Hope College Hope College Digital Commons Annual Reports Board of World Missions 1930 98th 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, "98th Annual Report of the Board of World Missions" (1930). Annual Reports. 77. https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/world_annual_report/77 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]. Ninety-eighth Annual Report Board of Foreign Missions Reformed Church in America 1930 : H E ARCHIVES .CHIVES e . .nti LEE LIBRARY ...,o..i.£E L I B R M V Sltitrt i m O G I C A L S E M I N A R Y (IERH THEOLOGICAL SB I NARY THE ARCHIVES BEARDSLEE LIBRARY WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Reformed Church Building 25 East Twenty-second Street, Ne w York Board of Foreign Missions MEMBERS OF THE BOARD 1928— 1931 Rev. J. Frederic Berg, Ph.D. Rev. J. M. Martin, D.D. Rev. Edward Dawson, D.D. Rev. J. G. Meengs, D.D. Rev. W m . Bancroft Hill, D.D. Rev. E. F. Romig, D.D. Rev. M. J. MacLeod, D.D. Mr. S. B. Chapin Mr. H. A. Kinports 1929-1932 Rev. J. W. Beardslee, Ph.D. Rev. George D. Hulst Rev. E. J. Blekkink, D.D. Rev. T. H. Mackenzie, D.D. Rev. J. H. Brinckerhoff Pres. E. D. Dimnent, Litt.D. Rev. W. H. S. Demarest, LL.D. Mr. Cornelius Dosker Mr. Herman Vanderwart 1930— 1933 Rev. Henry E. Cobb, S.T.D. Rev. H. J. Veldman, D.D. Rev. J. A. Jones, D.D. Mr. A. P. Cobb Rev. Bernie Mulder Mr. N. Y. Dungan Rev. Harry W. Noble, D.D. Mr. W. E. Foster Mr. Jay Weemhoff OFFICERS OF THE BOARD President— Rev. Henry E. Cobb, D.D., S.T.D. Vice-President— Rev. W m . Bancroft Hill, D.D. Recording Secretary— Rev. Edward Dawson, D.D. Corresponding Secretary— Rev. W. I. Chamberlain, Ph.D. Associate Secretary and Treasurer— Mr. F. M. Potter, L.H.D. District Secretary— Rev. W . J. Van Kersen, D.D., Holland, Mich. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Rev. T. H. Mackenzie, Chairman Rev. J .W. Beardslee Rev. E. F. Romig Rev. J. H. Brinckerhoff Mr. A. P. Cobb Rev. Edward Dawson Mr. W. E. Foster Rev. W. H. S. Demarest Mr. H. A. Kinports Mr. Herman Vanderwart Ex Officiis: The President and Vice-President MEDICAL ADVISERS Charles N. Dowd, M.D., 51 East 50th Street, N e w York Edward M. Dodd, M.D., 156 Fifth Avenue, N e w York R. H. Nichols, M.D., Holland, Mich. ' ■ r — % L I B R F? v THE DEPUTATION OF THE BOARD AT THE ' j JUBILEE OF THE ARGOT MISSION j j ’ J A N U A R Y , 1930 j } G arlanded U pon T heir A rrival \ I (Drs. B eardslee, P otter a n d V a x K ersen ; Miss D odd, ! j M r. H i i.st) j I I i ! I____________________________! Ninety-eighth Annual Report of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America T h e Seventy-third Year of Separate Action Organized, 1832 Independent, 1857 Incorporated, 1860 MISSIONS Amoy, China, 1 842 Arcot, India, 1 853 Japan, 1859 Arabia, 1889 Presented to the General Syn o d at AsBury Park, N. J. June, 1930 1 ANNUAL REPORT, 1930 The Board of Foreign Missions respectfully presents to General Synod its Ninety-eighth Annual Report and the Seventy-third of its separate and independent action. The Personnel of the Board The terms of the following members of the Board expire with this Session of General Synod: R ev. H. E. Cobb R ev. H. J. V e l d m a n R ev. J. A. Jones M r. A. P. Cobb R ev. B ernie M ulder M r. N. Y. D u n g a n R ev. H. W. N oble M r. W. E. Foster M r. Ja y W e e m h o f f Provision will also need to be made for the election of a member of the Board, in the class 1929-1932, in the place of Rev. Robert W . Searle, re­ signed on leaving the bounds of the Denomination. A Century of Missions In accordance with the custom prevailing for well nigh a century, the Board of Foreign Missions presents now its Annual Report, which happens to be the Ninety-eighth Report of the Board. In 1896 Dr. Henry N. Cobb, the Corresponding Secretary at that time, prepared a pamphlet entitled, “A Century of Missions in the Reformed Church of America, 1796-1896.” In support of this historical pamphlet, which contains a remarkably condensed and deeply interesting record of the foreign missionary work of our Re­ formed Church, Dr. Cobb states: “It is quite proper to celebrate the completion of a century of mis­ sionary activity on the part of the Reformed Church. Its own part was not organized until 1832, but long previous to that time its members had united with those of other Churches