Idaho Falls and the Great Commission, Part 2

 

1. Edinburgh Missionary Conference, 1910

Idaho Falls had at least one delegate attend the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.  This was Rev. H. W. Jones, who reported on his experience at the Kendall Presbytery Women’s Missionary Society joint meeting held at the Idaho Falls Presbyterian Church on April 14, 1911.[1]  The Edinburgh Missionary Conference was energized by the watchword of the Protestant Missionary community of the time, “The Evangelization of the World in This Generation,” and hence was a landmark in the history of Christian missions.[2]  Rev. H. W. Jones was born in Wales, and pastored the Presbyterian Church in Idaho Falls from 1906 to 1912.  His ministry in Idaho Falls overlapped the ministry of another Rev. H. W. Jones in Idaho Falls.[3]

2. Layman’s Missionary Movement, 1910-1938

There are a few scattered references to the Layman’s Missionary Movement in Idaho Falls newspapers from 1910 to 1938.  This interdenominational movement sought to enlist men both on behalf of missions and to greater involvement in local churches.[4]  Trinity Methodist Church’s announcement in The Idaho Register of March 4, 1910 included, “A men’s rally on behalf of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement will be held in the Baptist church Sunday afternoon. Addresses and discussions by preachers and laymen. Plan to be there. The convention will take place March 10-11.”[5]  Another was in 1938, when the announcement for First Baptist Church included, “Next Sunday is Men and Missions Sunday.  As suggested by the Laymen’s Missionary Movement, the entire worship program at 11 am is in charge of the men of the church.  Special musical numbers and impersonations of famous missionary statesmen are features of the service.”[6]

3. Missionary component of the Men and Religion Forward Movement, 1911-1912

A slogan of the Men and Religion Forward Movement of 1911-1912 was “More Men for Religion, More Religion for Men.”  One goal of the 19-month interdenominational campaign in 1911 & 1912 was to bring 3 million men and boys who currently were not attending church to salvation and into Bible studies, churches and Christian service.  Another goal was “to continue the emphasis upon the great missionary appeal at home and in the non-Christian lands,” in other words, to recruit and send missionaries. Typically the campaign would hold day-long meetings, sometimes for as many as eight days, to organize and plan.  The Idaho Register reported on their meeting held in Idaho Falls on March 22, 1912 at the Odd Fellows’ Hall.[7]  While the movement was directed toward men and boys, in Idaho Falls a parallel meeting was held for women and girls at the Presbyterian Church, and then in the evening the women joined in the meeting at the Odd Fellows’ Hall.  In one of the morning addresses, the speaker spoke of new world conditions that favored missions, including English becoming more of a universal language, better means of travel, improved means of communication, less racial prejudice, the openness of China and Japan to the gospel and the transformation of Korea from the hermit kingdom to a people hungry for God’s word and safe for missionaries.  The meetings concluded with 28 recommendations, nearly half of which related to missions. The first recommendation was: “It is expected that each church will have a missionary committee in charge of this special work, the pastor being ex-officio member.  The work of the committee should include education, prayer and giving.”  Next, under the heading “Education,” recommendations include (1) frequent presentations of missions from the pulpit by pastors and laymen and occasional outside speakers, (2) adding missionary books to the Sunday School library and subscribing to missionary magazines, (3) holding monthly prayer meetings for missions and (4) promoting missionary instruction by as many ways as possible, including supplemental Sunday School lessons, six- to ten-week courses in missions in Young People’s societies and Bible Studies and getting men to read more missionary biographies. “Prayer” recommendations included (1) urging all members to pray daily for definite mission fields and for missionaries by name, (2) urging the use of prayer in family worship for home and foreign missionaries and (3) having special prayer for missions in Sunday school classes and other meetings.  Next, under “Giving,” recommendations included explaining the Scriptural basis for a weekly offering for missions and being satisfied with nothing less than every member giving every week for the missionary and benevolent work of the church.

4. Women’s Missionary Union Jubilee, 1913

The first annual jubilee of the Women’s Missionary Union was held in the Presbyterian Church on November 21, 1913.  This union was composed of missionary societies of all the Christian churches of the city. Ladies of the different societies presented papers and reports during the morning and afternoon sessions.  Each of the ministers of the city was invited to attend the evening session and make a brief address.  The jubilee also included a praise service and ended with a few remarks by the Sunday School Missionary of Utah and Idaho, Rev. George Peacock.[8]

The following year, the Women’s Missionary Union brought the “Church-Going Day” movement to Idaho Falls. A report of the first one was entitled “Church Day a Success – All Churches of the City Experience Large Attendance" and reported “Church-Going Day in Idaho Falls met with the success here with which it has been met the country over where the attempt has been made, and every church in the city experienced the largest attendance outside of some special occasion in the history of the city. In several instances it was found necessary to make special provision in order to accommodate those who wished to attend, the seating capacity being taxed beyond the limit.  At all churches, a special musical program was made a feature and this part of the service was greatly enjoyed. Church-Going Day has become a spontaneous national movement the country over, and wherever it has been tried has been successful.  Those in charge of the churches and religious organizations of the city feel particularly gratified at the response.[9]

