weeks of time for the studies recom¬ 
 mended and will surely result in increased 
 power and efficiency. The missionary who 
 holds himself unflinchingly to a program 
 which includes in addition to his routine work 
 regular study and the pursuit of some avoca¬ 
 tion, will continue to grow through all the 
 years and the influence of his life will be an 
 inspiration to the younger men as they enter 
 the service and his spirit a benediction in 
 hours of weariness and discouragement. 
 
 (5) The Spirit Filled Life: Finally, need 
 it be added, that the spirit-filling of one’s 
 life should be safeguarded always as a primal 
 necessity of all missionary efficiency? A 
 prayerful study of the sources of spiritual 
 power, quiet hours for devotion and confer¬ 
 ences, having this great theme as their cen¬ 
 tral objective, will result in increased power 
 in the Master’s service. 
 
 IV. WHAT TO DO WITH THE FURLOUGH. 
 
 The missionary furlough should minister di¬ 
 rectly to the physical, intellectual and spiritual 
 development of the missionaries and to the devel¬ 
 opment of missionary interest in the home church 
 
 16 
 
1. Physical Development: The physical recu¬ 
 peration and development of the missionary is 
 the primary and basic object of the furlough. 
 Under normal conditions probably one-third of 
 the entire time on furlough devoted to rest and 
 recuperation will be sufficient to restore one to 
 full health and vigor. 
 
 (1) Physical Examination : Every mission¬ 
 ary immediately upon return to America on 
 furlough should undergo a physical examina¬ 
 tion upon the basis of which, the examiner 
 should give the one examined, and the Board, 
 answers to the following three questions: 
 
 (a) Does the missionary require any special 
 treatment while on furlough? 
 
 (b) If so, what? 
 
 (c) Does the case suggest the necessity of a 
 further medical examination toward the 
 end of the furlough to determine fitness 
 for return to the field? 
 
 (2) Special Treatment and Expense There¬ 
 for: If special treatment is required, arrange¬ 
 ments for it should be made without delay in 
 order that no time may be lost in getting 
 back one’s full strength and vigor. Unusual 
 expenditures necessary because of treatment 
 prescribed as a result of the examination, 
 will be taken under consideration by the 
 Board. (A missionary fully restored to health 
 will be more useful than one who returns 
 with some physical disability, and any expen¬ 
 diture incurred to accomplish this result 
 means ultimate economy in missionary ad¬ 
 ministration.) The first business of the one 
 on furlough is to restore his health and to 
 recoup his strength. 
 
 2. Intellectual Development: The missionary 
 who finds by experience that his preparation was 
 inadequate, has during his furlough an oppor¬ 
 tunity for further preparation. Every missionary 
 has learned during his years on the field what are 
 his intellectual needs, and is, therefore, better 
 able to make his own choice of studies to pursue 
 than anyone else is for him. Even a few months 
 at some university, or other high grade training 
 school, will send the missionary back to his field 
 with new zest and increased efficiency. 
 
 (1) Dangers Avoided by Study: Study 
 during furlough will save the missionary from 
 two inevitable dangers: (a) The danger of 
 falling behind the times, of getting out of the 
 
 17 
 
world-current of thought, of failing to pro¬ 
 gress with the age in which he lives. A grad¬ 
 ual falling behind may not be apparent at first. 
 It may not become noticeable for the first 
 ten years of the missionary’s life on the field. 
 But if he has dropped behind and let the 
 world go on without him, this will eventually 
 appear and his influence among the younger 
 generation will begin to wane, (b) The dan¬ 
 ger of becoming dogmatic. The missionary 
 lives much of his life isolated from the schools 
 and their associations and from all of the 
 stimulating influences of the homeland. He 
 is himseif a teacher and a leader of the 
 thought of others. It is difficult for him, un¬ 
 der these conditions, to keep from becoming 
 dogmatic. To counteract this tendency, he 
 needs to become again a learner and to put 
 himself under the guidance and direction of 
 others. In this way one can periodically, as 
 his furloughs come along, refurbish and mod¬ 
 ernize his original preparation, and this is, 
 perhaps, the chief virtue of all study during 
 the furlough period. 
 
