Form F5—1M—12-18-23—1 
 
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 in 2018 with funding from 
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 https://archive.org/details/manualforforeignOOunit 
 
I. Foreign Missionary Work 
 
 a. Aim 
 
 Tlip motive, authority and jrrogiam of For¬ 
 eign Missions are found in the Missionary com¬ 
 mand and commission of our Lord: ‘'All au¬ 
 thority hath been given unto me in heaven and 
 on eartli. Go ye therefore, and make disciples 
 of all the nations, baptizing them into the name 
 of the Father and of the 8on and of the Holy 
 Siririt; teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I commanded you; and lo, I am 
 with you always, even unto the end of the 
 world.” (Matthew 28:19-20). This commis¬ 
 sion was given to the whole Body of Christ 
 and the responsibility of the evangelization of 
 non-Christian nations is upon all Christians. 
 
 Under this commission the aim of Foreign 
 Missions is to make Jesus Christ known to all 
 men and to lead them to become his followers; 
 to invite them into churches as was done in 
 the early days of the church, to co-operate 
 with them, and as rapidly as possible to make 
 these churches self-governing, self-supporting 
 and self-propagating. 
 
 All forms of missionary work which will con¬ 
 tribute to the carrying out of the commission 
 are legitimate and the relation of these forms 
 of work, and the proportion of each which 
 shall be done, must be determined in the light 
 of conditions and needs on the fields. 
 
 The spiritual aspects of the nn.ssionary work 
 are entitled to the thoughts and affections of 
 all who engage in it. Applicants for appoint¬ 
 ment as missionaries shordd set before their 
 minds the authority, glory, and grace of Christ, 
 and the honor of His name in the salvation 
 of souls, as their great aim. They shoidd offer 
 
tlioir services in the woik of spreading the 
 gospel under a sense of l)eing divinely called 
 to it, and they should seek their reward in 
 our blessed Lord’s ai^proval. 
 
 b. Evangelistic Work 
 
 While all missionary work should be evan¬ 
 gelistic, there is a type of service which is al¬ 
 ways directly evangelistic. Its purpose is as 
 follows: To give the people the saving message 
 of the Bible through preaching, personal work, 
 teaching, community and social service, insti¬ 
 tutional effort, literature, and the influence of 
 the personal Christian life and the Christian 
 home. To lead the peojde who have thus been 
 influenced to accept Christ as their Savior. To 
 aid in organizing these converts iiito churches 
 according to the New Testament plan and 
 to train them in effective Christian work, and 
 to seek out those who are qualified for leader¬ 
 ship and to train them for service. 
 
 c. Educational Work 
 
 Educational work can hardly be spoken of as 
 simidy Department of Foreign Missions. Like 
 evangelistic work, it -runs through the whole 
 enterprise. The Missionary School affords an 
 effective means of getting the young of non- 
 Christian parents under the sustained contact 
 of Christian leaders and through this contact 
 lead them to Christ. Another function of Mis¬ 
 sionary Educational work is to take the young 
 of the Christian community and give them a 
 thoroughly Christian education, thus training 
 them for leadership in the church, the nation 
 and in everyday life. An illiterate Church 
 membership cannot win or hold leadership and 
 cannot free it.self of super.stition and pagan 
 ideals. 
 
 d. Medical Work 
 
 IMucli of missionary effort must be the serv¬ 
 ice which the spirit of Christ renders in human 
 
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(lib^tress. This is the greatest demonstration 
 to tlie fjoople of the real character of Chris¬ 
 tianity. Besides the healing of the sick, the 
 hospital and dispensary provides an exception¬ 
 ally fine inediuni for direct personal work and 
 evangelization. Xon-Christian lands have little 
 means of alleviating disease and suffering, and 
 here Medical Missions not only applies the 
 service side of the Gospel, but furnishes a key 
 to open the door to hearts and communities. 
 It has been found necessary in some lands to 
 go further than the direct service of the mis¬ 
 sionary and to build up as far as possible 
 an indigenous Christian Medical profession, 
 through trained native doctors and nurses. It 
 is very important that each doctor give himself 
 to medical service and only in the gravest emer¬ 
 gency should he be asked to drop it, even tem¬ 
 porarily, to take up other work. 
 
