spacer Celebrate 200 Years of the ABCFM!

 

Celebrate 200 years of mission with us!

The American Board for Foreign Mission was established in 1810 and the first 6 missionaries were commissioned in 1812.

We want to learn what you are planning for this occasion, and learn what others are planning.

Share your plans and ideas here.

 

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Submitted by shona628 on February 12, 2012
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Submitted by komo on January 25, 2012
What a realy GREAT site you have created. As missionaries of the UCBWM in South India from 1963-1993 my wife Joyce and I experienced educational mission in College and School. NO contacts with the Church of South India, but PLENTY of contacts with local Christians. We really appreciate the site created here and the contacts with historical records. THANK YOU! Richard and Joyce Riesz teeth whitening products

Submitted by Jude Sutharshan on October 12, 2010
It is a great privilege to celebrate the 200th anniversary of ABCFM. In Sri Lanka, we, the Church of The American Ceylon Mission has announced few competitions to all to conscientize the people about the sacrifices and ministry of our beloved missionaries to the TAMILS in Sri Lanka. From The First missionary to the latter (Ms.Grace Bunker)we remember them with thankfulness. God bless the great souls!

Submitted by Congregational Library on September 28, 2010
The Congregational Library (at 14 Beacon Street Boston) is hosting a colorful, interactive exhibit covering the history of the American Board. Perfect for church groups! The display is free and open to the public during library hours (9-5, M-F).

Submitted by Dick Riesz on July 20, 2010
What a realy GREAT site you have created. As missionaries of the UCBWM in South India from 1963-1993 my wife Joyce and I experienced educational mission in College and School. NO contacts with the Church of South India, but PLENTY of contacts with local Christians. We really appreciate the site created here and the contacts with historical records. THANK YOU! Richard and Joyce Riesz

Submitted by Marcy on June 30, 2010
Kay, I'm happy to send you the logo if you can send me your email address. My email address is dorym@ucc.org Please keep us posted about your plans. We would like to post what local churches are doing in recognition of the anniversary and share those plans with the wider church. Feel free to be in touch if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you.

Submitted by Marcy on June 30, 2010
Gene, your information about the history and commemoration are very interesting. Please continue to share news with us about your plans at Pilgrim Place and how we can be supportive of your work to commemorate our shared mission history. I was there several years ago and was honored to meet with and interview many passionate former missionaries and volunteers. Feel free to contact me at dorym@ucc.org

Submitted by Des on June 22, 2010
Well, so do we. I am searching for some evidence that anything at all is planned. My new UCC Desk Calendar arrived yesterday, and search as I have, I cannot find any note at all of the 200th Celebration. Is there not a danger that such an unfocussed "celebration" may not pan out? How can I help? What can a local church do? Our church had two members in the Pioneer Company to the Sandwith Islands. Have we a part to play?

Submitted by Kay Piemonte on May 8, 2010
As historian of Tabernacle Church in Salem, MA, where the first five missionaries were commissioned on Feb 6, 1812, we are beginning to make plans to celebrate this event in February, 2012. We have a committee and have made some rudimentary plans for a celebration with a dinner on Feb. 4, and an all day church service and presentation at Tabernacle on Feb. 5. Our church is well known because of this unique event and we look forward to this celebration. I published a book on the history of Tabernacle in 2008, and hopefully have encouraged some of our parishioners to be more aware of our history and significance. I am interested in obtaining the logo and any material which you are sending to churches who are planning a celebration. Kay Piemonte

Submitted by Gene Boutilier on February 27, 2010
On October 13 during the hour-long monthly World Affairs Forum at 11 am in Decker Hall, Pilgrims are planning a big celebration, remembering two major historic anniversaries in the history of missions: 1. The 200th anniversary year of the founding by Massachusetts Congregationalists of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the first organized missionary society in the United States. By the time of its centenary in 1910, the Board was responsible for 102 mission stations and a missionary staff of 600 in India and Ceylon, Southern Africa, Turkey, China, Japan, Micronesia, Hawaii, the Philippines, Mexico, Spain, Austria, and among North American native American tribes. The UCC Board of World Ministries, but also Baptist and Presbyterian and other Boards grew directly from the ABCFM. 2. the 100th anniversary year of the The 1910 World Missionary Conference, known as the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, which directly led to the International Missionary Council and later the World Council of Churches. John Mott chaired the conference and Joseph Oldham was the principle organizer. In celebration of its 100-year anniversary, a new World Missionary Conference is slated for Edinburgh, 2010. Our Pilgrim Place event will include a brief report on the 2010 conference and introduce to our community it's many reports and proposals for the future of missions. Based on a critical assessment of the status of the world, a new vision of God's purposes for creation in Christ and a renewed spirituality and mission ethos will be developed in the life of the churches worldwide. Centenary celebrations of witnessing to Christ today will be held throughout the world - with the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, again, being the venue on 6 June 2010 for the historic celebration involving over 1000 delegates. Many hundreds of Pilgrim Place residents, past and present, served under the ABCFM and it's successor boards. A number of former Pilgrim residents were at the 1910 event, every one of us was influenced and affected by it's impact, and at least two current Pilgrims (Troxell & Boutilier) will attend the June 6th 2010 event in Edinburgh. Together with Herk Ruether (World Affairs Committee Chair), Vern Visick and I are seeking a small number of Pilgrims who would like to help us plan this important celebration and report, and perhaps related events or follow-up studies to create a great remembrance of the past, projection of the future, and honoring of our history and our pioneers. We welcome advise or participation from the national UCC setting. -- Gene Boutilier Pilgrim Place 692 W 8th St Claremont CA 91711 home 909.625.1402 cell 909.912.9999

Submitted by Cally Rogers-Witte on November 18, 2009
Thanks so much for your interest, Al. We're so glad to hear that you want to get the Philadelphia association churches involved in "dreaming God's dream"! God's Spirit moving among those young adults under that haystack led them to convince enough of their "elders" in the churches to support their calling to take God's love known through Christ Jesus across the oceans. Today we see God's Holy Spirit moving among young adults who offer themselves as "global mission interns" in Christ's ministries of reconciliation (in Israel-Palestine), healing (in India), teaching (in South Africa), to name a just a few of the places where young adults are working with partners of Global Ministries. God's work still seeks human partnership and initiative. My personal dream is that this anniversary commemoration will inspire even more young adults with that same fervor for God's global mission. We in the Wider Church Ministries of the UCC are humbled to know that we continue today, with a new name, that very same corporation those young people inspired which was founded in New England in 1810 as the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission, the first foreign mission society in the United States.

Submitted by Al Krass on November 16, 2009
The ABCFM was started up not by the church but by a rump group of protesters against the church. The church (i.e., the Congregational Churches of New England) was unwilling to support missionary efforts because Calvinist doctrine emphasized the will and power of God-- as it was understood-- over against the efforts of human beings. The students who dove for protection under a haystack that Sunday and shared their convictions of the necessity of spreading the word, were, however, convinced that they saw a truth the official church would not recognize: that God's work sought human partnership and human initiative. The students found evangelical pastors who would go along with them, and together they founded the ABCFM. What would be the equivalent today? That's the question we need to ask.The easiest answer is to replicate what happened in 2010-- to start a new movement among UCC people to send evangelistic missionaries abroad. But we need to ask what a creative effort might be in 2010. That's the question I will suggest that the Philadelphia Association churches will dream about.

 

 
Contact Information
Marcy Dory
Program Associate
Mission Education and Interpretation
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland,Ohio 44115
216-736-3209
866-822-8224 ext. 3209
Fax: 216-736-3203
dorym@ucc.org

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