METHODS OF MISSIONARY WORK

[s. 484] : Methods adopted in mi ionary work may be considered as, 1st, Evangelistic; 2d, Pastoral. The first has. primary reference to the conversion of men, the second to their development into a likene to Christ. To use the language of a secretary of the CMS, we have: “1. The preaching of the Gospel to the unconverted; 2. The building up of the native church as it is pictured to us in the concluding chapter of St. John’s Gospel, where Christ’s servants are represented in figure, first as fishers casting the Gospel net, and then as shepherd* Education is a feeding and tending the flock. part of each. For the heathen and the Mohammedan it is undertaken solely as a means of evangelization. For the Christian population, whether elementary for the children, or profe ional for the future pastor or teacher or evana department of pastoral work. So, Meditoo, publication is a department of each. cal work is primariljf evangelistic; its benefit to converts is rather incidental.” I. now mention first methods that are common to both evangelistic and pastoral work, not undertaking to be exhaustive in the statement of them, but rather to indicate the line* gelist, it is We along which the mi ionary works. 1. Personal Conversation: The prime element Men are in all mi ionary work is the personal. drawn to men. Just as it was Christ’s personality that drew men to Him, so it is largely the personality of the mi ionary that draws men Thie to him, and through him to the Savior. has been most markedly shown in the lives of the great leaders, Henry Martyn, Judson, Living stone, Indeed, Hannington and others. Goodell, almost all who have had succe in mi ionary work have found their greatest power in the close, intimate relation of personal conversation, personal contact, where the needy soul felt the touch, of the full soul, drew strength from it, and wa* satisfied; where the hard soul felt the power of the magnetic soul, and despite itself was drawn away into a higher life; where the cold, indifferent soul felt the heat of a soul on fire with the love of God, and expanded into a nature purer far than it had dreamed of. It is no easy thing for an Occidental to come in contact with Oriental ideas, prejudices and habits, and to exert such influences as shall bring about change without doing harm. It is easier to repel than attract, to harden than to soften, especially in public. Men are swayed by the power of the ma of their fellow-men. A single soul in a multitude may be overwhelmed; in private conversation it may be developed. Thus the fundamental method of mi ionary work in every land is intercourse with persons. Not only is this true of the inception of any work, but also of its continuance. It is just as important and universal to-day as when mi ion work was commenced. It is employed by every different agency, foreign and native, mi ionary, pastor, catechist; especially by Zenana workers, and almost exclusively by Bible readers; it is adapted to every cla , and is almost the only means of reaching some. In the pastoral division of mi ionary work the element of personal influence is, if anything, stronger than the evangelistic certainly so far as the mi ionary himself is concerned; and it is here that personal genius makes itself felt — m most markedly. It not infrequently happens that to a pa ing traveler the mi ionary appears to be doing little mi ionary work. He seldom preaches; he may not be an educator or a translator. Hour after hour and day after day he is in his study, or among the people, talking, talking, Could the observer hear and understand the conversation, he would marvel at the range of topics, covering every department of human life and every phase of religious doctrine. Shall tithes be given? How shall a church be organized? What is a Christian’s duty toward an unjust, tyrannical government? The following, jotted down in a few moments by a mi ionary, will give an idea of the keenne of the questioners: “Why has Christian civilization not accomplished in America what you preachers claim that it is fitted to accomplish?” “Why are your Indians so bitter against you, and repre ible only by force?” “If friends pray for us on earth, why should their hearts be dried up and their mouths be stopped when they go to heaven?” “Can a man be a believer who has not been an infidel? Must he not first challenge, then establish, then believe?” Any mi ionary can give instance after instance where he has had to call up every line of study that he has ever pursued, to meet the difficulties that occur to the minds of those he seeks to help. But not only does he have to meet personal que talking. ries. The mi ionary must be a statesman. Church quarrels occur on mi ion ground as well as in Christian lands, and it is often owing chiefly to the mi ionaries’ personal power that they are overcome. Conflicts with persecuting relatives furnish some of the most difficult cases. But instances need not be repeated to show that personal influence of one who is full of the Holy