5.  Mission Field Debate, 1914

At the First Baptist Church on a Sunday evening in December, 1914, eight members of the Baptist Young People’s Union split into four teams, each pair presenting the needs of a foreign mission field to the congregation.  The four fields presented were 1. Africa, 2. China, 3. The Philippine Islands and 4. India.  Judges were chosen to decide which group presented the greatest needs and that field was then adopted by the church for support, prayer and study.[10]  Which four mission fields would you select today as having the greatest needs?  India has the greatest number of unreached people groups of any country in the world, and recently surpassed China in population.  While the church in China has seen tremendous growth in the past several decades, the majority of China’s 545 ethnic groups still have little or no witness.  Today, more missionaries are sent to Africa from North America than to any other continent, 8 times more than to Asia.  Hundreds of traditional Filipino missionaries have been sent into the world, and millions of Filipino believers in Christ have taken jobs in Middle Eastern countries, witnessing to their faith as they have opportunity.[11] Would you include in your top four mission fields any of the 52 urban centers in North American which have at least one unreached people group community of over 5,000 individuals, and a combined population of over 8 million?

6. Week of Prayer for Foreign/International Missions, 1951-present

Since its inception in 1951, Calvary Baptist Church in Idaho Falls has been very active in both home and foreign missions.  Southern Baptists observe the first week in December as a week of prayer for foreign missions, honoring Lottie Moon, a missionary to China from 1873 to 1912.  In 1952, the three circles of the Women’s Missionary Union of Calvary Baptist Church in Idaho Falls planned and led services at the church Monday through Friday evenings.[12]  In 1985 their week of prayer included a prayer breakfast, a foreign mission study, a potluck, a goal of raising $4,000 as a Christmas offering for foreign missions and Sunday was declared Foreign Missions Day in their Sunday school classes.[13] 

7.  Assembly of God Missionary Convention, 1975

Many Idaho Falls churches hold mission conferences periodically.  In the early years it was not uncommon for churches to hold joint mission conferences with other churches of the city or region.  In 1975, a five-day Missionary Convention was held for the six Assembly of God churches in Southeast Idaho, located in American Falls, Pocatello, Blackfoot, Firth, Shelley and Idaho Falls. Five missionaries rotated between the churches on the five nights, with Shelly and Firth congregations meeting together.  The speakers included (1) Rev. Norman Correll, an Assemblies of God missionary who served nine years in Tanzania, then for two years as Dean of Evangelism and Spiritual Development of the International Correspondence Institute in Brussels, Belgium, and then for the past 8 years as national secretary of the Assemblies of God Youth Department; (2) Rev. Linfield Crowder, who served as an evangelist in several Southeast Asian nations as well as across the United States, who encouraged laymen to go on short-term mission trips, and who also had a sister living in Idaho Falls;[14] (3) Wayne Guge, a missionary to the Marshall Islands involved in literature distribution, boat evangelism and church planting; (4) John Wilkies, a missionary and evangelist who had served in Columbia, Chile and other South American countries; and (5) Rev. Glen Davenport, director of Bethel Bible Institute in San Salvador.  Announcements of this Missionary Convention included invitations to all people of Idaho Falls and Southeast Idaho to attend any of the meetings.[15]

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[1] The Idaho Register, April 11, 1911, p. 5.

[2] https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/the-edinburgh-missionary-conference-of-1910/; https://learn.ligonier.org/podcasts/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/1910-edinburgh-missionary-conference; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910_World_Missionary_Conference.

[3] For more of the story of these two ministers, see “H. W. Jones x2 & The 1909 Evangelistic Meetings,” https://jiif140yrs.blogspot.com/2023/02/h.html.

[4] The Idaho Falls Daily Post, April 28, 1916, p. 6, also see “Little Stories of Success: National Campaign, Laymen’s Missionary Movement,” https://archive.org/details/littlestoriesofs00unse/mode/2up.

[5] The Idaho Register, March 4, 1910, p. 1

[6] The Post Register, November 11, 1938, p. 14.

[7] The Idaho Register, March 26, 1912, p. 1 & 4; see also The Idaho Register, December 26, 1911, p. 3.

[8] The Idaho Register, November 14, 1913, p. 1 & November 25, 1913, p. 1. For the story of George Peacock, see https://jiif140yrs.blogspot.com/2024/04/rev-george-d-peacock-shepherds-dog.html

[9] The Idaho Register, March 31, 1914

[10] The Idaho Register, December 11, 1914, p. 4. 

[11] https://worldventure.com/philippines-sending-growing-number-of-missionaries/ reports 600 traditional Filipinos sent by just one mission agency and 3 million Filipino overseas workers, many of whom are Christian.

[12] The Post Register, November 26, 1952, p. 6; November 10, 1952.

[13] The Post Register, December 6, 1985, p. B-2.

[14] For more of Rev. Crowder’s connections to Idaho Falls, see https://jiif140yrs.blogspot.com/2024/01/family-and-team-ministry-dugones-and.html.

[15] The Post Register, February 23, 1975, p. C-5.