Broadcasting From Asia's First World's Fair
M/SS/ 0 HAgy SYMPOSIUM What is the meaning of the term "Indigenous," and why is the indigen ous method in missions strongly ad vised? Explain how aviators fit into the missionary picture.
The Far East Broadcasting Com pany, operating seven transmitters in Christian Radio City Manila, saw the International Fair as a God-given op portunity to reach an estimated two million visitors with the Christian message. An area near the front entrance to the Fair grounds was granted the FEBC, and there a complete studio was designed, built, decorated, and staffed by personnel of Chris tian Radio City Manila directed by Robert H. Bowman, FEBC vice-presi dent. In this studio many “ live”
“ Some missionary societies use airplanes, but seldom for trans ocean transportation, because the commercial lines are better quali fied to run the risk. The value of contacting the people while traveling eliminates the usage of airplanes to any great extent in evangelistic work. The real need for missionary aviation is in bringing sick mis sionaries out of the jungles to hospitals, and to take missionaries to and from conferences and rest homes in order to save time and wear and tear on the traveler.” C. G. Beacham Sudan Interior Mission Is it right for foreign missionaries to put a feeling of guilt in the minds and hearts of those who labor for Christ in this country? “ I would say no. It’s not the missionary’s job to do that — it’s the Spirit of God’s business, and if we try to put the feeling of guilt there, we may be going di rectly against the Spirit’s guidance to that individual who feels called to stay at home. On the other hand, the missionary might be used of God to bring conviction. The resultant feeling of guilt should cause the Christian to fur ther investigate the possibility of a call to foreign service.” Ed Beatty Christ for Indonesia Fellowship To what extent are missionaries ex pected to live like the natives among whom they labor? “ Living conditions vary in dif ferent localities. In some remote sections of the world it would be impossible for a missionary to live on the same low level as the na tives, but he should guard against the other extreme. If he creates a false impression of luxury he will be out of the reach of the people. “ It is seldom realized that a missionary’s responsibilities go far beyond those of preaching the gos pel and teaching the Word of God. One of the very best means of reaching the people with a gos pel witness is through the Chris tian family and the Christian home.” —O.H.S. Editor’ s N ote: Your questions regarding missions w ill be wel comed, and your answers given as soon as possible.
“An indigenous church is a church in which the nationals are the sustaining factors for the sup port and growth of the church. During the Italian persecution in Ethiopia the indigenous chinches stood on their own feet and even advanced, while many other churches which were supported from the outside fell away. It is also felt that in many instances where the national worker is sup ported by his own native church while he is in Bible school he comes out of school a stronger Christian than those who have been supported from the United States.” Mrs. C. E. Lewis Sudan Interior Mission “The only hope for the spread of the gospel in future years if Com munism continues to spread will be from the national churches. In view of this, it is strongly ad vised for the church to become indigenous as soon as possible. It is also recommended that each district support the students from their district in Bible school. How ever, when a district is impover ished by a famine or some other calamity, the students from these districts are supported from out side sources until the time comes when conditions are such that their own home districts can support them.” Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson — Chris tian Missionary A lliance in Borneo “ An indigenous church is a self - supporting and self-propa gating native church. The healthy, useful church is the indigenous church because it is not dependent upon outside sources for support. In the training of a young person in a Bible school the ideal is to have the churches support the students from their church, but because of the poverty of the people in many cases funds have been used from the outside to train the national.” Mrs. William Ebeyling — For merly with the Hunan Bible Insti tute of China. The Institute is now in communist hands.
broadcasts are put on daily for re ceptive audiences. Staff members are assigned as “ hosts” for all the hours the fair is open, and thousands of pieces of Christian literature have been distributed to the throngs that visit the “ Call of the Orient” studio daily. Bowman reports that studio audiences pack out “ live” broadcasts, and that crowds line up at the studio windows to catch a glimpse of the broadcasters and hear the Words of Life. A carefully planned strategy of follow-up work has been planned. Working with the Far East Broad casting Company in this phase has been the “ Orient Crusade” and the “ Navigators.” To date more than 5,000 individual requests have been r e c e iv e d for the Gospel of John, many of these coming from people who never before read the Scriptures. More than 2,000 have enrolled in free Bible Correspondence Courses, which have been returning com pleted at the rate of 100 a week! In addition to the International Fair project, a regular schedule of broadcasting from Christian Radio City Manila is maintained 20 hours daily in 34 languages and dialects, the greatest known number of lan guages used on any radio station in the world today with the possible exception of government operated stations.
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