 (2) Suggested Courses : Some will return 
 from tasks which demand further special 
 study. Such men and women will need no 
 suggestions from others as to what to do on 
 furlough. Others will return feeling keenly 
 the need of intellectual stimuli. Their prob¬ 
 lems or their intellectual interests will sug¬ 
 gest lines of work that they can pursue to 
 advantage. There may be some, however, 
 who are undecided as to what studies to fol¬ 
 low, and such will welcome suggestions as 
 to the courses that have proved helpful to 
 others. For these the following courses are 
 recommended as likely to prove helpful: 
 
 Modern Bible Studies and Church Methods. 
 
 Special Periods of Church History. 
 
 Religious Education. 
 
 The Science of Missions. 
 
 Apologetics. 
 
 Social Studies of a practical sort. 
 
 Constitutional History. 
 
 Latin American History. 
 
 Economics and National Efficiency. 
 
 3. Spiritual Development: Every furlough 
 should be a period for spiritual refreshing. It is 
 a time when the missionary can keep free from 
 other engagements those choice hours for per¬ 
 sonal Bible study and for the prayer habits that 
 
 18 
 
lie back of spiritual development everywhere and 
 always. It is a time of personal fellowship with 
 devout men and women while visiting congrega¬ 
 tions. A time with leisure for meditation; a time 
 for association with those who are engaged in 
 evangelistic work, with Board members, and with 
 live pastors; a time of attendance upon great con¬ 
 ventions and of listening to splendid preachers. 
 It’s a time when stimulating letters go and come, 
 when books of a deeply spiritual character are 
 read. It is a time when the missionary drinks 
 deeply at spiritual fountains and slakes his soul’s 
 thirst. For his sake, and the sake of his work, 
 the missionary on furlough must have time for 
 these things before he is asked to pour himself 
 out among the churches. 
 
 4. Developing Missionary Interest in the 
 Churches: 
 
 (1) Time Allotment for Deputation Work: 
 Probably one-third of the time on furlough 
 is the maximum that should be required of 
 any missionary in purely “Deputation Work.” 
 Certainly this amount should not be exceeded 
 in either of the first two furloughs a mission¬ 
 ary has in the homeland. For during each of 
 them, he should expect, and be expected, to 
 devote a considerable portion of his time to 
 additional study, suggested by the needs of 
 his field. After the second furlough, however, 
 it might seem wise to devote less time to 
 study and more to deputation work. 
 
 (2) Planning for Deputation Work: Care¬ 
 ful plans should be made for all this field 
 work, and in connection with the Headquar¬ 
 ters of the Board. Some will be found to 
 have special gifts as speakers,—they should 
 be used in bringing the missionary message 
 direct to the congregations in the churches. 
 Some should not speak at all, for health or 
 other reasons. Some may have skill with the 
 pen; they should write for our denominational 
 press. Still others may be most effective with 
 the stereopticon; they should bring to the 
 people pictures from mission lands. Careful 
 planning of the use to be made of the work¬ 
 ers and of their schedule of travel and places 
 to be reached is essential to the securing of 
 the best results. 
 
 (3) The Significance of Deputation Work: 
 In whatever way he carries the message to 
 the home church, the missionary has here a 
 
 19 
 
splendid opportunity as an ambassador of 
 Christ to lay on the hearts of the Lord’s 
 people the whole missionary program and its 
 needs; to show them the fields already 
 whitening to the harvest; and to call upon 
 them—with a deeper devotion, a wider out¬ 
 look upon the Lord’s Kingdom in the world, 
 and a larger sacrificial giving—to enter with 
 great earnestness upon the task of carrying 
 on the King’s business which he has entrusted 
 to his church. 
 
