REACH ING REFUGEES FOR CHR IST
W ITHOUT the necessity for any missionary sailing across the ocean or learning a foreign language, the All Nations Evangelistic Fellowship reaches children from nearly every European nation, plus underprivileged youngsters and orphans in the New York City area. A picture appearing in a New York paper April, 1942, showing dozens of fleeing European children leaning hope fully over the rails of a Portuguese steamer as it docked in New York, touched the heart of Dr. Harold Strathearn, head of Interstate Evangelistic Association, and inspired him to do something about their plight. A plea was issued for funds to finance weeks at Canandaigua for such children, most of whom were between nine and fifteen years of age and rep resented almost every European nation. Calling on the American Committee of Christian Refugees, workers compiled names of refugees. Visits were made to prospects who usually lived with relatives or in foster homes. Adults as well as children were welcomed to America, tact fully quoted a few verses of Scripture, told of the camp for children, and supplied with Christian literature. Sixty Nazi- hounded boys and girls were rounded up. The all-day train ride was made in a private New York Central coach, while the eight-mile transportation from station to camp was pro vided by the Canandaigua Rotary Club. Then followed four weeks of recreation and Christian instruction. All of these foreign-born children left with deep enthusiasm for the land of the free, but, more important, thirty-one of the sixty made open confessions of faith in Christ. Queries of Jewish children regarding the Trinity and the Virgin Birth amazed the teachers, but revealed the depth of their interest. As a result, the next summer special courses were introduced dealing with Old Testament passages and types of Christ especially adapted to Jewish children. Present at the first camp in 1942, Suzanne, then eleven years old, a Jewish refugee from Budapest, Hungary, played nightly from memory selections from Bach, Mendelssohn, and Chopin, and also performed at a neighboring Rotary Club. Returning home, this youthful prodigy expressed a desire to accept Christ as her Messiah. Because Suzanne wanted to settle the question before she and her mother moved away to be with her father who had a medical practice in Mary land, a missionary of the Refugee Fellowship dealt with both of them. The little daughter had often quoted the Scriptures which she had learned to her mother. Amazed at their grasp of the Christian faith, this missonary baptized both of them
The Thrilling Story of the All Nations Evangelistic Fellowship
By Rev. Leslie Flynn
in March 1943 in New York’s First Baptist Church. Recently, now seventeen-year-old Suzanne, who wishes to use her rare musical gift in the Lord’s service, became the only pupil of a famous Hungarian composer now residing in the United States and has given a classical concert at a New York hotel. Her father, very sympathetic to the gospel, accompanies her and her mother to the Protestant church. Exiled from Czechoslovakia at the age of two-and-a-half years, little Peter, along with his parents, found refuge from the Nazi hordes in Santo Doiningo in 1940. Coming to New York in May 1946, his parents could not find an apartment permitting children. Since he was unable to understand a word of English, the Christian Refugee Fellowship sent him to camp for over two months where he became conversant not only with English but with the English Bible as well. He now attends Sunday School and his grateful parents, finally able to locate work and an apartment, attend church faith fully. Kindness to children has often paved an easy avenue to parental hearts. Other teen-age histories dealt with read like this: Dorothy, born in Vienna, fled with her family to this country seven years ago. All of her family have been converted. Hannelore was reared in Berlin where her father was a judge. Because Jewish blood flowed in the family veins, they were forced to flee. The entire family has been converted. Financial assistance is sometimes given refugee parents. One fellow who had become a Christian through the Fellow ship was granted a loan. Hired as a special interpreter by the U. S. Army, he has since arrived in Germany and has written a book, Return to God. A man and wife, both physi cians now practicing in New York City, express deep gratitude for aid given them. The Fellowship has assumed sponsorship for some persons seeking naturalization. One boy of high quality who had be come a Christian after three summers at camp, and his mother, who both wished to become citizens, were utterly dependent on a sponsor’s affidavit. The Fellowship officials took the same responsibility they would have for their own relatives entering the country. Though the case was blocked and transferred many times, the lad persisted. Some months ago he dropped into the office with “ It’s all over. We’re citi zens. It was worth-while. We wouldn’t want to go back to Germany for anything.” Refugees moving to other parts of the country have been recommended to jobs and put into contact with Christian people. The Fellowship has dealt with more Jewish than non-Jewish families. One girl whose father is an' orthodox Jew faces constant opposition because she spends so much time in Christian company. Nevertheless, she and many others in similar positions, stand firm for their beliefs in the face of hostility at home. Neither a complaining group nor a scheming crowd who aim to take over jobs by cheap leabor, most refugees have been found above average intelligence, coming from the de sirable class of higher society in the old countries, which includes doctors, artists, and men of means whose property was confiscated by the Nazis. Having lost everything but their accent, soured by bitter experiences, they are easy prey for subversive movements, unless reached for Christ soon after their arrival in the United States. Page Nine
A part of the group of European refugee children who every year spend several weeks at the All Nations Evangdistic Fellowship Bible Camp on Canandaigua Lake, New York. They are thus taken^ away from the evil, communistic influences that are present in the big city of New York, and given patriotic and Bible training under competent and sympathetic teachers at the camp. J A N U A R Y , 1 9 4 9
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