Baptist Mission Australia, formerly Global Interaction, the Australian Baptist Missionary Society, and originally the Australian Baptist Foreign Mission, is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists in Australia in 1864. The national office is in Melbourne.
| Formation | 1864 |
|---|---|
| Type | Mission Organisation |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
Executive Director | Scott Pilgrim |
| Website | Official website |
History
editAustralian Baptists had been sending money to the Baptist Missionary Society in London as their expression of interest in mission.[1] The South Australian Baptist Missionary Society was founded at Flinders Street Baptist Church on 10 November 1864 under Rev Silas Mead,[2] and the first missionaries, Ellen Arnold and Marie Gilbert, were sent to East Bengal in 1882.[3][4] Arnold returned to Australia in 1884 suffering illness and undertook a tour of the colonies and New Zealand which became known as the "crusade of Ellen Arnold." This led to the establishment of the Queensland and New Zealand Baptist Missionary Societies.[5][6][7] Four other young women decided to join her (becoming known as the "five barley loaves") in East Bengal, which then became the primary mission field for Australian Baptists.[8][9][10][11] Between 1882 and 1913, the colonial societies sent fifty-four women and sixteen men to Bengal, including Mead's son Dr Cecil Mead and his wife Alice.[12] The women visited Indian women in their zenanas.[13] The work of the mission was almost solely focused in India for 80 years.[13] Wilton Hack, a South Australian Baptist pastor, had raised private funds to go to Japan in 1874, not wanting to take money prioritised to the work in Faridpur.[1]
The various state missionary societies federated in 1913 as the Australian Baptist Mission.[14][9] It was renamed the Australian Baptist Missionary Society in 1959 and then Global Interaction in 2002.[9]
Work in Papua New Guinea began in 1949, at the urging of returned World War II chaplains, with focus on Bible translation as well as health and education.[13] By 1995 the Baptist Union of Papua New Guinea had 35,000 members.[15]
Workers were later sent to Papua and Timor, and then to Zambia and Zimbabwe, later moving to Malawi and Mozambique.[13] More recent locations include Thailand in 1972,[16] Cambodia, and Kazakhstan.[9][13] In many locations, the goal has been to develop the indigenous church and work towards handover.[13]
Baptist missionary services to Aboriginal communities in Central Australia began in 1947 under the Australian Baptist Federal Home Mission Board. This became part of ABMS in the 1970s.[17]
As of 2013, Global Interaction had 123 missionaries working in 17 different regions.[14]
The mission has produced a magazine called Vision since 1950.[18] They have also published papers and biographies by a number of their missionaries.[19]
In November 2021, Global Interaction changed its name to Baptist Mission Australia.[20]
Notable workers
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Brown, Basil S. (1962). "The Australian Japanese Mission". Baptist Quarterly. 19 (7): 309–313. doi:10.1080/0005576X.1962.11751101.
- ^ Jose, Arthur Wilberforce; Carter, Herbert James (1926). The Australian Encyclopædia: M to Z. ANgus & Robertson. p. 124.
- ^ Gooden, Rosalind M. (2014). "The First Australasian Baptist Missionary: Ellen Arnold and the Bengalis, 1882-1931". In David Bebbington (ed.). Interfaces Baptists and Others: International Baptist Studies. Authentic Media Inc. ISBN 9781780783147.
- ^ Allen, Margaret (June 2000). "'White Already to Harvest': South Australian Women Missionaries in India". Feminist Review. 65: 92–107. doi:10.1080/014177800406958. S2CID 140855291.
- ^ Habeks, Myk; Wood, Beulah (2011). Reconsidering Gender: Evangelical Perspectives. Wipf and Stock. p. 84. ISBN 9781630876890.
- ^ Piggin, Stuart (1996). Evangelical Christianity in Australia: Spirit, Word and World. Oxford University Press. p. 71. ISBN 9780195535389.
- ^ Morrison, Hugh (2006). ""A Great Australasian Scheme": Australian Influences on New Zealand's Emerging Protestant Missionary Movement,1885-1922". Fides et Historia. 38 (2): 87–102.
- ^ Ball, G.B. (1979). "Arnold, Ellen (1858–1931". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d Brackney, William H. (2009). Historical Dictionary of the Baptists. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810862821.
- ^ Curthoys, Ann; Lake, Marilyn (2006). Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective. ANU Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN 9781920942458.
- ^ Cupit, Tony (2016). From Five Barley Loaves: Australian Baptists in Global Mission 1864-2010. Morning Star Publishing. ISBN 9781925208085.
- ^ Allen, Margaret (2005). "'Innocents abroad' and 'prohibited immigrants': Australians in India and Indians in Australia 1890-1910". Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective. ANU Press. pp. 111–124. ISBN 1920942440. JSTOR j.ctt2jbkp3.11.
- ^ a b c d e f Cronshaw, Darren (1 May 2014). "Books: An Indepth and Reflective Look at the History of Australian Baptists". Sight Magazine. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ a b Hughes, Philip J.; Cronshaw, Darren (2013). Baptists in Australia: A Church with a Heritage and a Future. Christian Research Association. p. 52. ISBN 9781875223725.
- ^ Wardin, Albert W. Jr (1995). "Baptist Around the World" (PDF). Florida Baptist Historical Society.
- ^ "History". Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship.
- ^ "Tracking Family: A Guide to Aboriginal Records Relating to the Northern Territory". National Archives of Australia.
- ^ Vision : magazine of the Australian Baptist Missionary Society. National Library of Australia. 1950.
- ^ "Australian Baptist Missionary Society". WorldCat.
- ^ "New name". Baptist Mission Australia.
Further reading
edit- Cupit, Tony; Gooden, Ros; Manley, Ken R. (2013). From Five Barley Loaves: Australian Baptists in Global Mission 1864 -- 2000. Wipf and Stock. ISBN 9781625643087.