now those interested in the Hunan Bible Institute were pressing for complete independence. Hard on this disturbing event came the de stroying troops of Japan. From the mid-thirties until 1946 the school was closed. With government help, the school was repaired and re opened in 1946 only to be captured shortly afterward by the Chinese Communists who turned the 10- acre campus into an agricultural school for the Red government. What is left of the once extensive B i o l a ministry in China is now be ing carried on under the direction of Dr. Charles Roberts in Hong Kong where the Institute maintains a church, book room, youth center and medical clinic. Long before the Institute entered the depression years there were plans under way to broaden the academic structure. As early as 1920, T o r r e y dec ided that the course of study should be length ened from two to three years. By 1934 the school attorney was asked to draw up the necessary legal paper whereby the school might be developed to the point of granting at least one academic or profession al degree. In 1943 Dr. S. H. Suther land, who had recently become
to the Lyman Stewart Trust Fund, administered by his widow. When the question of this huge debt came up for discussion in August 1938, Mrs. Stewart graciously made full provision to lift this load. As soon as the obligation to the Farmers and Merchants Bank had been cleared and the financial af fairs gotten under control, it became Talbot’s real problem to raise suf ficient money to carry on the pro grams of the Church of the Open Door and the Bible Institute. For five years he did what humanly speaking would have been the im possible, raising the money neces sary for both organizations. During 1943 to 1945 he set out to clear the remaining debt on the buildings, first the Institute, then the church. Later, because of his heavy duties at the Institute, Talbot resigned as pastor of the church, leaving no debt, so that his successor, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, could assume his responsibilities unhampered by fi nancial problems. In the meantime, the Bible In stitute’s China branch was not far ing so well. The wave of strong nationalism that was sweeping China in the early thirties had won over the Christian population and
dean of the Institute, outlined a new academic program to raise the standards of the school. In March 1944, Sutherland out lined a plan to establish the School of Missionary Medicine under the direction of Miss Leonie V. Sou- birou. This action was followed in 1949 by the establishment of a Bible College course leading to a B.A. degree. In 1952 the Talbot Theological Seminary, a graduate school of theology was established with Dr. Charles L. Feinberg as Director. In less than 50 years the Bible Institute had moved from a two-year institute to an institution of higher learning including four distinct schools: the Bible Institute, Bible College, School of Missionary Medicine and Talbot Theological Seminary. With this expansion came the need for additional physical facili ties. In 1942 the board of directors of the Institute purchased the park ing lot directly across Hope St. In 1953, Sutherland (who had become president the previous year) recom mended to the board that a build ing be erected on the lot. The plan was for a limit-height, all purpose building including administrative offices, faculty offices, enlarged li-
The King's Business/February 1958
39
Made with FlippingBook HTML5