The Baptist Missionary Society
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THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY (Founded 1 792) 141st ANNUAL REPORT For the year ending March 31st, 1933 LONDON PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY A T THE CAREY PRESS 19, F u r n i v a l St r e e t , E.C. 4. Telegraphic Address: uAsiatic, Fleet, London." Telephone: Holbom 6882 (g lines) CONTENTS PAGE “WHEREFORE WE FAINT NOT” ..................................................... 5 FIN AN CE ....................................................................................................... 8 THE WORK ABROAD ... ... ... 9 WOMEN S WORK FOR WOMEN ..................................................... 30 OUR MEDICAL W O R K .............................................................................. 37 AT THE HOME BASE ............................................................................ 45 THE MISSIONARY ROLL CALL, 1932-33 ........................................ 48 MAPS ......................................................................................................................51-54 PART II. TH E SOCIETY : COMMITTEE AND OFFICERS, 1932-33, &c. 55 LIST OF MISSIONARIES ................................................................. 71 STATIONS AND STAFF .............................................................................. 91 STATISTICS AND TABLES .................................................................. 99 SCHOOLS FOR MISSIONARIES5 CHILDREN ............................... 127 PART III. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIETY ......................................... 131 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS ... 133 DEFICIT ....................................................................................................... 131 W O M E N ’S F U N D ..................................................................................... 138 M EDICAL FU N D ........................................................................................... 139 BIBLE TRANSLATION AND LITERATURE FUND ................ 140 GIFT AND SELF-DENIAL W E E K ..................................................... 141 LONDON BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION ............................ 143 ENGLAND: COUNTY SUMMARIES..................................................... 151 WALES : COUNTY SUMMARIES ..................................................... 183 SCOTLAND: COUNTY SUMMARIES ............... 200 IRELAND, CHANNEL ISLANDS AND ISLE OF MAN ... 203 SPECIAL FUNDS .......................................................................................... 205 SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THREE YEARS ... 210 GENERAL SUMMARY OF CASH ACCOUNT ............................ 211 TREASURERS’ CASH ACCOUNT ..................................................... 214 SPECIAL FUNDS ACCOUNTS ..................................................... 218 AUDITORS’ CERTIFICATE .................................................................. 220 GIRLS’ AUXILIARY .............................................................................. 223 THE “ WANTS” DEPARTMENT ..................................................... 224 TOTAL EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR AT HOME AND ABROAD ...................................... 225 The Baptist Missionary Society ' 932-33 ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIRST YEAR ANNUAL REPORT “ WHEREFORE WE FAINT NOT” GREEK historian speaks of those who “ dared beyond their strength, hazarded against their judgment, and in extremities A were of excellent hope.” There are New Testament parallels to this. One is found in the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, and another in the fourth chapter of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, where the Apostle says : “ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed.” And there is the reiteration of the words, “ wherefore we faint not.” It will not be difficult to detect in the Report that follows signs of trouble and perplexity, of persecution maybe, and of being cast down. Certainly there is a great deal of tiredness of body and mind and spirit, for times are not less strenuous and duties are not less burden some. The staff is not so numerous as it was, and the means to prosecute the work are not so large nor so accessible. There are so many things that might lead to fainting. But you will not find any fainting in this Report. Dr. J. H. Hutton has written that herein lies a characteristic of the Bible. It is full of the idea of fainting. It sets forth so many conditions and circumstances that might lead to fainting, but there is no record of anyone actually fainting. What the Bible speaks about is “ not fainting.” So it is in this Report. Yet we had better inquire what the Apostle means by the word. What is it that makes for fainting '? There is the indisputable power of the -enemy. It would be foolish to ignore that fact. The words used about being troubled and persecuted make this clear. And there is no understanding of this Report unless we are continually aware that the enterprise is being carried on in the midst of great difficulties, much tribulation, obvious evidences of the power of the enemy. Our missionaries sometimes have a way of writing that hides these things from us unless we read 5 6 ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. [1 9 3 3 . between the lines, but whatever may be said of the decay of the ancient and national religions in certain directions, and whatever reforms there may be here and there in these religions from within, and whatever departing from old traditions there may be on the part of the educated, the fact is that these religions still stand, hoary, may be, and in some aspects crumbling, but still ubiquitous and powerful. When, in addition to this, the situation is made complex by the presence of a nationalistic spirit or communistic propaganda, or great upheavals, such as the incoming of industrialism on the Congo, or visitations like plague and famine accompanied by banditry and war, and when especially those who have believed on Christ through the word of the missionaries turn to them for guidance and sustenance and shelter, how very much there is that makes for fainting. And, moreover, there is the straitening in means. In the great passage in the Corinthian Letter, Paul speaks of the outward man perishing; possibly in his case the reference was to the fact that he was not able to do now with the same energy as once he did those things which involved a toll and tax upon his bodily strength. This is what corresponds to the retrenchment which has been enforced recently. There has been a serious depletion, both in the personnel of our staff and in the financial support we have been able to give them. In particular, we have deprived them of certain help which came to them from those of the lands where they serve, who were in some measure or other upon the paid staff of the Society. There will always be the temptation to try to do the same amount of work, although the number of people will be fewer and the money will be less. These things make for fainting. But what, after all, does “ fainting ” mean ? Dr. Robertson Nicoll suggested once that this chapter showed us what “ fainting ” meant to Paul. It would have been “ fainting ” had Paul preached himself and not Christ Jesus as Lord. For then he would have failed to humble himself and would have sought glory for himself. To preach Christ Jesus as Lord will necessitate that Paul is a servant, and their servant for Jesus’ sake. Or “ to faint ” might mean “ handling the word of God craftily.” That would be to give it a false emphasis, to tone down its austerities, or to fail to proclaim its glories. It might mean that it was being used simply to convey information, and not to meet a dire need, such as only a revelation of the heart of God could satisfy. In that dramatic chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, when messengers came to Joppa from Cornelius, we are told that the word came to Peter, “ three men are seeking thee.” One wonders what he will say to them. They had come on behalf of a Roman centurion 1 93 3 .] “ WHEREFORE WE FAINT NOT.” 7 who at best was only a proselyte. Would Peter oiler to these men, as he was offering to his own folk, the full and entire Gospel of the forgiveness of God as set forth in Jesus Christ as Lord, or would he simply make certain demands upon Cornelius which would still keep the Roman outside the inner circle of the chosen of God ? We have no meaning as a missionary society unless we are offering all we have. We carry many gifts in our hands, gifts of culture and civilisa tion, of enlightenment and of science. To offer these might make for the comfort and delight of men, but .not to seek to reach the depths of their spirit’s need, not to offer them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, would be, according to Paul, to “ faint.” Or, “ to faint ” might mean to use unworthy methods, to offer specious and plausible but false solutions to difficult problems, the palliative for the cure. It might mean failing to tell men that their need is deeper than that on the surface, to fear to utter the word that reveals their sin; or it might mean the opposite failure, in clouding from them One Who is the complete and entire and sufficient Saviour. Or, again, “ to faint ” might mean to rest in one’s own complacency with what has already been achieved, to accept in one’s own heart a satisfaction which, as it is not complete, must be false. In all this, we venture to say, those who represent our Society have not fainted. Why, then, does the Apostle not faint, and why is it that our missionaries do not faint ? The first reason