roland william jean 1950 india

INDIA CHRISTIAN

 Go ye into al l th e world an d preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15 .

Vol

IV

NEW

FORWARDING AGENT

As of August 1 1950 I assumed the

d uties of

forw ard ing a ge nt

fo r my

brother,

William, an d h is f am il y an d

temporarily

fo r Mrs. Rothermel. My

w if e w ill help v/ith th e work . We ar e

truly

happy to have t hi s oppor tuni ty

t o s er ve th e

Lord in the great

work

He

has given us to

do .

As this is entirely

new to us,

we

trust that you will un

ders tand i f we c ha nc e to make a mis

take

now and then . We ask your

cooperation in keepi ng u s informed of

an y ch an ge of a dd re ss an d of an y

change in your needs fo r

th e

India

  hr i s t i an

So

fa r

as

is possible, the India

Christian will

once

more

come

to you

at r egu la r in te rva l s.

Feeling that you who support th e

work of th e

mission

will

appreciate

a ny e ff or t to

economize, we are pu b

lishing th e p ap er mostly mimeograph

ed . This

will

enable us to

publish

it

more

often and to supply

yo u with

mor e f requen t and th us more tim ely

news. Please let us know what you

think of this

plan.

William writes that

they are in need

of m ore funds to improve

an d

enlarge

th e

work of th e Bible Seminasy , which

is

described i n p ar t on th e second page.

Housing facilities are seriously limited,

an d they

a re unabl e

to

pay

their na

tive he lp e nough

to meet

th e rising

cost of living. As it is

th ey a re l iv in g

from

hand to mouth and a re u su al ly

in debt. The Seminary

is th e

center

of

the work of th e mission, training

young men to preach to their

own peo

ple. Four evangelists are now employ

ed by the mission. The need is here,

and

t he u rgency for immed ia te g if ts i s

strong. Many are supporting

th e

work

now. We ca ll u po n o th er s to help as

much

as possible. Make

al l checks fo r

th e Rolands,

Mrs. Rothermel or fo r th e

gener al wo rk payab le to Clyde P. Ro

land. Receipts

will be sent

by return

mai l

As we beg in our

work

with you, it is

ou r p raye r t ha t we

will

become

well

acquainted with each i nd iv idua l and

each church who h as a part in

support

in g th e Christ ian Mission

to India and

that we

may

continue together

in

this

l a b o r of

love a n d

s er vi ce f o r th e L o r d

Clgde P.

Roland

Griffin, Indiana

OCTOBER, 1950

1

N o 1

H IN D U ID OL S

To

th e

left is

an example

of

th e idols

worshipped by the Hindus. Their idols

are a lmost number less . Anywhere

on e

goes he sees a t emp le , c on cr et e b lo ck

or a p il e o f s to ne s where a god is

placed. Others

are

simply rudely

shaped stones t o re semb le some

god.

This

is a picture of th e mondey god,

por t rayed v ic to ri ou s ov er

h is

adver-

saiy.

The

image

is on the sid e of a

building in a 24

mil es f rom Kanpur,

where

a Hindu

family recen tly accepted Chris t. The

eldest son, Puttu, is

studying in the

Seminary this year

and in time

will be able to go b ack to th e village

an d tell them of

th e

Chr is t, who can

free th em from th eir idol worship. On

the nex t

page

is an article

about the

work of th e Bible Seminary, where

seve ral s tuden ts

just

like P ut tu a re

studying to equip t hemsel ve s t o help

combat th e

many evils of paganism

an d

bring to India th e

light of th e

world, even Jesus.

NAT IVES HOLD E V EN IN G S ER V I E S

Below is a picture of a typical evening

service

held by some of our native

men

among their countrymen in nearby villages. While on each Lord s day

th e Communion and Worsh ip Service a re us ua lly h eld in the e arly morning

and

Sunday School in the evening a fte r t he heat of th e day, last year th e

church members d ec id ed t o h av e b ot h services in the morning

an d

then to

have

groups of men go i nt o t he

vil lages for

services such as this. The men

seated in the background are some of th e

native

Christians who went

along

to

help with th e singing.

Th e

villagers in the foreground

a re h uddle d a ro und

a

charcoal fire to keep warm. There

have been good crowds at most of these

meetings, an d there is evidence t ha t t he gospel is having its way with some.

The services a re s imi la r to

those in America.

Songs are sung (a nd th e

natives

love to sing), th e gospel is

preached and discussed, p rayer s a re said an d

the re i s

th e

common fellowship. So th e Lord s s imple plan is presented in a simple

and impress ive

way, w ith th e sole purpose

in

mind

of

winning men

to

Christ.

