STUDENTS AND MISSIONS

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 65

STUDENTS AND MISSIONS

A VIRILE MOVEMENT

On Sunday some 25 pupils in Presbyterian, Methodist, Primitive Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist churches of the city and suburbs were occupied by student', who are either what is known as student volunteers or are in active sympathy with the student volunteer missionary movement. The object of the speaker* was to make more widely known the aim* and ideal's of this movement, and to press its claims upon the members of Christian churches. In each case this was most earnestly and effectively done.

Speaking to a large congregation at St. Andrew's Church in the morning, Dr Porteous took as his text part of Romans x, 15, "And how shall they preach, except they be sent?" He began by referring to

the origin of the World's Student Christian Federation in Sweden, in 1895, and stated that to-day it has 130,000 members in Europe, Africa, America, Asia, and Aus-

tr&lasia, making it tho greatest international federation that the world had ever seen. Into iihe minds of Christian students there had lately come a growing vision of the needs of the world, and a growing conviction that the students would have to so forward to meet these needs. Those of this opinion had combined to form the

Students' Volunteer Missionary Union, a union which took its origin in America, when, in 1886, at a conference ' held at Mount Hermon, 100 students volunteered to devote their lives to foreign missionary enterprise. A similar union had soon afterwards been formed for Great Britain, and the movement had. rapidly spread through Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. Already this union had sent out more than 5000 men and women students as missionaries under various societies, and to-

3ay there were in the universities more - than 3000 others training with a view to being sent out In New Zealand 99 students had joined by picrning the declaration: " It is my purpose, if G<^d permit, to hpcomp a for-eisrn missionary."' Of these 26 haJ gone out, 40 were in course of preparation, and the remainder had been hindered. Tho Student Volunteer Missionary Union aimr>d a>t supplying existing missionary societies with trained and edu-ated workers, at placing before students -when considering thpir life's work th« <laim« of the foreign m.fision field, and at arousing greater missionary enthuai-wni throughout th* Christian churches. The union (rave to the churches a clear ca'l to a gr?at advance. Would they not accept rho challenge and rise to win thf world for Jesus Christ?

The Rev W. Mawwi. M.A., addressed the congregation in First Church in the morning, and took his test from the eijrhth verse of the sixth chapter of _ Isaiah : " Here am I, send me." He explained that h-3 was present as a representative of th« student volunteer movement, and preceded to trace the rise and resrnt rapid growth of missionary enterprise, which was practically no-n- existent 100 year« a<?o. The Student, Volunteer Missionary Union existed to persuade students to trive their lives to mission work, to impress the churchee wth the necessity of assisting, to place suitable missionary literature within th-^ reach of the young oeopl© of the churches, and fo get men and women who could net s"-a their way clear *o leave tbeir homes to take an intelligent and svmcathetic interest in missions. Tho difficulty jt the present time was net so much in gerting the workers as to gat the means with \vhich to support t-'nem. He <Jre\v attention to Ui^ _ deplorable unclerstafiinjr in mission hospital* and other branches of tho work, and went on to refer to the* laymen's movement recently started ip Canada, which eoug-ht to lav upon lay members of churches tho burden of the command to "preach the Gospel to e7<M-j creature." He concluded b? ouflinins- the tremendous missionary r<»-soon-sibilities which the Presbvterinn Church of N«w Zealand had assumed in India and in Chma, and appealing- for a more generous mea^ur* of support.

"There are many private charitable organisations in Chri«tchurch," said the Rev. J. Mackenzie at a conference of the benevolent societies. '" and cpvtain people seem to gravitate with a kind of instinct lo Christchurch. with the certain conviction that they will fare better here than in their own district 11 ."

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