Teachers should be educated for missionary
work. Everywhere there are openings for the missionary, and
it will not be possible to supply laborers
from any two or three countries to answer all the appeals for
help. Besides the education of those who are to be sent out from
our older conferences as missionaries, persons in various parts
of the world should be trained to work for their own countrymen
and their own neighbors; and as far as possible it is better
and safer for them to receive their education in the field where
they are to labor. It is seldom best, either for the worker or
for the advancement of the work, that he should go to distant
lands for his education. The Lord would have every possible provision
made to meet these necessities; and if churches are awake to
their responsibilities, they will know how to act in any emergency.
To supply the need of laborers, God desires
that educational centers be established in different countries
where students of promise may be educated in the practical branches
of knowledge and in Bible truth. As these persons engage in labor,
they will give character to the work of present truth in the
new fields. They will awaken an interest among unbelievers and
aid in rescuing souls from the bondage of sin. The very best
teachers should be sent to the various countries where schools
are to be established, to carry on the educational work.
It is possible to have too many educational
facilities centered in one place. Smaller schools, conducted
after the plan of the schools of the prophets, would be a far
greater blessing. The money which was invested in enlarging Battle
Creek College to accommodate the ministers' school would better
have been invested in establishing schools in rural districts
in America and in the regions beyond. No more buildings were
needed in Battle Creek; ample facilities were already provided
for the education of as many students as ought to congregate
in one place. It was not best that so many students should attend
this school, for there was talent
and wisdom to manage only a certain number. The ministerial institutes
could have been held in buildings already erected, and the money
used in enlarging the college could have been invested to better
advantage in erecting school buildings in other localities.
New buildings in Battle Creek meant encouragement
for families to move there in order to educate their children
in the college. But it would have been a far greater blessing
to all concerned had the students been educated in some other
locality and in much smaller numbers. The flocking of the people
to Battle Creek is as much the fault of those who are in leading
positions as of those who have moved to this place. There are
better fields for missionary enterprise than Battle Creek, and
yet those in responsible positions have been planning to have
everything there of the most convenient character; and the large
facilities are saying to the people: "Come to Battle Creek;
move here with your families, and educate your children here."
If some of our large educational institutions
were broken up into smaller ones, and schools established in
various places, greater progress might be made in physical, mental,
and moral culture. The Lord has not said that there should be
fewer buildings, but that these buildings should not be centered
too much in one place. The large amount of means invested in
a few localities should be used in providing facilities for a
wider field so that many more students could be accommodated.
The time has come for lifting the standard
of truth in many places, for arousing an interest and extending
the missionary field until it shall encompass the world. The
time has come when many more should have the message of truth
brought to their attention. Much can be done in this direction
that is not done. While the churches
are responsible for keeping their own lamps trimmed and burning,
devoted young people must be educated in their own countries
to carry forward this work. Schools should be established, not
such elaborate schools as those at Battle Creek and College View,
but more simple schools with more humble buildings, and with
teachers who will adopt the same plans that were followed in
the schools of the prophets. Instead of concentrating the light
in one place, where many do not appreciate or improve on that
which is given them, the light should be carried into many places
of the earth. If devoted, God-fearing teachers of well-balanced
minds and practical ideas would go into missionary fields and
work in a humble way, imparting that which they have received,
God would give His Holy Spirit to many who are destitute of His
grace.