80Th Annual Report of the Board of World Missions Reformed Church in America
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Hope College Hope College Digital Commons Annual Reports Board of World Missions 1912 80th Annual Report of the Board of World Missions Reformed Church in America Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/world_annual_report Part of the Archival Science Commons Recommended Citation Reformed Church in America, "80th Annual Report of the Board of World Missions" (1912). Annual Reports. 56. https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/world_annual_report/56 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Board of World Missions at Hope College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Annual Reports by an authorized administrator of Hope College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. T h e Eightieth Annual Report OF THE Board of Foreign Missions OF THE Reformed Church in America 1912 •2MPI27* CSTERN THEOLOGICAL If WNtfr GENERAL SYNOD EDITION C7 T H E REV. JAMES H. BALLAGH, D. D. The First Missionary to Complete Fifty Years of Service in Japan, 1861-1912 The Eightieth Annual Report OF THE Board of Foreign Missions OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA AND THE FI FIT-FIFTH YEAR OF SEPARATE ACTION ©rgamjeti 1832 Enbepenlient 1857 Encorporateti 1860 . fmt'SBl'OHS og,. (If) in a, 18^2 arcot, Jnln'a, 1853 Nortf) 3apan, 1859 Soutf) 3apan, 1859 arabia, 1894 Presented to T h e General Synod at Grand Rapids, Michigan, June, 1912 PRESS OF THE UNIONIST-GAZETTE ASSOCIATION SOMERVILLE, N. J / REPORT. T h e B oa rd of Foreign Missions respectfully presents to the General S y n o d its Eightieth Ann ua l Report, the Fifty-fifth of its separate and independent action. T h e year has perhaps been peculiar in the circumstance of its having been somewhat more normal than those immediately pre ceding it. N o special emphasis or unique stimulus has accom panied the events of the year. It has, therefore, been characterized by the fact that it records occurrences and accomplishments that represent the normal progress of church life in its outward activi ties. Five Missionaries have been commissioned and have entered u pon the w o r k of preparation on the field, but changes a nd with drawals have left the n u m b e r representing the Chu rc h in Asia the same as at the conclusion-of the previous year. T w o Missions have been called u p o n to m o u r n the loss by death each of one of its members. After a singularly beautiful and active life of seven years amongst the Chinese people w h o m she served with great de votion Miss Alice Duryee passed to her reward in January, 1911,. leaving her associates, both A m e ri ca n and Chinese, the richer for her life and her spirit. After a very brief experience in India in which they gave promise of large usefulness Rev. and Mrs. J. R. Sizoo were compelled to withdraw from that country owing to the sudden and serious illness of the latter, which in a f ew months, resulted in her death. This w a s a sad interruption to the plans and expectations of M r. Sizoo and of the Mission. M o r e than 50 out-stations have been added during the year to these centers of regular evangelistic activity, and the roll of m i n isters of the indigenous churches has increased by two. There have been added to the Church 227 communicants, although not so m a n y as in the previous year. T h e growth in S u n d a y School w o r k has been conspicuous, m o r e especially in China, w here it is a n e w for m of organized activity in the Chu rc h and in Japan where especial emphasis has long been placed u p o n this w o r k a m o n g the young. T h e scholars in the D a y Schools continue to increase in number, this year by 1,375, bringing the total n u m b e r under this for m of instruction up to 9,500. T h e Church in the East is happily a gen erous Church in its offerings to the Lord, having advanced about 20 per cent, in this single year. These facts certainly give evi dence of vitality and progress in the w o r k of our C h u rc h in Asia. It is peculiarly gratifying to the Boa rd that this record of steady progressive development in the Mission Fields under its care prevails also in the Chu rc h at h o m e in this relation. W hi le a con servative list of appropriations for the maintenance of our M i s sions abroad for the year w a s adopted, it w a s based u po n a 10 per cent, increase in the contributions of the Churches and their allied agencies, similar to that of previous years. Although this expectation has not been fully realized receipts fro m other sources, notably fro m gifts to special objects and fro m legacies, were so m u c h beyond expectation that the full a m o u n t of the appropria tions has been received. A comparatively small deficit stood up o n our books w h e n they w er e closed for the year, but this has since entirely disappeared o wi ng to special gifts received f r o m friends for that purpose. W e therefore add another to the long succession of years which have left us without the s h a d o w of a deficit to fall across the p at hw ay of our progress, an experience s o m e w h a t peculiar to the R e f o r m e d Church. T h e B oa rd realizes that during this year, as last, the receipts f rom legacies have been unusually large and that they have saved us fro m deficits, even as the unusual paucity of receipts f ro m this source in 1909-10 left us in that year with the only deficit of that decade. A t best this is an unreliable source of income. O u r de pendence must be upon the steady continuous giving of the living. T h e purpose of the Church can only be interpreted by the B oa rd in the expression of interest and confidence on the part of the active m em be rs hi p of the Church. A t the s a m e time w e continu ally encourage and gratefully receive these testamentary r e m e m brances of those w h o have held these things precious in life. T h e total receipts of the year f rom all sources were $284,369, as against $282,230 of the previous year, or an advance of about $2,000. To have thus maintained the somewhat extraordinary advance of $75,000 of last year with its special stimulus of the W o m e n ’s Jubilee Meetings is indeed an occasion for congratula tion. W e mu s t note, however, in passing, that the gifts to the reg ular w o r k of the B o a r d f ro m the Churches were $143,272 as against $150,765 for the year 1910-11, or a loss of about $7,500. This is in part m a d e up by an advance in this item in the receipts of the Arabian Mission of about $3,250. Deducting Legacies and Interest from the total gifts w e have $246,413, which is $5,500 m o r e than these receipts fro m the living during the previous year. If to this w e add the a m o u n t contributed to meet the deficit the total gifts be c om e $249,913, and the advance $9,000. THE MISSION FIELDS. Tha t universal ferment of ideas which Asia n o w shares with the rest of the world has produced in all our Mission Fields w h a t is euphemistically termed unrest. It m e a n s a n e w East, a n e w Asia, a n ew China and Japan and India and Arabia; but only after long years of strife and of the unfolding of new ideals which must gradually bring about n e w conditions and a n e w life. T h e assertion is m a d e and probably with good reason that there has never been any period w h e n the Christian nations as such were given so wide an opportunity to put the stamp of Christian thought and Christian living upo n the people of the East, m o r e especially u po n those of the lands w here w e are represented. It would see m to be the time of all times, therefore, for us to bring all our forces to bear upon these countries that they m a y have before the m a demonstration of what Christianity can do for the salvation of the individual, as well as of society and of a nation. If n o w w e turn to these vast fields of Asia where the interest of our Church lies, w h a t do w e find? In China, a nation born in a day.