p. 595 | The India Union Mission by J. L. SHAW

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 19, 1913

The India Union Mission

By J. L. SHAW

India is the very Gibraltar of heathenism. The caste system divides the people into thousands of castes. The zenana system shuts up in prison 40,000,000 women, keeping them in ignorance and superstition, while the early child marriage stands at the very springs of the life of the Indian people, hindering the normal development of which they are capable. These are conditions met nowhere else in the world, which we, with you, must realize and face in our program of mission work in India.

The little force of foreign workers has been increased, until now, counting the wives of workers, there are seventy-two in the field. The health of our missionaries on the whole has been exceptionally good. Death, however, has entered our ranks, and claimed two workers, Elder G. K. Owen, the oldest minister, and Elder J. C. Little, who died of cholera.

At the biennial conference held at Lucknow in October, 1910, India, including Burma and Ceylon, was organized into what is known as the India Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists. The field was divided into five local missions, as follows: Bengal, comprising the Bengali, Oriya, Santali, and Assamese language areas; North India, covering the Hindi, Bihari, Rajasthani, Punjabi, and Sindhi language areas; West India, comprising the language areas of Marathi and Gujerati; South India, including the island of Ceylon, and comprising the language areas of Tamil, Kanarese, Malayalam, and Cingalese; and Burma, including the country of Burma.

Mission Headquarters

Lucknow, a large city in North India, was chosen as the headquarters of the India Union Mission. It is located in one of the most beautiful provinces, has excellent postal, telegraph, and railway facilities, and is only one night's ride from Delhi, the new capital of the Indian Empire. It is in the very heart of the Hindustani world, which comprises fully a fourth of the population of the empire, and is in close proximity to the Himalaya Mountains. One night's ride on the train in the hot season takes our workers from the fiery heat of the plains to the cooling breezes which blow from the snow-capped mountains.

The International Tract Society, with its printing department, is also located at Lucknow. A year ago land in the best part of the city, on Abbott Road, one of the principal streets, was purchased. The land had upon it a well-built building, to which has been added a substantial addition, and this now provides offices for the India Union Mission and the International Tract Society. Thanks to the $300,000 Fund.

Burma

We shall now give you a survey of our work in the different local mission fields, beginning with Burma. Burma has a population of 12,000,000. Brother H. H. Votaw, who is superintendent of the field, is located at Rangoon, the chief city, where a thriving little church has been raised up, most of the members being English-speaking people. Recently ten souls were baptized and united with the church. Of the members of this church, several have become active and successful workers in different lines of work.

Shortly after the last General Conference, Brother R. B. Thurber went to Burma for the purpose of opening up an industrial school at Meiktila, in Upper Burma. Thirty acres of land have been acquired. A neat building, which serves as a dormitory, has been erected, and also a dwelling for Brother Thurber. A building for industrial work is now in process of construction. More than half of the funds for these buildings has been raised in Burma. The enrolment is 141. One or two thriving industries are affording instruction and work for Burmese youth. A letter from Brother Thurber reads as follows:—

“I send this to tell you the good news that I baptized nine persons in the lake, March 22. They are all of the earnest, hard-working, substantial class. Twelve more wanted baptism, but they were asked to wait. I believe we have reached the beginning of the harvest, and that a great work is just before us.”

We are looking forward to the time when trained workers from the Meiktila school will help to finish the work in Burma.

A year ago a Burmese quarterly magazine was started. It has met with even better circulation than we expected. It now has a subscription list of over three thousand, and six thousand copies of the last issue were published. Brother Robert Beckner is at this meeting, and will tell you of his work.

The call for opening up work among the Karens has been answered. Miss Mary Gibbs began the study of Karen two years ago, and Brother G. A. Hamilton and wife, lately of California, are now giving as much time as possible to the study of the language, with a view to opening up mission work among the Karen people.

Dr. Oberholtzer-Tornblad, who was previously at Moulmein, in southern Burma, has opened up our first mission station in the Shan States. Brother and Sister Tornblad are supporting and operating this station. The church-membership of the Burma Mission is eighty-five.

Bengal

Bengal is one of our largest mission fields, having a population of 78,000,000. It was in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, the largest city, and for over a hundred years the capital of India, that the message began to take root in Hindustan.

In Bengal there are four mission stations, Calcutta, Karmatar, Gopalgunje, and Babulmohal. Pastor W. R. French is local superintendent of the field. The church-membership of this division is 153.

