The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
. In the 19th century it was the largest and most important of American missionary organizations and consisted of participants from Protestant Reformed traditions such as Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and German Reformed churches.
Before 1870, the ABCFM consisted of Protestants of several denominations, including Congregationalists and Presbyterians. However, due to secessions caused by the issue of slavery and by the fact that
New School Presbyterian-affiliated missionaries had begun to support the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, after 1870 the ABCFM became a Congregationalist body.
The American Board (as it was frequently known) continued to operate as a largely Congregationalist entity until the 1950s. In 1957, the
Congregational Christian church
The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United ...
merged with the German
Evangelical and Reformed Church
The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA). A ...
to form the
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...
. As a part of the organizational merger associated with this new denomination, the ABCFM ceased to be independent. It merged operations with other missions entities to form the United Church Board for World Ministries, an agency of the United Church of Christ.
Other organizations that draw inspiration from the ABCFM include
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the
Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, and the Missionary Society of the
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches
The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) is an association of about 400 churches providing fellowship for and services to churches from the Congregational tradition. The Association maintains its national office in Oak ...
.
Organization and functioning
The ABCFM conducted an annual meeting with a
Prudential Committee (aka Executive Committee) that took care of day-to-day business. It elected a
Corresponding Secretary to produce written documents, and a Treasurer to receive donations. It also had
board members.
The ABCFM held its first meeting on September 5, 1810, and elected
Samuel Worcester
Samuel Austin Worcester (January 19, 1798 – April 20, 1859), was an American missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer, and defender of the Cherokee sovereignty. He collaborated with Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) in Georgia to ...
as corresponding secretary.
Corresponding Secretaries and other key leaders
*
Samuel Worcester
Samuel Austin Worcester (January 19, 1798 – April 20, 1859), was an American missionary to the Cherokee, translator of the Bible, printer, and defender of the Cherokee sovereignty. He collaborated with Elias Boudinot (Cherokee) in Georgia to ...
was the first corresponding secretary, starting in 1810.
*
Jeremiah Evarts
Jeremiah F. Evarts (February 3, 1781 – May 10, 1831), also known by the pen name William Penn, was a Christian missionary, reformer, and activist for the rights of American Indians in the United States, and a leading opponent of the Indian rem ...
, corresponding secretary of the ABCFM from 1821 to 1831
* At the 1822 annual meeting, board members elected officers: Evarts as corresponding secretary,
John Treadwell as president, and Rev.
Joseph Lyman as vice president. The Prudential Committee consisted of
William Reed, Rev.
Leonard Woods, Jeremiah Evarts,
Samuel Hubbard, and Rev.
Warren Fay
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo ...
.
*
Elias Cornelius
Elias Cornelius (1794–1832) was an American Christian missionary and ordained minister.
Life
Elias Cornelius' father was also named Elias Cornelius (1758–1823), and his mother was Rachel Stocker. His father had joined the American Revolutiona ...
became corresponding secretary, serving Dec 1831 – February 1832 (his death)
*
Benjamin B. Wisner
Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thi ...
,
Rufus Anderson
Rufus Anderson (August 17, 1796 – May 23, 1880) was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.
Personal life
Rufus Anderson was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on August 17, 1796. His father, also named Rufu ...
(1796–1880) and
David Greene (1797–1866) became "coequal" secretaries in 1832. When Wisner died (February 9, 1835),
William Jessup Armstrong took his place.
* Anderson, Greene, and Armstrong led as coequals from 1835 to 1846, with Anderson as foreign secretary, Armstrong as domestic secretary, and David Greene as secretary for
American Indian missions and editor of the ''Missionary Herald'' Rufus Anderson continued as foreign secretary until 1866. Armstrong died in a shipwreck between Boston and New Jersey in 1846.
*
Selah B. Treat was elected in 1843 as recording secretary. Rufus Anderson, Rev.
David Greene, and Rev.
William J. Armstrong were listed as "Secretaries for Correspondence." (President and vice president were listed respectively as
Theodore Frelinghuysen
Theodore Frelinghuysen (March 28, 1787April 12, 1862) was an American politician who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate. He was the Whig vice presidential nominee in the election of 1844, running on a ticket with Henry Clay.
Bo ...