 V. THE ORDAINED MISSIONARY. 
 
 1. The Demand: There is an urgent demand 
 for well-qualified ordained missionaries who have 
 good gifts as preachers, who are able and willing 
 to itinerate widely, who can mingle with all kinds 
 of people and make and hold true friendships, and 
 who can build stable work. They must be preach¬ 
 ers with a message. (The message that appeals 
 to needy souls the world over is the message of 
 the changed life brought about by Jesus Christ.) 
 They must be men who do not leave their studies 
 behind them but who continue to take in, in order 
 that they may give out. The very best is none 
 too good! Strong bodies, together with broad 
 culture, deep spiritual earnestness, and wide sym¬ 
 pathies, united with popular gifts, are needed to 
 insure missionary success. 
 
 2. Special Qualities Needed: In what follows 
 the word “should” is used not in a dogmatic sense 
 but only to express the high desirability of the 
 qualification or attainment mentioned. The or¬ 
 dained missionary should have: 
 
 (1) A Real Mastery of the Bible: The 
 missionary who under any circumstances 
 should reveal a lack of knowledge of the 
 Bible itself would thereby immediately lose 
 standing. Mere knowledge of the Bible, with¬ 
 out ability or passion to impress its truths 
 upon others, would be of little value to the 
 people or the country. He should also have 
 in special degree the power to impart his 
 knowledge to others, as preacher, evangelizer, 
 and teacher. 
 
 (2) A Great Capacity for Friendship : He 
 should not allow differences of belief or of 
 custom, or of temperament, to present any 
 barrier to his personal friendly relations with 
 the people. He should not only have a capa- 
 
 20 
 
city for friendship, but he should use that 
 capacity to its fullest extent. It is one of the 
 most powerful means by which the ordained 
 missionary can get into close relations with 
 men. Let him show himself a friend and 
 prove himself a friend, and the way to men’s 
 hearts will open. 
 
 (3) A Passion for Evangelism: He must 
 have a passion for leading men to Christ. 
 No one may expect to succeed who goes with 
 a gospel that he believes will merely improve 
 his external surroundings, exalt his intellec¬ 
 tual life, and make the community more civ¬ 
 ilized. A general desire to do good and to 
 help the people will not suffice. 
 
 (4) the Ability to Shape the Changing So¬ 
 cial Life: The ordained missionary should 
 have some knowledge of and experience in so¬ 
 ciology and its application to life. He should 
 understand the sociological aspect of true 
 Christianity and its application to the life of 
 men. 
 
 (5) Organizing Capacity : He is not sim¬ 
 ply a preacher, but an organizer, and he 
 should be able to organize and use the forces 
 that become accessible to him both in the 
 church and in the community so as to produce 
 the largest and most far-reaching results. 
 
 (6) Literary Ability : The more pleasingly 
 and forcefully he is able to use the language 
 of the people, the more powerfully will he 
 grip his hearers. He should, moreover, be 
 prepared to write, probably more in the fu¬ 
 ture than in the past, for Latin American 
 readers, and in order to do this he should 
 have the literary instinct and ability to com¬ 
 mand attention with his pen. 
 
 (7) Political Interest: Special problems 
 
 for the missionary sometimes arise out of the 
 political relationships of the country in which 
 he labors, and from which it seems impossi¬ 
 ble that the missionary devoting himself to 
 the highest good of the people, can hold him¬ 
 self aloof. With proper wisdom and right 
 method he may help to solve many a difficult 
 situation. Yet the missionary should be neu¬ 
 tral as regards parties and concern himself 
 with political measures only as they touch 
 the people’s economic, social, intellectual, and 
 moral betterment. 
 
 21 
 
To the wise injunction “Know thyself” 
 should stand next in importance for the mis¬ 
 sionary at least, this, “Know the people.” 
 Study their origin, history, manners, customs 
 and their religion. Even the summer tourist 
 to Europe “reads up” the countries through 
 which he proposes to travel, “brushes up” 
 his scant knowledge of the language and 
 seeks to familiarize himself with the ways 
 of those whose guests he will soon become. 
 
