I am pleased to meet you again after a period of eight years. Eight years have passed since I last spoke here on the work of the Mission. With me here then was my elder, Mr Alexander Mpofu, who is now, we hope, in a better world. He did not live long after returning home.
It gives me great pleasure to address you on the work of your Mission. I would like to stress that the Mission in Rhodesia is your Mission. It belongs to everyone who belongs to the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. You have a Mission across the ocean. It is your Mission.
Next, I would like to mention the purpose of a Mission. It is not an invention of man. It is in accordance with the will of the Most High. We read of the missionary in the Word of God. The Apostle Paul was set aside to take the everlasting Gospel to the Gentiles. He performed the work of a missionary. The church of Christ has the Spirit of Christ, and the mind of Christ. This is something which can only be found in the true church of Christ. Any soul that has found the Saviour does not want to keep the Saviour to himself alone, but would like the whole world to embrace the Saviour. That is the spirit of the church. There are several examples of this in the Word of God. You remember when Philip found the Messiah Whom the prophets had spoken of, and embraced Him as his personal Saviour, he did not keep the Saviour to himself. He thought of Nathanael, and desired that Nathanael also would embrace the Saviour. He went out to look for Nathanael, and when he found him, he told him that he had seen the Messiah. That was the desire of Philip; and it is the desire of everyone in the church of God that the Gospel would cover the whole earth, and that all nations would embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. When the church sends out people as missionaries to foreign lands, it is in accordance with the Word of God. We read in the last chapter of Luke’s Gospel that Christ commanded His disciples to preach “repentance and remission of sins” in His Name. He told them to begin at Jerusalem, and from there to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland had the mind of the Lord from the very beginning. There came a time when it looked out beyond its boundaries to have a Mission in a foreign land. I’m not going into the details of the history of the Rhodesian Mission, for I hope that we are all familiar with that. There was a desire in the mind of the late Rev. Neil Cameron that the Gospel would go forth in its purity from Scotland to heathen lands. That was his prayer. You remember what happened. John Radasi was seen stranded on a street in a town in this land. He did not know where he could get a meal or stay for the night. A Godly woman saw him, and took him to her home and prepared a meal for him. Before John Radasi took the meal set before him, he asked a blessing on the food. The woman said that he must be the missionary her minister had been looking for. She made the matter known to the late Rev. Neil Cameron, and Mr Radasi was educated here, ordained here, and sent out as a missionary to Rhodesia. He opened a Mission, and that is your Mission, the only Mission that the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has in the whole of the continent of Africa. After Rev. John Radasi there came to the Mission Rev. John Tallach, Dr MacDonald, Miss Nicolson, and many others, among them Rev. James Fraser. Those were the worthies who laboured in your Mission. Some of them are at their rest, and some are among you. They spent their strength and their youth in your Mission in Rhodesia.
The purpose of the Mission was to spread the Gospel. It was to take the everlasting Gospel to heathen lands, because it is only through the power of God that heathenism can be uprooted in any nation. The purpose of your Mission in Rhodesia, I can assure you, is still the same, and I hope it will be the same to the end of the world. As long as the Lord will bless it, there will be people here who will go out and take the Gospel with them. All nations of the world need food, medicine, and clothing, but the most important need common to all is a spiritual one. It is not enough to have food and medicine for our bodies. We need a cure for our souls. That is the purpose of your Mission in Rhodesia.
Now the first Mission of which I shall speak is Ingwenya, because it was the first Mission. It was started in 1904, and it has grown to be one of the biggest missions in Rhodesia. It is also one of the well known Missions, well known because of its education, well known because of its people, and well known as a Mission that keeps to the Word of God. I can tell you this. The School Inspectors go out to visit schools, and the Government has a mobile cinema that goes to schools to show educational pictures. They know very well that they cannot arrive at any of our schools on a Sabbath. That is known throughout Rhodesia. The same thing is true with regard to the District Commissioner who goes to districts where we have schools. He is told by the Provincial District Commissioner not to call the Free Presbyterian people to his court as witnesses on the Lord’s Day.
Staff at Ingwenya
I should now like to tell you of the staff at Ingwenya. There is Rev. Aaron Ndebele who is known to most of you. He is the minister of the Gospel there, and he has elders and deacons. There are four preaching stations apart from Ingwenya, so he is kept very busy. Both his hands are full. He has also opened a preaching station in Bulawayo. This is a big town, thirty miles from Ingwenya. It is modern and very progressive, so it is necessary that there should be a place of worship there. Why? When our young people leave school, they go to this town to work. Some may get married, and decide to settle in this town. We are following the young with the Gospel, so there is a place of worship there. The services are conducted by Rev. Aaron Ndebele, helped by his elders and deacons.
