At fifteen years of age I was taken to India, the son of a missionary.  There I was surrounded by poverty, suffering, lack of adequate education, shortage of water, famine, desperate need for medical help, and the list goes on and on.  Often I was asked by Indian contacts what our mission was doing to help the poor, suffering, uneducated and needy population.  These questions bothered me.  I saw what many of my missionary friends with other missions were doing to help the suffering, In fact, the lives of both my father and mother were saved by missionary doctors in mission hospitals.  As a missionary endeavor we did the best we could with very limited resources, but something very important was missing.

Later in my missionary life when trying to obtain visas for missionaries in different countries I was often asked by government officials what that applicant would do to benefit their country in a practical way.  They wanted specifics.  

One day a senior member of our Foreign Missions Board came to me with his finger on a scripture in the Bible that reads like this: “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” Prov.21:13. It soon became clear that our Foreign Missions Board felt it was time for us to move into an additional dimension of ministry to the world.  This was just the beginning of something wonderful and powerful that would reach around the world.

Harry E. Scism

Former General Director of Global Missions

United Pentecostal Church International

Want to know more? 

India to the World: The Missionary Pilgrimage of Harry E. Scism by William Turner can be ordered at the Voice and Vision website. #myCSi #HopeandHelp