First Church of Christ, Scientist, War Relief Committee

“ In a very short time Great Britain was turned into a vast training camp filled with men removed from all home influences and often dreading the experiences in front of them, and there seemed very little to alleviate the situation and give any real comfort and support.
Between the last months of 1914, when it was recognized that the war would not be of short duration, and the summer of 1915, many Christian Scientists had asked themselves if something special could not be done to make Christian Science available to the numbers of newly made soldiers whose needs seemed to be so desperate. ”

“ A Los Angeles man, at present in one of the hospitals, comes regularly to fetch the latest Monitor. He is so grateful and declares that the Monitor is the best paper in the world, and that he always finds news of home. It is a great joy to realize what these War Relief Rooms have done in extending help to many who are lonely and in need of kindness.”
The Workers were in close touch with the hospitals from the beginning, and were called on several occasions to cases of men wishing Christian Science treatment, particularly in the American hospitals. ”

“ The good work of a small group of local Christian Scientists culminated in the appointment of the first and only Christian Science Welfare Worker officially permitted to live and work inside a military camp in Great Britain. The advent of the Worker was warmly welcomed by the General in command, who placed a large vacant hut on one of the main roads inside the camp at the disposal of the Committee for Great Britain and Ireland, and offered every facility in the way of labor and materials towards converting the hut into a suitable Reading Room. ”

“ It is estimated that within two months of the opening of the Rooms, over a thousand men had made use of them.
The Worker writes :
“There seem to be a great many new men in Buxton, and they find their way down here the first night. This week the attendance has been over three hundred. There are a number of men studying in the quiet room, and several have had talks with me, and say they want to begin at the rock bottom of Christian Science, so of course they have been referred to the textbook. The work gets more and more interesting and the men seem to be growing more and more receptive. ”

“ The attitude of the soldiers in using the Rooms was invariably one of gratitude and courtesy, manifested in such practical ways as taking the mud off their boots at the door, and in their extreme care of the chairs and tables provided. Many of the men sent home some of the literature to their wives and relatives, and in this way interest in Christian Science has spread, accompanied in many cases with quick healing results. ”

“ On one occasion a young sergeant was about to embark, but on seeing the Monitor held up, he asked if it were possible for him to obtain a textbook, as he had left his own with a man who seemed to need it more than he did. The vest-pocket Science and Health was at once given him, and was received with joy, and he said, “I knew divine Love would meet my need.” Several officers have come up and asked for the literature and sometimes have told of the help and comfort they have received through Christian Science. ”

“ Another man returning home on leave found his wife seriously ill, and after telling her of his new-found knowledge of God, and reading to her passages from the textbook, to his great joy she declared she was healed and able to attend to her work again. Many accounts have come in of men who “facing fearful odds” on land and sea, have come through unscathed and who attribute their safety to their understanding of Christian Science. ”

“ Since then much good healing has taken place. One man who had studied Christian Science long enough to be convinced of its truth, asked for help for a cold he had had two months, and was instantaneously healed. He then asked for treatment for his knee, which had been strained four months previously, and this trouble also yielded quickly. A shell-shock patient bordering on melancholia, and manifesting unhealthy conditions, came to the Rooms for healing, after reading Science and Health, lent him by a Christian Scientist in the same hut. ”

“ The military authorities took entire possession of the town and the civil population in great part moved away in order that the houses might be available for sailors or soldiers. Dover soon became a veritable fortress, into which no one could enter without a passport. The Workers in the Rooms there found themselves, to all intents and purposes, in a war zone, and constantly had the opportunity of helping men who were actually engaged in some of the most important and dangerous operations carried out during the war. ”

“ With the incoming of the men of the American army and navy the London churches were desirous of doing something to welcome especially the Christian Science soldiers and sailors. The delegates of the churches in the London district met in conference and the first proposal was to open a welcome bureau where men and officers could get any information they might require, and where they would be introduced to Scientists who would show them hospitality. ”

