Student Volunteer Series , A r o. 4. 
 
 Pj-nx ^Dee r 
 
 M-se. 
 
 Volunteer 3/lissioR 
 Baad. 
 
T he mission band of 
 
 THE STUDENT VOL¬ 
 UNTEER MOVEMENT FOR 
 FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 ROBERT E. SPEER. 
 
 October, i8go. 
 

THE VOLUNTEER MISSION BAND. 
 
 The necessity of association in the King’s 
 service was learned long ago. Saul had 
 his band of men whose hearts God had 
 touched. The Lord Jesus did His Father’s 
 work by means of the little company of 
 followers given to Him out of the world. 
 “ The locusts have no king, yet go they 
 forth all of them by bands.” It is clear 
 from the nature of the task given us as 
 missionary volunteers, from the ends to be 
 attained, and from the experience of the 
 Student Volunteer Movement in the four 
 years of its life, that it pleases our Father 
 to see His chosen messengers banded to 
 accomplish the results which will glorify 
 him in the dark lands. It is the purpose 
 of this pamphlet to suggest some ways in 
 which volunteers in each school and college 
 and seminary may help the missionary 
 cause during their days of preparation. 
 
 It is a striking but natural fact that in 
 the colleges where this Movement has been 
 presented and where recruits have been 
 enlisted, if no Band has been formed, the 
 missionary spirit has waned, and the re¬ 
 cruits have become cold and alienated. 
 
4 
 
 The Volunteer Mission Band is com¬ 
 posed naturally of those students in any 
 institution who have signed the pledge of 
 the Volunteer Movement. Anv other stu- 
 
 j 
 
 dents wishing to attend the meetings are, 
 of course, welcomed. The model Band is 
 a quiet, unpretentious organization of the 
 volunteers for the purpose of arousing and 
 maintaining a personal missionary spirit, 
 and leading others to pray and give and 
 go. For this purpose no cumbrous organ¬ 
 ization is necessary, a leader, a chairman, 
 or a small committee, being quite sufficient. 
 The Band will, of course, be kept closely 
 allied with and under the control of the 
 Christian organization in which the re¬ 
 ligious life of the students is expressed. 
 The missionary committees of the Young 
 Men’s and the Young Women’s Christian 
 Associations, the usual form of organiza¬ 
 tion, should be composed, if possible, of 
 volunteers, and should have as one of their 
 duties the maintenance of the Band. It is 
 well for the leader of the Band to be chair¬ 
 man of one of these committees, (i) This 
 alliance of the Band with the Association 
 secures permanency. If the Band is inde¬ 
 pendent, the Association will naturally turn 
 
1 
 
 5 
 
 over to it the responsibility for the mission¬ 
 ary work of the college. It is fair to infer 
 from experience in many cases where Bands 
 have been formed that, unless further in¬ 
 spiration from without is brought in, when 
 the original members are graduated the 
 Band dies, with the result that the mission¬ 
 ary work that has been handed over to it 
 is abandoned because the Association has 
 become accustomed to neglect it. If the 
 Band is allied to the Association the mis¬ 
 sionary work is of necessity permanent, 
 because joined to the other branches of 
 Christian work which last as long as there 
 is any active Christian life. (2) This alli¬ 
 ance prevents misunderstanding and jeal¬ 
 ousy, and places the missionary work where 
 it belongs — side by side with the work 
 next us. (3) In this way the Band will 
 reach and interest a larger body of stu¬ 
 dents. Moreover, only so will the Associ¬ 
 ation have the blessing promised those who 
 obey the King’s command and run to do 
 His will. 
 
 The Band should have meetings weekly 
 or fortnightly. These meetings should not 
 be too long, nor yet too short. - Ordinarily, 
 a meeting an hour in length is preferable. 
 
6 
 
 A half hour meeting each week is better 
 than an hour meeting every other week. 
 Where the students have specially hard 
 work there may be difficulty in finding 
 time; but for the Lord’s sake a quiet hour 
 can be found, it makes no difference if it 
 is an unusual hour, in which the volunteers 
 may confer together and sit still with 
 Him. 
 
