Foreign Christian Missionary Society (FCMS) was a
Christian mission
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 ...
ary society established by the
Disciples of Christ
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...
.
[Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, , , 854 pages, entry on ''Foreign Christian Missionary Society, The'', pages 340-341] The Foreign Christian Missionary Society was established toward the end of 1876. The Society was organized for three main reasons:
* To obey the will of God,
* The belief that Christian work abroad might facilitate and awaken a missionary spirit in America; and
* Because the
American Christian Missionary Society The American Christian Missionary Society (ACMS) was the first missionary organization associated with the Restoration Movement.Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disci ...
was, at the time, not in a position to engage in foreign missionary work.
In its initial days, the Society began its work in
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 ...
,
Denmark
)
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, song_type = National and royal anthem
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,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, and
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
.
From the years 1882 to 1903 missionaries were sent out to establish stations in India, Japan, China, Africa, Cuba, Honolulu, the Philippines, and Tibet. From 1903 to 1918 the Society focused on missionary expansion in the following regions: England, Scandinavia, Paris, Turkey, India, Japan, China, Africa, Cuba, the Philippines, and Tibet.
The FCMS became part of the United Christian Missionary Society when it was formed in 1920.
The mission in India
The mission in India was originally formed by a group of eight missionaries. This undertaking was fueled by a fundamental belief that missionary work could bring about the redemption of India.
, , The mission was settled in the
Central Provinces
The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur. ...
of India in order to avoid interfering with other established missions in the country. The Society’s first station was set up in
Harda
Harda is a town and a municipality in Harda district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Harda is the administrative headquarters of Harda.
History Mughal period
During the Mughal period, Harda was a mahal in the Handia sarkar. In 1742 ...
, its second in
Jubbulpore
Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...
, and third in
Mungeli. All stations required their missionaries to dedicate their first and sometimes second year to language study. The mission made a special effort to recruit native teachers and evangelists, since they already had extensive knowledge of the language and people, and thus knew how best to respond to opposition. During the cool season missionaries camped out in the various Indian villages for several weeks. On these mission tours, medical services were offered while the Gospel was preached.
, ,
Harda
The Society sent its first medical missionary, Dr. C. S. Durand, to India in 1889. Until Durand arrived, none of the missionaries were qualified physicians and the nearest physician was 68 miles from Harda. Durand opened two hospitals in Harda during his tenure. Dr. Drummond arrived in 1897 to fill Durand’s position after he stepped down. While Drummond was on his second furlough,
Dr. George E. Miller took charge of the medical work in Harda.
Importance of female missionaries and zenana work
It was only possible to reach women of higher castes in their homes, since they were not to be seen in public spaces, being segregated in women's quarters known as
zenana
Zenana ( fa, زنانه, ur, , bn, জেনানা, hi, ज़नाना) literally meaning "of the women" or "pertaining to women", in Persian language contextually refers to the part of a house belonging to a Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu f ...
. Only female missionaries were able to enter into these quarters, and female
zenana missions
The zenana missions were outreach programmes established in British India with the aim of converting women to Christianity. From the mid 19th century, they sent female missionaries into the homes of Indian women, including the private areas of h ...
were created to do this work. Female nurses and physicians were furthermore able to care for the Indian women and children who were afraid or forbidden to be seen by male physicians.
Zenana work was especially important to the mission because it was in the homes of the local Indian people where the opposing faiths (i.e. Islam and Hinduism) dwelled. Missionaries felt that the Indian women were particularly responsible for maintaining the customs and practices of these religions.
Famine
The famines of 1897 and 1900 were primarily felt by the Central Provinces thus worked to the missionaries’ benefit.
[Wilson, Bert. In the Land of the Salaam. Cincinnati, O: Powell & White, 1921. 239.], The missionaries proved to be of great assistance to the community by rescuing hundreds of people and placing homeless children in orphanages. Mungeli’s church and hospital were built in this time.
Mungeli
Mungeli proved to be the greatest challenge for the missionaries compared to all the other mission fields in India. Dr. George E. Miller was placed here in 1909 to oversee the mission’s medical work.
