Overseas Mission Research Articles

Building Missionary-Philanthropic Educational Networks: A Medical School for Women in Constantinople

Abstract The American College for Girls in Constantinople has been credited with playing a significant role in Turkish women’s emancipation and the feminist movement. From its humble origins in a small overseas mission, the institution evolved by 1914 into a U.S.-style college with a campus sponsored by leading American philanthropists. The designs were intended to impress visitors and to control the women students’ bodies, and, as such, were contested by the women at the helm of the institution. By examining the correspondence among various actors involved in the project, as well as the architects’ drawings, this article traces the building process of the campus with a focus on its lesser-known and unrealized medical school. It argues that the building process helped the American women educators of the ACG to establish an educational network that offered them opportunities unavailable to them in the United States.

Chinese Missionaries in Cross-Cultural Overseas Mission: Emergence of a New Missionary Nation?

This article traces the emergence of Chinese Christians’ participation in cross-cultural overseas mission. It shows how Chinese Christians emerge as a significant new force in world mission and how they navigate their path between China’s growing economic clout and repressive religious policies at home and in most of their targeted destinations. Based on contacts with Chinese missionaries and mission trainers and facilitators, it identifies different groups engaged in mission and analyzes motives in the Chinese missionary endeavors and how the presence of Chinese Christian missionaries adds a different layer to the complexities of Chinese overseas activities.

African American education in the Global South: tracing the influences of industrial training in early twentieth-century Fiji

ABSTRACT While Fiji was a British colony, in the early twentieth century, education to Indigenous Fijians was delivered by missions including the Methodist Overseas Mission of Australasia. As argued here, education delivery was influenced by policies for African Americans. Policies from Tuskegee Institute in the American South were transposed to Nausori, where i taukei (people of the land) and Indo-Fijians were encouraged into industrial mission schemes, away from traditional communal lifestyles. This article illustrates how contemporary educational philosophies for and by Black men and women were part of a broader education network that acted as a locus of colonial reform. While some in the colonial hierarchy considered his emphasis on agricultural training appropriate to their vision of Native Fijian advancement, concurrently, Fijians themselves – passing through the mission system promoted competing forms of modernisation. They used missionary education, including influences of Washington’s approach, to speak back to British power and authority.

Study of Working Intention on Overseas State-Aided Construction Projects under the Policy of One Belt One Road for Beijing Stated-Owned Enterprises

This research studies the working intention of the employee from Beijing Stated-Owned Enterprises with their attitudes toward the working condition in an overseas state-aided construction project. With the Belt and Road initiative reflecting China’s economic, political, and strategic advantages overseas, the development of infrastructure connectivity becomes inevitable. The three research objectives are: to analyze the influence mechanism of the willingness to continue working overseas of the staff of the current state-aided construction projects; to explore the relationship between policy, overseas mission, work responsibility, culture, workers compensation, and policy; to suggest a better approach in enhancing the overseas working conditions.

Roles of the Diaspora Christians in Mission and Evangelism From an African Orthodox Perspective

"This paper will focus on the specific roles that the diaspora orthodox Christian can play in mission and evangelism today. The main objective is to bring into the attention, and especially from a missiological point of view, the fact that the diaspora Christians can have an active role to play in the mission of the church. The active Orthodox Church missions has been understand to mean overseas mission and especially in Africa, Asia and in the Albania. However, in the course of the orthodox Christian migration history, there has been missiological connection between the diaspora Christians in the hosting countries and their respective home countries. The focus of this paper is on this missiological connection and how it can translate to an active role of the involved Christians to the mission of the church in Africa. The paper tracks the mission praxis of the diaspora Christians in Africa and beyond. Keywords: roles, diaspora Christians, mission and evangelism, philanthropic works, diakonia, witness. "

The Chinese advisory groups in the first Indochina War: their formation, evolution, and disbandment

ABSTRACT The Communist Party of China swiftly embarked on its first overseas mission by sending military advisors to Vietnam right after founding the People’s Republic of China in 1949. By relying on first-hand archival materials and interviews with former advisors, this study reveals the formation, evolution, and disbandment of the Chinese advisory groups in Vietnam, the details of which remain generally vague, if not unknown, to the academic community. Thus, the study works to uncover the historical facts that can explain the rise and fall of these groups that operated in Vietnam from 1950–56.

