Recruits for Foreign Mission Service by A. G. DANIELLS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 21, 1910

Recruits for Foreign Mission Service

By A. G. DANIELLS

Their Selection and Training

THE great problem before the Foreign Mission Board, towering far above all others, is that of selecting and training young men and women for practical, successful work in foreign mission fields.

Our work in foreign countries began thirty-six years ago, with the sending of Elder J. N. Andrews to Switzerland in 1874. Since that time the task of entering and taking possession of the great mission fields of the world has been a constantly increasing one. The providence of God has thrown wide open the doors of opportunity. One country after another has been entered, until the truth has been established in every continent, and in nearly every country and island of the world. Therefore our missionary problem is now world-wide.

During the first years of our missionary operations the work was largely of a pioneer character. It was necessary to enter great countries, and place a mold upon the work, from its very beginning, which would shape it in harmony with the spirit and burden of the third angel’s message. In looking over the names of the first missionaries sent abroad, we find a large number of experienced, successful laborers. Among those sent to Central Europe were: Elders J. N. Andrews, D. T. Bourdeau, B. L. Whitney, A. C. Bourdeau, L. R. Conradi, J. H. Waggoner, and H. P. Holser.

The work in Scandinavia was opened up by Elder J. G. Matteson, a minister of ability and sound experience.

The truth was first carried to England by Elder William Ings. He was followed by Elders J. N. Loughborough, M. C. Wilcox, S. N. Haskell, D. A. Robinson, W. A. Spicer, H. E. Robinson, W. W. Prescott, O. A. Olsen, and others.

The Australasian field was first entered by Elders S. N. Haskell, J. O. Corliss, and M. C. Israel, accompanied by Brethren William Arnold and Henry Scott. Later this band of workers was re-enforced by Elders W. L. H. Baker, W. D. Curtis, and D. H. Kress; and still later by Mrs. E. G. White, and Elders W. C. White, G. B. Starr, L. J. Rousseau, W. A. Colcord, A. T. Robinson, G. A. Irwin, O. A. Olsen, and several other experienced laborers.

I need not in this brief article call attention to other fields in order to show that many of the strongest workers and counselors this cause has produced, were, at the beginning, sent out to all lands as pioneers. The workers mentioned were well known by our people, and their names are still household words in every Seventh-day Adventist home.

There was little risk in sending such tried workers to distant lands. They had built up the work here in the United States. The character of their labor was well known; and when they were sent abroad, they built up the cause of truth in foreign lands in harmony with its true character and the spirit of the message they sought to proclaim. A strong mold was thus placed upon our foreign missions, which made a united work the world over. Our leaders, who come together from every nation of the earth to-day, talk the same principles, breathe the same spirit, and bring harmony and strength into our general councils.

In those early days, however, our work was limited. It occupied chiefly the northeastern portion of the United States. There were few institutions to be managed, and few great divisions in foreign lands to be superintended. Therefore, these leaders could be sent out as pioneers.

But look at our work to-day. It has spread out over the face of the whole earth, from Alaska, Iceland, Scandinavia, and Siberia on the north, to Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope, and Australasia on the south. There are now twenty-one union conferences, sixty-six organized mission fields, eighty-eight training-schools, seventy-eight sanitariums, and twenty-six publishing houses included in our world-wide field. All these organizations and institutions require strong, experienced men as leaders.

The call from the mission fields at the present time, however, is not primarily for leaders. There are leaders already in the fields. Institutions and other facilities are being provided for carrying forward the work. The initial mold has already been given. Our greatest need now is for strong young men and women, with good health, a well-balanced education, a thorough acquaintance with the truth, and a practical knowledge of the various lines of denominational work. The call just now is for young people who are willing to choose one of the great foreign fields as the land of their adoption; who will go, not to return in a few years, but to learn the language, the manners and customs of the people, the missionary problems involved, and to grow up with the work, and become permanent fixtures in their respective fields.

Three years ago, at the biennial council of the General Conference Committee held in Gland, Switzerland, steps were taken to establish the Foreign Mission Seminary upon a broad, practical basis, which, it was believed, would render great assistance in solving this important problem of selecting and training workers. The Seminary has been passing through an experimental stage. A large proportion of those attending the Seminary have already been sent to foreign fields. It has become more and more evident that in selecting young workers it is a wise plan to bring them to the Foreign Mission Seminary, where they can be given special training, and become known to the members of the Mission Board before they are sent abroad.

The constantly increasing demand for workers, and the lack of experienced laborers who could be spared from responsible positions, have led the Mission Board to take an advance step toward making the Foreign Mission Seminary a still greater factor in the training of missionaries. In the future, instead of selecting workers, and sending them directly from their home conferences to the mission fields, they will be placed

under provisional appointment, and brought to the Seminary for a brief special course in studies pertaining directly to the work they are to take up, and to the fields they are to enter. And as soon as they are prepared, they will be sent forward to their respective fields.

During this period of training, these workers, who are under provisional appointment, will be subject to the direction of the Mission Board, and will be paid sufficient salary to maintain them during their course of training.

The Seminary will also be open to our young people who expect to labor here in the United States, and who desire the special course of training offered, and wish to enter at their own expense.

Local conferences will find it desirable, no doubt, to give some of their younger workers this course of training at conference expense.

Regular academic and collegiate courses will not be taught in the Seminary. Students desiring a general education will be referred to our regular training-schools.

We feel a great interest in this advance move, and trust that the Mission Board, as in the past, will have the hearty co-operation of our local conferences, schools, sanitariums, and publishing houses in the selection of evangelists, teachers, physicians, nurses, printers, and canvassers.

Further plans and information concerning the work of the Foreign Mission Seminary will be furnished to the readers of the Review from time to time by Prof. John L. Shaw, president of the Seminary, and Prof. H. R. Salisbury, secretary of the Educational Department of the General Conference.

All who wish to volunteer for mission fields, and desire to enter the Seminary, should correspond with Prof. J. L. Shaw, Foreign Mission Seminary, Takoma Park, Washington, D. C.

A. G. DANIELLS.