LL. D. and Hon.
Thomas S. Williams)
* By 1858,
George Warren Wood
George Warren Wood (known professionally as George W. Wood) (1814–1901) was a Presbyterian minister and missionary who became the secretary of the Congregationalist American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was an early missio ...
was sole corresponding secretary, with Rev.
Mark Hopkins as President and abolitionist
William Jessup
William Jessup (June 21, 1797 – September 11, 1868) was a Pennsylvania judge and father of the missionary Henry Harris Jessup. A member of the Republican party, he is best known for being the chairman of the platform committee that crafted ...
as Vice-President. Hopkins had been the President of
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
since 1836.
* By 1866, Rev.
Nathan George Clark and Rev
G. W. Wood had joined Rufus Anderson and Selah Treat as corresponding secretaries. Wood, as ABCFM Secretary in New York City, held his position from 1850 to 1871. Clark assumed the position of Foreign Secretary when Anderson left in 1866 and remained Foreign Secretary until 1894.
:Note: After some secessions due to the slavery issue and the movement of
New School Presbyterian-affiliated missionaries to the
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, the ABCFM was left as a Congregationalist body after 1870.
*
James Levi Barton was secretary in 1896 when N.G. Clark died, and he retired in 1927.
* The Congregational Yearbook from 1899 lists
James L. Barton,
Judson Smith, and
Charles H. Daniels as the three Corresponding Secretaries of the ABCFM. It also lists
Charles M. Lamson and
D. Willis James as ABCFM president and vice president, respectively.
*
Henry H. Riggs' brother
Ernest Wilson Riggs (former president of
Euphrates College 1910–1921 and
Near East Relif
NEAR or Near may refer to:
People
* Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist
* Near, a developer who created the higan emulator
Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine
* National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a for ...
worker) joined
James Levi Barton as associate secretary and corresponding secretary of the ABCFM from 1921 to 1932.
:Note: After 1930, the ABCFM revised its constitution to create the position of "Executive Vice-President" to provide a position that was "first among equals" amongst ABCFM secretaries.
* Dr.
Frank Field Goodsell was the first Executive Vice-President of the ABCFM, which he led from 1930 to 1948.
*
Alford Carleton served as executive vice president of the board from 1954 to 1970.
:Note: when the
Evangelical and Reformed Church
The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA). A ...
merged with the
Congregational Christian Church
The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United ...
in 1957, the Congregationalist-affiliated ABCFM merged with the E&R affiliated
Board of International Missions to become the
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...
denomination's
United Church Board of World Ministries under Carleton On June 29, 1961, the ABCFM formally concluded. On July 1, 2000, a UCC restructure renamed UCBWM became "Wider Church Ministries" under the UCC's covenanted ministries structure.
Board members
*
Timothy Dwight
In 1826, the American Board absorbed 26 members of the
United Foreign Missionary Society (UFMS) into its board.
Early history
In 1806, five students from
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...
in western
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
took shelter from a thunderstorm in a haystack. At the
Haystack Prayer Meeting
The Haystack Prayer Meeting, held in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in August 1806, is viewed by many scholars as the seminal event for the development of American Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century. Missions are still suppo ...
, they came to the common conviction that "the field is the world" and inspired the creation of the ABCFM four years later. The objective of the ABCFM was to spread Christianity worldwide.
Congregationalist in origin, the ABCFM also accepted missionaries from
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
(1812–70),
Dutch-Reformed (1819–57) and other denominations.
In 1812, the ABCFM sent its first missionaries –
Adoniram
Adoniram (; Hebrew, אדונירם, 'my Lord has exalted'; alternate form Adoram, אדורם '' 'adoram'', 'the Lord has exalted'), the son of Abda, was the tax collector in the United Kingdom of Israel for over forty years, from the late years of ...
and
Ann Hasseltine Judson;
Samuel and Roxana Peck Nott;
Samuel and
Harriet Newell;
Gordon Hall, and
Luther Rice
Luther Rice (25 March 1783 – 27 September 1836) was an American Baptist minister who, after a thwarted mission to India, returned to America where he spent the remainder of his career raising funds for missions and advocating for the formation of ...
