I

the

India

Challenger
Missionaries: Art A Ruth Morris

Forwarding Agent: D. Eugene Houpt

P.O. Box 215

phones:
Home 217-442-6736

11 Rutland Gate 4th Street Madras, India 600006

Oanvitle. IL 61B32

Office 217-446-1542

Volume 33

April, 1983

Number 1

DUNN MEMORIAL PRESS

The Printing Ministry of South India Church of Christ Mission By Arthur Morris
For the past 15 years we have been printing thousands upon thousands of tracts, papers, and programs for the work in South India. This ministry known as Dunn Memorial
Press was started with funds given in honor of

Bro. Dunn, a faithful preacher. His family provided the starting funds for the permanent printing ministry for Asia-a very fitting memorial to a preacher of the Word. The press prints the materials for Southern Asia Christian College, Christian Hospital
and the seven children's homes. In addition to

all of those needs being met, the tremendous printing requirements of the over 800 congregations are taken care of. Also our Gospel teams are out working every single day. The teams need materials for distribution to the masses of people who will read every piece of Christian literature. Perhaps I can help you better understand the great need for this ministry by sharing a few statistics. We live in Madras City which has a population of five million. Our state of Tamilnadu has 50 million people. This is more than many countries, but only one small part of India. South of us is Kerala with 25 million people, and west of us is Karnataka
with 35 million. To the North is Andhra with

55 million. Within easy travel and posting range there are 165 million people. In the entire country of India the people now number more than 700 million. India is second only to China in population and three times the population of the United States. Close by are the countries of Burma, Bangladesh,
Pakistan and Sir Lanka. Students from all

of these countries come to Madras to study. They are easily accessible for instruction. With the challenge of one fourth of the world
within our reach we do not hesitate to ask for

your help in taking the light of God's Word

into this vast darkness.

THE INDIA CHALLENGER is a quarterly publication of the South India Church of Christ Mission. Please note addresses for missionaries and forwarding agent elsewhere in the publication.

We are now trying to expand this ministry in order to help weaker congregations. Also we want to help the many young Indian students who have gone into various areas to start new work. Many of them have support from American churches for their ministry, but they are being hampered by a lack of printed materials. We hope to help fill this very important need.

Perhaps you now can see a way to help meet this great need. If we can't send live missionaries, we can provide the printed Word through the workers who are now on the field. Southern Asia Christian College is at the center of our training programs. The Press is now located on college property. All of the staff speak many languages and have the ability to translate materials for all Asia. The equipment is paid for and a skilled staff is available. The remaining need is for the financial assistance to buy the necessary supplies in order to print the large number of tracts and teaching materials in order to get
God's Word into the hands of millions of

people. You don't have to send huge sums to keep the Press running. Perhaps you could help with $10, $20 or $50 per month. It costs just $5.00 to print and deliver 1,000 tracts. This is a project within reach of many individuals and small
groups.

Ruth, the business manager of Press, at work.

The door is open for evangelism in South

India. This is not an area that restricts the

Madras is the spiritual hub of Asia with over one and one fourth billion people around us. We are in the perfect place for printing and distributing the printed Word. New
missionaries from the West are restricted and

foreigners are not allowed on most occasions. Dr. & Mrs. Harry Schaefer were refused and so
were Dr. & Mrs. Banta. If scholars and

preaching of the Word. There have been over 100,000 converts in the last 32 years. There were 1,143 baptisms during January and February of this year and more are coming all the time. This is one of the few remaining places in the world where money given for the preaching of the Word returns many times the
investment.

doctors are turned down, you can see some of the problems of India.

If you send a gift for this part of the work, please indicate "Printing Ministry".

SOUTHERN ASIA CHRISTIAN COLLEGEA VITAL AID TO THE PRINTING MINISTRY

It is no longer necessary to send a backward tribal boy to the United States for study where the change of culture may ruin him for work in his home country. Students can now come to Southern Asia Christian College in Madras. This is the only accredited college of the
Christian Church/Churches of Christ in this

Theology Degree; Divinity Degree;

good cooks.

Nine with Bachelor of a trained librarian; a

warden who has studied in the States and

The relationship between the College and

Dunn Memorial Press is such that the

spiritual hub. Here quality training is given

to students who will be able to return to the

villages to teach their own people. The staffof the college includes: Two with Doctor of Philosophy Degree; One with Master of

scholarship of the faculty is used to good advantage in all of the printed materials. We are able to distribute quality materials that
will be true to the Word.

