Evangelistic Department I N T E R E S T IN G S T O R IE S from R E A L E X P E R IE N C E A S T O L D B Y B I B L E I N S T I T U T E W O R K E R S
the theological seminaries abroad. Fortunately, for the most part, up to the present time the Chinese pastors and evangelists have not swallowed these destructively critical views to any great extent; but some of the young men are being shaken. I had personal conversations with quite a number of bright Chinese university students who had been disturbed by the teaching along these lines in Union Universities and Theological Seminaries. What is needed in China are institu tions for the training of pastors and ministers which shall be conducted more along the line of some of our Bible Intstitutes in America rather than along the line of a theological semi nary. Dr. Keller has built up such an institution in the Bible Institute of Changsha. At present, this work is housed in rented buildings which are altogether inadequate for its needs, but suitable buildings are in course of con struction in what is regarded by all who know conditions there to be the very best location in Changsha; a loca tion so excellent that the Union Theo logical Seminary of Changsha has pur chased ground immediately adjacent on which to erect buildings, and another great organization is trying to get property adjacent on the other side. There were last year thirty-nine stu dents in this Bible Institute. I met personally thirty-one of them, and they are a fine class of men,— bright, ener getic, with a passion for the salvation of the lost. They are doing the work of evangelization while they are being trained to do it. Dr. Keller’s work evidently has the confidence of every one whose confi dence is worth anything. On the day of my arrival in Shang hai, one of the old and tried mission aries of the C. I. M. urged me to see the work of Dr. Keller saying that it was “ one of the greatest and most re markable in China.” The head of the Medical Department of the University that is founded and conducted by Yale
THE BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS AN GELES IN CHANGSHA, HUNAN PROVINCE, CHINA Dr. Torrey, who has just returned from a four months’ sojourn in China and Japan, has the following to say about Dr. Frank A. Keller’s work in the Province of Hunan: “ Of all the institutions and various forms of Christian activity, visited by me in China, I saw nothing that im pressed me quite as much as being ex actly fitted to meet the needs of the times in China as the work of Dr. Kel ler in Changsha, and the other lines of activity connected with it. “ One of the great needs of China to day is native pastors and evangelists who are thoroughly sound in the faith, who know the truth and who know how to impart it to others, and who have a passion for the salvation of the lost. China will never he evangelized by Americans or English or any other na tionality. China must be evangelized for the most part by the Chinese them selves. But the Chinese who are to evangelize their own land must he thoroughly trained and equipped for the work. Many of the institutions that exist in China for the training of pas tors and evangelists are devoting a large share of their attention to train ing them along the lines of an Amer ican Theological seminary. While the work of the seminaries when they are sound in the faith— as some, beyond a question, are—may he adapted for the needs of America, yet these methods are not adapted in many respects to the needs of China. Furthermore, destructive criticism is getting in to the theological institu tions of China more and more, and this is keenly felt by the,professors them selves. One of the greatest mistakes the denominational hoards are making is in allowing this destructive criticsm, which has worked such great havoc in our universities and theological semi naries and churches at home, to gain an entrance into the teaching force of
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