Our, ......my........, shallow, convicted, evangelism of today does not stand the test of examination in the light of their sacrifice. How much passion do we have to reach lost people anymore in western Christianity? Sacrifice for the gospel, is it on the radar, called for in our preaching?
George & Ellen Gordon must have been people of deep conviction. However, the even, more profound story is embedded deeply inside –the story of James Gordon, Georges Brother. After receiving word that his brother George was killed in 1861, James finished his missionary studies and immediately went to pick up his brothers work in 1864. James himself was also killed in 1872. The Memorial Monument is not far from my house. So, in some small way, I can't help but wonder if my call to missions was not to satisfy, though in some very small way, the cry of the gospel to the nations that was left unfilled by PEI, and the kingdoms, loss? I do wonder, who are our missionary hero's today? Who is modeling deep, willful, intentional, sacrifice to free their lives, and resources, to get the gospel to the front lines. Shallow, shallow me, would my faith ever enable me to be a hero some day?
(The note under the ph
oto states)TWO DELEGATES from the Presbyterian Church in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu Rev George Aki, Moderator General and Pastor Kalsakau Urtalo, Assembly Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu visited the birth place of martyred missionaries Rev George Gordon and his wife Ellen Gordon and his brother Rev James Gordon. They were slain by natives of Erromango in the 1800s but their work was not in vane. Now 38 percent of the islands once known as New Hebrides are Christian and they belong to the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu. (This Monument in Huntly PEI, contains a memorial plaque)
Here is the rest of the story that appeared in the West Prince Graphic June 11,2008:
Missionaries Visiting the Roots of Their Faith
Visiting Gordon Memorial Cairn and the Gordon Cemetery in Huntley held great meaning for Pastor George Aki and Pastor Kalsakau Urtalo.
The delegates from the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu were on PEI and NS as guests of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. They felt honoured to walk the same grounds as the martyred missionaries from Huntley didbefore leaving for the South Sea Islands of New Hebrides 150 years ago.
The islands are now known as Vanuatu, an archipelago nation consisting of 83 islands in the Southwest Pacific Ocean, north of New Zealand and east of Australia. Vanuatu has a population of 240,000 people and 38 percent belong to the Presbyterian Church.
Their Christian faith can be traced directly back to some of the first missionaries to go there so long ago, Rev George Gordon, his wife Ellen and later his brother James Gordon. They were raised in the peaceful little farming community of Huntley, PEI, which was literally and figurativelyworlds apart from the place they were called to spread the gospel.
“It is in our history, the story of Christianity”, Pastor Urtalo said while viewing the stone cairn that marks the Gordon’s birthplace in Huntley The cairn also serves as the tombstone for the three missionaries who were killed on the island of Erromango.....
Pastor Urtalo is assembly clerk of the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu and Pastor Aki is moderator general for the church. Joining these guests were the closest living descendants of the Gordon's, Robert Gordon of Alma and Jean Burnett Farris,who grew up on the farm where the missionaryGordon’s once lived.
Mrs Farris said her mother told her many stories about George and James Gordon and how they went to the uncivilized islands to bring Christianity to the people there. They were murdered by those who weresuspicious of their motives, blaming every disaster on their presence.
“There were a number of reasons’ Mrs Farris explained. White sandal wood traders were exploiting the islands for many years, doing unscrupulous things to the native people in the name of commerce. They were slave traders and through them, measles were introduced causing many to die. On the heals of that a hurricane and another disaster occurred-There were some who quickly became Christians but there were a number of island natives who didn’ttrust the missionaries.
Two missionaries came in 1848 from the London Missionary Society. They were killed as soon as they landed. In June of 1857 Rev Gordon, who had been educated at Free Church College in Halifax was placed as a missionary on Erromango. The island was described as a dark and godless place at the time.
In a 120-year-old book entitled “The Story of John G Paton’, also a missionary at that time, a chapter is devoted to the Gordons. It explains how they were making inroads among the people, gaining their trust. A group was attending church at a Mission House they had built and was listening to the stories from the Bible, singing hymns and reading a small book from the Bible that had been translated into their own language. The young men and women living at the Mission House were being trained to become teachers. Rev Gordon was in the process of moving the house a mile or so up a hill partly because of Mrs Gordon’ health and partly to escape what was described in the book as “the annoying and contaminating influence of the sandal-wooders on the Christian Natives:’
“On the 20th of May 1861, he was still working at the roofing of the printing office and had sent his lads to bring each a load of the long grass to finish the thatching.
“Meantime a party of Erromangans from a district called Bunk-Kill, under a chief named Lovu had been watching him. They had been to the Mission House inquiring and they had seen him send away his Christian lads. They then hid in the bush andsent two of their men to the Missionary to ask for calico:’ the author wrote.
Rev Gordon scratched a note on a piece of wood telling his wife to give them two yards of cloth each. They insisted that he accompany them back to the house, saying they needed medicine for a sick boy and their chief wanted to see him. As he led the way, he crossed a stream and slipped. “A blow was aimed at him with a tomahawk, which he caught: the other man struck but his weapon was alsocaught. One of the tomahawks was wrenched from his grasp”.
Rev Gordon was knocked to the ground with a blow to the spine and a second blow to his neck killed him. His wife was slain as she came out of the mission house to see what was happening. Over the four years of their mission work, the Gordon’s learned the language, and had been writing stories from the Bible in the native tongue. News of their murder travelled quickly and heightened the danger for other missionaries who were living on nearby island communities.
Mrs Farris explained that when Rev Gordon’s brother James received word of his death, he was studying to become a missionary. He went to the islands in 1864 with Hugh Robinson and his wife who stayed to continue the work started by the Gordons. James met a similar fate in 1872, becoming one of six martyred missionaries of the South Sea Islands.
“We are shameful this happened and regret it,” Pastor Aki said. Coming to the place where the early missionaries were born, is like a journey from the past to the future for him.
“We feel it is a great honour given by the United Church of Canada to be here with the roots of our Christianity”, Pastor Aki said. They came to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the arrival of Rev John and Charlotte Geddie in Aneityum, Vanuatu in 1848.They also visited Camp - Geddie and Geddie Memorial Church in New London, PEI as part of their tour.
“It is like seeing things come full circle. It was very thrilling to see these men and hear that the Islands are now Christian:’ Mrs Farris commented.
In 1968, the late Alice (Gordon) Green visited Vanuatu for a rededication of the martyr’s church. She brought back memorabilia which is displayed at Gordon Memorial United Church. Mrs Farris has her research papers about their ancestors, who are now very much revered in that corner of the world. A reception held at Gordon Memorial Church after the tour gave people from the community an opportunity to meet Pastors Aki and Urtalo.”
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