WHAT IT IS LIKE TO TEACH BIBLE COLLEGE IN INDIA

By Arthur Morris
People often ask us what it is like to teach in a Bible College in India. I want to tell you that it is so much like teaching in any situation you might be in. Our students may speak differently, have different customs, expressions or manners, but the basic task is
the same.

one year they can become really good preachers. The Asians have a natural ability
and flair that most of us Americans do not

have. They love drama and can put on a new drama every single hour.
All that our students need is instruction. Just

Christian doctrine is taught the same as in any college. We simply teach the young men, drill with them and practice with them until they master the subject. In teaching homiletics, I find that the
students learn so much faster than we did. In

teach him and he will do it, and soon better than we do ourselves. We make a tape of the first class. At the end of the year we compare the progress to that first session. It is amazing to note the improvement. Our boys are always in demand because theyknow how to preach.

WHY MISSIONARIES PREACH TO THE POOR

By Arthur Morris
We are often asked by North American visitors why missionaries in India start to work by preaching to the poor. Let us look at the Scriptures and our own history in the U.S. In the days of Campbell, Stone, Scott and other heroes of the faith work started among the poor and lesser educated people. Revivals were held in store and school buildings. Many of the highly educated and learned theologians were not in our ranks. Lifting people up is a natural result of becoming a Christian. For example, when the drunkard no longer wastes his money on the demon drink, it is a natural result that his family eats better, dresses better and lives
better. Christ in us makes us realize the

doctors and small land owners are coming in

rapidly.

Policemen, government workers,

truck drivers, and factory workers are in the congregations. In the towns and villages our people are as well dressed or better dressed than the ordinary person on the street. Our school children go to high school and college, and our weddings are equal to any. WHY GOD'S BLESSINGS? In I Cor. 1:26, 27
we read that God has chosen the foolish

things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things to confound the mighty. They
were poor, but they grew into heroes of the
faith.

Jesus asked us to preach to the poor (Luke

4:18). Theproofofour ministry is preaching to

potential that God had for us. Gradually in America the Christian Churches/ Churches of Christ made great improvements. They got better buildings, a better educated ministry and more influential members-many with wealth. Today we are no longer the church of the poor only, but great advances have been made into the more
affluent cultures.

the poor --and the middle and upper class too. Jesus gave testimony to this in His work. The blind received their sight, the lame walked, the lepers yere cleansed, the deaf were made to hear, and the poor had the Gospel preached
to them.

We started in India with the very poor and

very ignorant. Now just 30 years later the Church of Christ is growing into a middle class church. Shop keepers are plentiful among the members. School teachers, nurses.

We started preaching to the poor and over 100,000 have accepted Christ since the Mission began. As long as we are in India, we shall continue to preach to the poor just as
Jesus said.

This is God's promise: "Try me, prove me, and I will give you more blessings than you are able to receive." Nobody can be poor long

when they trust in God and obey His promises and give their offerings. We believe in starting where we are and win as many thousands as we can. We leave the question of poverty to God for every man, woman, boy and girl is precious in His sight.

GENE & ALICE HOUPT ON THE ROAD

During the year of 1982 the Houpts were able to meet many more of you friends of the Mission in person. They travelled from coast to coast during the year driving 27,000 miles and presenting 118 programs. Many other events were also a part of the schedule. It was a great year and always it was a joy to meet people with whom there had been correspondence for so long. Already in 1983 the schedule has been busy. Gene & Alice are away from the home base about half the time. While on the road, they continue the office work that is so much a part of the forwarding agent's duties. Even though Art and Ruth will be in the States this year, we plan to continue our schedule. It will not be possible for Art and Ruth to meet all the requests. We still have open dates later in the year, and would be glad to have your requests. We will work out meetings with you if at all possible.

REPORT ON THE MORRIS FAMILY

Sharon Morris, youngest of the Morris children, will graduate from high school in May. Shortly after that event, the family plans to come to the States to begin their first full year furlough since 1968. The capable staff in India will carry on the work as usual, and the support of the contributors will be
needed as much as ever.

Art and Ruth plan to be at the North American Christian Convention. After that, they will be doing some visiting among the supporting congregations. We hope to keep their travel to a minimum in order that they might have some time for rest during this furlough. We will be glad to receive your requests for them to visit and will advise you if their schedule will permit. Keep the Morrises in your prayers as they travel. We all are so
thankful that Art's health is much better than

it has been in past years.

