John Raleigh Mott

“ The positive, constructive, irenic and sympathetic approach, method and spirit now largely prevail in Christian work among Moslems, as contrasted with the negative, destructive, polemic and unappreciative. Only along the pathway of heroic and sacrificial experience on the part of workers who have devoted all their powers to the task, and who deserve all praise for their prophetic, pioneering ministry, have the deeper lessons been learned and has the way been prepared for the larger fruitage of to-morrow. ”

“ As was strongly emphasized in Jerusalem, there is clear and universal testimony that the present situation in the Moslem world creates a need for literature as a dynamic and penetrating instrument of Christian educational evangelism altogether without parallel in range and urgency in the literary history of Moslem peoples. Literacy is rapidly increasing in most Moslem areas. This is developing an ever-expanding demand for literature. In these days every printing press in Mohammedan lands should be working up to its capacity. ”

“ We submit that not only private prayer but communal worship should have a more central place in the daily activities of any missionary group and the oriental brethren associated with them, and that fuller exploration should be made of the possibilities of small prayer circles, of retreats and conventions, and that far more use should be made of communal seasons of silent waiting upon God. ”

“ In one conference a prominent missionary said, ' I believe there are so many secret seekers and inquirers at present that if ten people in this room would throw their weight toward the winning of these men and women we could soon tell not of tens but of hundreds turning to the leadership of Christ.' The cumulative evidence of these witnesses reminded one vividly of the corresponding stage in missionary work for Hindus and for the ancient literati of China. The impression is too widely prevalent in the Churches at the home base that work for Moslems is comparatively fruitless and hopeless. ”

“ Attention should also be called to intellectual accessibility. In almost every Moslem land education is being actively promoted by the government as well as by Christian missions and the rate of literacy is rapidly increasing. The rising generation is gaining an entirely new outlook because the newspaper, books, the cinema, the theatre, and modern pictorial advertising have created a hundred points of contact with western civilization. A far larger proportion than formerly of pupils and students in the mission schools and colleges of the Near East and Southern Asia are Moslems. ”

“ A missionary stated at the conference in Egypt that formerly in Abyssinia parents forbade their children to look in the direction of the mission schools ; now they bring them to the mission schools. He added that the parents may not wish to change their own religion, but allow their children to do so. This suggests the new religious hospitality or accessibility. Workers from every field testified to the new willingness to hear the gospel message as well as to the larger response. Certainly a remarkable change has taken place in the attitude of Moslem men and women to the Gospel. ”

“ The abolition of the Caliphate has had a profoundly disturbing effect not only in Turkey but throughout the Mohammedan world. There are signs on every hand of the weakening of the social hold of Islam. ”

“ The present is a time for working quietly. The Moslems are pulling down their own house, but they do not want foreigners to do it. Let us continue to present the all-sufficiency of Christ rather than to make polemical attacks upon Islam. When a new and a true conception of Jesus Christ is created in the Moslem mind, they will be drawn unto Him. ”

“ We submit that the spiritual dynamic for such a compelling witness is, in the good purpose of God, always available. But there is nothing in the Bible or in the experience of the Church to suggest that it is available cheaply. Each marked release of the Holy Spirit of God in human lives must be at the cost of definite surrender and prayer. ”

“ It not only relieves human suffering, but manifests powerfully the spirit of Christ, obtains a hearing for the Christian message where other means fail, and is a fruitful agency for wide-spread evangelization.
Social work is especially needed because Islam constitutes a close society social as well as religious, and makes provision for the whole life. New converts should be received into an equally organized community to satisfy that need for brotherhood which the Moslem always craves. ”

“ Social activities cannot replace but should accompany, aid, illustrate and complete the direct teaching of the Gospel. The Jerusalem Conference placed special emphasis also upon social reform, including infant welfare, child marriage, child labour, general conditions under which industry is carried on as to hours of labour, living wage and sanitary condition of factories, temperance reform, elimination of opium, hashish and coca leaf and their derivatives, traffic in women and children, and prevention of cruelty to animals. ”

“ There have been rapid and fascinating developments in ease of communication throughout North Africa and the Near East by the construction of thousands of miles of railways and modern highways, the use of automobile transport, and the air post. Even the Sahara has within a few months been crossed by automobiles, and a railroad is now under construction. ”

“ While these benefits are now being realized by the workers of India and China through their well-planned and efficient National Christian Councils, and in more limited areas such as Egypt, Syria and Palestine through intermission councils, there has been no arrangement which has made possible united action on the part of the workers throughout Northern Africa and the Near and Middle East. ”

“ I of the delegates at the different conferences that the mission boards should re-examine the assignment of workers in the light of greatly changed conditions. Certain missions and Churches need to catch a new perspective and bring about an entire readjustment of emphasis and effort. In some fields, chiefly in the Near East, the time has come when the native evangelical Churches should be led to constitute themselves the chief agency for the evangelization of Moslems by shifting the emphasis of their work from missionary activity among the Eastern Churches to direct efforts for Moslems. ”

“ They are attending meetings more largely ; they gladly accept literature ; they are buying and reading the Bible more and more. Religious prejudice is being broken down in every conceivable way. Professor Levonian at the Jerusalem Conference reported that a daily paper in Constantinople had for seven months been conducting a discussion on the Personality of Christ. The problem in the Moslem world, to-day, therefore, is not that of accessibility, but one of adequate multiplication of workers and of a better distribution of the forces available. ”

