Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

Editorial NotesBy Walter McCarroll, D.D.A Request from Cyprus Mission. At a businessmeeting in August of the Cyprus Mission, the following resolution was adopted: "That the ForeignMission Board send a representative, either from itsmembers or from Synod, to visit each Mission Field,spending preferably three months at each. Expensesat each field to be paid by the local mission, and thetravel expenses and salary to be arranged by theForeign Mission Board. This request to be presentedas a petition to the Synod of 1956, with the understanding that Synod provide the necessary funds inaddition to the regular budget for Foreign Missions."The Missionary Hour. At the Christian YouthConference held on Troodos the first week in August,under the leadership of our missionaries in Cyprus,one session was given over to addresses from someeight different Missions in the Near East. Therewere representatives from the German-Swiss Evangelical Mission in Upper Egypt, the InternationalChild Evangelism Fellowship in Israel and Cyprus,the Canadian Holiness and the Standard ChurchMission in Egypt, the British and Foreign Bible Society in the Near East, the United Presbyterian Mission in Egypt, the Peniel American Mission in PortSaid, The Presbyterian Mission in Lebanon, andthe Egypt General Mission.This proved to be a very informing and inspiring hour. It was a revelation of the breadth anddepth of the mission work carried on in the NearEast. The central work of the Evangelical Missionis in their hospital in Asswan, with one sub-stationin the north and another in the south. They are endeavoring to train their native helpers so as to 'becapable of bearing the responsibility of the work incase the missionaries are forced to leave. The representative of the Fellowship of Child Evangelismrevealed the world wide extent of the work of ChildEvangelism. Miss Alexander's field is Israeli andCyprus, with a resident worker in each country. Oneform of their ministry is their Teacher TrainingClass, in which they gather together interestedadults and train them to win children, and use themethods and materials of Child Evangelism.The work of the Canadian Holiness Mission andthe Standard Church Mission, is largely in UpperEgypt, and principally in the villages and towns.Both missions have elementary day-schools, and avery fine school for girls in Assiut. They have alsostarted a Bible school in Assiut. A fine four yearcourse of training is offered to candidates for theministry.Mr. Vahan Ekmedkdjian spoke for the work ofthe British and Foreign Bible Society. He is themanager of the Bible Lands Agencywith headquarters in Port Said. If we remember correctly heis a graduate of our American Academy in Larnaca,and is doing a fine piece of work for our Lord. ThisAgency takes in Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Somolilands,the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, southernArabia, and Cyprus. The year 1954 was a recordbreaking one for the sale of the Scriptures in Egyptoveralone,187,000 copies of the Scriptures in scores292of different languages through the services of devoted and faithful colporteurs, over 40 strong. Theirreports show that lives have been enlightened andblessed. The Scriptures in Arabic are now beingprinted in Cairo. Four printing and one bindingHouse work for the Bible Society in Cairo. Theprinting program for this year calls for 80,000Arabic Bibles, 50,000 Arabic New Testaments, besides thousands of Gospels and Portions.The United Presbyterian Mission in Egypt hasbeen celebrating 100 years of uninterrupted service.The 100 years of service has seen the establishmentof the Egyptian Evangelical Church of some 25,000members with its Synod and Presbyteries all working independently of the Mission. This Church hasits own Seminary for training its future ministers,and made history last year by sending its own missionary to work with the American Mission in theSouth Sudan. The Mission conducts a Boys' Collegein Assiut with over 600 students, a Girls Collegein Cairo with 1,000 students, four other girls'secondary schools and four primary and intermediateschools, a hospital in Tanta and one in Assiut, anda Girls' Orphanage in Abassia, and many other activities.The Peniel Mission is a small, interdenominational work located in Port Said. Their work isevangelistic and educational. Their school for morethan fifty years has been an agency for getting thegospel to hundreds of children. A greatly enlargedprayer group has resulted in marked spiritual awakenings and revival. They expressed the longing thatall missionaries and national workers could unite insoul-searching, importunate prayer for an outpouringof God's Spirit upon this spiritually dry Middle East.and its witness to the Lord. Since the first worldwar the policy has been to bring the Arab leadersinto places of responsibility, but this policy has beenthwarted in part by the steady emigration of manyof the leaders and laymen to other parts of theworld. One of the ways ofassisting the church wasby the development of the Larger Parish,whereseveral villages are under one pastor and have a unified Christian education program. One of the requests for prayer was, "That God might raise upfaithful young Arab pastors, willing to consecratetheir lives to the work of Christ in their own country."The Egypt General Mission was represented byMiss Sybil Webb. Their work is primarily amongMoslems. This Mission has about forty missionariesThe Presbyterian Mission in Lebanon was representedby Rev. H. T. LittleJohn. The work in Syria-Lebanon had its beginning as far back as 1825 butcame under the Presbyterian Board alone in 1870.Stations were founded at serveral points throughoutSyria and the Lebanon. The Mission has passedthrough wars, epidemics, and various crisis with theEvangelical Church gradually growing in numberworking in ten stations between Alexandria andHirz,near Minja. Their hospital atShebeen-el-Kanater has 140 beds, and 17,000 new cases havealready been seen this year in out patients. Everyeffort is made that all hear the Gospel by ward lessons, personal interviews, village visiting, conferences, work-classes, and Bible Vacation schools."Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the workCOVENANTER WITNESS