Foreign Missions

Ninety-ninth Annual Report Board of Foreign Missions Reformed Church in America 1931 B k ) t R'LT Reformed Church Building 25 East Twenty-second Street, New York Board of Foreign Missions MEMBERS OF THE BOARD 1929— 1932 Rev. J. W. Beardslee, Ph.D. Rev. George D. Hulst, D.D. Rev. E. J. Blekkink, D.D. Rev. T. H. Mackenzie, D.D. Rev. J. H. Brinckerhoff Mr. E. D. Dimnent, Litt.D. Rev. W . H. S. Demarest, LL.D. Mr. Cornelius Dosker Mr. Herman Vanderwart 1930— 1933 Rev. Henry E. Cobb, S.T.D. Rev. H. J. Veldman, D.D. Rev. J. A. Jones, D.D- Mr. A. P. Cobb Rev. Bernie Mulder, D.D. Mr N. Y. Dungan Rev. Harry W . Noble, D.D. Mr. W . E. Foster Mr. Jay Weemhoff 1931—1934 Rev. J. Frederic Berg, Ph.D. Rev. J- M. Martin, D.D. Rev. Edward Dawson, D.D. Rev. J. G. Meengs, D.D. Rev- Wm. Bancroft Hill, Litt.D. Rev. E. F. Romig, D.D. Rev. M. J. MacLeod, D.D. Mr. S. B. Chapin Mr. H. A. Kinports OFFICERS OF THE BOARD President—Rev. Henry E. Cobb, D.D., S.T.D. Vice-President—Rev. Wm. Bancroft Hill, D.D., Litt.D. Recording Secretary—Rev. Edward Dawson, D.D. Corresponding Secretary—Rev. W . I. Chamberlain, Ph.D. Associate Secretary and Treasurer—Mr. F. M. Potter, L.H.D. District Secretary—Rev. W. J. Van Kersen, D.D., Holland, Mich. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Rev. T. H. Mackenzie, Chairman Rev. J. W. Beardslee Rev. E. F. Romig Rev. J. H. Brinckerhoff Mr. A. P. Cobb Rev. Edward Dawson Mr. W . E. Foster Rev. W . H. S. Demarest Mr. H- A. Kinports Mr. Herman Vanderwart Ex Officiis: The President and Vice-President MEDICAL ADVISERS Edward M. Dodd, M.D., 156 Fifth Avenue, New York R. H. Nichols, M.D., Holland, Mich. Dr. Lilian C. Warnshuis, 53 Hamilton Avenue, St. George, S. I. Ninety-ninth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America T h e Seventy-fourth Year of Separate Action Organized, 1832 Independent, 1857 Incorporated, 1860 MISSIONS Amoy, China, 1842 Arcot, India, 1853 Japan, 1859 Arabia, 1889 United Mission in Mesopotamia, 1924 Presented to the General Synod at Asbury Park, N . J. June, 1931 ANNUAL REPORT, 1931 The Board of Foreign Missions presents to General Synod its Ninety- ninth Annual Report and the Seventy-fourth of its separate and independent action. T h e P e r s o n n e l o f t h e B o a r d The terms of the following members of the Board expire with this Ses sion of General Synod: R e v . J. F r e d e r ic B e rg R e v . J. M . M a r t i n R e v . E d w a r d D a w s o n R e v . J. G. M ef.n g s R e v . W m. Bancroft H ill R e v . E . F . R o m ig R f.v . M . J. M a c L e o d M r . S. B . C h a p i n M r . H . A. K i n p o r t s T h e C e n t e n a r y o f t h e B o a r d This is the Ninety-ninth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Mis sions, although it is one hundred and thirty-five years since the beginning of the organized and responsible foreign missionary work of the Reformed Church in America, 1796 being the date of the organization of the New York Missionary Society in which the Reformed Church cooperated, along with the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches. In accordance with the announcement made in the Report of the Board last year and with the approval of General Synod, the Board has taken up during this year definite plans and objectives for the appropriate commemora tion of the completion of one hundred years since the organization of a separate Board of Foreign Missions by our Church, another notable event in the history of the Reformed Church in America. In December the Secre taries presented a preliminary report in considerable detail upon the observ ance of the Centenary. This included the following features : L O rganization This calls for a Central Centenary Committee of Board members with the appropriate sub-committees, a Centenary Commission made up of Clas sical Missionary Agents spread throughout the Church and a Committee representing the Missions, made up of missionaries on furlough and in the field. II. L i t e r a t u r e a n d P u b l i c i t y This has in view the preparation of literature for the adequate setting forth to the Church of the moving story of one hundred years of her mission ary enterprise and its significance to the Kingdom of God, both past and future. III. C ommemoration O b s e r v a n c e s a n d E v e n t s Here it is intended to emphasize the fundamental need of