Tl)E Hnjmeai) Idapat?I)I .Qissioi)
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
REPORT OF Tl)e Hnjmeai) iDapat?i)i .Qissioi) (A B.CF.W ) For the Year 1921 General Editor. Mrs. ROSE. Statistics Editor. Rev. W. HAZEN. Printed by the Scottish Mission Industries Coy., Ltd-, (J, R, fiaaon, Manager), at the Orphauge Press, Bast Street, Poona; and Published by Mrs. Rose, (for the American Marathi Mission) at Sholapur. T h e Ab b o t t H ome; f o r W id o w s , inaugurated b y t h e l a t e M is s An s t ic e A b b o t t , a n d o n h e r l e a v in g I n d ia , r e m o v e d to W a i , Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high ; Where knowledge is free ; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments (by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth ; Where tireless striving stretches it arms towards perfection ; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into die dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action— Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Tagore, Qitanjali, 85 “ If ye abide in my word then are ye truly my disciples ; add ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free ’’. John 8, S1-S2 CONTENTS. Page. India in 1921 Summary of Facts and Figures What is a Missionary? ... ... ... ... 1 The M ission in 1921 ... ... ... ... 4 Called to Higher Service ... ... ... ... 7 The Church ... ... ... ... ... 9 Church Union ... ... ... ... ... 16 E vangelistic ... ••• ... ... ... 17 Work for Women ... ^ ... ... ... ... 22 Medical Work ... ... ... ... ... 27 bducation : Training School* ... ... ... ... 33 High Schools, Boarding and Station School«... ... 36 Common Schools ... ... ... ... 4 4 Industrial and Kindergarten Work ... ... 4 9 Special Institutions: Criminal Tribes Work ... ... ... 5 2 Work for the Blind ... ... ... ... 5 4 Work for Lepers ... ... ... - ... 5 5 Babies Orphanage ... ... ... ... 5 3 Work lor Young People ... ... ... ... 5 7 Literary Work ... ... ... ... ... 5 9 Interesting Incidents ... ... ... 60 Stations, Missionaries, Work and needs ... ... ... 64 Donations ... ••• ... ... ... 67 S ta tistics of Medical Work, 1921 ... ... ... 7 0 Statistics - ... ... ... ... 71 SUMMARY OF FACTS AND FIGURES. The American Marathi Mission was founded in 1813, being the first American Christian Mission established in India, and .the first Mission of any Protestant denomination permanently established in Western India. Its work is chiefly among the Marathi-speaking people of Bombay and of parts of the Ahmednagar, Po<>aa, Satara and Sholapur districts of the Bombay Presidency. It is supported and directed by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Boston, and its associated Woman’s Boards, and the funds for its support are largely contributed by the Congregational Churches of the United States and Canada. On its staff of workers at the end of 1921 are 56 foreign missionaries on the field, and 5 on furlough. Of these, 12 are ordained ministers, 3 unordained educators, 2 men and 2 women physicians, 1 nurse, 15 single and 18 married women. Its Indian Staff numbers 651. of whom 43 are ordained pastors and preachers, 48 unordained preachers, 287 men and 146 women teachers, 54 Bible women, and 78 other workers. There are 67 organized Churches, of which 9 are entirely self-sup porting, the number of communicants being 8986 and the total Christian community reckoned at 15,881 ; 508 were added to the churches in 1921. There are 175 Sunday Schools with 6,964 mem bers, and 34 Christian Endeavor Societies with 1,425 members. The Church contributions in 1921 were Rs. 8,866 •The Mission m aintains 5 T rtining Schools, with 97 students, 9 S e c o n d a r y Schools with 760' pupils, 184 Primary and Kindergarten Schools with 7,334 pupils, and 10 Industrial Schools with 330 pupils. Of the total pupils, 3,0^2 are Christians and 5,323 non-Christians. The fees received in 1921 amounted to Rs. 15,110, and the Govern ment grants to Bs. 49,955. Report of the American Marathi Mission FOR 1921. WHAT IS A MISSIONARY? In many people’s minds the word “Missionary” still connotes a white man armed with a large umbrella under one arm and a large Bible under the other, standing under a solitary palm tree preaching to a crowd of dusky listeners. If that picture were literally accurate, if mission work consisted solely of preaching the gospel, how simple it would be! How many missionaries, harrassed with statistics and Government reports and the other numerous details of administration, long for the good old days of the pioneer missionary ! How often they find that the preaching