BMS World Mission, officially Baptist Missionary Society, is a Christian missionary society founded by

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1792. The headquarters is in

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, located south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. Historically part of Berkshire, the town is noted ...

, England.

History

The BMS was formed in 1792 as the ''Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen'' at a meeting in

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

, where twelve

Particular Baptist Reformed Baptists, also called Particular Baptists, or Calvinist Baptists, are Baptists that hold to a Calvinist soteriology (salvation belief teached by John Calvin). The name "Reformed Baptist" dates from the latter part of the 20th century ...

ministers signed an agreement. They were; Thomas Blundel, Joshua Burton, John Eayres, Andrew Fuller, Abraham Greenwood, William Heighton, Reynold Hogg, Samuel Pearce, John Ryland, Edward Sherman, John Sutcliff, Joseph Timms.

William Staughton William Staughton (January 4, 1770 – December 12, 1829) was a Baptist clergyman, educator, and music composer. He was also a Chaplain of the United States Senate and the first List of Presidents of The George Washington University, Pre ...

, present at the meeting, did not sign since he was not a minister. The first missionaries, William Carey and John Thomas, were sent to

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, India in 1793. They were followed by many co-workers, firstly to India, and subsequently to other countries in Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and South America. BMS opened missions in China in 1860. It began operating in China's Shanxi province in 1877, despite local hostility toward “foreign devils.” In the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

of 1900 all its missionaries there were killed, along with all 120 converts . Francis Augustus Cox wrote a history of the Baptist Missionary Society from its formation until 1842. Brian Stanley was commissioned to write a history of the society for its bicentenary (1992). It is also known as BMS World Mission since 2000.

List of missionaries

* Rev. Samuel Pearce (1792) * William Carey (1793) * John Thomas (1793) * Dr. William Yates (1814) * Rev. Thomas Swan taught theology in India - later President of the Baptist Union in 1839 * Joseph Jackson Fuller (1825–1908), Jamaican missionary to Cameroon * Jeremiah Phillips (1836) *

George Grenfell George Grenfell (21 August 1849, in Sancreed, Cornwall – 1 July 1906, in Basoko, Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) was a Cornish missionary and explorer. Early years Grenfell was born at Sancreed, near Penza ...

(1849–1906), explorer and BMS missionary in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

*Dr Clement Clapton Chesterman (1920–1936), the first to implement successfully mass chemotherapy for Trypanosomiasis. He worked at Yakusu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. * Timothy Richard was a well-known Baptist missionary to China. *Dr

Ernest W Price Dr Ernest Woodward Price MD, FRCSE, DTM&H, OBE (20 July 1907 31 January 1990) was a missionary doctor, orthopaedic surgeon, leprosy specialist and the discoverer of podoconiosis, one of the neglected tropical diseases. A list of his publica ...

(1907–1990), the discoverer of

Podoconiosis Podoconiosis, also known as nonfilarial elephantiasis, is a disease of the lymphatic vessels of the lower extremities that is caused by chronic exposure to irritant soils. It is the second most common cause of elephantiasis, tropical lymphedema a ...

. He worked at Pimu and IME Kimpese in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. *Dr Stanley George Browne (1907–1986), "Mister Leprosy". He succeeded Dr Chesterman at Yakusu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. * Charlotte White (1782–1863), American, first single woman appointed as a missionary; wife of BMS missionary Joshua Rowe, worked in Digha, India from 1816 to 1826. *Dr David Hedley Wilson (1928–2015), the first President of the

Royal College of Emergency Medicine The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is an independent professional association of emergency physicians in the United Kingdom which sets standards of training and administers examinations for emergency medicine. The patron is the Anne, ...

. He succeeded Dr Price at Pimu and IME Kimpese in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bms World Mission Baptist missionary societies Baptist organizations established in the 18th century Christian missionary societies Religious organizations established in 1792

History

List of missionaries

See also

References

External links