Essential Qualifications and Preparation for Mission Work
By W. S. Hyatt
Having been in this field [South Africa] for a few years, and having been privileged to come in contact with native mission work and workers, I am led to feel my incompetency to write on the above subject, and I confess to a shrinking from the task. But realizing that the subject is not understood as it should be, I venture a few thoughts, which I hope may be supplemented by others, and thus the subject receive such consideration as will awaken thought on the part of the members of this conference.
In the home land there is an enthusiasm connected with going to the mission fields very much like that of joining the volunteers and going to the front. In many instances the individual has not counted the cost, because he has so little knowledge of the actual work and sacrifice that will be required of him. Zeal and enthusiasm are good, and are necessary to success in the mission field; but before the individual is appointed to such work, he ought to give evidence that he knows how to sacrifice and practise self-denial, and that he is not a slave to whims or pet notions; that he can adapt himself to existing conditions quite unlike those to which he has been accustomed.
In order that an individual may become a missionary to the heathen he must have the spirit of labor and sacrifice at home. The missionary's life is filled with sacrifice and unceasing toil for those about him; therefore the mission field is no place for those who love their ease. It requires a literal giving of our lives for those who, as a rule, are ungrateful and unappreciative. The missionary who does not love self-denial will chafe and worry when placed in the mission field. The one who has always been accustomed to have every desire indulged and every longing of the appetite gratified will find the mission station a hard place in which to live, and more than likely he will do considerable complaining at his lot. The kinds of food we have eaten at home are difficult, and sometimes quite impossible, to be obtained. But God has so arranged it that each country, as a rule, will produce that which is best adapted to our needs in that field.
Therefore, the missionary who will love his work and be contented must be able, with a cheerful heart, to adapt himself to the existing conditions. The one who has the power and willingness to adapt himself to his new surroundings will soon find himself quite at home among the people, and will really enjoy the work, though it may be wearing and require self-denial. We can do the work if “the love of Christ constraineth us.”
The majority of the people at home suppose that the heathen are ready to give up their long-established customs and accept Christianity, and not infrequently the missionary reaches the heathen lands with the same ideas, only to be terribly disappointed. The work is frequently begun by a worker who is filled with zeal, but with little or no knowledge of the people or their customs, and, after spending a long time among the people, he is awakened to the fact that the native has his ideas and ways of viewing matters which are usually quite the opposite of his own; and he discovers that many costly mistakes have been made that might have been avoided had he properly understood the people for whom he was laboring.
The “all-round education,” which is usually recommended to candidates for mission fields, is good, and should be possessed as far as it is possible to be obtained; but it is not everything. Every phase of this “all-round” training is needed in the mission field, but it is not absolutely essential to success. Please consider the following quotation taken from the book “Education:”—
“In the closing work of the gospel there is a vast field to be occupied; and, more than ever before, the work is to enlist helpers from the common people. Both the young and those older in years will be called from the field, from the vineyard, and from the workshop, and sent forth by the Master to give his message. Many of these have had little opportunity for education; but Christ sees in them qualifications that will enable them to fulfil his purpose. . . . The burden for these needy ones in the rough places of the earth, Christ lays upon those who can feel for the ignorant and for such as are out of the way. He will be present to help those whose hearts are susceptible to pity, though25their hands may be rough and unskilled.”
The last two sentences express the thought that I have in mind. Whosoever becomes a successful worker for the native must be one who can “feel” for him in his deplorable condition, and whose heart is filled with “pity” and love for his unfortunate brother. The greater the advantages the missionary may have had the better, providing he retains the spirit of the Master to “feel for the ignorant,” and to pity and love him in spite of his unlovable condition. There are good men who love and fear God who find it next to impossible to reach the native because they can not come close to him with this heartfelt sympathy.
We have all noticed that a little child can distinguish between the caresses of those who love it and those who do not. Just so it is with the native. It takes him but a short time to read the missionary, and be able to distinguish between those who feel for him and those who do not. It is a very difficult task for any man who has always known the native as a servant and himself as master to ever get rid of this idea, and come to him only as a missionary who loves his soul; but this must be done if he ever succeeds in gaining the confidence of the native. In other words, the native does not believe that every man who comes to labor for him has only his good in view, and he often suspects that other motives prompt the action; and, I am sorry to say, he sometimes has reason for so thinking.
The man who must provide the material for the mission buildings and build them; the man who must go into the forest and hew out the timber with which to build and repair; the man who must go into a country and with very few resources be able to build up a work and make it prosper financially; the man who is expected to heal the sick and cure all kinds of loathsome disease; the man who is to go to the heathen, gain his confidence and lead him to Christ, must be an all-round man,—a man who is taught of God. Such a man is the better fitted if he has a college education, but he must be under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and it is wonderful what this teacher can and will do for those who are susceptible of his influence. In “Great Controversy” we read these words: “The laborers will be qualified rather by the unction of his Spirit than by the training of literary institutions.” The training in the sciences is good and necessary, but the Holy Spirit’s training must be had.
I am of the opinion that to place a man in charge of a native mission who knows nothing about the native and his ways is a very expensive experiment. At the very least this worker should have one year’s training in the field under an old, successful worker. Before the burdens of a mission are placed upon the shoulders of a man, he needs an experience that can be gained only by coming in contact with the native, and this, in my humble opinion, should be with a man who has gained this experience. During this year’s training he may or he may not learn the language; but, one thing he is learning, and that is to know how to meet and to deal with the native. This privilege should be granted to every one who is to take up this work. As a rule, the work of a mission will be further advanced and on a better foundation at the end of three years if the new man, who is to take charge, should spend one year at an old established mission. It is very easy to make a mistake, and lose the confidence of the natives, and gain their prejudice instead of their favor. When once this is done, it will take years of hard labor to overcome the prejudice in the native mind. We can not afford these mistakes at such a time as this, when the end is near, and we have but a little while in which to complete the work. Every reasonable precaution should be taken not to rush blindly into the work in our enthusiasm, only to have our eyes opened later on to see mistakes that are difficult to be remedied.
With scarcely an exception, every new man who comes to this country has very erroneous ideas of the people and methods of work among them; but he thinks that he knows what is best. It will be only a matter of time until he, like Mackay, of Uganda, will be found trying a “radically new plan.” Every old missionary present will understand what I mean; for the most of us have had to pass through this unfortunate experience.
Summary
To get my thoughts before you in a few words I will briefly review the subject. The essential qualifications and preparation for mission work are:—
A good education.
A knowledge of the soil and how to till it.
It is almost indispensable to the missionary that he should know something about carpentry and masonry, with at least a little knowledge of blacksmithing.
A knowledge of how to treat the common diseases that we are likely to meet every day.
Some knowledge of the people and their ways, and how to labor for them before taking heavy responsibilities.
A good supply of “gumption.”
A willing spirit to sacrifice and practise self-denial.