The School at Ingwenya
Now we come to the School. You have a School in Ingwenya, the Secondary School. The Primary School from Grade One to Grade Seven is staffed by African teachers, and all these teachers are qualified, certificated teachers. We used to employ untrained teachers, but now we have only trained teachers. In the Secondary School we have Miss MacCuish, who comes from Inverness. During my travels among our people in this country many people asked me where our staff came from, so I am going to tell you where each of them comes from. Miss MacCuish is from Inverness, and Miss MacAulay is from Lewis. We also have Miss Graham from Beauly, and Miss Mackay from Kinlochbervie, and Miss MacLeod from Edinburgh. There are four ladies teaching in your Secondary School and they are doing good work. Rhodesia is divided into two lands. Here you have England and Scotland. There we have Mashonaland and Matabeleland according to the main tribe in each country. Your Mission is in Matabeleland. Matabeleland itself is divided into two provinces educationally, the Southern Province, and the Northern Province. All the schools of your Mission are in the Northern Province. At the end of last year (our school year ends in December) the children were given examinations. There are several Secondary Schools in that Province, but your School had the best results at the end of last year. How did the School get the best results? Those who are teachers know very well that the teacher must work hard, and give himself over to his work, and also that the students must be willing to learn. The two must go together. It is possible for the teacher to work hard, yet if the children are not interested, then the teacher cannot succeed. The fact that the results in your Secondary School at Ingwenya were the best is something that you should be proud of. It is a credit to your Mission. The girls are also taught sewing and cookery, things that will help them in life, and the boys are taught woodwork or carpentry.
One may ask what is the need for Secondary Education in a Mission School. Is it not enough to teach children to read the Word of God, and then let them go? I say, No. That is not enough. Why? You know how valuable good literature is. We do not have good religious books in our language. I go to many houses here. From the top of a wall to the bottom, I see volumes and volumes of books. We need Secondary Education so that we will be able to peep into these books in the language in which they are written. In our language there is only the Bible (and we should be very thankful that we have it in our own language) and the Psalms, and the Shorter Catechism. The children therefore need education in order to read and get information from different volumes.
The Treasurer’s Work
The other work at Ingwenya is that of Miss MacLeod, who was sent out there to look after your money. Is there need for a Treasurer, for such a qualified person, to look after money in a Mission? Yes. The bigger the Mission becomes, the more money is needed, and the more a qualified person is required to look after that department. Miss MacLeod has been out there looking after the books, and looking after the Mission Funds that are necessary for the support of the Mission.
Building Work
Another person in Ingwenya is Mr Tallach. We need buildings. There can be no Mission, as there can be no home, without building. Mr Tallach is there building church buildings, classrooms and dwelling houses. Just now he is building the extension to the hospital at Mbuma for the X-ray and theatre, so he is fully occupied in that department of the work at your Mission.
Zenka Mission
I pass on now to another Mission—Zenka Mission. Zenka is 75 miles north of Ingwenya Mission. Zenka was started as a Mission in 1947 by the late Rev. James Fraser. He laboured at Zenka until he moved on to Mbuma. Zenka is in a very thickly populated area. Rev. Donald Campbell is there now with his wife and family. He has eleven schools to supervise. He has his elders and deacons to help him in his church work. Some of them are old. The name of one of them is in Mr Fraser’s book. If you look up that book tonight, you will see him holding a bicycle. He was a strong man in those days, but now he is frail, although he is still able to go out and declare the Truth to the people.
When Dr Tallach went out to the Mission, he opened a Clinic at Zenka, Miss Carmichael worked in that Clinic, not only healing and giving tablets and injections, but telling the people that they needed a greater Cure for their souls.
I believe that there is a great opportunity for Christian people to work among heathen people as builders, as ministers of the Gospel, as teachers, as doctors, as nurses. There is a great opportunity to spread the Word of God, to obey the command which the Lord gave to His disciples at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. When Mary told the Lord that there was no wine, the Lord said to His disciples, “Fill the waterpots with water.” The disciples obeyed that command. “And they filled them up to the brim.” The Lord blessed that water, and turned it into wine, and it was the sweetest wine they had ever tasted. There is the command to the church. What have we to do, you and I? We have to teach, to fill up the minds of the young and the old with the Truth, looking for the blessing of the Lord on the Word.
