Headquarters United States of America | ||
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Founders William Carey, Andrew Fuller Similar Tearfund, WEC International, International Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship | ||
BMS World Mission is a Christian missionary society founded by Baptists from England in 1792. It was originally called the Particular Baptist Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Amongst the Heathen, but for most of its life was known as the Baptist Missionary Society. The current name was adopted in 2000.
Contents
History
The BMS was formed in 1792, at a meeting in Kettering, where 12 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, 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, 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. Timothy Richard is perhaps one of the most well-known Baptist missionaries to China.
Francis Augustus Cox wrote a history of the Baptist Missionary Society from its formation until 1842.
Today
BMS World Mission supports over 350 workers in 40 countries.
Few missionaries are sent who do not have practical skills to enable positive social and economic changes on a local scale. Obvious examples of such skills are medical workers and teachers.
BMS works in many ways around the world, including church planting, development, disaster relief, education, health, and media and advocacy. Mission personnel can go long-term, mid-term, short-term or as part of a team.
BMS's main base of operations is in Baptist House, which it shares with the headquarters of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, in Didcot, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom.