BMS World Mission is a
Christian missionary
A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...
society founded by
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
from
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, but for most of its life was known as the Baptist Missionary Society. The headquarters is in
Didcot
Didcot ( ) is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Di ...
, England.
History
The BMS was formed in 1792 at a meeting in
Kettering
Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, where twelve
Particular Baptist
Reformed Baptists (sometimes known as Particular Baptists or Calvinistic Baptists) are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation). The first Calvinist Baptist church was formed in the 1630s. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith w ...
ministers signed an agreement. They were; Thomas Blundel, Joshua Burton, John Eayres,
Andrew Fuller
Andrew Fuller (6 February 17547 May 1815) was an English Particular Baptist minister and theologian. Known as a promoter of missionary work, he also took part in theological controversy.
Biography
Fuller was born in Wicken, Cambridgeshire, and ...
, Abraham Greenwood, William Heighton, Reynold Hogg,
Samuel Pearce
Samuel Pearce (1766– 10 October 1799) was an English Baptist minister, known as a hymn-writer.
Life
The son of a silversmith, Pearce was born at Plymouth, Devon, on 20 July 1766. He studied at the Baptist College, Bristol, and in 1790 was app ...
,
John Ryland
John Ryland (1753–1825) was an English Baptist minister and religious writer. He was a founder and for ten years the secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society.
Life
The son of John Collett Ryland, he was born at Warwick on 29 January 175 ...
, Edward Sherman,
John Sutcliff, Joseph Timms.
William Staughton, present at the meeting, did not sign since he was not a minister. The first missionaries,
William Carey and John Thomas, were sent to
Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, India in 1793.
[History of the Baptist Missionary Society, from 1792 to 1842]
Francis Augustus Cox, 1842, accessed April 2009 They were followed by many co-workers, firstly to India, and subsequently to other countries in Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and South America. BMS opened missions in China in 1860. It began operating in China's Shanxi province in 1877, despite local hostility toward “foreign devils.” In the
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...
of 1900 all its missionaries there were killed, along with all 120 converts .
Timothy Richard
Timothy Richard (Chinese: 李提摩太 ''Li Timotai'', 10 October 1845 – 17 April 1919) was a Welsh Baptist missionary to China, who influenced the modernisation of China and the rise of the Chinese Republic.
Biography
Richard was born on ...
is one of the most well-known Baptist missionaries to China.
Francis Augustus Cox wrote a history of the Baptist Missionary Society from its formation until 1842.
[ Brian Stanley was commissioned to write a history of the society for its bicentenary (1992).
The current name was adopted in 2000.
]
List of missionaries
* Rev. Samuel Pearce (1792)
* William Carey (1793)
* John Thomas (1793)
* Dr. William Yates (1814)
*Jeremiah Phillips Jeremiah Phillips(1812–1879) was an American Baptist missionary to the Santals under the Free Baptist Missionary Society in India.
He is credited for opening up the first educational facility for the Santals and a farming colony for the Christia ...
(1836)
*George Grenfell
George Grenfell (21 August 1849, in Sancreed, Cornwall – 1 July 1906, in Basoko, Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was a Cornish missionary and explorer.
Early years
Grenfell was born at Sancreed, near Penzan ...
(1849-1906), explorer and BMS missionary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
*Dr Clement Clapton Chesterman
Clement Clapton Chesterman OBE (30 May 1894 – 20 July 1983) was an English writer, humanitarian and physician. He was a medical missionary for the Baptist Missionary Society that served in the Belgian Congo, more specifically Yakusu. He was ...
(1920-1936), the first to implement successfully mass chemotherapy for Trypanosomiasis
Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus ''Trypanosoma''. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other diseas ...
. He worked at Yakusu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
*Dr Ernest W Price
Dr Ernest Woodward Price MD, FRCSE, DTM&H, OBE (20 July 1907 31 January 1990) was a missionary doctor, orthopaedic surgeon, leprosy specialist and the discoverer of podoconiosis, one of the neglected tropical diseases. A list of his publicati ...
(1907-1990), the discoverer of Podoconiosis
Podoconiosis, also known as nonfilarial elephantiasis, is a disease of the lymphatic vessels of the lower extremities that is caused by chronic exposure to irritant soils. It is the second most common cause of tropical lymphedema after lymphatic ...
. He worked at Pimu and IME Kimpese in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
*Dr Stanley George Browne
Stanley George Browne (8 December 1907 – 20 January 1986), also called "Bonganga" by the community members with whom he worked, was a British medical missionary and leprologist known for his work and his many research achievements throughout t ...
(1907-1986), "Mister Leprosy". He succeeded Dr Chesterman at Yakusu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
* Charlotte White Charlotte White (July 13, 1782 – December 25, 1863), also known as Charlotte Atlee and Charlotte Rowe, was the first American woman appointed as a missionary and sent to a foreign country. She was sponsored by the Baptist Board of Foreign Missio ...
, American, first single woman appointed as a missionary; wife of BMS missionary Joshua Rowe, worked in Digha, India from 1816 to 1826.
*Dr David Hedley Wilson
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
(1928-2015), the first President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is an independent professional association of emergency physicians in the United Kingdom which sets standards of training and administers examinations for emergency medicine. The patron is The Prin ...
. He succeeded Dr Price at Pimu and IME Kimpese in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Programmes
BMS works in many ways around the world, including church planting
Church planting is a term referring to the process (mostly in Protestant frameworks) that results in a new local Christian congregation being established. It should be distinguished from church development, where a new service, worship center or ...
, development, disaster relief, education, health, and media and advocacy. Mission personnel can go long-term, mid-term, short-term or as part of a team.
See also
*
*List of Protestant missionary societies in China (1807–1953)
This is a list of Protestant missionary societies in China (1807–1953).
Protestant missionary societies in China 1807–1953
See also
*Historical Bibliography of the China Inland Mission
*List of Protestant missionaries in China
*List of Ch ...
*William Ward (missionary)
William Ward (1769–1823) was an English pioneer Baptist missionary, author, printer and translator.
Early life
Ward was born at Derby on 20 October 1769, and was the son of John Ward, a carpenter and builder of that town, and grandson of Thom ...
*Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China
The Hong Kong Council of the Church of Christ in China (Abbr: HKCCCC, ) is a Protestant Christian church organization in Hong Kong. Its history can be traced back to the formation of the Church of Christ in China, which is a uniting church consis ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bms World Mission
Baptist missionary societies
Baptist organizations established in the 18th century
Christian missionary societies
Religious organizations established in 1792