Reformed Church. Board of Foreign Missions

Collection

Identifier: Ref. RG 2017.001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains the original minutes of the Executive Committee and various other committees, annual and triennial minutes of the Board, correspondence, financial records, bequests, published histories, manuals, publications, and general office files.

Dates

Creation: 1840 - 1938

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Biographical / Historical

The Synod of the German Reformed Church in the United States suggested the organization of a foreign missions board at its meeting in 1838 in Lancaster, PA. Eight persons were elected to the first Board, and this group quickly elected Rev. Diedrich Willers (1798-1883) President, and adopted a Constitution. The formal name of the newly formed group was “The Foreign Missionary Board of the German Reformed Church in the United States of North America.”

The Foreign Missionary Board entered into negotiations with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and Professor John Williamson Nevin was the representative of the German Reformed Church on the American Board from 1840-1865.

The German Reformed Church requested Rev. Benjamin Schneider (1807-1877), a missionary of the American Board and Presbyterian minister, to become a minister of the German Reformed Church and that the Foreign Missions Board assume the support of his mission work at Broosa, Asia Minor. Rev. Benjamin Schneider was later dismissed from the Presbytery of New Castle, MD, in 1843 and was received as a member of the Maryland Classis of the German Reformed Church. Rev. Benjamin Schneider served as a missionary at two places - at Broosa, Asia Minor (1842-1849) and at Aintab, Turkey (1849-1866).

In 1866, the Foreign Missions Board reported to the General Synod that the German Reformed Church withdrew “from its cooperation with the American Board” and was “without a foreign field.” The purpose for severing ties was the desire “to carry on its mission operations under its own management and responsibility.” For a number of years after separation from the American Board, the Reformed Church was in search of a field where it might start foreign work of its own.

The Reformed Church explored foreign work of its own in South America, the North American Indians, China, the East Indies, and Japan. In the interim, financial support was given to the German Evangelical Missionary Society for the support of Rev. Oscar Löhr (1824-1907) of the New York Classis and Rev. Jacob Hauser (1845-1931) of the Sheboygan Classis, both of whom were working in Bishrampur, Chhattisgarh, India, under the direction of the Society. The General Synod of 1872 “recommended all pastors and congregations of the Reformed Church to cooperate with the German Evangelical Missionary Society” and that the money for foreign missions in the hands of the treasurer of the Reformed Board be paid to that Society. The General Synod also instructed the Foreign Board to enter into correspondence with the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America, looking forward to sending a missionary from our own Church to India or China.

Members of the Foreign Board met on July 6, 1876, in Philadelphia and “resolved that a suitable man should at once be secured and sent to Japan and for the time being be in connection with the Board of the Reformed Church in America.” Rev. Ambrose D. Gring (1845-1935) was chosen by the Executive Committee and on October 25, 1878, Mr. Gring was ordained. Rev. Ambrose D. Gring and his wife Harriet (née McLean) (1853-1914), sailed from San Francisco, CA, in May, 1879, and reached Yokohama the following month. Rev. and Mrs. Gring remained in Japan until May 1887 and he formally resigned from foreign mission work on May 1, 1889.

With this new foreign work, the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church of the United States was formally incorporated by the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, PA, on April 25, 1881. The first President of the newly formed Board was Rev. David Van Horne, D.D. (1837-1930).

The next area that the Reformed Church branched into was China and this work was authorized by the General Synod at its meeting at Dayton, OH, in May, 1896. At the next meeting of the General Synod at Tiffin, OH, in May, 1899, the Board was directed to establish the China Mission of the Reformed Church in the United States. The first missionary to China was Rev. William E. Hoy, D.D. (1858-1927), where he spent a year in Hankow, Hupeh Province to study the Chinese language. It was later decided to open work in Yochow City, Hunan, where the property of the London Mission was purchased by the Board.

The final area that the Reformed Church established mission work was in Baghdad, Iraq. The Reformed Church in the United States was part of a joint mission with the Presbyterian Church in the United States and the Reformed Church in America. The formal organization of this joint committee was organized on November 8, 1923, in New York, NY. On the field, the United Mission of Mesopotamia met and organized in the City of Baghdad, on April 10, 1924. Dr. Calvin Klopp (1876-1951) and Mrs. Ida (née Donges) (1874-1952) Stoudt were the first missionaries who received their commission on September 11, 1923, and arrived in the field on March 28, 1924.

Foreign mission work continued in China, Japan, and Iraq through the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical Synod of North America in June, 1934. Additionally, the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission remained intact until June, 1938, when the General Synod of the Evangelical & Reformed Church formally organized the Board of International Missions where work continued under the newly formed united church.

Extent

21.836 Cubic Feet (19 containers)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The bulk of the materials in this record group were donated in January 1962 when more than seven tons of material arrived from the Schaff Building, located at 1505 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA, from the E&R Board of International Missions, the Office of the President, and the Office of the Secretary. The Board of International Missions' materials included thirty-four steel, vertical files filled with primary source materials, reflecting the activities of all the Church's missionaries and mission fields from the beginning to present, and nine bookcases housing about 1,000 volumes on missions.