The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 54

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54

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

hindrances are astounding. When Ziegenbalg died,
after only thirteen years of work, at the early age
of thirty-six, a beautiful church had been built at
Tranquebar, a printing-press had been established,
the New Testament in Tamil was in the hands of
the people, Lutheran hymns were sung in Tamil,
and Luther’s Small Catechism was learned by the
children and adults in the vernacular.

After Ziegenbalg’s death Lutheran missions were
extended into the land of the Telugus and into the
native kingdom of Tanjore. About the middle of
the eighteenth century Christian Frederick Schwartz
entered upon his blessed labors. This wonderful
man exerted a most powerful influence over all who
came in contact with him, Christians and non-
Christians, throughout Southern India, and at the
time of his death it was estimated that the number
of his converts numbered almost 7,000. After the
death of Schwartz Lutheran missions in India de-
_ clined for almost fifty years, until about the middle

of the last century the Leipzig Mission Society took

up the work with renewed vigor. Up to the World
War a number of German societies were doing ex-
tensive work in various portions of the land, but
during the war all were expelled from the country
and their fields turned over to other missionary
agencies, some of them not even Lutheran. Thus
the work of the Hermannsburg Society in India
has been taken over by the Joint Synod of Ohio,
which ‘is very successfully continuing the labors of
the German society. This work is being done
among the Telugus of the Madras Presidency. The
United Lutheran Church is doing a very extensive
work among the same people, while the Swedish
Lutherans have taken over the work of the Leipzig
Society among the Tamils.

The Missouri Synod has been at work among
the Tamils of South India, in the South Arcot dis-
trict, since 1895, and among the natives of Tra-
vancore for a somewhat shorter period. This work
is progressing very satisfactorily and is becoming
“more extensive from year to year. An increasing
“staff of native workers is assisting the foreign
‘. laborers. Schools for. the education of a native
ministry have been established, and a hospital has
been opened. The work has also progressed along
industrial lines during the last few years, so that
all four phases of missionary endeavor are repre-
sented in this field. ¥F. J. L.

. * —

THE disasters of the world shock us, but the wail
ft the’ lost does not even disturb the profound
i lumber of many churches.

Foreign Missions of the Missouri Synod
in India.

The Missouri Synod has been working in India
since 1893. We occupy two chief fields, the north-
ernmost of which lies directly west of the: large
city of Madras and the southernmost in Travancore.
Midway between the two we have our Bergheim at
Kodaikanal, where our school for missionaries’ chil-
dren is being conducted, and where our mission-
aries rest up and recuperate.

The northern field lies in the Tamil-language
area and borders on the Telugu-tongue district.
The Mohammedans in this section use very little
Arabic in their homes. ‘Tamil and English are
spoken by the younger generation. The language
of social intercourse, however, is the Urdu.

© Noriden field

e tes pce!

ong GTN

The Mission-Fields of the Missouri Synod
in India.

Trivandrum fan

Nagercoil field}

In the Travancore field we again have the
Tamil, but, in addition, the Malayalam. The for-
mer is employed in the Nagercoil and the latter in
the Trivandrum districts.

It goes without saying that the missionaries
working in a certain section of India must famil-
jarize themselves with that language which is
needed for the intercourse with the natives.

All our work.is done on a distinctively Chris-
tian and Lutheran basis. In our day it is nec-
essary to make this statement, as many missionaries
of non-Lutheran societies no longer stress the con-
fessional and, in many instances, not even the dis-
tinctively Christian message. Modernism, which is
so rampant in our country, has invaded the Orient
and is emasculating much of the missionary work.
Social motives now dominate throughout most of
the missions in India. Much is made of Christ,
but not of His substitutionary sacrifice for a justly
cursed world, but of His noble and, withal, deeply
sympathetic personality. Without having’ expe-