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China’s Call for Workers

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 1, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 31.

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China’s Call for Workers

By J. N. Anderson

J. N. ANDERSON
The readers of the Review have seen by the report of the general meeting that a call was made for ten new workers to take up work in this field. The coming of these new recruits will swell our force to twenty-five (excluding wives of missionaries) in a field whose inhabitants count fully one fourth of the entire planet. This call is so modest and so reasonable that it is sure to meet a most hearty and prompt response by all our people in the home land, who truly love this message, and have so faithfully borne the burdens of this work by their prayers and means. We have thus far made but a mere beginning, and the Lord calls on us to arise and carry it forward without delay. Already we have waited too long in laying hold of this work; and now that we are so belated, it becomes us to set about in a serious and earnest way to do what should have been done years ago. All things are ready; only God’s people wait.
These calls for new workers represent so many openings; they are emphatically emphasized by wide-open doors that urge us to enter at once. Viewed in a general way, this great field calls for scores, and even hundreds, of devoted workers, but our plan thus far has been to advance only as far and as fast as the manifest leadings of God indicated the way. This is the day of the Lord’s mighty preparation, and no one who seriously studies the missionary problems of the present day can fail to see that these great Oriental fields demand of the church of the living God the fullest consecration. Here are the unnumbered masses stalking in heathen ignorance and superstition, hopelessly fettered by a system of withering idolatry.
Our first call is for a man and his wife to connect with the work at Changsha, where Brother and Sister Laird are now opening up a new work. This is in the very heart of the province of Hunan, and thus it is a new field to us as a people. It was the last of the eighteen provinces to be opened up to missionary work about ten years ago. Changsha is the provincial capital and one of the great literary centers of the empire. Several missionary societies have entered this city and made it their headquarters, with mission stations in different parts of the province. Just now a college of Western learning is being founded at Changsha by Yale University. This is a strategic point, and we have great reason to be thankful that the message has gained a foothold there. But it is neither wise nor is it necessary to locate a worker in a center of such magnitude and leave him without support for any length of time. In a field like China the conditions are such that both the counsel and the strength of two workers are fully required. Changsha needs a second family to enter in at once, and so aid in building up the work that it can successfully radiate to other parts of that populous province. Where is the man, and who will help send and support him in this new work?
Our next call is for two men to enter the province of Fukien, and connect with the work so promisingly opened up at Amoy and adjoining sections. This field represents millions, a large number of whom are scattered in the island of Formosa and the Straits Settlements. We now have two men and their wives in this field, and a very hopeful and substantial beginning has been made in this province. A church has been organized at Amoy, and work is being carried on at three other stations, by native helpers under the direction of foreign workers. Let us arise and in the strength of the Lord reinforce this good work until the sound of the advent truth shall be heard in all that province.
Another man is called for to come to Canton and take up educational work. This city is a great commercial and intellectual center, and all our work in these parts is sure to look to this place as the natural center and head. Here the children of our converts must be educated and trained to become workers, and the time is already at hand for us to set ourselves to this task. Brother Wilbur and wife are preparing to move to Kong Mun, a city of some seventy-five thousand, distant about fifty miles; and with the writer largely occupied with the field in general, the coming of an additional man is a plain necessity. A native church has been organized in Canton, and the influence of the truth is steadily widening. This year we have two girls’ schools with an attendance of about sixty-five, and two boys’ schools with a membership of some twenty-five. Our Bible class (Hakka) has seven, and our Sabbath-school and Sabbath meetings are attended by eighty to one hundred. A good work is also being opened up in Fat Shan, ten miles away. The situation calls for a strong, well-trained young man. He should be an educational man. Here is an opening for our colleges to enter.
In company with Elders Prescott and Pilquist, it was my privilege to ride over a considerable portion of the vast plains of North China. Our route lay through the very heart of the metropolitan province of Pechili, and in the course of our trip we visited the two important cities, Tientsin and Peking, besides passing through several large prefectural cities inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people. Thus we passed over great stretches of Chinese territory, and yetit was but a comparatively small part of North China. It was much like traveling over the western plains of America, and during this journey we were not oblivious of the melancholy fact that in all those parts there was not one representative of the last message. Is it to be wondered that we called for recruits to carry the standard to those unentered parts? Why indeed should we wait? Is not this the opportune time to march northward?
As our general meeting was held in the city of Shanghai, it afforded us a good opportunity of studying the situation in that great commercial center, which, on account of its importance and location, must have a depository that can serve the entire field, and as soon as our plans can be perfected, a central publishing plant will be located here. It is the natural center for such an interest. It goes without saying that workers must be sent to enter this, the first city of all China. And in this case too, we shall gain nothing by waiting; delay can mean only more difficulties and the retarding of the message.
Still another call is made for a man and his wife to connect with the work at Shang Tsai, Honan. This call is made to strengthen the work there, and later to push out to other surrounding cities in that section. A family is already contemplating coming out to locate here at their own charges, and in this way it is hoped this opening may be well filled.
A promising beginning has been made among the Hakkas, a class of Chinese scattered in this and adjoining provinces. A young man from Union College has entered upon this work, but here again a second man is needed. Five young men have already been baptized from this class of Chinese, and a good interest continues, so that this year we have a Bible class of seven, all of whom have had some previous religious instruction. Altogether, these Hakkas number about ten millions, scattered throughout various provinces. They are indeed Chinese, though looked upon as in a large measure alien, as the name Hakka (strange) implies. They speak a dialect that assimilates to the Mandarin, yet is so far removed as to be but little understood. We are persuaded that the Lord of the harvest has in readiness the right young man for this place.
Lastly we ask for a man of large experience and ability to enter China and assume the superintendency of this entire field. The work needs such a man greatly, and for the present the situation is such that he should spend practically all his time in visiting, and this in itself would make it quite impossible for him to acquire the language. On the other hand, the man who could properly lay hold of the work in this field, organizing and unifying it, would necessarily be advanced beyond that age when such a task as learning the Chinese language can successfully be undertaken. This field presents many difficulties and problems which are peculiar to this land, and in these days of beginnings it is very important that a strong foundation be laid on which to build. The work which is gradually ramifying into all the different provinces must be wisely built into one harmonious movement that shall quickly and successfully carry the truth of the soon-coming Saviour to this entire race. The situation calls for, and is justly entitled to, one of our strongest and most devoted men.