| Abbreviation | L.M.S. |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1795 |
| Founders | Edward Williams |
| Dissolved | 1966 |
| Merger of | Council for World Mission |
| Type | Mission society |
| Headquarters | London |
_by_The_London_Missionary_Society.jpg)
TheLondon Missionary Society was aninterdenominationalevangelicalmissionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largelyReformed in outlook, withCongregational missions in Oceania, Africa, and the Americas, although there were alsoPresbyterians (notable for their work in China),Methodists,Baptists, and various otherProtestants involved. It now forms part of theCouncil for World Mission.
In 1793,Edward Williams, then minister at Carr's Lane, Birmingham, wrote a letter to the churches of the Midlands, expressing the need for interdenominational world evangelization and foreign missions.[1][2] It was effective and Williams began to play an active part in the plans for a missionary society. He left Birmingham in 1795, becoming pastor atMasbrough, Rotherham, and tutor of the newly formedMasbrough academy.[3] Also in 1793, the Anglican clericJohn Eyre ofHackney founded theEvangelical Magazine. He had the support of the presbyterianJohn Love, and congregationalistsEdward Parsons and John Townshend (1757–1826).[4]
Proposals for the Missionary Society began in 1794 after aBaptist minister,John Ryland, received word fromWilliam Carey, the pioneer British Baptist missionary who had recently moved toCalcutta, about the need to spreadChristianity. Carey suggested that Ryland join forces with others along the non-denominational lines of theSociety for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, to design a society that could prevail against the difficulties that evangelicals often faced when spreading the Word. This aimed to overcome the difficulties that establishment of overseas missions had faced. It had frequently proved hard to raise the finance because evangelicals belonged to many denominations and churches; all too often their missions would only reach a small group of people and be hard to sustain.[citation needed] Edward Williams continued his involvement and, in July 1796, gave the charge to the first missionaries sent out by the Society.[2][5]
The Society aimed to create a forum where evangelicals could work together, give overseas missions financial support and co-ordination. It also advocated against opponents who wanted unrestricted commercial and military relations with native peoples throughout the world.[citation needed]
After Ryland showed Carey's letter toHenry Overton Wills, ananti-slavery campaigner inBristol, he quickly gained support. Scottish ministers in theLondon area,David Bogue and James Steven, as well as other evangelicals such as John Hey, joined forces to organize a new society. Bogue wrote an influential appeal in theEvangelical Magazine for September 1794:[6][7]
Ye were once Pagans, living in cruel and abominable idolatry. The servants of Jesus came from other lands, and preached His Gospel among you. Hence your knowledge of salvation. And ought ye not, as an equitable compensation for their kindness, to send messengers to the nations which are in like condition with yourselves of old, to entreat them that they turn from their dumb idol to the living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven? Verily their debtors ye are.
John Eyre responded by inviting a leading and influential evangelical, the Rev.Thomas Haweis, to write a response to Bogue's appeal. The Cornishman sided firmly with Bogue, and immediately identified two donors, one of £500, and one of £100. From this start, a campaign developed to raise money for the proposed society, and its first meeting was organised at Baker's Coffee House on Change Alley in the City of London. Eighteen supporters showed up and helped agree the aims of the proposed missionary society –to spread the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations. ByChristmas over thirty men were committed to forming the society.[citation needed]
In the following year, 1795,Spa Fields Chapel was approached for permission to preach a sermon to the various ministers and others by now keenly associated with the plan to send missionaries abroad. This was organised for Tuesday 22 September 1795, the host chapel insisting that no collection for the proposed society must be made during the founding event which would be more solemn, and formally mark the origin of theMissionary Society. Hundreds of evangelicals attended, and the newly launched society quickly began receiving letters of financial support, and interest from prospective missionaries.[citation needed]
Joseph Hardcastle of Hatcham House,Deptford became the first Treasurer, and the Rev. John Eyre ofHackney (editor of theEvangelical Magazine ) became the first Secretary to the Missionary Society—the latter appointment providing it with an effective 'newspaper' to promote its cause. The Missionary Society's board quickly began interviewing prospective candidates. In 1800, the Society placed missionaries with the Rev.David Bogue ofGosport for preparation for their ministries.[8]
Captain James Wilson offered to sail the missionaries to their destination unpaid. The Society was able to afford the small shipDuff, of 267 tons (bm). It could carry 18 crew members and 30 missionaries. Seven months after the crew left port from theWoolwich docks in late 1796, they arrived inTahiti, where seventeen missionaries departed. The missionaries were then instructed to become friendly with the natives, build a mission house for sleeping and worship, and learn the native language. The missionaries faced unforeseen problems. The natives had firearms and were anxious to gain possessions from the crew. The Tahitians also had faced difficulties with diseases spread from the crews of ships that had previously docked there. The natives saw this as retribution from the gods, and they were very suspicious of the crew. Of the seventeen missionaries that arrived in Tahiti, eight soon left on the firstBritish ship to arrive in Tahiti.
