Page 52 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

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his book, Whither Arabia: A Survey of Missionary Opportunity

(New York: 1938):

"The Cross of Christ is pitted not so much against
the waning Crescent as against the materialism, un­
belief, pride and lust which are common to unsaved
man everywhere, and which receive at present enormous
reinforcement from the scientific, economic and poli­
tical prestige of the West*" 92

If the 1930’s and 1940’s were troubled years for the
Orp
Arabian Mission in one sense as it battled against indif­

ference at home and materialism in the field, they were

certainly highly successful years in many other respects.

As Dr. Storm had written in 1939, the rapid social changes

in Arabia had brought "larger demands on (the Mission’s)

institutions in the form of efficiency, equipment and per-

sonnel." 95 By and large, the Mission was successful in

meeting these demands. The medical case load grew steadily,

the opportunities for touring the hinterland as doctors and
;
<0
missionaries became more frequent and the mission w as able

to expand its physical plant in the form of new hospitals,
schools and churches with a comprehensive building program.

In 1934, in the middle of the Depression, the Charles

H. Knox Memorial Hospital was built in Muttrah, Muscat’s

sister city in Oman.9^ Three years later the small women’s

clinic in Kuwait moved into a fine spacious building of its
q c
ov/n, the Kate V. S# Olcott Memorial Hospital, Seven years

later, in 1944, the same year that BAPCO started its ovm

medical service, the Bahrain mission added a new wing to its

women’s hospital. In 1948 a Contagious Diseases hospital

A