128
J. A Salmond, for example, has shown that New Zealand Presbyterian agitation for British intervention in the New Hebrides (in the face of national fears over French annexation in the region) served to raise the profile of Presbyterian missionary activity in New Zealand during the mid- 1 880s. J. A. Salmond, 'New Zealand and the New Hebrides', in Peter Munz (ed.), The Feel of Truth: Essays in New Zealand and Pacific History, Wellington: A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1 969, pp. 1 1 3-35.129
David Hilliard, 'The Making of an Anglican Martyr: Bishop John Coleridge Patteson of Melanesia', in Diana Wood (ed.), Martyrs and Martyrologies, Studies in Church History, vol. 30, Oxford & Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basil Blackwell Publishers, 1 993, pp. 333-335.130
David Hilliard, 'Patteson, John Coleridge 1 827- 1 87 1 ', DNZB, updated 2 1 May 2002, URL:http://www.dnzb.govt.nzJ
131
New Zealand Herald, 1 November 1 87 1 , pp. 4-5; Nelson Evening Mail, 3 November 1 8 7 1 , p. 2; Press, 4 November 1 87 1 , p. 2; New Zealand Mail, 1 1 November 1 87 1 , p. 1 2; OW, 1 1 November 1 87 1 , pp. 4, 8; Hilliard, 'The Making of an English Martyr', p. 335; OW, 20 January 1 872, p. 3 ; 'Missions Report, 1 872', PGA PCNZ, p. 9.1 32
New Zealand Mail, 1 1 November 1 87 1 , p. 1 2.
1 33 Hilliard, 'The Making of an English Martyr', p. 344.
Chapter Two -Stirrings of a Missionary Consciousness, 1 868- 1 889
figure. The Press lamented the loss of a man of a 'noble and heroic nature' . Similarly he was referred to as 'a man greatly honoured . . . in all the Churches, as a man of fme, genial Christian spirit, of great gifts and acquirements, and of entire devotion to the Mission cause' . 1 34 At least two memorial proj ects were initiated between 1 87 1 and 1 873. One aimed to erect a stained glass window in St. Paul' s Church in Auckland. Publicity stated that it would cost some £300, and that no individual gift was to exceed one guinea. 1 35 A wide measure of support was sought, but the end result was unclear. The second project was the Auckland Diocese' s 'Bishop Patteson Memorial Fund' . Money was canvassed from other countries with Anglican communions, as well as from New Zealand. Amongst other things a new Mission vessel, the Southern Cross Ill, was financed from this fund, as well as the training of native clergy. 1 36 At the same time prayerful support for foreign missions took on a new significance. In December 1 872 a SPG/CMS sponsored Anglican 'Day of Intercession for Missions' was inaugurated in England, and became an annual fixture. i 37 The idea was readily adopted and promoted in New Zealand that same year. Special Scripture readings and prayers were set, and the day quickly became a focus for missionary sermons and special missionary collections. 1 38 These are clues only, which suggest that the events of 1 87 1 had some impact on the missionary awareness of selected churchgoers in New Zealand.
134
Press, 4 November 1 87 1 , p. 2; 'Missions Report, 1 872', PCNZ PGA, p. 9.135
Church Gazette, August 1 873, p. 1 07, ibid, September 1 873, p. 1 37.136
Angus Ross, New Zealand Aspirations in the Pacific in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford, 1 964, p. 86; New Zealand Herald, 9 November ( 1 87 1 ), p. 3 .137
Hilliard, 'The Making of an English Martyr', p. 344.Chapter Two - Stirrings of a Missionary Consciousness, 1 868- 1 889
Pioneer NZBMS Women Missionaries, 1 886-1 899
Photo 2.1 - Rosalie Macgeorge, 1886-1891
(Folder 1 7, Box 0229, NZBMS Archives)
Photo 2.3 - Hopestill Pillow, 1889-1895
(Folder 8, Box 1 0 1 0, NZBMS Archives)
Photo 2.2 - Annie Newcombe, 1887-1889
(Folder 5, Box 1 0 1 0, NZBMS Archives)
Photo 2.4 - Annie Bacon, 1890-1899 (Folder 1 , Box 1 0 1 0, NZBMS Archives)
Chapter Three - First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890- 1 899
Chapter Three
A First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890-1 899 3.1 Introduction
In February 1 899 the Rev. Alexander Don wrote to George McNeur with the following enquiry. ' I have for some time been wondering if you have heard of the new departure of our Church in deciding to take up work among the Chinese in China . . . . I know that your heart, influenced by The HOLY SPIRIT, has for some time inclined towards China'. 1 The 'new departure' was a proposal that the Presbyterian Synod of Otago and Southland should initiate work amongst a network of villages close to Canton in southern China. Don conceived the plan whilst on an overseas study trip in 1 897 and 1 898. He argued that this was a singular opportunity to naturally extend existing Presbyterian work amongst the resident Cantonese Chinese in New Zealand, and suggested that it could benefit the Church at home. Through it, 'our people would thus be more strongly bound to Mission work in China' and 'a channel would . . . be provided within our own church and our owrI denomination for the sympathy, prayer, and gifts of our people'.z The context for these comments was the growing number of Presbyterians going to India or China with non-denominational missions. George McNeur had earlier applied to the China Inland Mission (CIM), after training at Bible training institutes in Adelaide and Glasgow, but now accepted Don's call and challenge to work within his own denomination. By 1 899 he was in training for ordination, and a foundational sum of £400 had been raised.3 McNeur finally departed for southern China in 1 90 1 , joined by his wife Margaret in 1 903, and others soon followed in this new expansive venture.
