MISSIONS continued spiritual attitude manifested by the Christians of the early church in re lation to the financial and govern mental problems that surrounded them. This spiritual attitude was possible only because the heart of the church was set upon the winning of souls. These other things, though im portant, were secondary to that fact. Deacons were chosen to help take care of the financial problems in or der that the d iscip les might give themselves to prayer and to the preaching of the Word. The soul winners were the ones who were quite naturally recognized as being fit to guide the church in its gov ernmental problems. When that be comes the chief purpose in our mis sionary endeavor in practice as well as in theory, these other problems will the more readily be solved. Cen turies of church history confirm this fact. The church that is vitally and zealously at work in the saving of souls inevitably has her financial and governmental problems answered. Less concern about our own finan cial guarantee and equipment, a humble spirit that recognizes others better than ourselves, and that places the Lord of the harvest in the posi tion of control along with a burning zeal to win souls for Christ, will do more than anything else in produc ing an indigenous church. African Challenge W e are in a state of emergency in printing gospel literature for Af rica,” says Dr. R. V. Herbold, managing director of The A frica n Challenge, Christian newspaper pub lished in Africa by the Sudan Inter ior Mission. At present The African Challenge, with editorial headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa, is being print ed by a local newspaper press, which can produce only 50,000 copies of The Challenge per month. Dr. Her- bold’s present concern is to. investi gate printing equipment and to find a suitable press that will handle the job. “ It would be tragic to fail in the responsibility God has given us, by being limited to a 50,000-copy circu lation where there is a possibility of reaching hundreds of thousands of literate Africans every month with the Word,” Dr. H erbold stresses. “With Communist and other forces send ing w e ll-p r in ted literature throughout the country, we must not lose a single day in our effort to es tablish a modem press in Africa.” 36
F ertile Sou by Bessie Tallackson
I n a valley beside a little bubbling brook, in the northern part of Iowa, is situated the little village of Fer tile with a population of 400. Over a half century ago there were those who had a vital experience of salva tion and a concern for lost souls. They pitched a tent in a country site; many were saved and for days the revival continued. In 1916 a young man who had worked in the lum ber camps of northern Minnesota felt a burden for this community where he had lived in his earlier years and decided to return and ask permission to hold a revival in its little Lutheran church. Although this preacher was not of the same faith his request was grant ed and the services began. Two women who liv ed in that neighborhood attended the meetings which were held in the forenoons and evenings. They were at enmity with each other and had not spoken for over a year. In a forenoon ses sion conviction came upon one of these women and as the service was going on, she arose and .went over to the one she had quarreled with, threw her arms around her neck and asked her forgiveness. The revival broke and for some weeks the meet ing continued. Scores were saved. The whole community seemed to be influenced by the gospel in such a way that the moral standard was higher than the ordinary. Down through the years and to this day no beer is sold in the town. A Christian high school teacher start ed a Bible class in the school and for 16 years it continued with a good GospelMessage F ollowing the Ecumenical Mission ary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910, the Evangelical Union of South America came into being with the amalgamation of sev eral small missions already working in three of the republics of South America, namely—Argentina, Brazil and Peru. This union came about as a result of the decision of the Ecu menical Conference dismissing South America as a legitimate missionary field. The original three fields are staffed by British workers and are under the jurisdiction of the London board. In 1931 the American council of the Evangelical Union of South America became autonomous and took over the supervision of a field in northeastern Brazil. Since then
attendance. The town was then called the Holy City. Revival fires burned from time to time in later years. The greatest re sult of these spiritual awakenings is the burden that came upon the y ou th fu l converts to proclaim the gospel, to the entire world. Of those that were born and reared in that community, eight missionar ies, have gone forth to heathen lands and at the present time the ninth is making application to be sent to Ja pan. The first missionary went out in 1921. Some have gone out under the Lutheran Brethren board, some under the Central American Mission, some under Strachan’s Mission in Central America, some under the Evangelical Alliance, some independ- enly and one went out as a mechanic to radio station HCJB, Quito, Ecuador. One family who worked under the Lutheran Brethren mission in China lost a child when their mission sta tion was bombed by the Japanese in October, 1938. There are several others who moved in to the v ic in ity , attended high school Bible classes and the services of the Fertile Gospel Mission, felt the call to the regions beyond and are in Africa today. As fruit of the faithful preaching of the gospel, the present lieutenant- governor of Iowa is a Bible class Sunday school teacher in the village. The place is well-named not only because of the bumper corn crops, but because of the many fruitful branches on the living Vine that this community has yielded for service at home and abroad. inSouthAmerica God has prospered and today there are three fields in the American sec tion located in northeastern Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia, staffed by over 80 missionaries and others un der appointment. This is an interdenominational mission founded and operated on established faith principles and has been a member of the Interdenomi national Foreign Missions Associa tion of North America since 1918. The EUSA has a quarterly publi cation known as The Neglected Con tinent. Those who áre interested in missionary work in South America, its progress and problems, are urged to contact the home office of the Evangelical Union of South America located at 78 West Hudson, Ingle wood, N.J. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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