Missionaries

Nkol Mvolan, meaning ''Hill of Help," is a Presbyterian station in Cameroons, West Africa. There, deeper in the jungle than any other Presbyterian missionaries, Dr. & Mrs. George W. Thorne tend the bodies and souls of blackamoors, some of whom still vividly remember their cannibal fathers and cannibal mothers.

Last Sunday night and the Sunday before, a short-wave broadcasting station in Pittsburgh took a half hour of worship to the thousands of Presbyterians, Baptist and Methodist missionaries in every land.

The Thornes in their house of thatch heard the words of scripture and a prayer in their own language; and also a sermon by Bishop Adna Leonard who concluded that the U. S. in the midst of all its troubles needed, even more than new laws, ''the . . . spiritual note which will lift up Jesus Christ as the burning centre of the Church's faith to you devoted missionaries who are carrying the gospel of the Son of God to the Christless millions of the earth."

The Thornes waited expectantly through the service, and presently they heard: "To Dr. & Mrs. George Thorne. . . . Fred and Mary join us in wishing you a happy Thanksgiving. It is our prayer that you may be able to carry your heavy load with faith and courage."

Other missionaries got messages too. In a snug hacienda in Caracas, Venezuela, Presbyterian Dorothy Parnell got "from mother and father and Sister Harriet" this message: "Five minutes after you have heard this message read Hebrews 13:20-21. We will read it in unison with you though the seas roll between us." The Parnells read:

Now the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. . . . Make you perfect in every good work to do His will . . . through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.

Next Sunday and many Sundays to come, worship and messages will go forth from Pittsburgh at 11:30 p. m. E. S.T.

U. S. friends can listen on KDKA and part of the NBC network.

Meanwhile there was drawing to a close last week a nation-wide reaffirmation of faith in Jesus Christ and His final command: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

A team of 20 missionaries, sponsored by no less than 84 different denominational boards, set out last September for a tour of 29 major U.S. cities. Everywhere, audiences crowded upon them--a total last week of 300,000 people. Heading the team were Dr. Eli Stanley Jones, famed as an evangelist to high caste Hindus and author of Christ of the Indian Road, and Hankow's Bishop Logan Herbert Roots, able and deeply beloved churchman. Potent speakers have also been President Herman Chen-en Liu of Shanghai University, whose grandfather became a Christian: well-poised Miss Wu, whom all China knows as president of a handsome women's college at Nanking; and Dr. Charles Roger ("Charlie'') Watson, Cairo-born president of the American University at Cairo.

The Team was in Oklahoma City last week, on the last leg of their trip which is to end in Philadelphia Dec. 15. As they have in other cities, they began their first day by breakfasting with the Oklahoma churchmen who had made arrangements for their visit. Then followed a crowded mass meeting at First Presbyterian Church. Later the Team deployed to speak in separate churches. Finally another mass meeting in Oklahoma City College auditorium where students presented a missionary play, Ba Thane.

Throughout the tour, little has been said of the Laymen's Report on missions which raised deepest theological questions, such as whether or not Christ should be proclaimed to the heathen as God (TIME, Nov. 28, 1932 et seq.). Nothing has been said of oldtime ''Hell-fire for heathens"; much of good works for all humans. Missionary Jones loves the Cross (which the Report does not mention), distrusts syncretism (fusion of religions, which he believes the Report advocates). In Boston he cried: '"Our syncretism is not a patchwork but a Personality. Not our Western civilization but Christ is our message and what the world needs. ..."

Incidents of the tour:

P: In Rochester over 60 separate meetings were held. Lake Avenue Baptist Church resolved to raise $1,000 for Dr. Liu's University.

P: Chicago has four "Gold Coast" churches--the Fourth Presbyterian, New England Congregational, St. James Episcopal, St. Chrysostom's Episcopal. The missionary Team united these for the first time in a community service.

P: Said a Sioux City pastor: "We can never be the same men and women that we were; there just must be a deeper intensity in our devotion and love for our Lord; more of passionate desire for the redemption of man and of society--of yearning for the coming of His Kingdom, and a clearer understanding of our part in that work."

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