Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society
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The First Twenty-Five Years OF THE BIBLE CHURCHMEN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY ( 1922 - 47) by W. S. HOOTON, M.A., B.D. Author of "The Missionary Campaign" and "Problems of Faith and Conduct" and J. STAFFORD WRIGHT, M.A. Senior Tutor, Oak Hill Theological College THE BIBLE CHURCHMEN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY . 96 VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, s.w. 1 Published December 1947 by THE BIBLE CHURCHMEN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY 96 VICTORIA STREET, LONDON, S.W.1 Printed by MBSSRS. JOHN WRIGHT & SONS LTD. AT THB STONBBRIDGB PRBSs, BRISTOL CONTENTS Page Foreword, by the Rev. Daniel H. C. Bartlett, M.A., D.D. ix Authors' Preface Xl THE FIRST :PHASE: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS (1922-8) Chapter l A New Church Society I 2 Early Days and Small Beginnings 17 3 Consolidation and Extension 27 4 The Colleges 44 THE SECOND PHASE: COMPLETING A DECADE (1929-33) 5 Another Continent Entered 55 6 Stubborn Strongholds of Antichrist 66 7 The Most Troubled Land 76 8 Thrusting Outward in the Burma Field 84 9 Gathering up the Threads 94 THE THIRD PHASE: STILL INCREASING LIGHT (1934---9) 10 The Falling Star of Ethiopia . 106 II China's Two Suns II3 12 Rays in India's Darkness 121 13 Bright Sky in Burma 130 14 A Constellation and Single Stars 141 15 The Young Crescent 148 16 The Lights of Home 152 V CONTENTS-Contd. THE FOURTH PHASE: CAST DOWN, BUT NOT DESTROYED ( 1940-7) Chapter Page 17 Remote from the Battle Fronts 157 18 Threatened, but not Touched 164 19 Disorganization in Africa 171 20 China still in the Throes 179 21 "A People Scattered and Peeled" 188 22 Testing Times at Home 197 23 Building Waste Places . 205 Epilogue, by the Rev. A. T. Houghton, M.A. 216 Appendices 220 A The Basis B The Original Constitution C The New Constitution D The Roll of Missionaries, 1922-47 E Summary of Income and Expenditure, 1922-46 Index 2 33 vi ILLUSTRATIONS Facing page The Very Rev. Dean Henry Wace, D.D. 17 The Rev. Prebendary H. E. Fox, M.A. 17 S. H. Gladstone, B.A. 97 The Rev. Canon Mannaduke Washington, M.A. 97 The Rev. H. A. H. Lea, M.A. 208 The Rev. A. T. Houghton, M.A. 208 The Unfinished Task xii The Society's First Headquarters . 1 The Bible Churchmen's College . 1 The Bible Churchmen's College Chapel 16 The Bible Churchmen's Missionary Training College for Women 16 A Group at Zahidan Hospital, Iran 96 Schoolchildren at Boujad, Morocco 96 An East African Evangelist Preaching 128 Members of the Boys' School, Bina, India 128 The Church at Kwangan, West China . 129 Christians at Great Trout Lake, Canada 129 Momeng Bible School, South China 144 Kachwa Hospital Staff, 1934, India 144 The First Indigenous Ordination in Upper Burma 145 The Arctic Mission Station at Pond Inlet 145 Students of the Men's Bible School, Addis Ababa 209 The first "Victory" motor-boat, Arakan 209 MAPS India and Iran . India, Central and United Provinces East Africa Ethiopia The Arctic and Canada The World ·• French Morocco } China South China Upper Burma Burma (Arakan and Southern Shan States) vii FOREWORD THIS history has been entrusted· to one who did not take part in those inner councils which germinated and eventually directed the life of B.C.M.S., but who watched with sympathetic interest from an independent position the founding of a new Society based upon the wholehearted acceptance of the trustworthiness of the Word of God written and the Word of God Incarnate. And the object of this history is simply to give Glory to God without Whose enablement and guidance the whole effort would have expired ignominiously. But Divine Grace manifested in the gift of a practical Faith engendered a "don't-careism" con cerning the things of Time, so necessary to the launching of a new witness to Truth amidst almost universal opposition. An illustration of this may be found in the fact that so absorbed were missionary candidates in the desire for commission and in preparation to go, that none asked concerning conditions of service, but first heard them in the farewell interview with the Secretary and even then paid little heed thereto. To get to grips with the devil in the strongholds of paganism by unsheathing therein the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God was to them the one thing that mattered. Headquarters was permeated with a like spirit. Business hours! Who heeded them? Only when caretakers complained that the offices were never free for cleaning was pressure applied to get the Accountant home before midnight. Such enthusiasm once implanted by the Holy Spirit presented such an offering of faith and love that needed but guidance to carry