The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-02-13
CHINA s CRISIS IS
MISSION s CHANCE
An Entire Reorganization of All
Christian Work in China is
Now Proposed to RectIty
Grave Mistakes
Hy THE RELIGIOUS RAMBLER.


So accustomed are church people
10 hearing calls for larger missionary
-IftS. in connection with the affairs
Of nations where mission Work IS
carried ON, that it is rather StartlinS
to find the statement now running
through the churches that the present
crisis III China is not an argument
tor larger gifts, but peremptoiy
summons for the worlds missionary
leaders to get together StralghtWaN
ana rcctifN some of the mistakes Of
the past.
Inc revolution in China has prac-
tically put q stop to mission work
throughout the empire. Missionaries
in the interior have refugeed to the
port cities. where all the boarding
houses and homes of resident mis-
Sionarics are overcroWded. Some
mssionaries have gone to Japan to
await developments. Even in the
port cities the present abnormal con-
ditions have largely stopped mission
work.
The missionary body in China to-
day is practically in idleness. This
is obviously u rare chance to recon-
slider and reorganize the work Of mis-
SiOnS, 50 that when the men and WO
men go back to their stations, they
may start Ill over again in the new
rectifying the mistakes Of the past
which have been largely due to a lack
OF broad consideration Of China's
needs. and the failure Of all the forces
TO cooperate. A revolutionary epoch
Of union missionary work may be
expected in the new China.
Colossal Mistakes in China
There was no science Of missions
a hundred years ago. Then each
man worked in the way that seemed
to him best, and the idiosyncrasies Of
individuals were perpetuated in the
organization. Today there are more
than four thousand foreign mission
aries engaged in China, working UNI
der eighty EIGHT different societies or
boards. and for the most part each
of these orga niZations has obeyed the
soldiers Injunction. pitch in any
where: there is good fighting any
where along the line" One has no
regard for the other. Overlapping
IN some fields and neglect Of others
has been the order Of the day
China, the largest Of mission fields,
has been the happy hunting ground
of what are called independent mis-
SlonS Any glib and pious talker can
set money for mission in China,
especially if he espouses some pc
culiar notion, such as sanctiflcation
d
these persons has been to live in the
port cities. like Shanghai. where they
are more comfortable than thev ever
were in America; ana by PROSECUTING
from the older missions, they have
many converts to report to their
supporters.
The hit-or-miss method Of work ir
China. which is largely determined
by the amount of money one car
h.lS oh n
the relative Importance Of the differ
ent types Of mission work Each ha:
pressed its own plea, without respec
10 tn" general enterprise; thus col
leEeS hospitals, insane asyluns, blint
schools. schools for the deaf indus
tial missions, orphan asylums
museums tract societies and evan
Gclistic itineration have prospere,
only according to the zeal Of thei
supporters. There has been no sys
tenn and no concerted attack
Where Missions Fall Down.
Because mission work has "ius
groWcd, like TOpsy instead of bein
built up, ii shows such extremes a
faith missions in the interior and uni
Eersltles at the port cities each dis
daiaing the other. There has bee
no such unity as would make a ma
lonat presentation of Christia nifty
\
though apparently unable for lac
OF leadership, to meet this cmergenc,
OF which everybody is sensible. a
TlSSlonarleS are writing home of tn
wonderful opportunities created fc
work by the new mood of China
Some of the Chinese revolutions;
want u republic that shall be avowe,
~ Christian Many Chinese that hay
gone back to their native land fro
this country have openly contende
for this 1t is said that DR.. Sun y;
Sen is Christian. Picking offcia
are on record as saying that turbule1
China needs the steady force of son
new religion, preferably Christian.
In the face Of all this. the mi
Sionaries have seemed impOtent
make presentation of their clair
on a national basis, showing tn
christianity is not an alien faith b
that it began in Asia, and is entir
Is adapted to China's needs, and tn
Il self governing. self-supporting al
self-propagating Chinese church is t
goal Of all missionaries.