March 1927
159
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
the,stranger was there for no good, that indeed,,he had prepared a large boat and was planning to kidnap as many children as he could carry away. As for the children themselves, they seemed far too wise for such old wives' tales. Perhaps they regarded this as one of many bogeys with which they had been threatened, which were always going to “get cher if yer don’t watch out” but which never did. A P r e a c h in g a n d T e a c h in g M in is t r y Each evening of our stay at Tai Kung T ’ang we had a full house. The usual custom, after a band has been in a district for a few days, is only to give two or three even ings a week to preaching to the heathen people, and the other evenings to various classes for the instruction of inquirers., Ouy work is not preaching, in the ordinary sense but the more laborious ministry of taking the Word of Life to evfery home in a district. For this one week, however, it seemed that we had no alternative, the people came without any urging, and on each occasion a good per centage of the congregation stayed for the whole service. The first evening was typical of each evening of my stay. I spoke briefly, and was followed by a band member.. Mr. Liu Hwa Lung, leader of Band No. 2, who preached Jesus with great earnestness. The message was followed by an invitation to, all to sit around and drink tea while further discussion of the Gospel, went on. That friendly cup of tea,provided an opportunity which was made use of by each member of the Band to attach himself to an individual or group and to make friends, and the pur pose of each such contact was, of course, the pre sentation of Jesus, the sinner’s Friend. And as the visitors one by one took their leave it was often pos sible to carry the friendship and the opportunity fur-
Walter T. Steven Watches Biola Bands Work A SHORT time ago, it was my privilege, writes Walter T. Steven, of onr Hunan China, Bible Institute, to start on an itinerary of almost six weeks which was to include visits to Biola Evangelistic Bands Nos. 2, 10, 3 and 4, in the order mentioned. The trip was particularly valued just before furlough as it gave an intimacy with the work which no amount of reading or hearing could do. It did more, it gave me at least a small share in the actual work, the daily contact with the unsaved, and opportunity to wit ness for Christ such as the 169 workers in the thirteen Biola Bands have for ten months each year. I am writing particularly of the visit to Band No. 2, every hour of which was full of interest to me, and I proved to be almost as interesting to the people. It seems scarcely possible that, within a day’s journey from a great provincial capital, like Changsha, many people had never seen a foreigner and scarcely any had ever seen a foreign woman or child, so that my family pictures were of the greatest interest. Some came to see the foreigner walk as they had been given to understand that all foreigners were without knee joints, and were expecting a ludicrous sight when he attempted to walk, particularly if he wished to enter a Chinese house with its raised door sill. The portable typewriter, on which this letter is being tapped off, never failed to attract a crowd, indeed it almost became necessary to refrain from using it except when the village school was in session. A few curious adults did not mat ter but when every child in the neighborhood, and there are many in every Chinese neighborhood, crowded around, one ceased to be responsible for diction or orthography. There were not wanting a few to believe the supersti tious rumors, which one or two started, to the effect that
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