missionary – Page 3

Charles Elmer Cowman and OMS

February 13, 2009 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

Charles Elmer Cowman was born in Illinois, USA, on March 13, 1868. As ‘a small boy’ he walked to the mourner’s bench on the final evening of a local ‘revival meeting’. Many in the community regarded that ‘revival’ as a failure – only one response to the Gospel call, and that ‘a small boy’.

But Charles E. Cowman meant business with God.

At the age of 21 he married Lettie Burd, his childhood sweetheart, and on 22 February, 1901, they arrived in Japan to proclaim the old, old story.

From these small beginnings grew the Oriental Missionary Society (now OMS International), a great evangelical force that continues in the tradition begun by the Cowmans.

The Cowman’s were originally connected with the Methodist Board of Missions, but came in contact with The International Apostolic Holiness Union in 1900 and became life long members of the Union from then. The Union had been established by Martin W Knapp, at Cincinnati, Ohio in 1897 to promote camp meetings and evangelism, with the key Bible doctrines of the Healing of the Sick, the Return of our Lord, and the Evangelization of the World.

Under the influence of the IAH Union, the Cowans came to the conclusion that missionary endeavour should be a faith project, the “old apostolic way according to Matthew 20:4”.

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The Cowmans went to Japan and established the OMS in 1901 on the same lines as The International Apostolic Holiness Union, after ordination by them back in the USA that same year. It was seen as the Missionary arm of the IAH Union and in time became regarded as “the child of the whole holiness movement”.

In 1902 the Cowman’s were joined by Ernest A Kilbourne, who laboured faithfully with them to build a powerful ministry in the Orient. In 1907 the ministry reached out to Korea, then, after Cowman’s death, it grew to include China, India, Columbia, Greece, Brazil, Taiwan, Ecuador, Hong Kong and Haiti. The Cowman and Kilbourne Work, as it was initially known, established seminaries for training local ministers, distributed the Bible, planted indigenous churches and broadcast gospel programs.

Mrs Cowman is also known for her daily devotional book, Streams in the Desert, compiled during her husband’s final illness. More than three million copies have been sold in the English language alone.

Charles E. Cowman died on 23 September, 1924. “I have no regret that my life is slipping away,” he told his missionary friend and colleague, E.A. Kilbourne, “because of what I have done for my heathen brothers. I am glad, oh, so glad …”

Find hundreds of succinct Church History posts at: http://chrisfieldblog.com/topics/ministry/church-history

This post is based on notes by my late friend Donald Prout. I have updated these historical posts with information gleaned from other sources. I am indebted to Don for awakening in me an interest in Church History. Don’s notes can be found at: www.donaldprout.com

Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen With Childlike Faith

February 6, 2009 by Chris Field 1 Comment

Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen was born on an island off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, now Denmark but long disputed territory between Denmark and Germany, on February 6, 1834.

Bishop Stephen Neill, in his History of Christian Missions, describes Nommensen as “one of the most powerful missionaries of whom we have record anywhere” (page 348)! And another tells us, “Nommensen may have been one of the most successful missionaries ever to preach the gospel” (Ambassadors for Christ, ed by J. Woodbridge, page 146).

The boy grew up in a simple cottage in a Danish island community. At age 10 his shin bones were injured when he was run over by a wagon. Medication did not work and the injury worsened and he was confined to bed-rest for the following three years. Apart from his studies his time was spent watching out for his three younger sisters. He came to faith at age 12.

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Then, when 13, he came to the simple conclusion that Christ could heal his incurable leg ulcer. On Christmas Eve 1847 he read in John 16:23 that if he asked God for something, God would grant his request. He asked his mother if miracles still happened today. She did not believe they did, but did not wish to dissuade her son’s childlike faith.

With the testimony of Scripture and of his mother to support him, Ingwer began praying fervently, quoting God’s Word back to the Lord, and claiming his healing. He became fully persuaded of impending healing and was full of expectancy. He also promised to preach the gospel to the heathen if he was healed.

When the local doctor called again he realised Ingwer had been vaccinated with a poor batch of vaccine. He supplied new medication and prescribed a strict diet, which worked wonders. In six weeks the sores disappeared. Ingwer kept his heart fixed on his responsibility to take the gospel to the heathen, in fulfilment of his vow.

At first Nommensen planned to work on a ship going to heathen lands, and then get off and preach. But there were no ships needing extra crew. Thus he was led to apply for jobs as a tutor, which was much less arduous than the physical labour and farming jobs he had done up until then.