Such

work is extremely slow,

but

with

th e

help of th e

Lord and the prayers

an d support

of

our Chr is ti an friends in America we

h av e t he courage a nd w ill

to carry on. We are hoping that t hi s t ype of work will bear

much fruit fo r

th e Sav ior

THE PIBLE SEmN ARY

b;/

W5.11:.a r. Boland

Page 2

Our

m ai n p ii rp os e in condnr^ tc- Iridia was

to open

a Bible School in

which

to

t ra in y ou ng men an d wojnen fo r Cjiristiari Service.

Upon a rr i v al a t landour we

began o u r s t u d i e s in

Hindi

which

have contirraed u nti l ju st recently .xlong with

language study during th e f i r s t tivc y e a r s we made two unsuccessful

attempts to

s t a r t a school /it that

time

we were teaching i n English. I t was no t

long

however,

unt i l t h e young men whom we were t e a c h i n g e i ther ha d co be dismissed or decided to •

to

elsewhere. In January 1949^ Babu L a i a r e c e n t convert from

Hindiu-sm, came

asking

that wc send hbn somei /here to B ib le S ch oo l Instead of sending him elsewhere

v/e d e c i d e d

to make a n o t h e r a t t e m p t o u r s e l v e s . Babu

L a i

however d id n o t know

E n g l i s h so v e p u t th e teachiiig in th e hands

o f tv/o o f ou r very capable I n d i a n irorkers

an d K r s

Rothermel

I n s t e a d

o f teaching o u r s e l v e s v;-e

c o n c e n t r a t e d on l e a r n i n g Hindi

so that we could s t a r t t e a c h i n g in tha t language as soon a s p o s s i b l e

S U C C E S S A T L A ST

During the past

spring and early summer we~were busy making arrangements for a

ful l course o f study and

fo r th e a r r i v a l o f new students. July U th was Convocation

Day, The following day classes began fo r the second f u l l year of th e Ragaul Bible

Seminary, We had anticipated only about three or four new students

bu t

ou r expec

tations

were more

than

s a t i s f i e d . We now have 13 students; 12 are nev/, 9 men and

4 v'omen. Five of the men were sent by >ir. Barter from Hamirpur and

w i l l

be sup

ported by him, Mr. Barter was also ijifluential in getting a young co uple to come,

and Mrs Lav/rence. Mr Lawrence

worked in Ragaul fo r a s h o r t time a s an evan

ge l i s t with Bir, F red S mi th Another

o f t h e s tu d en ts P ut tu L a i comes

from th e new

work s ta r ted las t summer in and n e a r Kanpur

HOUSING F A C I L I T I E S LBi TTE D

Ou r housing

f a c i l i t i e s hei e

in Ragaul. a re very

l imited The loss o f th e b u i l d

ing by fire has made less room f or liv in g  quarters because we have had to use

some of th e houses fo r

storerooms.

Others have a p p l i e d fo r e n t r a n c e in to th e Sem

i n a r y

b ut we have ha d

to

turn them av/ay foi la-ck o f houses fo r them in which to

l ive AS i t is the five men f ro m Hamirpur are

crowded into

on e room with a small

p l a c e f o r a k i t c h e n . I t is nob

p o s s i b l e here in I n d i a f o r stu de nts to l ive in

some

family s spare room and board with them. The homes of the people are usually small

an d o f t e n a f am il y w ith

married sons l ives in-one house o f

tw o o r t h r e e rooms. Ncr

are th ere

rooming

houses avai lable in ru ra l India At presen t we are h o l d i n g class

es in t h e Maudaha Church b u i l d i n g . I t i s q u i t e adequate

now, bu t n e x t y e a r when

we have more c l a s s e s an d more s t u d e n t s i t wi l l n ot be s u i t a b l e . We a re t r u s t i n g

t h e Lord to supply

funds so t ha t we can b u i l d adequate

f a c i l i t i e s

soon.

We a re s o r

ry tha t

we cannot t a k e more s t u d e n t s b u t we a re happy tha t th e Lord

has g i v e n

to

t e a c h

Th e

tv/o I n d i a n me n and I are t e a c h i n g seven c lasses b a s i n g them on mater ia l

from b o t h Old an d New T e s t a m e n t s .

F i v e

o f

the s tudents

a re p l a n n i n g to take on ly

on e year o f t r a i n i n g so tha t they

ca n

be bet ter witnesses in secular work Jean

p l a n s to have a shor t

c o u r s e v d t h them on P e r s o n a l Evangelism l a t e r

on .