—to British India. Between 1812 and 1840, they were followed by missionaries to the following people and places:
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
to the
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
Indians,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
(the
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
area),
northern Ceylon (modern day
Sri Lanka), the
Sandwich Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Ku ...
(Hawaii); east Asia: China, Singapore and
Siam
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
(
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
); the Middle East: (
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
,
Syria,
the Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy L ...
and
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
)); and Africa: Western Africa—
Cape Palmas
Cape Palmas is a headland on the extreme southeast end of the coast of Liberia, Africa, at the extreme southwest corner of the northern half of the continent. The Cape itself consists of a small, rocky peninsula connected to the mainland by a s ...
—and Southern Africa—among the
Zulus
Zulu people (; zu, amaZulu) are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 10–12 million people, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Na ...
.
The fight against Indian removal
Jeremiah Evarts
Jeremiah F. Evarts (February 3, 1781 – May 10, 1831), also known by the pen name William Penn, was a Christian missionary, reformer, and activist for the rights of American Indians in the United States, and a leading opponent of the Indian rem ...
served as treasurer, 1812–20, and as corresponding secretary from 1821 until his death in 1831. Under his leadership, the board in 1821 expanded the role of women: it authorized
Ellen Stetson, the first unmarried female missionary to the
American Indians, and
Betsey Stockton, the first unmarried female overseas missionary and the first African-American missionary.
Evarts led the organization's efforts to place missionaries with American Indian tribes in the Southeastern United States. He also led the ABCFM's extensive fight against
Indian removal policies in general and the
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...
of 1830 in particular.
1830 through 1860
By the 1830s, based on its experiences, the ABCFM prohibited unmarried people from entering the mission field. They required couples to have been engaged at least two months prior to setting sail. To help the missionaries find wives, they maintained a list of women who were "missionary-minded": "young, pious, educated, fit and reasonably good-looking." The policy against sending single women as missionaries was not strictly followed and was reversed in 1868.
The secretary post was offered to
Elias Cornelius
Elias Cornelius (1794–1832) was an American Christian missionary and ordained minister.
Life
Elias Cornelius' father was also named Elias Cornelius (1758–1823), and his mother was Rachel Stocker. His father had joined the American Revolutiona ...
in October 1831, but he became ill and died in February 1832.
Rufus Anderson
Rufus Anderson (August 17, 1796 – May 23, 1880) was an American minister who spent several decades organizing overseas missions.
Personal life
Rufus Anderson was born in North Yarmouth, Maine, on August 17, 1796. His father, also named Rufu ...
was the General Secretary of the Board from 1832 through the mid-1860s. His legacy included administrative gifts, setting of policy, visiting around the world, and chronicling the work of the ABCFM in books.
Between 1810 and 1840, the ABCFM sought firstly to proclaim the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
of Jesus Christ. At home and abroad, the Board and its supporters undertook every effort to exhort the
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
community, to train a cadre of agents, and to send forth laborers into the mission field. As a leader in the United Front and early federal American voluntary associations, the Board influenced the nineteenth-century mission movement.
Missionary stations in 1855
By 1850, the American Board had sent 157 ordained, male missionaries to foreign posts.
The January 1855 issue of the ''Missionary Herald'' listed the Current missions of the Board as follow:
Africa
* Mission to Gaboon (
Baraka
Baraka or Barakah may refer to:
* Berakhah or Baraka, in Judaism, a blessing usually recited during a ceremony
* Barakah or Baraka, in Islam, the beneficent force from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres
* Baraka, full ''ḥ ...
station,
Olandebenk station,
Negenenge station, one outstation at
Nomba)
* Mission to Zulus (
Mapumulo
Mapumulo is a town in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by o ...
station,
Umvoti station,
Esidumbini station,
Umsunduzi station,
Itafamasi station,
Table Mountain
Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...
station,
Inanda station,
Umlazi
Umlazi is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, located south-west of Durban. Organisationally and administratively it forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and its South Municipal Planning Region.