 e. Work for the Helpless 
 
 One of the most effective services of the 
 Foreign Mission enterprise is carried on among 
 the most unfortunate and helpless. M"ork for 
 orphans, lepers, the blind, famine sufferers and 
 other needy ones provides a beautiful avenue 
 for the work of the missionary. 
 
 f. Literary Work 
 
 Xo permanent Christian work can be carried 
 on without Christian Literature in the tongue 
 of the i^eople. Christianity must mean not only 
 a great field of usefulness here and the print¬ 
 ing press is one of the greatest agencies for 
 good in the work of evangelization and train¬ 
 ing. The Bible and other books are widely 
 circulated in the native vernacular, and tracts, 
 periodicals, Sunday school supplies and school 
 text books are written and printed in large 
 cpiantities. Literature for evangelistic, apolo¬ 
 getic, and spiritual training purposes is neces¬ 
 sary everywhere. 
 
 o 
 
g. Industrial Work 
 
 Christianity can only be permanent as it lie- 
 comes a real jrart of the everyday industrial 
 life of the people. Especially, among primi¬ 
 tive ireoi^les, in tropical lands, is it necessary 
 to adapt education to the daily needs and crafts 
 of tlie people. Christianity must mean not only 
 redeemed souls, but better nourishment for 
 bodies and the blessing of fruitful labor. Such 
 work should always be carried on with evan¬ 
 gelization and the building of Christian char¬ 
 acter in mind. 
 
 II. The Missionary 
 
 1. General Qualifications, Preparation, etc. 
 
 a. Spiritual 
 
 There is no Cliristian work in the world more 
 difficult than that of the Foreign missionary. 
 One who is not fully converted to Christ and 
 who does not hold deep convictions as to the 
 fundamentals of the faith, will neither be 
 happy nor successful in the work. One needs 
 to 1)6 so constrained by the love of Christ that 
 he can carry on a difficult task with joy and 
 evidence of this should be forthcoming by ex- 
 peiience at home before going to the field. It 
 is better to have a few candidates with devotion 
 burning in their souls, than many who lack in 
 earnestness and deep spiritual qualifications. 
 
 b. Educational 
 
 The work requires the very best of educa¬ 
 tional training. Conditions have developed on 
 most fields that make special training more 
 necessary than formerly. Besides the fact that 
 in most fields the missionary is obliged to meet 
 well educated natives on their own ground and 
 win their respect, the task itself is of such a 
 nature that a well trained mind is necessary to 
 successfully master its baffling prolilems. A 
 missionary must be a leader and many times 
 the task of superintending an enterprise falls 
 
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on his shoulders, where he is not surrounded by 
 those who can counsel with him. The minimum 
 of education should be the equivalent of a full 
 college course with a year or two of extra spe¬ 
 cial preparation. Thorough Bible training 
 should always be included in the above or taken 
 extra. Candidates should not only have thor¬ 
 ough Biblical training, but also such a knowl¬ 
 edge of Christianity as to bo able to strongly 
 present its claims to non-Christian peoples. 
 Linguistic ability must be evident to meet the 
 requirements of the fields. One who cannot 
 get the native language is most seriously handi¬ 
 capped. As a rule married women should have 
 the same qualifications as arc required of single 
 women. 
 
 c. College of Missions 
 
 Every candidate is expected to spend a year 
 or two of study at the College of Missions in 
 direct preparation for the work and in addition 
 to college and other training. This latter train¬ 
 ing provides much essential help besides the 
 intellectual training it affords. 
 
