THE BAPTIST V V MISSIONARY SOCIETY (Founded 1792) 140th ANNUAL REPORT For the year ending March 31st, 1932 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY AT THE CAREY PRESS 19, FURNIVAL STREET, E.C. 4. Telegraphic Address : "Asiatic, Fleet, London." Telephone: Holbom SSSS (3 lin es) /V/r fT CONTENTS A Y. - /4 S " PAGE MAKING DISCIPLES ... ... .............. 5 THE ROLL OF DISCIPLES .......................... 7 FINANCE ............................................................ 8 MAKING DISCIPLES ON THE FIELDS ... 9 THE HEART OF THE REPORTS ....................... 14 MAKING DISCIPLES AMONGST THE WOMEN 23 DISCIPLES THROUGH HEALING ....................... 31 AT THE HOME BASE .............................................. 39 THE MISSIONARY ROLL CALL, 1931 42 PART II. THE SOCIETY : COMMITTEE AND OFFICERS, 1929-30, &c. 48 LIST OF MISSIONARIES ............................................................ 64 STATIONS AND STAFF........................................................................ 84 STATISTICS AND TABLES ............................................................ 91 SCHOOLS FOR MISSIONARIES5 CHILDREN .......................... J21 PART III. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIETY ..................................... 125 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS ... 125 128 DEFICIT ................................................................................... 128131 WOMEN’S F U N D ................................................................................... 132 MEDICAL FUND ................................................................................... 133 BIBLE TRANSLATION AND LITERATURE FUND .............. 135 GIFT AND SELF-DENIAL W E E K ................................................. 135 LONDON BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION .......................... 137 ENGLAND: COUNTY SUMMARIES................................................ 145 WALES : COUNTY SUMMARIES ................................................. 177 SCOTLAND: COUNTY SUMMARIES ..................................... 194 IRELAND, CHANNEL ISLANDS AND ISLE OF MAN ... 197 SPECIAL F U N D S .................................................................................. 199 SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THREE YEARS ... 202 GENERAL SUMMARY OF CASH ACCOUNT .......................... 203 TREASURERS’ CASH ACCOUNT ................................................. 206 SPECIAL FUNDS ACCOUNTS ................................................. 210 AUDITORS’ CERTIFICATE ............................................................ 214 GIRLS’ AUXILIARY ........................................................................ 215 THE “ WANTS” DEPARTMENT ................................................. 216 TOTAL EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR AT HOME AND ABROAD ................................... 217 The Baptist Missionary Society 1931-33 ONE HUNDRED AND FORTIETH YEAR ANNUAL REPORT MAKING DISCIPLES “ And when they were come, and had gathered the Church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” “ Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations. HIS Report is a record of making disciples. It rehearses to the Church what God has done and how doors of faith have been opened. Last year we reviewed the work under the T title of “ The Unfinished Task.” We need to remember also the Unceasing Worker. “ My Father worketh till now, and I work.” Only God can do the things that are recorded in the following pages. To make disciples is humanly impossible. Dr. J. R. Mott says in his latest book, “ The Present-Day S um m ons ” : “ Those who regard or treat Christian missions as less than an adventure in the humanly impossible must entertain superficial views as to the reality of the difficulties or unworthy views as to the superhuman source and resources of the undertaking. It is urgently desirable that we come to see and then afford fresh demonstrations of the fact that in the sublime enterprise of making Christ known, loved, obeyed and exemplified in life and human relationships, it is easier to accomplish very great, bafflingly difficult, even impossible things than the easy, the simple and the possible.” So our first note must be that of thankfulness to God. In some ways the past year has been the most notable of all. Disciples have been made in great numbers in all our fields. For example, in Shensi, after years of siege and war and banditry and drought and famine, great companies are being baptized. On the Congo, to use the phrase of Mr. C. E. Pugh, our Congo Secretary, “ there is a liveliness all along the river.” In many parts of India the baptisms have been greater in number than in any previous year. To read the account is to stir one’s heart to great rejoicing. 