|
September 1963
IN THIS ISSUE
NIUE
a microcosm of the Church’s contemporary problems.
THE BIBLE FELLOWSHIP
a new experiment to make the Bible living and active among Samoan villagers.
k LONG FIGHT
a story from the Sheung Shui Clinic. Hong Kong.
CHRONICLE
Published monthly by the London Missionary Society, Livingstone House, 11 Carteret St., London, S.W.I
Vol. CXXV1II No. 9
September 1963
Price: UNITED KINGDOM AND NEW ZEALAND 6d. AUSTRALIA 9d.
226
THESE words are being written while the death of Pope John XXIII, and his successor's appointment, are still fresh in our minds. And the name of Pope John will assuredly be linked, as long as history preserves its records, with the cause of church unity : the unity which is now being sought so strenuously and practised in so many ways on a scale that fifty years ago was unthinkable.
The achievement of an outward unity, the dissipation of outward hostilities, is a long and laborious task, most of which lies ahead and much of which lies very far ahead. There is another kind of unity which is always with us, and which nowadays we have especially been able to recognize. This is the unity of the Church’s task. There is, we now know (and the Chronicle probably passes no issue without mentioning it), no essential difference between the problems, external and internal, that face the Church in its work of preaching the Gospel.
The present issue, however, will be found to throw an unusually penetrating light on this unity of the Church’s task. Drawing partly on a government report and partly on the observations of one of the L.M.S. secretaries, we present a comparative picture of what the Church is facing in the island of Niue. Along with this we have an article on a kindred subject from Samoa, and a candid report of an incident in medical mission from Hong Kong. Medicine is not in Britain a branch of church work now: but the unity of human need, and the unity of human perversity, present an invitation to courage which must be met by a unity of wisdom, skill and prayer. We think this issue will show the truth of that.
ERIK ROUTLEY
227
NIUE
a Microcosm of the Church’s Contemporary Problems
We are going to look at two or three great matters which are in the minds of Christians everywhere: food ; population ; and the relevance of the Bible to the common life of the Church. We shall illustrate these matters chiefly from the work of the Church in the South Seas.
Recently the Rev. Stuart Craig paid an extended Secretarial visit to the Pacific on behalf of the Society. We shall, with his permission, use some of the reflections which he included in the Report he delivered to the L.M.S. Board.
But especially we shall be attending to the island of Niue, upon which Mr. Craig had several important things to report, and on which an excellent background article appeared in the October, 1962 edition of South Pacific Bulletin, the journal of the South Pacific Commission. The economic and social observations in this article, written by Angus McBean, formerly the first headmaster of Niue High School and now serving on the Social Development Section of the South Pacific Commission, will be drawn on by way of objective comment. We are also glad to be able to use an article on Bible study in Samoa sent in by the Rev. Hugh Neems, who has been at work in Tutuila, American Samoa, since 1955. Nobody is in any doubt about where Samoa lies ; but we will put you in the picture first about Niue, where at present the L.M.S. staff consists of the Rev. and Mrs. T. Hawthorn. They followed the Rev. and Mrs. P. Kightley who retired this year after long years of service, first in Samoa, and since 1954 in Niue.
Captain cook was usually felicitous in his choice of names, but he has not earned the gratitude of the Niueans for naming their island ‘ Savage Island ’. It is true that the reception given to his men on June 22, 1774, when they landed to get water and fruit was in marked contrast with the amicable behaviour exhibited at the island group which he re-visited just a few days later, and
228
which he named ‘ The Friendly Archipelago Nevertheless, no more friendly or hospitable people could be imagined than the inhabitants of the little island known to-day as Niue.
Niue is, as Pacific coral islands go, not really small. In fact, with its one hundred square miles, it equals in size the total area of the Cook Islands. Geologically it is a coral cap sitting on top of a submerged volcano which slopes very sharply and steeply away into deep water on all sides. A flat fringing reef up to one hundred yards in width encircles the island. At high water mark, precipitous cliffs, seventy feet high, rise to a terrace, itself only a few hundred yards wide at its widest parts. Then there is a sharp slope up to the saucer-shaped central plateau about two hundred feet high which constitutes most of the island’s area. In short, Niue presents a textbook example of the raised atoll, even though modern belief tends to see its existence as due less to a raising of the land than to a sinking of the sea level.
(s.p.b.)
The map in the Prayer Fellowship Handbook Supplement shows that Niue is south of Samoa, and about half-way along a direct line East and West between the Cook Islands and Fiji.
The Prayer Fellowship Handbook directs our prayers to Niue on Day 13 (page 45), and reminds us of the special need of the island following the hurricanes of 1961, and of the ‘ slow and arduous ’ work of spiritual rebuilding.
Recent Hardships
The difficulties and hardships provided by nature for the Niueans have been accentuated in recent years. Hardly had the island recovered from the near-famine of 1957 and the almost complete cessation of exports when in February 1959 one of the worst and longest hurricanes that have ever struck the South Pacific devastated Niue. Beginning with a severe tropical storm at 6 p.m. on February 25, the wind and torrential rain continued through that night and the following morning, reaching hurricane force at midday and continuing at velocities of 80 to 120 m.p.h., until the early hours of the morning of February 27. During that time the main Administrative office, the primary school of Alofi, most of the village churches, and nearly two thirds of the island’s houses were
229
either completely destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Eleven months later a second hurricane left three-quarters of the population homeless except for temporary shelters.
(s.p.b.)
S.P.B. says that the Administration has a programme of building 735 new houses. Mr. Craig’s report contains the following information about the position of church buildings.
Rehabilitation
During the Secretarial visit of 1960, it was agreed that the rehousing of the people should have priority over all other building. 1'he Government Administration agreed that pastors’ houses should be included in due course in the general housing scheme. From the Rehabilitation Fund raised by the World Council of Churches it was able to allocate £1,000 to each of four villages where the church had to be rebuilt, and £500 to each of five where the pastor’s house had to be rebuilt.
In 1963 Mr. Craig reports that the Niueans have never been so well housed as they are now, and S.P.B. says that when the scheme is completed Niue will have the best housing of all South Pacific islands.
(c.s.c. — extracts)
The Problem of Food
Natural disasters have aggravated permanent disadvantages. Niue provides an excellent example of the overall problem of food, which is so constantly before our minds to-day.
The fundamental problems of agriculture are the nature of the soil and the shortage of water. Even on the central plateau — the bed of the ancient lagoon — the soil is thin, with coral rock breaking through the surface.
It had been thought that even in the most rock-free areas no agricultural implements beyond the traditional digging-sticks could be used. Flowever, within the past two or three years, successful experiments with a tractor-drawn disc plough have proved that many thousands of acres can in fact be disc-ploughed.
230
With this breakthrough the way is now open for a really economic form of agriculture with crop rotation, notably for such export crops as kumara.
The age-old method under which after one season’s use the land had to be allowed to revert to bush for five or seven years can now be superseded by permanent cultivation. Because of this the planter can establish his home on his plantation, and thus not only supervise his crops but also save himself and his family the drudgery of the long walk from village to plantation.
Niueans have not been slow to see these advantages, and as a result of quite remarkable returns from relatively small areas of land, cultivated with the minimum of back-breaking labour, there is a great demand for the hire of the Administration’s tractor and disc-plough.
(s.p.b.)
The hungry are fed by the right use of the land, and by the encouragement and development of export, leading to a lively economy. Conservative methods had, however, nearly ruined much of the land, as S.P.B. goes on to show.
Of particular interest is the progressive regeneration of an area of over 8,000 acres. Because there the soil was deepest and the rock least obtrusive, it had been so intensively cultivated under traditional methods, with frequent burning and general exhaustion of the soil, that it had reverted to semi-desert. The Agricultural Department has now shown, however, that this soil can be regenerated with the aid of leguminous cover-crops, fertilizers, and shade and shelter belts, and high hopes are held that this large area will eventually be brought into permanent cultivation.
Thus S.P.B. in October 1962. In April 1963 Mr. Craig was moved to a somewhat dissenting comment.
The resources of Niue itself are not by any means fully developed, and Government agricultural officers who have done much to show what development is possible have been discouraged by the lack of response. This is a disappointing situation. Very considerable
231
increase in the variety and quantity of production is possible. It may be that if at some point employment were not so readily available to Niueans in New Zealand, attention would be turned to making better use of what there is in Niue.
(c.s.c.)
And this brings us to the central social problem — the migration of young people to New Zealand. This in turn leads to the spiritual problems of conservatism and of the rule of the old.
Here is the background of the migration of the young.
