In 1915, surrounded once more by cannon, but still in peace, the Basel society celebrated its centennial, in rejoicing yet in sadness. It has now stations in India, China and Africa. Its last accessible report gave its income in 1913 as $586,000.
|Royal Approval.| By 1823 the attitude of the Church toward missions had so changed and improved that ten distinguished men, theologians, jurists and officials of the government issued “An Appeal for Charitable Contributions in aid of Evangelical Missions”. The organization which they formed received the royal sanction and was called the Berlin Society. In 1834 the first missionaries were sent to South Africa. At present the society works in Africa and China. Its last income was $291,000.
|Another Large Society.| As in the case of the Basel Society, so in the case of the Rhenish Society there are two elements, Lutheran and Reformed, who work together in all its enterprises. Its school and headquarters are in Barmen, Westphalia; its first missionaries were sent to South Africa in 1829. Its fields lie in Africa, the Dutch East Indies and China. Its income was in 1913 $328,000.
In the north of Germany is located the North German or Bremen Society whose workers are trained at Basel and whose field is West Africa where it has offered an amazing sacrifice. Its income was in 1913, $71,000.
|An “Aristocrat Among Missions”.| The Leipsic Society, which was organized in 1836, received its strongest impress from its director Doctor Karl Graul, a thoroughly trained theologian and a devoted supporter of missions. He endeavored to make this society the center of the missionary work of the whole Lutheran Church. He not only organized, advised and managed from the home base but spent four years in India. The society works in India and Africa. On account of the thoroughness and solidity of its work it has been called “the aristocrat among missions”. Its income was in 1913, $179,000.
|The First Missionary Ship.| The Hermannsburg Mission was begun in 1849. Its genius was Louis Harms, the pastor of the Lutheran church in the village of Hermannsburg. Though he was brought up under rationalistic influences he remained true to the principles of the Gospel. He believed that missionary work could be best accomplished by the sending out of colonies of missionaries who should be a source of support and encouragement to one another and who should furnish to the natives an example of Christian behavior in all the walks of life. His enthusiasm imparted itself to his congregation which was willing to make any sacrifice in order that his plans might be carried out. His first missionary party numbered twenty, twelve missionaries and eight colonists who sailed on the ship “Candace” for East Africa. Beside its African field the Hermannsburg Society has stations in India and Persia. Its income in 1913 was $139,000.
|The Work of One Man.| Like the Hermannsburg Mission, the Gossner Mission owes its existence to the faith and piety of a single man. This remarkable person, John Evangelist Gossner, was originally a Roman Catholic priest who was banished from Bavaria because his preaching and his writing tended constantly away from orthodox Romanism. Persecuted, he declared his intention of entering the Lutheran Church, and was put through a severe examination. Proving that he held the pure faith, he was ordained about 1827. He was subsequently pastor of large congregations, among them that of which “Father” Jaenicke had been pastor. His labors knew almost no limit and included home missions, foreign missions, religious correspondence, writing and works of mercy of all kinds. That activity with which we are most concerned is the mission in India which he established on certain independent principles. He believed, for instance, that missionaries should work with their hands and thus provide for their maintenance as did the Apostle Paul. In ten years he sent out to various missionary societies eighty missionaries. In 1844 he established a mission of his own among the Kols in India. To-day the Gossner mission concentrates its efforts chiefly upon its India station. Its income was in 1913 $184,000.
|Three Promising Societies.| Forty years had now passed since Father Jaenicke founded his missionary school and the new life of missions began. For about twenty years no societies were formed. Since that time there have been many new undertakings. Among them is the Breklum or Schleswig-Holstein Society which was founded in 1877 by a devoted Pastor Jensen. Its fields are India and Africa and its income was in 1913 $67,000. The Neukirchen Society was founded in 1882 in the Rhine province, by Ludwig Doll, who vowed during a severe illness that if he were restored he would give his life to missions. This society labors in Africa and Java and had in 1913 an income of $30,000. Most important among the remaining Lutheran societies are that of Neuendettelsau which works in Kaiser Wilhelmsland in New Guinea, and also in Australia, the Hanover Society with stations in South Africa, and the Bielefeld Society in East Africa.
|German Missionary Scholarship.| Before leaving this brief introduction to the missionary labors of Germany, we must allude to the fine service paid by various Germans in the field of missionary literature. The Germans were the originators of the scientific study of missions. They have given to missions its greatest historian, Doctor Gustav Warneck, who for many years occupied at the University of Halle the only academic chair in Christendom then devoted to the teaching and study of missions, and who prepared monumental volumes discussing his beloved theme. To his study and to that of other German scholars the Lutheran Church owes much of that sobriety and thoroughness with which its mission work has been done.
Scandinavian Societies.