Spirit is the effective instrumentality in modern as in ancient mi ions. Public Preaching: This is the development of personal conversation is, in fact, personal conversation on a somewhat extended scale. It 2. MethodlNt New 467 — is not oratorical, Methods but conversational; not instructive, so much as hortatory. And it is universal. Not a few have the idea that preaching is taking a secondary place in the importance of modern mi ion work. In the large cities, schools, colBible houses, printing pre es, are often leges, more prominent than the preaching places, and many a traveler pa es through and reports that mi ion work, which is primarily concerned with saving souls, has become a means of diffusing education and civilization all good in its way, but a departure from fundamental ideas. Thus — a Cliristian man visited the city of Constantinople, saw Robert College, the Bible House, the American College for Girls, the school and dispensary of the Scotch Free Church Mi ion, etc., and said he was glad to see such good work being done, but was sorry to see so little preaching! The mi ionary said: “Come with me on Sunday.” Then he took him from one end of the city to another, and in Stamboul, Scutari, Galata, Ha keuy, showed him gathering after gathering, where preaching to audiences numbering from 7.5 to 300 was going on in Turkish, Armenian, Greek, Spanish and English. The traveler went away, satisfied that mi ions had not made a new departure in that line. The same thing is true of every mi ion station in the world. Comparatively few of the mi ionary societies report the numJDer of preaching places, partly for the reason that accurate statistics are almost impo ible, partly because there is such a wide divergence of usage. If we take the term preaching place to mean a place where divine service is held regularly, whether conducted by a pastor, preacher, evangelist or catechist, the number will considerably exceed the number of stations and outstations. For there are a large number of places where preaching services are held with regularity in connection with evangelistic tours, and in many sections of India and China there is not a The fact, too, little of public street preaching. that there are fully 4,000 to 5,000 ordained preachers, and a very much larger number of unordained evangelists, catechists, etc., whose chief work is preaching, shows that preaching is relied upon as a chief means of bringing the knowledge of the Gospel within the reach of men. Pa ing to the pastoral division, we find the preaching a uming more the character of that It is le conversational, in our home churches. more rhetorical; le hortatory, more educational. Its range of topics widens, and it touches upon every and all the various needs of society and the nation, as well as of individuals. Yet always and everywhere, it is intensely personal; the man is never lost sight of in the community. These need no special 3. Sunday Schools: They are carried on in much the same way as in home lands, exert much the same influence, and hold much the same general position, both in their evangelistic and pastoral description. use. An idea of the universality of their use is gained in the fact that in the reports of many societies they are not cla ified apart from the churches and attendance, the rule being that wherever there are services there is a Sunday school, with not far from the same average The fact that they do not appear attendance. in most of the reports is by no means an indication that they are not widely used as an evanThe chief hindrance lies in the gelizing agency. lack of competent teachers, but that is constantly Methodfi According to Rev. Dr. diminishing in force. Dennis’ Centennial Survey the number of Sunday schools connected with the Protestant foreign mi ion enterprise throughout the world is 25,889, and the number of attendants 1,227,594. 4. Education: In the earlier stages of mi ionary enterprise this form of work was not regarded as a method of evangelization and was often held to be inconsistent with the strictly evangelistic aim of the mi ionary enterprise. Later it became readily recognized as an e ential. Converts implied churches; churches needed pastors, and the contrast between pastor and mi ionary must not be so great that the people should not be willing to look to the former as their leader. Education as a direct means of evangelization, as has been shown in the article on Education, has come to hold a more and more prominent place in the minds and plans of mi ionaries. 1st. It is an e ential to the reading and understanding of the Bible, and upon the knowledge of the Bible conversion must depend in a great Illiteracy in mi ion lands involves not degree. merely ignorance of letters, but of words, as The child in a primary expre ive of ideas. school who has learned to read has a better understanding of Bible truth than his parents. 2d. It corrects false ideas, thus opening the mind to receive the truth. In many cases it is almost an absolute prerequisite to such appreciation of truth as must precede conversion. 