 (8) Race Prejudice : Any manifestation of 
 race prejudice would be fatal to the mission¬ 
 ary’s influence. 
 
 (9) Sunny Tempered: The missionary is 
 an apostle of joy and gladness. He should 
 add no shadow to the darkness he has come 
 to dispel. A veteran authority insists that 
 “a cheerful, vivacious disposition is a ‘sine 
 qua non.’ ” An exuberant spirit that is able to 
 see the humorous and that is looking for the 
 best in a man, will climb over many a rough 
 place that would be fatal to a dyspeptic or 
 hypochondriac. 
 
 VI. THE EDUCATIONAL MISSIONARY. 
 
 1. General Training Needed: Candidates for 
 appointment to missionary educational work 
 should have full collegiate training followed by 
 special graduate work in the subjects they expect 
 to teach, for the world today sets a high theoreti¬ 
 cal value on education. 
 
 For one who is to devote his whole time to 
 teaching in high school, college or university, the 
 most valuable subjects are English, English Li¬ 
 terature, Philosophy, History, Logic, Mathemat¬ 
 ics, Science, Economics, Normal work and Prin¬ 
 ciples of Education. Good training in the first 
 three and the last one is considered essential, as 
 well as administrative and normal work for those 
 who will prepare teachers or have direction of 
 schools below college grade. 
 
 2. Special Training Needed: The educational 
 missionary goes out as a missionary even more 
 than as a teacher. It is therefore vital that he 
 have a familiarity with the contents and teach¬ 
 ings of the Bible, with special emphasis upon 
 the life and teaching of Jesus, and a well-ordered 
 grasp of Christian truth. He should have faced 
 squarely the philosophical and religious difficulties 
 
 22 
 
of young people so that he can guide his students 
 through their problems into the Christian life. 
 Every educational missionary should be equipped 
 to be an efficient teacher of the Bible and of its 
 application to the problems of personal and so¬ 
 cial life. He will have opportunities for Bible 
 teaching and should be prepared and willing to 
 accept them. It follows that during his years of 
 preparation he should elect thorough, scholarly 
 and constructive courses in the Bible where such 
 are available. 
 
 Spiritual Power Needed: His own 
 
 spiritual life must be deep, confident and con¬ 
 stant.. It must be characterized by habits of 
 spiritual refreshing—for out on the field he will 
 lack many of the means of inspiration that sur¬ 
 round workers at home. He must have learned 
 how to tap for himself at first hand the sources 
 of supply, and his life must be characterized by 
 a personal righteousness that commands respect, 
 and an earnestness in bringing men into the 
 Christian life that will carry him into the lives 
 of others in spite of the distractions of school life. 
 
 VII. THE MEDICAL MISSIONARY. 
 
 1 Who Shall Engage in This Work? Only 
 those who are fully qualified for it by general 
 and technical preparation; by a deep experience 
 of the realities of the Christian life; by personal 
 consecration to the needs of the Kingdom, and 
 by a clear conviction that he is called of God 
 into this service. 
 
 2. Academic and Technical Preparation: The 
 Medical Missionary should have as a minimum, 
 full high school training with at least two years 
 of college work in addition. And it is greatly to 
 be preferred that he have a full college course, 
 for only this can give him the foundation neces¬ 
 sary for his future studies and work. 
 
 In addition to this, he must have the full course 
 of a standard medical school, and at least one 
 year of hospital experience before going out to 
 his mission field. Whenever practicable, he 
 should have a year of special study of tropical 
 diseases. In no case should one go out who has 
 not had a least four years of professional training. 
 
 3. Choice of a Medical School: Men and 
 
 women proposing to devote their lives to the 
 cause of medical missions cannot afford to jeop¬ 
 ardize their work because of imperfect training 
 
 23 
 
in an inferior school. Candidates should consult 
 the Board or the list of approved medical colleges 
 published by the American Medical Association, 
 for information as to approved schools, and 
 should choose a school rated not lower than A 
 plus or A. 
 
