International Ministries (organization)

International Ministries is an international Baptist Christian missionary society. It is a constituent board affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. The headquarters is in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, United States.

History

The society was founded in 1814 as the Baptist Board for Foreign Missions by the Triennial Convention (now American Baptist Churches USA).George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 63 The first mission of the organization took place in Burma with the missionaries Adoniram Judson and Ann Hasseltine Judson in 1814.Thomas Armitage, A History of the Baptists: Traced by Their Vital Principles and Practices, The Baptist Standard Bearer, USA, 2001, p. 814 Other missions that followed took place in Siam in 1833, India in 1840, China in 1842, Japan in 1872 and Philippines in 1900.David Shavit, The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group, USA, 1990, p. 7 In the late 1800s, the society helped fund the Swedish Baptist conference's new seminary, Bethel Seminary, in Stockholm.

It was renamed American Baptist Missionary Union in 1845, American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in 1910, and American Board of International Ministries in 1973. Daniel G. Reid, Robert D. Linder, Bruce Shelley, Harry S. Stout, Craig A. Noll, Concise Dictionary of Christianity in America, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2002, p. 14 In 2018, it had 1,800 volunteers in 70 countries.ABIM, HISTORY, internationalministries.org, USA, retrieved November 30, 2018

Controversies In 1843, abolitionist Baptist pastors of Massachusetts met at Boston Tremont Temple and founded the American and Foreign Mission Society in opposition to slavery in the South. W. Glenn Jonas Jr., The Baptist River: Essays on Many Tributaries of a Diverse Tradition, Mercer University Press, USA, 2008, p. 31-32 In 1844, the Baptist Board for Foreign Missions refused to approve a slaveowner proposed by the Georgia State Convention, Elder James E. Reeve as a missionary, recognizing the case as a challenge and not wanting to overturn their policy of neutrality in the slavery issue. They stated that slavery should not be introduced as a factor into deliberations about missionary appointments.Joe Early, ed. Readings in Baptist History: Four Centuries of Selected Documents, pp. 100–101, accessed 25 Aug 2010 This decision prompted the Alabama Baptist State Convention to challenge the Home Mission Board with what were called the "Alabama Resolutions", drafted by Rev. Basil Manly, Sr. They threatened to withdraw financial support from the national organization if their candidates were not considered for positions as missionaries, regardless of whether they were slaveholders.

In its response, the Board noted that they needed to maintain independence in their approval of missionary appointments. They further stated that in 30 years, no slaveholder had applied to be a missionary. They said missionaries traveled without servants, so no slaveholder could take slaves with him. Lastly, they said that they would "never be a party to any arrangement which would imply approbation of slavery." Dissatisfied with the decision, added to other sectional tensions, Baptists of nine Southern states split from the Triennial Convention and in 1845 formed the Southern Baptist Convention.Mitchell Snay, Gospel of Disunion: Religion and Separatism in the Antebellum South, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 135

In 1872, the American and Foreign Mission Society merged with the American Baptist Missionary Union of the American Baptist Churches USA. William H. Brackney, Historical Dictionary of the Baptists, Scarecrow Press, USA, 2009, p. 15

Prominent American Baptist missionaries

William Thomas Amiger, Liberia, 1919–1923 George Boardman, Burma, 1801–1831 Clinton Caldwell Boone, 1901–1910 Lott Cary, Liberia, 1821–1828 David Crockett Graham, Sichuan, China, 1911–1948 Marilla Baker Ingalls (1828-1902), Burma 1851–1902 John Taylor Jones, Thailand 1832–1851 Adoniram Judson, Burma, 1813–1850 Louis F. Knoll, India William M. Mitchell, Canada, fl. 1859 Issachar Jacox Roberts, Macao and China, ca. 1837–1862 Charlotte White, Digah, India, 1816–1826

International Ministries (organization)

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