The contribution of German Lutherans to mission work in China is not to
be reckoned altogether by figures. Here as elsewhere the Germans have
thoroughly studied the native languages, and have devoted much time to
the writing of grammars and dictionaries and the making of translations
so that the foundation might be well laid. Their labors have been a
benefit to other missionary societies as well as to their own.
SCANDINAVIAN SOCIETIES.
The _Danish Lutherans_ have a mission in Manchuria which was begun in
1895. Two stations are in the south and one at Harbin. There are
forty-two men and women at work and the number of baptized Christians is
nearly one thousand.
The missionaries appointed at the opening of the work in China visited
on their way the United States and roused interest in many churches of
the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which now aids in the
China work of the Fatherland Society.
The _Norwegian Missionary Society_ has six stations in the Hunan
Province, in which there are fifteen hundred church members and one
thousand catechumens.
The _Norwegian Lutheran China Mission_ works in Northern Hupeh with
twenty-nine missionaries and has won about eight hundred and fifty
Christians.
The _Swedish Mission in China_, founded in 1887, labors in
connection with the China Inland Mission, a large and successful
inter-denominational mission, which has more than twenty thousand
communicants. To this work other Swedish societies contribute.
[Sidenote: A Pioneer.] The founding of the Swedish Mission in China was
due to the influence of a visit from Lars Skrefsrud, one of the founders
of the Home Mission to the Santals in India. His burning enthusiasm for
the cause of missions influenced _Erik Folke_ to become in 1887 a
pioneer in China. He studied the Chinese language in the school of the
China Inland Mission and then arranged for the founding of an
independent Swedish Mission, which should, however, work in connection
with the China Inland Mission. Mr. Folke’s fearful experiences during
the Boxer uprising so affected his health that it was necessary that he
should return to Sweden where he serves as president of the Home
Committee.
The field of this Swedish Mission is composed of the parts of the
Provinces of Shensi, Shansi and Honan, which meet at the turn of the
Yellow River from south to east. It numbers almost as many inhabitants
as Sweden. Among the mission institutions are opium refuges where those
afflicted with the opium habit may go for treatment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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