King's Business - 1918-05

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THE KING’S BUSINESS

THE BIBLE INSTITUTE IN CHINA Dr. Frank A. Keller Makes Another Interesting Report on the Colportage Work in the Province of Hunan L AST December the missions o f Chang­ sha invited us to call in one o f our

be, to have this invitation from the mis­ sions o f the city, and to have the privilege o f conducting this city-wide campaign in such close connection With the regularly established work o f the city. We would haVe been doubly grateful had we been far enough on to have had the morning Bible studies in our own Institute building, but, God willing, that too will come in His time. As I have already written you, between 6000 and 7000 soldiers (Northerners)'were interned here for several weeks. This gave us an opportunity for a very blessed service. One o f our old leaders, Mr. Yang, had been appointed by the Chamber o f Com­ merce to look after the general interests o f the internes, and the distribution o f Scriptures and other Gospel literature was under his general supervision. He in turn kept in close touch with us. The Rev. Mr. Wu, o f the Presbyterian. Church, a man recently from North China, was easily understood by the Northern soldiers, and he was invited to take charge o f the preaching as the official representative o f the churches of Changsha. He consulted with us frequently about the work, and the various missions .sent their workers to us for Scripture portions and other Gospel books. Every soldier who could'Tead was presented with, a book, either a Gospel, -or a'copy o f our Synopsis o f the Gospel, or True Happiness at Hand, each officer was presented with a pocket New Testament. The visitors and preachers were received with the utmost Courtesy, and the books seemed to be most welcome. It stirred one’s heart to pass by the camps and see the men reading the books that we had given them. They have now been moved to the city o f Siang-Siang, a couple o f days’ journey from here, but they have taken the books and Testaments with them. As they have no other literature and no work to occupy their time, let us pray much that God’s Holy Spirit may open up the Word

parties o f colporteurs to co-operate with them in a special evangelistic effort during the Week o f Prayer. As Party No. 5 was at work quite near to Changsha, and could be called in without causing serious inter­ ruption to the regular work, we accepted the invitation. Each one o f our trained men became the leader o f a small party, made up o f work­ ers sent from eight missions o f the city. Union prayer meetings were held in the several chapels and churches every after­ noon in rotation, and special evangelistic services were held in all the chapels, and churches every evening. Our men led the visiting parties during the day, and preached in various chapels in the evening. Every morning at 9 o’clock I met all the men, our colporteurs and the workers from the churches, in the chapel o f the Wesleyan Mission, which was the most central place, and we- had an- hour, o f Bible study and prayer. At 10 o’clock they began their day’s work o f visitation. Dur­ ing the week we visited 8743 homes, and counting five individuals to a home, we came in personal touch with over 43,000 persons during the week. In nearly every home some portion o f the printed W ord was leij, and every individual had a personal invitation to attend the meetings in the church nearest by. A large majority also had personal invitations to accept o f Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Printed slips, giv­ ing the location o f the chapels and the hours o f meetings, were also left in the homes. All over the city the chapels were crowded every evening, and many were enrolled to enter Bible and enquirers’ classes. Please join us in prayer that God may grant large and permanent results from the work during this Week o f Prayer. W e were grateful,» as I am sure you will

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