It is the fourth largest ...
station,
Ifumi station,
Amahlongwa station,
Ifafa station,
Umtwalumi station)
*Mission to
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
(Chilesso station)
Europe
* Mission to Greece (
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
station)
* Mission to Jews (
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
,
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
,
Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
)
Western Asia
* Mission to Armenians (
Bebek (Constantinople) station,
Pera (Constantinople) station,
Hass-keuy (Constantinople) station,
Koom-kapoo (Constantinople) station,
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
station,
Marash
Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahrama ...
station,
Aintab station,
Talas, Turkey
Talas, formerly known as Dalassa (Greek: Δάλασσα) is a town and now largely suburban enclave in central Anatolia in the district of Kayseri Province in Turkey. The population of Talas city was 165,127 in 2020, up from 30,485 in 1990. It is l ...
station,
Sivas
Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province.
The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is ...
station,
Tokat
Tokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey in the mid-Black Sea region of Anatolia. It is located at the confluence of the Tokat River (Tokat Suyu) with the Yeşilırmak. In the 2018 census, the city of Tokat had a population of 155,00 ...
station,
Marsovan station,
Trebizond station,
Ezroom station, and
Arabkir station)
* Mission to Syria (
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
station,
Abeih station,
Hasbeiya station,
Trablous station,
Aleppo station, and outstations at
Bhamdoun
Bhamdoun ( ar, بحمدون), is a town in Lebanon from Beirut on the main road that leads to Damascus and in the suburbs of the main tourist city of Aley, lying at an altitude of above the Lamartine valley. Two separate villages compose the to ...
,
Kfarshima
Kfarshima ( ar, كفرشيما), also spelled Kfarchima, is a town in the Baabda District of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, southeast of Beirut and is part of Greater Beirut.
The town is populated by Lebanese Christians: mainly Melkite Greek ...
,
Rashaya
Rashaya, Rachaya, Rashaiya, Rashayya or Rachaiya ( ar, راشيا), also known as Rashaya al-Wadi or Rachaya el-Wadi (and variations), is a town of the Rashaya District in the west of the Jnoub Government of Lebanon. It is situated at around ab ...
,
Ibel, and
Khiam
Khiam ( ar, الخيام; sometimes spelled Khiyam) is a large town in the Nabatieh Governorate of Southern Lebanon.
Location
Khiam is situated approximately south from the capital city of Beirut and south-east from the city of Nabatieh. The bo ...
)
* Mission to
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
(
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
station,
Diarbekir station, and an out-station at
Hainee)
* Mission to
Nestorians
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...
(
Urmia
Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an al ...
station
lso known as Oroomaihand nearby
Seir
Seir or SEIR may refer to:
*Mount Seir, a mountainous region stretching between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba
*Seir the Horite, chief of the Horites, a people mentioned in the Torah
*Sa'ir, also Seir, a Palestinian town in the Hebron Governor ...
station;
Gawar station; and outstations at
Geog Tapa,
Ardeshai,
Supergan, and
Dizza Takha)
Southern Asia
* Mission to
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
(
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
station)
* Mission to Ahmednagar (American Marathi Mission
Marathi Christians) (
Ahmednuggur station,
Bhingar station,
Seroor station, and outstations at
Wudualey,
Newasse, and
Dedgaum)
* Mission to Satara (
Satara station and
Mahabulishwar station)
* Mission to
Kolapoor
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 Common Era, C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolh ...
(
Kolapoor
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 Common Era, C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolh ...
station)
* Mission to Madras (
Royapoorum station,
Chintadrepettah station, and
Black Town station)
* Mission to Madura (
Madura East station,
Madura Fort station,
Dindiguel East station,
Dindiguel West station,
Periacoolum station,
Tirumungalum station,
Pasumalie station,
Mandahasalie station,
Tirupoovanum station, and
Sivagunga station)
*
Mission to Ceylon (
Tillipally station,
Baticotta station,
Oodooville station,
Manepy station,
Panditeripo station,
Chavagacherry station,
Oodoopitty station,
Varany station, and outstations at
Caradive,
Valany,
Poongerdive,
Kaits, and
Atchoovaley
Eastern Asia
* Mission to Canton (
Canton station)
* Mission to Amoy (
Amoy
Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong' ...
station)
* Mission to Fuh-Chau (
Fuh-Chau station)
* Mission to Shanghai (Shanghai station)
* Mission to Hong Kong/South China (Hong Kong and Canton stations)
North Pacific Ocean
* Mission to Micronesia (
Rono Kittie station (
Ascension Island),
Shalong Point station (
Ascension Island),
Strong's Island
Strong's Island is an island in the Bay of Exploits, just off the coast of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The island measures 0.45 square miles and is connected to New World Island by a 150 yard long causewa ...
