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REGIONS BEYOND MISSIONARY UNION ARCHIVE

Part 1: Minute Books of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, 1903-1955

Part 2: Correspondence and Reports of Regions Beyond Missionary Union: The Congo Mission,

            1888-1955

Part 3: Correspondence and Reports of Regions Beyond Missionary Union; Peru, Argentina, India, Nepal,

            Kaliminta and Irian Jaya, 1893-1955

Part 4: Regions Beyond, 1878-1981, and Horizons, 1981-1990

Part 5: Correspondence and Reports of Regions Beyond Missionary Union: All Regions, c1955-1990

 

Regions Beyond Missionary Union: An Administrative History

GENERAL HISTORY

Beginnings


The Regions Beyond Missionary Union originated in 1873 when the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions was opened by Henry Grattan Guinness (1835-1910) in Stepney Green, Clapton, London. Guinness, a nephew of Arthur Guinness the founder of the brewing empire, had already made his name as a revivalist preacher of some note attracting crowds of up to 10,000 at a time. Grattan Guinness had been strongly influenced by James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, whose appeal for trained missionaries for China was one of the factors which prompted Guinness, with his wife Fanny, to establish the college. The first student, Joshua Chowriappah from India, enrolled at the beginning of 1873, by the end of that year the college had moved to bigger premises at Harley House in Bow, and later expansion included a property in Derbyshire (Cliff College 1875 and a separate college for women (Doric Lodge 1884). The college offered a mixture of theory with opportunity for practical work around the East End. Mission halls were opened for meetings and teaching, a nursing centre and medical mission were established, and the Institute purchased its own mission yacht the ‘Evangelist’. No fees were charged, the Institute was to be run by faith alone, it accepted students from many different nationalities and was interdenominational. By 1915 1500 missionaries had been trained and sent around the world, some joining established missions and others forming their own societies.

Expansion


In 1887 Guinness handed the administration over to his son (Harry Grattan Guinness 1861-1915) but remained closely involved, travelling widely to attract support for the Institute. The Guinness family connection was to last into the 1970s through the support of Henry Grattan Guinness’s grandson, Gordon Meyer Guinness (1902-1980). The first decade of the twentieth century brought financial difficulties and disagreements about the type of training that was to be offered. Cliff College was sold, the number of students at Harley was cut and in 1915 the college closed completely. By this time, however, the work had expanded in different directions. Regions Beyond magazine was published from 1878 describing the Institute and giving news of missionaries and missions around the world. In the same year the Guinnesses and a group of friends arranged for a number of missionaries to go to Congo as the Livingstone Inland Mission and the Institute took full responsibility for the project from 1880 until 1884. In 1888 the Guinnesses launched a new mission to Central Africa, the Congo Balolo Mission. To encourage support the Regions Beyond Helpers union was formed in 1892 and membership reached 11,000 by 1897. Expansion continued: in 1897 the Institute took responsibility for the support of a group of Harley students working in Peru and later for others in Argentina and in 1899 the first missionaries were sent to the Bihar region of India. In the same year the name of the Institute was changed to the Regions Beyond Missionary Union and the RBMU was incorporated in 1903.

Twentieth Century


Throughout the twentieth century Regions Beyond (from 1981 Horizons) published news of the mission’s work, conferences were organised, and pamphlets, books, lantern slides, photographs and films were produced to raise awareness and increase support. The financial difficulties of the early twentieth century affected all areas: the mission was able to continue to operate in Congo and India but the South American work was passed to the Evangelical Union of South America in 1911. The period after the Second World War was, however, a time of expansion with the absorption of the Peru Inland Mission (1948) and entry into Kalimantan (Borneo, 1948/9), Irian Jaya (1954) and Nepal (1954, with the United Mission to Nepal).

The End of the Mission


Despite, and in some ways because of, the mission’s successes, some began to question the role and purpose of the mission, especially in relation to the indigenous churches and other organisations. The wide diversity of fields stretched resources and administration and the idea of co-operating with other similar agencies was increasingly proposed. The North American councils (which had met as separate bodies since 1948) sometimes took a different view on these and other issues and in 1979 the London based RBMU UK split from its overseas councils, the latter operating as RBMU International. In the UK the mission became more involved in joint projects and in 1980 moved to office premises shared with other agencies. It still sought ways to maintain its own identity and considered expanding to new areas such as Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines. From the late 1980s, however, it became increasingly clear that it was no longer suitable for the mission to continue as it was. In 1990, after negotiations with other bodies, the work in each area was passed to new or existing agencies, although some missionaries remained with RBMU until 1991.

