Y \A c SHALL WE SPEND HALF A MILLION SHALL WE SPEND HALF A MILLION DOLLARS ANNUALLY TO INTRODUCE THE YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES ? ARTHUR RUGH FOREIGN DEPARTMENT International Committee 124 East 28th Street, New York Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/shallwespendhalfOOrugh I- WHY? The North American Young Men’s Christian Associations and their friends purpose to send out and maintain in certain foreign lands two hundred train- ed secretaries at a cost of approximate- ly $500,000. annually. One hundred and forty secretaries now at work have demonstrated the value and methods of the Young Men’s Christian Association in seventeen of these nations. The sixty men unprovided for should reach their posts by the close of 1915. With the work of the Associations in the United States and Canada far from finished, with leadership and money needed here increasingly, is it wise and right that these men should be sent abroad and this heavy annual expense incurred ? The real question is: Would the As- The sedations of North America and their question friends be justified in refusing to an- swer the call of missionaries, of Chris- tian leaders and of statesmen at whose urgent request this work abroad is being done? 1. THE CALL OF THE MISSION- ARY FORCES. No secretary has been sent into any field until the mission forces working in that field have unitedly requested that one be sent. The Associations have had to choose between disloyalty to the expressed desire of the mission- ary leaders of the Church, and the undertaking of this work. This call of the Church, furthermore, is not sporadic sentiment, but is persis- tently repeated and emphasized in no uncertain terms. Official action such as the following has been taken by the united mission bodies of ev^ery field en- tered by the Association. “This National Conference hereby India records its hearty and thorough appre- Page Three SHALL WE SPEND ciation of the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association in India, and em- phasizes the strong claim which it has already established upon the prayers, sympathy and support of the home Churches.” China “The Young Men’s Christian Asso- ciation is providing a most effective agency of the Church and should be ex- tended as opportunity and resources permit. Resolved that we recognize in the students a field for Christian effort of great importance, and that inasmuch as we have in the Young Men’s Chris- tian Association an agency of the Church especially adapted to carry on work among students, we recommend an enlargement of its forces to more adequately meet this need.” National Missionary Conference. Japan “This semi-Centennial Conference re- cognizes with deep gratitude the spe- cialized service rendered by the Japan- ese Young Men’s Christian Association and urges these Associations to extend their efforts especially among the stu- dent, the mercantile and the industrial classes.” Brazil “Resolved to request the Internation- al Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations of New York, to send out more secretaries for the work among Brazilian young men.” — General As- sembly of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil, 191O. Turkey “I have been appointed by the Con- ference of the Turkey Mission and Cili- cian Union of Churches, to call your attention to Aintab as a center of work for the Young Men’s Christian Associa- tion. We are convinced that a secretary of American origin of special training is absolutely necessary.” There is only one answer to be made to appeals constantly coming like the following: — Page Four HALF A MILLION “The key to the religious situation in China at present is in the hands of her students. Now in Manchuria there is absolutely no organized effort to bring Christian truth to bear on this vitally important class of young men. It is because of these things that we urge the Young Men’s Christian Association to undertake a task which, while of the first importance in our eyes, has become impracticable for the Church. Is Man- churia to be gained or lost? The ans- wer may depend upon the response to our present fervent appeal.’’ — The Mis- sionaries of Manchuria. Better evidence could hardly be fur- nished that the Mission Boards consi- der the Association not as a rival but an efficient agent of the Church than the following recent action of the Annual Conference of Foreign Mission Boards of North America: “In view of the very large and rapid- ly increasing number of students in the government and other non-Christian educational institutions in China, in view of the influential relations which these students are to sustain to the leadership and character of the new China, in view of the vital service which the Young Men’s Christian Association can render the Church in reaching for Christ and for the Church the student class, because of its valuable points of contact with these students, its special- ized methods and agencies, its expert experience and its interdenominational character, “Resolved: That this Conference recommend that the Mission Boards of North America set apart for a term of years twenty men to work with at least an equal number of Association secretaries among the government stu- dents of China.” JManehuria United Mission Boards Page Five SHALL WE SPEND