The Gist of Japan: The Islands, Their People, and Missions

by R. B. Peery

METHODS OF WORK

Missionaries attempt in various ways to evangelize the nations to which they are sent. The extent and variety of the work which the missionary is called upon to perform are much greater than the people at home are apt to think. He must be at the same time a preacher, a teacher, a translator, a financier, a judge, an author, an editor, an architect, a musician. The great variety of the work necessitates a well-rounded man.

All of these offices are, in an indirect sense, ways of doing mission work; but we will here confine ourselves to the consideration of the more direct and positive methods in vogue in Japan. These are direct evangelization, educational work, literary work, and medical work.

Direct Evangelization

By this I mean the actual propagation of the gospel, by word of mouth, to the people to whom we are sent. I mention this first because I regard it as the most important of all methods. The supreme vocation of the missionary is, not to educate, not to heal, but to preach the gospel. It is well for mission boards and missionaries to remember this, for there is danger in many places of making this primary method secondary to education. While it is probably true that the evangelization of the masses will depend ultimately upon the efforts of the native ministry, this should not therefore be construed to mean that the foreign missionary has nothing to do with this department of the work. He should personally engage in this evangelistic work, should himself come into actual contact with the unevangelized masses, and should proclaim the gospel directly to them. In this way only can he understand thoroughly the nature of the work in which he is engaged, and be enabled to sympathize with and advise his evangelists. He should not only train native evangelists, but should be an evangelist himself, teaching his helpers, by earnest, zealous example as well as by precept, right methods of the proclamation of the gospel. Such work must also bear direct fruit in the conversion of souls; for even in this land, in spite of the great nationalism and strong prejudice against foreigners, a foreigner will draw larger congregations and be listened to with more attention than a native. And this is not simply because of curiosity; the people have more confidence in his ability properly to represent the foreign religion. For these reasons, then, viz., for the sake of the souls he may win, for the sake of the example he may set to his helpers, and for his own sake, that he may rightly understand and appreciate the work, every missionary should, as far as possible, be an evangelist. This is emphasized here because in many places the evangelistic work is in danger of being subordinated to the educational, and missionaries are not lacking who take the strange ground that it is neither necessary nor profitable for the missionary personally to come into contact with the unevangelized masses. This seems to me to be a very mistaken view of the sphere of the foreign worker. He should not only train helpers, support and advise them, but he should also go with them among the people and preach to them himself.

The direct propagation of the gospel may be either local or itinerating. The missionary may reside in one place, have a fixed chapel, and there teach all who come to him; or he may go on long tours through the country, preaching from town to town and from village to village. In general these methods are combined in Japan. The missionary is located in one town and to the work there gives most of his attention; but he also at stated intervals visits the surrounding towns and country, doing evangelistic work wherever he can.

LOCAL EVANGELISM.—For obvious reasons, local evangelistic work yields the greatest returns. To it the missionary gives his constant care and attention, while his visits to the country are only periodical. Local evangelistic work in Japan is carried on somewhat in the following manner:

A house, as centrally located in the town as possible, is rented and fitted up as a chapel. The only furnishings needed are a small table and some lamps. Japanese houses are so constructed that the whole wall on the street side can be removed, and people standing in the street can see and hear all that is going on within. In this new chapel, one or two evenings a week, the gospel will be preached. In China there is preaching in such chapels every day, but in Japan the people will not come oftener than once or twice a week. In all probability both the missionary and the native evangelist will preach the same evening, one after the other. At first very few people will come into the house, but numbers will congregate in the street and will listen to what is said. After the service is over an opportunity is given for personal conversation on religious topics. By and by a little interest is manifested, and some begin to come into the house. A great deal has been gained when people will go so far as to come up into the Christian chapel, in plain view of the multitudes, and hear the sermon.

In many cases the native evangelist lives in the chapel (in the same building, but occupying different rooms) and daily meets and talks with people about religion. In this way he hears of those who are interested, and he and the missionary visit such in their homes and converse privately with them. In my own mission, as soon as any are interested, they are organized into a catechetical class, which meets weekly, and are thoroughly instructed in Luther's Small Catechism. But I find that unless this is preceded by more elementary instruction this excellent little manual will not be well understood. Real inquirers are glad to come and study the catechism and the Bible, and they study them well. Some of the most satisfactory work I have done in Japan has been along the line of catechetical instruction. Some of the larger missions working here have not been sufficiently careful about giving their converts sound elementary instruction in Christian doctrine, but have left them to gather all the necessary knowledge from the sermons they hear and the instruction given in the Sunday-schools. One of the desiderata of most missions in Japan is more systematic catechetical instruction.

Among the first things a missionary does in beginning work in a town is to open a Sunday-school. The children are generally more accessible than the older people, and many of them will come to the school. They cannot at first be organized into classes, as their interest is not sufficiently great to induce them to attend regularly and to study. The first instruction is usually by means of large Bible pictures that catch the eye and teach a religious truth. By and by, when the work becomes more substantial and the interest more developed, the pupils can be organized into classes and more systematic instruction given. If there are any Christians in connection with the chapel their children form the backbone of the Sunday-school.