prayer and faith in our missionary work, the preparation of a history of this work of our Church, the determining and securing of financial objectives for each iii IV FOREIGN MISSIONS mission field, the securing of the presence in this country for the year of commemoration of one missionary from each field, identified with the ob jective determined upon, and possibly of one national also from each field, the holding of regional public services in each Particular Synod at the open ing in the fall of the Centenary year and of appropriate public services of commemoration at the conclusion of the year, including a Solemn Service of Thanksgiving and an Historical Service, at which Fraternal Delegates from other Churches and Boards will be present and be received. At the successive meetings of the Board these tentative plans have been considered and carried forward and the following decisions have been reached: 1. The appointment of a Central Centenary Committee of the Board made up of officers and members, with the Corresponding Secretary as Convener. 2. The preparation of a History of the Foreign Missionary Work of the Reformed Church in America as carried on by the Board of Foreign Missions, with a view to publication if possible at the time of the major Centenary commemorations; if not then, within the year following. 3. The securing of the presence in this country of representative mis sionaries from each of the Missions by adjustment of furloughs and the nomination of four such missionaries for purposes of visiting the churches with the Centenary message from October, 1931 to June, 1932. 4. The determining of the financial objective for each Mission within the One Hundred Thousand Dollar Centenary Fund approved by General Synod. Steps have been taken by the officers of the Board to carry out these decisions, with resulting assurances already received from the Missions of hearty cooperation. These plans necessarily await announcement at the Meeting of General Synod in June, 1931, the time fixed for the launching of the Centenary Campaign of the Board of Foreign Missions. W h a t W e C o m m e m o r a t e In this Commemoration we make emphatic mention of our conviction of the supreme importance of the devotional life. In the last analysis there is no way by which we can assert the religious, the Christian, view of the world against the secular outlook so powerful as that which is implicitly and explicitly contained in the act of Prayer. For there we come together in virtue of the knowledge that it is in the end, as in the beginning, God’s will and not ours that is done. We remember that it is not we who call Him in to help us with what we have designed to do for His glory, but He who calls us into His service, so that in us His will may be done. It is there that we can bring to rest that disturbing sense which any man must have who looks candidly at the world in which we live, a sense that there are great forces working which our rational mind and our carefully evolved plans barely meet or understand. There is God in the field, God’s will being, done, and it is for us to be used, perhaps in a way that we do not under stand, but still to be used in the doing of His will, and we do well to com memorate our recognition of this all along the pathway of the one hun dred years. THE MISSION FIELDS v It surely is not merely a cherished fancy that there is a real and far reaching desire for a fresh empowerment sufficient for the needs of our age. Signs are not wanting that the wind of Pentecost is really moving through the churches. The new and deepened sense of human insufficiency, the eagerness on the part of many for a closer fellowship with God, the craving for religious certainty, the reality of already existing convictions, the dissatisfaction with things as they are, the recent surprising but gratify ing religious affirmations on the part of distinguished scientists, the increas ing emphasis upon a Christian standard of education, the growing courage of the Church in applying the Gospel of Christ to all of life, the open roads, notwithstanding occasional and temporary barriers, the open roads to the missionary enterprise; surely all these are evidences that the Christian Church is in some measure eager and ready to follow the Divine Light.

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