Opening Days of Emmanuel Missionary College by W. H. Wakeham

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 19, 1916

Opening Days of Emmanuel Missionary College

By W. H. Wakeham

The opening week of Emmanuel Missionary College for the year 1916 will long be remembered as marking an epoch in the history of this school. When the dominant tendency of the times is to rely on material power and prosperity, when the very foundations of our social structure are giving way, when the so-called Christian nations are “rattling into barbarism,” it seems especially fitting that an institution which stands for spiritual culture, and whose motto is “First things first,” should devote the first week of its school session very largely to spiritual matters.

Away from the noise and bustle and other distracting and corrupting influences of city life, close to nature “in all its beautiful forms,” majestic trees, green grass, waving fields of corn, orchards and vineyards,—Emmanuel Missionary College students enjoy special advantages for communing with the God of nature.

The first day opened auspiciously with the largest number enrolled in the history of the school. The preliminary work of classifying and organizing was well along, and lessons were assigned, so that the regular work of the school could begin the second day. A large per cent of the old students were present, and aided materially in making the opening days a success.

During the first full week of school, the chapel hour each day was used in setting forth God’s ideals for a Christian school, the difficulties usually met in reaching those ideals, and the only means of attainment—the total renunciation of sin, the taking of Christ into the life, and the full reception of the Holy Spirit.

By Friday night all of the two hundred and thirty students present, with the exception of three or four, were ready to take their stand on the Lord’s side. “That vesper service brought courage and joy to the hearts of teachers and students alike. After the meeting, students were heard to remark, “Was not that splendid?” Old students said, “Why have we not had an opening week like this before?”

At the present writing, the end of the second full week of school, there are enrolled 249 above the eighth grade; 35 are freshmen, 25 are sophomores, 28 are juniors, 16 are seniors, and three are taking special advanced work.

We are more than gratified with the results of our opening week, and all, both teachers and students, are starting in with the determination to make this the banner year of Emmanuel Missionary College. W. H. WAKEHAM.