Page 78 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 78
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 78
WHEREAS, in years past in certain missionary circles doubt was frequently
expressed as to whether Relief work had an integral place in the programme of the
Missionary movement, yet I think that the great catastrophes in China, which have
followed each other in such rapid succession in recent years have shown to us all
that it is impossible for us to hold ourselves aloof from such efforts which have as
their primary objective the relief of human pain and suffering at a time of acute
distress.
Through the experiences of these years some of us appreciate the fact that such
activity furnishes a possible field wherein may operate in fullest co-operation all three
branches of missionary effort - evangelistic - medical - educational. Relief effort,
prompted by the right motive of Missionary zeal, is an interpretation in living terms of
the Gospel of the Son of God Who Himself spoke so. eloquently through a ministry
of loving deeds.
Though some missionaries have professed themselves sceptical as to the lasting
value of relief work and have stressed the dangers and difficulties of those who
engage in it, yet in the hour of acute distress their reasoned judgment has been
submerged by the surge of compassion and they have found themselves swept into
the current of relief ministry to bodily need. My mind goes back as I write to a certain
mission station in the far interior where on a glorious Easter morning the service of
God’s House had to be suspended whilst all the resources of the missionary’s food
supply were laid under levy to provide a partial meal for the congregation, composed
of many who were literally dying of slow starvation in one of the worst .famines that
has ever visited north-west China. At such a time it seemed a mockery to attempt a
spiritual ministry, without supplementing with a temporal ministry, to brothers and
sisters “naked and in lack of daily food.” We came to China with the urge of a great
impulse to “preach Him” among the heathen. And as our Perfect Example, so we
shall often find - and I write this most reverently - our most effective preaching is
done in terms of deeds rather than words. In this connection what field of service
more rich in opportunity than that in which the relief worker labours? Spiritual and
moral dangers abound but surely no work built on a sound spiritual basis need fear a
time of stress and testing. It is not my purpose to stress these dangers, which will
readily suggest themselves to the minds of my readers who may have had
experience in relief work. They will be successfully encountered as those who face
them live in spiritual power and are prompted by a wisdom which is God-given in
WHEREAS, in years past in certain missionary circles doubt was frequently
expressed as to whether Relief work had an integral place in the programme of the
Missionary movement, yet I think that the great catastrophes in China, which have
followed each other in such rapid succession in recent years have shown to us all
that it is impossible for us to hold ourselves aloof from such efforts which have as
their primary objective the relief of human pain and suffering at a time of acute
distress.
Through the experiences of these years some of us appreciate the fact that such
activity furnishes a possible field wherein may operate in fullest co-operation all three
branches of missionary effort - evangelistic - medical - educational. Relief effort,
prompted by the right motive of Missionary zeal, is an interpretation in living terms of
the Gospel of the Son of God Who Himself spoke so. eloquently through a ministry
of loving deeds.
Though some missionaries have professed themselves sceptical as to the lasting
value of relief work and have stressed the dangers and difficulties of those who
engage in it, yet in the hour of acute distress their reasoned judgment has been
submerged by the surge of compassion and they have found themselves swept into
the current of relief ministry to bodily need. My mind goes back as I write to a certain
mission station in the far interior where on a glorious Easter morning the service of
God’s House had to be suspended whilst all the resources of the missionary’s food
supply were laid under levy to provide a partial meal for the congregation, composed
of many who were literally dying of slow starvation in one of the worst .famines that
has ever visited north-west China. At such a time it seemed a mockery to attempt a
spiritual ministry, without supplementing with a temporal ministry, to brothers and
sisters “naked and in lack of daily food.” We came to China with the urge of a great
impulse to “preach Him” among the heathen. And as our Perfect Example, so we
shall often find - and I write this most reverently - our most effective preaching is
done in terms of deeds rather than words. In this connection what field of service
more rich in opportunity than that in which the relief worker labours? Spiritual and
moral dangers abound but surely no work built on a sound spiritual basis need fear a
time of stress and testing. It is not my purpose to stress these dangers, which will
readily suggest themselves to the minds of my readers who may have had
experience in relief work. They will be successfully encountered as those who face
them live in spiritual power and are prompted by a wisdom which is God-given in