 4. Courses of Study: It does not seem neces¬ 
 sary to outline in detail the professional courses 
 that should be taken, for every standard medical 
 college requires the courses that are recognized 
 as essential in preparing the physician for his 
 work. The following subjects, however, are at¬ 
 taining such importance on the mission fields that 
 it seems desirable to mention them by name: 
 Microscopy and Bacteriology, Preventive Medi¬ 
 cine, Hygiene, Sanitation, Pharmacy, Dentistry 
 and Orthopedics. The major subjects will still 
 be surgery, tropical diseases, obstetrics, diseases 
 of women and children, stomach and bowel 
 troubles, respiratory organs, skin, eye, ear, nose 
 and throat. 
 
 5. License to Practice Medicine: Applicants 
 for appointment as medical missionaries should 
 have passed the examination of some State Ex¬ 
 amining Board or other authority. This is im¬ 
 portant, both in the interest of his own standing 
 and as a protection to him should he be com¬ 
 pelled later to relinquish his work abroad and 
 take up permanent practice in the homeland. 
 
 fi, Extra Medical Activities: Only those 
 should engage in the medical missionary work 
 who are called to be missionaries. Opportunities 
 for direct personal appeal to individuals come to 
 the physician as to scarcely any other and only 
 he whose lips have been touched with the coal 
 from off the altar will be sufficient for those mo¬ 
 ments when the soul of another is looking to him 
 for help. 
 
 The medical missionary should also be able to 
 participate in helpful ways in other departments 
 of the mission enterprises. Such participation 
 will keep him from developing a narrow or un¬ 
 sympathetic attitude. The spirit of Christian fel¬ 
 lowship and helpfulness, the importance of co¬ 
 operative action, the need for unity in the making 
 of plans, and in the administration of the work, 
 all call upon the medical missionary to partici¬ 
 pate as a fellow worker in all the councils and 
 general affairs of the mission. 
 
 In addition then, to his special preparation as a 
 physician, he may with profit take, as he is able, 
 
 24 
 
additional preparation in the following depart¬ 
 ments : 
 
 (1) Evangelical. 
 
 (2) Educational. 
 
 (3) General Administration. 
 
 (4) Miscellaneous Mission Problems. 
 
 He will, of course, so study the Bible that he 
 will be able to teach it, and methods of practical 
 Christian work, that he may most tactfully lead 
 men and women into a new spiritual life. 
 
 VIII. THE TRAINING OF NURSES. 
 
 1. Training and Qualities of Character: More 
 and more the task of the trained nurse in mis¬ 
 sion fields will be to train native nurses to act as 
 superintendents of hospitals. This fact empha¬ 
 sizes the need for superior training in her pro¬ 
 fession, and also in subjects related more par¬ 
 ticularly to the spiritual side of the work. 
 
 Many of the general characteristics cited as 
 essential in the medical missionary are equally 
 necessary in the missionary nurse. She needs 
 even better training for the work in mission 
 fields, than at home. The nurse should have a 
 minimum of a four year high school course as a 
 preparation for her nurse training. She should 
 be a graduate of some first class nurse training 
 school. She should have held some executive 
 position at home and should have good general 
 culture. Her work is co-ordinate with that of the 
 other missionaries and forms an essential and 
 permanent part of the Christian program. Her 
 close contact with the developing young native 
 womanhood gives her rare opportunities for 
 Christian service. 
 
 (For a fuller discussion of the medical mis¬ 
 sionary and his work and of the nurse and her 
 work, see the report on “Preparation of Medical 
 Missionaries” published by the Board of Mission¬ 
 ary Preparation, New York.) 
 
 IX. INDUSTRIAL MISSIONARIES. 
 
 1. The Demand in Latin America: I n some 
 parts of Latin America there is a growing de¬ 
 mand for specially trained industrial mission¬ 
 aries. It is still inadequately met. But in those 
 portions of the field where the American Baptist 
 Home Mission Society maintains missions, in¬ 
 dustrial missionary work has had little growth, 
 and there is almost no demand up to the present 
 
 25 
 
time for specialists in this department. Men and 
 women entering this service should be experts in 
 their line who are prepared to train others to 
 become experts also. 
 
