Cities may be worked by renting a house and bringing together a family of helpers—Brother and Sister Haskell have rented a house in one of the best parts of the city, and have gathered round them a family of helpers, who day by day go out giving Bible readings, selling our papers, and doing medical missionary work. During the hour of worship, the workers relate their experiences. Bible studies are regularly conducted in the home, and the young men and young women connected with the mission receive a practical, thorough training in holding Bible readings and in selling our publications. The Lord has blessed their labors, a number have embraced the truth, and many others are deeply interested.—The Review and Herald, September 7, 1905.
(PaM 139.1)
Young workers should associate with experienced workers in doing city work—Many young men who have had the right kind of education at home are to be trained for service and encouraged to lift the standard of truth in new places by well-planned and faithful work. By associating with our ministers and experienced workers in city work, they will gain the best kind of training. Acting under divine guidance and sustained by the prayers of their more experienced fellow workers, they may do a good and blessed work. As they unite their labors with those of the older workers, using their youthful energies to the very best account, they will have the companionship of heavenly angels; and as workers together with God, it is their privilege to sing and pray and believe, and work with courage and freedom. The confidence and trust that the presence of heavenly agencies will bring to them and to their fellow workers will lead to prayer and praise and the simplicity of true faith.—Testimonies for the Church 9:119.
(PaM 139.2)
Training schools and public meetings should be combined when doing city work—A well-balanced work can be carried on best in the cities when a Bible school for the training of workers is in progress while public meetings are being held. Connected with this training-school or city mission should be experienced laborers of deep spiritual understanding, who can give the Bible-workers daily instruction, and who can also unite whole-heartedly in the general public effort. And as men and women are converted to the truth, those standing at the head of the mission should, with much prayer, show these new converts how to experience the power of the truth in their hearts. Such a mission, if conducted by those who know how to manage wisely, will be a light shining in a dark place.—Gospel Workers, 364, 365.
(PaM 139.3)
City work should include restaurants and health lectures—The Lord has a message for our cities, and this message we are to proclaim in our camp-meetings, and by other public efforts, and also through our publications. In addition to this, hygienic restaurants are to be established in the cities, and by them the message of temperance is to be proclaimed. Arrangements should be made to hold meetings in connection with our restaurants. Whenever possible, let a room be provided where the patrons can be invited to lectures on the science of health and Christian temperance, where they can receive instruction on the preparation of wholesome food and on other important subjects. In these meetings there should be prayer and singing and talks, not only on health and temperance topics, but also on other appropriate Bible subjects. As the people are taught how to preserve physical health, many opportunities will be found to sow the seeds of the gospel of the kingdom.—Counsels on Diet and Foods, 276, 277.
(PaM 140.1)
Prisons
Those within prison walls need comfort and encouragement—Then what is traced in your diary this year? Does it record an experience gained by ministering to the suffering, the poor, and the needy? Those who are suffering for Christ’s sake, who will not yield the truth for error, who, perhaps, are incarcerated within prison walls, these need comfort and encouragement. This is the kind of work that is deciding our destiny. There is a precious reward awaiting those who are faithful in their ministry. They will have a home in the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for them that love him and wait for his appearing.—The Youth’s Instructor, August 19, 1897.
(PaM 140.2)
It would be unsafe to take to heaven, persons who claim to be Christ’s servants, yet neglect to visit those who are in prison—But God’s law plainly reveals to us the duty of man to his fellow man. All who neglect their fellow creatures—the very least of those whom Christ calls His brethren—are recorded in the books of heaven as “weighed in the balances”Daniel 5:27. and “found wanting.” In disregarding His special commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;”(Matthew 22:39) in passing by the suffering, the needy, and the wounded, they have left the side of Christ, their example, and taken the side of the enemy of God. In neglecting to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to visit those who are in prison, they show what spirit they are of. It would not be safe for such characters to enter heaven; for by their selfishness and hard-heartedness, by their failure to appreciate their brethren here, they plainly reveal the fact that they could not appreciate God, His Son, or the saints in the kingdom of heaven.—The Home Missionary, October 1, 1897.
(PaM 140.3)
Ellen White visited a prison and spoke to the convicts—During my stay in Oregon, I visited the prison in Salem, and by invitation spoke to the convicts in the prison chapel.—The Signs of the Times, July 25, 1878.
