Chapter 9

HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN, RAJAHMUNDRY.

This malady of unbelief affected the Church, however, for only a short time. By the beginning of the Nineteenth Century men were already returning to the hope which they had rejected. With the return came once more that sense of obligation to the heathen world which had been so clearly seen by von Welz, Francke, Ziegenbalg and Schwartz.

|A Missionary School.|The new light shone out in the opening year of the new century. ThenJohn Jaenicke, who was called â€œFatherâ€ Jaenicke, established in Berlin a missionary school, the first Protestant institution whose object was primarily the direct training of missionaries. For many years Jaenicke had been the only believing preacher of the Gospel in Berlin. In spite of a disease which threatened constantly a fatal hemorrhage, he labored with a humorous disregard of his physical disability--and lived to be eighty years old! His church in Berlin was composed partly of Bohemians, and to these he preached in the morning in Bohemian, his native tongue. In the afternoon he preached in German and on Monday evening he gave a powerful review of his Sunday sermons, dwelling constantly on two cardinal points, human sin and divine grace, and crying earnestly to his people. â€œYou are sinners, you need a Savior, here in the Scriptures Christ offers Himself to you!â€

Visiting the sick, giving alms to the needy, comforting the desolate, and alas! constantly laughed at and mocked, this godly man pursued the course which he had set for himself. As in the case of Francke, so in the case of Jaenicke an abounding charity concerned itself not only with those at hand but with those afar off. From his missionary school, he sent out in twenty-seven years about eighty missionaries. Before his death the beauty of his character and the softening heart of his country enabled men to see him as he was.

The Jaenicke school exists no more as such, but in the impulse given to missions and in a successor, the Berlin Missionary Society, it still lives.

Methods.

|A Method of Work.|For those who are acquainted only with the missionary methods of the American Lutheran Church, in which missionary work is done officially by the various branches of the Church, it is necessary to explain briefly the different procedure of Germany and other foreign countries. Where the Lutheran Church is the State Church, it cares officially only for those within the State. All other varieties of Christian work are carried on by societies which have been organized either by groups of zealous men and women or else by a single person. The circumstances connected with the foundation and the history of these organizations are often intensely interesting. It is to be regretted that we can give only a short space to each one.

German Societies.

|A Century of Service.|No missionary society has had a more interesting beginning than theBasel Society. There was encamped on one side of the Swiss city of Basel in 1815 a Hungarian army, on the other side a Russian army. Destruction seemed certain, and when it was averted the pious folk determined in gratitude to establish a mission seminary to train preachers for the heathen. While this undertaking is partly Reformed, its intimate connection with the Lutheran Church makes it proper for us to include its work in a history of Lutheran missions. Many of its directors and a large proportion of its workers have been Lutherans and a great deal of its support has come from Lutheran sources.

At first the men trained in the Basel school went into the employ of English missionary societies, but in 1822, after eighty-eight missionaries had served the English Church Missionary Society alone, the society sent its men to its own fields. Between 1815 and 1882 the society trained eleven hundred and twelve candidates.

The Basel society has certain distinct and peculiar characteristics. It combines with its evangelical work industrial work which is managed by a missionary trading society. It was the first of the German societies to combine medical with evangelical work. It trains surgeons, farmers, weavers, shoemakers, bakers, workers in wood and iron, tailors, printers and mechanics as well as teachers and ministers.

In 1915, surrounded once more by cannon, but still in peace, the Basel society celebrated its centennial, in rejoicing yet in sadness. It has now stations in India, China and Africa. Its last accessible report gave its income in 1913 as $586,000.

|Royal Approval.|By 1823 the attitude of the Church toward missions had so changed and improved that ten distinguished men, theologians, jurists and officials of the government issued â€œAn Appeal for Charitable Contributions in aid of Evangelical Missionsâ€. The organization which they formed received the royal sanction and was called theBerlin Society. In 1834 the first missionaries were sent to South Africa. At present the society works in Africa and China. Its last income was $291,000.

|Another Large Society.|As in the case of the Basel Society, so in the case of theRhenish Societythere are two elements, Lutheran and Reformed, who work together in all its enterprises. Its school and headquarters are in Barmen, Westphalia; its first missionaries were sent to South Africa in 1829. Its fields lie in Africa, the Dutch East Indies and China. Its income was in 1913 $328,000.

