Lure of Africa for the

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THE LURE OF AFRICA FOR THE

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

SERMON SUGGESTIONS EXCLUSIVELY FOR PASTORS

By

Rev. Cleland B. McAfee, D.D.

and Ralph E. Diffendorfer

THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 150 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

AFRICA FOR 1917-18 THE LURE OF AFRICA By CORNELIUS H. PATTON. D.D.

A most interesting study of the entire continent. Dis¬ cusses in delightfully graphic style the mighty problems confronting Missions in Africa—Mohammedanism, Pagan¬ ism, the new Industrialism—and presents Africa’s con¬ vincing testimony to the new saving power of Christ.

Price, postpaid, cloth, 60 cents; paper, 40 cents.

UNDER THE CRESCENT AND AMONG THE KRAALS By LENA LEONARD FISHER

A study of Methodism in Africa with special emphasis on the needs of the women and children and the work of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society.


METHODIST TRAILS IN THE AFRICAN JUNGLE By MARJORIE BARSTOW

This booklet tells you the true story of the work that is done by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Meth¬ odist Episcopal Church, and the work that is yet to come; of the hardships and adventures, of the purposes and achievements of the missionary. But more than that you will feel after reading it, that the sympathetic touch of the writer has revealed to you the hearts of the people, sketching in the pathetic and humorous incidents which reveal the black man as not so different from the white man after all.

It is written with the simplicity and friendly understand¬ ing of human psychology that characterizes Methodist endeavor the world over.

Profusely illustrated with beautiful pictures and a magazine cover.

Free to all mission study class leaders. For general circulation, 15 cents.

AFRICAN ADVENTURERS By JEAN KENYON MACKENZIE

A series of charming stories of African life, for study and reading by girls and boys.


HELPS FOR LEADERS For each class reported to the Department of Mission¬

ary Education, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, there will be sent free Helps for Leaders on The Lure of Africa, a pamphlet containing the aims, Scripture lesson, ques¬ tions, special assignments and references for each chapter of the text-book. This is exclusively for the leader’s use. A blank, reporting the class, will be found in the front of the book, The Lure of Africa.

THE LURE OF AFRICA FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Is It Any Business of the Methodist Pastor?

ERTAINLY during the winter of 1917- 18 every serious pastor will have plenty of business on hand. It will be the most pressing year in the lives of most of them, up to this time. And the sub¬

ject for mission study is—Africa! With the war on, with national strain everywhere, with homes broken up, with need for comfort and relief on all sides, how can anybody be expected to think of Africa, of all places? Is there any hope that mission study classes can be held and made to go with any spirit? Yes, not only hope, but peculiar reason this year for not only one class in a church but for the entire member¬ ship.

For one thing, the war has struck Africa hard and is being waged there and partly over issues that come to their sharpest in Africa.

It is a Home Mission secretary, not a Foreign Mis¬ sion leader, who said in an address last spring: “Africa is almost more the seat of this war than is Europe, though its territory is well-nigh free of the trampling armies. The high-handed exploitation of Africa’s natural resources and its native peoples has already been written down as the primary cause of this con¬ flict, and the historian fifty and one hundred years hence will see that more clearly still.”

3

Look at the map in the back of Dr. Patton’s book,

“The Lure of Africa,’’ the text-book for the year.

Note that practically all of this enormous continent

is controlled by European governments. Abyssinia,

Liberia, and Sierra Leone alone remain free and inde¬

pendent. In Africa, the principle of nationality is not

known except in these three small states. What will

the settlement of the great war have to say about

“colonies” in Africa? Take in the fact that all the

yellow in Africa’s map except a small portion has

changed in the last few months to red or green, has

ceased to be German and has become English or

French. Notice on the map that if German East

Africa should become red permanently (and there is a

recent report that the Germans have been driven out),

there will be a wide band of red from the Cape to

Cairo, and when you say that, think of the dreamer

Cecil Rhodes. Remember the change in the control of

Egypt. Or read any of the later literature from the

mission fields of any Church. It is no diversion from

the war to study Africa. It is wholly possible that

Africa will feel more permanent and final effects of

this war than any other part of the earth’s surface.

