Christian crosses spring from Buddhist lotus-flower bases at Dr. Karl Ludwig Reichelt's red-roofed Tao Fong Shan mission high above lovely Shatin Valley near Hong Kong. That fusion of symbols suits the earnest, persuasive Norwegian missionary. His object is to teach Buddhist monks Christianity in a familiar setting, make them converts to take Christianity to millions of other Buddhists. The Nazi Blitzkrieg last spring cut off funds from Norway and Denmark which have long financed Missionary Reichelt. But his work will go on. U. S. Lutherans have rallied to his support, as they have to 37 other orphaned Norwegian, German, Finnish and Danish missions.
Similarly fixed is Dr. Vedanayakam Samuel Azariah, Anglican Bishop of Dornakal. His diocese is the fastest-growing in the world for he touches India's untouchables. Finding their lot hopeless under the Brahmans, these outcasts have professed Christianity at the rate of 10,000 a year, as fast as the clergy could instruct them. Most of the money for this and other missionary work in India comes from the great British missionary boards—one of which, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, sent out such famed 18th-Century missionaries to the U. S. as Methodist John Wesley, Episcopalian John Talbot. Now that Britain has had to cut her missionary giving, U. S. Episcopalians are rallying to help Bishop Azariah and other Anglican missionaries carry on.
This Sunday U. S. Protestants will start a coast-to-coast drive for Europe's orphaned missions. Some 3,700 European missionaries and over 5,300,000 native Christians are concerned, for now they are cut off from almost all the $5,000,000 they normally receive from the Continent, from 20% to 50% of the $10,500,000 they normally get from England. U. S. leaders hope to raise at least $1,500,000 towards this deficit, over and above the $17,000,000 U. S. Protestants annually give to foreign missions. With this $1,500,000 they hope to keep Europe's missions open for a year, although budgets must be slashed to the bone.
The Lutherans got a start on other U. S. churches last spring when they raised $238,000 for purse-pinched Finnish and German missions. With their $238,000 almost spent, Lutherans this week sought another $500,000, a sum that must be upped to $775,000 if Sweden's Lutherans suffer the fate of their fellow Scandinavians. Episcopalians are after a preliminary $117,000. Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists and many a smaller denomination are this month launching world relief appeals, part of which is for orphaned missions. None of this is to affect ordinary U. S. mission budgets.
Typical request is that of the 15 Germans in the Rhenish Mission (Reformed) near Canton: "We naturally only ask for our daily bread. So $20 would be enough for one person a month." Danish missionaries in Nigeria, where living is still cheaper, said they could keep going on $10 a month for married couples, $7.50 for single workers.