A Visit to the Foreign Mission Seminary by R. A. UNDERWOOD

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 21, 1911

A Visit to the Foreign Mission Seminary

By R. A. UNDERWOOD

WHEN in Washington at the recent council, it was my privilege to stop at the Foreign Mission Seminary during my stay. I was greatly pleased with the character of the students in attendance, and with what I saw and heard.

I well remember when definite instruction came through the spirit of prophecy to the General Conference Committee concerning the establishment of this school. The instruction was clear and very definite, but some of us could scarcely see how it was possible to find a place for another school, located in Washington. When the change was made about four years ago to make the training in this school definite in lines of foreign missionary work, the spirit of prophecy sustained the move, and it met with general approval.

Prof. J. L. Shaw, who is qualified to speak from ten or more years’ experience in India, and who for a time acted as president of the school, says:—

“The aim of the Foreign Mission Seminary is to give the necessary training for the mission field. Missionaries who have spent a number of years in mission fields have a very definite conviction regarding the preparation required by those who go to the regions beyond. They urge that volunteers for missions should obtain a good knowledge of the geography of the country to which they are going; should be familiar with the history of the people and their customs and habits; and should have a knowledge of the history of Christian missions, and the many problems which must be met and surmounted. Still more important is it that they should have a knowledge of the religions to be met, the specious, subtle errors they contain, and the wise and effective manner of displacing these by the Word of God. These alone, if no other reasons were presented, made necessary a place of special training for foreign missionaries.”

The spirit of prophecy has stated that this school should be a place “where students are to be tested and proved, that it may be seen what their adaptability is.” Great saving has come to the cause already as a result of the establishment of this Foreign Mission Seminary. A large number of those who have attended have already gone to foreign fields, or are under appointment. It is true that in some cases, after medical examination or months of close contact with the teachers, persons have been advised to take up work in the home field. Had these been sent out without this careful “testing process” that goes on in the Seminary, the Mission Board would have been to great expense in returning them, or in some cases the loss of life would have been the result.

It has been a great advantage to have such teachers as Elder J. L. Shaw, who spent years in India, and Elder J. N. Anderson, who spent a number of years in China. Some of our brethren think that if they have an academy or a college, with the advantages of a sanitarium in close proximity, they have all they need to train men and women for the foreign fields. Recognizing fully the advantages of having a sanitarium in connection with any of our schools, we make a great mistake if we conclude that a sanitarium cooperating with one of our schools is all that is necessary in fitting individuals for the foreign fields. If the reader will note what Professor Shaw has said, as a result of years of experience in a foreign country, he will see that the work of the Seminary takes in a much broader field than would be possible for one of our colleges or academies to cover in its ordinary round of work.

The Sanitarium at Takoma Park, located on the same campus as the Seminary, cooperates in giving the students of the Seminary special training; but this is not sufficient. The Seminary has arranged with the Central Dispensary and Emergency Hospital, in Washington, for those in preparation for foreign fields to take a course of twelve weeks in this Emergency Hospital. The experience that our young people get in this institution is very valuable from the standpoint of such medical work as they will at times be compelled to do in foreign fields. A nurse, speaking from the standpoint of one who has been graduated from one of our sanitariums, in relation to what can be secured in connection with the Foreign Mission Seminary by a course in this dispensary in Washington, says: “I saw more wounds and bruises and putrefying sores in one day than I would observe in twelve months in one of our sanitariums.” The Seminary has arranged for a postgraduate course for nurses who have been graduated from our sanitariums, which is especially helpful to those who may be sent to foreign fields. Thus the advantages of both hospital

and sanitarium experiences are being given in a way that it is impossible to receive outside of this institution.

I was pleased to go out to the farm that the Seminary has rented, about three quarters of a mile from the school. This farm comprises about one hundred twelve acres, and scarcely a weed can be found on the premises. There is on the farm at the present time fifty-three head of stock, among which are thirty-one fine-grade dairy cows. A rotation of crops is planned so as to utilize the ground for more than one crop in the season in many cases. Those in charge raised millet, cow-peas, rye, corn, etc., as forage for the cows. The past season they had 11,000 tomato plants, five acres of sweet corn, and 8,000 Lima bean poles which looked like a forest the last of October. They also raise cabbages, spinach, squashes, and such things as are grown in truck-farming. They raised sweet potatoes that averaged two hundred fifty bushels to the acre and were of fine quality. They sell milk to the Sanitarium and school, besides running a milk route in Takoma Park. The farm gives employment and self-support to a number of students who are attending the Foreign Mission Seminary, besides a practical experience in this kind of work.

Of course the expense of running the farm is necessarily very heavy, but the farm has paid for its rent and other expenses, and has given a clear profit of $495 the past year. If the farm was owned by the Seminary, of course it would be much better. All that now is put onto the farm in the way of improvement must necessarily be a benefit to the owner, and not to the school. Some brethren who have means could make no better investment than to put ten or fifteen thousand dollars into a good farm for the Foreign Mission Seminary at Washington. Who will do this? I am sure we have brethren in different parts of the field who could do this, and it would be a great blessing to the school, and a source of pleasure and eternal gain to the donors.

The Seminary gives most thorough work in lines of historical, prophetic, and Biblical study. The total enrolment for last year was one hundred ten. Special classes for training ministers and Bible workers are organized. One day each week is set apart for practical missionary work in the city by the students.

I asked the president of the school what the greatest needs of the Seminary are at present. He enumerated three things as most important: First, a good farm, owned by the school; second, a city dispensary and hospital of our own in Washington to do as thorough work in emergency cases as the city can do, which would be a great advantage over our present arrangement; third, a large extension of the library, which is greatly needed. Here is an opportunity for our brethren to remember this institution.

We should encourage our young people to avail themselves of the splendid opportunity at the Seminary to fit themselves to do successful work in foreign fields. Life and money have already been saved to the cause by the instruction this school has given to those who go out to the more difficult fields in heathen lands. This institution should have our prayers, our sympathy, and our means, and we should encourage our best young people to avail themselves of its advantages. R. A. UNDERWOOD.