The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 45

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

45

sion-society. It is now working in nineteen prov-
inces. Though the civil wars that have raged in
China in recent years, the flood of last year, and the
present war with Japan have made their work quite
difficult, these occurrences have not cooled the ardor
of the supporters and workers of this missionary
organization,

Millions Squandered. — In distracted, war-
torn, impoverished China, millions are annually
wasted for ancestor-worship. The public worship of
ancestors costs China thirty million dollars in gold,
while private worship of ancestors costs approxi-
mately 120 million in gold annually in addition.
No wonder that China is still so helpless, the prey
of its foes, spiritual and physical, and most de-
spised. Jour thousand years of demon-worship has
brought China where it is to-day. Many of the
temples of China are actually dedicated to demons,
dreadful, foul creatures even according to their
heathen standards. Other temples they have dedi-
cated to serpents, toads, and dragons, creatures of
slime and poison which, on the one hand, the poor
Chinese worship, while, on the other, they detest
and hate them.

Is It Possible? — Roger Babson, the statisti-
cian, claims that the church people of this country
are giving less than one per cent. of their income to
church and missionary work. We have often felt
that the average contributions to the home Church
and missionary purposes was so small that even
these days of depression should not affect them; but
we had no idea that it was so small. Why, if we
Christians would on an average only do half of
what the Jews were compelled to do, we should have
the ability to do things for the upbuilding of
Christ’s kingdom which we have only been able to
dream about till now.

Examples. — A native church in the neighbor-
hood of Mukden, Manchuria, raises $5,000 (Mexi-
can) yearly. This money comes entirely unasked
for. The pastor of the church is a native of sound
Biblical training, who explains the Bible chapter by
chapter to his people, who come regularly. When
he finishes one book, he proceeds to the next. The
Christians at Hailun, a poor Manchurian village,
last year put up a church costing $12,000. They
support a Christian day-school, which takes $350
yearly to run, and pay their pastor $600. Were we
to translate these salaries so as to make them apply
to American conditions, we should have to multiply
them by possibly four, which makes these salaries
equal to $1,400 and $2,400, respectively.

Gospel Propagators.— The Christian farmers
in Manchuria, when they bring their grain to town,
often are compelled to wait several hours before
they can unload. Some of them utilize their time
by going around selling Bibles or parts of Bibles.
A representative of the American Bible Society
writes: “I knew a warm-hearted Christian in
Heilungkiang who voluntarily went out daily to sell
Bible portions. One morning I saw him return in
a couple of hours. He was wet from the showers,
but had sold two hundred on that rainy morning.”

Methodist Episcopal Receipts in 1931. — The
total income of the Methodist Church, North, last
year was $81,149,844 over against $90,782,873 in
the previous year. This means a falling off of
about ten per cent. in the receipts. These figures
also include the contributions for missions and gen-
eral benevolences. For building operations the drop
was from $43,000,000 to $36,000,000, a decrease of
sixteen and a half per cent. The decrease for mis-
sions was less than ten per cent. The present mem-
bership of the Methodist Episcopal Church, North,
is a little more than 4,000,000. By comparing these
numbers, it will readily be seen that the average
annual contribution of Methodist communicants
has dropped from $22.50 in 1930 to $20 in 1931.
The average annual contribution of communicant
members in the Missouri Synod was $21.19 in 1930,
and it probably will have fallen to less than $20
in 1931.

The Jews and Benevolences. — The Jews of
our country last year contributed the large sum of
56,000,000 dollars to benevolent causes. But not
one cent did they contribute to missions. Having
no Gospel to share with others, they have no desire _
to bring their religion to others. Must not a re-
ligion which you care not to share with others be
but of little consequence and value to you? Among
the large Jewish gifts last year was one of $250,000
to study the past of our American Indians. How
much better had this been given for the blessing,
particularly the spiritual blessing, of the Indian of
to-day !

Keeping Good News.

Paul spoke not only as an apostle, but as a Chris-
tian when he declared: “I am debtor both to the
Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and
to the unwise.” Were all that bear the Christian
name mindful of the debt they owe to others,
charges such as are often made by heathen against