REORGANIZING THE ORIENT
By J. E. Fulton
More Effective Service for the Far East — Healthy and Vigorous Growth
Demands More Rapid Action in Administration
Elder Fulton prepared this article while coming across the Pacific Ocean from Australia to attend the recent general council at Loma Linda, California. What was planned and recommended at the Shanghai meeting was unanimously and enthusiastically adopted at Loma Linda. In an early issue, Elder A. G. Daniells, president of the General Conference, will have an article describing the reorganization of the Asiatic Division, also telling of the reorganization in South America, and what these things mean to our work. EDITOR. At Shanghai, China, May 1-15, was held a conference of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries; and no doubt this meeting will go down in their denominational history as an epoch-making gathering. About one hundred and thirty missionaries and delegates were present, representing China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and the East Indies. Reports of progress were presented from all parts of the far East, showing that substantial gains had been made, and in some cases membership had doubled during the past year. In the different fields, their respective training schools are doing good work in developing native evangelists and colporteurs; and during the year, a number of evangelists have been ordained to the ministry, thus indicating that confidence is reposed in the native element. The many open doors have, it was felt, thrown a responsibility upon the church, and a call was made for a large number of recruits from the home lands, and a considerable sum of money is to be raised for advance work during the coming year. A SCHEME OF REORGANIZATION
It is proposed to reorganize the far East and adjacent countries into a division conference, which shall embrace, besides the far East, India and the Australasian Union Conference, all together making nine subdivisions, which are to be again divided into local and provincial missions. This will call for a number of experienced leaders and administrators. While it means more machinery, yet the promoters confidently believe that it means also a mighty forward movement. The weak element of the organization in the past has been that the leaders in the mission fields have not had full administrative powers, and have been dependent on a mission board which, while always sympathetic, has been too far away to administer a field that has now assumed such large proportions. The Seventh-day Adventist churches in Australia and New Zealand, as well as those in America, will be asked to send men and means. Already some young men and their wives have gone from Australasia to China and Japan, and it is gratifying10to know that a good report is made of them. The missionary college in New South Wales, where the Australasian section of the denomination are training their missionaries, is full of students this year, many of whom have volunteered for foreign work. Some of these will be selected for the work in the far East. LITERATURE IN THE VERNACULARS
The books, magazines, papers, and tracts of this denomination are being rapidly translated and printed in the native languages and dialects of the respective fields, and these are proving to be important factors in the missionary work carried on in these countries. Already the Chinese Signs of the Times, published at Shanghai, has the largest circulation of any paper published by the denomination, and it has the largest circulation of any religious paper published in China. Some inexpensive religious books for the Chinese are to be printed soon, and a large staff of native colporteurs put into the field, under trained leaders. In the Philippines, native colporteurs are having phenomenal success selling our denominational books, some disposing of as much as one hundred dollars worth in a week. It is believed that this kind of missionary effort can be made self-supporting even in China and Korea. The activities of the denomination are shown by the following facts and figures: In 1863, just a year or two after the denomination was organized, and the first year for which we have statistics, there were only 125 churches in the denomination throughout the world, with 3,500 communicants. In 1913, the last year for which we have statistics, we had 126 organized conferences — more conferences than we had churches in 1863. And in 1913, we had 5,248 evangelistic workers — more than the entire membership in 1863 — while the membership in 1913 was 122,316. In 1865 the per capita contributions stood at... $ 2.29
In 1875 the per capita contributions stood at... 4.13
In 1885 the per capita contributions stood at... 7.36
In 1895 the per capita contributions stood at... 8.55
In 1905 the per capita contributions stood at... 13.52
In 1914 the per capita contributions stood at... 24.56 This increase, all will agree, is substantial and marked, being doubtless the largest denominational average in the world. But it is not as high as the mission demands are felt to be, and strong efforts will be made to bring the average higher still. God has helped His people thus far, giving them hearts and ability to support His work; and now as the demands increase, He will give, we believe, added ability to meet the emergency.
J. E. F.