A Deconstruction of the Jurisdiction of the CJEU in CFSP Matters – Enlightenment at the End of the Tunnel?

The jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in matters that relate to the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) has been contentious ever since the CJEU`s Opinion 2/13 on the EU’s ECHR draft-accession-agreement. Against the backdrop of the CJEU’s recent case-law, where the CJEU has been ever expanding its jurisdictional reach in CFSP matters and some recent proposals in the wake of renewed efforts for an ECHR-accession the present paper suggests to take another look at the constitutional structures of the CFSP in order to overcome the hurdles set out in Opinion 2/13. The CFSP, as is well known, is a policy field in its own right, structured along intergovernmental lines. Since the responsibility for the implementation of the CFSP`s remains largely with the member states it is little wonder that the CFSP has often been viewed as a policy field with little repercussions for the individual. The involvement of the EU in overseas mission within the context of a Common Defence and Security Policy, nevertheless, seems particularly problematic. This – from the point of view of a possible ECHR accession – is all the more so, as the ECtHR has been expanding its jurisdiction in the context of extraterritorial military missions, whereas the CJEU purportedly still lacks jurisdiction in this field. To overcome this dilemma the paper not only suggests to reassess the very nature of the competences the EU can assume within the CFSP and how this translates into actions attributable to the EU under the ECHR but, moreover, also proposes to think anew about how the CJEU’s jurisdiction can be broadened to matters that relate to but are not a part of the CFSP.

‘Who’s for Tonga?’ Tongan Visitors and Australian Escapism in the Summer of 1932–3

ABSTRACTWhile historians have examined how Australians represented and imagined Asia, fewer scholars have considered their responses to Islanders – particularly Islanders visiting Australia. This paper explores a moment when Tonga was firmly in the minds of the Australian public. In December 1932, a group of 16 Tongan choristers arrived for an extended visit to raise spirits and funds for the Methodist Overseas Mission. A month later, Tonga’s Premier, Prince Viliami Tungī, commenced a tour of his own. Both Tungī and the choir presented an image of Tonga as Christianized, increasingly ‘civilized’ and confidently facing the future. This paper considers the extent to which their message resonated in Australia. It contends that while the Tongans attracted attention and admiration, outside of the church the intended meaning of their presence was often lost. More generally, their struggles demonstrate how such encounters could – and could not – alter entrenched ‘rumours’ and perceptions.

Out of Africa: Students' reflections on the personal and professional impact of volunteering

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (2009) states that student midwives should seek opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge base. In the summer of 2018, two student midwives from the University of Northampton independently researched and signed up to a 2-week overseas mission trip to Kenya, with the aim of immersing themselves in a different culture to gain new knowledge and develop transferable skills to embed into their practice in the UK. Charlotte Ames and Adelle Boughen also visited a number of projects around the region supporting girls and young women who have fled their homes to escape injustices such as underage marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM) and domestic abuse. Hearing the young women's stories of bravery, resilience and optimism have had a profound effect on both Charlotte and Adelle, providing them with a new understanding of the term ‘with woman’ and influencing their future practice.

A Study on the Development of Education Field Practica at the Overseas Mission Schools

A Study on the Development of Education Field Practica at the Overseas Mission Schools

Theology as a language for mission: on claiming incognito contributions from beyond the discipline

Mission and theology are intimately related. This might not have seemed so obvious in the nineteenth century when practical considerations were paramount, but it was growing clearer in the twentieth as complex interactions among denominations and with other world religions required more careful reflection. David Bosch duly notes the trend, calling it “Mission as Theology,” the twelfth element of “An Emerging Ecumenical Missionary Paradigm” ( Transforming Mission, 489–498). The question is whether this trend has found its fulfillment. A certain narrowness of vision persists in missiological conversations, which risks neglecting mission-worthy insights from theologians and exegetes outside the field strictly defined. Unless theologians identify themselves publicly as missiologists or their subject matter as missiologically related, they risk not being noticed by the missiological community. Two examples of this will be noted in this article: systematic theologian Gerhard Forde who rarely talks overtly of mission but makes a passionate contribution towards its effective practice; and New Testament professor Roy Harrisville of modest experience in overseas mission who probes a worldview-rupturing effect of Christ pertinent to any interfaith dialogue. The need for a mechanism for the fulfillment of the trend Bosch noted will be argued, and some possibilities proposed.

