The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 99

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

99

IV. Native Catechist, Evangelist, or Pastor.

A foreign missionary has in many instances
a large and extensive territory to cover. He may
have as many as a dozen and even more mission-
stations to visit. From this fact it is plain that he
cannot tarry long at any one place. A few hours
or, at most, a half-day is all he dare spend at a sta-
tion. To spend much time with individuals is out
of the question. So you will readily see how im-

portant a corps of native helpers will be to him,
men who can represent him while he is gone. In
the foreign field the aim is to have at least one such
native helper at each station, to teach the people
the simple Catechism truths, whether they be adults
Such mission-workers are called cat-
These catechists are of inestimable value

or children.
echists.

The Staff of a Sunday-School that Supports a Native Theological Student

in India.

to the missionaries, for they form the link between
the foreign missionary and his native members. It
is largely through the zealous work of these cat-
echists that the heathen souls are won; for until
a mission has progressed sufficiently to have such
native catechists the number of converts remains
very small. But as the number of catechists in-
creases, the number of converts is augmented.

Here, then, is a fine opportunity for individual
Christians, day-schools, Sunday-schools, ladies’ so-
cieties, or young people’s societies to show their
practical interest in missions.

The writer knows of schools and societies who
have for years taken over the care, or part of the
care, of such native catechists. The support of
these native catechists ranges in cost from five
dollars to ten dollars a month, or from sixty to

a hundred and twenty dollars a year. A bequest
of $2,000 would support a catechist in perpetuity.

An evangelist in our foreign fields is a native
who has proved himself an efficient catechist and is
permitted to preach, after a proper course of study,
under the supervision of the foreign missionary.
Because of his increased responsibilities, his salary
is somewhat higher than that of a catechist.

If a native evangelist proves himself efficient in
his work, he is advanced to a pastorate, after a
further course of study. In our India Mission
field we now have three native pastors, four native
evangelists, and seventy-one catechists; in China
we have four evangelists. Besides these, we have
in both these foreign fields a large number of native
teachers.

V. The Native Bible
Woman.

Our readers can read-
ily understand woman
workers are an impor-
tant asset in the foreign
field, especially in India,
where some women live
in absolute seclusion and
dare not be approached
by a strange man. If it
were not for the native
Bible women, thousands
of native women could
never hear the sweet mes-
sage of the Gospel. These
workers receive special
training for their work
among their own racial
sisters. The cost of main-
taining one of these Bible women is not high and
is well within the means of many of our members.

VI. Sponsoring a Missionary Pastor or Teacher.

We do not see why among us there should not
be congregations who could take over the full sup-
port of a foreign or home missionary, pastor or
teacher. We know of churches in other denomina-
tions who, besides giving their proper share for
missions, have taken over the full support of a mis-
sionary pastor or teacher among the freedmen of
the South or a foreign laborer in India or China.
What others are able to do we ought to be more
than willing to imitate. Why should not the
wealthier members among us be ready to adopt mis-
sionary workers as their sons? Who will be first
among us to do so? Such a pastor or teacher in