 Three things need special attention in 
 these meetings, (a) The leaders or speak¬ 
 ers should be prepared to do what would 
 please Him who is to be the guest at each 
 Band gathering. They should thoroughly 
 study and pray over the subject. ( 'p ) The 
 prayers should be definite and believing. 
 God’s work moves so fast that we ought to 
 have fresh thanksgiving and petition for 
 Him every week. Let men, fields, and ob¬ 
 jects be prayed for by name. ( c ) The sub¬ 
 jects for such meetings are endless. Those 
 about to be suggested might profitably be 
 used also in the regular monthly mission¬ 
 ary meetings of the Association, which it 
 is the duty of the missionary committee to 
 arrange. 
 
 i. Fields. Taking China, for example, 
 as the field, one speaker would tell of 
 
7 
 
 the climate, geography of the land, cus¬ 
 toms and habits of the people, the religious 
 beliefs, the history and government, — of 
 all the things which ought to be of interest 
 to every one who loves the lost millions in 
 Qhina. A second speaker would describe 
 the Christian work done there, its origin, — 
 when, by whom, how, what motives led to 
 it, what moving of God’s pillar, — what 
 methods had been employed, and with 
 what success, how God has glorified him¬ 
 self and made bare the strong right arm 
 of His power in China. Let a third speak 
 of the present need, the crisis, the out¬ 
 look, the coming glory. A map hung up 
 to show the land and the places to which 
 reference is made will add greatly to the 
 interest of the meeting. Such maps can 
 be secured from certain Boards, — Ameri¬ 
 can Board, Methodist Episcopal Board, etc., 
 — or can be made by volunteers. A map 
 of the world can be obtained from Funk 
 & Wagnalls. In a year, taking up the 
 fields in this way, any Band can traverse 
 the globe, and every volunteer who has 
 made the journey will wish the other vol¬ 
 unteers all the pleasure he received from 
 the exploration. 
 
 <i 
 
8 
 
 2. Biographies. No more interesting 
 subjects can be found than lives of men 
 like Carey, Martyn, Livingstone, Hanning- 
 ton, Moffat, Duff, Paton, Williams, Xavier, 
 etc. As much care should be used by the 
 writer of such a life for the Band as would 
 be used were he writing for the best peri¬ 
 odical in the land. Facts concerning fields 
 and points in missionary work can best be 
 understood and remembered by associating 
 them in this w T ay with a life'. As a rule, 
 reading from books and magazines should 
 not be tolerated in these meetings. We 
 can read them any time. This meeting is 
 a time to find and keep immortal impres¬ 
 sions. If a field is made the subject of 
 one meeting, some life spent in that field 
 might w r ell be made the theme of the next 
 meeting. 
 
 3. Methods a 7 id Kinds of Work will fur¬ 
 nish comprehensive subjects. At least six 
 might be considered : evangelistic, educa¬ 
 tional, medical, woman’s, Association, op¬ 
 portunities for unordained workers — lay 
 preachers, professional men, tradesmen, en¬ 
 gineers, etc. All these should be studied in 
 their principles and their results, their aim 
 and real spirit, the last five especially in 
 
9 
 
 their bearing upon the first. Many men 
 who do not intend to enter the ministry 
 would gladly serve God in some of these 
 other ways in the large untouched places 
 of heathenism. 
 
 4. Boards and their Needs. The history 
 of organized missionary w r ork is a fascinat¬ 
 ing study. Moreover, everywhere there is 
 great ignorance concerning the character 
 and work and needs of the missionary 
 Boards. Tht Band should study all these 
 things and publish them abroad. 
 
 5. Once a month a meeting might be 
 devoted to a review of the missionary peri¬ 
 odicals of the month. To each of the ten 
 most prominent missionary magazines one 
 volunteer might be assigned, to report the 
 general spirit, the names of articles which 
 all should read, and any items of interest. 
 If each of these ten should contribute five 
 solid missionary facts,— for example, “ One 
 hundred and ten times the letters of your 
 Bible fall short of the numbers of the 
 Chinese hosts,” — for each of eight months 
 
 ^of the college year, and the others should 
 note them, at the end of the year each 
 volunteer would have four hundred facts at 
 his command. 
 