Calcutta has an English church and a Bengali church. For several years the English work has languished because of a lack of suitable evangelistic help to carry it forward. But the call for help for English work in the cities of India has not been in vain. Brethren J. M. Comer and W. R. French, assisted by Brother Baasch and Sister Rachel Jones, are now carrying forward a growing work. Souls are accepting the truth. At a recent service the Sabbath question was presented, and in response to the call of the Holy Spirit, thirty-five arose one after the other, signifying their intention to obey the commandments of God. Some of these are very substantial people, and should be a strength to the cause. Twelve have recently been baptized.

A monthly magazine in the Bengali language has been circulating in Bengal the past four years, with a varying circulation of from two to six thousand. Brother L. J. Mookerjee, who has acted as pastor of the Bengali Calcutta church until recently, is the editor, and Brother A. G. Watson acts as agent in circulating the paper. He has associated with him a number of Bengali canvassers, some of whom have become quite proficient in selling papers. The outlook for an increased circulation of the Bengali Signs, which has recently been changed to a quarterly, is encouraging.

There is also located in Calcutta a well-equipped set of treatment-rooms, and a small health food factory. The treatment-rooms have been continued since the sanitarium was closed five years ago. Since then they have liquidated a small indebtedness, added to their equipment, and paid their running expenses, including rent, which in Calcutta is quite excessive. Brother J. H. Reagan is in charge of the treatment-rooms, and Brother J. W. Asprey manages the health food business.

Gopalgunje and the many surrounding villages present a large and needy field. Many are favorable to Christianity. Two strong, intelligent, well-trained missionaries are urgently required to connect with the work. We have but one lone worker, who is bravely holding the fort until help arrives. We must either strengthen the work at this strategic point, or abandon the station.

Our work at Karmatar, which grew slowly for several years, has been making more rapid growth the past two years. A mission bungalow has been built. Sister Burroway will tell you of the work at this station.

We have one more mission station in the Bengal section, located at Babulmohal, among the Santals, forty miles from Karmatar. Brother W. A. Barlow, who speaks both Santali and Hindi, is in charge of this station. A boarding-school of about twenty boys has been conducted the past two years. One or two village schools are also attached to the station. Brother and Sister Leech, who have been studying Santali, are now looking for a suitable location for another mission station among the Santals.

North India

Brother and Sister L. J. Burgess, who have been pioneering the way among the Hindustani people in North India for the past seven and one-half years, are at this Conference.

North India comprises the largest mission field in India, having a population of 130,000,000. Considerable work has been done in preparing and circulating literature in Hindustani. The tenets of our faith have been made plain to many

Hindustani Christians through the printed page.

Nearly three years ago an industrial school was started by Brother and Sister Burgess in the mountains of Garhwal. A beautiful location was obtained among the lofty Himalaya Mountains. A schoolhouse, mission house, two dormitories, and other small buildings have been erected. The funds for these buildings have come through the earnest efforts of Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell. The enrolment of the school last year was about one hundred. The boys bring their food from their villages, and work for their tuition.

Mission work was begun at Najibabad, at the foot of the mountains, about forty miles from the Garhwal station, about three years ago. Sisters Kurts and Shryock began dispensary work for women, and Sister O'Connor opened up a school for girls. The dispensary has met with a growing patronage from the first. As many as ninety patients a day have been treated. Many homes have been thrown open for Bible study, and the workers have more of this kind of work than they can do. One great drawback to the work at Najibabad has been the unsuitable place for workers to live.

But better days are ahead for the work at Najibabad. Land has been purchased out of the city. When we passed through Najibabad on the way to this Conference, the brick walls of a mission house were above the tops of the windows. Dr. V. L. Mann expects soon to open up at this station a training class for dispensary workers, and there will be carried on with this a dispensary for men.

Nearly seven years ago property was purchased in Mussoorie to serve as a rest home for workers, and a training-school. The whole of the estate is now used for school purposes, as it affords a very suitable place for carrying on an English school for the children of missionaries and English-speaking believers. Having an elevation of nearly seven thousand feet, Mussoorie affords a very agreeable climate even in the hottest season. It is a great blessing to our missionaries to have a school for their children in a good climate. Plans are now on foot to erect a dormitory for boys and a school building. We are very thankful indeed to be able to say to missionaries coming to India that we have a school in a bracing climate where they can send their children. The teachers now consist of Mrs. Bruce, Brother and Sister M. M. Mattison, and Sister Wilson.

