“And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.”
That there is an over-ruling Providence directing and guiding all the events and affairs of our world all must admit. “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.”
The Gospel to All the World
The fullness of the time having come for the fulfillment of the great prophetic message of Rev. 14: 6, 7, represented by an angel flying “in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” preparatory to the coming of the Lord in glory, we find ourselves in the peculiar position that right here within the confines of our own country, every nation, tongue, and people on the earth is represented, not by a few isolated members, but by thousands and millions, to the extent that one third of our entire population is reckoned as foreigners, and not only that, but they are still coming at the rate of nearly a million a year. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1913, 1,197,892 immigrants landed on our shores, the second largest number coming in one year, the largest number being in 1907, when 1,285,349 immigrants were added to our population. It is difficult for any one to comprehend these figures. We have eighteen States in the Union that have a population of less than a million each. The immigration of last year was greater than the entire population of Nebraska in 1910, and greater than the population of the two Dakotas in 1910, and greater than the combined population of Colorado and Montana in 1910. Think what that means.
As many as sixty languages, and sometimes even more, are spoken in one city. There is nothing like it in any other country in the world. And to further show how general the foreign element has become, one writer in New America is responsible for the statement that “it was found that 57.8 per cent of the pupils in our schools were children of foreign-born fathers,” and in some of our cities, like “Chelsea (Mass.) and Duluth (Minn.), 74.1 per cent were foreign. New York had 71.5 per cent; Chicago, 67.3 per cent; and Boston, 63.5 per cent.”
QUEEN'S SEMINARY, LAGRANGE, ILL.
These statements show what a vast and important foreign field for missionary effort is present right here in America, and if it is a duty for Christians to be interested in people in far-away countries who are in need of the soul-saving gospel, is it not even more their duty to bring the same soul-saving gospel to these very same people whom the providence of God has brought to our very shores? We answer most emphatically, Yes.
The time has come when the whole earth is to be lighted with the glory of the Lord. This great missionary movement is of the Lord, and the coming of all these millions of foreigners during these past few years is also of the Lord; and with their coming a great responsibility is laid on all Christian people, and especially on those to whom God has committed the great closing message to all the world.
What Is Being Done
Something is being done, and the results, too, are very encouraging. The Congregationalists are working among 26 different nationalities, and support 422 salaried workers; the Baptists (North) are working in 24 languages, with 814 salaried workers; the Presbyterians, in 15 languages, with 319 salaried workers; Methodists (North), in 8 languages, with 1,100 in the field. Besides these the various bodies of Lutherans, Disciples, Moravians, etc., are at work with good success. Mention may also be made of the American Bible Society, American Tract Society, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., and the Salvation Army.
We Seventh-day Adventists have taken a deep interest in foreign missions. The message due the world at this time demands this. While none too much has been done in foreign lands, our work for the foreigners in the homeland has been too much neglected. If this had been taken hold of with the same energy and earnestness that we have shown for the field abroad, the results would have been different here, and the work among foreigners here would have contributed much to the success of the work among the same peoples abroad. This has been our experience with the work among Germans and Scandinavians in the United States and Canada.
Publications are being issued by us in seventy-five different languages and dialects. We pass by any special mention of the work among the Germans and Scandinavians, as that is well under way and so well known. In America only the smallest beginning has been made in such localities as Boston, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and a large number of our cities and country places, among the Russians, Frenchmen, Hungarians, Slavonians, Jews, Italians, Roumanians, Servians, Finns, Bohemians, and Spaniards. Besides these, we have representatives making what we may call a beginning among the Poles, Austrians, Greeks, Lithuanians, Esthonians, Syrians, Chinese, and Japanese.
IN THE GHETTO, NEW YORK CITY. COPYRIGHT BY UNDERWOOD AND UNDERWOOD, NEW YORK.
Of a recent conference in western Canada the report states that “scriptures were read, hymns were sung, and testimonies were borne in seventeen different languages spoken by various nationalities present.” Space forbids entering into details of experience in various city centers.
The Work Among the Jews
At the beginning of 1914 there were about two and one-half million Jews on this continent, located largely in New York, Chicago, and other large cities of our nation.
