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Founded in 1896 with the help of Robert F. Ballantine,
Goodwill Rescue Mission began its operation as Industrial
Home For Men, a reflection of the founder’s conviction
that a positive work experience is a key to successfully
restructuring lives. GRM’s founding board of directors included
both local pastors and concerned laypeople.
Today our nation has revived its interest in the use of
faith-based institutions to address social problems. Reliance
on the power of faith is nothing new at Goodwill Rescue
Mission. From our founding we have operated on the conviction
that only the power of God realized through personal faith
in Jesus Christ can truly transform the life of the whole
person.
The Mission’s priority was — and is today —
to share the love of God in Jesus Christ with needy of northern
New Jersey by providing food, clothing, shelter, spiritual
guidance and instruction to those whose lives have been
almost destroyed by alcohol, lack of work and other circumstances.
 In
the early 1900’s, Mission residents were active in
supporting the Mission and themselves by using horse drawn
wagons to collect firewood and used clothing using horse
drawn wagons. Today, GRM’s residents continue to support
the ministry, using trucks to make pick ups and deliveries.
Other early innovations included medical care and extensive
outreach to families. For years, Goodwill Rescue Mission
operated an accredited medical facility!
The Mission faced severe financial pressures during World
War I. Though the board of directors first authorized a
liquidation of some Mission programs, they truly believed
God wanted the ministry to continue. A recovery plan was
instituted and God used two successful fundraising campaigns
in the 1920’s to ease the Mission’s debt.
Much of the credit for the turnaround and subsequent growth
of the Mission must be given to Rev. Lawrence Sutherland,
who served as the misson's Executive Director for 38 years.
Beginning in 1920, Rev. Sutherland first tackled the bleak
financial situation. After stabilizing the Mission's finances,
he oversaw years of programmatic expansion and ministry
growth. Under his able leadership, the Mission moved from
being a struggling institution to one with a nation-wide
reputation for excellence in rescue ministry.
During the Roaring Twenties, many in our nation experienced
great prosperity and excess. At the same time, more people
than ever needed GRM’s help. Concerned Christian women
formed a Ladies Auxiliary in September 1929 — just
in time to witness the stock market crash that plunged the
world into the Great Depression.
As massive poverty and devastating unemployment shook
America and ushered in the New Deal, Goodwill Rescue Mission
responded in faith and action, and experienced great spiritual
blessing. One superintendent reported: "I am not going
to tire you with a lot of illustrations of how God is working
in our midst because I presume you know that there is hardly
a day goes by what someone accepts Christ as his Savior."
Christian youth who were moved by the needs around them
formed a GRM Young People’s Auxiliary in 1932. Although
eligible for the federal government’s National Recovery
Administration (NRA), the Mission chose to ensure its independence
as a faith-based institution by continuing to rely on private
donations.
 During
World War II, women entered the workforce as men entered
the battlefield. At Goodwill Rescue Mission, Margaret Sutherland
(Rev. Sutherland's daughter) became special assistant to
the superintendent, because no male candidates for the position
could be found. Despite the relative prosperity of the forties,
and the enormous drain of manpower that the war effort required,
the Mission continued to serve an ever-increasing number
of needy men, women and children.
The post-war period of the late 40’s and early 50’s
was a fertile time for evangelism, with the rise of prominent
figures such as Billy Graham. Goodwill Rescue Mission participated
in a number of evangelistic crusades held in Newark during
that time.
During the 60’s, the youth culture’s widespread
experimentation with mind-altering drugs, the civil rights
movement, Vietnam, the sexual revolution, "white flight"
from the nation’s urban centers, and other trends
meant change for the nation and for Goodwill Rescue Mission.
GRM began an adoption ministry in 1962 to help mothers
who were unable to care for their children find loving homes
for them. Later, this ministry was turned over to the Christian
Home for Children.
Widespread homelessness formed a heart-wrenching counterpoint
to the generally renewed optimism of the Reagan years throughout
the 80’s. GRM fed and sheltered the homeless, and
unlike government-sponsored shelters, provided good spiritual
"food" for the hunger of the soul as well as the
body.
The last decade of the twentieth century has been an amazing
one. The world has become computerized and interconnected
on an unprecedented scale. To equip our residents, Goodwill
Rescue Mission initiated a computerized Learning Center
in 1991 — one of the first in rescue missions in North
America. Today, Mission residents pursue instruction in
basic math and literacy, GED preparation, and the computer
skills critical to success in today’s workplace.
Though Goodwill Rescue Mission has seen many changes in
the last century, one thing remains the same — mankind’s
need to experience the love of God in Jesus Christ, and
to live lives that please Him. Now we look forward to another
century of challenge and blessing … the challenge
to take advantage of opportunities for ministry God sends
our way, and the assurance that if we are faithful to Him,
He will bless us and those we serve more than we can even
ask or imagine.
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© 2008 Goodwill Rescue Mission | This site was contributed
by The SPI
Group.
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