Since the sanitarium closed in Mussoorie, nearly three years ago, treatment-room work has been continued. Each year the patronage has increased. Last year about eleven hundred dollars was cleared, above all operating expenses. With improved equipment installed this year, the outlook for the Mussoorie treatment-rooms is very encouraging. Brother William Lake and Sister Nellie Wagner are carrying on the work in the Mussoorie treatment-rooms.

At Lucknow, outside of office work, Sister Vera Chilton is working for purdah women. As is well known, women of the higher classes live in most cases lives of seclusion. They do not appear on the streets or in places of public resort, but remain in their own homes behind the curtain, seen only by women and their own husbands. The only way they can be reached is through the efforts of lady missionaries who can visit their homes, and tell them in their own tongue the gospel of Christ.

West India

Elder G. F. Enoch, the superintendent of the work in West India, began work in that section of the field a little more than five years ago. The first two years were spent mostly in language study.

Nearly three years ago mission work was opened up at Lonavla and Panvel. Lonavla is a semi-hill station in the Western Ghats, a few hours' ride by train from Bombay. As the result of work done by Brother Enoch, several English-speaking people have accepted the truth. Our last Sabbath prior to coming to this Conference was spent at Lonavla, and we had the privilege of seeing seventeen souls sign the covenant to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Brother A. G. Kelsey has recently been stationed at Panvel, a Marathi village of ten thousand people, in a densely populated district close to the city of Bombay. Two schools have been started, and some of the people seem favorable to Christianity.

Elder M. D. Wood and wife, who have recently joined the work in West India, are located at Kalyan, a junction station between Lonavla and Bombay. Work was started in Kalyan about a year ago. Nine acres of land very suitable for a mission station were purchased in January of this year, and our first mission bungalow in West India is now being built. Some of Brother Wood's former converts have come to him, and are learning the truth. Preliminary steps are being taken to the organization of a church at Kalyan. Two village schools are being conducted. Sister Wood has opened up a neat and well-arranged dispensary, and has associated with her two Indian assistants. The patronage is growing, and from thirty to forty patients are treated daily.

At the biennial conference last November, it was decided to open up English evangelistic work in the city of Bombay, and Brother G. W. Pettit has located in that great city. Some souls are already becoming interested in the truth, and preparations are now being made to begin a public effort at the close of the present hot season.

The work in West India appears more encouraging than at any time previous.

South India

In South India work is being carried on at Nazareth and Trichinopoli. In addition to the mission house at Nazareth, which was in course of construction at the time of the last General Conference, a neat church and school building has been added, and two more acres of land have been purchased. Brother J. S. James, who has been connected with the work in South India from its beginning, will give a report of this field.

The International Tract Society, which represents the publishing work in India, has made some progress. Brother S. A. Wellman, Brother W. R. Perrin, Mrs. M. M. Quantock, and Sister Marion Belchambers, together with about fifteen Indians as assistants, are connected with the publishing work at Lucknow. Brother C. E. Weaks has charge of the field work, having associated with him in the sale of English literature, Brethren Raymond and Poley, Brother and Sister P. A. Rick, and Brother W. Carrott. In the distribution of vernacular literature there are about twenty Indian canvassers. Two English monthly journals and five quarterly magazines, each in a different language, are published. These magazines vary in circulation from three to six thousand an issue. For some time it was thought that vernacular literature could not be sold, but Indian canvassers are being developed who are having good success in selling our literature among their own people. The Oriental Watchman and the Herald of Health have increased their size and about trebled their circulation the past two years.

Six mission homes, several school buildings, a mission headquarters, and a printing-office have been provided through funds sent to India from the $300,000 Fund. These have brought encouragement to the workers, provided comfortable homes in more healthful locations, and necessary facilities with which to work. They have given us prestige among the people even more than we expected, for which we are profoundly thankful.

Our workers in India are eagerly looking toward this Conference for help. Shall these new workers be sent? Some of those already in the field are bearing two or three men's burdens. What word shall be sent on to them is an important question for this Conference to answer.

In conclusion, let me state that a greater question than that of men or means is ever before us in the mission field. We are in the midst of multitudes in the dense darkness of heathenism. They are dying more rapidly than converts are being added to Christianity by means of every missionary agency. Upon a superhuman force, a power greater in its measure and more mighty in its operation than this movement has yet experienced, depends the possibility of our program in India. We are facing a mountain greater than Zerubbabel faced. Our hope in heathen lands cannot be met by mere men. It is “not by an army, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” For the finishing of God's work in India, we ask your continued support and earnest prayers.

J. L. SHAW, Superintendent.