 d. Physical 
 
 No missionary candidate can be considered 
 by the Society who does not have good health 
 and a strong constitution, and a good health 
 history. As a rule, both the climate and the 
 nature of the work are moie trying than at 
 home, and a weak point in health or physical 
 condition will soon be put to the test. The 
 service of the missionary is supposed to be tor 
 life, and it is due the work, as well as the peo¬ 
 ple who support it, that a missionary have a 
 good prospect of long, vigorous service. The 
 Society requires a thorough physical examina¬ 
 tion. 
 
 e. Other Necessary Qualifications 
 
 Love for the native people is an absolute 
 necessity for success. Tliis requires a natiu'e 
 
of dec]) sympathy, toleranpo, and imagination. 
 These qualifications are also necessary in order 
 to work harmoniously with one’s fellow mis¬ 
 sionaries. The qualities of good judgment, 
 leadership, team-work and patience will need 
 to be strongly tested out before appointment 
 to a Foreign field. Candidates should be well 
 matured in experience before appointment. On 
 the other hand it is not as a rule deemed ad¬ 
 visable to send workers out who are beyond 
 thirty years of age. Difficult problems arise 
 where candidates with children are considered 
 for appointment, and such instances necessitate 
 sjiecial consideration. 
 
 2. Special Qualifications 
 
 Those,who expect to do missionary work des¬ 
 ignated as evangelistic service, should not only 
 have special training beyond the college course, 
 but should also have had some definite expe¬ 
 rience in pastoral or evangelistic service. Edu¬ 
 cational missionaries should have special train¬ 
 ing in educational courses and should also have 
 some ])raetical experience. Those who are plan¬ 
 ning to undertake medical service, will need the 
 full accredited medical course and at least a 
 year of hospital interneship. They should also 
 have special training in the Bible. Such candi¬ 
 dates should also have successful experience in 
 Christian service. Those who go as nurses should 
 preferably have a full college course in addi¬ 
 tion to the nurses’ course and should have the 
 training at the College of Missions, together 
 with Bible training. One applying to go as 
 an industrial missionary, or special worker of 
 any sort, should have had thorough training 
 in his speciality besides good foundational 
 courses and traiiiing in the Bible. Since the 
 educational phases of the work are so intimate¬ 
 ly connected with all types of missionary serv¬ 
 ice, it is urged that every candidate, become 
 somewhat acquainted with pedagogical work 
 
 S 
 
and motliods beforo going out. Childion of 
 missionaries who have giown up on the field 
 and wlio are preparing for missionary service 
 should have at least a year of practical service 
 at home before going to the field. 
 
 3. Appointment to Fields 
 
 All candidates are required to fill out l)lanks 
 for information, file an application blank, take 
 a thorough medical examination, and give suf¬ 
 ficient references as to training and other quali¬ 
 fications. 
 
 It is required that a personal interview ,be 
 had with each candidate, either by the candi¬ 
 date secretary, or some member of the Foreign 
 Department, before any final jilans are made 
 for either training or service. It is the pur¬ 
 pose of the (Society to have its officers keep 
 in touch with volunteers and prospective 
 candidates during their college courses and 
 graduate work. Xo final appointments will 
 lie made to the fields until the candidate has 
 come near the end of his preparation, al¬ 
 though fair assuiances can be made concein- 
 ing possible apjiointment, suliject to the cir¬ 
 cumstances of health and the testing of 
 qualifications. 
 
 The College of Missions has a faculty of 
 missionary specialists, most of whom have 
 had long service on the mission field. One 
 of the strong merits of the school is the 
 ability' it affords for keeping in close con¬ 
 tact with the officers of the Society in con¬ 
 nection with plans for appointment to the 
 field of service. At the college, as soon as 
 it is determined what the probable field of 
 the candidate will be, the student begins to 
 jirepare for that specific field and has the 
 fellowship and help of the others who are 
 looking toward the same field. Direction aiid 
 help also is possible in connection with the 
 particular type of work for which the candi¬ 
 date is preparing. The College of Missions 
 
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also affords the candidate a rare opi)ortnnity 
 to come in contact with Brotherhood leader¬ 
 ship and work. 
 
