The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

192 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

THE AMERICAN BOARD MISSION (Congregational)
Rev. Robert F. Black entered the little-known district of
Davao, in Southern Mindanao, in the year I902. It was a
peculiarly difficult district, partly because the hills were inhabited by widely scattered and very primitive tribes, partly because
the immigrants spoke such a variety of tongues, and partly
because the population was so transitory. The field offered a
chance for primary education and a few schools have been
established among the Bagobos. There was a particularly great
need for medical work, as malaria in its most pernicious form
carries off large numbers of people. Dr. Charles T. Sibley
established a hospital in I908.
In 19I5 a station was opened in Northern Mindanao, and
since that date the growth in membership has been rapid.
Thousands of immigrants are coming into Mindanao, a large
percentage of them Protestants. The difficulty is to find leaders who can organize and lead these people. In order to prepare
Filipino leaders who can meet this need, the American Board
has stationed one missionary in Silliman Institute to develop
a Bible School in cooperation with the Presbyterian Mission,
and has located another man at Manila to teach in Union
Theological Seminary.
The Mission has established only Evangelical Churches
(adopting the common name chosen by the Evangelical Union)
and the members do not know that the missionaries are Congregationalists. It has issued an invitation to all other missions to cooperate in Mindanao, providing they will adopt the
policy of eliminating denominationalism. It hopes to make
Mindanao the first union mission enterprise in the Philippines.
The island is about the size of Maine, is very mountainous, and
as yet is crossed by no roads. Thirty-four native languages
and dialects are known to be in use. Besides Christians, there
are six distinct groups of Mohammedans, and twelve or more
pagan tribes, each of these with dialect sub-divisions. Obviously
this offers a great missionary enterprise for the Filipino Christian churches in all parts of the Islands.