WHY are not more Christian yogng people going to the mission field?
trunkloads of equipment would suffice in those days, mission boards are now requiring that more and more equip ment be transported to the fields, in cluding the latest in radio broadcasting devices, sound amplification, and mov ing pictures. Consequently, mission aries are loaded down with one to two tons of equipment which they must pur chase at a much higher price than be fore. Transportation costs too are high er and foreign governments are requir ing substantial deposits before mis sionaries can get into many areas o f the world. In addition, whereas the faith mis sion boards do everything that they possibly can to get the attention of Christian people in behalf o f young out going missionaries, yet it is a well- established fact that mission boards consider it a token of the Lord’s leading if the candidate can raise, in large part, his outgoing expenses and support for at least one term. Where is the young would-be missionary to secure such support ? The young men and women who are eager to go to the mission field are be ing trained faster than the older mis sionaries are retiring. The conservative churches are already supporting as many missionaries as they can afford to sustain. It then becomes a grave problem to the young people how this support is to be provided. It is easy to say, “ The Lord will provide!” He does, but He must do so through human channels, and with real dollars and cents. Many of these young missionary can didates endeavor to make contacts with churches, but without any special “ pull” they find it quite impossible to get started, through absolutely no fault of their own. Therefore they settle down to some type of Christian or secular work in this country because they must have means in order to live. Alas, only a favored few are ever able to realize their hopes and ambitions and actual ly get out into foreign missionary serv ice. What is the solution? It is not the purpose of the writer to endeavor to present any ideal solution to this very complex problem. An effort is being made merely to set forth the picture as a whole. Certainly it is not the fault of the Christian institutions which are ( Continued on Page 17) T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Women of San Salvador, Central America.
—Photo by George King
A DISCERNING DISCUSSION O F A DIFFICULT PROBLEM By Samuel H, Sutherland, D. D. Dean of the Bible institute of Los Angeles W ITHIN a few weeks, hundreds of young people will be gradu ating from Bible Institutes, ^Bi
the Lord’s appointment for him and since candidates for foreign service were not numerous, he would be quite readily' accepted by a denominational mission board or one of the growing “ faith” missions. Then he would pack up his belongings in two or three trunks, engage passage on a freighter, bid a fond farewell to loved ones, and in due course o f time he would find himself on foreign shores ready to do service fo r the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a far cry from the conditions which exist today. In the first place, while there may be in the conservative churches, which are almost the only churches supporting foreign missions today, a greater num ber of missionary-minded Christians than there have ever been, yet the de mands upon their resources have in creased to a point never before experi enced in the history of Christian giv ing. With hundreds of radio programs and special “movements,” all worthy in themselves, drawing funds from the same sources, the foreign missionary cause is no longer paramount in the budgets of some of the most spiritual and fundamental churches. In the second place, there are more missionaries on the foreign field than there were a generation ago. In the third place, it costs much more to main tain a missionary which means that fewer churches carry a greater load than ever before. The young people themselves are confronted with problems which mis sionaries of a former generation did not have to face. Whereas two or three
ble Colleges, and other institutions of higher learning, with their faces set to ward full-time Christian service in for eign fields. The months will pass by, and many, if not the greater number, of these young people will become dis couraged in their efforts to get to the foreign field. Consequently, some will settle down in pastorates or other types of Christian service in the homeland and others will find employment in secular work and become lay leaders in their own home churches. Thus they will be lost to the great foreign missionary enterprise and to thé evangelization of the heathen in their time and genera tion. The question will be asked: “What is the matter with our young people ? Have they lost their missionary vision and zeal?” Or the question may be expressed this way: “ What is wrong with our . Bible Institutes and Bible Colleges ? Why are they not sending more young people into foreign mis sionary service?” This problem is greater than it may appear at first glance, and it cannot be dismissed in a moment by resorting to thoughtless criticism. It must be first borne in mind that as our whole world has been practically “ turned upside down” within a genera tion, so the situation with regard to foreign missions has altered according ly. Things are simply not what they once were. Years ago, a young man might decide that the foreign field was Page Ten
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