Part 11 (2/2)

There is no organic union between them, but the first- and last-named bodies work together. The four bodies unitedly have 92 missionaries, 14 native ministers, 68 native catechists, and 2327 members.

They have one boarding-school for boys, with 14 students; six boarding-schools for girls, with 205 students; and two theological schools, with 21 students.

{188}

The Baptist missionaries laboring in j.a.pan are an able, hard-working, evangelical body of men, and there are some good, strong native Baptist ministers.

_Lutherans_

The Lutheran Church began mission work in j.a.pan only four years ago, and as yet her mission is small. It is supported by the United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South (United States). The Lutheran Church in the United States has occupied a peculiar position.

A large per cent. of the emigrants from the Old World are of Lutheran antecedents. Hundreds of thousands of them have come over and settled in the West, and the energies of the American Lutheran Church have been largely expended in caring for these unhoused and unshepherded sheep of her own flock. It seems that Providence has allotted to her this special work. No other church in America is carrying on home mission work on so large a scale, among so many different nationalities, and in so many languages. Because of the great home mission work that has naturally fallen into her hands and demanded her men and money she has not engaged in foreign work as extensively as some other American bodies.

And yet the American contingent of this old {189} mother church of Protestantism has a foreign-mission record of which she is not ashamed.

She has supported for many years a mission on the west coast of Africa, at Muhlenberg, that is by universal consent the most successful mission in West Africa. She is also supporting two large and successful missions in India.

The Lutheran mission in j.a.pan was begun as a venture. The after development of the work has amply justified the wisdom of the undertaking. It is not the purpose of the Lutheran Church to antagonize any of the bodies now at work in j.a.pan, but rather to stand, amid all the doctrinal unrest characteristic of j.a.panese Christianity, for pure doctrine, as she has always done. It is her purpose to teach a positive, evangelical Christianity.

The working force of the mission consists of 2 missionaries and their wives, 2 native helpers, and 1 Bible-woman. The field occupied is small. There is only one station, and that is in the city of Saga, on the island of Kyushu. Much work is done in the surrounding villages and towns from Saga as a center. It is not the purpose of this mission to use large numbers of men and great quant.i.ties of money, as some others have done. It purposes working intensively rather than extensively. It attempts to devote all of its time to evangelistic work, and does not engage in {190} educational work further than theological instruction.

Although the missionaries came to j.a.pan in 1892, the station was not opened until 1893. Since that time about 55 converts have been baptized.

There are numerous small Christian bodies at work, such as the Scandinavian j.a.pan Alliance, the Society of Friends, the International Missionary Alliance, the Hephzibah Faith Missionary a.s.sociation, and the Salvation Army. There are also three liberal bodies working here, generally cla.s.sed as unevangelical: the Evangelical Protestant Missionary Society, the Universalist mission, and the Unitarian mission.

The English and American Bible and tract societies have ably seconded these missionary bodies by the circulation of large numbers of Bibles, tracts, and various kinds of Christian books. The value of their work can hardly be estimated. The American Bible Society, the National Bible Society of Scotland, the British and Foreign Bible Society, the American Tract Society, and the London Religious Tract Society have all had a part in the work.

Such is a brief enumeration of the Christian forces at work in j.a.pan.

With so large a body of consecrated workers and so much missionary {191} machinery, it seems that the work of evangelization ought to go on rapidly. A great deal has already been accomplished, as the figures given above show. A native church of 40,000 people is no mean prize; but this is only the smallest part of the work of the missions. They have created a Christian literature, disseminated a certain knowledge of the gospel among the people, and in a hundred different ways indirectly influenced the life of this nation. j.a.panese missions have been a brilliant success.

{192}

XI

QUALIFICATIONS FOR MISSION WORK IN j.a.pAN

For mission work, as for every other calling in life, some men are naturally adapted, others are not. Those by nature fitted for the work will in all probability have a reasonable degree of success, while no amount of zeal or spiritual fervor can make successful those not so fitted. It is true to a large extent that missionaries are born, not made.

How important it becomes, then, that mission boards and societies should carefully consider the qualifications of all applicants before they are sent to the mission field! How necessary it is for all those contemplating work in certain fields, before offering their services to the boards, to examine whether their qualifications are such as to justify an expectation of a reasonable degree of success in those fields!

For the benefit of the various missionary {193} societies that are annually choosing and sending out new men to j.a.pan, as well as for the advantage of those who contemplate offering themselves for work in this field, I will put down a few thoughts on the necessary qualifications for successful mission work here.

These may be roughly cla.s.sified as physical, spiritual, and mental.

<script>