(PaM 141.1)
Disadvantaged
Churches are to bring hope to the hopeless—There is a work to be done by our churches that few have any idea of.... We shall have to give of our means to support laborers in the harvest field, and we shall rejoice in the sheaves gathered in. But while this is right, there is a work, as yet untouched, that must be done. The mission of Christ was to heal the sick, encourage the hopeless, bind up the brokenhearted. This work of restoration is to be carried on among the needy, suffering ones of humanity. God calls not only for your benevolence, but your cheerful countenance, your hopeful words, the grasp of your hand. Relieve some of God’s afflicted ones. Some are sick, and hope has departed. Bring back the sunlight to them. There are souls who have lost their courage; speak to them, pray for them. There are those who need the bread of life. Read to them from the Word of God. There is a soul sickness no balm can reach, no medicine heal. Pray for these, and bring them to Jesus Christ. And in all your work, Christ will be present to make impressions upon human hearts.—Welfare Ministry, 71.
(PaM 141.2)
To minister as Jesus did is to minister to the afflicted—But what a scene met their eyes as they entered again the courts of the temple. Christ was ministering to the poor, the suffering, and the afflicted. These had cried in their anguish because they could not find relief from their affliction and their sin. They had heard of this man Jesus, they had heard a rumor concerning His compassion and love. They had heard how He had healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and made the lame to walk; and one cry for pity went up from their lips. One after another they began to relate the story of their affliction, and He bent over them as a tender mother bends over her suffering child. He bade the sick and the afflicted to come forth into health and peace. He gave the suffering tender comfort. He took the little ones in His arms, and commanded freedom from disease and suffering. He gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the diseased, and comfort to the afflicted.—The Review and Herald, August 27, 1895.
(PaM 141.3)
We have a duty to minister to the poor, lame, halt, and blind—In His conversation at the table the Lord was not speaking new truth, advancing new doctrines, or expounding new principles. He was repeating an old commandment which He had previously given to Moses to be given to them. He wished them to understand that His teachings in nowise lessened the force of the commandments previously given. The feasts and the suppers that were given by the priests, the Pharisees, and rulers, were given merely for selfish enjoyment. They called in their favorites, their wealthy relatives and friends, who would in their turn invite them to feasts at their houses, and, if possible, spread before them more abundant supplies. Jesus sought to extend their vision, to show them that they had a duty, which was obligatory upon them for all time, and that was to minister to the poor, the lame, the halt, and the blind. He also would have them consider the fact that no duty done to the needy, the afflicted, and the sorrowing, would lose its reward.—The Signs of the Times, May 14, 1896.
(PaM 141.4)
Christ answers the prayers of the afflicted by sending His followers—He does not work a miracle in sending manna from heaven, He does not send ravens to bring them food; but He works a miracle upon human hearts, He expels selfishness from the soul, He unseals the fountain of benevolence. He tests the love of His professed followers by committing to their tender mercies the afflicted and bereaved ones, the poor and the orphan. These are in a special sense the little ones whom Christ looks upon, whom it is an offense to Him to neglect. Those who do neglect them are neglecting Christ in the person of His afflicted ones. Every kind act done to them in the name of Jesus, is accepted by Him as if done to Himself, for He identifies His interest with that of suffering humanity, and He has intrusted to His church the grand work of ministering to Jesus by helping and blessing the needy and suffering. On all who shall minister to them with willing hearts, the blessing of the Lord will rest.—The Review and Herald, June 27, 1893.
(PaM 142.1)
Teach the afflicted to care for themselves—It means to teach the improvident the need of economy. There are thousands of the widows and the fatherless, the young and the aged, the afflicted and the crippled, who should be taught how to help themselves. Many confined to their beds, are unable to work. But those who can work should be made to realize that if they do not work, they shall not be fed. Every one who is capable of eating a square meal is capable of working to pay for that meal. If made to pay for his food, he will appreciate the money-value of strength and time. Such beneficence carries with it valuable lessons. It not only ministers to the needs of the poor, but teaches them how to care for themselves.—Manuscript 156a, 1901 (Battle Creek Letters, 46).
(PaM 142.2)