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The rise and fall of the Student Volunteer Movement

As frequent readers of Momentum will know, my passion for the need for a massive mobilization effort has been growing exponentially over the past two years. During the process of taking my Master’s degree through William Carey International University’s World Christian Foundations, I have written a paper on the Student Volunteer Movement. I’m going to share a portion of that paper here, somewhat simplified; if anyone wants the broader paper (complete with all the lovely footnotes and some expanded notes), email me at justinlong@gmail.com… and I’ll send you a copy. I’ve had to rely only on sources available in digital form due to my location in Southeast Asia, so while I’m fairly confident of the overall story, any errors are my own.

“It may well be that the future historian will count the Student Volunteer Movement as one of the most remarkable and significant movements in the history of the Church of God and that in coming generations multitudes of visitors from distant lands may seek Mount Hermon as the place where this historic Movement was born.” (Smalley 1980)

In the twenty years since, the Movement has been indeed often cited and often lauded. The SVM, as most students of missions know, was the American mission mobilization movement of the early 1900s, tied inextricably with the campaign “to evangelize the world in this generation.” Born in 1886 and lasting nearly a century, the first third of its existence saw its remarkable growth until its peak at about 1920.

In the post-World War I era it was caught up in the “the cynicism and confusion of a new era” (Smalley). Although it tried to adapt to its new situation, it failed and wandered uncertainly for a generation before the world collided in World War II. Afterward it tried to find some stability—but not in its original mission. It underwent multiple identity changes and finally ceased to exist in the mid 1960s.

In this article, we’ll look at the reasons both for the rise of the SVM and for its downfall. We’ll try to identify some key lessons that might be applied to modern mobilization efforts. But we’ll begin not with the birth of the movement, but rather with the birth of the birth of the movement: deep in the beginnings of America itself.

The Revolutionary Period (1704-1794)

The ‘Modern Era,’ according to the Encyclopedia of World History, was 1789. This date represents a “phase transition” in the wider world as well: the beginning of the French revolution and the introduction of industrialization.

In America, population growth had doubled every 25 years from 1704-1773, then tapered off slowly. It grew from 2.1 million in 1770 to 2.7 million in 1780 (an increase of 600,000); but by 1790 it grew to 3.9 million (an increase of 1.2 million). Intermarriage between people of different countries was causing a loss of ethnic identity and forging the identity of ‘American.’ Although immigration was by no means the major source of growth, the tide of immigrants was steadily increasing, primarily through the port of Philadelphia. There, Presbyterians and Baptists outnumbered the original Quaker founders.

When “America” was born, “Americans” were over 90% rural, living on the eastern seaboard in a strip stretching from Maine to Spanish Florida. The rest of the country, explored then only to the Mississippi River, was largely wilderness. This rural nature was at the time America’s winning factor. These small rural settlements and states were very independent from each other, and used to surviving on their own. Cutting a city off would not necessarily destroy it. Further, although the coastal cities were vulnerable, all of these small, tiny, rural settlements could not be occupied by the invading armies of the day—there simply were not enough troops going around.

However, since the colonies were independent, each had very different ideas about what independence from Britain would look like. There were significant social distinctions between the fishermen of the far north, the poorer, frugal Puritan/Pietistic holders of small landplots in New England, the urbanites of New York and Philadelphia, and the wealthy aristocratic landholders in the southern states who held large amounts of debt and slaves.

Little was done in a unified way, including defense: when Washington first began fighting, militias in each area defended the individual states from attack. Each colony had its own form of currency, and exchange rates were uneven. The idea of a standing army was anathema to many, but abruptly made necessary. America’s relationship with Britain had unraveled and the explosive War for Independence shattered the ties.

Disease was rampant: for every soldier killed in the war, 17 died of disease and for certain months out of each year the seat of American government virtually ceased to function as people fled epidemics in the cities.

The war was indeed won in 1781 and its conclusion formalized in 1783—but the nation remained to be formed. During the critical period of 1783-84 America went through a deep economic crisis, army mutinies and rebellions. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 finally established a stable government in which ‘America’ was born as a united nation: but while the states considered themselves siblings they still had to learn how to play together nicely. Several issues divided America.

First, although after the French & Indian Wars many in America had disliked and even hated the French, during the course of this period Americans came to look upon the French as the ones most likely to save the American Revolution from failing. ‘French Fever’ significantly colored American culture.

Slavery was another issue that would loom ever more largely over time. Over 760,000 Africans (slaves and free) made up roughly 20% of the American population, with several thousand fighting in the Wars. Some, like Abigail Adams, wondered how a nation could fight for freedom while not freeing its slaves. By 1784, all slavery in the New England states was prohibited (or in the process of being prohibited). By 1804, slavery in the Middle colonies likewise was prohibited.

This period was not devoid of Christian influence. Several “mini-revivals” broke out between 1781 and 1785 on college campuses: Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, Williams and Hampden-Sydney were all precursors of the revivals of the early 1800s. Over half of the population (55%, adjusted for children) belonged to mainline denominations (Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians) in 1776; this share began to decline so that by 1850, mainline denominations accounted for just 19%. Methodists and Baptists meanwhile rose from 19% to 55% by 1850 (essentially, in roughly 75 years the situation had reversed). This happened while the population was rising dramatically and the number of Christians affiliated with churches rose by 20%.

While people in America were far too busy with war and nation-building to widely consider missions at the moment, events in England would eventually affect America’s mission movement. In 1785, the Protestant denominations of England cooperated for the first time since the Reformation to create the Sunday School Society, in order to extend Sunday Schools throughout the empire. The Sunday School would become the primary mechanism for giving the young a heart for missions. English Baptist minister Andrew Fuller was publishing dozens of pamphlets urging obedience to the Great Commission. A concept called “Concerts of Prayer,” initially envisioned by Great Awakening preacher Jonathan Edwards, had made its way from England to America and was becoming widespread.

Then, in 1792, came the spark of the American missionary movement: in England, William Carey published the widely read Enquiry into the obligations of Christians to use means for the conversion of the heathens, and the next year sailed for India.

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© 2008 Momentum Magazine.
Related: The Mission Manual · Justin Long's Annotated Links and Notes