The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 69

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

69

ganized the following year. In the same year that
the first Protestant church was organized in China
(1835), medical work was begun in Canton. How-
ever it was only after the opening of a number of
Chinese ports to foreign traders and missionaries

Pupils Leaving School.

.by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, which treaty
ended the Opium War, that Protestant missions
actually had an opportunity to expand. Other
treaties gradually opened more of the country to
the messengers of the Gospel. While in 1875 only
.the six coast provinces and the three provinces
of Anhwei, Kiangsi, and Hupeh were occupied
by Protestant workers, the year 1900 saw the
work extended into all the provinces of China
proper, as well as into Manchuria, Mongolia,
and Sin Kiang. In the last twenty-five years
the number of Protestant mission-stations has
grown from 356 to 740. The latest statistics
show that there are to-day 366,524 Protestant
communicants and 806,926 Protestant adher-
ents in China. In 1920 there were 6,204 for-
eign and 28,396 native workers in the field.
The work was carried on in 9,549 chapels and
schools. In Christian schools, ranging from
primary schools to universities, 239,309 persons
were receiving Christian instruction. In 339
Protestant hospitals 131,416 indoor patients
were treated, and many times that many out-
door patients were given medical attention.

Lutheran Missions in China.

In 1920 there were 508 Lutheran foreign mis-
sionaries laboring in China. They were assisted
by 2,276 native workers. The work was carried -on
in 987 chapels and schools. The Lutheran com-
municant membership was 34,188, and the Lu-

theran constituency numbered 55,104. In the
various Lutheran mission-schools 18,544 persons
were receiving religious instruction. In 23 Lu-
theran hospitals 7,445 indoor patients were treated.

The American Lutheran Norwegians are work-
ing in China, as are also the Swedish-American
Lutherans. The Lutherans of the Synodical Con- :
ference began work in the province of Hupeh in
1913, the pioneer missionary being Rev. E. L.
Arndt. This work was first carried on by a private
missionary society, but in 1917 the work was taken
over by the Missouri Synod. :

A number of European Lutheran missionary
agencies are actively engaged in China, among
them the German Berlin Society and the Rhenish
Society, the Norwegian Society, and the Lutheran
Finnish Society.

Much is Still Left to be Done.
Though all the provinces of China -have some

* mission-stations, there are still great populations

that remain unreached. Sin Kiang has thirty-eight
walled cities, but in only two of these there are
missionaries. Think of it —a vast area of 550,340
square miles with a population of 2,000,000, having
only two mission-stations! Mongolia, which is al-
most three times the size of Sin Kiang, though

Conference of Missionaries.

Left to right: L. Schwartzkopf, L. Meyer, E. L. Arndt, Fr. Brand,
A. H. Gebhardt, H. Bentrup, G. O. Lillegard, H. Gihring, Erb. Riedel.

having about the same population, has only ten
missionaries to carry the Gospel of Jesus to its
millions. In Manchuria, with its area of 363,610
square miles and a population of over 20,000,000,
only a small portion is blessed with missionaries ;
two-thirds of its people have not even been ap-
proached by them. c