station)
* Mission to Hawaii (
Kailua
Kailua () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It lies in the Koolaupoko District of the island of Oahu on the windward coast at Kailua Bay. It is in the judicial district and the ahupua'a named Ko'ol ...
station,
Kealakekua station,
Hilo station,
Kohala station, and
Waimea station)
* Mission to
Maui (
Lahaina
Lahaina ( haw, Lāhainā) is the largest census-designated place (CDP) in West Maui, Maui County, Hawaii, United States and includes the Kaanapali and Kapalua beach resorts. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a resident population of 12,702. Lah ...
station,
Lahainaluna station,
Wailuku
Wailuku is a census-designated place (CDP) in and county seat of Maui County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 17,697 at the 2020 census.
Wailuku is located just west of Kahului, at the mouth of the Iao Valley. In the early 20th centur ...
station)
* Mission to
Molokai (
Kaluaaha station)
* Mission to
Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...
(
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
station,
Punahou station,
Ewa station,
Waialua station, and
Kaneohe station)
* Mission to
Kauai (
Waimea station,
Koloa
Kōloa is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 2,231 at the 2020 census, up from 1,942 at the 2000 census. The first successful sugarcane plantation in the Hawa ...
station, and
Waioli station)
North American Indians
* Mission to Choctaws (
Stockbridge station,
Wheelock station,
Pine Ridge station,
Good Water station,
Good Land station,
Bennington station,
Mount Pleasant station,
Lenox station, and outstations at
Mount Zion and
Bok Chito
Bok or BOK may refer to:
Places
* Bok (lunar crater), on the Moon's far side
* Bok (Martian crater)
* Bok, Khash, a village in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran
* Bok, Orašje, a village near Orašje, Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
* ...
* Mission to Cherokees (
Brainerd Mission
The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. The associated Brainerd Mission Cemetery is the only part that remains, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
History
B ...
,
Dwight station,
Lee's Creek station,
Fairfield station,
Park Hill station, and an outstation at
Honey Creek)
* Mission to Dakotas (
Yellow Medicine station and
New Hope station)
* Mission to Ojibwas (
Bad River station)
* Mission to
Senecas
The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west ...
(
Upper Cattaraugus station,
Lower Cattaraugus station,
Upper Alleghany station,
Lower Alleghany station, and an outstation at
Old Town)
* Mission to Tuscaroras (
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following:
First nations and Native American people and culture
* Tuscarora people
**''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960)
* Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people
* ...
station and
Mount Hope station)
* Mission to
Abenaquis (
St. Francis station)
Recruitment efforts
Orthodox,
Trinitarian
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the Fa ...
and evangelical in their theology, speakers to the annual meetings of the Board challenged their audiences to give of their time, talent and treasure in moving forward the global project of spreading Christianity. At first reflective of late colonial "occasional" sermons, the annual meeting addresses gradually took on the quality of "anniversary" sermons. The optimism and cooperation of post-
millennialism held a major place in the scheme of the Board sermons.
After having listened to such sermons and been influenced at colleges, college and seminary students prepared to proclaim the gospel in foreign cultures. Their short dissertations and pre-departure sermons reflected both the outlook of annual Board sermons and sensitivity to host cultures. Once the missionaries entered the field, optimism remained yet was tempered by the realities of pioneering mission work in a different milieu. Many of the Board agents sought—through eclectic dialogue and opportunities as they presented themselves, as well as itinerant preaching—to bring the cultures they met, observed, and lived in to bear upon the message they shared. The missionaries found the audiences to be similar to Americans in their responses to the gospel message. Some rejected it outright, others accepted it, and a few became Christian proclaimers themselves.
Other North American Missions to the Indians
Among the North American missions of the ABCFM north or west of the displaced Southeast tribes were the 1823
Mackinaw Mission (
Mackinac Island and
Northern Michigan
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan (known colloquially to residents of more southerly parts of the state and summer residents from cities such as Detroit as " Up North"), is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popul ...
