Waiapu Church Gazette June Ist, 1944. THE CRY OF MELANESIA.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 35, Issue 4, 1 June 1944, Page 4

Waiapu Church Gazette June Ist, 1944. THE CRY OF MELANESIA.

The cry of Melanesia cannot but awaken in the hearts of Churchpeople a ready response to the appeal for the restoration of its devastated missions. It was not until the Japanese invaded the islands of the SputhWest Pacific that the value of the missions has become seen in its true perspective. The need f or missionaries to take the Gospel to the countless thousands of Islanders -who lived in. plarkness has been questioned even by Churchpeople who have hitherto alienated any interest in the mission field despite, the Master's command, "Go ye into all the world .. . " The war must have disillusioned such people, while it has greatly widened the field of those who recognise and give thanks for the work done in. the name of God's Church among the Islanders. The enemy bombs and shells have laid in waste all the institutions, providing for the bodily and spiritual healing. If' we pause to think as to what would have been, the consequences if the blow had fallen on New Zealand instead. Spared the horrors of the front line that was the lot of Melanesia, it is our bounder^ duty to assist in the rehabilitatioh of the means to enable the Missions to continue and develop their noble work. An appeal has been made by the Church in New Zealand for £35,000 to enable the missions to be restored, To date the Diocese of Waiapu is £4000 behind in. its quota. When we. remember that not only churches, but hospitals, schools and missionaries' houses are in ruins, the amount that we being asked to provide for their

re-establishment must be regarded as being modest. ":For other causes very-large sums of money have been raised; over the area embraced in this Diocese 1 , but in view of what Melanesia has done for lis^it is the privilege of us all to respond as a thanksgiving in a measure that would constitute a self-sacrifice. It is our undoubted responsibility of seeing that the desires of that heroic missionary, the Rt. Rev. W,\ H. Baddeley, ." D.5.0., M.G., are given effect to. On Whitsunday we thanked God for the work of the < Melanesian Missions and we prayed for the workers in that field of the Lord. In subscribing to the special appeal let us be mindful of the airmen they have saved, of the way they care for the sick and wounded from the battlefield and of the way they gallantly guided -our men through the jungle tracks. It has, indeed, been a revelation to the men of the Allied forces fighting in the Pacific to see what a change Christianity has made on these Islanders., They had read or had been told of fierce, treacherous head hunters and cannibals, but- to their surprise they found these so-called fierce head-hunting cannibals to be men of some culture. ' They found them to be of a kindly disposition and ready to do any r thing for an airman shot down or for a sailor scrambling ashore from somie sinking vessel. Our fighting men have learned that those characteristics which go to make Up what we mean when we say of. a man "he is a white man" belong also in as full a measure under the skins that are brown or black. It is

to be hoped that never again shall we hear that it is better to leave the natives alone in their natural state and in their primitive "Garden of Eden" happiness. The men of our fighting services who have seen the natives in their natural state know that there is no happiness in such : places ' when disease, darkness and deyilishness hold these primitive people in a soul and body-destroying- bondage. It is to lift these men out of this bondage that support for tbe Missions is sought. The money given helps to support hospitals and dispensaries where alls may go for healing. Itinerant doctors and nurses move about the bush to the many villages, picked boys are sent to school, girls are trained v in mothercraf t and maternity, while educational work is attended to. How many of our Churchpeople are aware of the fact that the Melanesian Mission has three' centres where leprosy is successfully -treat ed? Our Churchpeople have been asked yearly to contribute to that very good work being done by an-- . other, denomination at Malogai, which is a good object to support, but they should know that their own Church needs money also for the same work of bringing healing and comfort to those suffering from the dreaded disease of leprosy. It has, to be admitted that the publicity regarding the great healing ministry long carried on by our own beloved Church has been far from what it might have been, with the result that our Churchpeople have thought more in terms of the work being done by certain other denominations rather than that being done by their own-. :V • *■"■'" Of the many tributes that have been paid to the wonderful work of the intrepid band of missionaries in Melanesia the followihjg places beyond all doubt the great worth that has been achieved in the extension of God's Church. Ah American naval captain,

after hearing Bishop Baddeley address his ship's company, admitted that, while he had always regarded himself as being a good Churchman, but had never had any appreciation of foreign missions, said that after his experience during recent months of the Islanders and what they had done as the result of the work of the Missions he had been compelled to revise completely his earlier judgment. To the ' extent that the means for this work can be restored arid continued will depend upon the Churchpeople of New Zealand. May their support be worthy of the noble cause and may this Diocese of Waiapiu show its gratitude by doing its full part to further this heroic missionary endeavour.