Part 4: H-10,012-H-10,014: Research and Study Program

Overview

QUANTITY

Total archival boxes 7,000+ microfiche; total linear footage

ABSTRACT

The IMC archives, which document the formation and development of the International Missionary Council as well as ecumenical and missionary history of in countries throughout the world. The International Missionary Council was established at London in 1921. It became associated with the World Council of Churches in 1939, and, in 1961, it became integrated with the WCC as its Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. See a full listing of microfiche collection.

ARRANGEMENT

The papers are arranged in three series:

• I. Research Department: H-10.012
• II. Research Dept. - Department of Missionary Studies: H10.013
• III. Study Centres: H 10.014

ACCESS AND USE

Open to qualified researchers.

PREFERRED CITATION

International Missionary Council Archives - Part 4 (H-10,012-H-10,014: Research and Study Program), Record Group No. Fiche Ms85/part 4, Special Collections, Yale Divinity Library.

ONLINE CATALOG RECORD

The catalog record for this collection is available online.

Historical Note

The International Missionary Council was established at London in 1921, dividing its work with a New York office from 1924, and later also providing for a Far Eastern office. The IMC linked some 14 interdenominational associations of sending societies - such as the Division of Foreign Missions of the National Council of Church of Christ, USA - with some 16 interdenominational field bodies, such as the National Christian Council of India.

The Council served its member bodies through study, consultation and programmes of mutual assistance. Questions were considered as they arose. Missionary freedom, general and theological education, opium addiction, labour, slavery, racial discrimination, the church in rural and industrial society, home and family life, and literature were the main emphases. IMC officers, staff, and committees consulted, stimulated, and advised an increasing number of local and regional church bodies.

Several major international conferences were held, of which the complete records are available in the IMC archives for study and research. The meeting in Jerusalem, 1928, made the message its first consideration, especially in relation to modern secularism. At Madras, 1938, the study of the Christian message in a non-Christian world was emphasized. At the international gathering in Whitby, Ontario, 1947, the IMC set itself to discover the relevance of the gospel to the world recovering from war. At the IMC meeting at Willingen, Germany, 1952, delegates of younger churches stated their belief in church unity as an essential condition of effective witness and advance. Finally, at the meeting in Ghana, 1958, a theological education fund was established, providing for substantial aid for buildings, facilities, and libraries of institutions in which churches were united in training for the ministry.

Though wide-based in the participation of thousands of Christian workers of many nationalities, the Council was most deeply indebted to the formative leadership and services of J. H. Oldham, John R. Mott, William Paton, and A. L. Warnshuis. The WCC library has many papers and letters relating to the work of these pioneers of the IMC.

The International Missionary Council early became a focus of the emerging ecumenical movement. From 1949 its association with the World Council of Churches (while the WCC was "in process of formation") continued to be close until 1961, when the IMC became the Division of World Mission and Evangelism of the WCC.

Introduction

Part 4 of the Archives of the International Missionary Council, Research and Study Program, is divided into three series:

• I. Research Department: H-10.012
• II. Research Dept. - Department of Missionary Studies: H10.013
• III. Study Centres: H 10.014