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--- en:operating_principles:bible_sop:city_or_country [2026/08/09 23:43] – [Vegetarian restaurants] jpauldietrich
+++ en:operating_principles:bible_sop:city_or_country [2026/08/10 23:59] (current) – [Chosen workers of consecration and talent should be stationed in important centers of population] jpauldietrich
@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 See also the call to [[leave_the_city|Leave the City]]
+Some types of work should be established within the cities, while other types of work should be established outside the cities. The following collection of statements provides specific counsel for where to establish churches, restaurants, publishing houses, sanitariums, housing, and other types of ministry.
 ===== To be established in the cities: =====
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 > The brethren of the Washington City church are poor, and while they will do all that they can, they are not able to carry the whole burden. The church must be located **in a desirable part of the city**. The purchase of a suitable lot and the erection of a plain but large, well-ventilated, and skillfully constructed  building—something that will stand as an object lesson of neatness and thoroughness—will require a considerable sum. (PH067 29.2).
 ==== Meeting houses, meeting halls ====
 > It is in harmony with this instruction, that meeting-houses have been **purchased and rededicated in Washington and in Nashville**, while the publishing houses and the sanitariums at these centers have been established away from the congested heart of the cities, as outpost centers. (2SM 358.4).
-==== Chosen workers of consecration and talent should be stationed in important centers of population ====
+==== Chosen workers of consecration and talent ====
 > The example of the followers of Christ at Antioch should be an inspiration to every believer living in the great cities of the world today. While it is in the order of God that **chosen workers of consecration and talent should be stationed in important centers of population** to lead out in public efforts, it is also His purpose that the **church members living in these cities** shall use their God-given talents in working for souls. There are rich blessings in store for those who surrender fully to the call of God. As such workers endeavor to win souls to Jesus, they will find that many who never could have been reached in any other way are ready to respond to intelligent personal effort. (PM 310.2).
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 > **Our restaurants will have to be in the cities**. In regard to these restaurants, I am instructed to say that too much of an effort is being made to have one large restaurant in a city. It would be more in the order of the Lord to have **several smaller ones**. He desires a work done for those who are served. The sowing of the seeds of truth, not the obtaining of a large number of patrons, is to be the first consideration. Numbers is no true evidence of success. (TSDF 107.1).
+> It was presented to me that we should not rest satisfied because we have a **vegetarian restaurant** in Brooklyn, but that **others should be established in other sections of the city**. The people living in one part of Greater New York do not know what is going on in other parts of that great city. Men and women who eat at the restaurants established in different places will become conscious of an improvement in health. Their confidence once gained, they will be more ready to accept God's special message of truth." (7T 55.1).
 > God has declared that sanitariums and hygienic restaurants should be established for the purpose of making known to the world His law. The closing of our restaurants on the Sabbath is to be a witness that there is a people who will not for worldly gain, or to please people, disregard God's holy rest day. These **restaurants are to be established in our cities** to bring the truth before many who are engrossed in the business and pleasure of this world. Many of these are professed Christians, but are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” These are to know that God has a people who fear Him and keep His commandments. They are to be **taught how to choose and prepare the simple food that is best suited to nourish the body and preserve the health**.—Manuscript 115, 1903." (MM 306.1).
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 > During the past few years the “beehive” [Reference is here made to a revelation in 1876 when the activities of the then relatively new churches in San Francisco and Oakland were represented as two beehives.] in San Francisco has been indeed a busy one. Many lines of Christian effort have been carried forward by our brethren and sisters there. These included **visiting the sick and destitute, finding homes for orphans and work for the unemployed, nursing the sick, and teaching the truth from house to house, distributing literature, and conducting classes on healthful living and the care of the sick**. A **school for the children** has been conducted in the basement of the Laguna Street meetinghouse. For a time a **workingmen's home and medical mission** was maintained. On Market Street, near the city hall, there were **treatment rooms**, operated as a branch of the St. Helena Sanitarium. In the same locality was a **health-food store**. Nearer the center of the city, not far from the call building, was conducted a **vegetarian cafe**, which was open six days in the week and entirely closed on the Sabbath. Along the water front **ship mission work** was carried on. At various times our ministers conducted **meetings in large halls in the city**. Thus the warning message was given by many.—The Review and Herald, July 5, 1906." (WM 112.2).
 ===== Work done in the cities from outpost centers =====
-  * Students can organize in bands to do city mission work (Christian help work)
+> The startling and stupendous events connected with the warning of the world are fraught with momentous results. The messengers who proclaim the truth for this time are laboring in co-operation with all the forces of heaven. In tender compassion God himself is speaking to an impenitent world through judgments; and he will continue to speak in this manner. For many years we have known that the great cities would be visited with divine judgments because of long-continued disobedience. In no uncertain words the **Lord has warned us not to establish large institutions in the cities**. “Out of the cities; out of the cities,”—this is the message that has often come to us. And this is one reason why the Lord has been opening the way so wonderfully for our publishing houses and sanitariums and schools to be located in country places.
-  * Living preacher proclaims words of life and salvation
+> The cities must be worked. The **millions living in these congested centers are to hear the third angel's message**. This work should have been developed rapidly during the past few years. A beginning has been made, for which we praise God. **Outpost centers are being established, from whence, like Enoch of old, our workers can visit the cities and do faithful service**.