The more intelligent men become about Africa, the

more clearly they will understand some of the main

things that will happen at the close of the war. The

Africa section of the school geography zvill be worse

out of date than almost any other part of it when the

dust settles after the zvar is over.

Indeed, the Situation Has a Special Claim on

the Pastor

i. The movement of the main forces of the King¬

dom must not be lost sight of in watching the nearer

movements of smaller bodies. This war is not a thing

4

by itself, great as it is. It is part of a whole, and

the whole, as every Christian pastor believes and

teaches, is within God’s great plan. Tremendous as

is the significance of the war and momentous as

its outcome is sure to be, it is only a colossal item in

the bigger thing that is on hand. The pastor cannot

lose sight of the purpose of the gospel which he

preaches. His people must not become so engrossed

in the pressing demand of the hour that they cannot

keep sensitive to the enterprise to which the Church

is committed supremely. The spiritual fight that is

on does not take away meaning from the physical

fight; it adds meaning. This is the chance of the

pastor to keep that fact clear in the minds of his

people.

2. The war has much to do with race relations.

How are people of different sorts to get on together?

Everywhere there is a certain aristocracy of race posi¬

tion, nowhere much more evident than in America.

Does it not surprise you to read in Dr. Patton’s

book (page 181) : “At every point in his work the mis¬

sionary is confronted by the race problem. Probably

in no part of the world do the passions and the prej¬

udices which separate race from race reach a greater

intensity than here.” He says that our race problem

“is a mild affair” compared with some parts of Africa!

Then it must amount to something in Africa.

A gospel that teaches that God has “made of one

every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the

earth,” cannot be indifferent to such a problem. When

the chance comes to deal with such a question, and on

such a large scale, the Christian pastor has his oppor¬

tunity. The people of the Church will have a call to

think about some of the races on which they have

looked down and to learn a 'better spirit of brother-

S

hood from the study. This is a supremely good year

for the effort.

3. It is in Africa that the two great missionary

faiths of the world have come to closest grips. The

Cross and the Crescent are not so much campaigning

against each other, as both are out to win Africa.

Mohammedanism is the most virile faith which Chris¬

tianity has to meet. For the first time in history both

have now come upon a spiritual basis for their propa¬

ganda. No government is back of either of them now.

Egypt has passed out of even nominal Turkish control.

Arabia, containing their most sacred cities, is no longer

dominated by Constantinople. The breaking of the

Turkish empire is almost inevitable. At any rate, in

Africa, where both meet as missionary faiths, where

neither is indigenous to the soil, they meet on more

nearly equal terms than ever before in history. No

European war is changing that fact. If we Christian

leaders are willing to be indifferent to it, the Moslem

leaders are not willing.

What this struggle means for the women of Africa,

Mrs. Fisher has discussed in some of the most impas¬

sioned pages of her book.

Other countries may furnish challenges of other

sorts, but Africa furnishes the keenest existing call to

any man who believes that the faith of Christ has more

power than the next most vital faith of the world. We

have much to learn and much to avoid in the methods

of Islam, but our children fifty years from now will

find Africa religiously pretty much what we let it

become in our own day. The more the Church knows

about the situation the better off Africa will be. And

the pastor leads the Church into its new fields of

knowledge.

6

What Can the Pastor do About It?

1. He can read the Lure of Africa through with

a good black pencil in hand. He will also find many

of his women members using Mrs. Fisher’s Under the

Crescent and Among the Kraals. The least he can do

is to read this through. The fact is that these are

almost dangerously quotable books. When they have

said a thing it is difficult to say it any other way

without feeling that it is not quite so well said. But

if a pastor has not formed the habit of arresting marks

on the margin of his books, this is his chance.

If the pastor does not read Marjorie Barstow’s

Methodist Trails in the African Jangle, he will miss

one of the real pieces of literature which the campaign

has produced.

