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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
August, 1933
dren to pray, and that every night before the children retire, this devoted mother teaches them to pray individually to God. Mrs. Chou witnesses constantly and earnestly to her neighbors about the truths of the gospel. Her husband’s business keeps him away from his home most of the time. He is a man o f affairs and a man of the world ; he has paid very little attention to religion in any form ; he is neither an idolater nor a Christian. Often in families when either a husband or a wife becomes a Christian, the unbelieving member o f the family resorts to all kinds of persecution, sometimes very severe, to lead the believing one away from the new-found faith. Fortunately, Mr. Chou is not that kind o f a man. When he returned and found that his wife had become a Christian and saw that she sincerely believed
miles, aiming to visit every home in that district and to make a personal presentation o f the gospel. As people become interested, they are organized into daily Bible classes and by the time all the homes in the district have been visited by our evangelists, the members of the Bible classes have made good progress in their knowledge o f the Word, and a number have made a definite decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the evangelists pass on to a new district, wherever conditions are favorable, the mem bers o f these Bible classes are organized into a Bible study and prayer group which is the nucleus o f a self-supporting and self-propagating church. The population of this pro vince o f Hunan is over thirty million. You will see at once the vastness o f our field. A brief summary o f the annual report of one o f the b a n d s , for last year tells t h e s t o r y of them all. G o i n g out two by two from four different cen ters, the men o f this band made 10,712 visits to heathen homes, leaving with the people' -Scriptures and gospel tracts to help them understand what had been told them. A total o f 775 persons manifested a real inter est, and many o f them joined d a ily even in g Bible classes that they might learn more o f this wonderful sa lva tion . T h e r e w e re eigh ty - seven who d e fin ite ly made the great decision to believe in and follow Jesus Christ. Fifteen entire families turned to the Lord, and thirty- two families rem oved all idols and all the ac companiments o f idola try from their homes. In two o f the centers, small self-supporting churches have been organized, as a result of this band’s work. T he C onversion of M rs . C hou The monthly report o f the work o f Band Number Eight came to hand a few days ago, with the report o f two very interesting cases with which Mr. Li was connected. In the large apartment house where the members o f Band Number Eight were living, there also lived a Mrs. Chou. Mrs. Chou had never heard the gospel before; moreover, she was a very enthusiastic worshiper o f idols. As Mr. Li and his colleague talked with her repeatedly, before she knew what was happening, she came under the influence of the Holy Spirit, she realized the truth o f the gospel mes sage, and she determined to repent, turn from her sins, accept Jesus as her Saviour, and worship the one true God. She began to attend the preaching services with the utmost regularity, and when the report was written, she had be come very steadfast in her faith and had put away all traces of idolatry. It is wonderful that, although we have been reading these reports monthly for twenty years, there is always something fresh and new in them. There is a beautiful little touch in this report, for Mr. Li says that this Mrs. Chou not only prays herself, but has also taught her chil
THE STUDENT BODY OF THE HUNAN BIBLE INSTITUTE T h e m e m b e r s of the faculty occupy the front row. At the left are Rev. and Mrs. Charles A. Roberts, then two Chinese teachers, and after -them Rev.- and Mrs. Everett F. Harrison, now returned to the United States. Then come Rev. and Mrs. C. K. Ch’eng. Mr. Ch’eng is the director of the correspon dence department and has over 700 students, scattered all over China, studying the Bible with him by correspondence. The dean, Mr. M. K. Hsiao, is in the center, and after him, Rev. Marcus Ch’eng, one of the most popular and powerful preachers in China. He recently spoke at a conference in a large school in Yochow and has received a letter from one of the missionaries there saying that sixty-five o f the girl students have definitely decided for the Lord and have joined the Bible classes as a result of his recent visit there. Mr. Ch’eng is editor o f our bi-monthly magazine, Evangelism, which has by far the largest circulation of any religious magazine in China, going to all the provinces of this land and to many other countries where Chinese live. At the extreme right are Dr. and Mrs. Frank A. Keller. At Mrs. Keller’s right is the librarian, Mr. Li Ming Tao.
in Jesus, he not only did not upbraid or persecute her, but he very highly commended Her for the step she had taken. Shall we not join in earnest prayer that this kind-hearted and courteous husband may himself be led, through his wife’s example and testimony, to a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? A C h inese F am il y A ltar Another case’ very strikingly illustrates the great ad vantage o f the method o f work that the evangelistic bands employ. Everything about the gospel is so strange to these people that they may hear it over and over again without really taking in its meaning, but when the sermons preached are supplemented by visits in the homes, so that people can ask questions about the points they have not understood, and can get their problems solved and their difficulties cleared away, many are brought to faith in the Saviour who otherwise would have heard and gone on their way none the better. In many cases, the first contact is made through these visits in the homes, and because o f an interest aroused there, the people begin to attend the preaching services and the Bible classes. Mr. Li and Mr. Wang, called at the home o f a young man by the same name as the woman just mentioned, a Mr. Chou. A fter a short conference, they gave some tracts and booklets to Mr. Chou, which he gratefully received and [Continued on page 265]
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