December, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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size. During the winter season, the regular morning worship period for the staff and student body is held here, and on Sunday afternoons, English vesper services are also held for missionaries o f several missions working in Changsha, Western business people, and English-speaking Chinese. There is a hum of excitement everywhere. A stately young fir tree beside the fireplace is decked with paper flowers and illuminated with strings o f electric bulbs. Students—young men and young women o f new China— having purchased from the local shopkeepers quantities of colored paper, are working together in the fashioning of hundreds of flowers and other decorations. These young people have the true Christmas spirit, for every one of them professes an experience o f the new birth. Did you notice the four-character inscription, carved in wood, which rests on the mantelpiece ? It was presented to the Institute by Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek as a token o f his respect for the work the Institute is doing in training young men and women for Christian work. Students often look at the inscription, and an expression o f wonderment passes over their faces as they observe the signature o f the giver. There is something purposeful about the manner in which these young people do their work o f decoration. They speak o f it themselves. They tell us they are trim ming this room—as they did the entrance to the compound — as a testimony to be given to their non-Christian friends. The mottoes on the walls, which are Chinese characters written in the venerated literary style and variously colored, are expressive of the Christmas sentiment: “ Immanuel,” “ Christ is come,” “ Jesus is born in Beth lehem.” These large characters are studded with paper flowers and other kinds o f ornamentation. Long strings of festoons stretch from one end o f the room to the other. The students, as they work, are thinking of one great day to come, greater in their observance o f it than Christmas Day itself. Christmas is a truly blessed time for every student—a time o f sweet fellowship together “ in the Lord.” Early on Christmas morning, a service will be held in the Institute chapel, after which the opportunity will be given to attend regular church service in any one of the several churches in Changsha. Upon entering the Institute, each student has been urged to affiliate with the church o f his personal preference. Thus the Hunan Bible Institute maintains its interdenominational character, for there is no local church officially connected with the Institute. In Changsha, a city of half a million population, there are seven evangelical churches which the students are free to attend: Presby terian, American Episcopal, Evangelical Church, Swedish and Norwegian Lutheran, English Methodist, and the China Inland Mission. Christmas afternoon is usually a quiet time. There is, as a rule, a children’s party at our home at four o ’clock, where the children o f our Chinese colleagues join with our own little folk. For the evening meal, in the Mary W .
Stewart Dining Room, and also for the entertainment which follows in the social hall, all the members o f the Institute group, with their families, will gather in happy fellowship. The day following Christmas is, to the students, a day of greater importance than any other because its objective is the sharing o f the gospel message with their friends who do not know Christ as Saviour. Into this room that is now being adorned with elaborate trimmings, about three hundred Chinese will be crowded on December 26. Besides the students and faculty mem bers, there will be numbers o f young men and women with whom the students have talked during the year, Chinese young people who are interested in Christianity but are not yet Christians. The guests, in groups o f eight, will sit at tables laden with the customary refreshments— watermelon seeds, peanut candy, rice balls, and sponge cakes. On each table there will be eight handleless cups, the tea leaves already placed. Because almost every Chinese in Changsha would like to share in the hospitality, admission is by personal invitation only, and tickets are issued for entrance. Invited to come at two o ’clock, the guests will begin to arrive at one. They will sit around the tables during the whole program, which is conducted by the students. They will listen to a clear gospel message, given, perhaps, on invi tation o f the students, by the Dean, or by Rev. Marcus Cheng, or by some other member o f the faculty. (M r. Cheng, by the way, is a personal friend o f Dr. Paul Rood, and a member o f the same denomination as Dr. Rood.) It may be that some who have heard the gospel many times will accept it on this coming day o f witness. This is the hope that fills the hearts o f the students o f the Hunan Bible Institute as the Christmas season approaches. A fter the message, at about four-thirty, six of the men students will come in with large teakettles of boiling water. These boys will pass from table to table, pouring out the hot water, and their coming will be the signal for all to partake of the refreshments. Then what a buzz o f con versation will fo llow ! It will be a wonderful afternoon for both the students and their friends—all enjoying a new sort of fellowship in commemoration o f the coming o f Jesus the Saviour. We return in thought to that same social hall on the last day o f the year. With the Chinese, the last day o f the year is a time o f reckoning accounts, o f the payment o f outstanding bills, o f the dismissal and engagement o f employees. This national custom which really relates to the end of the lunar year, takes on a spiritual significance for those who have accepted Christ; and December 31 at the Hunan Bible Institute is set apart as a day o f fasting and prayer. Searching messages from the Word o f God, given in the morning, are followed by a quiet time o f devotion when each student in his or her room is alone with the Lord. The missionaries gather for prayer, often at Dr. Keller’s home, in the afternoon. Throughout the Institute, [Continued on page 477]
The Buildings of the Hunan Bible Institute, Changsha, Hunan, China.
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