A Positive Note

Two things especially caught my eye in the May 1944 issue, each thing being an article about entirely different happenings. Both of them gave me that “Aw, that’s really cool!” feeling. The first article was called ‘The Children and Missions’, and the second was entitled ‘A Happy Surprise’.

‘The Children and Missions’ was about the kids in the Nazarene church and what they did to assist in the effort to support missions. After checking the finances, it was discovered that in the church year of 1943, children raised over $14,000 specifically for missions. I was curious about how much that would be worth in today’s money, and due to inflation, that $14,000 would be worth around $181,818. That’s an insane amount of money to imagine. But it gets better. When added to the children’s day fund for that year, it ended up being nearly $20,000. Again, with inflation, $20,000 dollars in 1944 was worth $259,740 in today’s money. During this period, the church was trying to raise a million dollars for missions. This article, however, was not written to boast about the children’s achievements or guilt the adults into giving more money. Rather, “all we are pleading for is that the children be given an opportunity and that they receive credit for their offerings. Do not try to bypass the children. Give them an opportunity to raise their portion of that million dollars.”

‘A Happy Surprise’ was about a ship that was traveling to British Guiana from England. After  it was shelled and sunk by a German raider, about six hundred people were left stranded on what was presumed to be a cannibal island. However, upon going farther inland, a song was heard; one all of us probably know, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” They found a native (whose parents were cannibals) performing a church service! Those native to the island helped the survivors of the shipwreck and refused pay, saying “We are Christians and we give to you because you have nothing.” It was really awesome to hear something nice about missions that didn’t seem like there was anything behind it.