During 1958, in the Southern Asia Division, 355 evangelists assisted by 198 other workers conducted 57 city and 278 village efforts. Between January 1 and December 31, 2,057 persons were baptized, 20 churches were organized, and 12 chapels and church buildings were dedicated. In addition to salaries and personal expenses of the workers, a total of Rs.210,000.00 ($41,000.00) was required to finance these evangelistic campaigns.
In Southern Asia accessions to the faith have been made more slowly than in some other divisions. Through the years it has not been unusual for an apparently well-qualified evangelist to conduct a full-scale effort with a mere handful of converts as the visible result. Nevertheless, it is heartening to observe the progressively increasing rate at which the net yearly growth in membership is taking place. Back in 1928 the reported net increase for the year was 116. By 1938 it had gone up to 445. In 1948 it amounted to 1,081. For the next decade the average annual net gain in membership rose again, reaching 1,575 in 1958. In that year more people were baptized than in any previous year in the history of our work. At the close of 1958 the membership was 20,580—approximately double that reported ten years before.
In this part of the world field, as elsewhere, the proclamation of the Advent message produces preachers. The remarkable increase in the number, efficiency, and productivity of indigenous evangelists in recent years is one of the most encouraging features connected with public evangelism in this division. On occasion the writer, arriving unannounced at places where national brethren were conducting efforts, was delighted to see large audiences of representative people who had been attracted to the services by personal invitation, appropriate advertising, and good preaching. My heart thrilled with joy and hope as I listened to native sons tactfully and convincingly present the message for this time.
In order to obtain a true picture of the public evangelism program being carried on in the division during 1958 by our national workers, questionnaires were sent out to the union ministerial association secretaries. The returns reveal that national evangelists are preaching with power and are being rewarded with success. Away up in the hills of western Burma one worker baptized 20 people. Across the border in Assam another had won 28. Elsewhere in the Northeast Union each of two evangelists had prepared 23 for church membership. A western Indian brother had garnered in 33 souls. Down in South India the efforts of three workers had yielded 45, 37, and 27 baptisms respectively. The reports of our unions show that twelve of the most fruitful national evangelists had baptized 300 people—an average of 25 each for the year under review.
The degrees of success realized thus far by our national evangelists is probably due to a combination of factors and influences. The ministerial training being given at Spicer Memorial College is turning out more and more informed and purposeful young ministers. The courses in Bible Exegesis, Evangelistic Procedures, and the Spirit of Prophecy offered by the 1955 Theological Seminary Extension School strengthened the faith of the more than one hundred workers in attendance and prepared them for better service. To these can be added the refreshing stimulus of the annual ministerial institutes and workshops. Another contributing feature strongly supported by the division, union, and local leaders is the plan of arranging for two public evangelistic efforts each year. Finally, the national evangelists—sons of India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon —with enlarged vision and consecrated talents, are devoting themselves more zealously to the preaching of the Word—the highest and holiest mission ever committed to mankind.
The burden for the salvation of more than 550 million judgment-bound souls presses heavily upon the hearts of the evangelists in Southern Asia. If left to bear this burden alone, they would be crushed by the tremendous weight. In view of the unwarned and untouched multitudes in these lands, the work seems to have barely begun, and humanly speaking, at the present rate of accomplishment it never could be completed. More people are being born every year than are being reached. If every active ordained and licensed minister were assigned an average portion of the Lord's vineyard in this division, each would be responsible for more than 2.4 million persons! Truly a gigantic responsibility! A mighty challenge! Nevertheless, it is our firm conviction that the end will come soon, for we believe the Lord, in His love and mercy, will fulfill His promise of latter-rain power to make possible a grand, glorious, and speedy finishing of His work. To this end His chosen ministers in Southern Asia have dedicated their lives.
