Origins - the Evangelistic Connection
It seems unlikely the Bible Institute of Los Angeles ever planned to establish ~ missionary or educational outreach to China. Though a training ground for both missionaries and pastors, it was not a missionary organization. Yet it was natural for Biola's evangelical f.ounders to support a cause in China, .mutual to their own, as Biola and H.B.I. came to reflect parallel structural patterns. 1 The clear vision which impelled the Stewart brothers . to help create _a Bible Institute in Southern California in 1908 was the impetus for the Hunan project. 2 Loss . of that leadership ~ th_ r?ug_~ ~-e~_:\h coupled ... wi _t~h the depression _economy,__ ar:d . ~a_n - ~n~entional hands~off policy by Biola's Board mistakenly conveyed a period~c and ambigious sense of ind~pendence from the Los Angeles office. Nonetheless, Biola's support and ultimate Board jurisdiction continued _throughout. ,_ .. , __ ~ . t ., ... ·- - ~- ..; - · • , : • - .-: • • •• - _..:. '.._. -~ '• • • '- ~ 1 ..:.;. \.,,.. - _ , .,. v \..A,,__ ' ., -· • I ~ ~- •• 0::. .-: ~ '.Lyman _ and Milton· Stewart . placed. ·t-heir financial power into · --, areas of interest, including distribution of the Scriptures, Bibl~ training, and Asian missions. 3 The focus of all three came together at Hunan. Lyman Stewart's first recorded support for mis~ionary ·work in China was in 1904-6, to a C.I.M. native Chinese evangelist named~, whose field work fell under the jurisdiction ...._ 4 of Dr. Frank A. Keller - missionary and Yale Medical School graduate. Yang's unabated enthusiasm for Christianity was enhanced by the _power of western culture and technology evidenced in a letter to Stewart from Keller. 5 Two important items continued to draw Stewart's
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