Boston Celebration Observes 200 Years of North American Missions
Under the theme, “Commemorating the Past – Envisioning the Future,” the North American (U.S.A. and Canada) missions bicentennial is being celebrated in Salem and Boston, Massachusetts on February 6, 2012. The first missionaries sent from the United States were commissioned from Tabernacle Church in Salem, Massachusetts (near Boston) on February 6, 1812. The young team was led by Adoniram Judson. Within days, the missionaries set sail for India to join British missionary pioneer William Carey.
The Judsons would eventually move to Burma (now known as “Myanmar”) where Mr. Judson endured numerable hardships and persecution, including a forced march and imprisonment. He was loaded with chains in a Burmese dungeon, where a fellow prisoner asked with a sneer about the prospect for the conversion of the unreached. Judson’s calm, now legendary, reply was, “The prospects are as bright as are the promises of God.”
“The North American bicentennial,” said Dr. Grant McClung, president of Missions Resource Group (www.MissionsResourceGroup.org), “is providing missions leaders with an opportunity for an introspective reflection upon U.S. and Canadian missions history and a visionary projection into our missions future with the launching of a new North American missions network.” McClung’s current article, “Looking Back to Find the Future,” reviews 200 years of North American missionary sacrifice and considers future options in the Church of God World Missions global initiative among unreached people groups (see Church of God Evangel, February 2012 at www.pathwaypress.org).
Until recently, two associations of missions agencies and denominations have operated in the United States and Canada: CrossGlobal Link (formerly IFMA) and The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA). Church of God World Missions is a founding member of the former EFMA. In October 2010, the executive leadership and member agencies of both associations voted to merge, thus uniting into one association that will represent 35,000 North American missionaries globally.
McClung, an international missionary educator with Church of God World Missions, is an immediate past member of executive board for The Mission Exchange and was involved in the merger process. “In Boston,” McClung noted, ”the new association will be officially launched and the announcement of the newly-branded network name will be announced during the bicentennial celebration.” Membership and services will now be offered to individual members, missions training programs, and local churches, including participation in the next meeting of the North American Missions Leaders Conference, scheduled for September 20-21, 2012 in Chicago (see www.themissionexchange.org for news, information, and member services).