[The Missionary Intelligencer. Cincinnati: Foreign Christian Missionary Society. 20.1 (1907).] His wife, Mrs. Miller, joined him in 1914.
, [McLean, Archibald. The History of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1919. 158.] Hira Lal, the highly trained Indian medical assistant, was of invaluable help to Dr. George E. Miller and the mission.
, He and his wife, Mrs. M.J. Shah, were considered two of the strongest Christian Indian leaders in this time.
In fact, Mrs. Shah was the first convert in Mungeli and until the famine of 1897, almost all members of the Mungeli church consisted of Hira Lal’s relatives.
Damoh
Damoh became an additional missionary site in 1894. Two orphanages were opened in 1906. One was for low caste boys, and the other for poor girls. Both farming and gardening were taught at the boys’ orphanage, since most of the Indian population makes a living from agriculture. Dr. George E. Miller was transferred to from Harda to the valley of Hatta in the Damoh District until 1908. He was a great lover of boys and was responsible for the establishment of a low caste boys’ school, since the other boys’ school in Hatta was only open to high caste boys.
Challenges of Christian proselytization in India
The greatest challenge to the mission was the caste system. The system prevented the development of brotherhood and fellowship in India. Members of Hindu higher castes remained spiritually proud, while members of the lower castes remained devoid of hope and felt they were fated to their lives of poverty and subordination. The mission’s second main challenge was the Indian Muslims who made special efforts to counteract the missionary progress. The third hindrance was ignorance and illiteracy. It was commonly felt among the missionaries that superstition and fear dominated the people of India, and that illiteracy prevented them from discovering the truth of Christianity for themselves.
, [Miller, George E. In the Land of Sweepers and Kings: (medical Missionary Work in India). Cincinnati: Powell & White, 1922. 62.] The fourth challenge to the mission was the poverty in India. It was believed that the people living in these conditions were not in the right frame of mind to receive and embrace the gospel message. See also
criticism of Christianity
Criticism of Christianity has a long history which stretches back to the initial formation of the religion during the Roman Empire. Critics have challenged Christian beliefs and teachings as well as Christian actions, from the Crusades to moder ...
and
persecution of Hindus
Hindus have experienced both historical and ongoing religious persecution and systematic violence, in the form of forced conversions, documented massacres, genocides, demolition and desecration of temples, as well as the destruction of ed ...
.
See also
*
*
Timeline of Chinese history
__NOTOC__
This is a timeline of Chinese history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in China and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of China. See also the list ...
*
19th-century Protestant missions in China
In the early 19th century, Western colonial expansion occurred at the same time as an evangelical revival – the Second Great Awakening – throughout the English-speaking world, leading to more overseas missionary activity. The nineteenth centu ...
*
List of Protestant missionaries in China
This is a list of notable Protestant missionaries in China by agency. Beginning with the arrival of Robert Morrison in 1807 and ending in 1953 with the departure of Arthur Matthews and Dr. Rupert Clark of the China Inland Mission, thousands of f ...
*
Christianity in China
Christianity in China has been present since at least the 3rd century, and it has gained a significant amount of influence during the last 200 years.
While Christianity may have existed in China before the 3rd century, evidence of its exist ...
*
Albert Shelton
Albert Leroy Shelton (1875-1922) was an American medical doctor and a Protestantism, Protestant missionary in Tibet, especially in Batang, Sichuan, Batang in the Kham region of eastern Tibet, from 1903 until 1922. He authored a popular book about ...
References
Bibliography
* McLean, Archibald. The History of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1919.
* Miller, George E. In the Land of Sweepers and Kings: (medical Missionary Work in India). Cincinnati: Powell & White, 1922.
* The Missionary Intelligencer. Cincinnati: Foreign Christian Missionary Society. 20.1 (1907).
* Wilson, Bert. In the Land of the Salaam. Cincinnati, O: Powell & White, 1921. 271-275.
{{Authority control
Christian missionary societies
Christian missions in China
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Restoration Movement