^ 000 nation jforctgn Wotk Copyrighted 1900 by The International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations. Reprint from “The Religious Work of the Young Men’s Christian Association: Principles and Meth¬ ods.”—The International Committee of Young Men’s Christian Associations, 3 West Twenty-ninth Street, New York. 1-0-P666-5-00. fkope • of ♦ (Reftgtoue. OF THE ^oung (Wien' e £%te£tmt Qjteeoctafion. 1. Bible Study. 2. Religious Meetings. 3. Personal Work. Mission Study. Sunday Morning Watch. 4. Association Foreign Work. -j Missionary Fund. * Missionary Meetings. i Above outline expresses the position which the Association Foreign Work occupies in the all-round religious work of the local Association. CD so C CD See notice of reprint on inside of cover. Volunteer * ASSOCIATION FOREIGN WORK C. K. Obf.r I. THE OPEN DOORS IN MISSION LANDS. In response to calls from missionaries and native Chris¬ tian leaders the North American Young Men’s Christian Associations have sent out since 1889 trained secretaries to organize and develop Association work in the great cities and student centres of the orient and South Amer¬ ica. Several hundred Associations have been organized; native secretaries have been trained and set apart for the Association work; buildings have been erected; native young men have been won to Christ; hundreds have been trained and enlisted in Christian service, and a great and expanding work is being done in every field. Other doors are opening, and more secretaries from America will be needed from year to year. The work to which the Association has thus been called by the churches does not anticipate or duplicate the work of the regular missionary, but rather supplements and reinforces his work throtigh the building up of the Asso¬ ciation, as a special agency in distinctive work among young men. In the prosecution of this work many influ¬ ential fields are entered by the Association which are not accessible to the regular missionary agencies, particularly in the government schools of higher learning. Comparatively few Association leaders from America will be required in any of the mission fields, as it is the recognized policy of the Association to enlist native lead¬ ership and utilize native resources in a true Association work of the young men of each country in behalf of their fellow young men. The aggregate, however, of men and money needed will demand that each Association on the home field shall recognize and discharge its part of the common missionary obligation. II. THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT AT HOME. The missionary spirit is of greater value to any Asso¬ ciation than the possession of an Association building, for without it the Association would not only fail to enter the open doors in mission lands, but would also fail to appreciate and improve opportunities for Christian work at home. But with the missionary spirit at full tide, there would come to the Association foreign work a double reinforce¬ ment, not only the sending out of as many men as may be needed to join the secretaries on the mission field, but also the raising up of thousands of men in the home Asso¬ ciation membership, who w r ould join them at the place of prayer and in a life of sacrifice. Such a band of men would be worth many times more to the home work of our Associations than the money and effort given to the work abroad. III. ASSOCIATION FOREIGN WORK. To provide a simple program of foreign work that can be carried out by any Association, and at the same time furnish a plan that is capable of accomplishing greater results, it is necessary to consider the scheme of Associa¬ tion foreign work in two sections: (1) The committee plan; (2) the volunteer league. 1. The Committee Plan. This is elementary and can be adopted by any Associ¬ ation. It is also fundamental, and should form the basis of the foreign work even in Associations where the Volunteer league can also be undertaken. The plan includes: (1) A foreign work committee; (2) a foreign work meeting; (3) missionary literature; (4) a foreign work fund. (1) The Foreign Work Committee, a. Composition. “The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim. ii. 2.) These “faithful” and “able” men should also be men of prayer and persistence, and should be filled with the missionary spirit. They should be selected also with reference to their particular fitness for doing, or getting others to do, the things that need to be done to make the Association foreign work entirely successful. This sug¬ gests: — b. Organization. The committee should be organized and its work subdivided so as to place upon individual members definite responsibility, such as (a) chairman, who, with the cooperation of his committee, should also be responsible for the Association foreign work meetings; (/;) secretary, who should also serve as librarian, to secure wide circulation of the “Foreign Mail” to individual subscribers, promote the reading of missionary pam¬ phlets and reports, and build up and popularize a model Association missionary library; ( c ) treasurer, who should also serve as promoter of systematic giving for Associa¬ tion work in mission lands. c. Meetings. The committee should hold regular monthly meetings, and special meetings