215
T H E
K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
April 1924
O u r Bible Institute in Hunan Province, China Dr. Frank A. Keller Superintendent
heart and purpose which these men experience. Naturally in a class of this size there are wide divergences in mental equipment and in spiritual gift. Some within a few weeks of coming here are active in the personal and preaching work in which all take part, while other of the men are slower to gain the real taste for soul winning. In the same way some get along more rapidly in their studies than others. We are sure however that there is not a man in the class who yielded to God may not become a great power in winning men for Christ. Thirteen Missions Represented Or it may interest you to think of the various denomina tional groups represented. Surely the Bible Institute of Los Angeles itself could scarcely have a more catholic class. There are thirteen Missions represented and the Mission which has furnished the largest number of stu dents is itself interdenominational. Students from ritual istic and nonritualistic communions sit side by side with those from the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches. And the textbook in the hands of both students and teachers and the common hope and prayer for the Church of Christ in China enable us all to forget the differences and to stress the wealth of truth and breadth of task before us. In fact denomination is scarcely ever mentioned here either amongst students or faculty members. We are all mem bers of the Body of Christ, we all believe and are seeking to understand the Infallible Word and therefore you are not surprised to learn of the truest unity in spite of di versity. Practical Work Many of these men are sent here at the expense of their respective Missions and when their two year course is com pleted they will return to work in the field of that Mission. Some are paying their own expenses, and this means a good deal more in China than it does in the Homeland. And then we have a very promising group of young men who are on scholarships provided by “King’s Business” readers and other friends. These men come to us for four years. The first two are spent in the Hunan Bible Institute in classes, in practical work in the city of Changsha and in student evangelistic bands during the Summer and Winter vaca tions. After graduation two years are spent in one of the twelve Biola Evangelistic Bands. These are years of post graduate study and of daily intensive evangelistic work. What a privilege those have who help these young men to an education which both trains and inspires them for definite soul winning. Prayer Helpers Wanted We thank God for every prayer helper, and He has given us many. We long for more who will take these students on their hearts and share with us the responsibility of their training. Will you pray for them that they may be like the young Christians to whom John wrote “----- -ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one.” Very cordially yours, Walter T. Steven.
THE HUNAN BIBLE INSTITUTE you try for a few minutes to imagine your- ves in a hypothetical secret gallery, an unseen ictator in a Chinese class room? The scene is d in the first year class room in the temporary
recitation building of the Hunan Bible Institute. And in cidentally this is almost your last chance to get just that setting, for “by the good hand of our God upon us” next year’s classes will meet in the commodious “Milton Stewart Hall” which is now well under construction. But though in an old and rickety building you must imagine yourself please in no mean class room. Though crowded it cannot be said that the forty-three students who meet there are suffering any hardship. The room is well ventilated and lighted pleasantly from both sides, so that the blackboard does not reflect a blinding glare to any seat. Eager Students But it is not a room as such that you are to visualize but a room full of men. Did you notice the number? Forty-three, and that would have been considerably in creased had we been able to accommodate a larger number in class rooms and dormitories. Your first impression would probably be of nationality, forty-three Chinese, but there is very little doubt that your second and more lasting impression would be of forty-three men eager to learn, anxious to tell out the Gospel and now for the most part gaining their first experience in real Bible study and in soul winning. And then you must come with ears as well as eyes. One could wish too that you had just sufficient appreciation of their language to realize, with the teacher, who is mak ing his first attempts in Chinese before a class, what a widely representative group of men this is geographically. The teacher having asked a question must usually strain every nerve to understand the answer and quite often the student is not even clearly understood by his, fellow stu dents. But that is only one side of the question, the side which creates a problem. We would like you to think for a moment of the significant reason for so wide a divergence in the speech of one class. It is that in this class alone we have men from ten of the eighteen provinces of .China. Were we speaking of the whole student body we would be dealing with an even more representative group, with men and women from twelve provinces. Though our own Hunan has a larger number of students than any other one province a majority of the whole class comes from out side of Hunan. In the natural course of events these men will ultimately return to their own provinces and can scarcely fail to be men of considerable influence in their districts. We are constantly challenging ourselves with the responsibility before the Lord which this puts upon us. We long that they may carry home not only full memories and padded note books but hearts ablaze and spiritual alertness to the needs of the people of their own provinces. Interesting Variations There are other interesting variations in the class which serve to emphasize the underlying and very real unity of
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