2. He can read some good encyclopedia article on

Africa, which will come at the subject from another

angle, and will give him a sense of knowing more than

he is obliged to tell in talking about it. If the new

Britannica is available, the article and the map are

well worth two or three full mornings.

3. He can give many talks during the year to the

children in Sunday School, Church services, and per¬

sonally. He can help the young people with their Ep-

worth League meeting for Feb. 17th, on “Our African

Missions.” Africa is shot through with romance, espe¬

cially in its Christian history. Begin with Christ in

Egypt, the land where He probably learned to say His

first earthly word. That makes a fine background for

talking Africa to children.

Another fine Bible story is in Jeremiah 38 and 39,

the story of a kind-hearted negro of whom most chil¬

dren never heard. He was from Africa. Tell Dr.

7

Patton's story (page 51) from one of our own Meth¬

odist fields, of the door with a thousand dents, to

illustrate courage. When calling the children to be¬

come Christians, try his story (page 101) of the short¬

est confession of faith, which yet covers it so well.

Announce “The Message from a Dead Man’s Boot”

(page 144, 145) or tell how Livingstone's body was

recognized by the scar of the lion’s paw on his arm, or

how Mary Slessor went from a factory to be the

leader of a whole community in Africa, or get the

children started on Miss Mackenzie’s book for them,

called “African Adventurers.” Tell how the boys go

to school in Cairo and then tell how they do it in

Assiut. Get the “Life of Stanley”—it has a dozen

striking stories for children in it. Try any of these

even in public school addresses and see if they do not

carry great lessons in them.

4. He can interest his Sunday School classes by

suggesting that for this year they adopt names of

African heroes and at the proper times be prepared to

tell something about the one for whom they are named.

No country yields to this treatment so well.

Class No. 18 or Miss Jones’ class will mean a great

deal more to itself if it becomes for this year the Liv¬

ingstone, or the Moffat, or the Mary Slessor, or the

Melville Cox, or the Agnes McAllister class, and it

will be an advantage if the name is given for this year

only, to accent its special interest. The great explorers

ought to be put in, and Gordon of Khartum, and if

any class is eager to be called the Roosevelt, it might

be arranged by making them discover the points where

he ran across mission work.

5. The prayer meetings offer a special opportunity.

Material on the various phases of Africa is abundant

and several profitable evenings can be arranged by a 8

little effort. One can be on Africa in the Bible, re¬

membering that Egypt is part of Africa—a good con¬

cordance helping out.

Another, for which educational people could be

made responsible, could be on education in Africa.

It would cover the Moslem University in El Azhar

mosque in Cairo and its methods of instruction, the

Gordon Memorial University at Khartum (where the

Mohammedan faith is taught but not the Christian,

though it is the gift of Christian people in memory

of one of the greatest Christians of modern times!) ;

and the missionary institutions, including our own

College of West Africa in Monrovia, the work of

Andrew Murray in South Africa, and the simpler

schools of the various missions. Teachers would work

up such a meeting with interest. Business men might

be asked to take part in another to show what trade

we have with Africa; including the liquor current

that runs there sometimes; and they can be urged to

do it because the principal missionary of Islam is

always the merchant, while many of our merchants

from Christian lands are obstacles in the way of the

spread of our faith. Medical work in Africa, wTith its

interesting contrast to native “cures,” ought to con¬

cern the doctors. A meeting on the value of the home

to civilization could be enriched with studies of

African contrasts. Several people could be enlisted

in preparing a meeting to study Mohammedanism and

Christianity as the two active missionary faiths, with

special prayer for all workers among Mohammedans.

Let the pastor always remember that virtually he

alone has access to the rich material of the Annual

Report of the Board of Foreign Missions unless he

makes it available for others.

A

9

There is Much that the Pastor Might Preach

One never gets away from the impertinence of tell¬

ing men who know their message so well what phases

of it might be accented, but so many hints come to us

all that we have learned to take those that fit us and let

the rest go. Every man knows his pulpit and its needs

better than any other man, and he will know how to

avoid what is suggested to him and how to use it.