Rev. F. B. Meyer Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman Bishop Boutflower (Anglican) Mr. J. Campbell White Ex- President Taft 2. THE CALL OF GREAT CHRIS- TIAN LEADERS. Certain men in every age are recog- nized as having a right to speak for the Churchy and these men have spoken. “For all this — the moral condition of the Orient — a well appointed Young Men’s Christian Association is the one sufficient corrective. If only philan- thropists, merchant princes and million- aires could realize the per cent of result which accrues from the money invested in the foreign work of the Young Men's Christian Association they would hasten to place unstinted capital at the dis- posal of those who are directing this campaign.” “In the light of careful study, there- fore, I say no investment for Christ in all the world would count for more than that which is made in the Asso- ciation Foreign Work and made quick- ly” “The part the Association is able to play as a central agency gives it, in non-Christian Japan, among so many Christian forces, a position and many opportunities of quite exceptional inter- est and value.” “No other two hundred living men would have a finer opportunity than these to hasten the evangelization of the world.” 3. THE CALL OF NATIONAL LEADERS WHO KNOW THE NEED. The call of missionaries and Chris- tian leaders takes an added weight when the work is endorsed by the leaders of the nations. “The Association supplies a need which no Church, no institute — nothing else that I know of — can meet. Espec- Page Six HALF A MILLION ially is this the case in Manila and elsewhere in the tropics where young men who are far removed from home influences find in the Young Men’s Christian Association a helpful agency in the struggle with temptation.” “The Association is indeed doing more for the reunion of Christendom than any other agency I have encoun- tered.” The Commanding Officer^ Bri- tish Army in Southern India. “The Association has been the cen- tre of the united work of all Christian Churches for many important efforts, both social and evangelistic. It is able to reach the students in the govern- ment educational institutions and the non-Christian schools where no other Christian agency can gain access.” — President of the Doshisha, Kyoto, Japan. “I scarcely believe that any man who placed one dollar in the foreign work of the Association would take five dol- lars to it get back again.” 4 . THE CALL OF LEADERS OF THE ASSOCIATIONS O F NORTH AMERICA. The Conference of Employed Of- ficers of the Young Men’s Christian Associations of North America, at Omaha, in June, IQOQj unanimously resolved: “That the Conference ap- proves the program to provide a max- imum staff of two hundred secretaries to extend the North American Associa- tion Movement to non-Christian lands, as the missionary and native leaders of the Church may request.” “The question is not: Why should the Associations of North America carry on the Foreign Work? The question is: Does the call of the Church, the recogn- ized Christian leaders, the dominant statesmen of the world and of the lead- General Bond President Harada Hon. John Wana- maker Employed Officers Conference John R. Mott Page Seven SHALL WE SPEND L. Wilbur Messer C. S. Bishop Fred B. Smith ers of the Association constitute a call not from men but from God which we would disobey at our peril?” ‘‘The North American Young Men’s Christian Associations are obligated to share their unparalleled resources of men, money and methods by extending their cooperation and support to all men of all lands. The continued prosperity of our Association Brotherhood is de- pendent on the right investment of our stewardship through sacrificial service in giving a whole Gospel to a whole world.” ‘‘The best test of a Young Men’s Christian Association is not its material equipment or technical efficiency but its altruistic vision. This should express itself in a concern for the welfare of men and boys in non-Christian lands. The best evidence of this concern is a liberal quarterly remittance toward the work in mission fields. The growth of the home work would be mightily stimulated if every North American As- sociation would adopt an agressive foreign work policy. As a matter of self-preservation it would be worth while.” ‘‘The sustaining and extension of the foreign work is as binding an obligation upon the home Association, as opening the front door of the buildings each morning at nine o’clock. ‘‘It ought to be immediately, heartily, generously, lovingly, and prayerfully supported.” Page Eight HALF A MILLION n_WHERE? Secretaries are located as follows: China India and Ceylon South America Japan Mexico Philippines Turkey and the Near East Korea West Indies 52 34 20 10 6 5 5 4 4 Total 140 1. IN CITIES. Obviously we can not put enough Radiating men in these lands to do the Associa- (.gnters tion work, but we can place them where they can train others to do it. These men have all been loeated with great care in cities, the capturing of which will mean the winning of many other cities. No city, however large, has been given a secretary unless it is so situated that an Association establish- ed there will multiply itself spontaneo- usly in many other cities without the addition of more secretaries. Had a similar basis been in operation when the Association Movement