In June 1901 Niue was included in the boundaries of New Zealand, and Niueans became New Zealand citizens. Niueans can therefore move freely to New Zealand, a right of which very full use is made. Between two hundred and three hundred Niueans emigrate to New Zealand every year, the emigration almost equalling the natural rate of increase.
Although this right exists, it is not absolute. An exit permit is granted only if a Niuean can show that he has sufficient knowledge of English to be assimilated in New Zealand, and that he has somewhere to go there. If he is married and is not taking his wife and family, certain guarantees of their support must be made. The problem of emigration to New Zealand is, however, fairly serious, since the general effect is to leave the island with a preponderance of women, children and old people.
(s.p.b.)
In other words, such control of emigration as exists is directed towards the protection of the population of New Zealand from unwanted and unassimilable islanders, and of the Administration of Niue from the burden of unsupported families. There is no way of controlling the special evils that follow from too much migration. Mr. Craig has observations to make on this which are the context of what we have just quoted from him about the conservatism of Niuean farmers. The reader can now insert the Craig paragraph above into the following quotation at the point where a gap is marked.
232
I he migration of many of the younger people of initiative to New Zealand continues. For the most part they do not return . . . In one village where the departure of young people has been so heavy as almost to leave the village without any, we were told that this was partly due to the influence of a powerful village leader who had been, he felt, seriously affronted by the Administration in the late 1940’s and had left for New Zealand, to which he is gradually drawing all the young people. Whatever the cause may be, it is a serious loss to the life of the church that so many of the young people of initiative go away.
(C.S.G.)
The movements of population provide a constant problem for churches wherever they are. It is noticeable in certain areas of England and especially of Scotland — for example in rural areas, that young people seek the towns rather than remain in the villages where they were brought up. This creates exactly the same problem in our rural churches : and a vicious circle of conservatism is set up.
In Britain the depopulation of the countryside is a problem. In the South Seas the depopulation of Niue is a problem : yet it has another aspect. S.P.B. continues . . .
Infant mortality, which was 118.7 per 1.000 in 1945, was only 33.3 per 1,000 in 1960, while the general mortality rate in 1960 was 8.2 per 1,000. Birth-rate in the same year was 42.9. When it is considered that over half the population on Niue is of school age or pre-school age, it can be seen that within a few generations a problem of over-population will arise, especially if for any reason the rate of emigration to New Zealand should diminish. Nevertheless, with modern methods of agriculture, Niue should be able to support, even on a purely agricultural basis, many times its present population.
(s.p.b.)
Disbalance of population, alongside the problem of depopulation, is the present problem in Niue, as it is in the Hebrides. It has further effects which do not come within the field of the S.P.B. report but which are very much within that of Mr. Craig.
233
The old and the new
Nowhere else that I visit am I so conscious of grim resistance to all our attempts to help the church to move forward and share in some of the newness of life and work which is appearing among file Pacific churches. I do not think that we yet fully understand what lies at the root of this. There is a focus of power in which the pastors have a large part, but I do not think it is this alone. Those who hold it are determined not to let it slip from their hands. So significant does the Vailahi College — now discontinued — seem to be that what was in its latter days still reckoned, and made to appear, a training institution for the Christian ministry, seems to have become in some way a kind of ‘ secret society ’ with its scores of ‘ graduates ’ forming in some way a hierarchy of authority and keeping a close hold on power not only in the church but in the community as well.
Certainly the feeling which is present among many with regard to Vailahi, and the repeated demands for its re-opening, are not explicable in terms of concern for the ministry of the church. That there was built up within Vailahi a system of rules and discipline by which not only the college but the church was governed, is very plain, and it looks also as though the teaching given within the church became settled in a corpus of Biblical expositions arising, no doubt, from the lectures which at an early date were given in Vailahi. The practice of calling to the pastorate Vailahi ‘ graduates ’ who had completed their courses often twenty years earlier and never had any pastoral charge, encouraged this.
The pastors’ power rests in part in the possession of this teaching, ‘ the teaching ’, not available to others. So far as I can see there has not on the Niuean side been any encouragement of the idea of the open Bible. This does not mean that members were not encouraged to read it. As one of the older men said in a village meeting, ‘ We read the Bible as fast as a wheel goes round, but we do not understand it ’. Interpretation was the preserve of the pastor, and is still largely so. All this makes it important that the church should be helped to work out a Statement of Faith (as part of its constitution) and that before its adoption it should be methodically taught in the congregations.
