The Reform Movement: The Social Gospel Movement

The social gospel movement was a reform movement that was emerged among Protestant Christians to improve the economic, moral and social conditions of the urban working class. One prominent leader of the social gospel movement was a New York City pastor and theologian called Walter Rauschenbusch. Protestant leaders followed Rauschenbusch’s idea that social problems were actually just moral problems on a large scale, and they were convinced that many social issues could be cured by what they called 'practical Christianity. They believed that they could transformed the poor spiritually, and largely improve the lives of the poor if they met the physical needs of them. Therefore, Protestants in America were among the first groups to tackle urban