Page 4 - Malayan Story
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MALAYAN STORY
FOREWORD
The following was written by J. Oswald Sanders in 1955. He was then the General Director of the
Overseas Missionary Fellowship.
Only three brief years have elapsed since the Conference at Bournemouth, England, which officially
launched the Overseas Missionary Fellowship of the China Inland Mission. A steady stream of
workers was then flowing from Red China, but only a small trickle seeped into the lands of Southeast
Asia to which the Mission had heard the call of God. The general Christian public, naturally enough,
had gained the impression that the China Inland Mission was finished, and that viewpoint was shared
even by some of our own missionaries. But in reality the Mission was only experiencing that process
so familiar in the spiritual realm – painful death issuing in glorious resurrection.
Soon the tide turned. Preliminary surveys had revealed large groups of unreached peoples in
Southeast Asia and Japan, and among our members there was an increasing response to the vision of
tragic and unmet spiritual need. Young people whose interests had centred in China, now opened
their hearts to the Chinese and other races in these areas, and the trickle grew to a stream.
Experienced leadership was forthcoming in the men who now act as Field Superintendents, and their
wise guidance prevented steps being taken which would later have had to be retraced.
Stupendous difficulties faced these pioneers. The missionaries were without experience of these
tropical countries. They were faced with polyglot races, new languages and dialects, a complete
absence of national fellow-workers and of homes and centres from which to work. Their contacts
were few, and extraordinary difficulties were encountered in gaining entrance into some of the
countries. All these problems, and more, might well have daunted the stoutest heart. On the home
front the process of re-educating the Christian public to the emergence of a new Mission from within
the old was an unexpectedly slow process. But one by one these mountains of difficulty melted
before persistent prayer and unremitting toil.
Changes in the administrative structure of the Mission might easily have created serious problems,
but the re-emphasized policy of requiring unanimity of decision at all levels of administration was
faithfully adhered to, and proved possible of realization. In this way the utmost unity has been
attained in the prosecution of the task, and during these three years there has been a remarkable
absence of serious administrative problems. This is indeed the Lord’s doing, in spite of human
frailty.
The favour of the Lord has been evidenced too, in the gift of many new workers of promise. Last
year we received 67 recruits for eight countries. The experiment of a central Language School in
Singapore where they could learn any of six languages, proved to be not only practicable, but of
inestimable value to the work as a whole. By the end of 1954 the number of workers on our Active
List had grown to approximately 500, and it is of more than passing interest that of the recruits who
went to China in 1948 and 1949, years when many questioned the wisdom of continuing to send
young people to the field, no fewer than 58 are re-deployed in the new areas.
Our missionaries are now working from almost one hundred centres in eight countries, and proclaim
the gospel in twenty languages and dialects. The miracle of the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil is
being daily repeated in the supply of all needs, despite the fact that the cost of living in these
countries is double or treble that of China days.
The prosecution of a totally indigenous policy and the decision to rent rather than buy property for
4
FOREWORD
The following was written by J. Oswald Sanders in 1955. He was then the General Director of the
Overseas Missionary Fellowship.
Only three brief years have elapsed since the Conference at Bournemouth, England, which officially
launched the Overseas Missionary Fellowship of the China Inland Mission. A steady stream of
workers was then flowing from Red China, but only a small trickle seeped into the lands of Southeast
Asia to which the Mission had heard the call of God. The general Christian public, naturally enough,
had gained the impression that the China Inland Mission was finished, and that viewpoint was shared
even by some of our own missionaries. But in reality the Mission was only experiencing that process
so familiar in the spiritual realm – painful death issuing in glorious resurrection.
Soon the tide turned. Preliminary surveys had revealed large groups of unreached peoples in
Southeast Asia and Japan, and among our members there was an increasing response to the vision of
tragic and unmet spiritual need. Young people whose interests had centred in China, now opened
their hearts to the Chinese and other races in these areas, and the trickle grew to a stream.
Experienced leadership was forthcoming in the men who now act as Field Superintendents, and their
wise guidance prevented steps being taken which would later have had to be retraced.
Stupendous difficulties faced these pioneers. The missionaries were without experience of these
tropical countries. They were faced with polyglot races, new languages and dialects, a complete
absence of national fellow-workers and of homes and centres from which to work. Their contacts
were few, and extraordinary difficulties were encountered in gaining entrance into some of the
countries. All these problems, and more, might well have daunted the stoutest heart. On the home
front the process of re-educating the Christian public to the emergence of a new Mission from within
the old was an unexpectedly slow process. But one by one these mountains of difficulty melted
before persistent prayer and unremitting toil.
Changes in the administrative structure of the Mission might easily have created serious problems,
but the re-emphasized policy of requiring unanimity of decision at all levels of administration was
faithfully adhered to, and proved possible of realization. In this way the utmost unity has been
attained in the prosecution of the task, and during these three years there has been a remarkable
absence of serious administrative problems. This is indeed the Lord’s doing, in spite of human
frailty.
The favour of the Lord has been evidenced too, in the gift of many new workers of promise. Last
year we received 67 recruits for eight countries. The experiment of a central Language School in
Singapore where they could learn any of six languages, proved to be not only practicable, but of
inestimable value to the work as a whole. By the end of 1954 the number of workers on our Active
List had grown to approximately 500, and it is of more than passing interest that of the recruits who
went to China in 1948 and 1949, years when many questioned the wisdom of continuing to send
young people to the field, no fewer than 58 are re-deployed in the new areas.
Our missionaries are now working from almost one hundred centres in eight countries, and proclaim
the gospel in twenty languages and dialects. The miracle of the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil is
being daily repeated in the supply of all needs, despite the fact that the cost of living in these
countries is double or treble that of China days.
The prosecution of a totally indigenous policy and the decision to rent rather than buy property for
4