In the north of Germany is located theNorth GermanorBremen Societywhose workers are trained at Basel and whose field is West Africa where it has offered an amazing sacrifice. Its income was in 1913, $71,000.

|An â€œAristocrat Among Missionsâ€.|TheLeipsic Society, which was organized in 1836, received its strongest impress from its director DoctorKarl Graul, a thoroughly trained theologian and a devoted supporter of missions. He endeavored to make this society the center of the missionary work of the whole Lutheran Church. He not only organized, advised and managed from the home base but spent four years in India. The society works in India and Africa. On account of the thoroughness and solidity of its work it has been called â€œthe aristocrat among missionsâ€. Its income was in 1913, $179,000.

|The First Missionary Ship.|TheHermannsburg Missionwas begun in 1849. Its genius wasLouis Harms, the pastor of the Lutheran church in the village of Hermannsburg. Though he was brought up under rationalistic influences he remained true to the principles of the Gospel. He believed that missionary work could be best accomplished by the sending out of colonies of missionaries who should be a source of support and encouragement to one another and who should furnish to the natives an example of Christian behavior in all the walks of life. His enthusiasm imparted itself to his congregation which was willing to make any sacrifice in order that his plans might be carried out. His first missionary party numbered twenty, twelve missionaries and eight colonists who sailed on the ship â€œCandaceâ€ for East Africa. Beside its African field the Hermannsburg Society has stations in India and Persia. Its income in 1913 was $139,000.

|The Work of One Man.|Like the Hermannsburg Mission, theGossner Missionowes its existence to the faith and piety of a single man. This remarkable person,John Evangelist Gossner, was originally a Roman Catholic priest who was banished from Bavaria because his preaching and his writing tended constantly away from orthodox Romanism. Persecuted, he declared his intention of entering the Lutheran Church, and was put through a severe examination. Proving that he held the pure faith, he was ordained about 1827. He was subsequently pastor of large congregations, among them that of which â€œFatherâ€ Jaenicke had been pastor. His labors knew almost no limit and included home missions, foreign missions, religious correspondence, writing and works of mercy of all kinds. That activity with which we are most concerned is the mission in India which he established on certain independent principles. He believed, for instance, that missionaries should work with their hands and thus provide for their maintenance as did the Apostle Paul. In ten years he sent out to various missionary societies eighty missionaries. In 1844 he established a mission of his own among the Kols in India. To-day the Gossner mission concentrates its efforts chiefly upon its India station. Its income was in 1913 $184,000.

|Three Promising Societies.|Forty years had now passed since Father Jaenicke founded his missionary school and the new life of missions began. For about twenty years no societies were formed. Since that time there have been many new undertakings. Among them is theBreklumorSchleswig-Holstein Societywhich was founded in 1877 by a devoted Pastor Jensen. Its fields are India and Africa and its income was in 1913 $67,000. TheNeukirchen Societywas founded in 1882 in the Rhine province, by Ludwig Doll, who vowed during a severe illness that if he were restored he would give his life to missions. This society labors in Africa and Java and had in 1913 an income of $30,000. Most important among the remaining Lutheran societies are that ofNeuendettelsauwhich works in Kaiser Wilhelmsland in New Guinea, and also in Australia, theHanover Societywith stations in South Africa, and theBielefeld Societyin East Africa.

|German Missionary Scholarship.|Before leaving this brief introduction to the missionary labors of Germany, we must allude to the fine service paid by various Germans in the field of missionary literature. The Germans were the originators of the scientific study of missions. They have given to missions its greatest historian, Doctor Gustav Warneck, who for many years occupied at the University of Halle the only academic chair in Christendom then devoted to the teaching and study of missions, and who prepared monumental volumes discussing his beloved theme. To his study and to that of other German scholars the Lutheran Church owes much of that sobriety and thoroughness with which its mission work has been done.

Scandinavian Societies.

|In Denmark.|Though the pioneer Lutheran missionaries, Ziegenbalg and PlÃ¼tschau, were sent to India by Denmark, missionary activity languished in Scandinavia for many years. TheDanish Missionary Society, organized in 1821, sent missionaries to the Greenland mission and a few to the work of the Basel society in Africa. In 1862 it established missions of its own in India and Northern China. In 1913 its income was $125,000.

|In Norway.|TheNorwegian Missionary Societywas founded in 1842 in Stavanger and consists at the present time of about nine hundred societies. It works among the Zulus in South Africa, in Madagascar, and also in China. In 1913 its income was $234,000. TheNorwegian Church Missionwas organized by Bishop Schreuder in 1873. Its field is in South Africa. TheNorwegian Lutheran China Mission, organized in 1890, has an income of $62,000.

|In Sweden.|In Sweden there are various Lutheran missionary organizations. The most important are theSwedish National Society, which works in East Africa and Central India, and has an income of $120,000, and theSwedish Church Missionwhose fields are in South Africa and East India and which has an income of $88,000. Among the smaller societies are theSwedish Mission in China, theSwedish Mongol Mission, and theJerusalem Association.