when necessary. d. Reports. Written reports, constituting a faithful 4 record of the committee’s work, should be given each month to the board of directors. (2) The Association Foreign Work Meeting. ■ a. Importance. The appointing of a foreign work com¬ mittee places the responsibility for the Association’s for¬ eign work upon a few, but the establishing of a foreign work meeting enables these responsible men to bring the missionary message to the entire Association member¬ ship. b. Time and Place. The best time and the most prominent place on the Association platform, which in most Associations is set apart for the gospel meetings on Sunday afternoon, should be given to this meeting. The regular object of the gospel meeting will not be lost by making place occasionally for a missionary program, for there is no greater or more impressive evidence of Chris¬ tianity than the progress of the gospel in mission lands, and conversions may reasonably be expected as a result of a well conducted foreign work meeting. This state¬ ment is not theory, but is based on actual and repeated experience. c. Frequency. The foreign work meeting should be held at least once each quarter, and not oftener than once a month, preferably bi-monthly. The meeting should be held regularly, the dates being set apart and kept sacredly for this purpose in the Association calendar. d. Program. The program of the Association foreign work meeting should be made very strong and attractive. The meeting should not only give information, but the information should be so given as to produce a profound spiritual impression. To accomplish this result strong speakers should be secured, and engaged sufficiently in advance to enable them to make the best preparation. Some phase of the Association’s work and opportunities in mission lands should constitute the principal theme of 0 every meeting, and frequent emphasis should be given to the practical features of the Association foreign work and the Volunteer league. In this way only can the Association members be led to recognize and accept their missionary responsibility, and be intelligently enlisted as helpers in the Association work in mission lands. Suggested topics for the foreign work meeting- will be found in the religious work Prospectus. (3) Association Missionary Literature. Concise and interesting statements of the fields, facts, methods, work¬ ers, results, and opportunities of the Association work in mission lands, and of the principles and methods of the Association foreign work, have been prepared, and should be read by every Association member. a. The Foreign Mail. As its name suggests, this is the official periodical of the Association foreign work, containing news items from the field and the missionary movement at home, and the best things ip the recent correspondence of the foreign secretaries. It also gives the prayer topics of the “Sunday morning watch.” It is therefore indispensable to the interested member, and the price has been placed so low that every one who will may become a subscriber. b. The Forward Movement Pamphlets. These pam¬ phlets are campaign documents for busy men, explain¬ ing and advocating the principles, plans, and reasons for this movement for world-wide evangelization, organiza¬ tion, and enlistment of young men. They should be used freely, and yet judiciously, and will help to educate, stimulate, and direct the Association members in build¬ ing up an effective Association foreign work. c. The Association Missionary Library. Every Asso¬ ciation should have a library of from two to twenty of the best missionary books on each of the Association mission fields, together with from five to fifteen of the 6 choicest missionary biographies and missionary books of a more general character. This library should be kept in circulation among the members, and should be increased from time to time, as desirable new books are published. A list of such books may be found in the religious work Prospectus. (4) The Association Foreign Work Fund. a. Impor¬ tance. Missionary information should not be allowed to evaporate, but should be encouraged to crystallize in substantial missionary offerings. The foreign work com¬ mittee should be ambitious to accumulate as large a for¬ eign work fund as possible, by getting the largest possi¬ ble number of members to regularly contribute to it. The possession of a fund enables the Association not only to be well disposed toward the foreign work enterprise, and say to it, “depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,” but also to give to it “those things which are needful,” and thus become a partner in the business. b. Best Method of Accumulation. No better method has been suggested than the apostolic “rule of three” for Christian giving. (1 Cor. xvi. 2.) (a) Every one of you give something , “lay by him in store”; ( b ) every one give regularly, “upon the first day of the week”; ( c) Every one give proportionately , “as God hath prospered him. ” c. Collection. The amounts, which the regular and proportionate givers “lay by,” may be collected weekly, monthly, or quarterly, at the convenience of the giver. Envelopes, perforated cards, or small silk money bags may facilitate collection, but a faithful, systematic, painstaking