This broadening of Presbyterian lTIlSSIOnary vlsIOn was symptomatic of a shift in missionary sentiments and involvement amongst New Zealand churches more generally. This chapter argues that there was a substantial rise in missionary enthusiasm throughout New Zealand in the 1 890s. This enthusiasm enlarged upon the various sentiments, structures and patterns that were identified prior to 1 889, and came about through the confluence of a range of domestic and international factors. At the same I Don to McNeur, 6 February 1 899, 'McNeur', Series 6, Staff Files, Canton Villages Mission (GAO I 48),
PCANZ Archive.
2
'Report on Canton Village Mission', in 'McNeur', Series 6, Staff Files, CVM (GAO I 48), PCANZ Archive.3
'Missions Report, 1 899', PCSO PS, pp. 68-69; 'George and Margaret McNeur', Register of Missionaries, Deaconesses and Missionaries; Henry H. Barton, George Hunter McNeur: A Pioneer 'Missionary in South China, Christchurch and Dunedin: Presbyterian Bookroom, 1 955, p. 3 .Chapter Three - First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890- 1 899
time the emerging movement was still potentially fragile and vulnerable. Four questions will be addressed. What were the main developments in this period that support the notion of a rise in missionary enthusiasm in the 1 890s? To what extent were these developments continuous or discontinuous with the previous decades? What factors help to explain this rise in enthusiasm? How deeply rooted was this enthusiasm and how robust was the missionary movement by 1 900? The chapter will focus on the main developments, the genesis of the New Zealand Church Missionary Association and the China Inland Mission, the discernible theological and sociological themes and trends, the reasons for missionary enthusiasm and indicators of the movement's weaknesses.
3.2 Outline of the Main Developments, 1890-1 899
Between 1 890 and 1 899 larger numbers of New Zealand Christians embarked on missionary service overseas than at any previous time (Figure 3 . 1 ).
Figure 3.1 -Estimated Missionary and Applicant Numbers, 1 890-1 8994
� GI
�
:::l z1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
Applicants by Date of Application ___ Missionaries by Date of Departure
At least 1 3 9 men and women went overseas as missionaries in the 1 890s, and another sixty-six were interested enough to apply for missionary service to the five missions under study. That was more than a four-fold increase on the previous three decades. They were employed or sponsored by an estimated seventeen different missions or denominations, and went to at least thirteen different destinations. Most notably they
4
See Appendix Two for details of the sources on which these figures, and the equivalent graphs in Chapters 3 .5, 4.2, 4.4, 5.2 and 5 .3, are based. In these graphs 'Applicants' include both accepted missionaries and those not successful in their application. They are graphed by year of application. 'Missionaries' are graphed by the year of their departure. Therefore these graphs suggest that any measure of missionary enthusiasm needs to take into account both missionary departures (which may actually reflect initial enthusiasm of a year or so before), and applications that would either result in future missionary departures or the non-acceptance of the offer.Chapter Three -First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890-1 899
went to various parts of India and China, but also to locations in the South Pacific, South America, Africa, South and East Asia, and Palestine.