WhenDuff returned to Britain it was immediately sent back toTahiti with thirty more missionaries. This journey was disastrous. AFrenchprivateer capturedDuff, landed its prisoners in Montevideo, and sold her. The expense of the journey cost 'The Missionary Society' ten thousandpounds, which was initially devastating to the Society. Gradually it recovered, however, and in 1807, was able to establish a mission inGuangzhou (Canton),China underRobert Morrison.
Another missionary who served in China was John Kenneth Mackenzie. A native ofYarmouth in England, he served inHankow andTientsin.
Starting in 1815, they hiredAbdullah bin Abdul Kadir as a translator, to work on many texts including thegospels.[9]
After attendingHomerton College, then in Hampstead,William Ellis was ordained in 1815. Soon atter his marriage to Mary Mercy Moor on 9 November 1815, they were posted to theSouth Sea Islands, returning in 1824. He later become Chief Foreign Secretary.[10]
In September 1816,Robert Moffat (1795–1883) was commissioned in theSurrey Chapel, Southwark, on the same day asJohn Williams. Moffat served in South Africa until 1870.Mary Moffat joined him and they married in 1819. The LMS only employed male missionaries and it preferred them to be married. The Moffats were to have several children who also became and/or married missionaries.[11]
In 1817,Edward Stallybrass was sent out to Russia to start a mission among theBuryat people of Siberia. The mission received the blessing ofAlexander I of Russia, but was suppressed in 1840 under his successorNicholas I. Alongside Stallybrass workedCornelius Rahmn [Wikidata] of Sweden,William Swan andRobert Yuille of Scotland.
In 1818, the Society was renamedThe London Missionary Society.
In 1822,John Philip was appointed superintendent of the London Missionary Society stations in South Africa where he fought for the rights of the indigenous people.
1821 –John Williams is the first recorded reverend of the Cook Islands Christian Church (CICC) in Arutanga, Aitutaki, Cook Islands. It is here that the missionary work was first established. In later years John Williams visited Rarotonga, taking with him two Tahitians he picked up from Tahiti. One of the Tahitians, named Papehia, was used as intermediaries to convince local chiefs to join the new gospel.
1830 – John Williams sighted the coast ofSavai'i inSamoa and landed on August 24, 1830 atSapapali'i village in search ofMalietoa Vai‘inupo, aparamount chief of Samoa. John Williams was greeted by his brother Taimalelagi. Upon meeting Malietoa at a large gathering in Sapapali'i, the LMS mission was accepted and grew rapidly throughout the Samoan Islands. The eastern end of the Samoan archipelago, was the kingdom ofManu'a. The paramount chief, Tui-Manu'a embraced Christianity and Manu'a also became a LMS island kingdom.
1832 – John Williams (Ioane Viliamu as he is known to Samoans) landed at Leone Bay in what was later to becomeAmerican Samoa. (Tala faasolopito o le Ekalesia Samoa) He was informed that men of their village have accepted the 'lotu' brought by Ioane Viliamu in Savai'i; not knowing John Williams now stood before them. A monument stands before the largeSiona Chapel – now CCCAS in Leone, American Samoa – in honor of John Williams.
