The Washington critic., 1890-02-10
CHURCHES ON WHEELS.
WORK OF THE CENTRAL UNION
MISSION AND IT'S BRANCHES.


EGorts 10 Raise Funds Tor Ncw
Building being Made Il nteresting
Hutory vi AN Institution which
Had Very Small Beginning.
Tic rojcct for the erection of u
permanent hcmc for the Central Union
Mission will shortly receive substantial
aid from the business men of this city.
Mr. Is. IL. Warner and other well
known citizens have interested them.
selves in the welfare of the Mission and
will shortly hold meeting for the pur'
pose of discussing plans by which the
necessary amount of money for the
erection of the new nome will he
raised.
The directors of this institution have
lecn offered several sites on Pennsyl.
vania avenue, but us vet have made no
selection. II is very probable, however
that in the fall the Mission will be in
stalled in an cdiico ample enough TO
enable ii TO carry out its great work.
Although this institution has only
been in existence five years, its work
has been felt throughout the entire
city. II was started in small
room in "a house on Pennsylvania
avenue by five gentlemen who saw the
great need of mission work. These
gentlemen constituted its board OF di.
rCctOIs and took turns in conducting
services. In ashort time the attendance
at The mission had increased to such an
extent that a larger room was required
in which TO hold the services. Even
with the enlarged accommodations the
attendance continued to increase, until
at the present time the mission controls
the largo hall on Pennsylvania avenue
and eight branches scattered about the
city and a Gospel wagon.
During the past few months the
meetings held in the Pennsylvania ave
nuc hall have been much overcrowded.
A similar state of affairs existed ut the
branches. On Sunday evening the
number Of people who tried to get into
the Pennsylvania avenue hall was so
great as 70 cause Il policeman to be
called in 10 prevent overcrowd-
ing. Similar measures had to be
taken at nearly every meeting dur.
ing the past year. This gratifying
increase in the attendance caused the
members of the board of directors,
which now numbers tea, to hunt about
for some means of accommodating all
who desired TO listen TO the preaching
of the gospel Ii was then that the
project of erecting permanent home
for the Mission was broached. Al
though no former appeal was made for
subscriptions, nearly 81 800 has already
been collected for the new editice.
Nearly 800 Of this amount was sub
scribed during the past week by at
tcndants of the Mission.
IL is expected that Mr.. Warner and
the other business men who are inter
cstcd will devise means by which the
money necessary for the construction o.
the building will be speedily raised
After these gentlemen have met it is
probable that mass meeting of friends
of the Mission will be held in one of the
churches of this city to indorse their
action and assist them in their efforts.
The directors of the Mission have
already been offered two churches for
this purpose. This is an indication of
the good feeling which exists between
The Mission and the churches.
The former institution calls itself
the child of the churches. Its object is
the conversion of erring ones, and all
converts are urged TO unite with some
evangelical church in the city. Since
the establishment OF the work nearly
1000 persons have been converted. A
great many Of these conversions were
made by the workers on the Gospel
wagon. This vehicle was started on
IFS work about two years ago. 1t is a
veritablc chapel on wheels, and be
sides containing cabinet organ ac-
commodities thirty persons Besides the
work done at the meetings the Mission
keeps the main hall open day and
night and missionary is always on
hand TO talk with those who may come
in. A lady missionary is also employed
TO visit the homes of attendants This
lady and the missionary at the hall are
the only persons connected with the
Mission who are rcmuncratcd for their
services. The other workers labor
without pay, and many of them con-
tribute toward the Missions expenses.
During the past year the institution
has held 2, ,139 meetings, which were at
tended by l04,74l persons, Its expenses
were s4,l20.S7, which was contributed
by the 2C0 members of its executive
committee and by members of the
various churches None Of these sub
scriptions exceeded SO month. The
gentlemen who have charge of
this work and who consti.
tute its board of directors are
James II. Hitchcock, George w.
wheeler, n. A. Robbins, A. l.. Swar-
twout. w. G, Tyler, +. d. Bailey, S. p.
Forster, o. B. Brown, T. G. Severance,
and George w Havcll All these
gentlemen are business men, with the
Exception of Mr.. Bailey The latter is
II regularly ordained minister but he
has NOT been connected with any church
! in some time, although he has been one
of the most earnest workers at the Mis-
sion. He and the other directors ex-
pcct, when the new building is erected,
TO be able To double their efforts.