Miss Carmichael came home towards the end of last year, and then there was no one to take her place at the Clinic at Zenka, so it had to be closed. Later on, I will speak on the need of nurses at the Mission.
Mbuma Mission
I now pass on to your third Mission—Mbuma Mission, Mbuma is 30 miles from Zenka. It was started by the late Rev. James Fraser, and then it was an open place with no villages near it at all. The nearest village was about five miles away then, but now it is crowded with villages in every direction, as people have come to settle around Mbuma. I am the minister there, and I have elders and deacons who help me in spreading the Word of God. There is also Dr Tallach, a Christian doctor. He is also very useful in spreading the Gospel, and holds a service every Sabbath. After the prayer-meeting on Thursday, when duties are allocated for the Sabbath, we usually say that we hope that there will be no emergency cases in the hospital on the Lord’s Day.
We have twelve schools, and in each school a service is held every Sabbath, and there is a Sabbath School for the children. Teachers and preachers help in taking the Sabbath School. I think that is work that is worth doing—spreading the Word of God to all. At Mbuma we have two Communions each year, one at the end of April, and the other one at the end of October. Across the river, we started a Communion at Somokantana in the middle of heathen people. It is a witness to the Truth in that part.
The Hospital Work
Now I must come on to the work of the Hospital. I have already mentioned Dr Tallach to you. He comes from Dingwall. His father was a minister in Kames, and from Kames went on to Stornoway. When he died, they moved to Dingwall. You know him very well, and I can assure you that he is a real missionary. He is like his uncles, John Tallach and James Fraser. He has their qualities, and he is doing good work. He is now able to read the Word of God in Sindebele. He is able to pray in Sindebele, and give an address to his patients in Sindebele. It is a great thing to know the language of the people, because, as you all know language is a barrier that keeps people far apart. If one knows the language of the people, one draws them to him, and one is drawn to them.
Before the work of the hospital starts each morning, and also every night, worship is held. Dr Tallach has therefore a big family. At times there are one hundred and ten or one hundred and twenty people living in the Hospital, and sometimes there are one hundred and fifty. Dr Tallach gathers them on the long verandah before the Hospital. They sit there in lines on benches, and he takes worship with them, just as heads of families do with their families in their homes. Some of the people there are forty, fifty or sixty years of age, and some are just children. The Word is read, a Psalm is sung, and he prays. That is what the Apostle Paul did when he went out as a missionary. He taught the people, and prayed with them.
The patients are attended to throughout the day, not only at Mbuma Hospital. There is a Clinic at Donsa, which is 60 miles from Mbuma. They go there every Friday. They start there at 8 o’clock at night. This is not only because of the distance, but because Donsa is thickly populated, and there is no other Clinic near. When there is a Clinic there on Fridays, there are over one hundred patients to be attended to. Before they start their work, the Word of God is read, and Gospels and tracts are given to those who can read. That is a missionary’s work. There are Clinics held also at Somokantana and Gampakalale, and these places are at a distance from Mbuma. They go to these places on Wednesdays each week. There is plenty of work for them as well as the work of the Hospital. Dr Tallach has two nurses working with him, Miss Turner who comes from Edinburgh, and Miss Coote who comes from Inverness.
Staffing Needs
My next point is this. Is the Mission of your Church well staffed out there in Rhodesia? Now in answering that question I shall begin with the church side of the work. We need a minister of the Gospel for Bulawayo. Mr Ndebele goes to Bulawayo, but if a congregation is to be built in that town, there should be a minister residing there. You may say that you have heard of our students, and what is the need for a missionary from home? My answer is that the two students are already earmarked for other places. One is to go to Donsa, which I have mentioned, and one is to go to Somokantana. That is a place which needs one to labour in it, so looking to the time when these two young men are ordained ministers, they will go to these places, and we will still need an ordained minister of the Gospel from home. There is plenty of work for an ordained minister there. There are places which have no Gospel at all.
School Staffing
Now, we will look at the school side of the work. Is your School in your Mission in Rhodesia well staffed? The Secondary School is well staffed for this year, but next year (D.V.) they will have Form III, and then they will need another teacher. We have that teacher, Miss MacKenzie, who is now at home on holiday. We hope she will be ready (I know she is willing) to go out at the beginning of next year.
