With Our Fighting Men: The story of their faith, courage, endurance in the Great WarSellers, William E.
History
With Our Fighting Men: The story of their faith, courage, endurance in the Great War
Sellers, William E.
Great Britain. Army -- Military life; World War, 1914-1918 -- Religious aspects
"And so the situation as it stands at this present time of writing is
roughly as follows: 600 Y.M.C.A. centres in the home camps, of which
300 are permanent wooden huts. In France 50 centres, of which 36 are
huts. In Egypt 8 centres in charge of 10 young Christian men sent out
by the Association, and in India 30 centres, manned by 12 Association
workers. To this record must be added over 2000 camp workers, only a
very small proportion of whom are paid, and the innumerable ladies who
either serve at the counters or are quartered with local committees of
management. To this, further, several other inspiring features and
items must still be added. Under the Y.M.C.A. auspices, Princess
Victoria has a number of field kitchens across in France and Flanders
which supply the men at the actual front. Also, and by no means least,
scores of clergymen and ministers of all denominations give some, and
a few all their time, to conducting services and "talks" in the huts
in the evenings, while among the voluntary workers on Salisbury
Plain, at the Crystal Palace, the White City, Harwich and Felixstowe,
Hindhead, Milford, Southport, Alnwick and along the Tyne, and scores
of other camps, are to be found university professors and students,
men from all the theological colleges, retired city merchants,
ministers with leave of absence from their churches, business men
moved to leave their shops and offices in the care of wives and clerks
and managers, and almost every type of Christian man and profession
and occupation.
"All this deals, as it will be seen, with the many externals of the
Association work, and takes little or no account of the various more
directly spiritual agencies. Almost every well-known evangelist has
given up his time to the Y.M.C.A. huts, including such men as Mr. W.R.
Lane, Mr. C.M. Alexander, and the Rev. Canon Hicks, while the work of
the Pocket Testament League and of Temperance has been wonderfully
successful.
"Beginning on the Wednesday after Easter and continuing for seven
days, a special effort was made throughout the camps to make it a
Decision Week for the men of the new army. A pledge of acceptance of
Jesus Christ as Saviour and King was to be taken and a War Roll
signed. It is too early to give the final results, but already many
thousands have signed, and the reports of camp workers, chaplains,
clergymen, and ministers are most enheartening.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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