Rev. G. L. Mackay to begin a Mission in China. He decided on North Formosa as the most interesting field that offered itself. From that date till his death in 1902, in conjunction with a succession of colleagues, he carried on an extensive work among the Chinese. The story of his work is told in his well-known book, From Far Formosa. Last year a successor was sent out from Canada, and in addition a medical missionary and two lady missionaries. The headquarters of the mission are at Tamsui. The whole island is divided between those two missions, the Tai-an river forming the natural boundary-line.
The work of our Mission in the south, and to a very large extent that of the Mission in the north, has been along the lines of our older Presbyterian Missions on the mainland opposite.[1] The Gospel was preached throughout the country and literature distributed. Especial attention has been paid to medical missions ; at present one-third of our staff is purely medical, and the results in spreading the Gospel and opening up new districts have justified the amount of labour and money spent in this direction. Converts began to gather for worship in various towns and villages, and these were visited systematically by the foreign missionary for teaching and pastoral oversight.
From the very beginning native helpers were largely made use of, to supplement the labours of the foreign missionary. For the training of these workers, Theological Colleges were set up at the two head centres. Local schools for the teaching of the children were set up where possible, and a central High School established for the education of those who wished some training better than the local schools could supply. The people were taught from the beginning the duty and privilege of raising money for the support of the Church, special emphasis being laid on the duty of supporting the preachers. As the work spread more and more, while the foreign staff remained almost stationary, the need of native ministers to take full charge of the congregations,
- ↑ This subject is fully treated in Mission Problems and Missionary Methods in South China, chaps, vi.-x., by Rev. J. Campbell Gibson, M.A., D.D
