Missionaries Bring Good News to Hitherto Untouched Areas
THE 57th class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead consisted of only twenty-five students. Yet, at their graduation exercises in Queens, New York city, on Sunday, September 8, approximately 2,000 relatives and friends attended. Why such interest in so small a group?
It is because so much has been accomplished by the more than 5,000 graduates sent out since the School was established in 1943. These graduates, serving as missionaries, have been instrumental in greatly expanding the activities of Jehovah’s witnesses, particularly in opening up new fields in remote parts of the earth.
Before missionaries were sent from the School in 1943, there were no witnesses of Jehovah in many countries in South America, in Asia, in Africa and in hundreds of the islands of the sea. As an example of the fruitfulness of the missionary work, in just five of such South American countries there are now more than 30,000 active Witnesses.
This fine work on the part of the missionaries who had preceded those now graduating was called to mind in the final words of counsel given by the School’s instructors and other speakers. N. H. Knorr, School president, encouragingly pointed out that, in declaring the good news faithfully, missionaries are ‘working together with God.’—2 Cor. 6:1.
The Good News Produces Genuine Christians
The work of a missionary is that of an “evangelizer,” that is, a messenger of the good news of God’s kingdom by Jesus Christ. And it is really good news, for it tells of the government that will rule the earth for a thousand years, to bring health, life and perfection to mankind.—Rev. 20:4-6; 21:3, 4.
This true good news produces genuine Christians. They are not “rice” Christians, “bought” with material things, as those are Called who turn their children over to be raised by Christendom’s missionary establishments in exchange for food. Those hearing the true good news receive spiritual sustenance. They come to know that they have been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. (1 Pet. 1:18, 19) Often from very degraded, idolatrous ways, they change into clean-living, honest, God-fearing persons, and they, in turn, speak the good news to others.—Col. 3:5-10.
Provisions and Requirements
Missionaries sent out by the governing body of Jehovah’s witnesses are provided with a ‘missionary home,’ including meals, and a small allowance. They devote 150 hours or more each month in declaring the good news from house to house and in studying the Bible free of charge with those desiring to know God and his purposes. They do not expect the people to come to them or to serve them. They serve the people.
In some places missionaries are assigned to strengthen already-existing congregations. Some are sent as traveling ministers. But it is in opening up territory where the good news has not been preached that their desire to help people is most strongly tested.—Rom. 15:20, 21.
Evangelizing in the Micronesian Islands
The experience of a missionary couple assigned to a Micronesian island group illustrates what missionary work can be like. It also reveals that God is backing this evangelistic work.
On arriving in their assignment this couple found a house to rent for their ‘missionary home.’ There were no modern conveniences—only gasoline lamps and stove, rainwater for drinking caught in large fuel drums, an outdoor toilet, and weekly mail service. The vermin common to the tropics necessitated constant vigilance and control by traps, sprays and mosquito netting.
There was no textbook or dictionary in the language to be learned. It was a delight to find, however, that the Christian Greek Scriptures (or, “New Testament”) and the Psalms had been translated into the primary language.
By dint of effort in preaching from hut to hut, by means of short sermons they had written out and with the people’s help, they gradually learned the language. The people were favorably impressed by the fact that “foreigners” would call at their homes. They were not used to this on the part of the missionaries of Christendom’s religions there.
The most primitive of living conditions were the lot of these missionaries, along with dangers at sea and on land, as they visited the various islands, but they were richly rewarded. Starting in 1965, they had established a congregation by 1968. They built a fine Kingdom Hall out of jungle wood and sea sand. By 1971 the congregation was strong enough to take care of itself and the surrounding islands, so the missionaries received a new assignment. By 1973 there were more than a hundred sharing in proclaiming the good news in this group of two mountainous islands and eight small atolls scattered over 162 square miles in the Pacific Ocean.
The experiences of other missionaries are as varied as the many lands in which they work. A missionary in the West Indies visited a small island. There were no hotels or inns. After much searching, he found an empty room and an army cot. At a small store he bought some cheese and crackers and tea. So for breakfast he would have cheese and crackers and tea, for dinner cheese and crackers and, for a change, a cold drink. (The island had no electricity, only kerosene-operated refrigerators.) For supper he went back to cheese and crackers and tea.
The people on the island, though professing Christianity, were quite reserved in their attitude toward the missionary. But in the course of his preaching from house to house he decided to read the Bible text of Hebrews 13:2 to several women in a home. It reads: “Do not forget hospitality, for through it some, unknown to themselves, entertained angels.” The missionary noticed that this text seemed to strike them forcibly.
During the rest of his one-week stay a number of persons came to the missionary’s place bringing meals, more than the missionary could eat. These simplehearted people did not want their claim of Christianity to be considered a mere pretense.
On another small island the inhabitants were different. They valued spiritual food and their need of it. They listened readily to the missionary. During his three-day stay, besides much Bible literature, they accepted twenty-three subscriptions for the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. By this means they would get this good Bible information regularly until the missionary’s next visit.
Thus, by means of the missionaries’ good work, “those to whom no announcement has been made about [Christ] will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”—Rom. 15:21.
[Picture on page 24]
Fifty-seventh Graduating Class of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead
In the list below, rows are numbered from front to back and names are listed from left to right in each row.
(1) Davies, M.; Davis, L.; Moy, J.; Cairns, D.; Wentworth, S.; Alderson, R.; Lange, H.; Wierutsch, G. (2) Parczany, D.; Davis, W.; Tewolde, G.; Candee, L.; Wentworth, J.; Alderson, P.; Krenicki, B.; Wierutsch, H. (3) Lange, P.; Pijanowski, R.; Krenicki, J.; Faller, A.; Cairns, J.; Davies, E.; Burton, J.; Knaack, T.; Grafton, R.