“ The spread of western industrialism and the startling development of the material aspects of modern civilization have had a marked disintegrating influence. I asked one of the most eminent professors of the El Azhar in Cairo what gave him greatest hope for Mohammedanism. He replied, "I see no hope; materialism is overwhelming us." ”

“ Christian education still constitutes one of the best methods of approach to Moslems. The demand for the expansion of such work is increasing in every field. Even where government systems of education have been established there is still recognized need for the character-building processes of Christian education. ”

“ The surveys conducted in certain Moslem fields show an excessive concentration of forces in a few main centres resulting in a corresponding neglect of vast areas. Moreover, the preoccupation of a majority of missionaries with appointed tasks in institutions, or in the work of general supervision, leaves the number definitely devoting their whole time to work for Moslems very small indeed. In certain fields, such as Syria and Palestine, the present number of workers might prove to be sufficient were they more advantageously distributed. ”

“ Intellectually great changes are observable. On every hand one encounters a hunger for knowledge. A new mentality is being developed as a result of contact with western science and civilization during the war. ”

“ The scheme of training should include historical Islam and also contemporary movements within Islam. A limited number of carefully selected workers should be set apart by the missions to specialize on Islam with a view to their directing the studies of other workers on this subject. The program of preparation exhaustively outlined in the booklet entitled The Presentation of Christianity to Moslems and issued by the Board of Missionary Preparation of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America was strongly endorsed by the Jerusalem Conference. ”

“ Political conditions have become much more favourable in nearly every field unless it be Turkey. Many governmental restrictions have been removed. Colonial governments once hostile to missions among Mohammedans have become more and more friendly and in some cases are even supporting medical and social missionary programs. ”

“ We submit that since the devotional life, especially in the spiritual atmosphere of Moslem countries, must, along with joy, involve suffering and wrestling with spiritual wickedness in high places, the training of missionary candidates must include definite teaching and discipline in the use of seasons of devotion. ”

“ The fact that there are still difficulties apparently insurmountable and that the conquering of them inevitably calls for great sacrifice, and, perchance, martyrdom does not break the force of our obligation. ”

“ This is illustrated in the changing position of women, especially in the cities, for example, in the postponement of marriage and the greater freedom of choice on the woman's part, in attendance of women at lectures and entertainments, in the formation of women's clubs, in the larger liberty in the use of the veil, and in the evergrowing demand for education. ”

“ We submit also that such bodies should hope for and gladly accept a special vocation to the work of prayer on the part of some of their members and should so plan that those on whose heart God lays this burden shall be able to fulfil their ministry. ”

“ Above all, one is impressed with the religious unsettling among Moslems. Many are sorely perplexed and do not know where they are going. There are multiplying evidences of rebellion against tradition and external authority. ”

“ Accessibility and Occupation, Evangelization, the Christian Church, Christian Education, Christian Leadership, Christian Literature, Women's Work, Medical and Social Needs, Co-operation and Spiritual Dynamic. Each Committee of Findings based its work on surveys and papers prepared and circulated in advance, on the findings of the various Regional Conferences, on the discussions of the General Conference, and upon the constructive, corporate thinking of the committee itself. ”

“ Afghanistan, the provinces of Hejaz, Asir, Nejd and Hadramout in Arabia, Russian Turkestan, parts of Siberia, Bokhara, the eastern part of the Malay peninsula, Socotra, the Moslem populations of Madagascar, Albania, Bulgaria, Jugoslavia, the Crimea, Georgia, and Russia in Europe, Tripoli in North Africa, the French Sudan, the great Aures Mountains, Saharan Atlas ranges, the central populous mountain region of Morocco, and the vast Sahara itself — fields having in them a total population of nearly 40,000,000. ”

“ We would call particular attention to the following, among many points brought out in the discussions and findings, as reflecting the common mind of the delegates
and as being of special concern to all who have at heart the extension of the Kingdom of Christ.
(1) The conferences revealed unmistakable evidences of the weakening or disintegration of Islam. This is true politically. Generally speaking nationalism is taking the place of pan-Islamism. The Turkish Moslem, for example, is becoming more Turk than Moslem. ”

“ If we could place a hundred thousand who had their hearts on fire we could touch the problem.' Facts like these brought to the attention of Churches in the West and students in the universities and seminaries, should correct a widespread misconception that the demand for mis- sionaries is less urgent than formerly and likely to diminish rapidly in the future. ”

“ Many workers bear testimony that no longer do they encounter the proud, self-satisfied Islam which they knew before.
(2) The marvellous accessibility of the Mohammedan world to the friendly and constructive ministry of the I Christian religion was also revealed. The discussions of the conferences led to the conclusion that perhaps four-fifths of the 235,000,000 who constitute the population of the Moslem world are now increasingly accessible to every j Imethod of missionary approach. ”

“ The Mohammedans of China numbering over 8,000,000 have scarcely a missionary devoting himself entirely to them. The 69,000,000 Moslems in India also present a field largely unoccupied, for very little special work is carried on among them. ”