(c.s.c.)
234
This entrenched conservatism is clearly helped to survive by the population disbalance and the absence of young people who might radically question it. Another difficulty in the way of moving forward is that encountered by the Niuean Church Council.
Though the Council has made some progress since 1960, it has done so in the face of serious difficulties and has rarely if ever been able to count on the whole-hearted support of all its member congregations. There seems to be an intense village loyalty and only a very qualified loyalty to the church in Niue as a whole. Support is given when it suits the interest of the local congregation, or perhaps more accurately, when the Council’s proposals fit in with the ideas and plans of local deacons. The Council suffers from inadequate reporting of its affairs to the local churches, and in some cases from wilful misrepresentation. Its deliberations tend to be dominated by the older pastors.
(c.s.c.)
It is surely evident that difficulties such as these have been encountered at home at every stage of the movement towards central consultations : for example, in the history of the constitution of the Congregational Union of England and Wales (which constitution took twenty-five years from the first approaches to its first meeting in 1832). But the contraction of geography is as evident in Niue as it is here, and the demands of the new world are more insistent there than they were here one hundred and fifty years ago. The belief that supports the L.M.S. in its work is, of course, that the urge to progress comes directly from the Scriptures if they be rightly and candidly interpreted. Conservatism may be Bible-based : the extent to which resistance to change has claimed support from the Bible has been a constant scandal in the Church’s history. But the people of Israel is a pilgrim people, whether it be the old Israel of the Exodus or the new Israel of Hebrews 11. It is in the encouragement of Bible study of the right sort, lay and alert Bible study, that the hope lies.
235
The Bible and the Church
The development of young people’s Bible study groups is one of the hopeful signs in the church situation. There are now such groups in the majority of the villages. The power of the Spirit is plain in changed lives and in the courage with which the young people have for the most part faced the opposition, and in some cases persecution, which they have had to face.
What is happening is not a ‘ liberal ’ deviation from orthodoxy but a fresh confrontation with the Gospel as against an entrenched system of salvation by works. One of the complaints made . . . was that the young people’s groups are not prepared to ‘ do the works ’ of the church. This is not so, but underlying the complaint is the clash of faith and works, and the young people with the light they now have are not prepared to believe that salvation depends on the ‘ works of the church ’ — making contributions, feeding the pastor, etc. They are prepared to accept their responsibilities to the church out of thankfulness for the salvation they already have through what God did for them in Christ . . . The Open Bible . . is precipitating a crisis which is a great opportunity for a fresh attempt by the church to re-state and educate itself in the Christian faith.
In this whole development missionary leadership has played a major part, and still does so. The missionary would have liked to have the help of the pastors, but this has not been forthcoming except to a very limited extent.
The church undertakes Bible instruction in the schools in the limited way permitted by the New Zealand educational system. In the primary schools this is done mainly by the pastors and deacons, and in the high school by Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorn together with a number of helpers. So far teachers in the employ of the Administration have not been permitted to share in this teaching even where they were keen Christians, well able to teach the subject and eager to do so.
(c.s.c.)
continued on p 241
236
Experts test the soil to plan for high productivity.
Photo : R. Redwood
â–º
A Niuean displays a fine specimen of taro.
Photo : A. McBean
237
Hurricane
A traditional Kava ceremony
No. 63 — the pastor’s house in Niue
Samoa — coming from church (Bibles much in evidence)
Reform movement : commission studying the Bible
Photos: H. Neems
continued from p. 236
Mr. Craig’s report thus shows clearly the controversy which prevails in Niue. His recommendations to the Board of Directors are not such as we may rehearse here : but the central place of the Niuean Church (L.M.S.) in this situation is strategic. Niue to-day, however, has in addition its small Roman Catholic community, with its priest, and recently has been invaded by certain deviants, among whom the Mormons have applied for leave to add to the six missionaries they already have for some four hundred adherents : the number, says Mr. Craig with modest understatement, ' seems excessive Jehovah’s Witnesses also want to send a missionary. What with this confusion of tongues and church politics which Mr. Craig’s account describes, the path of the missionary of enlightened faith is remarkably hazardous. But is there any place in the world where the same general pattern of problem and challenge does not present itself ?
We close this discussion of work in the South Pacific with a report from another neighbouring field — Samoa. This comes from the Rev. Hugh Neems, of Tutuila, American Samoa.