In 1839, John Williams's missionary work whilst visiting the New Hebrides came to an abrupt end, when he was killed and eaten by cannibals on the island ofErromango whilst he was preaching to them. He was traveling at the time in the Missionary shipCamden commanded by CaptainRobert Clark Morgan (1798–1864). A memorial stone was erected on the island ofRarotonga in 1839 and is still there today. His widow is buried with their son, Samuel Tamatoa Williams, at the old Cedar Circle in London'sAbney Park Cemetery, the name of her husband and the record of his death described first on the stone. John Williams' remains were sought by a group from Samoa and his bones were brought back to Samoa, where throngs of the LMS mission attended a funeral service attended by Samoan royalty, high-ranking chiefs and the LMS missionaries. His remains were interred at the native LMS church in Apia. A monument stands in his memory across from the Congregational Christian Church of Apia chapel.
The Rev. Alexander MacDonald and his wife Selina (néeBlomfield) arrived inRarotonga in May 1836, thenSamoa in April 1837 and settled atSafune on the central north coast ofSavai'i island in Samoa in August 1837. He left the LMS in 1850 when he accepted a position with the Congregational church in Auckland, New Zealand.[12]
1839–1879 – The Rev.George Pratt served as a missionary in Samoa for many years, at the station atMatautu on Savai'i island.[13] Pratt was alinguist and authored the first grammar and dictionary on theSamoan language, first published in 1862 at the Samoa Mission Press.
In 1840, the medical missionary and explorerDavid Livingstone (1813–1873) departed for South Africa, arriving in 1841, and serving with the LMS until 1857.Moffat and Livingstone met circa 1841. In 1845, Livingstone married Robert and Mary Moffat's daughter Mary (1821–1862).
Around 1842, founded the London Missionary Society's School for the Sons and Orphans of Missionaries, now known asEltham College. David Livingstone sent his son Robert to the school during the 1850s.Eric Liddell, Olympic athlete and Missionary, also attended the school.
1844 – London Missionary Society established Malua Theological College at the village ofMalua onUpolu to educate local men to become village clergy for the rapidly growing mission with over 250 villages and 25,000 membership.
1844 – London Missionary Society sent Samoan missionaries to surrounding islands;Rotuma,Niue,Tokelau,Ellice Islands,Papua,Vanuatu. Over 300 served inPapua alone.
1865 - the Rev. Archibald Wright Murray evangelised among the inhabitants of theEllice Islands.[14]
15 October 1870 - Rev. Samuel James Whitmee arrived atArorae (Gilbert Islands, nowKiribati), and later that month he visitedTamana,Onoatoa andBeru. In August 1872,George Pratt of the LMS visited the Gilbert Islands.[15]
1871 - London Missionary Society arrives in theTorres Strait Islands (now inQueensland, Australia). The event is commemorated to this day by theTorres Strait Islanders in the annualComing of the Light Festival.[16]
The Society soon sent missionaries all over the world, notably to India, China, Australia, Madagascar and Africa. Famous LMS missionaries included:
The London Missionary Society merged with theCommonwealth Missionary Society (formerly theColonial Missionary Society) in 1966 to form theCongregational Council for World Mission (CCWM).[20] At the formation of theUnited Reformed Church in 1972 it underwent another name change, becoming theCouncil for World Mission (Congregational and Reformed). The CWM (Congregational and Reformed) was again restructured in 1977 to create a more internationalist and global body, theCouncil for World Mission.
The records of the London Missionary Society are held at the library of theSchool of Oriental and African Studies in London.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
Media related toLondon Missionary Society at Wikimedia Commons
Protestant missions to the Middle East | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background |  | |
| People, country of origin | ||
| Missionary agencies | ||
Protestant missions to the Pacific Islands | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background |  | |
| Missionaries | ||
| Missionary agencies | ||
| Miscellaneous | ||
Protestant missions to Southeast Asia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background |  | |
| People | ||
| Missionary agencies | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
