ward would be entirely different today if it had
not been for Frank Nelson and the work carried on in Christ Church. But
this clergyman's work and influence spread far outside his parish and
beyond his ward.

By many Catholics, Jews, and Protestants Frank Nelson was acknowledged
as "the flaming sword of the Charter Movement"; the man who so
interpreted the Community Chest that "he made it a platform upon which
every man could stand"; and in the minds of some of them he so
o'er-leaped sectarian differences that they considered him their
minister. His was a position as unique as it was remarkable considering
the fact that he held no title or high-ranking office such as Bishop.
This minister quickened the conscience of Cincinnati, and brought into
full bloom vague, half-formed ideals. Many looked upon him as the
spokesman of the city's conscience.

Mr. Nelson did not grow up in an age of radical and revolutionary
economic and social programs. He was not a student of such
philosophies, yet he had in his heart that particular treasure, namely
an affection for people, for the fortunate and no less for the poor and
the dispossessed. Without this love for the common man, these
philosophies are never translated into the natural order of things nor
ever become more than intellectual pronouncements. He was neither a
mystic nor a reformer, but a citizen who was deeply cognizant of
religious faith as laying upon him and upon everyone a compulsive
service. This mighty conviction he expressed in varying ways as we shall
see, but never in more arresting words than in a sermon which he
preached on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Presbyterian Church of
The Covenant from the text, "Ye shall not see my face except your
brother be with you." Though delivered in 1916, this sermon was recalled
twenty-three years later on the occasion of Mr. Nelson's retirement as a
consummate expression of his faith and convictions, namely that we are
not isolated individuals each to be saved by means of self-centered
piety, but only through practicing religion in fellowship with one
another.

A study of his annual reports indicates that from his St. George's days
he was dominated by the vision of the Church as having a mission to the
city. As early as 1903 he outlined the conditions that confront
Christian people, and the relation of the Church to them:

The city of today is the point of concentration of the forces
that are making the character