THE BIBLE FELLOWSHIP
Lord, revive Thy Church
As a visitor to a Samoan village you would be welcomed at a traditional Kava ceremony. Whilst listening to the various speeches you would certainly be impressed by the many references to the Bible. In referring to your safe arrival an orator would quote from Proverbs, 1 Hope fulfilled is a tree of life ’. A longer stay in a village would strengthen the impression that these people ‘ know their Bibles ’.
Here is the strength of the village church. Its weakness lies in the fact that much of this Biblical knowledge is unrelated to daily life in a changing world. Through the annual Bible Fellowships,
241
attended by about four hundred people, it is hoped that our folk will not cease to learn when they leave the pastors’ schools at the age of fifteen, but that growth in understanding of the Bible and the Christian faith will continue until old age. Moreover, these fellowships, as an educational activity of the church seek to satisfy the need for an informed laity where it matters. Whereas in the past this might have been the village council, now it includes every department of modern life as well as the traditional Samoa.
The foundation — Bible study
This year, a study of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians at the beginning of each of the five days enabled us to hear what God was saying to us who live where cultures clash. We found that Paul set out our problems clearly : not being bothered by low moral standards; being reluctant to exercise discipline within the church; our desire to split our world into two, spiritual and material, so that large areas of our lives are untouched by the Gospel. There was a lively session when we discussed the place of women in the church. Should they wear hats ? On the surface a trivial matter, it illustrated well our failure to recognize the crippling power of legalism in the church. Returning to the Bible passage again and again we saw that local customs have their uses in forwarding the Gospel but that they should be discarded when they limit the churches’ development under God. So it was that we were obliged to answer the questions asked in terms of our own actual situation.
Building up — the Assembly
After Bible study each morning there followed the annual business meeting of the church and district. For two years now the district meeting has taken place within the framework of a Bible fellowship. There has been a marked improvement in the quality of discussion. Instead of exhortation from the elders, the Assembly has increasingly become the place where policy is discussed by the representatives of the sixty-five local churches. This year it was decided that the church should no longer compete with the government in providing general education. A well-
242
co-ordinated Christian education programme to make the total life of the church a means of nurturing its members is now a possible alternative. There has also this year been a movement within the district to be less dependent on W. Samoa in matters of church policy. American Samoa, as the name indicates, is far different from independent Western Samoa, and the church has to be alive to quite different opportunities. To have considered ‘ party divisions ’ at Corinth before entering into this discussion was to be quite clear about the issues at stake.
Going out
In the afternoons the Bible fellowship looked in greater detail at some of the issues raised by the Bible study of the day. One lecture was prepared on ‘ Christian Giving ’ which helped us better to understand the meaning of 1 fellowship The paper based on the W.C.C. book The Christians’ God, which has recently been translated into the Samoan language, clearly showed us how pre-Christian thought-forms still mould and confuse our understanding of the Gospel, just as in Corinth. Another afternoon the church youth organizer gave a talk on ‘ Christian Marriage ’. In the manner of Paul our speaker talked plainly about the relationship between the sexes. When we considered the subject of the relationship of the Gospel to Samoan culture we were given a useful exposition of Paul’s word that ‘ you cannot withdraw from the world ’. The discussion after each lecture was always lively. Everyone had a copy of the talk in front of him and people were encouraged to buy the books on which the lectures were based so that there is a fair chance that the discussion will continue at the local level for some time to come.
The Holy Church throughout all the world
In the evenings, with the aid of film and filmstrips, we were able to travel with the apostle Paul and to catch his vision of the world-wide Church. One of our Samoan ministers, who is also the
243
travelling secretary of the W.C.G. in the Pacific, took us to New Delhi and Geneva with the help of slides. Evening prayers each night and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper at the closing service strengthened our communion with each other and with the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are peculiar dangers in these large Bible fellowships. The division between the ‘ spiritual ’ people and the men of the world can be driven still deeper. Such a large group cannot be easily split up for group discussion and the open meeting can easily become an orator’s paradise : then we might as well be drinking kava at the welcome ceremony in the village. Yet the Word has been living and active among us and we have been shown how to relate this passage and that verse to our everyday lives. The churches’ ‘reform movement’ began in 1953 with Bible study and the prayer ‘ Lord revive Thy Church ’. The Bible fellowships are worthwhile if the individual Christian of a local congregation can pray, ‘ Lord revive Thy Church beginning with me
WANTED
a teacher of English for the Gilbert Islands
The Theological College in the Gilbert Islands is to change over to teaching in English in order to make wider reading possible for the students and to prepare some of them for more advanced training in the United Theological College for the Pacific which is to be established.