was intro- duced in North America the leaders would have placed two secretaries each in New York City, Washington, Pitts- burgh, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis and San Fran- cisco and have told these eighteen men to so plant the work in these cities that it would without further help spread into every city, town, college, country district and railroad center in North America. In these other lands conditions are such that this multiplying method can be much better used than in North Am- erica. If there were located in Albany, Page Nine SHALL WE SPEND as a state capital, Yale and West Point; Pittsburgh with its influence on indus- try; and Chicago’s influence in railroad circles, Albany would then constitute a typical radiating center. An Oriental provincial capital generally includes the officials, the academy training the army, the university and normal schools train- ing the teachers, the commercial center and naturally the railroad and indus- trial center. In such cities men are placed because from each of these, hun- dreds of others cities will secure the Association idea and trained leaders. Local By such location every secretary sent support from America will eventually be met by scores of secretaries supported on the field and every dollar given will quickly yield its many fold in money given bj'^ the people in the country where the work is done. 2. AMONG STUDENTS. Potential The largest student centers of the leaders world are not Oxford, Harvard, and To- ronto, but Calcutta, Tokyo, St. Peters- burg and Buenos Aires. The next generation will be led by the students as in no previous day. Turkey, China, Japan, India and South America will be made whatever they are to become in the new world by the students of these lands. A very large percentage of them are not Christian. In the Imperial University of Tokyo, for instance, there are in round numbers five thousand students. A religious cen- sus shows: Agnostics 3000, Atheists 1500, Buddhists and Shintoists 450, Christians 60. Mighty forces fight against their moral life. Association secretaries investigated 2000 board- ing houses in one city and found that four were safe places for the moral life of a young man. There are 5000 students in the University of Buenos Page Ten HALF A MILLION Aires with less than ten percent who have any interest in personal religion. Into this field of the controling temp- Joining ted men of the nations the Association Church has been called and has proved its fit- ness for the task. Over two hundred Chinese students, most of them from prominent non-Christian families in China, have been baptized in connec- tion with the work among Chinese stu- dents in Tokyo. They have returned into every Province in China and are strongly influencing the new govern- ment in favor of Christianity. During Mr. G. Sherwood Eddy’s recent visit through the student centers of China more than 2000 students took the first step into the Christian life. These are only beginnings. More than a score of great student Leaders centers in these foreign lands still wait for their first Association secretary. Church Enough has been done in all of these foreign lands to demonstrate the wis- dom of the Church in calling the Asso- ciation to work, as its special agent among the student classes. Service of special value has been rendered the Church by its work in mission schools enlisting Christian students for the ministry. In China, Pastor Ding Li Mei travels tmder the direction of the Asso- ciation among the Christian schools. His work has led more than 800 students to pledge their lives to the ministry and a vigorous Student Volunteer Movement has been organized. !More educated men have been led into the ministry as a life work in three years than in the first hundred years of work in China. India’s first native Bishop Rev. V. S. Azariah, was consecrated in De- cember 1912. For fifteen years he was one of the leading Association secreta- ries in India and has repeatedly said that most of his training for leadership Page Eleven SHALL WE SPEND in the Church was received from the Association. There are two men who are recogniz- ed as fitted to give evidence as to the wisdom used in locating this work in certain cities and student centers and their evidence is in. Traveler Dr. Ernest De Witt Burton of Chi- and cago University, after a careful study critic of the work in Asia said: “I was im- pressed with the fact that the Associa- tion has exercised great wisdom in the selection of points at which to work. The Association has entered into an inheritance of the experience of other missionary organizations, and, as I went about, it seemed to me that they had learned the lessons which these ex- periences had to teach.” A student xhe Honorable C. T. Wang, Vice- leader Chairman of the World’s Student Chris- tian Federation, is on record as follows: “And I think there is one thing above all other things, one institution above all other institutions, one Christian force above all other forces, that is able to reach the students as no other institutions are able, and that is the Young Men’s Christian Association. This I say, not from a theoretical, but from a practical standpoint. We find that at present it is the Young Men’s Christian Association that is able to cope with the student class.” Page Twelve