“ On October 17, 1918, the first Sunday service was held in one of the largest rooms of the Ripon house at 3 o'clock. An officer and a private acted as First and Second Readers, and there were eight or ten soldiers present besides a few civilians. The numbers attending steadily increased, the last two Sundays, the Room being nearly full. A young officer, in expressing appreciation of these Rooms, said:
“How the work done here will fill your churches. Men get a firm grip on Christian Science in these Rooms, and it is bound to bear fruit wherever they go.” ”

“ Bedford, which is a residential and educational town, and which had, until that time, been considered famous for its orderliness, suddenly found itself converted into a military center. All available houses were taken as billets for soldiers, and several large camps outside the town had come into existence. In the early summer of 1917, the division which had been in Bedford since the opening of the Room was moved away, and the town became a large training center for the Royal Engineers and also for the Flying Corps. ”

“ He became friendly with this man and was very much struck by his earnestness, for, though often subjected to chaff and ridicule, he would stand up and say that Christian Science was the thing he valued more than anything else in his life. ”

“ Certainly the fires and cozy carpeted floors of these Christian Science Rooms, to say nothing of the loving help of the ladies in charge, have been a Godsend to me and poured oil on the troubled waters. These places are all over the shop now.”
The county Committee for Berkshire says in one of its reports:
“There have been many expressions of gratitude for these Rooms, for the quiet and comfort found there. Many men come regularly and new ones are constantly finding their way here. ”

“ On many occasions men from America, Canada, Scotland, England, Australia and South Africa were seen conversing together, in practical demonstration of the drawing together of all the great English-speaking peoples in one great unity of purpose. ”

“ This ideal so inspired the work that all over the county men have looked on the War Relief Rooms as their home, and have turned there for help and encouragement. The endeavor was to place in charge workers who were practical Christian Scientists, who would be ready to take any opportunity that might present itself of serving the men, or the women in the auxiliary service, and equipping them to meet the experiences which lay before them. ”

“ In accordance with instructions received from the Commanding Officer, the first distribution of Monitors and Sentinels at this camp, was carried out with the cooperation of the Y. M. C. A. Every kindness was received from the officials here and had the armistice not intervened, Christian Science services would have been held in the Y. M. C. A. tent within the camp. But the armistice was the signal for the immediate reduction of the camp, in order that the men should be sent home as quickly as possible. ”

“ He was given an open camp pass, a free permit to ride on any War Department vehicle and was an honorary member of the officers' mess. At mess there was often a good deal of banter about Christian Science, but this was always readily answered and very often led to earnest inquiry and in some cases to a request for metaphysical help and a grateful acknowledgment of instantaneous healing. On one occasion the Worker was sent for to help at an officers' sing-song where much drinking was going on. ”

“ In Newcastle large numbers of soldiers were stationed for the purpose of coast defence, and early in 1917, the members of First Church of Christ, Scientist, realized that a quiet room for reading and writing was greatly needed to serve the men billeted in the town. ”

“ Early in 1917 permission was obtained to send literature regularly to a number of British and Canadian prisoners of war in Germany and to men interned in Holland. Literature has also been supplied to German prisoners of war in internment camps in Great Britain and many of the men who have been repatriated have gone back to Germany with Christian Science literature in their pockets. ”

“ With the opening of the Room the men streamed in in batches of five or six, many of them recruits still in civilian clothes. The news went quickly round the billets that the Christian Scientists had opened a room where soldiers could read and write their home letters in peace, and many men found their way there within a few hours of arriving in Bedford. Three boys, for instance, came in one day shortly after their arrival and could hardy credit that such comfort and accommodations were intended for private soldiers. ”

“ Among the soldiers stationed at Dover from time to time, some were already interested in Christian Science and these became regular frequenters of the Rooms during their stay. But at the same time, out of the 31,582 visits paid to the Dover War Relief Rooms between August, 1917, and the end of November, 1918, it is probable that many men paid only one visit, as the troops were constantly changing, and it is known that over four million men passed through the town. ”