HINDRANCES TO THE GOSPEL
Now I think I had better not write much more about Africa and its
children lest I tire you. There are many other interesting things one
would like to tell you but I am afraid this book is already quite long
enough. In India and in China and in other lands I am sure it is harder
than it is in Africa to win the people for Christ. Yet there are many
hindrances too in the black man’s way.
If all Africa is to be Christ’s, then Mohammedanism in the north must
be overcome, and must be prevented from creeping down southwards. It is
already well over the equator, especially on the east coast, and, if
left unhindered, will spread right onwards. But the Church of Christ
at home must see that this does not happen, and Christians must put
forth all their strength in the cause of their Lord and Master. And you
children too have your part to play, a part which is told you in this
little hymn of which I have copied two verses:--
“The fields are all white
And the reapers are few;
We children are willing,
But what can we do
To work for our Lord in His Harvest?
“We’ll work by our prayers,
By the offerings we bring,
By small self-denials;
The least little thing
May work for our Lord in His Harvest.”
Another enemy of Christ in Africa is the native’s belief in the
customs and superstitions of their forefathers. The old people cling
to these, and tell the children that the Gospel is only white men’s
stories. They die hard these old superstitions, but they are slowly and
surely disappearing before the light of God’s message. To obey Christ
means that a great deal of the old life must be given up and put away
altogether; and it is here that the struggle begins. Temptations to
drift back into the old way of living beset the African Christian on
all sides. They come from without and from within, and only the word of
God planted in his heart can keep him from falling.
Polygamy is one of the great obstacles in his path. I wonder if you
know what that big word means. In words it means that the men may
marry many wives, but in reality it means that the women and children
are living in conditions that give them but little chance of rising
out of the darkness by which they are surrounded. I remember how much
surprised I was when told that a certain little girl, who had been at
a village school but who was now withdrawn, was married. She was not
really married of course, only “bespoken” as it were, by a big bearded
man, who already had more than one wife. The girl had therefore been
taken from school and was lost to Mission influence. In Africa the
girls have but little of the happy girlhood known in England, for they
step from childhood right into womanhood.
There is another enemy of Christ in Africa that I do not care to write
to you about, because it comes from our own race, but it would not be
fair to make no mention of it whatever. The force of example goes a
long long way in Africa, and often does a great deal more than words.
It is what you _do_ rather than what you _say_ that first attracts the
heathen. Now if a careless white man forgets this and like the prodigal
son in the far-off country gives himself up to the evil ways of living,
he is doing a great deal of harm to Christ’s Kingdom in Africa, and is
putting a serious stumbling block in the way of the poor black people.
If such white men would but remember that they come from a Christian
land and behave towards their ignorant black neighbours as Christian
gentlemen this enemy of the Gospel would soon be laid low.
Let me now tell you a little how missionary work among the heathen
Africans is carried on. In different missions the work is carried on
in different ways, but the end is always the same--that the Gospel be
preached to the heathen.
Many of the missions divide their work into four parts. One is called
Evangelistic--that is the part of the work in which the Gospel is
preached to the people. Another is called Medical because doctors and
nurses join in the mission work to heal the sick and help the helpless.
Another part is Educational--the teaching of the people in school, so
that they may be able to read the Word of God. The last part is called
Industrial, for in it the African Christians are taught trades to show
them that work is not for slaves only, and to make them useful members
of the community.
Of course in every mission you may not find all those four departments
of work. Some missions are mainly Evangelistic, others Industrial,
but in all large missions in Africa you generally find the four.
In the evangelistic work the missionary, fresh from home, is at a
great disadvantage till he has mastered the native language. Then
this difficulty over, he finds the way open to the black man’s heart.
Experience however is showing us more and more that it is not the white
man who will evangelise Africa, but the African, and the work of the
white missionary is more and more being reduced to the training of the
native evangelists who will carry the message of love to the people.
Hospital, School, and Industrial work have, in Africa, been practically
forced upon the missionaries. The native of Africa sick is most
helpless, and the native of Africa well is most indifferent to sickness
in others. Hence the constant ministration to his own sick folks by
white doctors and nurses fills him with astonishment, and causes him to
think why this should be done. It is a magnificent object lesson to the
native of the practice in our lives of the Gospel of Christ.
One of the best gifts that can be given to any race of people is the
gift of the Bible in their own tongue. But to prevent the Bible being
a sealed book to them, the people must first be taught how to read.
So the missionary must turn school-master and teach his people their
letters. Here, then, is the beginning of educational work and it is
found a great help to the evangelistic. For in school, reading is not
the only subject taught. The children learn, as they never otherwise
could, the story of Jesus. And the teacher is naturally the evangelist.
So preaching and teaching in Africa go hand in hand.
Then there is work such as the African is not accustomed to. He is by
no means lazy, as is so often said by ill-informed people; but he has
to be taught that work is not for inferiors only. Hence all kinds of
useful trades are taught in large missions. The Africans make very good
carpenters, gardeners, bricklayers, and printers. In fact, they pick
up readily such trades as are taught them. Of course, at their present
stage of development, they cannot be compared with white workman, and
should never so be compared, but they do exceedingly well so far as
they are able.
In thus educating and training their people the missions are
endeavouring to make their converts Christians, who can read their
Bibles, and who will prove themselves to be useful and industrious
members of the community in which they live.