The American Missionary — Volume 37, No. 4, April, 1883Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 37, No. 4, April, 1883
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
Of this there now passes directly to the care of the American
Missionary Association 5 stations, with also an interest in the
Native Missionary field at Devil’s Lake, 4 ordained missionaries,
21 assistant missionaries, 2 churches, Pilgrim Church at Santee
and Shiloh Church at the Sully Station, with 8 native preachers, 5
native teachers, and a church membership of 194.
As has been noticed, the organization of the work from the first
has been on the Presbyterian model, and thus the fruits of the
mission have mostly gone into the Presbyterian connection. The
church at the Fort Sully Station was an exception. It was organized
as a Congregational church. Nevertheless, this Presbyterian cast,
this whole native force, is to be considered as one, and will be
used by whichever denomination is ready to prosecute the work
most vigorously, for the denominationalism of these churches is
not of a radical type, as is instanced by the recent change of
ecclesiastical relations on the part of the Pilgrim Church at
Santee. This is the original mother church, but in order to come
into closer and more sympathetic relations with the churches that
support the Santee Training School, it voted cheerfully and almost
unanimously to leave Presbytery and become Congregational. Indeed
this is not hard for them to do, for Indians are naturally very
democratic.
In the work that may now be done for this people, SANTEE NORMAL
TRAINING SCHOOL must be an important factor. It has vital relation
to all these native churches, and it has a name among the heathen
communities. Its growth has been slow, for it has taken time and
work to instil the idea of a higher education into the minds of
the people. Henceforth its growth might be rapid. It now has one
hundred and one pupils in attendance, with seventeen instructors,
including those in charge of the industrial and boarding
departments. This winter a number of pupils have been turned away
for lack of room. If accommodations could be provided, the number
of pupils might soon be doubled.
While giving great attention to industrial training, it affords
unparalleled advantages for that training which is needed to make
teachers suited to Indian schools.
The school is the basis of evangelizing the Indian. There will be
no large audiences to preach to, except on exceptional occasions,
until the school has gathered a company of disciples. Certain
persons not understanding the nature of missionary work, or unable
to take more than a superficial view, have recently represented our
schools as of low grade, and unnecessary to real missionary work.
But this is contradicted by the grand progress of the work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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