 2. Kinds of Work Required: The largest de¬ 
 mand is for agricultural superintendents, men who 
 are experts in agriculture and able to develop the 
 resources of the country and who can teach prac¬ 
 tical agriculture to others. There is also a lim¬ 
 ited field for teachers of carpentry, cabinet work 
 and the trades. This form of industrial work has 
 grown up already in connection with many mis¬ 
 sion schools. There is also a place for a few ex¬ 
 perts in women’s work. Lace and embroidery¬ 
 making has already been taken up extensively 
 as a means of providing the poor women of a 
 country with an opportunity for honorable self- 
 support. 
 
 Great good has been accomplished in these 
 lines even under the leadership of missionaries 
 who have had but little special training for it. 
 Many believe the call for this line of work will 
 be greater in the future than in the past. There 
 will probably be opportunities, therefore, for a 
 limited number of women missionaries to put 
 knowledge of these industries to good account. 
 
 3. Personal Qualities Needed: The industrial 
 missionary should have the same true Christian 
 experience and motive, the same high ideal of 
 service rendering and of devotion to duty, the 
 same consecration to the Master and love for 
 his fellowmen, that is requisite in every worker in 
 the other departments of missionary activity. 
 Without a clear call to the missionary field and 
 a joy in rendering Christian service to others, 
 one may well question whether he should accept 
 appointment to a work where failure to exert 
 a positive influence for Christ may be so far 
 reaching in its results. 
 
 In the great majority of cases, the most useful 
 man in the industrial department will be the or¬ 
 dained missionary who has had good industrial 
 training in addition to his theological preparation. 
 
 X. THE WOMAN MISSIONARY. 
 
 1. Preparation for Service: Practically all that 
 has been already said with reference to the prep¬ 
 aration of the missionary for service applies 
 equally to men and women, and need not be re¬ 
 peated here. There are, however, distinct phases 
 
 26 
 
of service open to women that are not open to 
 men, though in general their work lies in the 
 same great departments of missionary effort. 
 
 2. Evangelistic: Under this head fall the im¬ 
 portant task of training and supervising the large 
 army of Bible women, visiting in homes, con¬ 
 ducting country tours, etc. There is an urgent 
 call for an increase in the force of evangelistic 
 missionaries. They should go out prepared to 
 train a still larger number of women for efficient 
 service as evangelists, and, by their lives of de¬ 
 votion, stimulate the voluntary ministry of 
 humble Christian women. 
 
 X. Educational: The educational missionary 
 occupies a strategic position in this time of un¬ 
 precedented opportunity. She may be college 
 president or professor, principal, or associate 
 teacher, in a girls’ boarding school, superinten¬ 
 dent of a normal department which supplies 
 teachers for elementary and higher schools, su¬ 
 pervisor of day schools in a large district, kin- 
 dergartner or trainer of kindergartners. 
 
 4. Medical: “The doctor and the nurse, with 
 or without their hospital, have brought the gos¬ 
 pel message to large numbers of people who on 
 account of advanced age or hindering circum¬ 
 stances are unreached by educational work. They 
 have brought medical aid for the first time to 
 women whose husbands would rather have killed 
 them than admit a man physician. 
 
 “Openings for the medical missionary are more 
 numerous and more attractive than ever before. 
 More workers are needed to provide an adequate 
 staff of existing hospitals and to enter fields as 
 yet untouched.” This statement holds true for 
 the world-wide mission enterprise, though the 
 opportunities for medical service in the Latin 
 American fields occupied by our Society are as 
 yet limited. 
 
 Social: The opportunity for a far-reaching 
 social influence through the homes is almost un¬ 
 limited. In countless ways the woman mission¬ 
 ary’s influence may unconsciously mold the life 
 of the womanhood about her. The opportunity 
 for devoted Christian women to serve in the up¬ 
 lift of their sisters on mission fields is unlimited 
 and the joy of this service one of heaven’s 
 choicest gifts. 
 
