Page 56 - Malaysia by John Russel Denyes
P. 56
SAVING FORCES.
The regenerating forces which the Methodist
Church is putting into operation in Malaysia may
be classified under five heads—evangelistic work,
school work, medical work, industrial work, and
the spread of Christian literature.
While the mission of the Church in Malaysia
is primarily meant to reach Asiatics, it has not
overlooked its responsibility to-
Evangelizing ward the Europeans settled in the
Europeans port cities. The work in Malaysia
was begun by evangelistic ser-
vices among the English speaking people of Sing-
apore, and from the first there has been a prac-
tically self-supporting church in that place. There
are also English-speaking congregations at Pe-
nang, Ipoh, and Kuala Lumpur. While these
three congregations are not entirely self-support-
ing, they contribute largely to the support of the
native work in the surrounding villages, and they
serve as object lessons in organized church life to
the native people.
In native work, as in English work, the whole
machinery of the home church is put into opera-
tion as rapidly as the development of the organi-
zation will permit. The opening of a new station
in a village or a neighborhood is
Reaching usually preceded by street preach-
the Natives, ing. A missionary, with a native
helper or two, finds his way into a
village, selects a convenient street corner, and be-
gins to sing. The unusual noise attracts a crowd.
The missionary mounts a doorstep or box, and ex-
plains the nature of his message and calls upon
his helpers to testify to the power of the Gospel.
Portions of the Bible, tracts and Christian calen-
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