), the Green Bay mission (Michigan Territory at Green Bay), the Dakota mission (Michigan Territory/Iowa Territory/Minnesota Territory primarily along the Mississippi and the Minnesota (St. Peters) Rivers), the Ojibwe mission (Michigan Territory/Wisconsin Territory/Minnesota Territory/ Wisconsin at La Pointe and Odanah, Yellow Lake, Pokegama Lake, Sandy Lake, Fond du Lac, and Red Lake), and the Whitman mission in Oregon.
Missionaries of the Dakota mission experienced the explosion of Dakota violence in August 1862 at the start of the U.S.-Dakota War. Some of them attended the imprisoned Dakota and accompanied the exiled Dakota when they were forced out of Minnesota in 1863, especially those of the Williamson and Riggs families.
The Dakota mission translated the Bible into Dakota and produced a dictionary and a schoolbook. The Ojibwe mission translated the New Testament into Ojibwe and produced a number of schoolbooks, but used a now-abandoned notation style to do so. Both were among the first to render these languages in print.
Work with indigenous preachers
Indigenous preachers associated with the Board proclaimed an orthodox message, but they further modified the presentation beyond how the missionaries had developed subtle differences with the home leaders. Drawing upon the positive and negative aspects of their own cultures, the native
evangelists steeped their messages in
Biblical texts and themes. At times, indigenous workers had spectacular or unexpected results. On many occasions, little fruit resulted from their labors. Whatever the response, the native preachers worked on—even in the midst of persecution—until
martyrdom
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
or natural death took them.
Native preachers and other indigenous people assisted Board missionaries in Bible translation efforts. The act of translating the Scriptures into a mother tongue reflected a sensitivity to culture and a desire to work within the host society. Second only to the verbal proclamation of the Gospel, Bible translation took place in all sorts of settings: among ancient Christian churches, such as the
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...
and the Assyrian
estorianchurch; cultures with a written language and a written religious heritage, such as the ''
Marathi''; and creating written languages in cultures without them, such as among the
animistic
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, ...
people in Hawaii.
Educational, social, and medical roles served by ABCFM missionaries
Printing and literacy played crucial roles in the process of Bible translation. Similarly, the press runs and literacy presentations contributed significantly to the social involvement exhibited by the Board. To a greater or lesser extent, education, medicine, and social concerns supplemented the preaching efforts by missionaries. Schools provided ready-made audiences for preachers. Free, or
Lancasterian The Monitorial System, also known as Madras System or Lancasterian System, was an education method that took hold during the early 19th century, because of Spanish, French, and English colonial education that was imposed into the areas of expansion. ...
, schools provided numerous students. Boarding students in missionary homes allowed them to witness Christian life in the intimacy of the family.
Education empowered indigenous people. Mostly later than 1840, it enabled them to develop their own church leaders and take a greater role in their communities. Board missionaries established some form of education at every station. A number of Board missionaries also received some medical training before leaving for the field. Some, like
Ida Scudder
Dr. Ida Sophia Scudder (December 9, 1870 – May 24, 1960) was a third-generation American medical missionary in India. She dedicated her life to the plight of Indian women and the fight against bubonic plague, cholera and leprosy. In 1918, sh ...
, were trained as physicians but ordained as missionaries and concentrated on the task of preaching. Others, such as
Peter Parker
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August ...
, sought to practice both the callings of missionary and medical practitioner.
ABCFM in China
After the
London Missionary Society
The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...
and the
Netherlands Missionary Society The Netherlands Missionary Society (Dutch: ''Nederlandsch Zendelinggenootschap'') was a Dutch Protestant missionary society founded in 1797 in Rotterdam that was involved in sending workers to countries such as Indonesia during the Dutch occupation ...
, the Americans were the next to venture into the mission field of China. The Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, representing the Congregational Churches of the United States, sent out Revs.
David Abeel
David Abeel (June 12, 1804 – September 4, 1846) was a missionary of the Dutch Reformed Church with the American Reformed Mission.
Biography
Abeel was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on June 12, 1804 to Captain David and Jane Hassert ...
and
Elijah Coleman Bridgman in 1829. They were received in February 1830 by Dr.
Robert Morrison. These men worked first among the Chinese and
Malays of the
Straits Settlements. From 1842 to his death in 1846, Mr. Abeel devoted himself to establishing a mission in
Amoy
Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong' ...