 27 
 
XI. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 
 
 1. Business Accounts: One matter of impor¬ 
 tance that needs to be emphasized is the fact 
 that every missionary should be capable of keep¬ 
 ing his own accounts, both personal and official. 
 No one can be entirely free from all business 
 details and the majority must carry more or less 
 responsibility for appropriations made for schools 
 hospitals, buildings and miscellaneous mission 
 work. Kowledge of simple bookkeeping and the 
 essential principles of banking and exchange are 
 practically indespensable. There should be abil¬ 
 ity to draw up in neat and businesslike form the 
 report of any financial transaction, including a 
 regular annual report. The keeping of one’s ac¬ 
 counts so that he can show clearly how every 
 dollar of mission money has been expended, is as 
 definitely a part of the functions of a missionary 
 as preaching or teaching. 
 
 Knowledge of Construction and of the Use 
 of Tools: Men frequently have to superintend 
 the erection of buildings, hence a general knowl¬ 
 edge of house planning and of house construction 
 is a real asset. And nearly every missionary has 
 to oversee the work of repairs. In this work a 
 practical knowledge of the use of tools is a 
 material help. 
 
 3. Ability to Write—The Note Book Habit- 
 Photography: Anyone who can write will find 
 an ample field for the exercise of this talent, both 
 in the public press and in the preparation of some 
 of the urgently needed evangelical literature. A 
 crisp, vivid article for the secular or religious 
 press is always of service. In this work the note 
 book habit will be a great help. The recording 
 of impressions while they are fresh, and the 
 writing down of descriptions of interesting places 
 while on the spot and of events as they occur, 
 gives one live material for articles that may be 
 written later. 
 
 Interest in the written story is often greatly 
 increased by pictures illustrating the scenes or 
 events described. Hence photography of a higher 
 order than most missionaries possess is very de¬ 
 sirable. It is increasingly important, also, for 
 the home propaganda of missions. A knowledge 
 of lantern-slide making, is of value on the field, 
 as is the ability to operate the stereopticon. 
 
 4. The Christian Home: The home of the 
 missionary is a center from which a gracious in¬ 
 fluence should reach out in all directions and 
 touch other homes. The missionary home whose 
 
 28 
 
interests are all centered within its own walls has 
 failed signally to enter into its heritage. It is its 
 great privilege to manifest the Christian ideals 
 for the family in such a way that others will come 
 to desire the same life for their own families. 
 
 In the past too little attention has been paid to 
 the preparation of the wives of missionaries. 
 They, as truly as their husbands and as truly as 
 the single women on the field, are missionaries. 
 They should have that training that gives a good 
 grasp of Christian truth and a thorough knowl¬ 
 edge of the Bible, and also instruction in the art 
 of missionary work. Perhaps it should go with¬ 
 out saying that they should also have a practical 
 knowledge at least of housekeeping, of plain sew¬ 
 ing, and plain cooking. It will greatly help the 
 efficiency of their work if the domestic wheels 
 run smoothly and the home is neat and clean. 
 
 5. The Home Garden: Where practicable a 
 home garden will add much to home comfort. It 
 is sometimes possible to grow American vege¬ 
 tables and even fruits, which greatly increase the 
 enjoyment of the table. The garden may serve 
 also to introduce new articles of food to the peo¬ 
 ple and it certainly will provide opportunity for 
 healthful and, sometimes, much-needed outdoor 
 exercise. The garden, where feasible, will prove 
 a distinct asset to any missionary home and pos¬ 
 sibly a direct benefit to the people as well. 
 
 (». Private Business: The missionary should 
 not under any circumstances engage in business 
 or other secular pursuits on his own account or 
 for his own profit. This has always proved fatal 
 to his influence as a missionary. Also he should 
 make every effort to live within his income. His 
 talents should be placed wholly upon the altar for 
 the upbuilding of the mission churches under his 
 care. 
 
