XII

THE MISSIONARY AND THE HOME CHURCH

T

HE missionary has important relations not only on the field but in the home land. In addition to the

ties of race and kindred, he is dependent in no small degree upon the Christians of America. He expects them to maintain him, and if they fail to do so, he is not slow to complain. He should, therefore, consider them joint partners in his work and frankly recognize his reciprocal obligations.

The most frequent expression of this relationship is in the form of letters and reports. It is not easy for a busy worker to find time for such correspondence, but he must do it in some way. He is on the foreign field, not as a private individual, but as an official representative of the missionary enterprise, and the Church which sends him out has a right to insist upon reports. Undoubtedly spiritual apathy, provincialism and preoccupation by nearer objects, account in large measure for indifference to foreign missions; but a great deal of that indifference is due simply to ignorance. When people really understand what the missionary is doing they are usually interested; but of course they cannot understand unless he writes.

The boards usually require an annual report; but that is not enough there should also be a quarterly letter from each station, though it need not always be written by the same missionary. This letter should be sent to the secretary of the board, who will see that copies are made and distributed. The mission which keeps its secretary best posted will find the board and Church best informed regarding its work.

Missionaries often say that they do not know what to write. They imagine that because their daily experiences are commonplace to them, they are to people at home; but these are the

very things that supporters wish to know. Let the writer be a reporter, not a correspondent. Often the most interesting letter that he can write is one that describes in a colloquial style the things that he has done and the scenes that he has witnessed during the preceding week. There are, of course, limitations to this suggestion. Recreations need not be enlarged upon in a letter that is to be read from the pulpit, nor should a whole paragraph in an official station report be devoted to a rhapsody over a baby. It is better to discuss the youngster in a personal letter to a relative or the secretary, who will be much interested. Do not begin an annual report by the solemn asseveration that another year has passed into eternity, leaving its record indelibly written upon the pages of time. Avoid moralizings. Do not complain or criticise. People at home are not pleasantly impressed when a missionary stabs his associates in the back by writing to strangers about them or by undermining confidence in the board which supports him. Never ridicule or revile the customs or religious beliefs of the natives. Not only do such letters create an unfortunate impression at home, but, if printed, they sometimes prove to be boomerangs. Turkish agents in America, with the aid of press clipping bureaus, send to the Sultan practically everything that is printed in the United States about the Ottoman Empire, and the missionary who writes indiscreetly is very apt to be subjected to embarrassment. A missionary in South America aroused great resentment by a contemptuous account of some native ceremonies, which got back to the city where he lived. No people like to be traduced to foreigners.

The best letters give incidents, experiences, observations, accounts of the work and how it is being done. Laymen like a succinct, straightforward narrative with a generous admixture of the human element. They want the dark as well as the bright side; for sensible people understand that the missionary has undertaken a formidable task and that there must be discouragements as well as encouragements. The letters should

have such variety that in the correspondence of a year or two, the missionary will cover the things that the people ought to know in order to have an intelligent idea of his station, the physical characteristics of the country, the people among whom he lives and his joys and difficulties and opportunities. Such letters should average about five or six hundred words, hardly ever more than a thousand. Long letters will not be printed by editors and cannot be used to advantage by pastors without an amount of editing that many will not give. It is better to write a short letter once a quarter than a long one once a year.

This question of correspondence, however, has two sides. The home Church is sometimes unreasonable in its demands upon its representative abroad. It is not fair to expect him to maintain all the missionary interest of the congregation. Churches often complain that their missionaries do not write. We have investigated many such complaints and we have usually found that neither the pastor nor any member of the Church had written to the missionary. It is not in human nature for a missionary to keep on writing letters to people who never acknowledge them or send him a word of cheer.

Donors, too, too often ask for the sensational in letters. While the lives of some missionaries abound in adventures, the lives of others, and very useful ones, too, contain few incidents of a stirring character. All missionaries are not surrounded by savage cannibals who are hurling spears at their heads, or waking them up in the night with blood-curdling whoops. Much of the best missionary work proceeds very quietly. American Christians who lose interest in a missionary because his letters are not filled with dime novel adventures should stop reading yellow journals and cultivate proper tastes. Nor should the home Church be impatient in its expectation of results. It is just to expect missionary labour to issue in converts, but there should be due recognition of the difficulties that are involved and missionaries should not be pressed to enroll natives who are not fit for baptism. Demands for arti

ficial, exciting, highly coloured letters and for premature results are unworthy of the dignity of a great enterprise and of the sober and intelligent interest which should sustain it.

Another phase of the relationship of the missionary to the home Church appears during furloughs. He is ordinarily expected to make many addresses. The board and his friends should protect him from undue pressure of this kind, especially during the first months of his furlough. He has come home, not primarily to inspire the home Church, but to recruit wasted energies and to put himself once more in touch with the mental and spiritual forces of his native land. It is poor economy to make him exhaust himself so that he will return to the field debilitated rather than invigourated. But the missionary has a mission to the Church at home, as well as to the non-Christian world abroad. Knowing the urgency of the need and the ripeness of the opportunity as few others can, he is in a position to speak with authority. The duration of the furlough is fixed with this in mind. He should, therefore, regard deputation work as a legitimate part of his missionary duties. It is wise to plan tours in consultation with the board, as it will often be able to arrange for itineraries among contiguous churches and to make engagements at places of special value, so that time can be used to the best advantage.

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As to the subject matter of addresses, much that was said about letters is applicable. We have in mind three addresses by as many prominent missionaries. One preached on the "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." It was an admirable sermon, but the pastor could have preached on that theme as well as the missionary. The people wanted the man fresh from the field to tell them things which their pastor could not know. The second missionary gave an interesting account of the geography, ethnology, resources, politics and commerce of the country from which he came; but as a missionary address it was a failure because it did not contain any missions. Said a layman

afterwards: "I do not see any connection between that address and my pastor's request that I should give money to evangelize the Chinese." The third missionary devoted about ten minutes to a graphic account of the country and the natives, and then gave a vivid picture of his work. He told what the missionaries were doing and how they were doing it. He described an itinerating tour, mentioned the schools and hospitals, and showed that missionary work was a rich blessing to men. We need hardly say that his address was the most effective of the three. "It is not ancient history or the theory of missions or Scriptural arguments that the people want, so much as how God is working in the world now." The missionary who narrates the things which he has seen and heard is usually listened to with the deepest interest. Most people believe with Ruskin that "the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way."

While the missionary need not fear to speak of his difficulties, the dominant note should be hopefulness. Men will not subscribe to a losing cause. It is in human nature to wish to be on the winning side. The missionary should present his enterprise as one that is sure to succeed, whatever the temporary discouragements, make it plain that something is being achieved and that his part is not a lugubrious but a joyful one.

We have said that the home Church should be patient with the missionary. It is equally important that the missionary should be patient with the home Church. He probably went to the field direct from the seminary, without any experience in the pastorate, and he does not realize the pressure upon his brethren in the ministry in America, nor how much of selfdenial the people before him may have to practice. His hearers are probably the most devoted friends that he has in the community. The people who need to be rebuked are probably not there; they knew that he was coming and stayed away. It is a great blunder in such cases to scold the faithful ones