IO 
 
 6. In some of the Irish Young Men’s 
 Christian Associations the Missionary Sen¬ 
 ate serves well to deepen interest. Each 
 member is chosen as senator to represent 
 some heathen country, and must be ready 
 at any time to report on the condition of 
 his constituents and the work among them. 
 The interest which such a representative 
 would feel in his people would be deep and 
 growing and contagious. 
 
 7. Lastly, general subject? can be used 
 from time to time to relieve the others and 
 to gather broader views ; for example, 
 “ What does the Bible say about Mis¬ 
 sions ? ” “ The Comparative Need and 
 Success of Home and Foreign Missions,” 
 “The Reflex Influence of Missions,” “The 
 Crisis in Missions,” “ Objections to being 
 a Missionary.” In one college a helpful 
 meeting was held several years ago when 
 the question “What is a ‘Call’?” was dis¬ 
 cussed, with the help of several students 
 who thought they were not “ called.” 
 
 If volunteers will observe due cautions, 
 and will pray and think and talk to wise 
 people about these things, they will find 
 that no meeting can be made so interest¬ 
 ing as a meeting for the study of missions. 
 
If those who love the Lord and wish to 
 see His last request obeyed do not strive 
 while in college to awaken missionary in¬ 
 terest, who will ? This work clearly must 
 be done. A few suggestions may lead 
 some one in each college where this pam¬ 
 phlet may go to pray over this work, and 
 to undertake it in His name. 
 
 i. The Band should provide for itself 
 and for the students an adequate mission¬ 
 ary literature, and see that it is read. 
 (a) This literature should consist: (i) Of 
 books. “ The Evangelization of the World” 
 for inspiration, the “Crisis of Missions” for 
 a definite statement of the present mission¬ 
 ary situation, “ The London Missionary 
 Conference Reports ” and the “ Mission¬ 
 ary Year Book” for information, should be 
 owned and read by each volunteer. They 
 can all be secured for less than four dol¬ 
 lars from F. H. Revell, 148 Madison Street, 
 Chicago, Ill. There are many other books 
 which ought to be read, but these at least. 
 A missionary alcove in the college lib¬ 
 rary should be secured and stocked. The 
 Band might buy some books in common, 
 to be circulated among the members and 
 any others who might be helped by them. 
 
12 
 
 (2) Of magazines. Each volunteer should 
 subscribe for the “Missionary Review of 
 the World,” Funk & Wagnalls, 18 & 20 
 Astor Place, New York City. The price is 
 one dollar a year to volunteers. Subscrip¬ 
 tions at this rate should be sent to J. M. 
 Sherwood, D. D., 35 McDonough Street, 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. This Review is unsur¬ 
 passed. “The Missionary Echo,” twenty- 
 five cents to volunteers, Willard Tract 
 Depository, Toronto, Canada, is much 
 smaller, but an excellent monthly. Besides 
 these the various church magazines could 
 be secured by the Band for a small price, 
 if the matter were properly presented 
 to the publishers of each. (3) Of tracts. 
 These can be obtained from many of the 
 Boards and from Mr. Walter J. Clark, 50 
 East 70th Street, New York City. The 
 good that can be done by tracts is immeas¬ 
 urable. A tract, a word, a silent uplifted 
 prayer,— these things work countless revo¬ 
 lutions every year. It may be yours to 
 use them. (p) Some members of each 
 Band should lay it as a special burden on 
 their hearts to have this literature read. 
 Let them keep some of it in their rooms 
 and give it to any one whom the Holy 
 
i3 
 
 Spirit indicates. The Band might well 
 appoint a small committee to look after 
 this and devise plans for having mission¬ 
 ary information scattered. Much can be 
 accomplished in this way if the committee 
 will make it a personal, prayerful work. 
 