of the word, the raisond’etre of all missions and missionaries, is the very thing that constantly gets crowded out! And yet, to a certain extent, the very fact and the multiplicity of other activities is proof positive of the efficacy of the actual preaching. Take our pioneer missionary as we saw him preaching under a tree. Suppose one of his listeners, becoming interested, follows him home and after further instruction asks for baptism. It is all perfectly simple so far. But when numbers of converts come in, then naturally a church must be organised, probably on the denominational lines most familiar to the particular missionary, and he finds himself inevi tably engaged in CHURCH activities. And so it grows. But the converts will no doubt want their children to be instructed in tfyeir new faith. They must have a Christian education. So our missionary must start up a little Christian school. If he finds non- christian parents willing to send their children to it, he will seize this excellent opportunity of reaching them. Before he knows where he is, our evangelistic missionary finds himself at the head of an important EDUCATIONAL institution. And so it grows. But the missionary must have trained preachers and teachers to help him in his work. He starts a class for them. Other missionaries do the same. As things develop they conclude that it would be wise to amalgamate, to have all the students meet in one central organisa tion for training, and to set aside one missionary'for this particular work. Here is the nucleus of a DIVINITY COLLEGE and a TEACHERS’ TRAINING College. And so it grows. THE AMERICAN MARATHI MISSION, 1921. But the missionary, on his preaching tours, indeed by his very door, occasionally finds a destitute child or one that is about to be sold or vowed to a hideous fate. Common humanity demands that he rescue it. He puts it in the care of an Indian woman. Another and another protégé is added. The little hostel, or orphange, or rescue home, whatever you care to call it, swells in numbers. Christian preachers and teachers in far-off villages ask that their children may be cared for here, so that they can attend the school. And so there springs up a MISSION BOARDING SCHOOL. And so it grows. But the missionary is constantly meeting the sick, the maimed, the blind, and the diseased. If he has even a little knowledge and a large portion of common sense he may save hundreds of lives. But the sight of suffering which he cannot relieve and for which’there is no provision, no doctor, no hospital for hundreds of miles—this so works upon his sympathy that he implores his Board to send out a doctor. It may take years before the Board can comply, but by and by the doctor comes. He starts out with a little room fitted up as dispensary, and crowds flock to him day by da}' for relief. As he attends them one by one, Christian preachers and biblewomen entertain the waiting patients with hymns and prayers and bible stories. Many a suffer er finds medicine for a sick mind as well as a sick body. Butevery day our doctor finds cases that demand more than a dose of “ medicine water.” Common humanity again demands that he do what he can. So he rigs up part of his diminutive dispensary, or rents a room close by, or sacrifices part of his own home, to serve as a surgical or medical ward, or both. But this soon gets crowded out, and inevitably there comes into being a MISSION HOSPITAL. And so it grows. It grows, this mission work, until it has become a great specialised WORLD WELFARE EFFORT—a vast social service bounded only by humanity, a contribution from those who walk in the light of a Christian democracy to those who still sit in darkness. A tribute from an unexpected source is doubly welcome. All missions and all missionaries are indebted to ex-Ambassador Morgen- thau for what he says of them in the Chapters from his autobiography appearing in “ The World’s Work.” When appointed to Constanti nople, he was advised to get in touch with leading missionaries who could speak with authority on the East ; and learning that five of them were crossing the Atlantic at about the same time as he had planned, he changed his passage in order to travel with them. He writes : “ The conversations I had with these men on shipboard were a revel ation to me. I had hitherto had a hazy notion that missionaries were sort of over-zealous advance agents of sectarian religion, and that their principal activity was the proselyting of believers in other faiths. WHAT IS A MISSIONARY. “ To my surprise and gratification, these men gave me a very different picture.