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The Work in New Jersey

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 3, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 5.

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The Work in New Jersey

By B. F. Kneeland

During 1908 and 1909 fourteen tent and eight hall efforts have been conducted, one general and one local camp-meeting held, and nine other general meetings in various parts of New Jersey. One hundred fourteen persons have received baptism, and four new churches have been organized. God has gone before the workers in remarkable ways, and we desire to give him all the glory.
The outlook for our future evangelical work seems good. Only a small part of the field has been touched by our ministers. Thirty cities of over five thousand inhabitants each have never had a series of meetings conducted by a Seventh-day Adventist minister, and a hundred more of over one thousand each have never had an opportunity to hear this message preached. Then there are the rich agricultural districts, which are practically untouched, except by the canvasser. We have often been compelled to gaze with awe on the wonder-working power of God as we have seen him open the way before us. It is not necessary to go to the foreign field to find “open doors,” as they stare at us from every side.
No other part of our field appeals so pitifully for help as the great cities in which are crowded a large part of our population. Jersey City and Newark form, with their suburbs, cities of five hundred thousand each. Paterson, Trenton, Camden, Elizabeth, and Atlantic City are also important centers. The command of the Lord and the pleadings of perishing souls say that something must be done to establish and strengthen the work in these great centers of travel and commerce.
In the first ten months of 1909, 4,332 subscription books, at a value of $6,142.41, have gone into homes as silent messengers of truth. During this year special attention has been paid to the periodical work, which has opened up a wide field for successful labor, especially in the great cities. During the ten months just closed, more than 26,000 copies of our ten-cent magazines were sold in New Jersey. We have thus again in a remarkable manner seen the fulfilment of the prediction of the spirit of prophecy that the message would return with power to the East.
During the Thanksgiving Ingathering of 1908, the members of our churches took hold of the work with earnestness, and the Lord greatly blessed the effort. In this State 9,148 copies of the special REVIEW were taken, and a total of $1,256.42 was secured in donations. After deducting the cost of the papers, there was left a balance of $1,073.46, or $1.77 for each member of the conference, which was turned into the Mission Board treasury, the highest average reported by any conference. This year over ten thousand copies have been ordered, but it is still too early to give results, though some very encouraging reports have come in.
One of the most needy parts of our field is the foreign department. Of the 2,144,134 inhabitants of the State according to the last census, nearly 800,000, or thirty-seven per cent, are foreigners. Of this number, 476,276, or twenty-two per cent of the whole population, can not speak English. This makes the demand for workers who can speak these languages imperative. We now have four foreign workers— German, Danish, and Holland— who can speak the languages used by one half of these. That leaves nearly 400,000 people in the State, mostly Italians, Poles, Russians, Hungarians, and Slovaks, who speak languages not understood by our workers. The Lord is opening the doors for work among some of these people. A church has already been organized among the Bohemians and Slavs at Newark, and the members are trying to do all they can to reach their neighbors. But they must have help. There is also a demand for work among the Swedes, and the work must be opened up among other nationalities.
We believe that if we bring our all, even if it is but a few loaves and small fishes, God will in some way multiply it, so that the multitudes of hungry souls may be fed. Our hearts are full of courage as we see the hosts of Antichrist closing in for the final struggle, for we know that the Captain of the Lord’s host leads his people.
B. F. KNEELAND.