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the

India

Challenger
Missionaries: Art & Ruth Morris

Fwd. Agt./Field Rep. D. Eugene Houpt

P.O. Box 215

phones:
Home 217-442-6736 Office 217-446-1542

Danville, IL 61832

Volume 33

June, 1983

Number 2

BUILDERS GO TO INDIA
Editor's note; Don and Millie Harris and John Spratt went to India to help with building projects during the last three months of 1982. They are workers with White Fields Overseas Evangelism World Mission Builders. The following is a report of this venture written by Millie Harris.

The sight of Art and Ruth Morris waiting for us at the Madras airport as we cleared the
customs was one for which to be thankful. We

had just spent five weeks building in the Philippines. Now there would be someone to talk with who spoke good old "American Engiish""and talk we did. Then we settled in for a good night's sleep before deciding what the most urgent needs were. We made a tour of the college building, several of the hostel buildings and the hospital. This left us wishing that we could stay much longer than the three months allowed by the Indian government. We could see that in the allotted time we could only scratch the surface of the work needing to be done.
There was no doubt about where our work was

to sleep. It was decided that the college building was most in need of repairs. Then there were minor repairs to be done at both the boys' hostel and the girls' hostel in Madras. Then in Madrapakkam the dining hall for the boys needed to be completed. This project was started two years earlier, but because of an
emergency situation which required the

needed first. There was a large crack in the roof directly over the library at the college and another in the roof of the girls' hostel in Madras. The monsoons were already late, so these two jobs took a very high priority. Two days after the roofs were patched, the welcome rains came. We praise the Lord that we got

this work done. If the rains had come earlier,

most of the library books would have been ruined, and the girls would have had no place
Boys helping with construction of new dining room.

construction of a new building for the girls at Madrapakkam, this building had to wait. Anyone who has ever done any remodeling knows what happened next. When one job was done, three more turned up that needed to be done. At the college, walls were added to
make two classrooms from one. A new office was built and a vault for records was made.

figured out that it was a status symbol to wear a band-aid to school. Getting the status symbol was also a time for getting some special personal attention. How we wished that we could have given more special time and attention to each one of the 200 boys. With the building finished, it was time to go
back to Madras and continue our work on the

The smoke from the kitchen just would not go out the second floor window without help, so a chimney was built to direct it out of the window. This was not the most orthodox way to construct a chimney and would not pass the building codes anywhere in America, but it worked and the boys were most pleased to have their sleeping quarters more of a dormitory than a smokehouse. The only place the boys had to shower was a "horse trough"

college building. Besides the work of plastering and building additions, the doors, window frames and shutters were painted.
Don and John both had bouts with Madras

Scourge. Somehow I escaped, and for this I gave a big praise the Lord. Teaching the Madras hostel girls to knit and crochet, and seeing their big smiles and shining eyes as they modeled their multi colored mufflers will always be one of the highlights of the trip for this writer.

College students in classroom.

in the back yard, so a shower room with three

showers was added onto the back of the

building. Can you imagine having ladies on the faculty and no restroom for them? Well, you guessed it. Another room was added complete with mirror over the lavatory. The
smiles on the faces of the ladies and their

Hostel girls on their way to school.

We were privileged to be in Madras duringthe

Christmas season. We celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior with all the different

exclamation, "There is even a mirror!" made

all of the work worthwhile.

In mid-November we went to Madrapakkam to finish the dining hall. This we managed to complete in seven days. Living in Madrapakkam was a bit different from our nice apartment in Madras. But the joy of being with the happy and willing boys there made the slight inconveniences of village living
more bearable. Once it was discovered that

groups as they each presented their version of the blessed events in skits which they had written themselves. What a blessing to see these Indian Christians portraying Christ's
birth.

Just learning to live and exist in India takes some doing. Adjusting to their "tomorrow" attitude in everything really taxes an

American's patience. To the many who helped us adjust-Art, Ruth, Peter, Francis, Vellaswami, Gracey, Aruldoss, Masi,
Scharen, "Chief and those whose names we never did learn-we can only offer a heartfelt

there was a first aid kit with band-aids, there was a steady stream of boys throughout the day all with a "sore" to be cleaned and

thanks for making our time in India a very

special time for us.

bandaged. By the end of the week we finally

THE SOUTH INDIA CHURCH OF CHRIST MISSION IS NOW IN THE 34th YEAR OF SERVICE.

It is exciting to watch the Lord's work being done in so many different areas-the hospital
and clinics, the hostels, the training of preachers, Ragu and the gospel teams going into village after village to open them up to Christianity. All of this just makes us praise
the Lord for those who devote their lives to the

task of making disciples in all of the world. And we praise Him for allowing us to be a part of this work in our own small way. There is still much building work to be done in both Madras and Madrapakkam. Perhaps the Lord will allow us to go again. We sincerely thank all who helped us with their prayer and financial support. Without this help our work would have been impossible.