 7. Medical Hints: First aid to the injured is 
 demanded often on tours or even at the station. 
 The missionary should have such training as will 
 enable him to render first aid in emergencies. 
 Those who travel in country districts should know 
 how to treat the simplest diseases, particularly 
 those to which they themselves are subject and 
 which are curable by specifics. Many a life may 
 be saved if missionaries know how to care for the 
 sick. Hence women candidates espec'ally should 
 acquaint themselves with the simplest rules of 
 nursing and sickroom dietetics, and mothers 
 should understand how to treat the commonest 
 ailments of children. 
 
 29 
 
XII. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
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 1854-1904. Illustrated. 1904. E. P. Dutton, 
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 Bingham, H. Across South America. 1911. 
 Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 
 
 Brown, Hubest W. Latin America. 308 pp. Il¬ 
 lustrated. 1901. Fleming H. Revell Co., New 
 York. $1.20 net. 
 
 Bryce, James. South America, Observations and 
 Impressions. The Macmillan Co., New York. 
 
 Calderon, Garcia. Latin America, Its Rise and 
 Progress. 1913. Charles Scribner’s Sons. $3.00. 
 
 Currier, Chas. W. Lands of the Southern Cross. 
 401 pp. 1911. Spanish America Pub. Soc., 
 Washington, D. C. $1.50. 
 
 Lawson, Thomas C. South American Republics. 
 2 vols. Illustrated. 1904. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 
 New York. $2.70. 
 
 Hale, Albert. The South Americans. Illustrated. 
 1907. Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, Ind. 
 $2.50 net. 
 
 Pepper, C. M. Panama to Patagonia. Illustrated. 
 1906. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. $2.50. 
 
 Butler, Wm. B. Mexico in Transition. Methodist 
 Book Concern. $2.00. 
 
 Elliott, G. F. Scott. Chile: Its History and De¬ 
 velopment. 1907. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New 
 York. $3.00. 
 
 Enock, C. Reginald. Peru. Illustrated. 1907. 
 Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. $3.00. 
 
 Koebel, W. H. Modern Argentina. 1907. Fran¬ 
 cis Griffiths, London. 
 
 Oakenfull, J. C. Brazil in 1909. 1909. Paris. 
 
 Scruggs, William L. Colombian and Venezuelan 
 Republics. Illustrated. 1908. Little, Brown & 
 Co., New York. $1.75 net. 
 
 The Catholic Encyclopedia. Published by Ap¬ 
 pleton. 15 vols. $60.00. 
 
 Fradryssa, G. V. Roman Catholicism Capitulat¬ 
 ing Before Protestantism. 1909. Southern 
 Publishing Co., Mobile, Ala. $1.50. 
 
 Edgar. Samuel. Variations of Popery. Robert 
 Carter & Bros., New York. 1852. 
 
 Wylie, J. H. The Papacy. Johnstone & Hunter, 
 Edinburgh. 1852. 
 
 30 
 
Milman, Henry Hart. History of Latin Chris¬ 
 tianity. 4 vols. Doran. $6.00. 
 
 Lea, Henry Charles. History of the Inquisition 
 of the Middle Ages. 3 vols. Macmillan. 1906. 
 $7.50. 
 
 Lea, Henry Charles. History of the Inquisition 
 of Spain. 2 vols. Each $2.50. Macmillan. 
 1906. 
 
 D’Aubigne, Jean H. M. The History of the Ref¬ 
 ormation. 3 vols. American Tract Society. 
 3.50. 
 
 Gibbons, J. Faith of Our Fathers. Pub. by J. 
 Murphy. 50c. 
 
 Cathcart, Wm. The Papal System. Am. Bap. 
 Pub. Soc. 50c. 
 
 Pascal, Blaise. The Provincial Letters. Hough¬ 
 ton, Mifflin & Co. $2.25. 
 
 Bertier. Diccionario Teologico. 
 
 Scio de San Miguel. La Biblia con Notas. 
 
 Fischer, La Fe. Tipografia El Paso, Mexico 
 75c. 
 
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