100 Years Of Mission Work

Presbyterians Mark Centenary In N. Hebrides By Inaugurating A New Church

By Rev. Wilfred F. Paton

MANY Pacific travellers who have done the round trip on the “Morinda” may have seen one of the loveliest spots in the New Hebrides (or anywhere else)—Tangoa.

Thic tinv nnrai island qhnnt a miip inne- hv hnlf n milp widp lies nniv n iZ|le by of Cdred yardf ofl the ?o y uth coast of the mainland of Santo, a dozen miles from Segond Canal, where the Americans built up an advance base of very large proportions during the war.

Here, the Centenary Synod of the New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission met on June 22 last.

The setting; is sunerb One noted the orderlv^^rrangement P of the vlri?us buildinesof Teachers 1 In statute (wh^h 1 cel^rated rS its 1 in fSSr 6 ip narklfkP slnnpV thp npS mission Imuses, the notably’ clean and well-set up native village; and looking over to the mainland, one views the mountains of Santo’s massive hinter and, with Mount Tabwemasena towering about 6,000 fedt away to the west. , . . , Things have certainly changed since 1848, when John and Catherine Geddie, the pioneers of the New Hebrides Presbyterian Mission, landed at Aneityum after a voyage of many months from Nova Scotia. In 1948, delegates from the Presbyterian Churches in New Zealand and Australia landed at Santo from a flyingboat, less than two days out from Austra-

lia. Among them was a grand-daughter of Dr. Geddie.

The Presbvterians were not the first white missionaries in the New Hebrides, for ( as everyone knows) Williams and Harris, of the London Missionary Society (Congregational), had been martyred on or near the beach at Dillon’s Bay, Erromanga, in November 1839. The Samoan teachers, who bravely carried on plant the Gospel on Aneityum and elsewhere, share with those early martyrs ti^ e f^ on R ur t> ein S the original pioneers 01 . tne Gospel m wna £ has proved to be a tou S h and savage Group.

However, Dr. Geddie’s arrival on Aneityum in 1848, followed by the slow and sacrificial consolidation and spread of the Presbyterian Mission in the New Hebrides, fairly gives to the Mission a t 0 th " earliBSt Christian pioneers.

A CENTURY’S aims and toils, service and sacrifices, errors and achieve ments, disappointments and sue ppssps ran nnlv hp hinted at in a short this 1 d * h 0 ' accoun L sucn as .

But, in the writer’s considered opinion (after a dozen years in the Mission’s ser vice) among the most miserable of pur suits is that of the “debunkers” of the early missionaries. Such writers surely cannot have stood quietly, as I have done, in some of the places filled with historical

significance: such as the memorial stones near the Williams River, at Erromanga; old empty mission houses in spots no longer able, or deemed essential, to be manned (with pieces of furniture, or utensils, left as if for use at any time); or one of the many mission graves, that speak of human loss bravely borne, often in deep loneliness.

To mention names would be invidious; but the NHPM is a fellowship of service, to belong to which any of the younger men of the present time counts it a great honour.

From earliest days, native converts have taken their place as helpers and leaders and teachers.

From almost every island, since the be ginning of the Training Institute at Tongoa in 1895, have gone selected lads and men for a course of training; and many of these, after returning to their islands, have given years of steady service in the villages. Some (like Apon, shot some years ago by the Big Nambas tribes men in northern Malekula) proved “faithful unto death.” Many such men, trained and untrained, have been lead ing their own people towards the ideal of a true and worthy future for their race.

All non-natives who have lived in the Islands know’ that they have numbered among their real friends many a dark skinned man or woman. The present writer recalls, for instance, the bravery of a man who deliberately risked his own life to protect him; and a man who does that for you is your friend.

NOW, for the second century, it be comes plainly necessary that the people of the New Hebrides them selves must increasingly take their part in all development.

On July 1, 1948, a hot but lovely tropical day, as the fruit and climax of the Cen tenary Synod’s deliberations, a solemn service for the Inauguration of the “Pres byterian Church of the New Hebrides” was held in the open air at Tangoa.

After some years of thought and re

search, work and prayer, a “Constitution,” precise enough to safeguard the essentials, and simple enough to be under stood by native leaders of average ability, had been formally adopted.

Here in solemn and cheerful as sembly, native Pastors taking their place

with the white missionaries and the rep resentatives of the Churches in Australia and New Zealand, the formal founding of another recognised branch of the Christian Church Catholic was carried out.

After a prayer of Inauguration, the Moderator of the Centenary Synod read the following Declaration: “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only King and Head of the Church, I hereby declare the Presbyterian Church of the New Hebrides to be in augurated to the Glory of God and also for the spiritual upbuilding of the people of the New Hebrides.”

A newly re-erected Quonset Hut was appropriately dedicated for use in train ing native Pastors; and an eloquent address was given.

Thus the second century of the Mission’s work in this Group dawns with good hope.

The Presbyterian Church of the New Hebrides, an infant as yet, instinctively knows how much it needs its parents’ guidance, and even restraint, for many years to come. It shows many signs of good health and strength and promise of maturity; and there are many of us who believe that, while the difficult problems of the clash of cultures have in some organic life, to be developed and un folded within the clear guidance of the Christian Church, there will be found their only sane and happy solution.