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To Conservative Baptist missionaries, the young man seemed an answer to prayer. Young, energetic, intelligent, member of an evangelical church, he worked as a clerk in the Naples (Italy) Bible Center. The shock came when it was discovered that, though a professing Christian, the youth was also an active member of the Communist party and served as secretary of the Communist Youth League in his nearby home town.

“Don’t hold a funeral for me, but just throw my remains in Tokyo Bay off Shinagawa if we fail to achieve 750,000 families in the next seven years.”¹1 These were the words of Josei Toda, second president of the Soka Gakkai of Japan, when he took office in 1951.

Man’s lost condition starts with the Fall. Subsequent to the Fall, Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The precious fellowship between man and God was broken. With the break of fellowship, man became lost. Adam’s lost condition, which implied both spiritual and physical death, was mysteriously imputed to posterity.

After thirty years of close association with missionary activity, broken only by World War II, it has been an unusual experience to find myself on the sidelines and not in the battle itself. Perhaps there is some value in the assessment of one who, while deeply concerned for the work, is no longer fully immersed in it.

What kind of challenge to overseas Christian work can prompt inquiries from 700 volunteers from within a small denomination during a four-month period? Such a response came when the Free Methodist Church established a program known as Volunteers in Service Aboard (VISA), and called on young people to go for a short term of service abroad.

Understanding the characteristics of the continent helps understand African political forces.

Mark 13:10 and its more frequently quoted Synoptic parallel, Matthew 24:14 (“This gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout the entire inhabited earth for a testimony to all nations. Then shall the end come.”) are part of the great Olivet Discourse of the Lord Jesus Christ.

While visiting the Buddhist temple in Kamakura, I came to one gate beyond which an exquisite garden beckoned to me. It seemed to exude the peace for which one can grow starved while living in Tokyo. Unfortunately, on that day I could do no more than snap a slide while standing beneath the gate, for a sign forbade entrance.

Scripture tells us that we must look out to the harvest fields, but before doing that, it is often most helpful to take an inward look. The inward look should signify a frank, honest, realistic appraisal of our missions – including past accomplishments, present program and work – and then whether plans for the future are adequate for our part in completing the Great Commission.

The letters you write for wide distribution at home are essentially prayer letters, even if they do take on a different form from those you send to the inner circle of prayer helpers. In another sense, they are newsletters, giving information as a stimulus and a guide to prayer. A newsy letter is a good letter.