There were also other developments that gave the missionary movement greater shape and profile throughout the 1 890s. Within New Zealand local councils or committees were established for a number of missions, induding the New Zealand Church Missionary Association ( 1 892), the China Inland Mission ( 1 894), the Poona and Indian Village Mission ( 1 896), the Zenana and Bible Medical Mission ( 1 899),5 and the South American Evangelical Mission ( 1 899). A significant proportion of missionaries served with non-denominational missions, or with overseas denominational missions, and support was readily given to these groupS.6 Of the seventeen sending agencies in the 1 890s, five or six were non-denominational and five were British or Australian denominational missions. Most significant amongst these was the Poona and Indian Village Mission, based in Australia, which engaged some forty New Zealanders between 1 896 and 1 899. Women became more prominent both in their participation as missionaries and in their profile as organised supporters of missions. In the Presbyterian context women's support became increasingly organised as the Otago Presbyterian Ladies' Mission Aid Association (formed in 1 89 1 ) evolved into a network of regional Presbyterian Women's Missionary Unions by 1 897, all of which were ultimately organised into a national PWMU in 1 905. Similar national organisations would also emerge in the Baptist and Methodist Unions from 1 903 and 1 905. An increasing number of missionary applicants were being channelled through a range of lay training institutes, particularly in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. These provided an alternative for men who were not seeking ordination prior to their departure, and were the only training option for women. In New Zealand the first (and for many years the only) such institute was the Missionary Training Home for women established in Dunedin by the ex-Baptist missionary Annie Driver (nee Newcombe) in 1 899. Finally, a growing number and variety of overseas missionary speakers toured New Zealand. For some of these, such as the visit of John R. Mott in 1 896, raising missionary awareness was just one of the aims of speaking engagements. For others, such as Charles Reeve, the Australian founder and leader of the Poona and Indian Village Mission, annual visits
5
This is speculative. Three British ZBMM speakers visited New Zealand in 1 899, for which a wide range of meetings were organised in Dunedin at least. Otago Witness, 1 3 April 1 899, p. 6 1 .Chapter Three - First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890- 1 899
between 1 896 and 1 899 were explicitly aimed at enlisting more recruits for overseas work and building support. The combined effect was a heightened expectancy that many congregations would interact with international missionaries.
3.3 The New Zealand Church Missionary Association, 1 892-1 899
It seems as if, in late 1 892, the New Zealand Church Missionary Association simply sprang into being overnight. That was virtually the case but not quite. The primary catalyst for the Association's formation was undoubtedly the visit to New Zealand by Eugene Stock (Church Missionary Society Editorial Secretary) and the Rev. Robert Stewart (English CMS missionary in China) in October 1 892. Yet this needs to be set against a wider background of growing Anglican missionary awareness and general missionary enthusiasm of the 1 890s. There were at least three strands to Anglican missionary awareness. The first was the long presence of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand dating back to 1 8 1 4. The CMS had a sentimental place in the awareness of many settler Anglicans, because of this long record. From 1 882, however, the CMS began devolving its Maori Mission responsibilities onto the New Zealand Church. At the same time there is no evidence of any CMS auxiliary groups in New Zealand, similar to that of New South Wales.7 Missionary awareness, then, was more likely to be vested in a second strand - the Melanesian Mission.8 A third and more speculative strand also existed, made up of a number of elements. One was the presence and impact of Anglican clergy who were previously missionaries in other parts of the world. For example there were at least eight late nineteenth-century clergy who had been CMS missionaries elsewhere, and one who had served with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG).9 Another element of this strand was the presence of missionary literature in diocesan newspapers. This literature indicated that local Anglican missionary interest already extended to such regions as South America, India and Palestine. 10 Again the departure of the Rev. William St. Clair Tisdall from Nelson to India with the CMS, in the early 1 880s, may have further raised the profile of
7
Eugene Stock, The History of the Church Missionary Society, vol. 3, pp. 673-674.8
See Chapter 2.2 for details.9
Peter Lineham, 'Appendix: Biographical Index of Church Missionary Society Workers', in Robert Glen (ed.), Mission and Moko, pp. 1 93-2 1 2; Stock, 'The CMS Deputation in New Zealand', Church Missionary intelligencer, February 1 893, p. 1 35.1 0 Church Gazette, April 1 88 1 , p. 34; ibid, July 1 882, p. 66; ibid, August 1 882, p. 72; ibid, November
1 892, pp. 1 28- 1 29; ibid, February 1 893, p. 1 9; ibid, March 1 893, p. 38.
Chapter Three - First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890- 1 899
mission. I I Finally Anglicans were being given first hand accounts of missionary work
by overseas missionary speakers, particularly visiting bishops. Together these strands suggest that interest in forming a NZCMA did not arise out of a vacuum of awareness.