Hospital Staffing
Now what about your Hospital? Is your Hospital well staffed? My answer is No. It is understaffed. There is one doctor and two nurses. We also need a nurse at Zenka. Sister Carmichael came home, and we need a nurse to go to work in the Clinic there, who will not only heal the sick, but who will speak to them about the needs of their souls. At Mbuma we need two nurses. There is a nurse from New Zealand going to Mbuma soon to work in the Hospital. We need another two nurses there, because when that nurse goes there, she will relieve Miss Turner, who is overdue a holiday. If the Hospital is to be at all well staffed, there must be four nurses. So I appeal to you. There is nowhere else I can go to, but I come to you and I ask those who have such qualifications to go out and work there, not only to heal, but to speak to the people about their souls. Giving them the Gospel to read, opening the Gospel and reading to them, is the work of a missionary. The Hospital is understaffed. If one should ask when do we need these nurses, my answer is that we need them now. If there is one such here, I should be quite willing for her to travel back with me to the Mission next week (D.V.). The Hospital is not like the School, where teachers have to wait for the beginning of the new school year. Nurses are needed now. If one went today or tomorrow, she could start work, as there is plenty work out there, so I appeal to you.
Another person needed in the Hospital is a man with a knowledge of medicine and a knowledge of engines. If Dr Tallach is to do his work thoroughly when the X-ray is working, and the theatre is working, he will need somebody to take over some of his work, someone who has a knowledge of medicine, and who could also help in attending to the engines. Where there is X-ray work to be done, the engine needs to be attended to. I am appealing to such a man to go out and help. If you know of such in your congregation here in Scotland, I would be willing to contact that man myself.
Difficulties Faced by Missionaries
Now before I finish, what are the difficulties which face missionaries when they go out? I must make it clear that it is not as it was a long time ago. I remember when I was teaching in Ingwenya, Mr Fraser went to Zenka, and I was to follow him there. He wrote me a letter, and told me to come at the beginning of 1948, but he said that Zenka was not a bed of roses like Ingwenya. Ingwenya was well developed, but at Zenka the spadework had still to be done. There is not much of that now. The roads have been improved, so there is not the same difficulty.
There is difficulty, however, of understanding the people among whom the missionary has to work. Our way of thinking is different to your way of thinking. I have experienced that myself. An African may speak to a European with all great respect and sincerity, but it may appear to that European that that African is cheeky. That is because of his way of thinking. That is a difficulty which one gets over easily.
Encouragements in the Mission
What are the encouragements in your Mission? There are things of which I could tell you that are encouraging. One of them I have already mentioned—the two students who are studying for the ministry. That is an encouragement indeed. Another encouragement is this. At Mbuma, a backward place, there are two young men who are Christians. Now, when sons there get married, they stay in the father’s house, and the word of the father is final. When these two young men were converted, they could not get freedom to practise their worship in their homes, or freedom to teach their children in the fear of the Lord. It was not easy for them to break away from their parents, but by the grace of the Lord they have broken away. They have left their father’s homes, and built their own homes. That is not a small thing. They are looked on as bad and disobedient. It is an encouragement.
We also get encouragements when students who are taught the Word of God ask encouraging questions like this one: “What must I do to be saved?” Now truly, if your son or daughter would come asking you the question, “Father (or Mother) what can I do in order to be saved?” you would be encouraged. You would be interested in that child, and praying that the Lord would reveal Himself to that child as the Saviour. That is an encouragement which we get from time to time. We would appeal to you to pray for the young people out there.
Closing Thanks
Now in closing this address, I sincerely on behalf of the staff of your Mission out there, thank you all for the support you have given to the Mission over the past years, not only in money and clothes. I also know that you have been remembering us at a “throne of grace,” and there is nothing that encourages one as much as knowing that there are those who are praying for him. There is nothing that strengthens the missionary in a heathen land more than knowing this. I remember reading a booklet about a missionary who was sent out from this country to central Africa. After being out there, he came back to his own land. When he arrived, he went to the prayer meeting unknown to the people, and sat at the back. Men were asked to pray, and they prayed one after the other. The missionary was unknown to them. At the end the missionary was very distressed, and was asked the reason. He said, “I have been wondering why my work has not been progressing. Now I know. Not one of you made mention in your prayers of your missionary.” That was the answer the missionary gave. But I know that you do pray for us. Pray that the Word of God will have free course in your Mission in Rhodesia, as it was here at home.