The Contributions of British Female Missionaries and Japanese Bible Women to the Ministry of the Japan Evangelistic Band in the Early 20th Century

Early 20th century evangelical mission organisations that emerged from the British Holiness Movement prioritised evangelism over social reform. Female missionaries, however, were often engaged in bringing social transformation. Even though women were the major workforce in overseas mission, leadership was always in male hands. This article discusses how even though women in the Japan Evangelistic Band were not in leadership positions, their initiative in social engagement enabled the Mission to participate in spiritual as well as social transformation, and raise a generation of Japanese female leadership.

The Present Situation and Prospect of Overseas Mission in the Emerging Urban House Church(EUHC) in China

The Present Situation and Prospect of Overseas Mission in the Emerging Urban House Church(EUHC) in China

Transporting Concepts of ‘Native’ Land as Birthright between Fiji and Australia’s North

This article focuses on the experiences at two Methodist communities in the Pacific and their assertions of sovereignty from the 1920s to the 1960s. It explores the connections between two nodes of the Methodist Mission – Fiji and Australia’s Northern Territory – through one missionary, Kolinio Saukuru. While there were moments of great political mobilisation at each site, efforts to assert Indigenous land ownership and autonomy were hampered by persistent racialized views of the ‘native’ amongst missionaries and the colonial state. This article engages with questions emerging from the histories of colonial missions, particularly whether missions aligned with colonial administrations on strategies of governance. However, it also points to the need to think beyond national boundaries when studying mission histories. An examination of the Methodist Overseas Mission using a transnational framework illuminates a network of Indigenous people who worked to protect what some missionaries and anthropologists considered an Indigenous ‘birthright’: the land. This study therefore expands on the existing historiography of colonial missions, of Indigenous labour, and of land rights activism in Fiji and Australia’s north.

“The Awful Depravity of Human Nature”: Violence and humanitarian narratives in New South Wales and Tahiti, 1796–99

Shocked by the abject failure of the London Missionary Society’s (LMS) first overseas mission to Polynesia, missionaries retreated to New South Wales in 1799 having had their evangelical certainties about morality, culture, religion, and race thoroughly shaken. White settler communities proved almost as disturbing as the islands for the disgraced missionaries. Samuel Clode was brutally murdered soon after arriving; lay missionaries found that their simple communal religious practices would not be tolerated by the established ministers of religion; and co-habiting with convicts, military men, and Aborigines seriously challenged evangelical social mores. John Youl wrote, “no other spot on the face of the Habitable Globe, contains more witnesses of the awful depravity of human Nature” (1801). Humanitarian narratives were central to British evangelical missionary work. Although humanitarian narratives often struggled to emerge in the early Australian colonies given the predominance of aggressive settler expansionism, the isolated voices of individuals associated with evangelical reform deserve attention because they provide troubling accounts of the problems and failures of settler colonialism. This article uses Clode’s accounts of his experience at Matavai Bay in Tahiti, and accounts of his death at Port Jackson, as nodal points through which to trace the moral contours of emergent settler modernities in Pacific Rim worlds. Colonial resistance to evangelical authority by both Europeans and Indigenous people confounded the expectations of the vigorous humanitarian lobby in Britain, and the information garnered by colonial agents provided considerable challenge to European expectations. Yet it also provided considerable ammunition to argue for religious models of the moral empire. In such ways evangelical experiences garnered from colonial locations became part of a globalising knowledge economy and a thriving print culture, which both supported and challenged the dominance of humanitarian narratives.

