Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA) Records
Collection
Identifier: CN 352
Brief Description
Correspondence, form letters, financial and statistical reports, minutes, memos and promotional material related to IFMA administration and its service to its member missions. The files on IFMA members and numerous other Christian agencies predominate. Numerous mission-related subjects are documented, among them those related to the theoretical, theological, or practical aspects of the missionary enterprise, such as missionary aviation, the education of future missionaries, theological standards, missionary conferences, organizational mergers, and budget planning. Also includes series of maps of Latin American countries identifying nondenominational and denominational mission activity. Persons prominently featured include Jack Frizen, Billy Graham, and John Percy. Information is also available on the various countries in which IFMA members operate.
Dates
- Created: 1934-1983, undated
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on access to this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
There are no restrictions on the use of the materials in this collection.
Organizational History
Association of Evangelical and Fundamentalist nondenominational mission agencies. On behalf of its members, IFMA coordinated annual conferences, provided a liasion in some governmental matters, offered endorsement on members' behalf to the Christian public, and assisted members to establish effective and responsible administrative practices. IFMA served the general Christian public by disseminating missions information and helping local congregations establish their own mission programs. IFMA declined an offer from the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association in 1946 to merge the two associations; they nevertheless worked cooperatively in scheduling concurrent annual conferences, developing joint committees, and providing training seminars. Until 1950, IFMA headquarters was located in facilities provided by the missions of IFMA's elected officers; permanent headquarters was located in: New York City, 1950-1960; Ridgefield, New Jersey, 1960-1973; and Wheaton/Carol Stream, Illinois, 1973-ca. 2014. IFMA's general secretaries included John Percy (1956-1963), Edwin L. Frizen (1963-1991), John Orme (1992-2006), Marv Newell (2007-2015 during which IFMA was renamed CrossGlobal Link and then merged with EFMA to become Missio Nexus), and Ted Esler (2015-).
The Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA) originated in a meeting of mission agency leaders in March 1917. The meeting occurred as the flowers of the Fundamentalist/ Modernist Controversy were ready to bloom, and theologically conservative mission agencies no longer felt compatible with or able to work within the growing ecumenical movement. The meeting was called by Paul Graef, a Christian businessman and board member of the South Africa General Mission; also participating in the meeting were representatives of Africa Inland Mission, Central American Mission, and China Inland Mission. The mission representatives met to discuss how they could encourage greater missions awareness among American conservative Christians, provide fellowship among fundamentalist agencies, and facilitate inter-mission cooperation among themselves. In a followup meeting in September 1917, mission leaders met to consider establishing an informal organization of interdenominational foreign mission societies. Representatives of China Inland Mission, Inland South America Missionary Union, South Africa General Mission, Sudan Interior Mission, and Woman's Union Missionary Society participated in the meeting where articles of agreement were drafted and provisionally adopted for ratification by individual missions. The ratification process proceeded during the following year, and annual meetings commenced from 1918 onward.
At its founding, IFMA's purpose was to gather mission executives for an annual conference featuring an agenda of business, reports, prayer, preaching, and fellowship. As an association, the IFMA had no administrative authority over its members, but was instead to provide:
The other aspect of IFMA's service to the Christian public was in being an information center on missionary societies and activities around the world, and helping congregations establish their own missionary programs. As IFMA developed, it also helped member missions establish effective and responsible administrative practices and provided a liaison in certain governmental matters.
IFMA's administrators were drawn from the leadership of its members. The president, other officers, and board members rotated on a regular basis. In 1921, the membership created the position of executive secretary and authorized the establishment of a headquarters office to serve as a network center for the IFMA members. Only in 1956 did IFMA appoint its first fulltime general secretary (John O. Percy). Faced with Percy's resignation, IFMA appointed Edwin Leonard "Jack" Frizen to succeed Percy. Frizen continued to hold the post, later renamed executive director, until 1991. Overlapping this time period was Cora Goble's service as secretary from 1951-1973. For a more detailed list of IFMA's officers and administrators, please see the Biographical Sketches and IFMA Executives list associated as external documents of this descriptive guide.
Having been born in the environment that produced the Fundamentalist/ Modernist Controversy, it was no surprise that the issues of separation and cooperation were constant points of reference is IFMA discussions. While the interaction focused on various specific issues, the IFMA addressed this general topic in its deliberations on the identifying qualifications for membership, association with and/or merger into the EFMA, evaluating the doctrinal positions of members and applicants, a proposed relationship between the EFMA, IFMA, and the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC), the value of organizational independence, and IFMA's relationship with the Independent Fundamental Churches of America (IFCA).