To help forward this development the London Missionary Society plans to appoint a teacher of English for the college, for two or three years. Such a person need not be a graduate but should be able to teach English as a foreign language. A young man just out of training or alternatively someone about to retire would find this an opportunity to make a real contribution to the upbuilding of the Church. A suitably qualified woman would also be considered.
Applications to the Candidate Secretary,
London Missionary Society, 11 Carteret St. London, S.W.L
244
A LONG FIGHT
[Mary Smith is founder and head of the SHEUNG SHUI Clinic, Hong Kong. She has provided the material from which this story is taken.]
M RS. LEI’S obstetric history was far from pleasant. There was an eight-year-old daughter at home. Twins had later been born, and had died. Another baby had died at six weeks.
So for pregnancy No. 4 she decided to try our clinic.
Mrs. Lei’s home is a shack standing on rented land in the New Territories : its total floor-space is twelve feet by ten, and it is divided into three rooms. But it is their own, and they love it. Her husband collects ferns in the mountains and sells them in the city — a meagre and precarious living. They have no electricity or water service : water comes from an unreliable stream, and sanitation is virtually non-existent.
Mrs. Lei had twins —■her 5th and 6th children — on August 27, 1955. Everything went well, and the parents were overjoyed. But then difficulties began. Mrs. Lei could not feed her children, and could not afford artificial food. In the end we let her go home, but kept the babies, and she returned to the hospital at feeding times and at night. Her husband and daughter would come in the evenings, and we would leave them alone together.
But although the children began to flourish, Mrs. Lei seemed to be sunk in a fatalist sense of doom. She was quite sure that they would not live long. ‘ If they live three months,’ she would say, ‘ that would be something, wouldn’t it?’ And later, ‘We may manage six months, but no more.’
And certainly the babies did run into trouble. The boy got bronchitis, and the girl fell ill. We procured penicillin, but both were allergic to it, and the boy nearly died after his third injection. We sent the girl to Nethersole Hospital — the doctor himself rushed out with an ambulance. After a month the girl came home — but still with a cough : and this turned out to be whooping-cough. I knew this when I found she had given it to me 1
Just before they were six months old, the boy developed gastroenteritis, and went to Nethersole, and his sister followed him the next day. Once when I was able to go myself to visit the children, I was concerned about the boy, who seemed still to be fretting, and discovered, on having a look at him, that he was measles from head to foot I We thought that the children had better go home, because they had been so
245
long separated from their parents, so I gave some nursing instructions to Mrs. Lei, and arranged to visit her daily at home and nurse the children and help with the cooking.
Now these two children are thriving, and you will see from their picture, taken on the day when they first went to school, that they seem to have achieved some sort of stable health.
And what of the parents? Mrs. Lei, you remember, was sure the children would not live more than a few months. Let me tell you what we had to cope with quite apart from the medical necessities.
The origin of the babies’ ill-health, and the cause of the deaths of three of her other children, were, to Mrs. Lei’s way of thinking, evil spirits. To evil spirits there is no answer. For example: when her babies were about a week old a neighbour, who reared a few chickens, noticed that one of the chickens had wandered of! towards the Lei home, and died there. The neighbour at once said that Mr. Lei had an evil spirit which could kill chickens : and she recited a death-curse on the newborn twins. The other neighbours thought this unfair and unkind — for had not Mrs. Lei lost three children already through the action of evil spirits ?
The twins go to school
Photo M. Smith
MM- -I I ' ’-J
246
I found out at a fairly late stage that Mr. Lei, who genuinely loved his wife, had beaten her for ‘ killing ’ her children. When the twins were born, one a boy and one a girl, Chinese custom dictated that since the children had ‘ shared a room 5 for nine months before their birth, they were in effect husband and wife, and the unnatural union could only be put an end to if the boy-child were killed — or providentially died.
What chance do babies have against all this ? In the eyes of pagan belief, none.
But Mrs. Lei’s case was so serious that I felt I must put a challenge to her. I invited her to consider the problem carefully. In a Christian institution, evil spirits have no power. Could she bring herself to trust in the power of Christ ? Ought she not to study to be a Christian ? This was very soon after the twins were born.
Both parents entered on a course of instruction, and joined a church which welcomed them. (Not the first church they tried, by the way. Mrs. Lei said, ' My husband and I have decided to be Christians, and this church is not prepared to teach us : we have found a church that will welcome us ’.)
But it was a long fight. When the children had gastro-enteritis, I felt I was back in the Old Testament with Elijah — if the babies survived, power was with Jehovah : if not, it was with the spirits. I had to explain that the church guaranteed nothing concerning survival of sickness : that Christians lost children just as probably as non-Christians. But all through the times of crisis, though their belief was forming itself only slowly, the parents never missed their church classes.
One morning I had to send my servant to Nethersole with an acute appendicitis. This left me with all the bed-making and floor-sweeping as well as the rest of the work. In came Mrs. Lei to feed her babies. The feeding over, she set to work at once hanging out washing and scrubbing floors. That was the kind of friendship we had developed.
Another baby has come since then. She too has had her troubles. I had to nurse her myself through gastro-enteritis. One night while the baby was with me, her mother, when all her elemental fears seemed to be crowding back, had to walk through the darkness to the hospital. She said that as she walked ‘ a searchlight-bright light ’ seemed to be guiding her. ‘ I knew that Jesus Himself lit my way : but He did not need to light me home because you had my baby.’
Antibiotics : friendship : faith.
Nothing is complete yet : difficulties still abound : but the Lord is working still.
247
ON May 28, 1963, His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Madagascar, M. Razafy-Andriamihaingo honoured the Board by a visit to receive on behalf of the Head of State a painting of the reception by Queen Adelaide of the first Malagasy Embassy to Britain in 1837. The painting will be hung in the old royal palace at Antananarivo.
Our picture shows Dr. Roger Pilkington, Chairman of the Board, making the presentation to the Ambassador, who is accompanied by Madame Razafy-Andriamihaingo.
The story of the picture was written by Reginald Colby in the Chronicle for January, 1962.
248
TUPUA TAMASESE
of
Western Samoa
1905 â– 1963
Tupua Tamasese, the ‘Architect of West Samoan Independence’, paid an unforgettable visit to the L.M.S. Board in 1953, when he and his wife were in England for the Queen’s Coronation.
Photo : R, W. Pilkington
It was he who in 1946 made an historic protest to the United Nations against the declared intention of the New Zealand Government to keep Samoa in a state of dependence. Saying that ‘ the right of peoples to decide their own form of government was one of the principles for which the late war had been fought he presented his case to the U.N., and subsequently had a meeting of the Legislative Council of Samoa convened to prepare a request to the New Zealand Government. The request, for independence and protection ‘ in the same capacity that England is to Tonga was granted by New Zealand in August, 1947.
249
Professor J. W. Davidson, of the Australian National University, in a lengthy tribute in the Pacific Islands Monthly (May 1963), says : ‘ His selfless devotion to the cause of Samoan independence and his grasp of the essentials of the most complex problems made it impossible for his views ever to be ignored.’ Tupua Tamasese was a man of singular ability to inspire friendship, and of profound political ability and courage. He became Head of State in Western Samoa in 1962. He was described by Fr. Alan McKay, of St. Bede’s College, Christchurch, N.Z., as ‘ a religious man who believed that God had given him a special task to perform ’.
He is succeeded as Head of State by Malietoa Tunamafili II, who since January 1, 1962 shared the office with him.
Register
Arrivals: Miss E. Haile from Africa, 11 July; Miss L. Holden from Papua, 16 July ; Mrs. Collins from India, 16 July ; Miss E. Barr from Hong Kong, 18 July.
Departures: Rev. J. A. and Mrs. Grosvenor to Madagascar, 19 July.
Birth: WING — To Rev. and Mrs. J. Wing at Johannesburg, on 27 June, 1963, a son, Peter Patrick.
British Isles Legacies received to 2 June, 1963
Betts, Mr. F. C. Torquay £ 100
Cotton, Mr. H. D. Bath 100
Heath, Mrs. E. G. Leigh on Sea (on
account) 900
Jenkin, Miss F. J. Newquay
(further) 2
Jones, Miss E. M. Birmingham 100
Pemberton. Mr. E. E. Brierci iffe, Nr. Burnley
(further) 22
Thompson, Miss E. H. Edmonton (on
(account) 1500
Whyte, Mr. J. F. Worthing
(balance) 18
£2.742
WANTED
Copies of tonic sol-fah editions of the Congregational Hymnary for school in Southern Rhodesia.
Write to Miss Elsie Jones, Wants Department, L.M.S., 11 Carteret Street, London, S.W.l.
Contributions
The Home Secretary gratefully acknowledges the following gifts:—
Anonymous 71892, £10 ; Anony-
mous 71967, £3 ; Anonymous 72022, £3 ; Anonymous 7205S, £2; Anonymous 72099, £3 ; Anonymous 72263. £5 ; Anonymous 72369, £5.
250
â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â– â–
Congregational
Concise Guides 1963-64
edited by ERNEST H. HA YES
Teachers’ helps on the new British Graded Lessons produced in collaboration with the CUEW Youth and Children’s Dept.
BEGINNERS, PRIMARY, JUNIOR and SENIOR volumes at 8s 6d each.
SCHOLARS’ PAPERS for Beginners, Primary and Juniors 2s 8 c/ per set per year (or 8d per set per quarter).
CHALLENGE TO COMMITMENT, discussion topics for young people 8s bd.
READY NOW! ORDER NOW!
INDEPENDENT PRESS
â– Memorial Hall Farringdon St. London EC4
â–
â–
BBBRBBBIBBBBIBBBBIBBBIBBBBIBBBBSBBIBIBBIB
LIVINGSTONE PRESS
NEW BOOKS
What Price Happiness ? by E. H. Paterson Small Corner by Peter Bellamy
3/6d. each
(postage 4d.)
Published this summer these two books are already making their impact in our churches. On Hong Kong and Northern Madagascar respectively, they are both lively and easy to read and should appeal to a wide readership including young people. The authors write with humour and sincerity of the joys and challenges of their work. Illustrated.
ALSO
We Lived With Headhunters by Ben Butcher 20/-d. (postage 1 / 3c/.) A story of Papua. Published by Hodder & Stoughton November.
L.M.S. Christmas Card for packet of six
Attractive full-colour double card. Samples sent on receipt of 3d. stamp for taking orders in churches.
LIVINGSTONE BOOK ROOM
11 CARTERET STREET, LONDON, S.W.I
251
news ,S^,-
IDS
’f
MV 10 -VIS
Ray Lodge Church, Woodford Green, has put on two excellent L.M.S. exhibitions, produced by two of the church members. Their method of displaying large posters was ingenious and effective, and the idea is worth passing on.
Get two large flower pots, or the equivalent, and “ plant †in each of them a wooden upright about 1 inch square and six feet high. Near the top of each upright screw an ordinary cup-hook. Now take your posters and affix to the back two pieces of tape. The tapes should be about 3 inches long and gummed at the ends only in a vertical position, leaving a space between tape and poster through which a dowel rod may be slipped. This rod is then placed in the cup-hooks and the posters thus suspended will hang vertically.
The flower pots may be painted in bright colours or covered with decorative paper, and the rod and uprights enamelled black.
By the use of several uprights it is possible to exhibit any number of posters or cards, and the method can be equally adapted to a small display in the church porch or a complete exhibition.
Use bright coloured papers for your posters, with as few words as possible; and if you can stand your exhibit in front of a plain curtain, or similar uncluttered background, this will add to the effect.
D.S.B.
THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY (founded 17»5) LIVINGSTONE HOUSE, 11 CARTERET ST., LONDON, S.W.1
Telephone: Whitehall 0061. Telegrams: Missionary Pari. London. Chairman: Dr. R. W. Pilkington. Hon. Treasurer: J. Rider Smith, Esq. General Secretary: The Rev. Maxwell O. Janes, B.A. B.D. CHRONICLES may be obtained by post direct from
The Supplies Office, Livingstone House, 11 Carteret St., London, S.W. 1, for 8/6 p.a. including postage (payable in advance), or through Church Magazine Secretaries at 6/- p.a.
Contributions and donations should be sent to the Home Secretary at Livingstone House, or in the case of Australia and New Zealand to the Rev. Norman Cocks, Chalmers House, 41 The Boulevarde, Petersham, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia.
Printed in Great Britain by Wright’s Ltd., Sandbach, and Published by The London Missionary Society, at Livingstone House, 11 Carteret Street, Westminster, S.W.l.
|
