re NEWS BULLETIN } * anues 66 9 3 ee ae us,| we oecond Mile 156 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. In this first Bulletin of the Board of Foreign Missions for the year 1920, and the last Bulletin, of the Board’s fiscal year, 1919-1920, we deal with the “second mile” of the diplomat, the official, the mission- ary, and the Mission Board. When King George of England, in December, 1919, issued a proclamation granting to India a larger degree of self-government, he said among other things: “The path will not be easy, and in the march toward the goal there will be the need of persever- ance and mutual forbearance between all sections and races of my people in India. I am confident that these high qualities will be forthcoming.” In a word the need of “the second mile.” There is many a “second mile” in missionary service. When it was necessary in May, 1919, that some A “Second Mile ” Diplomat one should go to Urumia and rescue Dr. Packard and his family, Consul Paddock secured the necessary guard. As an official, he had done all that was expected of him, but he did not stop there. He went himself with the guard, a literal “second mile.” The Rev. Jacob David, of Urumia, who was in the city - at the time, wrote: ; “Our joy and happiness when we heard Mr. Paddock was only two hours away was indescribable. América ought to be proud of such noble sons who, taking their lives in their hands, dare to come to this dangerous region alone to relieve the poor, needy and oppressed. The success of the mission was due to Mr. Paddock’s sagacity, tact, courage, and forcefulness. The night when he arrived there was a great deal of grumbling when the Persians heard he had come to take the Christians with him, but he knew how to deal with them, and they respected him and obeyed his orders.” The story of General Feng Yu Shiang and his work &< ogi iss among a division of the Chinese troops in Hunan A “Second Mile General Province, is something unique not only in the history of China, but of the world. General Feng’s headquarters were in Changteh, Hunan, where the Presbyterian Church has a mis- sion, and Mr. Goforth of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission spent nine days, at General Feng’s request, in evangelistic services with the officers and soldiers. The General himself was a constant attendant at the meetings, doing everything he could to help on the work, often exhorting the men, leading in public prayer, and at times breaking down with weeping as he plead with God and his men and confessed his own sins, When the General first,came to Changteh with his soldiers, all bad women were ordered to leave within three days. All gambling dens and theatres were closed, the theatres being turned into schools and workshops and preaching halls. No smoking, no drinking, and no bad language is allowed among his men, and a Canadian missionary, who had worked among them for a year, said he had never heard a bad word. All looting, to which the Chinese soldiers are so prone, is a thing unknown among them, and the people of Changteh and surrounding country are experiencing such a time of safety and satisfaction as they never knew before. The General does not wish his men to turn bandits when they leave the army, so he has provided factories supplied with knitting and sewing machines, where the men may learn to make socks for the army and clothes. There are also looms for making towels, besides equipment for book-binding, rattan chair making, etc. FEB 25 1990 The General's control over his men is absolute. They would die for him. He calls them his “Boys,” and he is like a father to them. Over 1,000 of his men have been baptized, and it is said that eight out of ten are believers. General Feng’s “second mile” is his slogan “Our Brigade to Convert All the Soldiers in China.” “SECOND MILE” MISSIONARIES It is said of Theodore Roosevelt that “wherever he went he carried his own pack, and in the utter- most parts of the earth he kept his conscience for his guide.” The Presbyterian Foreign Missionary literally carries his own pack and follows his conscience in the lonely places of the earth. > On the West Coast of Africa, at a lonely mission In Africa station, the only missionary, a physician, took his co-workers out to sea in his boat, to meet the home- going steamer, intending immediately after transferring them to the steamer to return to the station. That was all that was expected of him, and all he had counted on doing at just that time. But there was a second mile for him to travel that day—a sick man on board the steamer, which meant a trip back to the station fourteen miles away for medicine, and a return to the ship. The man was very ill and the missionary knows no hesitation in a case like that. He learned also that the steamer could not sail until twenty-five tons of wrecked cargo, five miles