In particular, the emergence of the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association (EFMA) in 1945 promoted discussion of cooperation among evangelical mission agencies. The EFMA was in many ways an IFMA counterpart, servicing evangelical denominational missions. IFMA decided in 1946 not to accept an EFMA invitation to merge with it. While similar in most doctrinal areas and evangelical commitment, IFMA's reservations were over the areas of maintaining its distinctiveness and the Pentecostalism which was represented in the EFMA. Despite the decision not to accept the EFMA invitation, both associations developed an increasingly more cooperative working relationship, beginning in the 1960s. For example, the EFMA and IFMA merged several of their committees and began holding their annual meetings concurrently in the same location in order to facilitate discussion on topics and projects of mutual interest. While the question of cooperation vs. separation did not disappear from IFMA thinking, its focus was directed toward achieving the work of evangelism rather than maintaining proper separation.
From its founding in 1917, the IFMA saw growth in its membership in each subsequent decade. Having been organized by seven missions, the IFMA saw its greatest period of membership growth in the 1940s and '50s, when it added ten new missions (1940s) and twenty-one more (1950s). The membership grew to consist of thirty-eight members in 1983, with eight associate members; eight missions which had formerly been full IFMA members had by that time merged into other IFMA missions.
Membership: IFMA developed standards which members were required to adhere to. These standards were primarily focused on doctrinal convictions, but also included agreement about missionary principles, practices, and fundraising. In 1941, the IFMA expanded the requirements for membership to include that they send out a minimum of ten missionaries. The function of the standards was to avoid the theological liberalism which the IFMA and its members were avoiding, and provide a unified base from which to confer and cooperate. Other grounds for rejection for membership were denominational affiliation, failure to conform to financial and administrative standards, lack of a functioning North American council, too few missionaries, not being a sending agency, or lack of involvement in cross-cultural work.
Headquarters location: In 1921 the IFMA membership authorized the establishment of a headquarters office. At the beginning of 1950, however, the office continued to be housed within facilities provided by the missions of the IFMA's elected officers and operated by a part-time executive secretary. In 1950, the office was located in Africa Inland Mission's headquarters in Brooklyn, NY. Later that year it opened its own office in Manhattan. IFMA purchased its first office building in New York City in 1956. In 1960, the IFMA relocated its headquarters in Ridgefield, New Jersey. Thirteen years later in 1973, it moved its headquarters from New Jersey to Wheaton, Illinois, in part to facilitate proximity with other evangelical agencies. After temporarily renting a facility while waiting for the completion of its permanent headquarters, it moved into its permanent Wheaton facility in 1976, where it remained until ca. 2015, when Missio Nexus opened an Atlanta office, which was then closed in 2018. Staff worked remotely afterward, with a Wheaton PO box serving as its mailing address as of 2024.
Annual meetings: The IFMA held its annual business meetings, usually in October, to enable it to elect its officers, vote on resolutions, and address topics of concern, such as qualifications of missionaries, quality of missionaries, deputation, IFMA's assistance to pastors, IFMA as channel for students and volunteers, or training students for mission service.
Literature: Throughout its history, IFMA published or provided access to literature that broadened awareness of missions, including pamphlets, books, and newsletters. In 1930, the Association produced the booklet, Faith Missions. In the 1940s, IFMA utilized Good News Publishing Company and Harrington Press to print its pamphlets. The Association initiated the "IFMA Prayer Bulletin" (1950) and later the bimonthly "IFMA News." Other pieces IFMA provided were "IFMA Opportunities" on personnel needs; "IFMA Update: Government and Business" with its information on tax and government matters, business and financial management; and "IFMA Notes" which consisted of miscellaneous information. Between 1959 and 1962, IFMA also published its "Missions Annual," which contained articles and a compilation of statistics on members' activity worldwide. In terms of books, IFMA was involved in the publication of two books: Faith Mighty Faith on the history of "faith missions," written by J. Herbert Kane and published by IFMA in 1956; Kane later revised Robert Hall Glover's The Progress of World-Wide Missions in 1960.
Committees: As IFMA was an association of active organizations, it accomplished much of its work through the committee structure which became a prominent characteristic of IFMA during the 1940s. The minimal dues required for membership provided a further impetus for the development of the committee structure: committee members rather than a fulltime staff had to accomplish the work of the Association. The following list alphabetically outlines the committees which functioned within IFMA (noting dates of origin when known).
"Conferences: IFMA coordinated a variety of conferences, both to address needs of its membership and the general Christian public. Among these were Bible and missionary conferences, which were targeted more at the laity; these were first held in 1924 and continued through the 1940s. These were replaced with meetings more for the member agencies themselves. A series of conferences began in 1957, addressing various issues of administration; subsequent meetings were held in 1967, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1977, and 1979. Subjects addressed in these meetings included: office management, salaries, pertinent legislation, tax matters, financial systems and planning, and computer applications. Out of these conferences grew two manuals to further assist members in their organizational administration: "Mission Administration Manual," and Accounting and Financial Reporting Guide for Missionary Organizations." In 1960, the Association held the Congress on World Missions (Chicago), aiming to influence pastors and leaders of Christian educational institutions. Followup plans from the congress included a conference to be held in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1964, although those plans did not materialize. However, plans for the IFMA/EFMA Congress on the Church's Worldwide Mission were carried out in 1966. Another series of workshops was held between 1968 and 1970 to foster understanding of the merger process and appropriate merger procedures. IFMA sponsored other meetings, but these were done jointly with EFMA, and are therefore covered in the following section.
