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The rise and fall of the Student Volunteer Movement

1900s: the task undone, and what now?

This was the point when Pierson had hoped to see the world evangelized. Instead, just 15% of the missionary force was at work among the least evangelized. While much ground had been gained, Dr. Eugene Stock had a terrible reminder:

All statistics are fatally defective in that they do not count at all the real results. They never count the dead. Tens of thousands have been garnered, and it is in heaven, not here, that we should look for the triumphs. The student volunteers have given us a noble watchword, ‘The evangelization of the world in this generation!’ But if any hesitate to accept it, let them take it thus: ‘The evangelization of this generation,’ and they will see at once every man and woman, however bad, however good, has a right to hear of Jesus.

Stock further presciently recognized that Western culture would be deficient in, by itself, finishing the task:

One thing is quite certain—the civilization of America and Europe will not do the work. Africans must save the Africans, Asiatics the Asiatics. ‘The White Man’s Burden’ is to influence the native Christians. The nearest way to the heart of a Chinaman and the heart of a Hindu is around by the throne of God.

The suffering in World War I impacted the world’s view of Christianity. If Europe, widely perceived as Christian, could have such a horrific war, what did that say for Christian civilization? However, during the war the YMCA offered its services and Mott became general secretary of the National War Work Council, receiving a Distinguished Service Medal for his work.

In addition, it was widely recognized that parachurch organizations contributed to church unity. This would become their Achilles’ heel during the 20th century. There was an inevitable split to come between liberals and conservatives, and organizations that attempted to unite the two would be in danger of being torn asunder.

The contribution of women to missions during the 1800s and 1900s cannot be underestimated. Between 1860 and 1911, women raised over $42 million for foreign missions. By 1900, over 40 national women’s societies had been formed. Dr. Stock (LMS) said, “Large helps to the cause have been the dedication to it of medical men and, even more, of women… In giving women to the work America has set a brilliant example, but we are now following close upon her heels…”

A classic example was Helen Barrett Montgomery, a pioneering social reformer in New York who was instrumental in founding the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, devoted to protecting the rights, health and safety of women laborers. She was a friend of Susan B. Anthony, a popular lecturer and one of the most influential intellectuals in the women’s missionary movement. She published Western Women in Eastern Lands which sold 100,000 copies, and inspired a traveling missions conference that toured 34 cities and raised more than US$1 million for foreign missions. She also helped launch the World Day of Prayer.

In 1907, the WMU inaugurated a “study class” for its local auxiliaries; with the introduction of textbooks, the atmosphere changed from a religious prayer-meeting to a more systematic study of missions that brought greater interest: the women felt they were moving from ‘praying laity’ to ‘professional leaders’ (Women’s Missionary Union). This standardized curriculum helped give the Women’s Missionary Union significant influence and staying power over the years, and made it a powerful mobilization force for missions.

They also opened the Baptist Women’s Missionary Union Training School:

“For years young ministers who had not completed their preparation for the ministry before their marriage had been bringing their wives with them to [the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at] Louisville. Unforbidden but unnoticed, some of them would venture to accompany their husbands to the classes, in the Theological Seminary, drinking in the teaching and studying diligently at home to prepare themselves for the many duties of a pastor’s wife. If married women could be taught why not single women, who wished to prepare themselves for distinct missionary work?” (Heck 1913).

By 1908, in the Women’s Missionary Union: “the call for the left-over penny was changed to the demand for a definite and proportionate part of the income. . . . Women were handling more than the Sunday eggs and, deciding how other funds than the hard-saved pennies should be spent. Thousands of younger women were in business earning their own living, while the wives were beginning to be recognized as partners in the making and expanding of the family income.” (Heck 1913)

Unfortunately, at the same time, many of the women’s missionary movements were beginning to be dissolved and submerged into the denominational mission boards; by World War II few women’s movements remained (Robert 1997).

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