 While the Society wishes as far as possdde 
 to satisfy a candidate’s desire for a particular 
 field, it is often necessary to advise change 
 in this regard,, in the light of needs on the 
 fields and the worker’s characteristics. A 
 s 2 )eeial service of appointment and ordination 
 is held at the College of Missions each year,, 
 in connection with the commencement exer¬ 
 cises. 
 
 Su^^ested Undergraduate Work Pre¬ 
 paratory to College of Missions Work 
 
 The following undergraduate course is recom¬ 
 mended for missionary candidates who, in 
 addition to their college work, will take special 
 training in the College of Missions: 
 
 Semester Honrs 
 
 1. English . 
 
 2. History . 
 
 3. Science . ) 
 
 4. IMathematics . ) 
 
 5. Old Testament . . . 
 
 6. New Testament . . . 
 
 7. Religious Education 
 
 8. Psychology . 
 
 9. Philosophy . 
 
 10. Ethics or Doctrine 
 
 11. Sociology . 
 
 12. Language . 
 
 13. Public Speaking . . 
 
 14. Hygiene. 
 
 Id. Church History . . 
 
 S 
 
 (3 
 
 S 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 •> 
 f > 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 Total 91 
 
 In regard to the above list the following 
 may be said: The studies recommended ai e 
 aimed to give the student first a broad 
 
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cultural course, and secondarily, to jn-opare 
 him for the special training which is given 
 at the College of Missions. The course out¬ 
 lined is an ideal course and not intended to 
 be rigidly insisted on. It is felt, however, 
 that ordinarily the student should as far as 
 possible, conform to this course. The total 
 number of semester hours required for gradua¬ 
 tion is usually slightly in excess of 120. As 
 this course provides for about ninety hours, 
 it gives the student ample margin for taking 
 a few extra courses and for specializing along 
 the line of his major. 
 
 Appended are a few special iiotes in re¬ 
 gard to the courses as given above'. 
 
 1. English: The student should pay partic¬ 
 ular attention to Grammar, and, if availalde, 
 a course in Higher Grammar should be taken 
 in college. The reason for this is that a 
 foreign language cannot be properly masten'd 
 unless the student has a thorough knowledge 
 of his mother tongue. This applies particularly 
 to the grammatical structure of the language. 
 
 2. History: Every student should have 
 a course in History, partly for its cidtural 
 value and partly ,becau.se of the historical con¬ 
 nections. 
 
 .‘). Science: Biology would probably be 
 
 the most usefid of the laboi-atory sciences. 
 
 .■) and (). Itible woik: Every student 
 should have as complete a course in Biblical 
 snbjects as jmssible. The amounts put down 
 here are what should bo the minimum prepara¬ 
 tion. Giaduate Bib’e Courses are offered in 
 the College of Missions. 
 
 7, 8, i), 10 and 11. Course 7 is practical, 
 while courses 8 and 9 furnish a background 
 for orientation into the study of the religion 
 and philosophy of non-Christian peoples, and 
 are practically prerequisites for courses given 
 in the College of Missions. In a similar way, 
 
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iium])ei’ 11, Sociology, is liighly essential for 
 understanding the cidture and life of the 
 l)eop]e, and is a ])rerequisite to some College 
 of Missions courses. 
 
 12. Language: Xo missionary can be 
 
 effective unless he has a thorough knowledg’e 
 of the people among whom he is working. 
 It is recommended that at least one language 
 be a modern language. French is always use¬ 
 ful. tipanish is the language for candidates 
 preparing for Latin-America. Rnch language 
 study not only has practical value, but also 
 introduces a student into the method of learn¬ 
 ing a language in such a way as to sjreak and 
 use it. 
 
 15. Church History: Clnrrcli History is 
 preliminary to a study of missionary expan¬ 
 sion and growth. 
 
 Candidate Secretary 
 
 Miss Lela E. Taylor 
 
 United Christian Missionary Society 
 
 425 DeBaliviere Ave. 
 
 St. Louis, Missouri 
 
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