September, 1939
TH E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
337
Planted. .Watered"...The Increase “/ have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase ” (1 Cor; 3:6, 7). S HOWN In the bolder type below are portions of the appreciation of Biola expressed in a recent student publication, the Biolan, school yearbook uals are believed to have received all or part of their Bible-training in our Day, Evening, and Correspondence Schools, r in the Hunan Bible Institute of China, the China Department of Biola.
United States while serving on gospel teams or in glee clubs that witness in song and spoken testimony. This past summer a group of the young men have been spending their vacation taking the gospel to the desperately poor migrants of California. “WATERED , . . through the years by consecrated members of the faculty, by faithful workers of the administrative staff, and by the donors who have given generously and sacrificially of their means that the doors of the Institute might be kept open to train students without tuition charge.” The existence and continuance of the selfless work of Christian training given by the Bible Institute of Los Angeles is a constant marvel to those familiar with the apparently insurmountable difficul ties confronting the school. If it be re membered that no charge has ever been made for tuition, that the Institute is not supported by any denominational board, and receives no subsidy from any national Christian group, and yet has literally expended millions in this work, received through the freewill offerings of a multitude of Christians scattered all over the world—four-fifths of them residents in parts of the United States other than in Los Angeles itself—the wonder of this miracle of grace, and the certainty of the divine overshadowing of its ministry, are so evident as to forbid mistake or contradiction. “But truly, God has given THE INCREASE , . . for when the final harvest time comes, there will be those from ‘every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation’ who have been touched either directly or indirectly by Biola.” The future of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles is included in the two words “But God.” We engage our faitn tc this conviction. The increase which has al ready come will continue in the years that are ahead. The guarantee of this is in God’s Word, and the integrity of any work so founded cannot but commend itself to God’s people. We look forward with eager anticipation to the privilege of training young people for Christian service and to the fruitage of souls brought to Christ through their service. We look forward with increasing joy to the privilege of being a bulwark for the faith in an age of expanding unbelief. In these things and others, God will give “the increase,” Join us in the joy of being colaborers with Him and sharing in' “the increase.”
for 1939. Because the student writers have caught the inner spirit of the school’s history, their words have been chosen as the outline for the fuller story appearing on this page. “Standing as a beacon light in a great metropolis is the Bible Insti tute of Los Angeles. Students come to the school from many parts of the worli and leave its doors to travel still farther in His service.” As recently published in The King’s Business, a partial census of the students trained at the Institute shows- the fol lowing results achieved by God’s grace through the instrumentality of Biola in training students for the foreign mission field: A total of 475 Bible Institute of Los Angeles students have served or are serving on the foreign mission field. Of this number 333 are now active, the remainder having returned to the home land, several in broken health. Of the group, nineteen already have gone to be “with Christ.” Each year new volunteers offer themselves upon the altar of serv ice. Twenty-nine regions of the earth are represented in these great mission ary enterprises, including Africa, Alaska, Borneo, Burma, Canary Islands, Ceylon, Central America, China, Cuba, Egypt, Europe, Hawaii, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Palestine, the Philippines, Siam, So. America, So. Sea Islands, and Syria. In the home field, the Alumni Secre tary’s records show that several hundred graduates are serving as pastors, Bible teachers, broadcasters of Christian radio programs, workers among Jewish people, teachers In Christian schools, and the like. The Day School graduates exceed 2,000 in number, and more than 20,000 individ
“PLANTED . . . we may say, by Lyman and Milton Stewart, Reuben Archer Torrey, Thomas Corwin Hor ton, and their associates who early in this center*' saw the vision Of an institution dedicated ‘unto him that loved us, and washed, us from our sins in his own blood.’” The founding of this Bible Institute marks an epoch not only in the history of Los Angeles, but also in the develop ment of evangelical Christianity in the United States. Commencing in a small way as scarcely more than a Bible class, first, in an bbscure section of Los An geles, then housed in a local church, the seed blessed of God grew into a great Institute, occupying two height-limit steel and concrete buildings of thirteen stories, with an auditorium (now the Church of the Open Door home) capable of seating about 4,000 people. The Insti tute block is in the very heart of Los Angeles, adjoining the Public Library. The school’s activities have included an extensive series of Bible conferences; the publication of a national magazine, The King’s Business, nearly seven mil lion copies of which have been circu lated, not only throughout the United States, but in more than forty-five for eign lands; the ministry of a faithful group of Bible Women, and the carrying on of an active and extensive mission in China through the operation of the Biola Bands of native evangelists who have been instrumental in spreading the Word of God through teeming and unevangel ized districts of the great Chinese Re public. Students of Biola have visited most of the important cities of the
• Missionary influence at Biola reaches far beyond the student group, t h r o u g h the Student Mi s- s i o n a r y Union’s depu tation teams. Members pic- t u r e d h e r e served during t h e p a s t school year.
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker