What is in the future no man can tell, but the growth of
pure religion in whatever form of church organization;
the development of freedom of thought; the attainment
of civil liberty, and that not merely for Armenia, but
for Greek, Nestorian, Jacobite, and even for the Turk
himself, depends upon the continuance of the influences
for a higher life that have been at work during the past
sixty years, and that depends upon the missionaries being
supported at their posts. Theirs is no sectarian work.
They stand as the friends of Gregorian Armenians, Roman
Catholic Chaldeans, Nestorians and Jacobites as well as of
those in closer affiliation with the Protestant Churches
of Europe and America. America should stand by them and
demand their full protection. It is our right by treaty;
it is our right by the duty we owe humanity, by the duty
we owe to our tradition as a liberty-loving nation. We
have no political ends to serve; we want not a square
foot of the sultan’s domains; but we stand, as we have
always stood, for freedom for the oppressed, for the right
of every man to worship his God in the light of his own
conscience.
—EDWIN MUNSELL BLISS, in
“Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities.”
In order to understand the methods employed in planting missions in
Turkey and the permanent results following, one must have a clear idea
of what the missionaries were attempting to accomplish. Perhaps we make
the subject clearer by stating first some of the things they were not
attempting to do.
They were not attempting to plant American churches in Turkey over
which the missionaries should preside as pastors and which should be
under the control and direction of the mission.
They were not attempting to transport into Turkey American churches,
and American schools, and American customs and dress or anything else
that is American.
They were not attempting to plant churches or schools or any other
line of Christian work which should be perpetually dependent upon
contributions from America for their maintenance.
What then, to speak positively, were some of the things the
missionaries were attempting to do in Turkey? It should be stated at
the outset that no settled policy was clearly in the mind of any one
missionary at the beginning of the work. When missionary work began
in Turkey no one, not even the officers of the Mission Board, had
framed such a policy in detail. All had one vague desire and purpose,
namely to preach the gospel of Christ to the people who dwell in the
Turkish empire. At first, as has been stated, there was no intention
of organizing churches separate from those already in existence there.
It was expected that the missionaries upon the ground would shape and
adopt their measures as necessity demanded. Men of broad culture, deep
piety, and sound common sense were appointed to the fields, and to them
was entrusted the responsibility of evolving a policy for themselves.
When independent Protestant churches were organized in 1846 it seemed
the only natural step to ordain over them pastors from among their
own people. There were several able and well-educated Armenians whose
fitness for this office was unquestionable. At any rate, there were not
enough missionaries upon the ground to fill these positions. Perhaps
this last fact helped materially in settling the policy of a native
pastor for a native church. Be this as it may, there was a speedy
recognition of the right of the native church to have a pastor of its
own from among its own race. This was early recognized as good policy,
and was put into operation.
It does not, however, seem to have occurred to the missionaries then
that the native churches had the same right to support the pastor
thus ordained over them. The missionaries were there to see that the
Christian work was carried on, and, to their minds, a most important
part of it was to provide for the expense of the churches they had been
agents in forming. In the annual reports of that period we find no
allusion to payments by the people themselves for the support of their
pastors. That was regarded as a part of the service missionaries were
to render, and the people seemed perfectly willing to have it so.
[Illustration: A CLASS OF NATIVE STUDENTS GRADUATES FROM THE AMERICAN
COLLEGE FOR GIRLS, CONSTANTINOPLE]
In 1856 Crosby H. Wheeler was sent out as a missionary and in 1857 he
was assigned to Harpoot in Eastern Turkey. He had received a thoroughly
practical training in business and as a pastor in Maine before going
out. While profoundly earnest in his purpose to Christianize the people
of Turkey, he had little sentiment in his makeup and was eminently
practical in all he undertook. He soon discovered that the churches in
Turkey were regarded by the people as belonging to the missionaries,
since the missionaries paid all the bills. Many who attended felt it to
be a favor they were conferring upon the missionaries. A church in the
city of Arabkir, some two days’ journey northwest of Harpoot, was in
need of a stove. Dr. Wheeler ordered one from America, paid the bill,
even for transportation to Arabkir. One of the deacons of the church
received the stove and set it up, and then sent a bill for his services
to Dr. Wheeler. This turned the tide. Dr. Wheeler from that time became
the champion of self-support for native churches, as a fundamental
principle of self-government and self-propagation.
The people, for the most part, did not welcome the change. They were
Orientals, and could not see why the American Christians should not
have the privilege of supporting their pastors and meeting all the cost
of their churches if they so desired. Dr. Wheeler, by pen and voice,
advocated the policy with great energy and force. The wisdom of it was
recognized by the officers of the Board. It gained general approval
from most of the missionaries in Turkey, but many of them hardly dared
to apply it vigorously in their own immediate community. It required
no little courage to adopt and put through so unpopular a measure.
The principle was a right one and could not but prevail. The wiser
Armenians and Greeks saw that only in this way could they secure for
themselves liberty and independence of action befitting their ability.
While their desire for money inclined them to cling to the old custom,
their love of freedom forced them towards self-support.
The same principle was applied to the missionary schools. At first they
also were free, but in the Orient no real value attaches to that which
costs nothing. Schools that are free can be attended or not as the
pupil sees fit. Books given away are easily lost or destroyed and are
never valued. To command respect for the schools and insure regularity
of attendance it became necessary to charge the pupils tuition. A pupil
for whom tuition had been paid could be depended upon to be present
when not seriously sick. Books and slates when purchased were cared
for and used. Dr. Wheeler once spent several hours in persuading a man
to purchase a two cent slate for his boy in school. The contest was
for the principle, not the two cents. It is needless to say that Dr.
Wheeler carried his point.
This principle is now a well established policy throughout the
Turkish missions. Native churches, as soon as they become financially
able, assume the entire expense for themselves. No missionary is the
pastor of a native church. The weaker churches pay what they can, the
missionaries supplementing with the understanding that the mission’s
aid shall diminish as their financial strength increases.
Many Protestant schools in Turkey to-day receive no aid from mission
funds. The people assume that an education has a real value for which
they are willing to pay. Some of the colleges receive in tuition fees
as much as three-fourths of the cost of conducting the institution.
With others differently situated the proportion is less but all get
no small part of their income from the students. Probably the higher
educational institutions in Turkey secure as large if not a larger part
of their running expenses from the pupils than do similar institutions
in any other country in the world.
The same principle applies also to literature and to medical treatment.
The people pay liberally for all the products of the press, whether
it be in the form of periodicals or books and tracts. Missionary
physicians early learned that they could accomplish more good by
charging fees for service and for medicine in all cases where the
patient is able to pay. The patient who receives medicine free when
he has money to pay for it is apt to defy all directions, or even not
take it at all unless he likes it. Medicine that has been paid for is
pretty sure to be taken. Some of the hospitals in Turkey, apart from
the salary of the missionary physician in charge, are practically
self-supporting, the fees of the patients and the sums paid for
medicine being sufficient to meet the cost of attendants, supplies, and
the care of the hospital.
The deserving poor, however, are not turned away. In schools methods of
self-help are provided for students who have no funds with which to pay
tuition, so that their self-respect and independence are not destroyed.
In the same way provision is made for books. In cases of sickness, no
one who is worthy is ever refused treatment by the missionary physician
because he has no money to pay.
This principle of self-support has become a fixed part of the work in
Turkey. The people are now thoroughly committed to it. They recognize
that the mission is not there to transplant institutions from abroad,
but to sow seed from which institutions may grow in the soil of Turkey,
watered by Turkish showers, warmed by the Turkish sun, cultivated and
cared for by Turkish hands. Much greater progress would have been made
in self-support had it not been for many overwhelming disasters which
have swept over the empire at intervals since missionary work began
there. First it was devastating wars with Greece, with Egypt, and with
Russia. Then came famine and massacre, the latter paralyzing trade,
killing the wage-earners, and driving many of the most enterprising
from the country. Had the Greeks and Armenians in Turkey been free from
these terrible disasters for the last generation, it is safe to say
every missionary church, school, hospital, and press would be to-day
entirely independent of financial aid from this country. There would
probably be need of missionaries for some time to come, and money from
this country might still be called for to open new sections of the
country, as, for instance, in Koordistan, and Albania, and Arabia, but
in the old fields ample financial support would easily be supplied by
the people themselves. In 1907 in spite of their poverty and distress
the people connected with the American Board missions alone paid for
their own churches, schools, and missionary medical attendance over
$128,000,—a sum far in excess of what was paid by the Board to support
the same work. We may confidently expect that if a new imperial policy
should be put into operation and Turkey afford safety to life and
property and liberty of conscience and judgment to all her subjects,
there would be a marked advance in the support of all Christian and
educational work in the country, and a rapid enlargement of all such
institutions.
Much has also been accomplished in the line of self-propagation and
aggressive Christian work. Various organizations of native Christian
leaders, like the Bithynia Union of Western Turkey, organized in 1864,
the Harpoot Evangelical Union organized in 1865, the Cilicia Union of
Central Turkey, and similar organizations in Marsovan and in Bulgaria,
as well as in other places, have rendered loyal service in the work
of evangelization. These Unions have cooperated with the missionaries
in aggressive operations as well as in the direction and supervision
of the churches already organized. Their annual meetings have been
marked events in the history of the churches. In these the missionaries
are only honorary members, the native brethren taking the burden of
responsibility. In some of the Unions, as at Harpoot in Eastern Turkey,
a committee is annually appointed to cooperate during the year with
the missionaries in looking after and directing work in the churches
and schools as well as in planning and executing general evangelistic
movements.
What the native churches are doing in the line of expansion is best
exhibited in the Koordistan Missionary Society which had its beginning
nearly forty years ago in the Harpoot Evangelical Union. This society
was formed for the purpose of carrying the gospel and the advantages
of a Christian education to the Koordish speaking Armenians who
dwelt in the heart of Koordistan between the Harpoot, Mardin, and
Bitlis stations of the Board. Funds were collected, visitations
made, and promising Koordish speaking students from that country
were brought to Harpoot and educated at the expense of that society
and later returned to their people as teachers and preachers. As the
work enlarged, evangelical churches in other parts of the country
joined in the enterprise until it has come to be recognized as a work
belonging to evangelical Armenians wherever found. Many Armenians in
the United States have liberally contributed to sustain this society.
The Armenians give freely for any Christian work that appeals to their
national pride or that takes hold upon their sympathies.
In more recent times the alumni and students of Euphrates College who
have gone to England or come to this country have contributed for
providing scholarships in that institution for the education of poor
but deserving students. While some are endowing scholarships, others
propose to provide permanent professorships in the college. All this
is additional evidence that, the Armenians once assured of safety
to life and property, the Christian educational work in Turkey will
speedily become largely, if not entirely, self-supporting. The Greeks,
among whom much less work is carried on, would not fall behind in
self-support.