CHAPTER I

THE SPIRITUAL RESOURCES OF THE

CHURCH

IN dealing with the Home Base of Missions, the Commission is concerned with the whole subject of the means by which the Church at home may adequately discharge its responsibility for the evangelisation of the world. It is evident that this problem is not one of machinery, but of life. The mere multiplication of machinery does not necessarily increase power. The subject which has been entrusted to the Commission to investigate drives us back at every turn to the question of the spiritual condition of the home Church. Has that Church sufficient vitality for the tremendous task to which it is called? Wherever a belief is intensely and passionately held it naturally and inevitably propagates itself. It does not need wealth or numbers to cause it to spread. Repeatedly in history one man with a conviction has been. more powerful than a mighty host. The Christian. Church, if it were possessed, mastered, and dominated by the faith which it professes, could easily evangelise the world. When, therefore, we direct out attention to the Home Base of Missions, we realise that the fundamental problem is that of the depth and sincerity of the religious experience of the Church, the quality of its obedience, the intensity and daring of its faith.

It is certain that the spiritual resources of the Church are more than sufficient for the accomplishment of the work if the Church will avail itself of them. To be convinced of this we have only to take time to reflect upon

what we mean when we speak of GOD. Can God be defeated? Can His purpose fail? Nineteen centuries have passed, yet the Church has not put fully to the test of experience the words of Christ: "Have faith in God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it." For the early Christians the resurrection of Christ signified the breaking in upon human life of a new world of triumph. and hope. They were conscious of a spiritual experience which they described in such terms as these: "We know that we have passed from death unto life." The "power of His resurrection" is a spiritual reality, the full meaning of which Christian faith has yet to discover. Nor have we yet proved in sufficient measure the power and influence of the Holy Spirit, as the indwelling and vitalising energy of a new, abundant, and constantly expanding life.

It is not necessary for us to dwell at length on these things, for they lie at the foundation of the whole Conference and do not belong to the sphere of any single Commission. It is necessary, however, that we should recall them to our minds, at the outset of our consideration of the subject entrusted to us, to which they stand in a vital and fundamental relation.

While it would be outside the scope of this Report to dwell at length on the means by which the Christian Church may learn to avail itself more fully of the spiritual resources open to it, one aspect of the subject demands our special consideration, viz., the promotion of prayer for missions.

This is not the place to enter into the grounds for believing that prayer is an irresistible force. It is sufficient to say that any view of the conduct of the work of the Church that does not place supreme reliance upon prayer is at variance with the entire teaching of the New Testament. No thoughtful reader of the Gospels can fail to recognise the pre-eminent place which Jesus Christ gave

to prayer both in His teaching and in the practice of His own life. The greatest leaders of the missionary enterprise have been men of prayer. The volume of testimony is overwhelming that "Prayer is power; the place of prayer is the place of power; the man of prayer is the man of power."

The need of prayer for missions is evident when we give thought to the circumstances under which missionary work is carried on. Were missionaries to go forth, a company of strangers and foreigners, to ask the peoples of Asia and Africa to change some habit of dress or social custom, their task might seem almost impossible. How infinitely more difficult it is to ask these peoples to accept. a teaching that will revolutionise their whole life! There is nothing magical in the crossing of the seas that renders missionaries immune from the temptations, the weaknesses of character, the unbelief that deadens the life of the Church that sends them forth. The project might well seem hopeless, unless we believed in the spiritual resource of prayer. The neglect of prayer by the Church at home means defeat at the front of the battle. "We know not," it has been truly said, "when the missionary stands before his greatest opportunity. We know not when fierce temptation may sweep in upon him like a flood." If he is to be victorious in his great adventure, he needs the prayers of the Church at home. Not less great is the need of the native Church for prayer. The battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil is at least as stern and difficult for the members of that Church as it is for those who live in Christian lands. They are without the traditions and sacred associations and Christian atmosphere that aid the building of character in Western countries. In many instances their lives have been wrenched from their old moorings and from social supports on which men naturally lean. Beset by difficulties without and within, the Christians of these lands are called to the gigantic and humanly impossible task of winning their own nation for Christ. Without the help of prayer how can they be sufficient for these things?

The widespread enquiries of the Commission on this topic have shown that the use of special forms of missionary intercession, in the shape of manuals and cycles and calendars, is very general. Every missionary agency has come to regard it as a first concern in organisation to gather together bands of praying men and women, and to supply these with helps to regular and intelligent intercession. The American section of the Commission has gone further and has given considerable attention to the possibility of organising "A Common Prayer Cycle for all the World," in order that all those who are engaged in the missionary enterprise should be united, not only in one heart, but in one voice in promoting the cause. is possible that this Conference may prove to be the origin of some such prayer cycle, though it does not seem desirable, at the present juncture, to do more than mention the proposal.

It

Experience would seem to show that if prayer cycles and calendars are to be of the greatest service to those who use them, they should contain, in addition to the suggestion of special subjects for prayer, explanatory notes designed to make prayer more intelligent and to help prayer by making the subjects appeal more vividly and powerfully to the imagination. It is further worthy of consideration whether the issue of a fresh prayer calendar annually, monthly, or quarterly is not of advantage, giving newness and variety in place of a stereotyped list of subjects, which is in danger of losing, through familiarity, its power to stimulate. The form in which such prayer calendars or intercession papers are issued needs careful attention. Their use may be furthered or hindered according to the ease or difficulty with which they can be kept constantly at hand in a Bible or Prayer Book. We would, moreover, emphasise the fact that the encouragement and direction of the prayers of Christian people is one of the highest and most difficult forms of Christian service, and constitutes a special vocation. It is important that those to whom this work is entrusted should be chosen on account of their special gifts and

aptitudes, as those are who are called to organising, administrative, or editorial work in connection with the missionary enterprise. It may be doubted whether the whole subject of the best and most helpful means of promoting systematic prayer for missions has yet received the careful thought and serious investigation that its importance deserves.

EDUCATION IN PRAYER

To have arrived at the universal recognition of the necessity of intercession, and of securing a widespread and intelligent scheme of intercession based on knowledge, such as is evidenced by the prayer cycles now so commonly in use, is to have made very substantial advance; but it needs to be borne in mind that, after all, the issue of aids to prayer, however numerous, and of incentives, however excellent, is not thereby to have created a body of praying men and women. The free distribution of musical instruments does not create a body of musicians, nor can the free circulation of missionary prayer manuals and cycles make missionary interceders. These are only aids to those who can and who desire to intercede, and only those will experience this desire and power who have learned something, not only of the value, but also of the art of prayer. This leads to a final conviction that none can pray their best-few can pray with any fulness of effect-who have not received some careful training in the practice of prayer, and who have not acquired as well the grace of holy perseverance in it. Professor Gustav Warneck of Halle reminds us in his paper on Prayer for Missions of a truth which we are in constant danger of overlooking, viz., that "it is much more difficult to pray for missions than to give to them. We can only really pray for missions if we habitually lead a life of prayer, and a life of prayer can only be led if we have entered into a life of communion with God."

The question then which calls for the serious attention