Finally he realised his need to train for missionary service and so, at age 23 he began training, with the Lutheran Church.

The Bible Society of the Netherlands was keen to provide scriptures for the various natives in Dutch colonies and sent Dr van der Tuuk to Sumatra to investigate. He created a grammar of the Batak language.

Nommensen met ven der Tuuk in Amsterdam and decided to learn the Batak grammar from him and then go to reach those people in Sumatra’s interior, away from the Catholic missionaries and the Islamic influence. On Christmas Eve, 1861, Nommensen sailed for Sumatra.

The Batak were involved in spirit worship and had not previously been touched by either Christianity or Islam – even though Islam had long been present in South East Asia. Nommensen’s preaching soon brought him into life-threatening situations. “We will cut your legs off and throw you into the river,” he was warned.

On another occasion he was to be ‘sacrificed to the ghosts’, but he walked through the midst of the furious mob in such a way that none dared lay a hand upon him (Woodbridge, page 148). He continued to gain their confidence, healing their sick, playing his violin and telling them Bible stories.

On 27 August, 1865, the first converts were baptised. These were some chiefs and their tribal members. By 1876 there were 2,000 Batak believers. And he had translated the New Testament into the Batak language by 1878.

Nommensen made it his practice to preach the Gospel without imposing European culture over the native culture. He also sought to develop native Church leaders and a native order of worship. This was revolutionary practice compared to the ambitions of many other missions and missionaries. Nommensen’s strategy proved very important by the time of World War 2, when foreigners were forced to leave the area. The strong indigenous leadership helped this Christian group to become the largest Christian Congregation in Indonesia.

The church continued to grow. By the time he died, 23 May, 1918, the church he had planted had grown to 180,000, with 34 ministers and 800 teacher-preachers. Ludwig Nommensen’s name may be forgotten upon Earth, but his name shines brightly in God’s Hall of Fame.

Find hundreds of succinct Church History posts at: http://chrisfieldblog.com/topics/ministry/church-history

This post is based on notes by my late friend Donald Prout. I have updated these historical posts with information gleaned from other sources. I am indebted to Don for awakening in me an interest in Church History. Don’s notes can be found at: www.donaldprout.com

Anthony Norris Groves Renounces Materialism

February 1, 2009 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

Anthony Norris Groves was born at Newton Valence, in Hampshire, England, on February 1, 1795.

He studied dentistry and surgery, building a successful dentistry business in Exeter. In 1816, at the age of 21 he professed faith in Christ, but he is described as “a typical middleclass convert to evangelical High Church Anglicanism”. That same year he married his cousin, Mary Berthia Thompson.

Groves had a heart after God which was displayed in both his philanthropic interests and a growing desire to serve God on the mission field. In the ensuing years he came under the influence of Calvinistic teaching and came to a much stronger personal experience of faith.

Groves was impressed by the Bible’s teaching on possessions. He dedicated the whole of his property and the biggest part of his income to the Lord’s work.

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Groves communicated his convictions about possessions in a small booklet called ‘Christian Devotedness’, based on the Christ’s instruction in the Sermon on the Mount, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth”. Groves lived that message and argued that others need to take Christ’s words seriously.

That book had a profound impact on a young Prussian pastor who had settled in Britain, named George Mueller, who applied Groves’ insights to his own life of faith and in the establishing of his faith based orphanages. Mueller is remembered for his astounding confidence in God’s supply, rather than reliance on human sources of wealth. At least part of his amazing confidence came from the inspiration of A.N. Groves.

Groves had to delay fulfilling his call to missionary service, principally because of his wife. Mary was unsaved when he married her and she opposed Anthony’s desire to go to the mission field. It was thirteen years before the couple reached the mission field of modern Iraq.

Mary was eventually converted by the same influences which strengthened Grove’s faith – around the time of the birth of her third child – and she consented to being a missionary also. In 1825 Groves gave up his profession and business to pursue theological studies at Trinity College, Dublin. At that time he met and associated with John Nelson Darby, founder of the Plymouth Brethren. Groves’ new appreciation for the simple New Testament model of Christianity led him to give up his theological studies, stating that “ordination of any kind to preach the gospel is no requirement of Scripture”.

In 1827, when Groves withdrew from Trinity College, he expressed the ideas which define the early Brethren movement. “…we should come together in all simplicity as disciples, not waiting on any pulpit or minister, but trusting that the Lord would edify us together, by ministering as he pleased and saw good from the midst of ourselves.”