and persistent treasurer, using, but not depending upon labor-saving appliances, is absolutely indispensable to complete success. jr 2. The Volunteer League. (1) Significance. To fill an Association with the mis¬ sionary spirit it is necessary to plan and patiently carry out a campaign of education among the members, lead them to identify themselves with the missionary move¬ ment, and enlist them in some form of helpful mission¬ ary service. The Volunteer league includes: A mis¬ sionary purpose; missionary reading; missionary pray¬ ing; missionary giving. The average Association member attending a mission¬ ary meeting perhaps once in three months, dropping a coin into the collection, and occasionally reading the shortest news notes in the “Foreign Mail,” advances at too slow a pace to accomplish much for the world’s evangelization. The Volunteer league unites in a missionary brother¬ hood those members who are willing to give sufficient time to study, prayer, and the practice of Christian stewardship to really make missions a part of the busi¬ ness of their lives. (2) Purpose. The Volunteer league enables a man to identify himself with the great missionary movement, and to declare his missionary purpose. The student volunteer says, “It is my purpose, if God permit, to become a foreign missionary.” The Volunteer league member says, ‘ ‘ It is my purpose , by the grace of God , to live , to study , to pray , and to give for the world's evangel¬ ization." In this purpose he has advantage of the student volun¬ teer, for he knows that God will not prevent. (3) Requirements. The Volunteer league member undertakes to do three things: To give time regularly to missionary reading; to keep the ‘ ‘ Sunday morning watch” in prayer for missions; to give something, 8 and systematically, for Association work in mission lands. a. Missionary Reading. “Truth is stranger than fic¬ tion,” and most men are strangers to the truth concern¬ ing missions. The facts, however, are accessible, and a determined man may master them without interfering with his business. The Volunteer league suggests two methods of acquiring missionary information: (a) Home reading. (See section beginning page 73 on Associa- ciation missionary literature.) (/;) Mission study club. Courses of study have been outlined on the dif¬ ferent Association mission fields, and on Bible facts and principles fundamental to missions. (For such courses see the Prospectus of the religious work of the Young Men’s Christian Association.) b. Missionary Praying. The opportunity of “help¬ ing together by prayer” the Association representatives in mission lands is afforded by the prayer topics of the “Sunday morning watch.” These topics are gathered by regular correspondence and printed in the “Foreign Mail.” They represent the latest information from the foreign secretaries, concerning their plans, undertakings, needs, difficulties, opportunities, and encouragements. The topics are arranged on a weekly cycle, and grouped ■ by fields and special objects. The importance and signi¬ ficance of this prayer cycle will be apparent to those who believe in prayer as a method of Christian work. Our Association work in mission lands is no longer the work of a few secretaries, throwing away their lives in a visionary and impossible undertaking, but these men become simply^he scouts and skirmish lines of the real army of men Joy-prayer, an army equipped with weapons of precision and of irresistible power. Who can over¬ estimate the possible achievements of ten thousand men upon their knees at one time, in definite united and 0 believing prayer for the extension of Christ’s kingdom among young men, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth? c. Missionary Giving. The chief difficulty in mis¬ sionary giving is not in lack of method, but in lack of motive, due to failure to recognize the fundamental prin¬ ciple of Christian stewardship. Nothing could be more important for the upbuilding and unlimited extension of Christ’s kingdom than a revival of Christian stewardship, based on intelligent convictions on the relation of money to the kingdom of God. As a result, men would begin to dedicate their lives to the accumulation of money for the sole purpose of spending it for Christian work, as other men, with teaching and speaking ability, now give their lives to the direct preaching of the gospel. The cause of missions needs money, but not merely money. Acting on convictions of his Christian stewardship, and with the courage of his convictions, a man “lays by him in store as God hath prospered him.” This “stored energy,” representing just so much of a Christian man’s life transmuted into money power, may be released in the work of a representative in mission lands, and through it mighty works for.God and men may be accomplished, especially if the gift is accompanied and followed by the prayers of the giver. The gift is saturated with prayer, and the prayer is accelerated by the gift. A careful selection of Christian stewardship pamphlets has been made by the International Committee, and may be obtained from them at moderate cost. These may be effectively used: (a) By placing them in the hands of individuals; ( b ) as material for a short course of study on Christian stewardship; (