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454 1 M SCEIYL,\NK< )USmedical colleges; we may keep the1printing presses turningout books to enlighten and inspire the masses as well as theleaders; we may build Young Women s and Young Men sChristian Association buildings and have them filled nightand day with women and men, yet if with all these we f ailto see established in Shanghai a strong, indigenous, independent, efficient Church we have failed in the great end forwhich all these are designed. We have failed to do thatmost important thing which historically has preserved thegospel for us and which, we all believe, will preserve it forthe future generations of China.What then are the weaknesses of the Church inShanghai ? 1. A failure on the part of members toFailure to realize in any adequate measure the importance of the Church; its place in the comolTchurch*m unity its ; part in the life of the members;its bearing upon the whole question of theevangelization of the community and of the world. Theyhave never seen ,the Church a power in the community.n 2. Coupled with this there is in China aConservatism.,. ,natural conservatism that resists change.This is probably more present in the Church than in otherorganizations. Shanghai to-day is not the Shanghai oftwenty years ago. The sedan-chair has been supplanted bythe motor-car; the ricksha has given way to the tram; therailway locomotive has taken the place of the wheelbarrowcoolie. The work of the hand-loom in the home is now doneby the electric-propelled machine in the mill. The Chineselanguage is a new language; the present-day newspapersand school books would have been distasteful if not unintelligible to the scholar of a few years ago. Yet, in allthese changes, the Church has been probably the mostconservative of institutions. In this whole city of Shanghaiwe have had only one or two church buildings (and these ofmoderate size) erected during the past decade.The present opportunity is unparalleled. Ihe changein the spirit of the country, the passing away of old ideas,the consequent lessening of the hold of superstition, thegrowth in modern education, the political upheaval, the