Groves and his wife, Mary, finally set out for Baghdad, with their two young sons and three Christian friends. The six month overland journey was perilous and took them through Russia and Persia. By December 6, 1829 they had arrived in Baghdad, which was at that time part of the old Turkish Islamic Ottoman Empire. Groves was the first Christian missionary to take to gospel to Baghdad since it fell to Islam centuries earlier. They had no financial backers and expected the Lord to meet their daily needs.

Groves’ sister married George Mueller. Both Groves and Mueller opposed Darby’s “tendency of domination” in the newborn Plymouth Brethren movement. Groves chose to emphasise “the love of Jesus … instead of oneness of judgement in minor things” (Dictionary of the Christian Church, page 440).

With George Mueller, Groves became “a founding father of the Open Brethren” (Who’s Who in Christian History, page 294).

During the three years in Baghdad plague ravaged the city. Civil war had broken out, bringing siege and warfare. The city was also devastated by flood, typhoid and cholera. 60,000 of Baghdad’s 85,000 inhabitants died of the plague, including Mrs Groves, and their baby girl. Two thirds of the houses were swept away in floods.

Back in England in 1835 Groves re-married, to Harriet Baynes, and prepared for years of missionary service in India. “He sailed for Madras, and thenceforth in many places he ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Twelve Mighty Missionaries, by E. Enoch, page 37).

In India Groves returned to his dentistry profession, supporting himself as the Apostle Paul had done. Thus Groves is regarded by some (such as Robert Bernard Dann) as the Father of Faith Missions, as opposed to those who go to the field with the backing of a mission organisation.

After Groves’ first tour of the Indian missions he came to his own ideas about improving cross-cultural mission activity. Groves encouraged his Indian converts not to adopt western culture, but to apply the Bible directly to their culture, being Biblical and not cultural converts.

In 1842 Mr and Mrs Groves adopted a child of eight as daughter, “an orphan who was commended to their care by her father on his deathbed”. They undertook this charge as for the Lord. The girl came to faith in Christ at a young age, was very effective in her assistance to their ministry and was “in every way, as a beloved daughter”.

In 1852 illness forced Groves to return to England, where he died at the age of 58, in the home of George Mueller on 20 May, 1853. Groves had given up his own earthly possessions, and so he had no home of his own to return to.

Groves did get to see his most promising Indian disciple, John Christian Arulappan, successfully build a network of churches based on Groves’ principles of missionary outreach. Grove’s innovations continued to be picked up and developed by others after his death.

It is to be noted that Groves’ conviction that we should not hoard possessions but trust the Lord to provide significantly impressed Mueller, who was then taken as an inspiration to Hudson Taylor, whose faith principles inspired many interdenominational faith missions.

Find hundreds of succinct Church History posts at: http://chrisfieldblog.com/topics/ministry/church-history

This post is based on notes by my late friend Donald Prout. I have updated these historical posts with information gleaned from other sources. I am indebted to Don for awakening in me an interest in Church History. Don’s notes can be found at: www.donaldprout.com

How Bible Truth Gets Abducted

January 29, 2009 by Chris Field Leave a Comment

One reason we need the work of the Holy Spirit in our life is to protect us from the distortions of Biblical truth. The Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth” and He leads us into all truth. And it is the Spirit that breathes life into the Bible.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.” John 16:13

“Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” 2Corinthians 3:6

We are shown by the comments of the Apostle Paul that it is possible to distort the Bible and use it deceitfully.

“For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.” 2Corinthians 2:17

“But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2Corinthians 4:2

Missing the Truth

We can miss the truth of God’s Word because we are deceived by preachers who are deceitful and who corrupt the message of the Bible.

We can also miss the truth because we interpret the Bible through the filter of our own culture and perspective. We may inadvertently suppose something to be true, because that makes sense in our own cultural setting, but it may not be what the Bible is teaching. For example, the natives of Papua New Guinea brought their cultural concept of the “payback system” into their Christianity. Instead of catching the Bible truth about total transformation and the worthlessness of human effort, some natives felt they owed God a payment for salvation. They followed Christ for years, then came to the conclusion that they had paid God back for their salvation. At that point they went back to their old life. The Bible teaching was subordinated to their cultural understanding.

We can also miss the truth in the process of translation from the original languages. Many concepts in the Bible are not easily conveyed into another language. As an example, the word “you” in English can refer to a single person, “you are my friend”, or a group of people, “you are all my friends”. In the King James Bible the translators used “thee, thou, ye and you” to help English readers know when one or more people was being referred to. In modern translations that distinction has now been lost.

