The Call of a World Task in War Time

by J Lovell Murray

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918. ... CHAPTER III THE CALL OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN THE MISSION FIELDS Every day the effects of the World War upon the whole life of humanity are becoming more evident. The force of the impact between the two armed forces into which the world has been divided is seen not so much in the way the nations immediately concerned are reeling under the shock, as in the way the crash has set the uttermost parts of the earth vibrating. The non-Christian lands of the earth from end to end have been deeply affected, and from the standpoint of their evangelization the effect has been one of an enlarged opportunity. A few years ago an international Christian leader challenged the Church of Christ by writing over the existing world situation the phrase, "The Decisive Hour of Christian Missions." Surely the words did not exaggerate. But these war years seem to have brought us to a decisive moment within that hour. We are to consider in this chapter some of the factors in the opportunity which now summons the Church to throw a new intensity into her world task. I. New Difficulties that Have been Created. First we should frankly face some of the new difficulties involved. Nothing is gained by averting our eyes from those elements which have recently come into the situation, making it one of greater difficulty. More than three-fourths of the non-Christian people of the world are either participants in the war or victims of it, and the other one-fourth are very distinctly affected by it. Immediately on the outbreak of the War some of the new problems began to appear. Let us now go over these difficulties and try to get clearly before us the nature and seriousness of each. 1. The discrediting of Christianity by reason of the War. We saw in the preceding chapter that this is essentia...

22 pages, Paperback

Published February 2, 2012