Our Missionaries
No part of the immigrant welcome service is more important than that which is done by the missionaries. Their purpose is primarily to carry the gospel story of salvation and good cheer. "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy" is the message of the Ports of Entry missionary. This work, however, combines regard for spiritual life and material welfare. It must be humanitarian and philanthropic service of a very practical sort. It is the cup of water "In His name" given with the personal touch of one of His disciples.
On page 18 will be found a list of other Societies and Organizations engaged in this immigrant welcome service.
The Home Missions Council
and
Council of Women for Home Missions
At the annual meeting, January 12, 1915, the Committee on Immigrant Work reported—"We are confirmed by Dr. Selden's brief study and by all that we have seen and heard during the year in the opinion expressed in our last report, as follows:
"If the Council desires to do the far-visioned thing, based on the broad and stable principles which should govern the King's business, let it lay hands upon the strongest available man and put him at the task of inquiry, of leadership, of unification, of inspiration, beginning at the port of entry and gradually extending his knowledge and influence until he stands at the center of the whole field of our service in alien tongues."
"We do not, however, venture at this time to suggest a program so elaborate nor a task so comprehensive for the Council's representative. We review in effect our recommendation of last year that the Council proceed conservatively and that effort for the coming year be limited in the main to the ports of entry. The relatively small volume of immigration now coming in, while making less immediate demands upon us, affords peculiar advantages for study of the problems involved, for conference with Government officials, and for development, readjustment and organization of the missionary force. At the end of a year of inquiry and effort along these lines, having all the time in view the larger field of our work across the country, your Committee hopes to be able to report substantial progress and to suggest how further to profit by the ground gained in the inquiries of last year and the year to come."
"Your Committee is glad to be able to announce that the Council of Women for Home Missions has been increasingly interested in the matter under discussion and has recommended to its constituent bodies that they assume one-third of the expense of any plan adopted for the coming year."
At this meeting the following recommendation of the Business Committee was adopted, "That the Council, in cooperation with the Council of Women for Home Missions, ask the Rev. Joseph E. Perry, Ph.D., to act as representative of the two Councils at ports of entry, for the year beginning January 15, 1915."