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The Message Among the Foreigners in Our Country

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 12, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 50.

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The Message Among the Foreigners in Our Country

By O. A. OLSEN

At different times we have called attention to the large and needy foreign mission field in our home land. The yearly influx of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from all parts of the world, filling our cities and country with this foreign element, forms an immense and needy field for missionary operations.
A good work has been started and is being pushed forward with energy among the Germans, Swedes, and Danish-Norwegians. The three foreign seminaries — German, Swedish, and Danish-Norwegian — have started on their third year with increased attendance and improved facilities. We are glad to report a growing interest in these schools, and the outlook is very encouraging.
In North Dakota we have a large Russian population, among whom we have a number of strong churches; also a Russian department in the Sheyenne River Academy well attended.
The work in the East is making some progress. The Hungarians in New York City have added twelve by baptism this year, and several others will go forward before the end of the year. The Italians have likewise added a number by baptism. They have also started an effort in the Bronx, with a good attendance and interest.
In Brooklyn, New York, a tent-meeting has been conducted in the Finnish tongue. A large attendance with a good interest was reported. This is the first effort of the kind among the Finnish in this country. We are glad for this beginning, small though it is, among the thousands of Finns in this country.
Our Bohemian-Slavonian church at Newark, N. J., purchased a lot some time ago, and the members are now engaged in erecting a church. Newark is a real foreign city. The work started there a little more than three years ago when some of our Slavonian brethren moved there from New York City. These brethren have been active and earnest in their efforts to extend the light of the truth among their own nationality. We now have a church-membership of thirty-three, with a good outside interest. Seven persons were recently baptized.
These brethren are all poor, having only their daily wages to depend on. The church, when finished, will cost $4,500; the lot costing, in addition, $1,050. This is a large undertaking for this small company, but the expense of hiring a hall and the difficulty of getting anything of the kind within their means, led them to undertake the building of a church. Besides raising all the money they can, they have done all the work themselves, working after hours at night and all day on Sundays. The only work for which they have paid money is the plumbing. They feel much in need of a few hundred dollars with which to finish, — get windows, doors, and some chairs.
During the present year we have begun colporteur work among the Roumanians and Hungarians in Cleveland, Ohio, and Chicago, Ill. In Chicago Brother Calderone is at work among the Italians, with some interest. The Northern Illinois Conference has purchased the Scandinavian West Erie Street church for developing the work among the Italians, Poles, Slavs, Bohemians, and other foreign nationalities that have filled that part of the city.
The time is ripe for an earnest effort to bring the message to these hundreds of thousands of foreigners in our cities and country. Earnest, consecrated laborers, with a burden for this work, are needed. Let us pray the Lord of the harvest to send such to answer these urgent calls for help.
Among other foreign nationalities in New York City there are hundreds of thousands of Russians who are calling for the message to be preached among them. We sincerely hope this call may soon be filled. We plead for the message to be speedily given to the foreigners in this country, and thus hasten the coming of our Lord. O. A. OLSEN.