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THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
August 1925
Our Bible Institute in Hunan Province, China Dr< Frank A. Keller Superintendent
T he H u nan Bible In stitu te (th e C hina D epartm ent of the Bible In stitu te of Dos A ngeles) is organized along sim ilar lines to th e hom e In stitu te,— train in g n ativ e Chinese young m en and w om en for C h ristian w ork, an d a t th e sam e tim e c arry in g on an activ e evangelistic Work am ong th e unsaved. The w ork (w hich is recognized b y th e different evangelical m issions as one of th e b e st in C hina) h as th re e d ep artm en ts: (1 ) A Bible In stitu te a t C hangsha (th e cap ital city of H unan Province.) (2 ) Tw elve C olportage B ands w ith th irteen men. in each band, devoting the m ornings to Bible Study, an d the aftern o o n s to giving the Gospel in th e n ativ e hom es. . (3 ) T he A utum n Bible School an d Conference a t N anyoh (one of C hina’s th ree sacred m o u n tain s). H undreds of conversions have resulted from th e w ork done am ong th e th o u san d s of p ilg rim s.' “BAND TWO” AMONG THE SOLDIERS Evangelizing th e Chinese Soldiers
HOSE who know only th e newspaper reports of the m ilitary and political situation in China must have the impression, which indeed is not far from thè tru th , th a t things are in a very disturbed and
Mr. Tien immediately suggested to them th a t the band would be glad of an opportunity of preaching to th e sol diers and th a t they would be glad to give Testam ents and other literatu re to any who seemed interested. Colonel
lawless condition. Many of The K ing’s Business readers, however, w i l l be fam iliar w ith t h e record of Marshal Feng Yii Hsiang, known so well as “The Christian Gen eral.” Perhaps our readers have not realized, however, th a t Christianity is g a i n i n g consid- e r a b l e g r o u n d am ongst officers and soldiers in sections •of the C h i n e s e a r m y o ther than th a t commanded by M a r s h a l Feng. Some tim e ago we heard of consider able willingness to
Wang a t first hesi tated to invite them , fearing th e oppo sition of superior officers. One even ing, however, he c a m e across the words, f o u n d in Afatt. 1:21, “ for it is He t h a t shall save His p e o p l e f r o m th e ir sins.” Colonel W ang was deeply moved feel ing t h a t , as the Lord J e s u s had done so much to save H is p e o p l e from th e ir sins, he could no t b u t tes tify, even though it cost him his posi- tion in the arm y. A fter praying over
■Tien H sin-Pei, Leader, in cen ter
Biola E vangelistic B and No. 2—
the m a tte r he decided not only to invite th e band workers to his barracks, b u t also to w itness him self to th e power of th e Gospel. The following day he w ent With th e advisory officer to see Mr. Tien and to make arrangem ents for the preaching amongst the soldiers. We can scarcely imagine th e joy of the Biola Band work ers at this almost unheard of suggestion. An evangelistic campaign for soldiers was arrang ed immediately, hymns were w ritten on large sheets of cotton and other necessary preparations made for the opening of th e first campaign at the end of March, 1924. A second one was held in April. In both campaigns a t least eight hundred soldiers- heard the Gospel, many of them probably several times. Three hun dred enrolled themselves as enquirers and these met together every Wednesday for Bible study. More th a n one hundred soldiers attended the China Inland Mission Church regularly. They planned and carried th rough a Bible study conference which lasted for one month, and was so suc cessful th a t ano th er was immediately organized. The first month, thirty-two attended and the second month fifty-two. Of this number seventy-four gave evidence of tru e conver-
hear th e Gospel on th e p art of a group of soldiers in the far western Province of Szechwan, and today we w ant to tell you something of the work of our own Biola Evangel istic Band No. 2 among th e soldiers. Our story commences in December, 1923, when Band No. 2 went to th e City of Hungkiang, in th e far South western p art of Hunan. When they arrived, civil war was in progress between a form er Governor of Hunan, who was anxious to come back to power, and the present Governor. Shortly after they arrived th e Governor’s troops were suc cessful and the Third Division took possession of Hungkiang. Mr. Tien soon became acquainted w ith the chief advisory officer of the Sixth Brigade, Hsu by name, a member of the China Inland Mission Church a t Sinning, and w ith Col onel Wang, the officer commanding.the Twenty-first B attal ion, a member of the B aptist Church in the Province of Hupeh. These two men are èarnest Christians and kept in close touch w ith the Church while in Hungkiang. (N o te: M ost of th is a rtic le h a s b een ta k e n fro m n o te s f u r n ish e d b y M r. T ie n H sin P ei, fo rm e rly le a d e r of B a n d No. 2, an d n ow on th e f a c u lty of th e H u n a n B ib le I n s titu te .)
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