+> This was the burden of my message to the brethren and sisters assembled in conference at Los Angeles. On the morning of the San Francisco earthquake, April 18, the second day after the scene of falling buildings had passed before me, I spoke in the Carr Street church, and bore a decided testimony on the necessity of our doing all we can to acquaint the people with the teachings of God's Word. I referred to the **great work that must be done in the cities of our land**, and of **our inability to do this work by establishing institutions in the heart of these cities**. We must learn to labor from outpost centers, and to place our dependence, not on buildings or display, but on the power of the Word of God. The Holy Spirit will impress the honest heart. Our dependence is in God. (RH July 5,  1906, par. 7-9).
+==== Students can organize in bands to do city mission work (Christian help work) ====
+> Diligent work is now called for. In this crisis, no half-hearted efforts will prove successful. In all our city work, we are to hunt for souls. Wise plans are to be laid, in order that such work may be done to the best possible advantage. More and more, as wickedness increases in the great cities, we shall have to work them from outpost centers. This is the way Enoch labored in the days before the flood, when wickedness was rife in every populous community, and when violence was in the land. (RH September 27,  1906, par. 18).
+==== Living preacher proclaims words of life and salvation ====
+> When in Los Angeles, I was instructed that not only in various sections of that city, but in San Diego and in other tourist resorts of Southern California, health restaurants and treatment rooms should be established. Our efforts in these lines should include the great seaside resorts. As the voice of John the Baptist was heard in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” so must **the voice of the Lord's messengers be heard in the great tourist and seaside resorts**." (CH 488.1).
 ===== To be established in outpost centers: =====
-  * Homes, places to live
+==== Homes, places to live ====
-  * Training schools for workers
-  * Facilities for treating the sick, sanitariums
+> It is God's design that **our people should locate outside the cities**, and from these outposts warn the cities, and raise in them memorials for God. There must be a force of influence in the cities, that the message of warning shall be heard.—The Review and Herald, April 14, 1903.
-  * Publishing houses
-  * Agriculture (gardens, farms)
+> We must make wise plans to warn the cities, and at the same time **live where we can shield our children and ourselves** from the contaminating and demoralizing influences so prevalent in these places.—Life Sketches, p. 410. (1915).
+> I am instructed by the Lord to **warn our people not to flock to the cities** to find homes for their families. To fathers and to mothers I am instructed to say, Fail not to keep your children within your own premises. (AH 139.2).
+> Especially is it important that our youth be shielded from the temptations of city life. (LDE 120.1).
+==== Training schools for workers ====
+> Let men of sound judgment be appointed, not to publish abroad their intentions, but to search for such **properties in the rural districts**, in easy access to the cities, suitable for small training schools for workers, and where facilities may also be provided for treating the sick and weary souls who know not the truth. Look for such places **just out from the large cities**, where suitable buildings may be secured, either as a gift from the owners, or purchased at a reasonable price by the gifts of our people. **Do not erect buildings in the noisy cities**.—Medical Ministry, 308, 309 (1909)." (Ev 76.4-77.2).
+==== Facilities for treating the sick, sanitariums ====
+> Repeatedly the Lord has instructed us that we are to work the cities from outpost centers. In these cities we are to have houses of worship, as memorials for God, but institutions for the publication of our literature, **for the healing of the sick**, and for the training of workers [colleges], are to be established outside the cities. Especially is it important that our youth be shielded from the temptations of city life. (LDE 120.1).
+==== Publishing houses ====
+> Instruction has also been given that the Pacific Press should be moved from Oakland. As the years have passed by the city has grown, and it is now necessary to establish the printing plant in some **more rural place, where land can be secured for the homes of the employees**. Those who are connected with our offices of publication **should not be obliged to live in the crowded cities**. They should have opportunity to obtain homes where they will be able to live without requiring high wages.—Fundamentals of Christian Education, 492 (1904)." (LDE 105.4).
+==== Agriculture (gardens, farms) ====
 ===== Country Living =====
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 ===== Outpost Centers =====
-> From Outpost Centers—It is God's design that our people should locate outside the cities, and from these outposts warn the cities, and raise in them memorials for God. There must be a force of influence in the cities, that the message of warning shall be heard.—The Review and Herald, April 14, 1903.
-> As a Barrier to Contaminating Influence—We must make wise plans to warn the cities, and at the same  time live where we can shield our children and ourselves from the contaminating and demoralizing influences so prevalent in these places.—Life Sketches, p. 410. (1915).
 > Low-priced Rural Properties—We are to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves in our efforts to secure country properties at a low figure, and from these outpost centers we are to work the cities.—Special Testimonies, Series B, 14:7. (1902).
-> In Easy Access to the Cities—Let men of sound judgment be appointed, not to publish abroad their intentions, but to search for such properties in the rural districts, in easy access to the cities, suitable for small training schools for workers, and where facilities may also be provided for treating the sick and weary souls who know not the truth. Look for such places just out from the large cities, where suitable buildings may be secured, either as a gift from the owners, or purchased at a reasonable price by the gifts of our people. Do not erect buildings in the noisy cities.—Medical Ministry, 308, 309 (1909)." (Ev 76.4-77.2).
 > Diligent work is now called for. In this crisis, no half-hearted efforts will prove successful. In all our city work, we are to hunt for souls. Wise plans are to be laid, in order that such work may be done to the best possible advantage. More and more, as wickedness increases in the great cities, we shall have to work them from outpost centers. This is the way Enoch labored in the days before the flood, when wickedness was rife in every populous community, and when violence was in the land. (RH September 27,  1906, par. 18).