Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

The
offering
of first-
fruits.
The
principle
of selfhelp.
XII
SELF-SUPPORT
A BEGINNING of a systcm of self-help was made as early
as 1863, when the custom of offering first-fruits to God
was introduced at Kalasapad, partly for its own sake,
partly to counteract the popularity of the festivals in
honour of the village goddess Peddamma, which were
often held after a good harvest. As early as 1866 it was
recorded that in the Mutyalapad district all the schools
and chapels in the villages had been erected without
S.P.G. aid. This custom has been maintained up to the
present time.
The question of self-help is, for several reasons, a
most important one. It is the writer's experience
that to become the financial patron or the creditor of
Indian Christians is absolutely destructive of spiritual
influence over them. In the early days of Protestant
missions there was a strong temptation to do this,
when the missionary found himself surrounded by poor
persons in a condition which seemed to him deplorable
and hardly removed from starvation. An exceedingly
small expenditure on his part would relieve want, and
in return he would receive a flood of religious talk.
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