3d. It secures a positive religious influence upon the individual, whether child or adult, by which the old prejudices may be softened and new ambitions and hopes aroused. This is one of the most important elements in the influence of education as an evangelizing agency. Looking now at education as it is actually conducted, it is so similar to that in Christian lands as to scarcely need description. The concomitants of rooms, seats, floor, walls, windows, etc., are often different; but the text books are much the same, the methods are very similar. The kindergarten has not been confined to the Occident, but helps the Orient as well, and every form of modern advance in style of instruction is adapted to the needs of Arabs, Hindus, Japanese and Kafirs. Grading is conducted on much the same principle as in other lands. Small villages have little more than the primary school, where children (and sometimes grown people) learn to read and write, and get some idea of the great realm of knowledge that opens before them. The larger towns and the cities have every grade up Boarding schools are estabto the high school. lished for those who, having pa ed the lower grades in village schools, are anxious for higher education, or may be fitted for work as teachers. Colleges, too, with courses of study comparable with those of England and America, are found everywhere. In the same general line is the movement for Industrial education. It is, however, in the nurture of the Christian community that the value of education in mi ions is seen in its fullest degree. Without undertaking to give a detailed statement of the extent to which higher education is carried by the different societies, it is sufficient to say that it has been developed in direct proportion to the appreciation of this second part of mi ionary work. When it became evident that the only salvation for the convert himself lav in his 408 opportunity and ability to grow, and that this opportunity could not and would not be given or the ability developed unle the society lent a helping hand, then the high schools and colleges sprang up on every side. The tendency now is, also, to make these higher schools more nearly self-supporting. We now note some of the advantages gained through the higher educational institutions in mi ions. furnishing of an educated 1. The ministry, which not only takes the place of the mi ionary, leaving him free for the work of superintendence, but enables the churches to be placed upon a more substantial basis of development for aggre ive work. 2. The supply of support to the ministry in the form of an educated laity, able to hold its own in matters of faith, resist any undue desire for ministerial authority and exert influence in the community at large. 3. Solution of questions of social customs by bringing the community in contact with the best results of social development in other lands. This has its dangers as well as its advantages, Customs of social yet it is a positive nece ity. If heathen ones are dislife a people must have. carded, something must be provided to take their place. It is chiefly through the higher education that the best Christian social usages reach the people of non-Christian lands. 4. The establishment of womanhood in proper relations in the home, the church and the community. The occasion for the development of the American College for Girls at Constantinople was the feeling expre ed by parents of the wealthier cla es, that they wanted a Christian education for their daughters, which should fit them, not only for teaching, but for presiding in their homes. Any one who would accurately judge the value of the work of the institution should follow those young ladies, not only to the village life of Asia Minor and Bulgaria, but to the more pretentious homes 5. Proving intelligibly to the great of the cities. ma of the indifferent in mi ion lands, that the Gospel takes in the whole man and develops the In these dajrs of the best that there is in him. telegraph and easy communication, Christianity is judged by its ability to develop as well as to impart. Islam and Buddhism are losing their hold upon men largely by reason of their failure in this very regard, and Christianity is being watched most closely to see whether it meets the need. 5. Publication: As an evangelizing agency the preparation and di emination of Christian literature have always held a foremost place. The place of the publication work in the ini ion scheme has been sufficiently discu ed in the articles Bible Distribution and Literary Work in Mi ions. For evangelistic work, tracts, leaflets, helps to Bible study, hold a first place next to the Bible The weekly papers and other periodicals They have more of also have a high value. secular matter, but are always not merely evangelical, but evangelistic in tone and reach multitudes who hold aloof from direct mi ionary itself. influences. In pastoral work, mi ionary publications include theological and other text books and