Church traditions also blind us to the fuller truth of God’s Word. People raised in a traditional, hierarchical church system tend to read the Bible in support of that system. People in non-traditional, loosely-knit fellowships read the same Bible but find in it support for their system. Those who believe in baptism of believers readily find it in the New Testament. Those who embrace infant baptism do not notice the texts which describe believers’ baptism. And so it goes.

Popular cultural ideas also distort our reading of the Bible. In the past half century much emphasis has been given to removing gender references in the Bible. He is taken to mean ‘he or she’. Brothers is taken to mean ‘brothers and sisters’. Yet in some Bible passages it is clear that the term ‘brothers’ only means the men. So how do we now confidently recognise teachings that are directed at men, when we have generalised the term to mean ‘men and women’?

The Great Commission Has Been Abducted

Jesus’ Great Commission is one of those Bible truths that has been abducted along the way. English readers have lost some of the import of the Great Commission by the process of translation, and the church’s development of dedicated mission ministries has also stolen truth from us.

So, let’s take a look at the Great Commission given at the end of the Book of Matthew.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:19,20.

Interpreting the Great Commission

What is the key impetus of this command of Jesus? For many it has been on the word ‘Go’! They have seen this as a missionary mandate, commanding Christians to be ready and willing to traverse continents, cross oceans, learn foreign languages and commit to a lifetime of ex-patriot ministry.

Some have seen the importance of baptising converts. Taking the rite of baptism to foreign lands has been an important issue in the minds of some missionaries and churches.

Various teaching ministries have been set up in pursuit of the command to teach all nations.

How do we get to the grist of the passage?

Back to the Greek

The Greek language offers us a level of meaning that is not readily transferred into an English translation. That is in the ranking of verbs.

In English we do not have a mechanism for giving weight to verbs in a sentence. So “Go and buy me a coffee” has two verbs of equal weight in English. However, the real intent may have little to do with coffee and much to do with telling someone to get lost! “GO and buy me a coffee”. But then it could be that you are desperate for a caffeine fix and so the key word is BUY, not go. In that case the going is an incidental part of the process of you getting your coffee. “Go and BUY me a coffee!”

In Greek it is possible and usual to give weight to verbs in a sentence, so the reader will immediately know which verb has priority and which is subordinate to it. That gives Greek students an advantage over those who can only read the English version.

My son, Stephen, took a look at the Great Commission in the original Greek and came up with an interesting discovery. There are several verbs in that commission and they do not have equal weight.

Greek Verbs in the Great Commission

In the Great Commission the key verb is the instruction to “make disciples”. This has been translated as “teach” in the King James Version (KJV). The going and the baptising are ancillary, though appropriate supportive actions.

The command is not focussed on going. It is not a missionary command in the classic sense of sending people to the nations. It is about making disciples. That will likely necessitate going to the people, but the going is not imperative.

Similarly, baptism is an outworking of the process of making disciples, but making disciples is the key.

Stephen’s notes on the Greek verbs has been posted on the Chris Field Blog Forum at: http://chrisfieldblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=20.msg39#msg39

Church Tradition Has Abducted the Great Commission

Following my son’s explanation of what he found in the Greek verbs, I realised that the Great Commission has also been abducted by church tradition over the past century.

The advent of the global missionary societies in the late 1800’s has caused a perception to be built in the minds of most Christians, contrary to the command of Christ. We now take it for granted that there are people who are called to be missionaries. Those people will have a missionary call. They will go to missionary training. They will work with a missionary association. They will raise missionary funding. They will go to an approved missionary field. They will work as missionaries. They will come back home on furlough to raise further funding for the missionary work. They will send out missionary reports to their supporters. And so on.

As a consequence the rest of the church members and Christians feel relieved of the missionary burden. Going and preaching to the nations is now a profession, like plumbing or accountancy. Only those who have engaged in that profession need give it any thought. The others have other things to think about.

And therein is the abduction of the Great Commission.

Jesus’ Great Commission

Jesus commanded His followers to “make disciples”. This is a command given to us all. Every Christian is to be a disciple maker, especially good at teaching people how to follow Christ’s instructions.

But now most Christians have abdicated that responsibility to the clergy and missionary forces. The idea that ordinary church members should be engaged in discipling people is foreign to most church attenders.

So, here again the Great Commission has been stolen from our consciousness. It has been distorted and relegated to special missionary services, as only relevant to those who are going overseas.

