RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Cities in Palestine City Missions
introduce water from outside within the circuit of the walls; uncovered pools were common (see Jerusalem; Water Supply in Palestine).
I. Benzingee.
Bibliography: A. Billerbeck, Der Festungsbau im alten Orient Leipsic, 1903; the publications of the PEF, particularly the Survey of Western Palestine, 7 vols., and of Eastern Palestine, 1 vol.; C. R. Conder, Tent Work in Palestine, 1880; idem, Heth and Moah, 1883; G. Schumacher, Across the Jordan, 1886; idem. The Jaulan, 1888; G Armstrong, Names and Places in the 0. and N. T. and Apocrypha, 1887; F. Petrie, Tel el Hesy, Lachish, 1891; F J Bliss, A Mound of Many Cities, 1894; and the Quarterly Statements. Consult also the literature under Palestine and under the articles discussing the several cities.
CITY MISSIONS.
I. In Germany, n. In the United States.
The New York City Mission (§ 1).
I. In Germany: City missions constitute one form oi home mission work, necessitated by the peculiar conditions of life in large cities and because the needs and moral shortcomings caused by these conditions can be supplied and corrected most usefully and effectively by a union of existing activities and by a uniform plan of action. A city mission was organized in Glasgow in 1826 by David Nasmiths (q.v.), who as secretary of twenty-three Christian societies saw the necessity of uniting them more closely and employing a number of faithful workers in missionary service without connection with an individual congregation. His suggestion was followed by the city of London in 1835, under the vigorous cooperation of Lord Shaftesbury (q.v.) . In Germany it was J. H. Wichern (q.v.) who, after his return from the Wittenberg Church Diet of 1848, suggested among the friends of the Rauhes Haus in Hamburg the organization of the " Hamburg Society for the Inner Mission," calling attention to the London City Mission. His association had the twofold task of bringing about a closer union of existing agencies and practising missionary activity in Hamburg after the model of London, with due regard, however, to specifically German conditions, by organizing special com-mittees for the visitation of the poor, for the care of needy artisans, for journeymen and apprentices, for the circulation of good literature, for the union of young merchants, and for the suppression of public immorality. In course of time these separate committees were replaced by local district societies which were in close connection with their respective parishes and became the basis for similar societies in other cities. The first suggestion for similar efforts in Berlin proceeded also from Wichern. But real success was not attained here until 1874, when Dr. B. B. Briickner, general superintendent of Berlin, devoted his energies to this work. His efforts were continued in 1877 by Court Preacher Adolf Stocker and Privy Councilor J. R. Bosse, the latter minister of public worship and instruction. They were assisted by two theological inspectors and thirteen city missionaries. In Apr., 1906, there were six theological inspectors and sixty-two city missionaries, including eight women. During 1905, 95,000 visits were made, including 4,677 because of unbaptized children, 3,539 because of
couples who had discarded the marriage ceremony, and 959 because of children brought into the criminal courts. Thirty-three hundred children were enrolled in sixty-nine Sunday-schools and religious services were held in twenty-four places. Other organizations which serve missionary purposes in Berlin are the " Young Men's Christian Association " (since 1882); " St. Michael's Christian Association " (since 1883); an association called " Service for the Unemployed " (since 1882); and especially the " City Committee (now called " Main Association ") for the Inner Mission " (since 1899). According to statistics of 1899, seventy other cities of Germany had followed the example of Hamburg and Berlin. There is a distinction made between assistants of the congregations (Gemeindehelfer) and city missionaries in the more restricted sense of the word. The former confine themselves to the work of deacons, while the duties of city missionaries are of an evangelizing nature. The latter, therefore, aim to serve classes who are compelled to work on Sundays, and those who have no permanent home such as fishermen, seamen, the unemployed, and prisoners. They also combat drunkenness and immorality, circulate Christian tracts, and lecture to reconcile social distinctions. In 1888, under the influence of the present emperor and empress, there was called into existence the " Evangelical Church Aid Society " to support all efforts for the suppression of irreligious and immoral conditions in Berlin and other large cities and in the industrial districts of Prussia. A select committee of this association supports the existing city missions and tries to call others into life. (H. Rahlenbeck.)
II. In the United States: City mission work is done in most of the larger cities of the United States, the call for such work being specially urgent here because so large a part of the enormous emigration from all over the world finds its permanent home in our cities. Many of these people who leave their church homes on the other side of the ocean would drift into utter godlessness were it not for the effort of the city missionary, who seeks them out and brings them into vital connection with some existing church organization. Furthermore, the inevitable tendency toward the separation of the well-to-do classes from the very poor leaves whole sections of some of our cities with only those whose incomes hardly suffice to maintain church services. Unless they are to be wholly abandoned, some outside means must be provided for their religious upbuilding — a legitimate field for city mission activity.
There are three ways in which city mission work is carried on in the United States. Individual churches establish missions, which the mother church supports, and for which it furnishes both volunteer and paid workers. Such missions are often organized as churches, having the ordinances, but dependent on the mother church both for the necessary means of support and for ecclesiastical government. In other cases a denomination organizes a city mission society, appealing to the denomination for the needed financial support, and directing the work along denominational lines. In New York City, for example, there are such
City Missions Clark