p. 4 | Thanks to the Helpers by W. T. Knox

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 31, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, Nos. 43, 44.

Thanks to the Helpers

By W. T. Knox

W. T. Knox, Treasurer General Conference

THE hearty reception given by our friends to the three previous issues of the Harvest Ingathering Number of our denominational paper, the Review and Herald, and the interest manifested by so many in our mission work in foreign lands and the large cities of America, have encouraged the Mission Board to issue a similar paper for 1911, using our well-known missionary periodical the SIGNS OF THE TIMES as the agency by which our message and information are to be conveyed to the public, instead of the Review and Herald, as formerly.

Great gratitude is felt by the treasury department of the denomination for the very substantial assistance rendered by our many friends in the distribution of the previous numbers, and for the satisfactory results attained. The reports received from those who have engaged in the work of distribution of our last number have been many and of great interest. Of the issue of the 1910 number of the Harvest Ingathering Review, over half a million copies were printed and mailed from the office of publication. These were distributed in all portions of the United States and Canada. As a result of thus informing the public of the work we are seeking to do, and the progress made, the treasurer has during 1910 received contributions to the amount of $41,643.92, which was a very great help to our Mission Board in sending the Gospel out into the dark corners of the earth, and winning souls to Christ.

To give some idea of the good accomplished by the offerings, it might be stated that the cost of sustaining for one year a native Gospel worker in such lands as India, China, Korea, or Japan, will average about $100. This would mean that there was received during 1910 from this source a sufficient amount to maintain for the year at least four hundred native Gospel workers in those countries.

The results obtained from the native workers are appreciated by but very few who are not in close touch with the mission fields. It is to those workers chiefly that we must look to carry the Gospel finally to their countrymen; for while we will doubtless always be obliged to have American or European leaders for our work in heathen lands, yet we can only hope to reach the unnumbered millions of China, India, and Africa, through the agency of the natives of those lands. Reports received from our missionaries invariably state that among their converts are continually found those in whose hearts exists the true missionary spirit, those who for the love of the Gospel that has found them are willing to endure all manner of hardship and opposition in order to impart to others the blessings of the Gospel. No other can appreciate so fully the benefits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he who by it has been rescued from the darkness and despair of heathenism.

While the responsibilities of the Mission Board are increasing with each passing year, and the demands made upon the treasury are always in excess of our ability, so that many times we know not where to turn for deliverance, yet our confidence in the ultimate triumph of the work, and the urgent necessities of the different fields, cause us to continue to go forward. Old mission stations must be strengthened, and new ones must be established. Already to almost every nation has been carried the Gospel of the kingdom. Some countries that have in the past required a large outlay of men and means from the Mission Board, are now not only self-supporting, but have taken upon themselves the responsibility of maintaining the work in other fields. Other missions give promise of being self-supporting in the near future, leaving the home board free to utilize its resources in needier lands.

Thus the good work goes on. But in the meantime many open doors stand before us, inviting and urging us to enter needy but most promising fields beyond. Our efforts can not slacken, for we still hear the Master's command, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."

To all lovers of the Gospel and its advancement, we believe this paper will be of great interest, showing as it does, to some extent, the progress of this work that has been laid upon us by our Saviour. Our gratitude goes out to those who by their past liberalities have assisted us in this work; and we take this opportunity of again inviting you to coöperate to the extent that you may feel inclined, and thus be hastening unto the coming of the day of God. For when "this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; . . . then shall the end come."

CHURCH IN SOUTH RUSSIA (BUILDING TO RIGHT)