History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume II.Anderson, Rufus
Religion
History of the missions of the American board of commissioners for foreign missions to the oriental churches, Volume II.
Anderson, Rufus
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; Missions -- Eastern churches
John Concordance, the blind preacher at Havadoric, died at that
place in March, 1869, greatly beloved and lamented, and not by his
own people alone. The Armenians vied with the Protestants in
attending to the burial services, and especially in seeing that
Hohannes' particular requests were carried out to the letter, and
both classes were genuine mourners at his grave. His influence in
the matter of consecrating one tenth of one's income has been
extensively felt; and he practiced what he preached. His salary was
only eight dollars a month, and although he had a wife and child to
support from this, he never failed of giving one tenth into the
"store-house;" thus leaving but little more than seven dollars for
the monthly support of himself and family.
In the year 1868, Dr. Schneider, after a residence at Aintab of a
score of years, returned again to Broosa. It was natural for him to
review the progress of the good work at Aintab during his connection
with it, and his statement will interest the reader.
"I preached my first sermon in Aintab to a company of twenty-five or
thirty in the year 1848. Now, the average audience is near one
thousand, and often rises to twelve or fifteen hundred. Then, there
was a church of only eight members; now, there are two churches,
containing three hundred and seventy-three members. Then, the entire
community of Protestants numbered only forty souls, while at present
there are nineteen hundred, small and great. The number has become
so large, that a division into two separate congregations became a
necessity; and while there was then hardly any native laborer, now
two able native pastors are settled over these two churches. In the
beginning, next to nothing was done in the way of self-support and
general benevolence; while now, these communities pay the salaries
of their pastors and school-teachers, and all their other expenses.
Besides this, nearly five hundred dollars in gold were given for
general benevolence, and more than nine hundred towards a second
church edifice. All this in a community where a day-laborer receives
thirteen and a half cents per day, and a mason or carpenter
thirty-two cents. In view of their poverty, and the exactions of the
government, this is extraordinary liberality. More than one half of
the male members of these churches give a tithe of their income to
benevolent objects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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