CONGO

Livingstone Inland Mission


The Livingstone Inland Mission began when a group led by Cardiff Baptist minister Alfred Tilly met in 1877 to discuss sending missionaries to Congo in the light of Stanley’s reports of his journey across Africa. Henry and Fanny Grattan Guinness were members of the Committee and the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions provided the first recruits. In February 1878 Henry Craven and J Ström, a Dane, landed at Matadi. They were soon followed by more missionaries and the LIM became the first mission to be established in the area. Full responsibility for the mission was passed to the Institute in 1880. The aim was to trek to Stanley Pool from where the river became navigable, the steamer Henry Rad would be launched and the interior would be accessible. In 1880 a party led by Adam McCall arrived to advance to the Pool but McCall died in 1881 a month before the Pool was finally reached. It had originally been assumed that the mission would become self-supporting but this was not possible and the early missionaries suffered from inadequate equipment and support. In 1884 lack of resources and the illness of Mrs Guinness forced the Institute to hand the mission over to the American Baptist Missionary Union and the Swiss Missionary Fellowship. By this time of the 50 missionaries sent to Congo ten had died and many more had been invalided home.

Congo Balolo Mission

Most of the missionaries of the Livingstone Inland Mission continued their work under the American Baptist Missionary Union. It became clear, however, that the ABMU did not mean to extend their activities into the interior and, after an appeal in 1888 by John McKittrick a former LIM missionary, the Guinness once again committed themselves to Congo. The first missionaries of the newly formed Congo Balolo Mission arrived in 1889, aiming to concentrate their efforts upriver in the Balolo area. Progress was slow at first, but by 1912 8 stations had been established and 123 missionaries sent out, of which 41 had died on or soon after returning from the field. In the 1890s and 1900s some of the mission personnel in Congo and at home became involved in protests against the Congo atrocities and worked closely with the Congo Reform Association. During the twentieth century many stations were established including ones at Ikau, Baringa and as far east as Yoseki, a printing press was set up at Bongandanga, and schools and hospitals were opened. By 1929 a missionary couple, the Ruskins, had completed a Lomongo translation of the Bible. After independence in the 1960s the mission, along with other members of the Congo Protestant Council, had to redefine its role, working with Community of the Association of Evangelical Churches of Lulonga (CADELU, L’Association des Eglises Evangéliques de la Lulonga) to strengthen the indigenous church. In 1971 all RBMU missionaries were transferred to CADELU although they continued to be supported from the mission at home. When, in 1990, the RBMU finally dissolved, Action Partners became a partner mission in CADELU and took responsibility for the RBMU supported missionaries in Africa.

PERU AND ARGENTINA

RBMU Early Work in Peru and Argentina


Several Harley House students worked in South America, three in particular began working independently in Peru in the early 1890s. Concentrating their efforts on Lima and Cuzco they were persecuted and were forced to flee Cuzco on two occasions. In 1897 Harry Grattan Guinness visited South America with the aim of strengthening the missionary work in Peru and possibly linking missionaries there with others in South America. It was decided that the Institute would take full responsibility for the work in Peru and the first meeting of the council concerned with ‘Western South America’ was held in London in 1898. A year later several of the Harley students in Argentina aligned themselves with the RBMU but proposals to support work in Bolivia and Chile were never followed through. Missionaries in Argentina were largely self-supporting and achieved a certain amount of success especially through their school work. In Peru, however, the workers faced a difficult battle against persecutions, illness and indifference. Despite attempts to establish themselves through teaching, industrial schemes at Cuzco, a farm for the training of Quechua Indians and building a network of support in North America, the mission always struggled and there were disagreements between missionaries and London as to how it should be organised. This and financial problems at home persuaded Guinness to hand over, in 1911, the work to the Evangelical Union of South America (formed of workers from RBMU, the South American Evangelical Mission and the Help for Brazil Mission).