There is not as inuch of this general literature. as there ought to be, chiefly because, in the great strain upon the time and strength of mi ionaries, only that is done which at the moment is most e ential. As, however, higher education 460 provides mature minds among the natives, this want is being supplied more fully. II. Turning now to those mi ionary methods which are distinctively evangelistic or pastoral, we notice, as belonging to the former cla : Attention to physical and social needs, including especially medical work. The relief of physical suffering, the supplying of social wants, is a department of mi ionary work where, except in the single item of medical work, cla ification is Acting upon the general principle impo ible. that the state of the body affects most vitally the condition of the mind, mi ionaries in every land have adopted the various means now used so freely and succe fully in the large cities of Europe and America. “The gospel of a clean shirt,” or even of any shirt at all, has proved in many cases a most powerful one in lands where social customs were of the lowest. But, even in communities where that particular form of evangelization was not called for, there has almost invariably been need of more or le attention to these wants, in order to secure entrance to, and appreciation of, divine truth. In the earlier history of mi ions, far more than now, persecution took a form that left the convert without even the means of subsistence. An excommunication that forbade the baker to sell him bread, meant more than trial; it meant starvation to the man who was bold enougli to accept the new faith. In such circumstances the mi ionary was compelled to meet the emergency in such way as he best could. Of recent times that has not been so true; but the need has come in the form of widespread distre from deluge, famine and pestilence. India, Turkey, Persia, and notably China, have repeatedly furnished instances where the supplying of material food has prepared the way for the reception of the spiritual, and hunger, cold and nakedne have unbarred many a door hitherto held tight closed by prejudice and hostility. Undoubtedly there is danger in this, and none are so quick to recognize it as the mi ionaries. How to give help without pauperizing, how to avoid the appearance of a bribe to accept Christianity, has required the most careful judgment. Medical mi ions have come to the front as a direct means of evangelization with a rapidity that makes one wonder why tlie Church was so Their slow to recognize their value and power. general character is noted in the article on Medical Mi ions; here we have simply to mention the various ways in which they effect their work. 1. The most important end that they meet is the alleviation of physical pain, so that the soul can comprehend the force of the divine me age. No one who has been in mi ion lands can have to see instance after instance where preacher and teacher have failed, but the doctor has succeeded, primarily by removing the obstacles inherent in a diseased body, and by the positive attraction of gratitude for the kindne rendered. 2. The medical mi ionary is often a pioneer, securing entrance and acceptance where a preacher or teacher would be immediately rejected. This is especially true in such countries as China, where the prejudice against foreign influence is so strong as to yield to almost nothing else. Another notable example is found in the history of mi ions in Korea. 3. The physician is often able to exert an failed Methods indirect influence in favor of evangelical work by winning the favor of influential men. Notable instances of this have occurred in the Mohammedan lands. The distinctively pastoral methods of mi ion work are chiefly connected with organization and superintendence, and have been treated in the article on the Church in the Mi ion Field. The culture of converts, so that their insensible influence shall become a power, is worth emphasizing in this connection. The daily life of the convert is an instrument of evangelization of which mi ionaries should never lose sight. Family life lias always received the attention on the mi ion field which has only recently been given to it in Christian countries as a direct agency for proving the truth of the claim of the Gospel to renew mankind, and for arresting the attention of those who have not heard of Jesus Christ. This is true in almost every land, but is especially marked in purely heathen countries. The relations and mutual duties of husbands and wives, parents and children, form not only the theme of much earnest thought on the part of the mi ionary, but of much careful council. To raise the wife from the position of a slave to that of an a ociate; to develop in the husband and father the sense of responsibility for something more than the supply of the physical needs of those dependent upon him; to educate the children to a genuine reverence rather than the obedience of fear; to give the home character as a center of pure and godly life