Page 38 - History of Arabian Mission 1926-1957

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two Missions are Identical, as they seek to establish one Church of Christ in
this area of geographic and cultural unity, and they hope to pool resources
and undertake Joint programs, Gome of which are already functioning. Cummer
conferences for young people, in the north of Iraq, have drawn their attend"
once from both mission areas and have been most successful. A training
school for evangelistic helpers is being opened in Mosul.
A clergymen's conference was held in Basrah in early 1957> with nearly
all the ordained men in the two missions, Dr. Park Johnson, Dr. Harry Dorman
of the N.E.C.C., and Dr. Kenneth Cragg, director of a new study center on
Islam in the Near East.
Plans are envisaged for work shops and other conferences of workers,
for finding suitable candidates for the ministry, and for discovering and
fostering national leadership.
An educational committee for the two missions will probably be formed
in the near future. An educational survey by a group of experts Is now Going
on, to consider the needs of Iraq and the Persian Gulf for Christian educa­
tional institutions. It seems likely that the Basrah boys' school will be
enlarged and upgraded, in co-operation with the United Mission in Iraq, with
a hostel for Christian students from the various stations of both missions.
b. The Arabian Mission became a regular contributing member of the
3 Near East Christian Council about 1946. Since then our representatives have
attended general conferences, as well as special ones on audio-visual aids
and church organization. A member of our Mission is now on the executive
committee of the N.E.C.C.
A regional conference for the whole Near East is contemplated, after
the pattern of the one in Basrah for Iraq and the Persian Gulf.
Literature is being produced by the Arabic Christian Writers'
Association; World Christian Books are being translated; and a revision of
the Bible in Arabic is to be considered.
c. Other co-operative projects.
The British and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible &
continue to use the Mission as their distributing agents.
The Mission welcomes the project of a study center on l3lam, to be
established in the Near East under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth Cragg.
Dr. Cragg is an Anglican clergyman, an Arabic and Islaraics scholar, and fol­
lowed Dr. Edwin E. Calverley in the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford.
The purpose of the center is to enable Christian leaders, both national and
missionary, to gain deeper insights into the nature of Islam, and how best t«*»
approach the Muslim with the Christian message. For the present, area con­
ferences will be held, rather than establishing a center in any one place
The loss of the Newman School of Missions, which came within the
Israel boundaries when Palestine was divided, has been keenly regretted by
1 Christian workers in this area, and they are happy that an equivalent
institution Is now to be undertaken.
■a;.
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IV. BUILUiMiS
"Prepare thy work without, and make it ready for thee in
the field, and afterwards build thy house."
Proverbs 24:27
The last three decades have seen great changes in the physical back­
ground of the Arabian Mission.
Amaroh secured a fine property on the Tigris river front in 1931, and .
a two-story hospital to serve both men and women was built, also a spacious ’
residence for the doctor. An evangelistic building close by had a small church
auditorium, and modest quarters (later enlarged) for the clergyman. I
A few years later a women's majlis, or assembly room, was added to the !
evangelistic unit. I
Much more recently another mission house, adjacent to the original I ‘
property^ has been purchased, from an English firm who no longer needed it. i
One more residence, now in process of construction, will complete the
housing needs of this station as at present constituted. I
A new wing of private rooms has been added to the hospital, to serve
a growing class of patients who are ready to pay for modern amenities. i
i
Basrah. *
In Basrah, the major building project of these three decades was the
beautiful new girls' school plant, in a large date garden on the outskirts of
Basrah City. This was a Jubilee gift of the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions.
It consists of a large fine modem school building, with a spacious center '
auditorium, six classrooms, office, and a good-sized kindergarten room open­ .
ing on to Its own separate playground. Playground facilities for the older i ;
girls were ample, and had the advantage of being secluded from the rest of the !
mission compound, and completely away from the road. The residence for the
single women was attractive and convenient, and It was in this house that
Mr* Dykstra first used a layer of bitumen on the walls of the first story to
prevent damp rising, a practice extensively followed and in general use today.
Steel arches were used throughout, and artistic brick work In traditional pat­ }
terns on the ceilings add much to the chara of the interior.
The Bilkert Memorial Library, on the boys' school compound in Ashar,
was erected at the same time as the girls' school, Bince the presence in Basrah
of Mr. Dykstra with a building assignment made it advantageous to use his serv­
ices at both ends of town. These were completed In 1930.
In 1946 the whole front of the mission compound in Ashar was taken by
the Basrah municipality, as they were building a new wide road to Basrah ci*
on our side of the creek, and In 1951 we were obliged to demolish the larger
and older of our two mission residences, and to slice off the verandah of the
one-story house.
A new residence was built In 1955 to replace the one which was gone
and the wholo compound atl -.-actively ’’-dscaped.