Africa furnishes some good material incidental to

the main themes which come up every year. In put¬

ting in the background for a solid sermon on the faith

of the Church about the person of Christ, it might be

helpful to notice some of the great discussions of the

past, lest people think the Church has been supine in

its thinking, and when the pastor blows the dust off

his books and comes to the Monophysite controversy,

he can tell his people (without mentioning the name!)

that this idea of the person of Christ continues in

Africa still and then use the Coptic Church as an

illustration. When he preaches his temperance ser¬

mon, the Africa liquor traffic which so shames Chris¬

tian civilization ought to be dealt with. A strong

sermon in the field of history can be on “When the

Christian Church Retreated,” and the story of Northern

Africa can be told, by means of a slight review of once

familiar Church History. The texts could be a com¬

bination of Exodus 14:15 and Matthew 28:19. In

the presence of the story of that retreat which lost to

the faith territory which it once had, the Church can

be challenged to recover the lost ground, not like Cru¬

saders seeking an empty tomb, but like followers of

the living Christ.

Several sermons directly bearing on Africa of today

can be suggested:

Acts 8:26-39, with the theme, “The First Foreign 10

Missionary of the Christian Faith.” The story of the

Ethiopian eunuch has lost all meaning in some places

except as a starting point for the discussion of the

mode of baptism, both sides finding comfort and re¬

assurance from it. For this once, that subject might

be omitted, and the big meaning brought out. The

body of the sermon could be the contrast between

what he saw then and what he would see now if he

took the same journey: then the only Christian be¬

liever; now one of thousands all over the land.

Jeremiah 13:23, with Mark 10:27, would furnish

the basis for a sermon on “Transformations Made

Possible by the Grace of God.” Illustrations from

Africa would bring out the truth. The Ethiopian does

not change his outer skin, but God changes his heart

and then his skin does not matter. Other schemes for

making the change fail, but with God it proves pos¬

sible.

Galatians 6:17, the meaning carefully looked up

and explained, would open the way for the use of the

story of Livingstone and the fact that the only mark

of identification for his body after the months of toil

in bringing it back to England from Ilala were the

scars on his arm which the lion’s paw had made when

he was out on his errand for the Lord Jesus. Use can

be made of the custom of some people in Africa to

brand themselves on the face to show their tribe and

rank. Other missionary heroisms from Africa will

come to mind. The application is obvious. When a

man is branded for Christ, he knows where he gets

his orders and men cannot trouble him. Livingstone

would not come home with Stanley because his work

was not done. He bore the brand of the Lord Jesus

and took orders from Him only.

Two sermons, on succeeding Sabbaths „or at a

month’s interval, could be on “The Call of the Dark

Continent to the Church of America,” and “The Mes¬

sage of the Dark Continent to the Church of Amer¬

ica.” The first would deal with the need of Africa,

and could be on Psalm 68: 31 or Acts 16: 9. It could

treat of the general facts of the land at first, but

should get quickly to the three main lines: physical,

social (including intellectual), and spiritual need. We

are surfeited with descriptions of the “simple” lives

of the heathen who ought not to be disturbed by mis¬

sions. Pastors have a chance to say some very

definite, but very accurate and not emotional, words

on this subject. Dr. Patton’s and Mrs. Fisher’s books

will help here greatly.

The second sermon would deal with the marvel¬

ous religious movement in the territories of the Meth¬

odist Episcopal Missions. It could set out from Acts

2 and its story of Pentecost; nothing feebler will do

justice to what is happening as our missionaries preach

and teach the gospel to “every man in his own tongue.”

Before this sermon is prepared, be sure to read Miss

Barstow’s “Methodist Trails” Movement is rapid

beyond common belief even during the war. These

wonderful movements must challenge the home

Church; if Africa can have such manifestations of

the power of the Spirit, we can have them also. Be

sure to include the whole range of the work; the in¬

gatherings of the saved, the missionary spirit, the care

of the girls and boys, the development of consistent

Christian life, and the spirit of industry and self-

respect, the increase of brotherhood among peoples

long at strife.