Missionary Medicine of Canadian Presbytery and Korean Doctors under Japanese Occupation--focusing Sung-jin and Ham-heung

In East Asia during the second half of the 19th century, overseas mission work by Protestant churches thrived. Missionaries built schools and hospitals and effectively used them for evangelism. In the 20th century when Social Gospel Movement was expanding, medical work has been recognized as a significant mission service in and by itself. This article reviewed the construction and characteristics of missions work conducted by Canadian Presbytery; missionary doctors and Korean doctors who worked at the mission hospitals; why the missionary medical work had to stop; and career paths taken by Korean doctors upon liberation from Japanese occupation. The Canadian Presbytery missionaries, unlike other denomination missionaries, were rather critical of Imperial Japan, but supportive towards Koreans. This could have stemmed from the reflection of their own experience of once a colony of British Empire and also their value system that promotes egalitarian, democratic and progressive theology. The Sung-jin and Ham-heung Mission Bases were a community, interacting organically as a 'Triangle of Church, School and Hospital.' The missionaries mobilized the graduates from Christian schools and organized a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). Some of the graduates were trained to become medical doctors or assistants and worked at mission hospitals. Missionary doctors' approaches to balancing evangelism and medical practice varied. For example, Robert Grieson went through confusion and struggled to balance conflicting roles as a pastor for evangelism and also as a physician. Kate McMillan, on the other hand, had less burden for evangelism than Grieson, and focused on medical work by taking advantage of the opportunity that, as a woman, she can easily approach Korean women. Still another case was Florence Murray who practised evangelism within the hospital setting, and successfully carried out the role as a hospital administrator, going beyond 'women's work' as McMillan did. Korean doctors and assistants who worked at the mission hospitals had seen the spread of Protestantism in their youth; had received modern education; had experienced the fall of own country in 1910 and nationwide protest against Japan in 1919. The majority of them were graduates of Severance Medical College, the hub of missionary medicine at the time. After the resignation from the mission hospitals, 80 percent of them became self-employed general practitioners. The operations of the mission hospitals began to contract in 1930 due to tightened control by Imperial Japan. Shrine worship imposed on Christians caused internal conflict and division among missionaries and brought about changes in the form and contents of the mission organization. The incidence of the assault of Dr. Grieson brought about the dissolution of Sung-jin mission base and the interruption of the operation of Je-dong Hospital. As the Pacific War expanded, missionaries were driven out of Korea and returned home. In conclusion, the missions work by Canadian Presbytery missionaries had greatly impacted Protestantism in Korea. The characteristics of Canadian Presbytery were manifested in their support of Korean nationalism movement, openness for Social Gospel, and maintaining equal footing with Korean Christians. Specifically we note the influence of these characteristics in Chosun doctors who had worked in the mission hospitals. They operated their own hospitals or clinics in a manner similar to the mission hospitals by providing treatment for poor patients free of charge or for a nominal fee and treating the patients in a kind and humanistic way. After the 1945 Liberation, Korean doctors'career paths split into two directions. most of them defected to South Korea and chose the path to work as general practitioners. A few of them remained in North Korea and became educator of new doctors. It is meaningful that former doctors of Canadian missionary hosptal became dean of 2 medical colleges among 3 of all in early North Korea. This article does not cover the comparative analysis of the medical work by the missionaries of Canadian Presbytery and other denominations. It is desirable to include this analysis of the contents and the comparison in a future study of Korean doctors who participated in the mission hospitals, by denomination and by geographical region.

