Northwestern Bible School - Scroll Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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HOME MISSIONS ORIENTALS The people who have come to our country from the Orient have brought their heathen religions with them. There are 5,000 Buddhists and 50,000 Hindus in North America. The Chinese have built Buddhist temples in New York and Los Angeles where they carry on the worship of their idol, Buddha. RURAL FIELDS Very few country churches receive the full time of a pastor A majority of country churches are closed throughout most of the year. One denomination reports nine-tenths of its thousands of churches served by absentee pastors; three-fourths of its churches have but one service a month; while one-fourth have no Sunday school. Thousands of miles of open country have no Protestant churches. WEST INDIES There are still virgin fields in the Islands! Haiti has been influenced least of all and has ranked lowest in civilization of all the republics in the world, Voadooism, a relic of African fetichism, is said to be widely practiced. Social, moral, and religious conditions of all these Islands, with the exception of Porto Rico, are largely those of the less advanced states of the Caribbean seaboard. The masses are cut off from opportunities of culture and advance¬ ment, and live in poverty and ignorance, Lo, we have left all and have followed Theel (Mark 10:28). Mr. and Mrs, Talbert and Son, Laredo, Texas Louise Giffin (84 )

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“I intend, God willing, the little influence I have shall be felt in every state in the Union, ' —Samuel J, Mills. North America Area 7,225,000 sq- mi. Population 139 341,000 Missionaries hi78 HOME MISSIONS ALASKANS The early missionaries to Alaska were confronted by the ugly face of sin, ignorance, superstition, and disease. The people worshipped the spirits of the glaciers, mountains, seas, and especially those of their dead ancestors and medicine men. Today the tribal customs and superstitions have almost faded away. Witch-craft and medicine men are a thing of the past. However, a large portion of the native population has never heard the Gospel, INDIANS Today the Indians worship the sun and the mountains. They have medi¬ cine men and religious dances. There is a dance called the Grand Medicine Dance in which a dog especially fattened and prepared for that purpose is slain at sunrise as an offering to the Sun God; then it is placed in the doorway of the building where the dance is to take place, so that all have to step over the dead dog as they enter. Less than one-third of the Indian population is related to the various Christian communions; approximately 46,000 are neglected by Christian agencies and unreached by Roman Cath¬ olic or Protestant missionaries, MOUNTAINEERS The main problem in the mountain sections is isolation, illiteracy and arrested development. Most of the preaching services are held once a month by voluntary pastors of little education and training, with a great but almost superstitious belief and faith in God. Visions and omens play a large part in the life of the people. Large groups are yet unreached, MIGRANTS Communism finds fertile ground in the camps of the migrants. Natures prodigality is necessarily seasonal. To harvest her diversified and scattered bounty requires an army of 1,500,000 migrants This army is unorganized, unskilled, uncared for, and is at the mercy of the radical and the exploiter ' NEGROES Every tenth man in the United States is a Negro. Five out of every eleven Negroes are church members. In the country the average Negro church is an unpainted frame structure with rough benches, a platform, and a pulpit. Services are held once or twice a month. The minister is usually non-resident, working at some other occupation. He is, as a rule, unequipped, preaching with natural eloquence and fervor. The financial resources cannot now sup¬ port a trained resident minister.

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“MY CALL 9 9 Any place but China, Lord! But the word o( the Lord came to me, saying, the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Then there came that deep conviction that I MUST go to China, and with the going there came that settled assurance and perfect peace in having done the v ill of God. I had never dreamed of going to a foreign field, for somehow a missionary seemed to me an individual who lived on a plane so far above mine that it appeared something entirely outside and beyond me. Through the reading of those two priceless volumes which relate the life story of Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, and the father of all present- day faith missions, there came that inward working of the Spirit which caused me to know I was called of God. I was neither called to preach, nor to teach, nor to do any service, but to obey the will of God, and in obedience these other ministries have taken their rightful place. What did I really do? After a brief period in the province of Kiangsi my serv¬ ice there was abruptly ended by the great anti-foreign outbreak of 1927, re¬ sulting in the riot and devastation of our Mission Station at Loping. At that time I learned, with many others, what it meant to take the spoiling of my goods joyfully. As a result I came to the worlds greatest Mission Administra¬ tive Center, Shanghai, and there served in the Financial Department of the China Inland Mission, The Lord had very much to teach me, and He alone knew the best place for the learning of those lessons. I wanted to go inland and preach the Gospel and was not satisfied with my portion until 1 Cor. 12:18 came home to my heart. “But now hath God set the members everyone of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him, After that I rejoiced to be just where I was. Many have been the blessed experiences gained in connection with the work of this wonderful Mission, f shall never cease to thank God for the opportunity which has been mine of working and having fellowship with this splendid group of missionaries. Residence in cosmopolitan Shanghai brought to my attention the tremendous need among the thousands of foreigners, spiritually so sadly neglected, and put into my heart an ever increasing desire to give them the message of life. The Lord abundantly blessed these contacts and eventually led to complete foreign service. Before sailing for China the first time the Lord gave me the promise which we find in Gen. 28:15, ’ and behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and v ill bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. When the Lord gave this promise to me I believed He meant to bring me back to this land again some day, and so was not surprised v hen He led away from China, at least for a season. After thirteen years in China the Lords call is just as insistent. His word has told me that He which hath begun a good v ork in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. During the past few years He has shown me more specifically than at any previous time that His field is the world, and thus He prepared my heart for the change He had in store. My life has been linked v ith that of another and as we have been called of God to tread life ' s road together, we have been given that glorious promise in Ephesians, which we know is even now being made a reality in our lives. For we are His work¬ manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which Gad hath before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them, Irma Day Pol, J 24 (Mrs, Henri Pol) (85)