The L o r d s Word is being taught and proclaimed d a i l y ; v/e are

t rus t ing Him,

with

your h e l p to uphold our hands. You

ca n

be w e l l assiired tha t whatever yo u

give o th e India

C h r i s t i a n l4ission wil l b e -u s ed t o s tr en g th e n and enlarge th e work

an d make i t possible fo r more to h e ar the gospel message.

BAPTISE

 Mrs, LaVfTence, do you believe th .t cfetius in the Son of God; and

that He i s

your Savior? Tes, Ba i ji_, do you believe tha t Jesus is the Son of God; and

that He i s your

Savior?

Yes,

He

i s Savior,

So tw more wore buried with the i r j.ord in ChrivStian baptism a t

Ragaul

on

August 6th, Mr. and >irs, Lawrence are two of our 3ible Seminary students, Mrs,

Lawrence was a  Christian, a member of the Church Missionary Society, a mission

of the Church of England.

Through th e Seminar^ classes, and by conversation with

Chr5.5bians here she realized that th e

sprinkling she had received was not according

to th e Lord s command.

The o the r woman was

Babu La i s iaother .

S ince

Babu La i

became

a Chr i s t i an in

194G, he

has continued to pray and work for the conversion of his parents. Miile

thoy

i zere living in

Hamirpur there were indications that they were becoming inter

ested in Christianity. I t was a shock then,

to Babu Lai, viien he got word las t

January that his father

had died fi om a mad dog bi te . In as

much as i t was then

Pabu La.l s respcnsibi.lit3 to take care

of

his mother, he brou/^ht her

here to l ive

vdth him. Since she came, one of the Bible  flfc men has been t each ing her almost

e ve ry d ay .

The seed was planted, i t found fer t i le soil ,

i t

has bornefruit . The same

gospel can

have the

same results the world around, Me ^ill rejoice

in

the vic

tories for the

Lord. May these

two continue to

grow, with the

help

of the

prayers

o f each o f

u s .

TEACHING THROUGH HELPING

by Jean Roland

hliile in the hi l l s

with

Mother and the children, I received a l e t te r from

Will iam on July

21st, saying

that he was having another

attack

of malaria and

needed me. Leaving

Mary

Esther and Charles with Mother, I

took David and l e f t .

From Lucknow I

wired

Vlilliam that I would

arrive by the night t ra in . Upon advice

from a doctor friend in the hi l ls , William

l e f t immdiately af ter I arrived to go to

the English doctor in

Kanpur, He was to

return by he night t ra in , the day af ter

he l e f t . As the night hours

passed and William did not come, I became uneasy.

Soon af te r mid-night,

a messenger came

with the infoi-mation tha t William was

a t the

government hospi ta l and was safe .

He was at the hospi tal , not fo r

himself, but

to help a stranger in need Some t raveler had

been

sleeping ou the edge of

the

platform. When the t ra in came in to th e

s ta t ion , the man got f lustered and f e l l

between the t rain and the tracks, He was no t ki l led, but was cut

badly and some

bones we re

broken. VJhile the man suffered and pled . fo r

re l i e f of h is pain , the

s ta t ion master and other rai lway employees were t rying to

decide who was to blame,

the railway or the man.

No one was too concerned

about helping him,

William

and

the o th er Ch ri st ia n men f inal ly

got

the man to the hospi tal . The doctor had ma

lar ia , so did not even come to

see the condit ion of the pat ien t . The compounder

did

vrfnat he

could fo r

him. A

re la t ive

o f the injured

man

was

amazed

tha t

a Sahib

had bothered to help a poor v i l l age r

l i ke

t h a t . We hope t ha t

through such doeds

of k indnes s doo rs may be

opened for

preaching the

gospel .

Tre a tmen t

fo r

Wi l l i am

In the excitement I near ly for i ot about the doctor s

verd ic t . When he fe l t

o f William s

spleen and saw

how

enlarged it was, he said that he could t e l l v/ith-

o u t a b lood t st t h a t W i l l ia r a was   l o a d e d w i t h ma l a r i a . The b lood t st v rifi

h is

declarat ion. He put W illiam on a ser ies

of medicines and ton ic , which we

hope

wiJJ.

make him

f ee l b et te r. As long

as he i s in India ,

he must

take

Paludrine tmce

a week to

ward o ff re - in fec t ion . We en l i s t

your prayers

fo r

him.