American Rescue Workers

{{Short description|Christian denomination and charity in the United States}}

The American Rescue Workers is a Christian denomination and charity in the United States. The organization was founded in 1882 by Thomas E. Moore as a splinter group from The Salvation Army in response to financial disagreements between Moore and Salvation Army founder William Booth.{{cite web|title=New Catholic Dictionary: American Rescue Workers |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/ncd00459.htm |access-date=2011-05-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120924135518/http://saints.sqpn.com/ncd00459.htm |archive-date=2012-09-24 }}{{cite web |url=https://religiousecologies.org/blog/american-rescue-workers/ |title=American Rescue Workers |last=Swain |first=Greta |last2=Greer |first2=Caroline |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124175836/https://religiousecologies.org/blog/american-rescue-workers/ |archivedate=2022-01-24 |accessdate=2023-06-12 }} In 1885 the organization officially adopted a charter as the Salvation Army of America, but in 1913 it was renamed American Rescue Workers and has functioned under this name since that time. Its quasi-military organization suggests that the charity retains similarities to the Salvation Army as with the Volunteers of America.{{Cite book | last = Mead| first = Frank Spencer| author-link = Frank Spencer Mead|author2=Samuel S. Hill |author3=Craig D. Atwood | title = Handbook of Denominations in the United States| publisher = Abingdon Press| year = 1995| location = Nashville| pages = 42–43| isbn = 978-1-4267-0048-4}} The charity operates shelters for the homeless, workshops for the disabled, and halfway houses for the chemically dependent in addition to engaging in evangelism. American Rescue Workers publishes a quarterly periodical, The Rescue Herald.

The Church has a membership of 2700,{{cite book|author1=Office of Research|author2=Evaluation|author3=and Planning of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.|author4=National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Office of Research and Evaluation|title=Yearbook of American and Canadian churches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=STt5lUGLiVkC|access-date=5 January 2011|year=1986|publisher=Abingdon Press|page=28}} and is headquartered in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.{{cite book|author=J. Gordon Melton|title=Encyclopedia of American religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TzMOAQAAMAAJ|access-date=5 January 2011|year=2003|publisher=Gale|isbn=978-0-7876-6384-1|page=1408}}