The 1 890 and 1 892 Keswick-style evangelistic campaigns of the English Anglican, the Rev. George C . Grubb, also served to heighten this awareness and enthusiasm. 1 2 Described by one observer as 'a man of some scholarship, and wholly in earnest . . . . gentle in private, [and] commanding and authoritative on the platform' , 13 Grubb was acceptable to wary Anglican clergy and congregations. Missionary meetings were regularly included in Grubb's speaking schedule. Generally well attended and received, they served to foster Anglican missionary interest and involvement in the two years immediately prior to the Association's formation. 14 In 1 892 Grubb ' s party advertised the forthcoming tour by Stock and Stewart, encouraging people to support it. 1 5
Against this broader canvas Stock and Stewart's visit stirred Anglicans into a more organised form of affirmative missionary action. They had been sent by the CMS in England to foster the formation of colonial associations in Australia and New Zealand. This may have been an outcome of a Keswick inspired campaign to recruit up to one thousand CMS missionaries during the 1 890s. 1 6 It was also a response to an invitation by Australasian bishops increasingly concerned about CIM recruitment of Anglicans. l ? The New Zealand leg o f the visit was a concerted and concentrated month long campaign, supported by the various bishops, with sixty meetings in churches, halls and cathedrals, in all six diocesan centres as well as in Blenheim and Gisborne. 1 8 If the Nelson meetings were representative, then their visit saw them raise missionary awareness in at least three main ways. The first was in the explication of a simple theology of mission, which emphasised mission both as a response to a divine command and as an obligation binding upon the Church. The second was through descriptions of
11
Clinton Bennett, 'WiIliam St. Clair Tisdall', in Anderson (ed.), BDCM, p. 673.12
The contributory role of Christian conventions will be considered in Chapter 6.5.!3
Church Gazette, June 1 892, p. 62.14
For example: E. C. Millard, What God Hath Wrought: An Account of the Mission Tour of the Rev. G. C. Grubb, London: E . Marlborough & Co., 1 89 1 , pp. 2 1 5-2 1 7.15
E. C. Millard, The Same Lord: An Account of the Mission Tour of the Rev. George. C. Grubb, London:E. Marlborough and Co., 1 893, p. 344.
16
Allan K. Davidson, "'Enlarging Our Hearts": The Founding of the Church Missionary Association, p.23; Stock, The History of the Church Missionary Society, vol. 3, pp. 669-673.
17
Stock, ibid, pp. 674-675; Church Gazette, October 1 892, p. 1 1 1 .Chapter Three - First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890- 1 899
missionary work in China, complete with curios, and of the history and current activity of the CMS worldwide. The third was through practical sessions aimed at Sunday school teachers (with an emphasis on how teachers could encourage children's missionary interest), and the establishment of the CMS Gleaners' Union. 19 At the end of it all Stock was able to write that they had 'found everywhere men and women whose ears are open to the great missionary call, and who are ready to "go or send'" .20 In a
later letter to CMS supporters Stock cautioned that what they had 'sown' in New Zealand were 'acorns', and that 'oaks do not grow to maturity in a few months, .21 It is clear, however, that these 'acorns' did not take long to throw up early shoots amongst some Anglicans. Following the precedent set in Victoria and New South Wales, a New Zealand Church Missionary Association was established in late 1 892.22
The seed box for this young oak tree was the low-church Nelson Diocese, where there was a fertile mix of receptive laity and clergy and a warm climate of evangelicalism.23 Following a letter from Nelson canvassing national support for an Association in late October 1 892, a constitution was drafted and episcopal support initially given by the Bishops of Nelson and of Waiapu. The appeal for support invoked William Carey's missionary call to English Baptists in 1 792, to 'attempt great things for God, and expect great things from God'. 24 By 1 895 the Association had held its first Annual General Meeting, sent out or approved three women missionaries, received a number of applications and had ratified a concise and acceptable Constitution?S This Constitution provides a useful means of understanding the early development of the NZCMA.
In its formulation the NZCMA was both separate from and yet intimately related to the Anglican Church in New Zealand. It was a voluntary and evangelical 'society of members of the Church of the Province of New Zealand' . 26 This relationship was never going to be easy. On the one hand the NZCMA had to win the trust of the bishops. After
19
Nelson Evening Mail, 14 October 1 892, p. 2; ibid, 1 5 October 1 892, p. 2; ibid, 1 8 October 1 892, p. 2. For a fuller outline of thjs visit see Davidson, 'Enlarging Our Hearts', pp. 23-24.20
Church Missionary Intelligencer, February 1 893, p. 1 39.21
Church Missionary Intelligencer, June 1 893, p. 448.22
ibid, pp. 458-460.23
Morrell notes that Bishop Charles Mules 'carried on [Bishop] Suter's evangelical tradition' in the Nelson Diocese, and later makes reference (in the context of debates over church union in the 1 960s) to the diocese's enduring 'evangelical tradition'. The Anglican Church in New Zealand, pp. 1 1 5, 1 1 7, 236.24
ibid, pp. 458-459; Church Gazette, January 1 893, p. 7; Davidson, 'Enlarging our Hearts', p. 24.25
Annual Report o/the NZCMA, 1 895, p. 1 .26
'The Constitution', included in NZCMA Report, 1 90 1 , pp. 36-39.Chapter Three - First Wave of Missionary Enthusiasm, 1 890- 1 899
early criticism from Dunedin's Bishop S. T. Nevill the Association's secretaries strongly defended the NZCMA, on the grounds that it was a strength of the Anglican Church to ' give shelter to divergent opinions, principles, tendencies, and aims, and to afford them room for development'.27 All the bishops, except for Nevill, had given their formal sanction to the NZCMA by 1 895, with the Primate appointed as Vice-Patron and