To Overcome Oneself: The Jesuit Ethic and Spirit of Global Expansion, 1520–1767. By J. Michelle Molina. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. xiv + 278 pp. $49.95 cloth.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)To Overcome Oneself: The Jesuit Ethic and Spirit of Global Expansion, 1520-1767 . By J. Michelle Molina . Berkeley : University of California Press , 2013. xiv + 278 pp. $49.95 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesThis book is at once both fascinating and, in some ways at least, frustrating. J. Michelle Molina sets out to transform our conceptions of the origins of the self, both temporally and geographically. She accomplishes a great deal in this challenging and provocative study, but, at the same time, she perhaps tries to do too much in this roughly 200-page monograph. In essence, she argues that the emerged both sooner and in different areas than the traditional narrative would have us believe. In particular, Molina shifts the focus of the origins of this modern development from northern to southern Europe, and from protestant to Catholic regions. In addition, while changes in southern, Catholic culture were important, so too were those in overseas mission areas, especially New Spain. Two of the proposed driving motors of these transformations are clear from the subtitle of the book: The Jesuit Ethic and Spirit of Global Expansion, 1520-1767 . Thus, Molina's research and insights expand upon several recent historiographical trends in early studies, particularly those relating to the role of the nascent Society of Jesus as a significant spiritual and cultural force, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as the process of globalization, specifically as seen here in the global missionary expansion of the Iberian empires. At the heart of all this, according to Molina, were the spirituality of the Jesuits and the diffusion of their spiritual practices in parts of Europe, especially Spain and Italy, and in the overseas missions, perhaps most of all in New Spain.Molina devotes a lot of attention to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. She is certainly correct that Ignatius derived many of his insights from monastic/medieval spirituality and, perhaps more indirectly, from classical sources. Yet he combined this wide range of collective psychological and spiritual wisdom with his own profound experiences and insights, producing a manual designed to encourage self-knowledge, which, in tandem with divine grace, would lead to spiritual transformation. It seems clear that the Spiritual Exercises did have a transforming effect on many of the Jesuits themselves and on significant numbers of individuals with whom they worked. Yet whether this had quite the impact on the contemporary collective consciousness regarding the self that Molina contends is open to question.At the same time, she advances early studies on several fronts, such as with her helpful caveat that we do not fall prey to predefined (66). While she was focusing at that point on gender studies and the danger of too simplistic a divide regarding male and female approaches to spirituality, this theme of unhelpful if not misleading dichotomies appears throughout this study concerning such issues as local/global, urban/rural, aristocrat/commoner, individual/communal, self/other, contemplation/action, and body/soul or physical/spiritual. …

Teleconsultation in paediatric orthopaedics in Djibouti: Evaluation of response performance

Djibouti has no paediatric orthopaedics department and three options are available for difficult cases: transfer of the patient to another country; overseas mission transfer to Djibouti by a specialised surgical team; and management by a local orthopaedic surgeon receiving guidance from an expert. The extreme poverty of part of the population of Djibouti often precludes the first two options. Telemedecine can allow the local orthopaedic surgeon to receive expert advice. HYPOTHESES AND STUDY DESIGN: We prospectively recorded all the paediatric orthopaedics teleconsultations that occurred between November 2009 and November 2011. Our objective was to assess the performance of the teleconsultations. We hypothetized that this option was influential in decision making. We assessed the influence of the teleconsultation on patient management (i.e., change in the surgical indication and/or procedure). We then used the electronic patient records to compare the actual management to that recommended retrospectively by two independent orthopaedic surgeon consultants who had experience working overseas. Finally, we assessed the clinical outcomes in the patients. Of 48 teleconsultations for 39 patients, 13 dealt with diagnostic problems and 35 with therapeutic problems. The teleconsultation resolved the diagnostic uncertainties in 90% of cases. Advice from the expert modified the management in 37 (77%) teleconsultations; the change was related to the surgical indication in 18 cases, the surgical technique in 13 cases, and both in six cases. Agreement between the advice from the independent consultants and the treatment delivered by the local surgeon was 2.2/3. Clinical outcomes were good or very good in 31 (81%) of the 38 treated patients. This study establishes the feasibility and usefulness of paediatric orthopaedics teleconsultations in Djibouti. The introduction of telemedicine has changed our approach to challenges raised by patients in remote locations or precarious situations. Input from experts considerably benefits patient management. III, prospective comparative study.