 2. A second duty is to teach students to 
 give systematically and definitely. In this 
 endeavor each institution of any size and 
 prominence should have its own mission¬ 
 ary in the field,— if possible a graduate of 
 the institution,— supported by funds con¬ 
 tributed by the college or seminary. This 
 plan is perfectly satisfactory in denomina¬ 
 tional colleges, where the representative is 
 sent out under the Board of that denom¬ 
 ination. In other cases circumstances will 
 govern the disposition to be made of the 
 contributions. If a college cannot under¬ 
 take the full support of $. missionary, it 
 may combine with some church or some 
 other college or some seminary, and to¬ 
 gether they can raise the necessary amount. 
 These funds in college can be handled by 
 the Association treasurer or by a treasurer 
 of the Band, but in either case the support 
 of the missionary should be the work of 
 the Association. About fifty institutions 
 
have taken up this idea with great personal 
 blessing to those who came thus to the 
 help of the Lord. The general poverty of 
 students is spoken of as a great barrier in 
 the way of a more general adoption of this 
 plan ; but liberality best abounds in deep 
 poverty. A clearer view of the uplifted 
 Cross, and a more distinct hearing of the 
 Savior’s voice as He declared the redemp¬ 
 tive work finished with the payment of 
 His blood, would make every sacrifice 
 seem too small, and would lead to the 
 support of representatives in the foreign 
 field by colleges which have hitherto deemed 
 such action impossible. •. 
 
 3. Each volunteer must work for new 
 volunteers. “ Every disciple must be a 
 discipler.” fivery missionary must be a 
 maker of missionaries. Every Christian 
 student, where it, is possible, ought to leave 
 behind him in college when he is gradu¬ 
 ated, in a class below him, another Christian 
 student to take his place, who, humanly 
 speaking, would not have been a Christian 
 had it not been for his influence. So, also, 
 every volunteer ought to leave behind him 
 another volunteer won by the Lord through 
 him. Such volunteers need not be “ man- 
 
J 5 
 
 persuaded missionaries.” The Lord calls 
 His missionaries by human agents. If 
 this work is not done, the Band will soon 
 die. If it is done, each volunteer will mul¬ 
 tiply his life, sometimes many fold. It is, 
 perhaps, possible for each volunteer to do 
 more for missions before he goes, in send¬ 
 ing others and in deepening prayer, than 
 he can ever do afterwards. Each Band 
 should prayerfully, aggressively, incessantly 
 strive to increase its numbers until the 
 Lord says there are enough. 
 
 4. The Band should see that the world¬ 
 wide gospel of the Christ is preached in 
 every church, Sabbath School, Young Peo¬ 
 ple’s Society, Young Men’s and Young 
 Women’s Christian Association, school, 
 and college within its reach. Each of 
 these should be led to support either its 
 own missionary or its own native worker in 
 the field. The missionary story should be 
 told and the missionary appeal rung out, 
 calling to loyalty to the King’s command. 
 This may be done (1) by little companies 
 of two or three sent out to speak either of 
 some special field or on some special 
 phases of the need and work, or (2) by 
 individuals alone. The work can be car- 
 
ned on all through the college year, and 
 by some of the volunteers in the summer 
 vacation as well. In almost every Band 
 some few can be found adapted to this 
 work. (See pamphlet No. 5, Volunteer 
 Series.) If they will go out trusting the 
 Lord and honoring His promises, He will 
 see that they will not lack anything. Let 
 the importance of combined giving be 
 constantly emphasized by these workers, 
 showing, for example, how one hundred 
 and thirty-five persons each giving ten 
 cents a week will support a missionary. 
 In this way the churches will be quickened, 
 and the influence will react upon the Band. 
 Of course, the other members of the Band 
 will be much in prayer for those who go 
 out to call God’s people to this full obe¬ 
 dience. 
 
 5. A record book should be kept by 
 each Band. Each volunteer’s name should 
 be written at the top of a page and the 
 page below left blank, that the record of 
 his life may be put there. In years to 
 come, if the Lord tarry, this book may be 
 the most honorable alumni record preserved 
 in each college. May it please God to fill 
 some of these pages with such records of 
 
z 
 
 17 
 
 humility and meekness as will best exalt 
 Him, and with lives of which the Holy 
 Spirit may say, what Jesus said of John, 
 “ He was a burning and a shining light.” 
 May each volunteer be like John in this 
 also, that he shall make ready a highway 
 for the footsteps of the coming King. 
 