these are some of the problems which can only be solved by recognizing that the fostering of a right family life is a true agency of pastoral work for the community at large. Social life, or the relations of families with each otlier, may, perhaps, be considered as one of the problems rather than a method of mi ionary influence. It is, however, gaining increased inportamce from the latter point of view in the eyes of those who are watching the development of Protestant Christianity in foreign lands. man leaves his old faith and accepts the new one. He cannot, however, break away entirely from his old a ociations, which may include those dependent upon him certainly those to whom He meets them daily in home, he has duties. in busine , in the social circle; is bound together He cannot if he with them in many ways. would isolate himself from them. It is the old question of the times of the Apostles, and creates To meet it as much perplexity now as then. wisely, and place the settlement on a firm, enduring basis, requires that the mi ionary make a specialty of its study in all its bearings, and be able, not merely to show where the old is wrong or weak, but to present something that shall commend itself to all as clearly preferable. That this is being done increasingly is evident to all who watch carefully the discu ions of mi ion- — A — ary methods. Community and national life are but the development of the social. There are fields, however, where they involve questions of greater perplex Wherever Church and State are united, and privileges depend upon ceremonial political observances, such questions arise. In some cases practically new states have been formed, with ity. their entire paraphernalia of offices and officers. When this has not been the case, still the new Christian community has invariably had a dis- Metlakahtla Mexico tinct if not a corporate existence, which has come to be recognized as having an important influence in rendering the position of the Church complete and permanent. Here the mi ionary meets the questions of submi ion to unjust laws and the demands of unchristian governments. Each case cannot be settled merely upon its own merits: the foundations of a Christian’s relation to the “powers that be” must be thoroughly thought out and clearly stated. Most marked instances of the influence of mi ionaries in this have been given in the article on the International Service of Mi ions. The Christian state, not so much as an accomplished fact, but as an ideal, is a most practical and important element in the methods by which Christianity is to be ultimately established. Many things will occur to those intimately acquainted with the methods of mi ionary work which might have been mentioned. If, however, the impre ion shall have been given that Christian propaganda should be no mere haphazard carrymg out of a vague, altho noble, impulse, but a calm, determined, well-considered effort on the part of the churches through their representatives to establish Christian faith, worship and life on a permanent and natural foundation in every section of the globe, the chief end of the writer will have been attained. METLAKAHTLA A village on the W. coast of: occupied by Christian i zed Tsimsian Indians. Station of the CMS (1856), with 1 mi ionary and wife, 4 women mi ionaries, 4 native workers, 2 day schools, 1 boarding school, 1 hospital, 1 dispensary and 244 profe ed Christians, of whom 47 are communicants. British Columbia, MEXICO: Capital of the republic of Mexico. It is beautifully situated on a plateau 7,500 feet above the level of the sea, in the Tenochtitlan valley, not far from lake Tezcuco. In the midst of lofty mountains, the climate is temperate and healthy. The older parts of the city, however, being on marshy ground, are subject to malaria. The streets are well paved, broad, and well and raised paved roads, called paseos, which lead out into the country, and are shaded on either side by fine trees, add much to the natural beauties of the place. The Roman lighted, Catholic religion is the state religion, but other religions are tolerated. In addition to the many churches, monasteries, convents, and other religious or benevolent institutions are plentiful. Schools and colleges, theaters and the buildings for the government offices give the city an attractive appearance. This city was founded by Cortez in 1522 and stands on the site of a sacred Aztec high place. Population (1900), 344,721. Protestant mi ionary worlv was begun in the city by the PE in 1870, its aim being care for the spiritual needs of Protestant resident-s quite as much as for the native Mexicans. The PN followed in 1872, the and MES in 1873, the Baptist Home Mi ionary Society in 1883 and the SDA in 1894. These societies together have now (1903) in the city 35 mi ionaries, men and women; 161 native workers, men and women; 16 places of worship, 21 elementary schools, 7 higher or special training schools, 1 hospital and dispensary, 3 printing houses and 2,172 profe ed evangelical Christians. 488