(modern Xiamen).
The American Board followed with many other appointments in rapid succession. Revs.
Ira Tracy and Samuel Wells Williams (1812–1884), followed in 1833, settling at Singapore and
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
. In the same year Revs.
Stephen Johnson (missionary) and
Samuel Munson went to
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
and
Sumatra. There were four great centers from which smaller stations were maintained. These were
Fuzhou, in connection with which were fifteen churches; North China, embracing Beijing,
Kalgan
Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southw ...
, Tianjin,
Tengzhou
Tengzhou () is a county-level city of Zaozhuang, Shandong province of the People's Republic of China, and is the site of the feudal vassal State of Teng during the Spring and Autumn period.
Tengzhou was likely the birthplace of the philosopher ...
, and
Baoding
Baoding (), formerly known as Baozhou and Qingyuan, is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2010 census, Baoding City had 11,194,382 inhabitants out of which 2,176,857 lived in the b ...
, with smaller stations in the various districts of the center missions; Hong Kong; and
Shanxi, with two stations in the midst of districts filled with
opium cultivation and staffed by missionaries of the
Oberlin Band of
Oberlin College.
At Tengzhou missionaries established a college, over which Dr.
Calvin Mateer presided. Tengzhou was one of the centers for Chinese literary competitive examinations. Mateer believed that the light of modern science shown in contrast with "superstition" would prove effective. He and his wife taught
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
,
mathematics, natural philosophy, and history. He trained young men to be teachers all over North China. The young men whom he had trained in Biblical instruction began native ministry. Drs.
John Livingstone Nevius and
Hunter Corbett
Hunter Corbett D.D. (; December 8, 1835 – January 7, 1920) was a pioneer American missionary to Chefoo (Zhifu芝罘区, in Yantai), Shandong China, he served with the American Presbyterian Mission. He was a fervent advocate of the missionary ent ...
(1862–1918) co-operated in this latter work, by giving a
theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
education to candidates for ministry during a portion of each year at
Yantai
Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...
.
At its principal stations in China, the Society maintained large medical dispensaries and hospitals, boarding schools for boys and girls, colleges for native students, and other agencies for effecting the purposes of the mission. It also helped create
the Canton Hospital. As of 1890 it had twenty-eight missionaries, sixteen lady agents, ten medical missionaries, four ordained native ministers, one hundred and five unordained native helpers, nearly one thousand communicants, and four hundred and fifty pupils in its schools.
ABCFM in the Middle East
The ABCFM founded many colleges and schools in the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans. For example, the American College of Sofia in Bulgaria is the successor to a Boys' School founded by the ABCFM in 1860 in Plovdiv and a Girls' School in Stara Zagora in 1863. They were combined in Samokov, Bulgaria in 1871, and moved to Sofia in the late 1920s.
Missionaries sponsored by ABCFM, listed by location
Africa
Europe
Western Asia
Southern Asia
Eastern Asia
North Pacific Ocean
North American Indians
Indigenous workers affiliated with the Board
* Babajee (b. 1791)
*
Liang Fa
Liang Fa (1789–1855), also known by other names, was the second Chinese Protestant convert and the first Chinese Protestant minister and evangelist. He was ordained by Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary in the Qing Empire. ...
(1789–1855)
*
David Malo
David Malo or Davida Malo (1795–1853) was a chiefly counselor, a Hawaiian intellectual, educator, politician and minister. He is remembered by subsequent generations of Hawaiian people and scholars primarily as a Native Hawaiian historian of the ...
(1795–1853)
*
Henry Opukahaia (c. 1792–1818; also known as Ōpūkahaia)
*
Puaaiki
Bartimeus Lalana Puaʻaiki ( – February 21, 1844) was an early convert and the first Native Hawaiian to be licensed to preach Protestant Christianity. Prior to his conversion, he served as a hula dancer in the court of King Kamehameha II and Que ...
(
c. 1785–1844)
*
Asaad Shidiak (c. 1797–c. 1832; also known as Asaad Esh Shidiak)
*
Joel Hulu Mahoe (1830–1890) second full-Hawaiian to be ordained.