 6. By preserving such a record each 
 Band will be able to keep track of volun¬ 
 teers who have been graduated and are 
 still in this country, as well as of those 
 who have gone to the field. It is wise that 
 the Band should keep in touch with those 
 who are separated from the spirit of obedi- 
 
 ' ence to the last commission and are growing 
 cold, suggesting to them that no revision 
 can transform “go” into “stay.” Or if 
 volunteers after graduation are providen¬ 
 tially prevented from going, it is well for 
 the Band to know it, so as to avoid misun¬ 
 derstanding. 
 
 7. It is of importance that all facts con¬ 
 cerning the Movement should be known by 
 the Executive Committee, that they may 
 pray over them and have full information 
 regarding the Movement. Each Band 
 should therefore keep in correspondence 
 with the Secretary, Mr. Walter J. Clark, 50 
 

 i8 
 
 East 70th Street, New York City. He 
 should be furnished with all information 
 about the work in each college. If any 
 volunteers depart for the foreign field, or 
 if any from any reason decide not to go, 
 he should be informed. He will be glad 
 also to send information of any kind to 
 any Band or volunteer. Each Band should 
 also know and pray for the Corresponding 
 Member for the State in which the Band is 
 located, and should help him as he strives 
 to help others. 
 
 8. Correspondence with graduate volun¬ 
 teers, with the Executive Committee, and 
 with the Corresponding Member, has 
 been already suggested; but there is in 
 this feature of the Band work yet larger 
 promise of helpfulness. (1) Each volunteer 
 should correspond at intervals with his 
 preparatory school Association, his Sab¬ 
 bath School, or his Young People’s Society. 
 A letter from him to them would be re¬ 
 garded with great respect and listened to 
 with unusual interest. (2) The general 
 correspondence of the Band might be 
 committed to several of its members. 
 (a) With other Bands. In many a small 
 college a cheerful, helpful, out-from-the- 
 
*9 
 
 shoulder spirited letter would do wonders 
 in strengthening the work; and many a 
 despondent Band in a large institution . 
 would be helped by a message of prayerful 
 interest from a few hearts in some smaller 
 place accustomed to cherish close associa¬ 
 tions with Jesus. The Secretary in New 
 York will furnish addresses of Bands. 
 (/;) With the Boards and their missionaries 
 in the field. The Boards will cheerfully 
 furnish information of any kind within 
 their power. One feature of this corre¬ 
 spondence should be the offering of his 
 service to his Board by each volunteer. 
 He might do this several years before his 
 preparation is over, in order that he might 
 have in his last years here the advantage 
 of the longer experience and riper judg¬ 
 ment of the Board. The letters from mis¬ 
 sionaries, especially from the college’s own 
 missionary, if it have one, will help greatly 
 to make plainer and clearer and more plain¬ 
 tive the great appealing voice of a world 
 dying without the knowledge of His name. 
 
 9. As many volunteers as possible should 
 go to some one of the summer schools. 
 There is no other equally great oppor¬ 
 tunity for feeling the pulse of the Christian 
 
20 
 
 . church, and for coming in contact with the 
 missionary spirit and missionary men, nor 
 any other so open for influencing the col¬ 
 lege men of this generation to catch the 
 holy inspiration of a purpose to preach the 
 Cross and Him who hung upon it to every 
 soul before our generation is gone. North- 
 field, especially, is not only practically the 
 original birth-place of the Movement, but 
 it is the place where every summer it is 
 born again. 
 
 i o. Those students whom we can hardly 
 hope ever to see upon the foreign field 
 must nevertheless be interested. Into 
 their hands will come the privilege of giv¬ 
 ing to the Lord for this work. They should 
 have the joy of liberal and cheerful giving. 
 It is of the greatest importance that those 
 men, especially, who are to compose the 
 coming ministry of this land should be 
 familiar and fully in sympathy with the 
 purpose of evangelizing the whole world. 
 These ends can be attained: (i) By public 
 missionary meetings, as the regular monthly 
 Association meeting in college, the mission¬ 
 ary meeting in the theological seminary, 
 and perhaps an annual public meeting of 
 the Band to which all are invited. (2) By 
 
private meetings in rooms, where a few can 
 talk familiarly about these things. (3) By 
 inviting students personally to. specially 
 interesting meetings of the Band. (4) By 
 giving them attractive missionary literature. 
 
