Baptist Mission Retrenchment
Under the title, "The Tragedy of Northern Baptist Foreign Missions," the Watchman-Examiner, of March 16, told a sobering and really heartbreaking story of retrenchment. Terming it "a major disaster," and declaring that "during ten years our missionary staff has been reduced more than half," and "for ten years our missionary receipts have been going through a precipitous decline," the story continues with this startling sentence: "The income of the Foreign Mission Board has declined a million dollars in the last ten years that is, from approximately $1,800,000 to $800,000." The opening paragraph reads:
"Owing to the continued decline in denominational giving, all the cooperating agencies must shorten their plans for the coming year. The Foreign Mission Board is compelled to reduce its budget by $60,000. This means that not only can no new missionaries be sent out—except as specifics—but others must be retired or called home. All mission and station appropriations are to suffer further cuts. The secretaries at the home base will be reduced from eleven to seven, and the number of office workers brought down considerably,"
The sad sequel is set forth thus:
"The next step will be to retire from a field. Nothing can prevent it with cuts such as the Foreign Mission Board must now take. Vertical operations will mean that we are steadily ceasing to operate foreign missions. Let us face the issue realistically, With the steady decline in missionary giving, the Northern Baptist Convention is to all intents and purposes on the way out as a foreign missionary enterprise."
Revival the Only Remedy
Roger Babson, noted statistician and economic expert, in addition to his regular business-barometer service, issues periodic "special bulletins" which are sometimes remarkable for their spiritual perception. At the close of 1938, his experts sent out a barometer letter containing this expression: "A change of heart or spiritual revival by the American people may be necessary before this trend line again shoots upward." Writing over his own signature on "America's Present Trend," in his special bulletin of January 2, 1939, Mr. Babson says:
"I agree to the above, but I know that the problem is much deeper than my experts outline. Furthermore, my recent experience as national moderator, of one of the great church denominations demonstrates this as a fact : An effective 'spiritual revival' will not be brought about by hymn singing or contributing to missionary causes. Churchmen must take their tasks seriously, must raise more, serve more, testify more, and unite more. Yes, unless churches keep open more and accomplish more, they will first be taxed, then persecuted, and finally confiscated. Is it reasonable to believe that the antichurch movement which started in Russia and is now raging in Europe and Mexico will not spread to this country? I do not uphold fascism. It seems as though Japan, Germany, Italy, and other countries are returning to barbarism. The spread of fascism, however, cannot be checked, either by legislation or by battleships, so long as democracies are governed as at present. America ultimately must accept either government by benevolent autocracy or revolution, unless the nation is awakened spiritually."
Then, discussing the basic nature of a revival, Mr. Babson, former moderator of the Congregational Christian Church, adds:
"It takes a long time for a nation to bring about a real spiritual revival. It must be bred. In short, spiritually and intelligently minded people must raise more children than those who are not so minded, if democracy is to survive. Otherwise, we shall be forced into fascism or else must return to be governed by an aristocracy for which our nation's founders planned. We cannot continue indefinitely as at present. We are surely headed for disaster so long as the weaker groups are multiplying more rapidly than the better groups. Hence, much of the new-deal legislation is merely painting rotting timbers. Democracy, as now set up, cannot continue. Its only hope is to breed an aristocracy of character, health. and intelligence, and let them rule. This requires time and sacrifice.
"This above means that if the churches are to bring about a spiritual revival, they must inaugurate a campaign to raise and train more spiritually and intelligently minded children. The first command which we find in the Bible is : 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.' Jesus held up 'little children' as the most important of possessions. Yet today our strong churches are drying up from lack of children, while denominational secretaries are quibbling over theology and seeking funds to maintain their own jobs. . . . History clearly teaches that prosperity to endure must be based upon sacrifice—a willingness to do what is best for the group as a whole, The ten commandments and the multiplication table cannot much longer be ignored. We must again recognize that good children and fertile land are the primary assets of a nation, All else are mere tools or scenery."