*
Henry Blatchford
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
, of the
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
mission did translations and lay preaching beginning at Pokegama (Minnesota) in 1836, was ordained eventually and worked at the Odanah mission until he died in the late 19th century.
*
Abdullah Abdul Kadir (1797-1854), known as "Munshi Abdullah", was a Malayan scholar and translator under the employ of Alfred North, an ABCFM missionary stationed in Singapore.
See also
*
American Ceylon Mission
*
Dan Beach Bradley
Dan Beach Bradley (18 July 1804 – 23 June 1873) was an American Protestant missionary to Siam from 1835 until his death. He is credited with numerous firsts, including, bringing the first Thai-script printing press to Siam, publishing the first ...
(Siam, 1834, resigned 1847)
*
Haystack Prayer Meeting
The Haystack Prayer Meeting, held in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in August 1806, is viewed by many scholars as the seminal event for the development of American Protestant missions in the subsequent decades and century. Missions are still suppo ...
*
History of Christian missions
This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through a listing of the most significant missionary outreach events.
Apostolic Age
Earliest dates must all be considered approximate
* 33 – Great Commissi ...
*
Oberlin Band (China)
*
*
List of American Board missionaries in China
*
List of Missionaries to Hawaii
This is a list of missionaries to Hawaii. Before European exploration, the Hawaiian religion was brought from Tahiti by Paʻao according to oral tradition. Notable missionaries with written records below are generally Christian.
Protestant Ame ...
References
Further reading
* Bliss, Edwin Munsell, ed. ''The Encyclopaedia of missions. Descriptive, historical, biographical, statistical. With a full assortment of maps, a complete bibliography, and lists of Bible version, missionary societies, mission stations, and a general index'
online vol 1 1891, 724pponline vol 2 1891, 726pp* Conroy-Krutz, Emily. ''Christian Imperialism: Converting the World in the Early American Republic''. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2015.
* Phillips, Clifton Jackson. ''Protestant America and the pagan world: the first half century of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1810–1860'' (Harvard University Press, 1969)
Putney, Clifford (writer of introduction and editor with Burlin, Paul), ''The Role of the American Board in the World: Bicentennial Reflections on the Organization's Missionary Work, 1810–2010'' (Eugene, Or: Wipf and Stock, 2012)* Strong, William Ellsworth. ''The Story of the American Board'' (1910
online
* Varg, Paul A. ''Missionaries, Chinese, and Diplomats: The American Protestant Missionary Movement in China, 1890–1952'' (Princeton UP, 1958).
Publications
*
*
*
İdris YÜCEL, "An Overview of Religious Medicine in the Near East: Mission Hospitals of the American in Asia Minor (1880-1923)", Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, Vol 14, Issue 40, Spring 2015.*İdris YÜCEL, �
A Missionary Society at the Crossroad: American Missionaries on the Eve of the Turkish Republic��, Journal of Modern Turkish History, Vol 8 Issue 15, Spring 2012.
*İdris YÜCEL
An Overview of Religious Medicine in the Near East: Mission Hospitals of the American Board in Asia Minor (1880-1923), Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, Vol 14, Issue 40, Spring 2015.
*İdris YÜCEL
Anadolu'da Amerikan Misyonerliği ve Misyon Hastaneleri (1880-1934) TTK Yayınevi, Ankara 2017.
*İdris YÜCEL
Kendi Belgeleri Işığında Amerikan Board’ın Osmanlı Ülkesindeki Teşkilatlanması Erciyes Üniversitesi, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, 2005
External links
Ricci Institute page on the ABCFM in China* at
Nebraska State Historical Society
History Nebraska, formerly the Nebraska State Historical Society is a Nebraska state agency, founded in 1878 to "encourage historical research and inquiry, spread historical information ... and to embrace alike aboriginal and modern history." I ...
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, ABC 1–91 at
Houghton Library
Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library system of Harvard's Faculty of ...
,
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
.
ABCFM Collection overviewa
Congregational Library and ArchivesSantee Normal Training School, Woonspe Wankantu, 1881, 1882, 1884, 1885 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
*
{{Authority control
American University of Beirut
Christian missionary societies
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
*
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
Evangelical missionary societies
Christian missions
American Ceylon Mission
Religious organizations established in 1812
1812 in international relations
1812 establishments in the United States