ARE MISSIONS A FAILURE?
By C. P. B.
"ARE Christian missions a failure?" is a question which has been discussed considerably of late, and figures have been freely used on both sides, the one party to the discussion seeking to show in the most impressive manner what has been accomplished by missions, while the other party naturally dwell on what has not been done, and enlarge upon the rapid increase of the heathen population, and the spread of unbelief. But the question is not one to be settled by statistics alone, for a correct solution depends not on one, but on two things; first, What is the purpose of missions? and second, What have they accomplished? As the question relates to Christian missions, we must seek the answer as to their purpose in the word of God. A mission is a duty or work to which one is sent, and the work for which Christian missionaries are sent out is to teach the gospel. Of course they may also teach other things, for instance, the arts of civilization, etc., but the purpose of it all is the teaching of the Scriptures of truth, which are able to make men wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Missions established for any other purpose are not Christian missions. Now as the object of missions is to give to the world a knowledge of the gospel, what they have accomplished in spreading the truth, and not the number that have received the truth, must be the measure of their success. In this view of the case, Christian missions have been a success. The gospel commission given by our Saviour is, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Such is the mission of the minister of Christ, and the measure of his faithfulness is the measure of his success. Jesus nowhere promised that all who heard should believe, or that the time would ever come when all the world should be converted. The Scriptures nowhere teach any such thing. The Saviour did say that the gospel should be preached in all nations for a witness, and if not already accomplished is near its accomplishment. Missions have not failed in carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth. But it is not in this that it is claimed that missions have failed; the failure it is claimed has been in bringing about the millennium, that fabled era when all the world will be converted. But as we have already said, the Scriptures not only do not teach any such thing, but they teach that the last days shall be perilous because of unbelief, and that instead of being converted wicked men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Tim. 3:1-5. And the Saviour himself testified that as it was in the days of Noah so also shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man. Matt. 24:37, 38. The people in Noah's time were warned of the coming flood, and they were exhorted to turn from their wickedness, but they perished in unbelief, and so will it be with the world in the last days; they will have the warning, but they will refuse the warning and perish in their wickedness. God is, however, taking out of the nations a people for his name. Christian missions are not a failure. C. P. B.