The Jews are a difficult people to work among. As one writer puts it: “He [the Jew] knows Christianity from its worst side, and he does not always see it in these missions from its best side.”29
“There have been many obstacles in the way of reaching the Jews, but by degrees these are largely being overcome, especially by the Seventh-day Adventists. The fact that these people believe in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, observe the seventh day for the Sabbath of Jehovah, as well as have faith in the Bible as a whole, is doing a great deal to break down the deep-seated and bitter prejudice of the Jews toward Christianity.”
Publishing
Our foreign publishing house for America, the International Publishing Association (College View, Nebr.), employs about thirty-five workers, among whom are editors and corresponding secretaries for the different languages. Ten periodicals are issued, the leading ones being Christlicher Hausfreund in the German, Evangelists Sendebud in the Danish-Norwegian, and Tidens Tecken in the Swedish. Only two post offices in Nebraska — those of Omaha and Lincoln — handle a larger volume of second-class mail matter than the post office at College View, Nebr., handles.
The amount of literature distributed by this institution has steadily increased from a value of $20,000 to $40,000 annually. This literature is divided among thirty-two foreign languages, as follows: Arabic, Armenian, Bohemian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Danish-Norwegian, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Holland, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lettish, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Roumanian, Russian, Servian, Slovakian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Welsh, Wendish, and Yiddish. (A complete catalogue of these publications will be sent free by addressing the International Publishing Association, College View, Nebr.)
The Call for Workers
I need not speak here in detail of the work among the Germans, the Scandinavians, Russians, and French, as this is already on a good footing. In the Russian department in Sheyenne River Academy (North Dakota) we have fine young men in training for the work among the Russians.
The French department at the South Lancaster Academy (Massachusetts) is doing a good work for us. During 1913 we had the joy of ordaining to the gospel ministry from among the foreigners, one Hungarian, one Servian, and two Russians.
While we are glad for every additional worker, we still feel so utterly helpless in the face of such multitudes of foreigners everywhere, for scores of workers are needed where we have, maybe, but one. From the Finns are coming most urgent calls for help, from various parts of the country.
An interesting call that illustrates the demand from many parts came to us from St. Louis. The Servians there were asking for a minister to come and teach them the truth, and a Servian brother has gone to fill that call. Our most urgent need is workers, earnest, God-fearing soul winners, filled with divine love and a passion for souls, and for this purpose we must have —
Training Missions
at important centers, in charge of persons of proper fitness and experience to give instruction and direct the work to the best advantage.
We find numbers of various nationalities that would gladly connect with such a mission training school for the purpose of working for their own people, and it is a fact that we might have a good strong force where we have none today. For the lack of proper instruction many are not doing what they might do, nor what the Lord has called them to do. We plead for the way to open for workers to bring the message of salvation to these benighted souls. I cannot press the urgency of this matter too strongly. We are already far behind where we ought to be.
Our Foreign Seminaries
Our three foreign seminaries — German, Swedish, and Danish-Norwegian — are doing excellent work. The attendance and interest are growing year by year. This is only the fourth year, but already they have furnished sixteen workers for foreign fields abroad, and sixty-two have permanently entered various lines of missionary work — the ministry, Bible work, etc. — in the homeland. This does not include the students that go out as helpers in tent meetings or as colporteurs during the summer vacation, but only those that have entered the work permanently.
An Appeal to Our People
In closing this article, I can but renew my appeal to my Christian brethren and sisters everywhere to take a real interest in this great foreign mission problem, and to make it a subject of earnest prayer. Workers are needed, but we also need funds with which to support the workers. More could have been done had the funds been on hand with which to carry on the work in our great cities.
Then here is our literature in these many tongues and languages. It will do nobody any good so long as it remains on the shelves of our publishing houses and tract societies. This literature must be circulated, it must be placed in the hands of the people who need it. Here is an opportunity for hundreds of our people to help forward the message of salvation among the foreigners. No matter if one speaks only the English language, he can deal out literature to any of these foreigners. The tract societies or our publishing houses will have the publications on hand and will gladly fill orders. And our department will be glad to send catalogues of our foreign publications, and to aid in any way possible. Our time to work is limited; what is to be done must be done quickly.
THE INTERNATIONAL FOREIGN PUBLISHING HOUSE CO., LOS ANGELES, CAL.
O. A. OLSEN,
Secretary N. Amer. Foreign Department.