in evangelistic labors and organization. “In November, 1796, just a century ago, the N e w York Missionary So­ ciety was organized in N e w York City. In it were represented the Baptist, Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. Monthly meetings were held on the second Wednesday of each month in the Baptist, Dutch and Presbyterian Churches in rotation, ‘for the purpose of offering their prayers to the God of Grace that He would be pleased to pour out His spirit on His Church and send His Gospel to all the nations’.” While 1796 appears to be the beginning of organized and responsible foreign missionary work of the Reformed Church, although on a limited scale, formal action constituting the present Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church was taken by General Synod in 1832. Thus for ninety- eight years the Reformed Church, through this Board, has been engaged in an enterprise known as Foreign Missions. Throughout all these years, with their world changes and frequent political upheavals in various parts of the earth, their varying periods of missionary success and failure, their inspiring examples of missionary heroism and sacrifice, their repeated increases and decreases in financial resources, their alternating periods of enthusiastic in­ terest and discouraging indifference on the part of the churches at home, their changing methods in missionary administration, the Board of Foreign Missions, acting for General Synod, has, nevertheless, gone steadily for­ ward, endeavoring always to be mindful of its high purpose stated in its Charter, “of establishing and conducting Christian Missions among the un­ evangelized, or pagan, nations and the general diffusion of Christianity.” Throughout all these nearly one hundred years the Board at home and the Missions in the field have endeavored to maintain the evangelistic emphasis so impressively formulated in the Preamble to the Constitution adopted by General Synod in October, 1857. “Whereas the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Divine Head of the Church, has enjoined on all His people the duty of giving the Gospel to every creature; .and Whereas the condition of all men without the Gospel is one of exposure to eternal death, as well as of present suffering and sorrow— Therefore under the conviction of duty, and with earnest desire for the best interests of our fellow men here and hereafter, the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, acknowledging with gratitude what God has been pleased to accomplish by the Church, adopts the following Constitution for its Board of Foreign Missions.” It is no unique claim that we make for the missionaries of our Church, that they have held closely before them that thq primary work of the mis­ sionary is to lead men to accept Christ as personal Saviour and Lord. In this age, when missionary service is more highly specialized than it was when our pioneer missionaries established the great missions of our Church in Asia, it is particularly impressive that, whatever may bel the method employed by him, the missionary has never lost sight of his supreme mis­ sion. His contribution is spiritual; its fruitage is Christian faith and pur­ pose, a new life, a new devotion to God. With this background of distinguished and impressive missionary history, the Board presents its Ninety-eighth Report, deeply grateful to the mis­ sionaries for their loyal service during the past year ; to the constituency at home for its generous and prayerful support and to God for His blessing on the work of the year. Since we are about to complete a century of missions, following upon the action of General Synod assuming in 1832 responsibility for the organi­ zation and conduct of the foreign missionary work under its immediate auspices, the Board of Foreign Missions awaits authority and instructions for the suitable commemoration of this important event in the history of the foreign missionary enterprise of the American Church. The Deputation to the Missions In accordance with the announcement made in the last Annual Report of the Board to General Synod, a Deputation has been visiting all the Mis­ sions of the Reformed Church during the past year. This Deputation con­ sisted of the following: D r. F. M. P otter, Associate Secretary and Treasurer T h e R evd.