The Orient
The Orient
“The Orient” The work of the church is well begun in four parts of the Orient: Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines.
While Korea is a part of Japan its customs and language are so different from the Japanese it is better classed as a separate field. The Japan field was opened some forty years ago by Brother J. M. McCaleb. Brother McCaleb is yet an active and able worker in Japan. The greatest number of American missionaries in Japan at one time was sixteen, during the years of 1930-1933. At present there are eleven, including those on furlough to return to their work this year. However, two of these, Brother and Sister Elbridge Linn, are new workers going out for the beginning of their work this year. The other nine are Mr. J. M. McCaleb of Tokyo, Miss Lillie Cypert of Tokyo, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Rhodes of Yokohama, Mr. and Mrs. Orville D. Bixler, and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Fox of Ibaraki Ken, and Miss Hettie Lee Ewing of Shizuoka. City, Japan. Other recent workers of Japan who are temporarily retired from the field are Mr. and Mrs. Herman Fox of Ibaraki, Ken, and Miss Sarah Andrews of Shizuoka City.
There are about sixteen congregations of the church in Japan, some thirty gospel preachers among the natives and a good number of Bible teachers. The membership of the church of Christ in Japan or of any of the Oriental fields is hard to know because of their being converted often while attending colleges in the big centers and going out to their scattered homes. We can safely say there are one thousand members in the empire, however. In China the work was begun in Canton where Brother and Sis¬ter George S. Benson began in 1925. Today as a result of their work together with other workers who later joined them, we have a splendid Bible school, and church work. The missionaries who have gone out to China since 1925 are Mr. and Mrs. Lewis T. Oldham, Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Broaddus, Miss Ethel Mattley, Miss Elisabeth Bernard, Mr. and Mrs. Lowell B. Davis, and Mr. and Mrs. Roy Whitfield. The church work has centered around Canton, Hongkong, and Peiping in North China. Several churches are established and a goodly number of preachers and teachers are trained for work among the natives. For about eight years efficient work has been done in the Philip¬pines by Brother H. G. Cassell and wife, and Brother Orville T. Rodman and wife. Though we have somewhat different conditions on the Philippine Islands from those of the Chinese and Japanese, yet the natives are oriental in disposition and the work of converting them goes along the same lines. There are today some three or four centers of work, with practically the same amount of progress as is seen in China and Japan for the period of time spent in that field. In Korea there are no American workers of the church of Christ. Brother Dong, a native Korean, was converted in the States and returned to his native land in 1930. His work has been observed by Brother McCaleb and is well reported of. He centered his efforts near the capital and has done much evangelistic work in the surrounding territory. There is a great demand for an American man in Korea to join Brother Dong in that needed field. The problems confronting missionaries in these various fields are numerous but much the same in all. We find difficulty in reaching the very poor and uneducated. Making the work self'supporting is one of the biggest problems but some headway is being made in all the fields. We could name any number of the problems which are hard to meet, but it is not necessary to look at these and sigh with discouragement. We know that the gospel of Christ is for all and that we will overcome all difficulties if we press on in this good work which is essential both for them and for us. There is a great and effectual door open in the Orient and a tremendous responsibility resting upon us to give them the gospel.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What is the population of China? Japan? Korea? The Philippines?
2. What is the approximate number of members of the churches of Christ in each of these fields?
3. Name the missionaries on the field already and those who will be in the near future.
4. Give a brief history of the evangelisation of each field.
5. Has the entire lump been leavened in the Orient, or have we just begun? Compare the numbers
of unconverted with that of the converted in these fields. Have the farmers and laboring classes
heard the simple message of Christ, or just of the better classes?
6. What are some of the greatest problems of these fields? What are your congregation and mine
doing to help solve these problems? What are you and I doing? What opportunities and rewards
lie out before us?