A series of evening sermons on Heroic Lives, five

or six at most, would be doubly appropriate in this

war winter. They might all be taken from the story 12

of Africa to give unity to the series and save the scat¬

tering which usually marks such a series. Variety

would be given by selecting such names as Robert

Moffat, David Livingstone, Henry M. Stanley, Cecil

Rhodes, Mary Slessor, Mackay of Uganda, and Gor¬

don of Khartum. Melville Cox, Agnes McAllister,

William Taylor and Joseph C. Hartzell are our own

incomparable names.

Lord Kitchener’s biography has just been published

and an evening with a Men’s Club could be very profit¬

ably given to it. Without minimizing for an instant

the heroism of the battle-field, the pastor may well

keep in the mind of his young people the heroisms of

the Christian faith and of civilization.

Dr. Patton’s seventh chapter, “Africa the Labo¬

ratory of Christianity,” is specially rich in sermonic

material for the times. High school students would

be interested in a sermon on that very theme, and

care could be given to use terms which are suitable.

In Africa is the crude material, in Christianity is the

formative force, together they give us the chance to

prove our theory. “Perhaps Africa will say the last

word when it comes to Christian evidences” (page

175)- The same chapter suggests a sermon on Christianity

as a Social Force. Dr. Dennis’ volumes on Christian

Missions and Social Progress have nothing more strik¬

ing than their news from Africa. Tell Dr. Patton’s

story of the meeting under the Chickore tree and em¬

phasize that “the change came to these natives as a

community.” It is not always necessary in such a ser¬

mon to tell the people again that social changes do

not conflict with, but rather require, the salvation of

the individual.

Indeed, one of the best illustrations that can be

13

found for the annual sermon on the Bible is this same

meeting under the Chickore tree. Ndhlo-hla-hla, the

evangelist, declared “the little book did it.” A strong

plea can be made on the strength of African expe¬

rience for spiritual and moral regeneration as the

ground of the whole process. “If the history of mis¬

sions in Africa teaches anything, it is the value of

soul transformation as a basis for social improve¬

ment” (page 174).

But no one knows how to do it so well as each pastor

for himself. One young minister writes that Africa

has so gotten hold on him in his preparation for the

winter that he fears he may talk and preach Africa

until his people “see black.” He is thinking of Dan

Crawford’s book, “Thinking Black.” We do not want

quite to do that, but if we should be used to make the

black of Africa unbearable to people who have the

unfailing light, it would be a good service.

14

A UNIQUE BOOK ON MISSIONARY EDUCATION

MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN HOME AND SCHOOL

By RALPH E. DIFFENDORFER Educational Secretary Board of Home Missions and Church

Extension and Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church

Not merely a compilation of methods, but a statement of funda¬ mental principles, the result of fifteen years of original research and experimentation by one of the foremost leaders in religious education.

UNRESERVEDLY COMMENDED

Mr. Diffendorfer's purpose is that of interpreting the principles and setting forth the program of an education that he believes—and we hold, rightly believes—will Christianize both ourselves and those whom in the past we have called "the heathen." .... We com¬ mend it unreservedly to every pastor, superintendent, and teacher.

—Sunday School Journal, January, 1918.

SOUND IN THEORY

It is so sound in educational theory and method and its construction of missionary spirit and effort is so broad that it will have a much wider value than its title indicates.

—Edward P. St. John, Boston University School of Theology.

BEST GENERAL TREATMENT

It is certainly the best general treatment we have of the whole problem of Missionary Education. The point of view is thoroughly Christian and therefore thoroughly social, and the methods proposed are evidently based on a careful study of the best experience. The book not only is crowded with practicable suggestions, but stimulates thinking on the fundamental principles involved.

—Hugh Hnrtshorne, Union Theological Seminary

12M0. 408 PAGES. CLOTH. NET, $1.50, POSTPAID.

-- House ofJGood Books 1

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other part of the world

where missionary influ¬

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been so beneficently ex¬

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valuable results have

been achieved.”

—Hon. Winston Spencer Churchill

Documents

Lure of Africa for the