He was directed to prepare the program. It appeared in 1849 under the
title "Die Innere Mission."

It was a clarion call to personal service and it met with an immediate
and remarkable response. The movement marked an epoch in the history of
the church.

Because the Inner Mission lends itself in a peculiar way to works of
charity it is often regarded as synonymous with the care of the helpless
and afflicted. In this use of the term we lose sight of the larger
meaning and scope of the work which has made it one of the great
religious forces of the nineteenth century. It should therefore be more
accurately described as that movement of the nineteenth century which,
recognizing the alienation of multitudes within the church from the
Christian faith and life appeals [sic] to all disciples of Christ by
all means to carry the Gospel to men of all classes who have strayed
away and to gather them into the communion and confession of the church.
It is a mission within the church and hence bears the name of Inner
Mission.

Such a call comes to us at a time when we are confronted with a problem
which almost staggers the imagination and when we are offered an
opportunity such as no other Protestant church enjoys.


The Problem of Statistics

The word statistics, according to the Century Dictionary, refers not
merely to a collection of numbers, but it comprehends also "all those