"Foreign Service"

In The Hague one day last week, a devout Calvinist (with Buchmanite leanings) stepped up to a microphone and radiorated. Said Wilhelmina, Queen of The Netherlands: "In our present time the very first need is that of a radical renewal in the life of every individual. This only can be the fruitful source from which flows the necessary strength of the realization of practical and constructive achievement without which our world of today will go to ruin. . . ."

Few minutes later, a professed Episcopalian chimed in. Said Franklin D. Roosevelt, outlining his latest peace ideas: "I offer my greetings to you, as a congregation of faith, in the certainty that you will help to keep alive that spirit of kindliness and faith which is the essence of civilization. I am confident of your ultimate triumph, our ultimate triumph, for the ideals of justice, of kindness, of brotherhood which cannot die."

This broadcast, the first ever shared by two heads of state, and the first in which Queen Wilhelmina had spoken to others than her subjects, was heard in Manhattan by some 1,000 people gathered at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria; elsewhere by smaller gatherings in perhaps 500 U. S. cities. To the Manhattan luncheon meeting went the British and Belgian Ambassadors to the U. S., the French Consul General, the Netherlands Minister, many a churchman. Chairman was that best-beloved of bumbling speakers, lank Presiding Bishop Henry St. George Tucker of the Episcopal Church (who attributes his oratorical lack to the fact that for 25 years as a missionary he preached in Japanese only).

Sponsor of the 500 meetings was the Foreign Missions Conference of North America (representing 129 Protestant bodies with 30,000,000 adherents). Purpose of the meetings: to boost foreign missions. First step: to call foreign missions "Christian Foreign Service." The hour-and-a-half broadcast, carried on three networks and numerous short-wave stations, gave Christian Foreign Service the widest hearing it had ever had. Next: a campaign for funds.

Worldwide war has posed many a new mission problem. German missionaries in Africa, India and the Near East have been clapped into jail by the British and French. Since it is impossible to get much money out of Germany, German missions have repeatedly begged help from U. S. Lutherans. Disturbing to the leaders in Christian Foreign Service is the fact that many an African and Near Eastern native, never reached by missionaries, is now learning about Christian civilization from the British, French and Italians, who muster him into an army, hand him a gun. In India the mass movement of Untouchables into Christian churches continues to tax their resources. In China, where the U. S. investment of $50,000,000 represents 60% of the total missionary stake, Protestants have lost from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 in property. A Japanese victory will mean a complete end to Christian educational work, a precarious toleration of medical and evangelical enterprises.

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