Art gc'lting some auggfstions from Masi, the hospital

administrator.

HOW TO BUILD A STRONG LOCAL CHURCH ON THE MISSION FIELD By Arthur Morris
There was a day about 100 years ago that the mission field church was just a copy of the home church of the missionary who was its preacher. Its building was just like those in America, only smaller. Its people dressed just like Americans, usually with hand me down clothing from the mission barrel. They lived on the mission compound and all worked for the mission. Each new convert was plucked up and transported to this new place called "mission compound", and all the members acted like the quasi foreigners. It is easy to see why this church did not grow or reproduce itself. Its members were spoon fed and cared for by the missionary. No
sacrifice was needed for its maintenance or

village. Their children go to the village school, and each person is a witness for Christ in his or her own neighborhood. The members give an offering to help pay the preacher and maintain the church building. The preacher will often work in a company for his salary and preach out of love. The church around the world is growing up and is so much superior to its weak predecessor.
When we came to India, we were told that no missionary should ever work with more than

extension or operation. All was done by the "big white father" and his family. He came
and worked hard and maintained it.
into decline or death.

But

two or three local congregations. I think the ideal was one church and one missionary family. But today 100 churches or even 5C0 per family is not out of the ordinary. We aie growing up in numbers and spirit and action. The evangelism here is looked after by the Indian church as well as the church problems and discipline.
I believe that there is really no limit as to how many congregations one family can work with as long as the members are trained to build their own programs. We often hear of a family going to the mission field and starting one or two churches. Then they say, "I am no longer needed, so I will return to the States." What a waste! As long as there is a lost soul in that country, he is needed and becomes more valuable day by day. His knowledge of the language, customs and habits grows daily and so does his worth. Don't anyone give up

when by age or illness he left, the church went Today it is very different. The building may
not look like an American church at all. In

fact, the church may meet in a big home or a hall. The members may come for many miles on foot, on cycle or by bus. No one who worships here works for the mission (as a rule)
for these are Indian or African or whatever

congregations. The members will sing local songs with local words. The dress of the members is just like every other person in the

BE SURE AND VISIT US AT BOOTH #11M13 AT THE NORTH AMERICAN CHRISTIAN CONVENTION.

until he has established at least 100 churches.

Then very soon there will be more churches on

the mission field than in the U.S.A.

INFORMATION ON PARCELS
So many of you have been extremely generous in sending clothing, bandages and medicines for shipment to India. We are grateful for your wonderful help, but we must request that you hold the packages until further notice. This does not apply to books. We are able to put books in small parcels and bag them. They go at a special rate, so we send them on regularly. Other items have to go by ocean freight, and funds for shipping have been limited. Conse quently, we have three storage rooms full. A shipment will be made just as quickly as funds are available as the supplies are needed in India. When we reduce the supply now on hand, we will inform you via this publication. Your generous help has been so very much appreciated, and we don't want you to lose interest. This is just a temporary situation. When you do send parcels, please use our street address so delivery will be made to the office by the postal department or UPS. Our street address is 711 N. Gilbert St., Danville,
IL 61832.

MORRIS FAMILY ON FURLOUGH

Art, Ruth and Sharon Morris are scheduled to

arrive in the States the last of June or early July. They definitely plan to be at the North
American Christian Convention. Sharon will

be getting ready for college in the fall. Art and Ruth will begin a year's furlough-their first of this length since 1968.
We remind all of the contributors that the

work in India does not quit when missionaries come home. In fact, expenses are usually greater during period. Your continued help is needed always appreciated.

the the this and

HOW TO REACH US
If you are unable to get an answer at either of the telephone numbers listed on the front page, you make use of the answering device on the Houpt Insurance line. Dan Houpt (son of Gene and Alice)
has his insurance office in the same

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building with the Mission. He will be glad to return your call or get the message to us as quickly as possible. Leave your message on the recorder with the number where you can be reached. That special
number is (217) 442-3965. This will help us to give prompt attention to your requests.

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THE INDIA CHALLENGER is published quarterly, March, June, September and December, by Mission Services Association, 7525 Hodges Ferry Road, Knoxville, TN 37920. Application to mail at Second-class postage rates is pending at Knoxville, TN 37901. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE INDIA
CHALLENGER, c/o Mission Services

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Association, PO Box 2427, Knoxville, TN

37901.

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