CENTRAL GIRLS SCHOOL, RAJAHMUNDRY.

|A Brave Girl.|One of the interesting characters in the history of Scandinavian missions was a young Finnish girl, Maria Mathsdotter, by name, who, through the preaching of the missionaries had come to understand the need of her people for the Gospel. She learned Swedish so that she might speak to the King and thereupon in 1864 set out to walk two hundred miles to Stockholm. When a few days later she started back, she carried with her enough money to build a childrenâ€™s home to which Finnish children could go for Christian and some industrial instruction. As a result there are to-day a number of such homes in Finland.

|Two Friends.|Among the most popular missionary societies in Denmark and Norway is theHome Mission to the Santals, established in 1867 by a Dane, Hans Peter BÃ¶rresen and a Norwegian Lars Olsen Skrefsrud. Lars Skrefsrud was the son of pious Christian parents, but led a life of such waywardness that he was finally confined in prison. During his term of two years he was thoroughly converted and determined to devote his life when he should be free to mission work. As soon as he was released he offered himself to the Norwegian mission in Africa, but the committee concluded that a man just out of prison was not a safe agent. He then applied to Father Gossner, who accepted him for work in India. In the training school he became acquainted with BÃ¶rresen, and so close was their friendship that when they were placed in different stations they separated from the Gossner mission to found theHome Mission to the Santals, which is supported by Danish and Norwegian Lutherans in all parts of the world.

Finnish, Polish, and Other Societies.

Not the least valuable of Lutheran missionary enterprises is that of little Finland, which after contributing to the missionary work of other nations, established in 1859 on the occasion of the seven hundredth anniversary of the conversion of Finland to Christianity theFinnish Lutheran Missionary Societywith headquarters at Helsingfors. In 1867 the society began its own mission in South Africa, and later in Japan. Its income was in 1913 $72,000. TheFinnish Lutheran Gospel Societyworks in China.

The Lutherans of Poland divide their contributions among various German Lutheran societies, among them the Leipsic and Gossner societies.

The Lutherans of Friesland, a province of Holland, contribute to the work of the Bremen or North German Society.

In the Netherlands there are small Lutheran organizations which aid in the work of the German missionaries in the Dutch East Indies.

American Societies.

The missionary work of the American Lutheran Church is accomplished both by the various large bodies and by organizations within the synods whose sole purpose is missionary work. From the Norwegians and Danes in America, contributions are sent to the missionary societies of the fatherland, such as theHome Mission to the Santals. There are nine American Norwegian organizations--the United Church, the Norwegian Synod, the Haugeâ€™s Synod, the Norwegian Free Church, the Brethren Synod, the Elling Synod, the Santal Committee, the Zion Society and the Intersynodical Orient Mission--which in 1915 contributed $235,000, an average of sixty-nine cents per member. The General Synod contributed in the same year $117,000, an average of thirty-three cents. The General Council contributed $119,000, an average of twenty-four cents. The United Synod in the South[4]contributed $20,000, an average of forty cents per member. The Synodical Conference contributed $56,000, an average of six cents per member. Not included in the above figures is the work of the Synodical Conference for the American negro which amounted in 1910-12 to $66,000. The Joint Synod of Ohio contributed $16,800, an average of eleven cents per member. The Danish Society contributed $7,825, an average of fifty-five cents per member. The Iowa Synod contributed $16,000. It is estimated that the average yearly per capita contribution of American Lutherans to missions is twenty-three cents. The fields of American Lutheranism include Africa, Madagascar, China, India, Japan, the East Indies and South America.

4.Contributions not reported through the regular treasurer bring the per capita contribution to fifty-three cents.

It has been impossible in this brief account to give a separate place to the work of womenâ€™s or other auxiliary societies, which have contributed so largely to the work of missions. The actual financial additions brought by these societies may be easily computed, but not the interest which they have roused, the information which they have disseminated, the prayers which they have offered. May they long continue their generous work!

Many persons and some churches hold the opinion that missionary work can be done in a haphazard fashion, each man following what he believes to be the divine direction within him. Devoted men who counted their lives as nothing so that they might serve Christ have gone to preach to the Hindu without understanding his language or being able to speak it and have counted with ill-founded joy thousands of converts who had in reality not comprehended a word of the message. The coast of Africa has within its soil the bodies of many missionaries who alone, unsupported by home supplies, unfitted for their task, have laid down their lives in a glorious but useless endeavor.

Enterprises of this sort have not been a part of missionary work in the Lutheran Church, which believes that the foundation of the Indian or African Church must be laid surely and substantially, no matter how slowly, that adult baptism cannot take place without understanding, that only those may share the communion of Christâ€™s Church who know His Gospel, and that with the precious message to the soul there should go also the uplifting of the body so that it may become a worthy vessel.

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