Foreign Christian Missionary Society

Foreign Christian Missionary Society (FCMS) was a Christian missionary society established by the Disciples of Christ.[1] The Foreign Christian Missionary Society was established toward the end of 1876.[2] The Society was organized for three main reasons:

  • To obey the will of God,[3]
  • The belief that Christian work abroad might facilitate and awaken a missionary spirit in America; and
  • Because the American Christian Missionary Society was, at the time, not in a position to engage in foreign missionary work.[4]

In its initial days, the Society began its work in England, Denmark, France, Sweden, Turkey, and Anatolia.[1] 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.[1]

  1. ^ a b c 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, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on Foreign Christian Missionary Society, The, pages 340-341
  2. ^ McLean, Archibald. The History of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1919. 13.
  3. ^ Members of the Society believed the New Testament was fundamentally a missionary book; (i.e. was written by a missionary and for a missionary motivation). They felt the Bible had a global outlook and paid special attention to the disciple Paul, who was a missionary and preached the gospel to the non-Christian world.
  4. ^ McLean, Archibald. The History of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1919. 42-50.