Untitled
Share Embed Flag
Download ePaper

Untitled

Untitled Untitled

100yixueyuan.sdu.edu.cn
from 100yixueyuan.sdu.edu.cn More from this publisher
30.07.2015 Views

"with1 86 CHINA MISSION YKA tt BOOK.There are two outstanding causes for the presentdecline of interest in the direct evangelistic phase ofmissionary work. The first cause is given most candidlyin the following extract from a letter received from theprovince of :Chekiang"The lack of both foreign andChinese workers in our own district is such that time foraggressive evangelistic work grows less and less as thechurches grow."From the above it will readily begathered that pastoral and teaching duties are so absorbing the time of both foreign and Chinese workers thatno time can be spared for direct evangelistic work. Thisis further shown by what follows in the same letter :Perhaps I had better indicate as briefly as I can how weare situated in our district. At the present moment thereare four country churches and 10 other preaching stations,with a total membership of over 500, and for the pastoralwork involved in those figures I am the only foreignmissionary available, and there is no Chinese pastor.That statement in itself shows the impossibility of anyaggressive evangelistic work being done by the missionary himself, for at the best evangelistic effort comes inas a side issue as one ispassing along from one point toanother, or by embracing the opportunities offered whilevisiting members, etc. I think you will see my point.Your questions are all to do with pure evangelistic work,:whereas now I seldom go out that sole object inview ;there is always some other objective a; family tobe visited, a service to be conducted, a quarrel to settle,a building to be inspected, examinations to be held,conferences to be arranged for, Bible schools conducted,deacons to be met, and so on. Then if we turn to theChinese workers we find ourselves much in the sameposition they are either voluntary helpers o^ what we call;subsidized workers, i.e., those able and willing to give aportion of their time to the oversight of some preachingstations, responsible for the Sunday services, etc., butnot able to devote that time without some return. Offull time evangelists we have only three : one is too old

EVANGEUSTIC WORK IN THE COUNTRY. 187to do very much now, another practically gives all histime to assisting me in various wa)^s correspondence, enquiries, journeys, etc. There is only one really free, andhe has charge of two out-stations with their members."The above is a very fair example of conditions inmany parts of China, and from statistics gathered inconnection with the issue of the appeal for additionalevangelistic workers it was only too evident that therewere very few workers, Chinese or foreign, free to engagein anything like aggressive evangelistic work. Theresults, therefore, of the work of the past few years havebeen very largely brought about by the rank and file ofthe churches, the missionaries and Chinese workers whilecaring for pastoral and other duties, and those who areengaged in educational, medical, and other forms of whatis known as institutional work. Conditions in Chinato-day demand a well-devised plan of aggressive evangelistic work, and if such a plan was carried out the resultswould certainly be phenomenal.Direct and aggressive evangelistic work is not onlyhandicapped by the absorption in pastoral work of thegreater number of foreign and Chinese workers in thegrowing pastoral work of the churches, but also by thestrong emphasis now laid on the importance of educational work as compared with direct evangelisticA effort.missionary in Shansi writes: "I should say lessevangelistic work is being done these days here, as theforeigners are being increasingly drawn off for educational and pastoralwork." The same thing is true ofmost parts of China, and let it be remembered that thehome churches are in a very large measure responsiblefor this condition of things. Let the supporters of missions at home only realize that educational work canonly be pushed in proportion as the evangelistic workincreases, and we shall then have things in their rightproportion. We would not for a moment suggest thattoo much educational work is being done in China, butwe would emphasise the fact that far too little attention

"with1 86 CHINA MISSION YKA tt BOOK.There are two outstanding causes for the presentdecline of interest in the direct evangelistic phase ofmissionary work. The first cause is given most candidlyin the following extract from a letter received from theprovince of :Chekiang"The lack of both foreign andChinese workers in our own district is such that time foraggressive evangelistic work grows less and less as thechurches grow."From the above it will readily begathered that pastoral and teaching duties are so absorbing the time of both foreign and Chinese workers thatno time can be spared for direct evangelistic work. Thisis further shown by what follows in the same letter :Perhaps I had better indicate as briefly as I can how weare situated in our district. At the present moment thereare four country churches and 10 other preaching stations,with a total membership of over 500, and for the pastoralwork involved in those figures I am the only foreignmissionary available, and there is no Chinese pastor.That statement in itself shows the impossibility of anyaggressive evangelistic work being done by the missionary himself, for at the best evangelistic effort comes inas a side issue as one ispassing along from one point toanother, or by embracing the opportunities offered whilevisiting members, etc. I think you will see my point.Your questions are all to do with pure evangelistic work,:whereas now I seldom go out that sole object inview ;there is always some other objective a; family tobe visited, a service to be conducted, a quarrel to settle,a building to be inspected, examinations to be held,conferences to be arranged for, Bible schools conducted,deacons to be met, and so on. Then if we turn to theChinese workers we find ourselves much in the sameposition they are either voluntary helpers o^ what we call;subsidized workers, i.e., those able and willing to give aportion of their time to the oversight of some preachingstations, responsible for the Sunday services, etc., butnot able to devote that time without some return. Offull time evangelists we have only three : one is too old

logo

products

Resources

Company

Terms of service
Privacy policy
Cookie policy
Cookie settings
Imprint
Change language
Made with love in Switzerland
© 2024 Yumpu.com all rights reserved

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!