William Scott Ament - Evaluation of Ament and His Ministry

Evaluation of Ament and His Ministry

Missionary colleague Charles Ewing in a letter dated 2 January 1899, provided an evaluation of Ament and his ministry:

Dr. Ament was the preacher yesterday and held his audience well throughout his rather extended discourse. ... I suppose there can be little doubt that Dr. Ament is the best Chinese preacher in the city. The people like to hear him. And then, he is exceedingly good in personal work, taking an interest in men individually and winning them. This kind of pastoral work is just as invaluable here as it is at home. ... In every way, it is a great advantage to have the senior member of the station back on the field and at work again. And then, Dr. Ament is a great worker. How he gets through with so much work, I don't know. I was always said that he could do two men's work....

A colleague called Ament the "ideal missionary" in recognition of his dedication, courage, proficiency and expertise in China and the Chinese language, and leadership of his flock of Chinese Christians. After his death, the Owossa, Michigan newspaper indicated that Ament "was easily the most useful man Owosso ever produced." A street in Owosso was named in his honour. Ament is regarded as one of the former residents of Owosso "who have made national and international impacts on society".

In a letter to Myra Smith on 27 February 1909, not long after Ament's death, Charles Ewing, one of Ament's colleagues, wrote:

I have just been writing today to Will Ament. You must know of the death of his father Dr. Ament, on 6 January. I wanted to give Will a new view on the largeness and strength of his father. He is the best evangelistic worker and the most successful organizer that we have ever had in the Mission. His loss will be felt seriously, both by the work and by the workers personally. But he had done his work so thoroly and well that no other station could lose its leading worker and be left so strong as Peking. After many years of most faithful, earnest, painstaking labor, he had just succeeded in getting everything into such shape that, as he faced death, it was not with the sense of duties left undone, but in the calm assurance that now at last he could be spared.

In 1935 William E. Griffis indicated:

For the missionaries and diplomatists there were rescue, food, and certain indemnity; but what of the native Christians exiled from their homes and fields, of which only vestiges remained? Where was even food to come from? In such a crisis, brave men, like the American Dr. Ament, went out into the open country. According to justice and immemorial custom in China, he compelled the village elders, who had connived at, or encouraged the Boxers, to furnish supplies of food. From the confiscated property in Peking, money was obtained to support the native Christians until they could be sent home. This action was misunderstood and maligned at home by a popular author. He "caught a Tartar" in attacking Dr. Ament, who showed the true facts.

According to a 2009 book by Larry Thompson, Ament's "resourceful heroism was tarnished by hubris and looting." Once publicly criticized by Mark Twain, Ament grew notorious in the controversy surrounding foreign missionaries in China."