away on the beach, were gathered up and put on board. He writes: “I was the representative of the American Presbyterian Church and this was a call for help, so I gathered my crew together and we sailed away for the cargo. It was a hard job: cables, four inches in diameter, two to four hundred feet long, black and greasy; old chains, broken machinery, iron of all sorts, bundles of sail, etc. But we finally were loaded, and while the boat and crew followed down the shore to the station, I walked the mile and a half, got the medicine, and then with my crew headed back for the tiny light of the steamer.” It was after midnight when this consecrated physician reached his lonely outpost, but he was con- tent, for he had “followed his conscience in the lonely places” and had gone his “second mile.” A student of the American High School for Boys in Teheran, Persia, in an article in the leading maga- zine of Teheran, pays the following tribute to the Rev. S. M. Jordan, D.D., the Principal of the School: “In the cholera epidemic of 1904, when all the Persians, poor and rich, were deserting the city and were taking refuge in the mountains nearby, when disease and death with their sickles were mowing down the people like grass, Dr. Jordan with a case of medicines in his hand was going about and treating the sick in the filthiest quarters of Teheran, which were the nests of disease. In the famine and distress of 1918 he chose for himself as a center of distribution the Bazaar and Pa-Chapogh Quarters as these were the filthiest, the most needy, and the most dangerous quarters. As a consequence of this self-sacrifice and through coming into contact with the sick, he got typhus. There was fear of his bidding life farewell, but apparently God had not ordained that the thread of his services should be cut so quickly. Fortunately, after forty days of severe illness and weakness he found recovery and renewed his services even as now, through various means, he is engaged in serving the sons of Persia,” In Persia The Presbyterian Board, in order to carry out the In Mexico plan of cooperation whereby every state in Mexico should have at least one group of missionary workers, gave up a portion of its work in temperate Mexico, and sent its missionary force to Vera Cruz and tropical Yucatan, Tabasco, and Chiapas, where climatic conditions are most trying, but where the need is very great. It requires much of the “second mile” service to carry on evangelistic work in distant parts of Yucatan and Tabasco, but the young women in charge of the flourishing school, not yet three years old, in Merida, Yucatan, have gone steadily on in spite of changes in finance, changes in political parties, and all the other obstacles incident to starting a new work. The missionaries in Merida engaged in evangelistic service, have toiled unceasingly. When a recent cable reached the Board that the mission house and church at Jalapa, in the state of Vera Cruz, had been ruined by earthquake, it added “Contents being salvaged. Presbyterian Committee active relief.” This meant that the church members at Jalapa, though no missionary is resident there at the present time, had of their own initiative gone into relief work. A telegram from Jalapa to Mexico City announced that “although the church building is a ruin, open-air meetings are being held.” A “SECOND MILE” MISSION BOARD d The Board of Foreign Missions has made stren- In Africa uous efforts to secure new missionaries in order that the work carried on by the German and Swiss Societies in North Cameroun, prior to the War, shall not come to a complete standstill. The Board in entering this field does it with the distinct understanding that at any time when the Swiss and German Societies can resume their labors, it will relinquish its task. The plan contemplated for the present extends the work of the Presbyterian Church North as far as the Sanaga and Wuri Rivers, taking over the field in which the Basler and Gossner Missions were at work, which includes four large and one small stations, necessitating on the part of the Board the probable establishment of two new stations in order to care adequately for the work; also a large expenditure of funds, and many additional missionaries, This is simply an example of a great Board willing to go a “second mile.” ‘ The Presbyterian Board has a large work in Syria In Syria which is undermanned. The American Board, before tne War, carried on a work at Mardin which it now plans tc hand over to the Presbyterian Board for a period of five years, because of the large Arabic- speaking population in Mardin, the only station of the American Board with such a population. The Syria Mission, realizing that the work at this station and at Aleppo, where it is proposed to open a new station, geographically and linguistically belongs to its sphere of influence, voted at