Peru Inland Mission


In 1916 nurse Annie Soper arrived in Lima. She had been trained at the RBMU’s Bromley Hall by Fanny Newell, herself a former missionary in Peru. In 1922 Soper trekked across the Andes with Rhoda Gould and settled in Moyobamba, San Martin, where they established a hospital and a church. In 1929 they moved to Lamas where they opened hospitals, orphanages and, later, a Bible institute and where the Peruvian Inland Mission (later Peru Inland Mission) was born.

The PIM and RBMU


The continued expansion of the PIM work prompted Soper to approach the RBMU for help and RBMU took responsibility for the PIM in 1948, although the latter retained its separate identity and Soper continued to direct its affairs for several more years. She had been supported largely through Canadian friends and this strong connection continued with many workers coming from North America. Theological differences caused some friction and from 1971 RBMU workers from the UK and from North America worked in different areas, a development which was later mirrored by the separation of RBMU UK and RBMU International in 1979. During the 1970s and 1980s there was a policy of slow withdrawal, church building (particularly in urban areas), and co-operation with other missions such as EUSA. When RBMU UK was finally dissolved in 1990 the Peruvian section joined with EUSA to form a new mission called Latin Link.

India

In January 1899 the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions announced that, given the extension of its work to missions in Congo and Peru, it would operate under the name of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union. There was also to be a new mission, to Bihar, a region in the north of India. The first missionaries sailed at the end of 1899 settling in Dinapore to learn Hindi then moving to Motihari in 1900. More missionaries arrived, schools, churches and orphanages were opened and by 1913 there were stations at Motihari, Siwan, Champatia, and Gopalganj (all with outstations). Progress was, however, slow: the people were indifferent; finances were poor; there was conflict over what should be the mission’s priorities; and there were some suggestions that the work should be transferred to another agency. In 1926 an RBMU station was opened at Raxaul near the border with Nepal, two years later Dr Cecil Duncan was recruited to work there an in 1930 he opened the Duncan hospital. This operated under the Raxaul Medical Mission in affiliation with RBMU and was to become the key to the opening of Nepal. Further, from the mid-1930s there was a revival of interest in Bihar, more missionaries were recruited and a ‘forward movement’ was planned. Progress was interrupted by the war, some of the missionaries were called up and the Raxaul hospital closed in 1940. The 1942 Quit India movement forced missionaries belonging to the Australian Nepalese Mission to take refuge in Motihari and the mission later merged with RBMU. After the war new missionaries arrived, the Duncan Hospital reopened under full control of the RBMU (1948), the mission took responsibility for the leprosy hospital at Muzaffarpur (1953), and contacts were established with the Tharu people of the Don area. Despite this, by the end of the 1960s there were only 132 baptised Christians in the entire field and only 8 local churches. Furthermore, in 1967 and 1969 the government passed legislation severely restricting the flow and work of missionaries and money. The mission began a slow withdrawal, selling its property and concentrating on selling literature and supporting the local churches which became part of the Evangelical Churches of Northern Bihar. Some medical work continued and RBMU personnel were instrumental in the formation in 1970 of the Emmanuel Hospital Association, an Indian medical association composed of former mission hospitals including the Duncan. By the 1980s there were only two RBMU workers left in Bihar, one at Raxaul seconded to the EHA and one at Muzaffarpur seconded to the leprosy hospital, although the mission did become involved in some short term projects. In 1986 the mission ceased to operate as a legal entity in India and in 1988 the last missionary left. When the RBMU was dissolved in 1991 the mission withdrew from the European Fellowship of the EHA.

