Needs and Uses of Funds for the Work Among the Foreigners of North America
By O. A. OLSEN
In a former article some facts were presented concerning the great number of foreigners already in North America and the rate at which they are coming year by year. We also presented some of the urgent needs in prosecuting the work in this home foreign mission field, for a foreign mission field it is indeed. When the last census was taken in the United States, it was found that 30,000,000, approximately one third of the population, were reckoned as foreigners, and during the ten years ending in 1913, the yearly average of immigrants coming to our shores, from almost every part of the world, was, in round numbers, one million. No one of intelligence can help feeling a deep interest in, and concern over, this great foreign influx of people from all nations to our fair land, and it is but natural that men in responsible positions in both church and state should give this subject very serious thought and study, that both native and foreigner may be treated with justice and consideration. This immigration question has a special interest for us from the standpoint of presenting “this gospel of the kingdom” to all the world in “this generation.” Earnest efforts are now being made to send the message to all foreign lands, and also to reach the millions of foreigners in the homeland; and this last is by no means the least. A good work is in progress in the German and Scandinavian tongues, and the outlook is encouraging. A beginning has been made in the French, Russian, and some other languages, but as yet little has been done as compared to the needs. The great need at present is workers who can speak the languages and dialects of the various nationalities. This work is the more complicated and difficult because of the great number of nationalities and tongues in many cities and conferences. If there were but one, three, or even five languages in a city or conference, the matter would be comparatively simple; but instead of three we have all the way from twenty to more than double that number. This creates a very complicated situation in many of our conferences. The condition of things just stated adds greatly to the expense of the work in our local conferences, and for that reason they have found it beyond their financial ability to do justice to the needs of these many nationalities. All are anxious to see the message proclaimed among the people of all these foreign tongues, but they have neither the workers nor the funds to support them. The North American Foreign Department is a department of the North American Division Conference for the promotion and extension of the message among the many foreign nationalities in our land. Our aim as a department is to aid our local conferences in every way we can, that the truth may be carried to all these people as rapidly as possible. For this work we need men and women properly trained and instructed in the truth, from among the several nationalities, to bring the message to their own people. This calls for training missions, at important centers, where persons of these various tongues can be instructed and started in the work under proper supervision and training. This is a very important matter, and must appeal to every one who feels the burden of souls. From several nationalities we have persons who have accepted the truth and are desirous of giving themselves to the work for their people, but they feel the need of training and supervision. Some have started out without proper instruction, only to become discouraged and leave the work. The need of such training missions, under proper instruction, has been felt by several conferences, but the lack of funds with which to support the work has stood in the way. Here is where the Foreign Department must step in and render assistance, for such training missions are of the greatest importance for the extension of the message among these foreigners. The Foreign Department must have funds with which to aid in the training of workers by means of city mission training schools. We also need funds for the placing of workers in the field. To illustrate: Some time ago we learned that Cleveland, and other cities of Ohio, had a large number of Roumanians, and we had a man in New York City ready to enter that field. The Ohio Conference desired to start the work among the Roumanians in that State, but could not do so for lack of funds. Then the Foreign Department came forward with a proposition to aid the Ohio Conference by placing the worker in Ohio, without any expense to the conference, and by supporting him for six months. This aid was gladly accepted by the conference, the work was started, and already good results have been seen among the Roumanians in Ohio. We could mention a number of such instances, but we must not take the space. Workers have thus been assisted in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and other places. But our funds have been limited, and workers have been so few that comparatively a small beginning has been made in what must become quite an extensive movement if we do our duty to the many foreign nationalities that have come to our shores. This foreign field is by no means a barren one. In a former article we made mention of our Servian worker, Elder Milan Ostoics, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. There was a call for him to go to St. Louis, Mo., but the Missouri Conference did not see its way to pay the traveling expense for so long a journey, when results would be so uncertain. So our Foreign Department offered to pay the railroad fare if the Missouri Conference would support him while there. To this they replied favorably. Brother Ostoics went, labored there three months, — there were two Servian believers when he went there, — and before he left, a church of eleven members was organized, with several others studying the truth; and as for the financial side, the tithe paid by those accepting the truth reimbursed the conference for its outlay in the venture. We sympathize with our conferences. They are all very desirous of extending the message among the many foreign nationalities within their borders, but lack both the men and the means to start the work. If, as before stated, the matter were confined to two, three, or only a few nationalities, the situation would not be so difficult, but instead we have scores of them. It is truly a unique situation, and one that has not been duly appreciated; but it is here, and is a part of the great work that is to be accomplished before the coming of the Lord. We have thus, in a brief way, presented the reasons for the need of funds, and why an offering is to be taken for the work among the foreigners in North America. The situation will certainly appeal to every candid reader, and we are sure our brethren and sisters will aid this branch of the work according to their ability. Secretary N. Amer. Foreign Dept.