Part 26 (1/2)

In this work the interdenominational comity and cooperation represented in the federation of evangelical churches would secure the best covering of the whole field, in the true fraternal and Christian spirit. What all desire supremely is the salvation of the immigrants. And only a united Protestantism can present such a ma.s.sive front as to impress the world.

This work must be large enough to be self-respecting. At present it is extremely doubtful if there is enough of it to make individual members of the churches feel its worth and importance. There should be a mighty advance movement, calling for millions of money and thousands of missionaries, and reaching into a mult.i.tude of places now dest.i.tute of gospel influences. Then the alien in America would realize the American spirit and purpose and interest in him, and the birth of a new citizens.h.i.+p would begin.

[Sidenote: Planning Large Things]

This is the day of large enterprises. The home mission movement for the evangelization of the foreign peoples in America ought to be in the forefront of the great enterprises. The real hope of America lies in the success of this work. The best brain of the Christian laity should be engaged in this business.

[Sidenote: A Million a Year in New York]

In New York City alone the Christian denominations ought to raise and expend at least a million dollars a year for the next ten years for city foreign evangelization, and this would be only a start in a work bound to extend indefinitely. The demand is imperative. The fields are ripe for harvest. We have seen that the old religious ties are not only weakened by the Atlantic voyage, but often broken altogether. In some nationalities this tie is strong, in most of them not very binding. The great bulk of the new immigration is Roman or Greek Catholic. Thousands of these nominal church members drift into open infidelity or schools of atheism, or else into nothingism. Their former Church does not keep them, and Protestantism does not get them. It is a question whether their new condition is better or worse, religiously, than it was in the old country. We should remove that question by surrounding them with such Christian influences and inst.i.tutions as will make it impossible for them to escape the Americanizing and evangelizing environment. Why should not Christian philanthropy, for instance, build a block of model tenement-houses in the Italian district, and give the income from rentals as a permanent endowment for Italian mission work? This would be a double blessing.

[Sidenote: How to Use Wealth for Country]

There is a magnificent opportunity, an opportunity to fire the heart of the men who have means to carry out whatever they devise. The evangelical denominations should establish in the heart of the East Side, where are gathered a dozen little nationalities, not simply one great establishment of distinctively religious and educational character, but a number of such inst.i.tutional churches, costing anywhere from a million to a million and a half each, and sustained in a thoroughly business-like way. Christianity should permeate the entire work. We ought to be working for to-day and for the future. The Home Mission Boards in cooperation should be asked to lead forward in this, the greatest task of the twentieth century. There is nothing sentimental or impracticable about these suggestions.

[Sidenote: A Work for United Protestantism]

Here is a work that demands the moral strength of Protestant union. Let us seek to make the foreigners Christian, give them the Bible, and set them an example of the brotherhood of believers. Then the immigrants will become believers and join the brotherhood.

[Sidenote: What the Local Church Can Do]

In addition to this organized work done through the missionary bodies, there is a large work for local churches to do. In some denominations, which report little organized effort, there is much mission work done by local parishes. And in all denominations there are many churches that study their community and apply themselves to its needs. The Chinese Sunday-school work has been chiefly done by the local churches, and therefore it is not easy to learn the extent of the work, since reports are not made to central boards. This form of service is especially desirable when it draws the members of the churches to any extent into personal contact with the foreign element, and it should be fostered.

_V. The Individual Duty_

[Sidenote: What You Can Do]

This brings us to the heart of the whole matter--the personal equation.

The trouble is that the alien and the American do not know each other.

Aversion on the one side is met by suspicion on the other. Shut away from intercourse, the alien becomes more alienated, and the American more opinionated, with results that may easily breed trouble. The antidote for prejudice is knowledge. Immigration has made it possible--and in this case possibility is duty--for the consecrated Christian, in this day and land of marvelous opportunity, to be a missionary--not by proxy but in person.

[Sidenote: Be a Home Missionary]

Here is the foreigner in every community. You meet him in a hundred places where the personal contact is possible. Did it ever occur to you that you could do something directly for the evangelization of the Greek or Italian fruit vender or bootblack or laborer? Have you ever felt any responsibility for the salvation of these commonly despised foreigners?

Have you laughed at them, or shown your contempt and dislike for them as they have crowded the public places? The evangelization of the foreigners in America must be effected by the direct missionary effort of the ma.s.ses of American Christians. That is the foundation truth. The work cannot be delegated to Home Mission Boards or any other agencies, no matter how good and strong in their place.

[Sidenote: A Personal Service]

Hence, let all emphasis be put here upon personal responsibility and opportunity. Be a missionary yourself. Reach and teach some one of these newcomers, and you will do your part. Do not begin with talking about religion. Make the chance to get acquainted; then after you have shown genuine human interest, and won confidence, the way will be open for the gospel that has already been felt in human helpfulness. As a result of this study, which has taught you to discriminate and to be charitable to all peoples, the new att.i.tude and sympathy will enable you to approach those who have been brought within your sphere of influence. There is a field of magnificent breadth open to our young people. Once engaged in this personal service, and aware of its blessed effects, there will be no lack of a missionary zeal that will embrace the world-wide kingdom.

[Sidenote: A s.h.i.+ning Example of Personal Effort]

At a conference in New York, in the Home Mission study cla.s.s a young colored man from the West Indies gave a practical ill.u.s.tration of individual missionary effort of the kind that would evangelize the foreigners, if it were generally practiced. He said that every Thursday, when the steamer from the West Indies arrives, he arranges his work so as to be at the wharf, ready to welcome immigrants, especially young people, and to advise them, if they are strangers without settled destination. He was led to do this by his own experience. For three years after he came to New York, he went from church to church without ever receiving a word of welcome or invitation to come again. Finally he found a church home; but the homesickness and loneliness of those years made him feel that so far as he could help it, no one else from the West Indies should have a similar experience. So he made himself free to speak to the young men, and always invited them to church. He had been the means of aiding many to establish themselves, and had saved many immigrants from being lured away into evil. He said the place to get the heart of the foreigner was when he first landed. It was a simple story, told without any false modesty. Plainly his heart was in the work. He was a home missionary, doing a definite service of importance, and setting an example that inspired that company. They could not help the round of applause that followed his statement. It was spontaneous. This is the personal touch that must be put in some way upon the stranger that is within our gates. If the alien can be brought under this gracious Christian influence, the chances are many that he will soon cease to be alien and become Christian. Blessed is he who makes any soul welcome to country and church.

[Sidenote: A Call for Sacrifice]

A call to home mission service is thus presented by Dr. Goodchild, who would carry religion more fully into the settlement idea: ”We need for the solution of this problem that young men and women who go to the great cities from the strong churches of the smaller towns and villages should identify themselves with mission churches rather than to seek ease and honor in wealthy churches where unused talent is already congested.

[Sidenote: The Living Example]