American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) is the oldest American foreign mission society for Christianity. It was proposed by graduates of Williams College in 1810 and founded in the same year. Official registration took place in 1812. In 1961 the ABCFM merged with other societies to form the United Church Board for World Ministries .
Foundation and early history
The foundation is related to the revival movement that spread in the USA between 1790 and 1840. The origin of the society lay in congregationalism , but missions were also promoted by Presbyterians (1812-1870), the Reformed Church in America (1819-1857) and other faiths.
The first five missions abroad were launched as early as 1812, and by 1840 representatives of the Society were on their way to the following areas:
- Tennessee ( Cherokee Indians)
- India (in the Bombay area ), Sri Lanka
- Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii )
- East Asia with China , Singapore and Siam (today's Thailand)
- the Middle East , with Greece , Cyprus , Ottoman Empire ( Turkey ), Syria , the Holy Land and Persia
- Africa , especially West Africa and South Africa among the Zulu
The opponent of the Indian expulsion from the east of the USA, Jeremiah Evarts , worked between 1812 and 1820 as treasurer, and from then on until his death in 1831 as corresponding secretary. Under his leadership, the role of women in society was strengthened. He also led the expanding fight against the oppression and displacement of the Indians and organized the public protest against President Andrew Johnson's Indian Removal Act (1830), but could not prevent the adoption of this law.
In the 1830s, the ABCFM banned unmarried people from missionary work within the organization because of bad experiences with it. Only couples who had been recruited at least two months prior to the sending were sent.
activities
In addition to the spread of Christian teaching, e.g. B. by translating the Bible into the respective national languages, the missionaries also took care of the production of printing presses and printing types . But medical and social projects were also undertaken. To this end, a number of missionaries were trained before they were sent.
Well-known missionaries
- Hiram Bingham I (1789-1869), Honolulu , Hawaii
- Dan Beach Bradley (1804–1873), Singapore and Siam
- Adoniram Judson (1788–1850), Burma
- Miron Winslow (1789-1864), Sri Lanka
literature
- Hami Inan Gümüs: American missionaries in the Ottoman Empire. A conceptual metaphor analysis of missionary narrative, 1820–1898 . transcript, Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-8376-3808-0 .
Web links
- Charles A. Maxfield, "The Formation and Early History of the American Board of Commissioners For Foreign Missions". The 'Reflex Influence' of Missions: The Domestic Operations of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1810-1850 ( February 4, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive ), accessed December 7, 2009
- ABCFM records from the Nebraska State Historical Society