Both the English translation and church practice are keeping us from the truth.

Led by the Spirit

This is just an example. There must be other key Bible truths which are being lost to us because of similar, non-sinister developments. Then there will be some truths that are deliberately misrepresented as well. To counter these influences we need to have the quickening work of the Holy Spirit involved in our daily Bible study.

As the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth we may at first be resistant, since it may challenge our surface reading of the text or our church traditions. Be open to the instruction of God.

However, this is not to say that you should reject the clear teaching of the Bible or the truths embraced by the church because you have some whacky private interpretation. If your interpretations put you at variance with other Christians you need to be careful of deception and self-serving ideas. Submit yourself to godly and learned people.

But, having said that, I encourage you to read the Bible daily and to seek the Holy Spirit’s illumination of His Word. As you discover inspired insights you will find that Bible believing people will support them and be built up by them, even as you are built up by what the Lord is showing them.

Clara Swain is the World’s First Woman Missionary Doctor

January 3, 2009 by Chris Field 2 Comments

Clara Swain arrived in Bombay, India on January 3 1870, and went on to set up the first Women’s hospital in Asia. Her travels had been overwhelmingly difficult and gruelling, including a sea voyage that caused her to note, “I cannot bear to think of the sea, it treated me so badly”.

She had graduated from the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia the previous year, at the age of 35.

Rev D W Thomas, working in Bareilly, in northwest India, identified the need for a lady physician to attend the many women who needed medical attention. Male doctors were not allowed to attend women and high caste women were kept in seclusion, mostly attended by unskilled girls who could hardly meet their medical needs.

In Clara’s day women doctors were rare. The first woman to qualify in medicine was Elizabeth Blackwell, who graduated from medical school when Clara was 14. Clara did not even consider a calling to medicine until a dying woman physician put out a call for women to go into medicine. Clara prayed long about the calling and did not graduate until she was 35.

Clara Swain responded to the need in Indian and thus became “the first woman missionary doctor in the world.”

On her first day at her base in northwest India she treated fourteen patients, and soon found herself deluged with patients – 100 in the first six weeks. Within three months she had opened a dispensary and begun a medical class with fourteen native girls and three married women, who graduated in 1873. Single-handed, she lectured on anatomy, physiology, materia medica, and diseases of women and children. Training the girls proved so demanding that she did not attempt a second school, but the call had gone out for more women doctors to follow Clara’s example, and in time many women doctors came to her aid.

A need for a women’s hospital soon became obvious. Nearby a Moslem prince had 42 acres containing wells and gardens and a large house. This Nawab of Rampore had declared that he would never allow a Christian missionary into his city. Dr Swain travelled to Rampore and spent much time in prayer before meeting the prince. When she made her timid appeal that his land might be purchased, the prince replied, “Take it! Take it! I give it to you with much pleasure.”

On 4 January, 1874, the first women’s hospital in the Orient was opened. Three thousand patients passed through the doors during the first twelve months.

In 1885, whilst treating the wife of the Rajah of Rajputana, Clara Swain accepted a royal invitation to become court physician. This position she occupied for ten years.

During all her 25 years in India she treated thousands of patients and “considered herself primarily an evangelist”. She was there to bear witness to the One who was able to heal the sin-sick soul.

She wrote extensive letters sharing about the poor spiritual state of the women in India. One woman wanted to worship Clara’s sewing machine. The women had all been warned of dire consequences if they learned to read. Superstition trapped them. And baby girls were killed without any sense of remorse from the parents.

She also endured many hardships and dangers, starting with her voyage to India and including a life-threatening flood and mudslide, spending the night outdoors due to horses that would not move, and a close call while riding an elephant.
In 1896, due to continued poor health, Clara returned to the USA, but was able to visit India again in 1906. Clara’s letters were published in book forming 1909, titled, A Glimpse of India.

Clara Swain died on Christmas Day 1910, back in her hometown of Castile, New York, in 1910, where she had been born 76 years previously.

(Reference: Guardians of the Great Commission, by Ruth Tucker)

This post is based on notes by my late friend Donald Prout. I have updated these historical posts with information gleaned from other sources. I am indebted to Don for awakening in me an interest in Church History. Don’s notes can be found at: www.donaldprout.com

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Missing the Truth

The Great Commission Has Been Abducted

Interpreting the Great Commission

Back to the Greek

Greek Verbs in the Great Commission

Church Tradition Has Abducted the Great Commission

Jesus’ Great Commission

Led by the Spirit

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