Nepal

RBMU missionaries stationed in Bihar lived and worked close to the Nepal border. Contact was made with many Nepalis living in or passing through the area, particularly when a station was established at Raxaul. There was interest in Nepal among the mission’s supporters: Regions Beyond sometimes carried articles about the country and an Indian RBMU worker spent part of 1919 doing temporary work there. Several Nepalis were treated or worked at the Duncan Hospital in Raxaul, some of whom were to be prominent in the Nepali church. In 1933 the first conference for missionaries working on the Nepal border was held at Raxaul, a preliminary for further official Nepal Border-line Missionaries Conference in 1934 and 1937. These meetings were the beginnings of the Nepal Border Fellowship whose members (individuals rather than missions, including many from the RBMU) met to discuss possible openings in Nepal. When rebellion broke out in Nepal in 1950 the Duncan Hospital played an important role in treating casualties and further strengthening ties with Nepalis. Two RBMU workers were invited to Kathmandu a few months later and conducted the first talks with the government about working in the Nepal. Shortly after this, during the winter of 1951-52, American Dr Robert Fleming entered Nepal on a bird expedition. He took with him a medical team and the aid they gave to the people of Tansen prompted the town leaders to ask Fleming to open a permanent hospital. Permission was granted by the government in 1953 and as a result work started in the old cholera hospital in Kathmandu. It soon became clear that the most effective and suitable way to expand this opportunity would be for interested missions, including RBMU, to work together under one administration so, in 1954, the United Mission to Nepal was formed with eight founder members. Ernest Oliver, RBMU Indian Field Superintendent, was its first Executive Secretary, by 1961 there were twenty RBMU missionaries working under UMN in Nepal and from 1962 the Indian and Nepali RBMU fields were formally separated. The UMN and its work expanded: hospitals, schools and clinics were opened, community service programmes established and many important industrial and agricultural development and training projects undertaken. The mission was forbidden to evangelise, but missionaries worked alongside and encouraged the Nepali Christian community. In 1966 there were 500 active Christians in the country, by 1988 there were more than 200,000. In 1986 there around 37 member bodies and 400 workers attached to the UMN but by this time RBMU was seriously considering its future. When the mission finally dissolved some of its workers had already joined other agencies such as Interserve, but others remained with RBMU until their final return from Nepal in 1991. Altogether 65 missionaries from RBMU had worked in Nepal.

KALIMANTAN AND IRIAN JAYA

Kalimantan

RBMU involvement in Kalimantan (Borneo) can be traced back to 1932 when a Dutch nurse, Greet van’t Eind, first arrived in the country. She died after three years but her work with the Dyaks was continued in 1937 by an American couple, the Sirags. After the Japanese invasion the Sirags were sent to concentration camps where Bill Sirag died. Sylvia Sirag returned to America determined to raise support for the work and she approached Ebenezer Vine, the Executive Secretary of the RBMU. Vine had known van’t Eind since 1929 and had also helped the Sirags to go to Kalimantan. His interest in the country had led to the formation of the Borneo Prayer Fellowship and he raised the possibility of RBMU support to the Board in 1941. In 1947 he argued that again the entry into Kalimantan would increase North American interest in RBMU in general and would be a chance to recover the mission’s pioneering character. The Board agreed that it would be right to respond and Vine was sent to America to raise support. The visit led to the formation of an American Council which was to be largely responsible for the expansion of the work in Kalimantan. Sirag sailed at the end of 1948 soon followed by others, the work grew gradually and by 1973 40 churches had been established with 8000 Christians. No missionaries were sent directly by the UK Board and after its split from RBMU International Kalimantan was no longer regarded as an RBMU UK field.

Irian Jaya


RBMU work in Irian Jaya (West Irian or Irian Barat) was also largely organised by the American Council although several UK missionaries were sent there. Interest in the region had first arisen in 1948 when the possibility was put to Vine in America. The Board in England approved, as long as the American Council would be responsible for much of the finance, and the first American missionaries entered the country in 1954. They made their base at Sentani on the northern coast and began exploring the central highland region using Missionary Aviation Fellowship planes. Karubaga in the Swart valley, home of the Dani people, was chosen as the site for the first RBMU station and was opened in 1957. More missionaries arrived and the mission had established two more stations by 1961, one on the eastern highlands at Ninia. It was near here that two RBMU missionaries were murdered during a trek into the Seng Valley in 1968. Work also began among the Sawi people on the southern coastal plain but Sentani remained the main supply centre and the ‘Regions Press’ was opened which printed literature for all missions and churches. Churches planted by RBMU, the Asia Pacific Christian Mission, and the Unevangelized Fields Mission became known as the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI, Gereja Injili Di Indonesia) and functioned independently from 1967. The difficulties and nature of the work encouraged co-operation between missions and the formation of The Missionary Fellowship (TMF). The need to provide Bible training in the Indonesian language and trade skills led UFM and RBMU to open the Irian Jaya Bible and Vocational School (SAKU) in 1973. Decrees by the Indonesian government in 1978 that expatriate missionaries should nationalise all work by 1981 accelerated the training process. The separation of RBMU International from RBMU UK (in 1979) meant that UK workers were formally seconded to RBMU International when RBMU UK disbanded UFM Worldwide accepted the UK personnel for secondment to RBMU International.

Caroline Brown
8 August 2001

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