HALF A MILLION III-WHEN? No word or combination of words in the English language will adequately express the need of entering all these fields with the full force of men at once. World crises^ psychological moment the break in the game, imminent victory or defeat — aU these and more are invol- ved. The time to act is; 1 . WHEN recent world changes prepare the nations for immediate ac- ^-orld tion. The number of people in the world condition under republican form of rule was tre- bled during 1912. Every nation in Asia except Afghanistan and Siam has adopted a constitutional form of govern- ment within the last twenty years. Near- ly half of the human race within the last decade has been led into entirely new social and political conditions. The leaders of all these movements in all the non-Christian lands are young men, the legitimate field of the Association work. 2. WHEN these nations are in a Plastic period of transition, passing from an nations old order to a new. For generations many of them have followed a fixed path. At this moment they have turned away from that path and in bewildered uncertainty are waiting to be guided along a line which they will follow for generations. Dr. John R. Mott has said: “We will do more to win China in the next five years than we can do in the next hundred if we fail in the next five.” 3. WHEN debasing selfishness Xhreaten- threatens us. Ninety-three percent of jjjg gelfish- the wealth of the United States has jjggg been created and amassed since 1850. This percentage is larger still in Canada. The property value of the Associations in North America increas- Page Thirteen SHALL WE SPEND Imperative orders Abundant fruit Now if ever ed in 19 II approximately $5,000,000 — or ten pereent. Money spent on cur- rent expenses increased at about the same rate. Only an heroic missionary task will save us now from the sin of selfishness. 4. WHEN the home Church urges immediate action. When the Mission Boards vote to set aside twenty of their men to help the Association catch up with its opportunity, we must believe that this is the time for action. 5. WHEN the work begins to bear abundant fruit. In recent weeks a thousand proud, gifted students in India have enrolled as enquirers in the Associations. In one week in Canton seven hundred and fifty students made the first step into the Christian life. During last year ten hundred and sixty- eight members of the Seoul Association joined the Church. Work with such results needs to be done NOW. National crises are impending. Time escapes. Sin is at work. The Associa- tions are able. The Church appeals. Under these conditions the North Amer- ican Associations will be chargeable with guilt if they do not have their full quota of two hundred men on the field not later than 1915. Page Fourteen HALF A MILLION IV- HOW? The budgets of these secretaries vary Budgets in different countries. The principle on which they are paid is to give them just enough to enable them to live safely and work efficiently. The average total expense for an unmarried secretary is $1200 per year; for a married secretary $2000 per year; corresponding to the expenditures of the efficient Mission Boards for representatives in the same cities. The total foreign budget for 1912 was $354,000 Secretaries are supported by Associa- It is tions, groups of Associations and by being individuals. Sixty Associations contri- done bute annually amounts ranging from $1000 to $16,000 each. Twenty-six As- sociations contribute from $500 to $1000 each. The increasing prosperity of North American Associations and the blessings coming on these Associations as a result of their foreign work policy justify both those already supporting the work and many others in taking up an increasingly aggressive support of the work in other lands. The multiplying power of money Dollar given to Foreign Work is unusually for dollar great because it is a fixed principle that the work shall from the beginning be self-supporting on the field. All cur- rent expenses, salaries of the rapidly increasing staff of native secretaries, money to purchase land for buildings and athletic fields ; all these must be provided and are being provided with great sacrificing unselfishness by the men in the cities organized. The time will quickly come when every dollar given in America will be matched by native money, some thirty and some an hundred fold. Page Fifteen SHALL WE SPEND Demonstration is not lacking that in any land the people of the country will do their share. Money and lives are given. Last year in Associations in five different countries in which there where fifteen American secretaries, bud- gets raised locally and native secretaries on full time were: city Budget raised Native locally Secretaries Buenos Aires . .$35,000 7 Shanghai 44,152 14 Mexico City ... 26,152 4 Calcutta 29,178 5 Seoul 29,000 18 Disobe- History has seldom recorded clearer dience evidences of Divine leading than these costs by which the Associations of North Am- erica have been called of God to plant a work for young men in other lands. Obedience to this call is a rigid condi- tion upon which we may claim enough of God’s power to solve our own hard tasks. Disobedience means death not only to the souls of many men in other lands but to the life of the Spirit in us and in our Associations. Page Sixteen