its Annual Meeting in July, 1919, to assume, with the Board’s consent, the oversight of this work, This involves the immediate transfer of one of the present missionary force of the Syria Mission, to Mardin; and a large increase in the missionary force and a much larger budget for Syria. The Board has voted to attempt this new task, in spite of the facts that the funds are not yet in sight, and that the force of native preachers and teachers in both fields have been greatly reduced during the War. It is willing to start on this “second mi’2’ in order that the fullest measure of co-operation and efficiency may be obtained. THE “SECOND MILE” IN THE HOME CHURCH The vast unoccupied areas in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, have been carefully surveyed by the Interchurch World Movement, and allocated to various existing agencies whose work borders on these “No Man’s Lands” of the mission fields. If the Presbyterian Church is to bear its full share of this new world burden, it will be necessary for thousands of Christians this year to go “the second mile.” One of these unoccupied areas is in the Republic In Colombia of Colombia, where the Presbyterian Church is car- rying on mission work at six centres in the northern part. The work is a small one. The Board is now asked to assume the entire oversight of work in a vast territory which embraces a population of some 5,000,000 people. This is only one of many such requests coming out of this survey of the Interchurch World Movement. The program for Colombia includes 45 chapels, 46 schools, 9 hospitals, 13 dispensaries, 4 social centers, and 1 business agency, with a sufficient number of missionaries and native workers to adequately man this field. The present force of the Presbyterian church is 22, These are the days of great visions and great faith. “Second Mile’ Visions At the meeting of the Interchurch World Movement at Atlantic City, January 7-9, in a World Survey Conference, there were representatives of 42 denominations, in all over 1,700. men and women. One of the most striking actions of the Conference was a general approval of a budget which covers the financial needs of what is considered an adequate Christian program, each item of which is to be adjusted with the denomination directly involved. The entire budget amounted to $326,107,837 on a one-year basis, and $1,320,214,551 on a five-year basis. The apportionment to the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., for its foreign work, on a one-year basis is $14,656,738. This amount has not yet been approved by the Execu- tive Commission of the General Assembly, but if this vision is to become a reality, and in some form it must become a reality, it will require the faith and self-denial of many a one willing to go “the second mile.” THE ‘‘SECOND MILE’’ IN DOLLARS HOW FAR ALONG ARE WE PRESBYTERIANS AS MEASURED BY RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES? The “Second Mile” stands for extra virtue It involves more than commonplace duty It implies real sacrifice, freely given A few individuals and families of our Presbyterian household are travelling the “second mile” of giving this year. STUDY THE STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS (Ten Months of This Year, Compared with Ten Months of Last) 1920 1919 Increase Decrease Received from Churches....... $966,501 $485,331 S48 1110 Bere ‘‘ Sabbath Schools. 50,085 DO OUOMsET) . i aueeemens $6,720 oe “Individuals .... 207,638 74,349 133;288 cys hee: ae S “ ~Woman’s Boards 191,554 2A? Siem) - ieees 515127 a “ Y. P. Societies.. 22,886 23562998) +! Saree 743 TE Qbats |... AP ane $1,438,664 $882,795 Net increase for ten months $555,868 This Half Million Increase represents The Distance Covered By the “Second Milers” This Year MORE ‘“‘SECOND MILERS’’ ARE NEEDED STUDY THE OBLIGATIONS Total required for year ending March 31, 1920 (estimated)............. $2,947,329 Recerved thus farithis Wear.) 23.4) ak ee ee ee ee $1,438,664 . Estimated amounts to be received final two months of the year (based on ‘last yeah) secs 3. Se eee ee ees 1,416,226 Total receipts} (estimated) 2). 3..5.,.....20 05. if .. .$2,854,890 Subtracting total Receipts (see above) from Total Obligations The year 1919-20 (ending March 31) will show a DEFICIT of............... $92,439 AND NOTE: The War Deficit Garried Over Amounted to... 2). Bea $612,148 Total Deficit, IF THERE ARE NO MORE “SECOND MILERS”........ $704,587 RECAPITULATION The “Second Milers’ increased Receipts for Foreign Missions during 10 months by iin... Bos as an Ne 5 a Tee $555,868 More “Second Milers” Wanted to Increase Receipts during remaining 2 monthsDy 76.20. Rare Ee eee oe eee aD DRAM cae. $700,000 SEND YOUR “SECOND MILE” CHECK FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS TO YOUR CHURCH TREASURER BEFORE MARCH 31, 1920 February, 1920 Form 2708