North Central China - An Outlook by Frederick Lee

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 30, 1916

North Central China — An Outlook

By Frederick Lee

FREDERICK LEE

“Go work today in my vineyard.” This command was given by Christ nineteen hundred years ago, but many who have heard the call have felt that he did not mean them. Now in the eleventh hour of the world’s history, in the time of the ripening grain of the last great harvest, Christ again bids his church, “Go,” and gently rebukes them for standing idle. Who then can say, I have no call to go to a foreign field? It is rather the call to stay that one should listen for, and if he hears it not, Christ’s call should still ring in his ears, “Go!”

Perhaps some do not know of the great and needy fields of the world, so do not know where to go. If one should see a field, large and fertile, with full, waving grain ready and waiting for the harvest, and as he looked upon it should see no laborers, I am sure he could not but be impressed that that was the place to which he was called to go. Did not Christ say that where the harvest was great, and the laborers were few, we should pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth reapers? And should we not pray, “Here am I; send me”?

Near the close of another year I send greetings from just such a field as is pictured above. It is a field which covers the north central portion of China, including four provinces. It is one which is already white for the harvest. And yet in this vast field of seventy-seven million there are but two foreign families to hold up the standard of present truth.

There is now active work in only one of these four provinces, that is in Honan. The work was started in this province about two years ago. Six years ago, when there were about thirty church members and the workers were few, there were seven foreign adults here. But since then the number of foreigners has been gradually decreased to four, while the membership has increased to three hundred and forty, and the native workers to seventy. Surely more help should be sent to this province as soon as possible.

Calls are now coming in from the three provinces, Shan-si, Shen-si, and Chi-li. In these provinces no work has been done, except that done by our canvassers; yet there are already small companies keeping the Sabbath, and in many places there are persons who are most favorable to this message. These are the provinces which suffered most during the Boxer trouble. In them are hundreds of Christian Chinese who, though once earnest, have become lukewarm in their religion. They are dissatisfied with the man-made doctrines of professed Christianity, and are looking for a new and living doctrine, one which has power and is in harmony with the Scriptures.

In Shan-si, around Pastor Hsi’s places of labor, are a score of little companies without a spiritual leader. This summer one of our evangelists traveled among these people, and there was not one place that did not greet him and gladly hear the truths of this message. In some places he left companies who promised to keep the Sabbath. In south Chi-li there are already two companies keeping the Sabbath.

From a place five hundred miles to the east of us, in Shen-si, comes the most urgent call. Last year one of our canvassers went there to sell papers. The interest was so great that he stayed nearly a year. The result was that many heard the truth with great joy. At one place, called Gospel Village, which consists of two hundred Christians, there is a special interest. Three men from this place traveled the five hundred miles in order to attend our Honan general meeting. Of the two hundred and fifty present at that gathering, none were more earnest listeners than these three men. One of them is an ordained minister, another is a local elder, and the other is a man who has donated a large plot of land to the mission, upon which to build a church. These men, now church members, have returned to witness to the saving power of this truth. Soon I believe there will be scores of believers in these provinces; but they are without a shepherd, without one to keep their lights trimmed and burning.

If we are to reap this great harvest in north central China, we must go soon. Now is the opportune time. We are asking for one more family to help us with the ever-increasing work in Honan. Is it too much to expect help soon? And in view of the existing needs, is it too early to be planning to enter these provinces immediately surrounding us? To us who are in China, and to any who can comprehend the picture of this land waiting for the soul-stirring truths of this message, it is not too much to expect that in the next year or two those coming to China will not be counted by the tens, but by the scores.