An Englishman Abroad: The International Networks of a Nineteenth-Century Congregationalist

Between the years of 1811 and 1861, Andrew Reed (1787–1862 served in the East End of London as minister of New Road Independent Chapel, Stepney, which was rebuilt on a nearby site in 1829 and renamed Wycliffe Chapel. There were only sixty members of the church on Reed’s arrival, but the congregation grew during his ministry to regularly number two thousand in the 1840s and 1850s. Alongside his preaching and pastoral work, Reed conducted an extensive ministry at an exacting pace, becoming involved in a range of philanthropic projects, as well as organizations for evangelism and overseas mission, a number of which he founded. He also contributed to the development of Congregationalism as an English denomination, and was engaged in moves for general union amongst Evangelicals. In addition to his wide-ranging work in Britain, Reed maintained an extensive international network of relationships through organizational activities, regular correspondence and personal visits. His work offers insights into how broader trends and patterns were played out at an individual and local level. Although his ecclesiology was rooted in English Independency, Reed was no isolationist. Indeed the extent of his international involvement takes this study well beyond the particular, to demonstrate the wider significance of both personal and institutional religious networks in the first half of the nineteenth century. His work also shows how sustainable structures could be created from dynamic personal networks, but that such a process was often fraught with difficulties. The following discussion will concentrate upon four broad areas of Reed’s international relationships.

Why I Love Being a Biomed

I love many things about my life—being a husband, a father, a grandparent, and, in no small way, the work I do.I love being a biomed because of the people. I have had the privilege to work with talented biomeds throughout my career and, I hope, for many more years. Almost without exception, biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) clinical engineers (CEs), imaging engineers, and all the different permutations of them are the most consistently good people I have had the pleasure of being affiliated with. It seems that in most groups, you find a few bad eggs. I can say without reservation that there are fewer bad eggs in our profession than in any other large group I have known. It seems that we are all working toward the same goals, fighting the same battles, and dueling the same “evil doers.” It's the people and friends I have met and continue to interact with daily that make me want to get up and come to work every morning.I love the information I am exposed to. Every day during the past 36 years, I have learned something new. That is very special. The opportunities are endless in the biomed world. I cannot imagine anyone ever being bored.I love the opportunities. Wherever you want your career to go, you have the control to take it there. If you want to be a technical person all of your life, there are endless possibilities. If you want to trade the hands-on work for a pencil and a spreadsheet, you can become a supervisor, manager, or director. If you want to make a difference in the health of the world, you can volunteer for either domestic or overseas mission trips, helping others learn to use and fix their medical devices. Whether you choose to lead or follow, you can find satisfaction in medical equipment maintenance and management. (And I haven't even talked about the geographic opportunities.)I love the intelligence that I am exposed to daily. There are lots of really smart people in the biomed profession. It is great to hang out with them (in person or online) and listen to or read about their approaches to different situations and problems. I have learned though experience that the more diverse and varied a group is, the more you'll find creative (and usually better) ideas. And we have quite a diverse group.I love the technology. Electronics is changing daily. Computers are reaching every part of our lives. Everything talks to everything else (or will soon). And the changes are coming faster and faster. It takes time just to keep up with new advances in equipment, healthcare, and techniques. It is this technology that first drew me to the biomed profession, and it certainly helps hold me here.I love the challenges. And we have no shortage of those. On any given day, we may be dealing with the government, the manufacturers, the doctors, the administrators, the lawyers, the nurses, or our own organizations.I love the changes. If you don't embrace change as a way of life, I urge you to never aspire to rise above a preventive maintenance (PM) technician. Equipment changes, procedures change, and the ways of servicing equipment changes. Sometimes our bosses change, even when our hospitals remain the same. Every change is an opportunity to learn more, blend the new ways of doing things with the old ways that have worked in the past, yielding a unique way of doing things that perhaps no one else has ever discovered.Finally, I love making a difference. Every day, screwdriver- turning BMETs make a difference in the lives of the patients in their hospitals. Biomeds help provide a safer environment, with equipment that works the way it should—delivering reliable, accurate results to the caregivers who actually touch the patient.And all of us, no matter our role, contribute to the safe, effective, reliable, accurate environment of the American healthcare system. I am proud to be a part of the biomedical community and to call each and every one of you my colleagues. I welcome all of the new people to the field. I hope that you can take what we have built, and improve upon it, taking it to the next level.