 (5) By personal conversation, displacing 
 probably some other theme easily spared. 
 
 (6) By private and united prayer, picking 
 out certain men, and, unknown to them, 
 laying their lives down at the feet of the 
 Majesty on High. Would it not mightily 
 delight the Master if in such work by every 
 Band a fire were kindled whose light should 
 not only brighten the circle just about it, 
 but also pierce the thick pall of darkness 
 and fling its radiance round the world ? 
 
 While these suggestions have been put 
 with special reference to the conditions 
 prevailing in colleges, because college stu¬ 
 dents compose so large a part of the Vol¬ 
 unteer Movement, most of them apply 
 equally to the work in theological semin¬ 
 aries and other institutions. Following 
 these lines of work each volunteer will 
 become a more intelligent and devoted 
 servant. He will understand fully the 
 purpose and character of the Movement of 
 which he is a part, and will be ready to 
 
22 
 
 correct any misrepresentations and misap¬ 
 prehensions often so prevalent in many 
 places. So understanding it, he will strive 
 to keep it very humble, very lowly, very 
 quiet at the Lord’s feet, content to glory 
 only in the Cross of his Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Working out in its own conditions and cir¬ 
 cumstances as many of these suggestions 
 as can be made practical with it, each Band 
 will conceive its functions as being largely 
 those of an enlarged missionary committee, 
 being indeed in a true sense an extension 
 of that committee and a help to it; and 
 not this only, but more also, because of the 
 associated life purpose which binds and 
 maintains the Band. 
 
 Lastly, each Band should be an infant 
 class, and all these infant classes should 
 form an infant school, and sit down before 
 Him who is the Great Teacher of prayer. 
 Here in the school of prayer we must learn 
 to pray, for we know not how to pray as we 
 ought. Let each Band select a field, ob¬ 
 tain from the workers the names of all the 
 converts and any others, divide these names 
 among the members, and daily lay them 
 all before our Lord. We may not be able 
 properly to pronounce the names of these 
 
2 3 
 
 poor ones, but He knows. The noon hour 
 was long ago selected as the volunteers’ 
 hour of prayer. Each volunteer who gives 
 that hour, or a part of it, to prayer, will be 
 helped by the assurance that from many 
 hearts at that same time a large volume of 
 prayer is going up for the special objects 
 which the volunteers desire in common. 
 May the coming year see the Volunteer 
 Bands so baptized with the spirit of prayer 
 and supplication that from the secret place 
 of his communion each volunteer may 
 come down with a face shining as the face 
 of Moses shone, and with a life which 
 shall delight to do the will of God even to 
 the uttermost parts of the earth. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 //>*/; * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTED IN U.S A. 
 
No. i. 
 
 No. 2. 
 No. 3. 
 No. 4. 
 No. 5. 
 
 No. 7. 
 No. 8. 
 No. 9. 
 No. 10. 
 
 No. 11. 
 
 The American Student Uprising. 
 
 By John R. Mott. 
 
 Shall I Go ? By Miss Grace E. Wilder. 
 
 The Volunteer Pledge. By Robert P. Wilder. 
 
 The Volunteer Band. By Robert E. Speer. 
 
 Volunteer Work in the Churches. 
 
 By W *». Smith. 
 
 The World’s Need. By 
 
 John 
 
 -man. 
 
 An Appeal from China. 
 
 By. 
 
 hiinness. 
 
 An Appeal from India. 
 
 B\ 
 
 r. 
 
 An Appeal to Christian 
 
 IV. 
 
 .ess. 
 
 An Appeal from Japan. 
 
 By 
 
 
 Numbers 1 to 5 inclusive, price 3 cents r 
 
 100, postpaid. 
 
 Numbers 7 to 11 inclusive, price 2 cents eacl , r er 
 
 100, postpaid. 
 
 
 The above numbers can be obtained of 
 Walter J. Clark, No. 50 East 70th Street, New 
 York City.