THE GOSPEL COMING TO INDIA
MISSION WORK AT DEHRADUN Much to my surprise, coming from a family with no church connexion, my brother one day in December 2014 said to me, “David, did you know […]
Reformed Thought for Christian Living
MISSION WORK AT DEHRADUN Much to my surprise, coming from a family with no church connexion, my brother one day in December 2014 said to me, “David, did you know […]
MISSION WORK AT DEHRADUN
Much to my surprise, coming from a family with no church connexion, my brother one day in December 2014 said to me, “David, did you know we had missionaries in the Palmer family?”
There were two German missionaries married to sisters of my great grandfather Palmer. I chose to research and write about one of them, Julius Frederick Ullmann. Largely through the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, I was able to access written records, including letters of Ullmann, that needed transcription, as well as comprehensive annual reports made by Mission Boards.
Julius Frederick Ullmann’s life as a missionary was remarkable in a number of respects. Chief among these was the longevity of that life. Among a group of young men, Ullmann was sent out to north-west India by Pastor Gossner of Bethlehem Church, Berlin, in 1839 as a freshly minted schoolteacher, aged 22 years. He remained a missionary in India 57 years, school teaching first with Gossner’s Mission, then with the London Missionary Society, before making a fresh beginning in connexion with the Presbyterian Church in the USA through its Board of Foreign Missions. With the Presbyterians he was able to cast school teaching aside to give full rein to his evangelistic impulses. He died in Dehradun, on the site of the present day Presbyterian Theological Seminary, aged 79 years.
Across the span of 57 years he had just four trips home: the first to find a wife and care for a dying father; the second to oversee the production of a new print run of the Hindi New Testament to replace stock destroyed during the Indian mutiny; the third to recover his health; and the fourth to see for the last time his wife and daughter. Missionary service was clearly spelled out by the Board, ‘to be for life.’ Even though recovery of health might mean a sooner than planned return to America, furloughs were set to occur ‘after ten or twelve years of actual service in the field.’
Of course, circumstances in north India were very different then. Missionary life proceeded under the protection of the British Raj and with the active support of many of its employees. There was no requirement for visas or threat of expulsion. Yet the conditions were unforgiving. There was the enduring harshness of the climate, and the high death rates, particularly of women and children.
Ullmann demonstrated that he was well suited to an evangelistic and pastoral ministry. This can be seen in a number of ways.
For those committed to Christian Missions there will be the discovery in India: where the Master has sent me of a fascinating, perhaps alien past, that proves both spiritually uplifting and challenging. It may even provoke thought about the prosecution of present-day missionary endeavour. What can the church today learn from Ullmann and his colleagues with their ‘service for life’ commitment? Does the way they organised missionary work on a denominational basis, working according to a specified polity, have relevance today, and how would this work out? Should the church seek to increase the funds centrally collected to support its missionaries so that there is less pressure on missionaries having to garner their own financial support? Whilst not all in the past is relevant today, much is.
– David Palmer
David’s biography is available at $30 postage paid (Australia). Contact him by email gunn.palmer@gmail.com or phone 03 9521 6024.