6 ONE HUNDRED AND FORTIETH ANF REPORT. [1932. And yet we know that a call has come to us to share in God’s great redemptive purpose for the world. “ It is a great moment in the life of any man,” says Professor Hocking, “ when he realises that the arc of the divine destiny coincides with the sweep of his own arm.” That we should have any place whatsoever in this making of disciples must ever amaze us. It will be realised at once that many processes go to the making of disciples, but it would appear that the witness borne in the lives of Christians, both of this land and foreign, has had a great part. Evangelism has been the work not only of the European missionary, but to an increasing extent of the members of the young Church in India and China and Congo. Students male and female have taken their part in tent work, and there has been an eagerness to witness for Christ. Education has also been one of the ways of making disciples. In particular those who have given themselves to Christ have joined Bible Classes, both that they themselves might under­ stand somewhat more what their standing in Christ means, and also that they might be able to help others. The Medical work has also given large opportunities of displaying the grace of God in the healing of the body, and of proclaiming the goodness of the Great Physician who heals both body and soul. It must not be forgotten that the difficulties both of making disciples and of maintaining discipleship have by no means decreased. The wave of Nationalism in India, of Communism in China, and of Indus­ trialism on the Congo, to mention but a few movements, have added to the task. In all three of our fields the young Church is being urged to accept more and more the privileges and obligations of discipleship. Ringing right through this Report is a challenge. We cannot estimate what the prayers of Christ’s people at home have meant, nor can we forget that those who have gone forth from us have done so at our bidding. The challenge is that of surprising success in the work in which we have had a share. But in one part it comes home very strikingly that the Discipleship Campaign, which seems so full of promise for us in the homeland, is a reflex action of what is being done in the far-off fields. Two years ago, Dr. J. R. Mott met a number of ministers of all denomi­ nations at Swanwick. The address he had prepared was set aside, and he told them of what was happening in Japan under the leader­ ship of that remarkable man and Christian, Dr. Kagawa, and also what was being planned in China on the initiation of Dr. Cheng Ching Yi. The company of Baptists there was greatly moved. They felt that it was a call to them, and through them to all those of our faith and order. They sent a communication to the Baptist Union 1932.] MAKING DISCIPLES. 7 Council, and those who were present in March of last year at the meeting of that Council will never forget how it was made clear to all that our denomination was being called by God to a great enter­ prise. The fact that in China and Japan, and also later in India, the members of the young Churches in those lands were constrained to go out to make disciples, confirmed once again in the hearts of those at home that this was the Church’s prime task and privilege. It is to be hoped that the reading of this Report will aid in this direction. Surely there is not only cause for joy but also a call to, service, and this with assured faith, for if the Spirit can work these wonders recorded in these pages He can surely work similar achieve­ ments amongst us at home. Let this Report, then, be read as a call to renewed faith and enterprise. THE ROLL OF DISCIPLES OT for many years past have we had such encouraging reports from the foreign field of the spiritual results gained. N The total number of persons baptized, 3,562, was much larger than last year, and in all the three great fields there has been increase. This is not, of course, the only standard by which the work has to be judged. In many forms of work—as in Translation, Litera­ ture and Colportage—it is impossible to know what the results really are, and in many places patient and devoted work must be carried on without the thrill of knowing that conversions are taking place. And even the number of baptisms does not reveal the true measure of the gain to the kingdom of God and the effective strength of the Church. It is important to remember that in India, of the 1,648 persons who confessed their discipleship to Christ in believers’ baptism, 1,099 were from the non-Christian community, and of these no less than 565 were in the Lushai Hills. Then 388 were among the humble caste or outcaste folk of the Bolangir area, and 86 were from the aboriginal tribes in Dinajpur. These are wonderful figures, signifying real accessions and in­ volving great responsibility to the Christian Church for fulfilling the Lord’s commission to teach these new disciples how to observe all things whatsoever He has commanded. The Congo baptisms numbered 1,346, three-fourths of these being from the non-Christians, and well distributed all over the field. The highest number is 229 in Kibentele ; the next is 193 in Kibokolo, in Portuguese Congo—and the third is Yakusu with 174. 8 ONE HUNDRED AND FORTIETH ANNUAL REPORT. [1932. Most remarkable of all perhaps is the record of baptisms in China, where in spite of all the present distress and after so many years of national disturbance, 511 people were publicly baptized and joined the Christian Church in our stations during the year.