A CHALLENGE OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 70, 15 December 1917, Page 9

A CHALLENGE OF THE WAR

YMERICAN MESSAGE TO MISSION BOARDS. The following message to 'mission boards, it is stated, is the first joint utterance, through the committee ivhicli officially represents them, of tho American Foreign Missionary Boards since their country has entered into tho war:— "Tho Church at home and abroad β-confronted by a .challenge and an jpportunity never exceeded. Some are counselling hesitation and even the curtailment of effort and offerings upon the plea, that the State should now , Minmand all tho resources of men and of money. Representing tho mission srganisations and forces of, North America, the Committee of Reference and Counsel,- through its officers, hereby appeals to the Christian missionary organisations and constituencies of America, as well as to , every individual disr ciple of Jesus Christ. "We recognise that the spirit of patriotism, calling for the _ supreme sacrifice in the interest of righteousness and of country, must not he discouraged, and that the cry of distressed humanity cannot be ignored. While some missionary boards are not contemplating special and untried undertakings or planning the erection of buildings not immediately necessary, wo cannot e<scapo from the conviction that this period, of war, with all its exacting demands, may bo the supremo hour for undertaking new and daring enterprises for Christ and the Church. We would call-attention anew to the significant fact that the largo missionary enterprises had their origin in times of tho greatest national, and international upheavals. The missionarysocieties of Great Britain, were launched while Europe- was rent asunder by. the Napoleonic wars, and the first missionaries sent abroad'from the united States began .their work during the war of 1812. At the time of the American Civil War, new foreign missionary organisations sprang into being, and the old boards experienced signal expansion. In .the . history .of the Church, widespread disorder and physical suffering and need have incited to greater devotion and sacrifice... We are also .face to face"with the startling fact that tho work of more Teuton missionaries has become disrupted and is in danger of dissolution, whereby some 700,000 followers of Christ in pagan ,laiids may be left as sheep without a shepherd. This throws an immediate and enormous responsibility • upon- the Christians of England and North America to conserve the devotion" and sacrifice which German missionaries have given to building up Christian- communities and institutions. England is heroically assuming a largo share of the burden; we of America must not hold "back. _ . ■ "The Asiatic and African races are undergoing sweeping transformations in their thinking, their relations to the nations of the West/ and in their religious conceptions. They have been fighting tho white man's war shoulder to shoulder with Europeans, and upon a plane of equality. Dependent peoples who are now sharing in this _ conflict cannot return to former positions of contented subjection. China and Japan have held the balance of power in Eastern Asia, constituting a new and significant relation 'to tho Western nations. Already the Far East is seething with a new national and international life, for which sho is seeking a substantial religious foundation. _ These conditions demand, while the situatioil is plastic, tho concentration of tho uinfviug forces' of Christendom. To-day the great majority of these people are more accessible, and even moro eager for Christian instruction, than they have over been before in all the history of modern missions. Theso conditions cannot be expected- indefinitely to continue. . . . ... .1 • The foreign missionaries with tneir, prestige, their institutions already established, and with their message ofcomfort, hope and regeneration, hold a position uniquo in 'history and pregnant with assurances of universal international good order and brotherhood and permanent peace for tho world. Foroign missionaries can now render a cenuine patriotic and national service, both to tho country from which they come and the country in which they, serve. Thoughtful people, have come ta. realise, what men' eminent in statecraft arc beginning to affirm, that foreign missions have been an effective force for breaking down barriers between East and West, It is dear that foreign missionaries are true soldiers of tho better order, which is to Inntl the world together after the war._ lhetf are quite as important to America as her army or- her navy. By serving the world most effectively they also greatly serve the State. AYc therefore- call upon all who love their country, wholong and pray for universal brotherhood and for an abiding peace among nations, who hnpe to see • the. principles taught by Jesus Christ become the principles underlying all human society iiiul ruling the national life- of tho world, to regard no effort, too exhausting and no sacrifice too great_for tho fullest vilalisation of. all. mis.sum-ni-y (i^epqies;' riiitl for the'complotowt I'rossihie' iiiohilisation of the forces;, or (ho Christian Church for the-, redemption of thq world. To this end we implore sincere prayer and united intercession coupled with unstinted saoruv einl Eiiviiie.