Page 83 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

CHAPTER V:
IN RETROSPECT:
AN EVALUATION OF
THE ARABIAN MISSION'S SUCCESS AND FAILURES

The 1973 meeting of the Arabian Mission in Muscat sig­

naled the end of what Zwemer, Cantine and Lansing had started

in New Brunswick in 1889. In its eighty-four years the Mission

had been almost completely transformed both as the result of

external events acting on the Mission and changes of goal

and self-image from within. The early pioneers, Samuel Zwemer,

James Cantine and Charles Riggs had set forth from the United

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States, strong in their belief of their evangelical mission to
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spread the Christian gospel among the Muslims. They were

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! confident of the enduring worth and value of western progress

! and "Christian civilization," and considered both the creed

and culture of the Arab people to be materially primitive

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and spiritually impoverished.

Faced with an unexpected amount of resistance to out-
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; right evangelistic work and impressed with the need for
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medical and educational work, the missionaries had soon
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shifted their emphasis to schools and clinics. By this means

) they hoped to fill a need and at the same time gain acceptance

for their mission of conversion; Articulate and dedicated
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teachers like John Van Ess (appointed in 1902), Dirk Dykstra
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(appointed in 1906) and Edwin Calverley (appointed in 1909)

joined the Arabian Mission and launched ambitious educational
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programs* Skilled and well trained doctors like Stanley G.

MyIrea (appointed in 1906), Paul Harrison (appointed in 1909)

and Eleanor Calverley (appointed in 1909) were sent out to
A