it swiftly to accomplishments unprecedented. That God gave that guidance and opened the doors of entrance to a world wide witness and work, will soon be apparent to readers of the following pages: pages particularly from the pen of him who gave of his best (a dear daughter) triumphantly to pass from the front lin~ of battle below to joyous service above; and partially from ix the pen of him who, having climbed from early manhood to maturity in the work of B.C.M.S., brought such intimate know ledge of those trained in the Society's colleges-who "for the sake of the Name went forth" or who in their ministry at home gained recruits for the far-flung battlefields-that he was invited by the Committee to take part in the work. May their combined writings run on the lines of Scriptural history which although infinitely more sacred and chronicled for all time never shrinks from recording realities-discords and doubts, mistakes and moods, separations and strifes-and so never attributes to poor human agents the glory which belongs to God alone; thus teaching readers "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils", and looking up, cry, yea, and repeat the cry, "Be Thou exalted, 0 God, above the heavens; let Thy glory be above all the earth" (Psalm lvii. 5, 11). D. H. C. BARTLETT BRISTOL, January 1947 X AUTHORS' PREFACE DURING the course of a discussion of the ideal qualities of a historian-with special reference· to the outstanding merit of St. Luke as historian of the Acts of the Apostles-the late Professor Sir W. M. Ramsay, in his book, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen (p. 3), has the following sentence: "Such an author seizes the critical events, concentrates the reader's attention on them by giving them fuller treatment, touches more lightly and briefly on the less important events, omits entirely a mass of unimportant details, and makes his work an artistic and idealized picture of the progressive tendency of the period". It is a high ideal, and, however difficult its attainment, it is a useful guide to any writers who set out on the task of compiling a history. It is inevitable that workers on the various fields of the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society, and others with special interests in those fields, will feel that inadequate attention has been given in this book to matters with which they are especially cognizant. We ask their forbearance, especially as they reflect upon the amount of space available for each mission, in a volume of some 250 pages, divided between twelve mission fields, over an extensive period of years, together with accounts of the origin and organization of the Society at home. Our grateful acknowledgrnents are due to all who have helped in the preparation of this history by advice and criticism, or in any other way-especially to the Revs. Dr. D. H. C. Bartlett, H. A. H. Lea, and A. T. Houghton, for their careful reading of the typescript and for suggestions made; and, not least, to the Rev. A. G. Pouncy for the same help and for his careful attention to detail in seeing the book through the press; also to Miss E. D. Still, for her skilful care in preparation of the maps, and to friends who lent portraits. The Appendices have been prepared at Headquarters; and it should be mentioned that very great difficulty has been experienced in securing representative illustra tions from the various fields of the Society's operations, owing to the destruction, by enemy action, of all the. best plates in its · xi possession, and to the extreme difficulty of obtaining films in spheres where its missionaries are at present at work. Accordingly more than half the illustrations have had to be reproduced from the printed pages of past Reports. Particular recognition must be made of a valuable collection of papers relating to the years 1917-18 and 1922, lent by Dr. Bartlett (including extracts from The Record and The English Churchman, without which it would have been impossible to complete the quotations made from important documents of those years), and of Dr. Bartlett's own Report, published in 1944, reviewing the work of the Society from 1923 to that date. We very greatly regret the absence of a portrait of Dr. Bartlett. It had been planned to give this first place among the illustrations in the volume-a place to which it would have been justly entitled. Many of our readers will know that their prayers and their service played a vital part in the events that are recorded. May God grant that they and others may be encouraged to deeper prayer and fuller service for the years to come. We commit the book to Him, Whose blessing we seek upon it, that He may take it and use it for the glory of His Name, the honour of His Word, and the triumphant progress of His glorious Kingdom.