The Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (1845)

Jul 28, 2009
JERRY WINDSOR
Special to Florida Baptist Witness

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The Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board was begun May 10, 1845, at the organizational meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Augusta, Ga. Prior to this board, most of the Baptist mission work of the South was conducted under the auspices of the Triennial Convention. In 1844, the Acting Board of that convention declared that it would not appoint a slave holder as a foreign missionary. That vote caused some in the South to immediately plan for their own mission sending agencies.

Delegates from eight states and the District of Columbia gathered for the purpose of forming the Southern Baptist Convention. One of the primary decisions was the determination to follow the Convention Plan as opposed to the Society Plan of the Triennial Convention. Under the Convention Plan there would be one large umbrella organization, as opposed to the Society Plan in which each organization worked independently in structure, leadership and fund raising. This Convention Plan made for strong organizational structure and prepared the way for the Cooperative Program funding plan that was adopted in 1925.

Only two boards were formed at the time of the organizational meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Foreign Mission Board was set to be located at Richmond, Va., and the Domestic Mission Board was to be located at Marion, Ala. Richmond was chosen as the location for the foreign board for some very important reasons. It was a geographical center for Baptists along the Atlantic Seaboard, a banking magnet, near important seaports and a hotbed of Baptist history and mission interest. Virginia Baptists had known the difficult days of persecution that came from an established church yet they had continued to preach the Gospel and promote foreign missions. Some of the most mature leadership among Baptists in the South came from Virginia. The Religious Herald was one of only three established Baptist papers in the South and it supported foreign missions and the work of the board. Richmond and Virginia were southern locations of commerce and culture.

Initial board leadership was one of the strengths of the organization. Jeremiah Jeter (1802-1880) was the first board president and a Baptist stalwart. As a native Virginian, Jeter was passionate, self taught and totally committed to New Testament Kingdom work. Jeter started preaching at about age 20 and baptized 1,000 people in the first nine years of his ministry. In 1836 Jeter became pastor of First Baptist Church in Richmond and he served for over 13 years. When Jeter became pastor at Richmond the church had 1,384 black members and 333 white members. He was pro-missions, pro-Baptist and pro-education. He served as a trustee of Richmond College and at the time of his death was president of the trustee board of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The first two missionaries appointed by the board were Samuel C. Clopton, Aug. 4, 1845, and George Percy, Nov. 3, 1845. Clopton was a native Virginian and served in China for only nine months before he died.

Today, Jerry Rankin is president of the International Mission Board (it’s named having been changed in 1997) and there are over 5,000 missionaries serving with over 1,200 people groups, funded by an annual budget of over $319 million.

Jerry Windsor is executive secretary of the Florida Baptist Historical Society and retired professor of preaching at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

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