Cooperation with EFMA: Although their distinctives prevented a merger, similar goals, theology, and mission principles and practice led to increased cooperation between the IFMA and EFMA, principally in joint committees and jointly sponsored conferences.
In 1959 the two associations undertook their first committee merger by joining their committees on Latin America to form the Evangelical Committee on Latin America (ECLA); they followed with their Africa committees in 1962. The following year (1963) the two associations jointly established the Missionary Journal Committee, which evolved into the Evangelical Missions Information Service, the publisher of Evangelical Missions Quarterly. The Higher Education Committee joined with its EFMA counterpart to form the Committee to Assist Ministry Education Overseas (CAMEO). Other joint IFMA/EFMA committees were: the Committee on Bible Society Concerns, Evangelical Asia Committee, Personnel Committee, and the Mission Review Task Force.
Jointly sponsored meetings took the forms of seminars, workshops, conferences, and congresses. The first of these was a 1963 study conference at Winona Lake, Indiana. The following are other meetings which the two associations sponsored together: the Congress on the Church's Worldwide Mission (1966, Wheaton); a second study conference (1968, Winona Lake); GL'71, "Missions in Tension" (1971, Green Lake, WI, sponsored by the IFMA/EFMA Evangelical Missions Information Service); study conferences that included the Association of Evangelical Professors of Missions (1973, 1976 and 1978, all in Overland Park, Kan.); and a medical consultation to address issues for mission administrators and medical personnel (1977, Farmington, Mich.).
A series of workshops for human resources staff began with IFMA meetings between 1967 and 1970. In 1971, the EFMA committee on personnel merged with that of the IFMA, and together they continued these annual workshops. The meetings focused on personnel issues ranging from recruitment, candidate orientation, staff evaluation, continuing education, a missionary's first term, personnel record keeping, etc.
The two associations cooperated in several other ventures. In 1955, the Summer Institute of Missions developed from an EFMA initiative which later gained the cooperation of IFMA and the Educational Commission of the NAE. Held at Wheaton College during the summer term, the purpose of the institute was to educate students, missionaries, and missions executives through courses on missions. The program was continuing in 1988.
Another achievement was their joint establishment of the Africa Evangelical Office in Nairobi in 1962. By 1965, the leadership had set a goal to appoint an African leader of the office at its 1966 meeting. In addition to achieving that goal, the conference participants united to form the Association of Evangelicals of Africa and Madagascar (AEAM).
Thirdly, the Mission Review Task Force, begun in 1979, sought to provide the members of the associations with a tool for self-evaluation.
For an extended treatment of IFMA's history, please see Jack Frizen's dissertation, "An Historical Study of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association in Relation to Evangelical Unity and Cooperation," 1981.
In 2007, IFMA was renamed CrossGlobal Link, and in 2011 merged with The Mission Exchange (formerly EFMA) to form Missio Nexus.
Extent
76 document cases
38.0 Linear Feet
2 other formats (Oversize Materials, Photographs)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement and Description
Introduction
This collection consists mainly of administrative correspondence and documents relating to the operation of IFMA, coordination of policy among Association members, the administration of its members, and interaction with other organizations. Also included are form letters to IFMA members, and financial statements and statistical reports from them. Other forms of documentation in the collection include minutes, reports, memos, financial records, and promotional material. Researchers should note that the collection's earliest records are from 1934, leaving a 17-year gap between IFMA's formation in 1917 and its first preserved records.
Notes on Arrangement. The collection is broadly arranged as follows:
The arrangement of the records has remained as it was received, although files which were found to be not integrated into the overall arrangement were interfiled. The folder titles have also remained as they were received, being modified only for uniformity and consequent ease of access.
Series: Member Missions Files
Subseries: Member Missions Files | Correspondence
The Member Missions Correspondence subseries is made up of general components: mixed correspondence (folders 1-1 to 5-30; correspondence (folders 5-4 to 37-1); and form letters, "Information Bulletins," and minutes (interspersed between folders 5-4 and 37-1. The more specific types of documents in the subseries include correspondence, minutes, form letters, financial statements, statistical reports, invoices, receipts, etc., documenting the following service functions of the Association:
The primary component of this subseries is IFMA's administrative correspondence with its members. The following topics covered in the correspondence highlight the role IFMA played, both with its members and the general Christian community:
As the early administrators of IFMA were executives of member missions, these leaders' correspondence is not only bulkier but often provides insight into their own mission's activity and philosophy of ministry. The files of a number of the founding or earliest members also tend to be more extensive, reflecting their more extensive use of IFMA services (therefore more receipts for literature, prayer letters, etc.) and interaction with and/or influence on IFMA policy-making. The researcher should therefore consult the appended list of IFMA's executives to note their corresponding organizational affiliation and the list of organizations and their years of membership in IFMA. Finally, throughout the subseries, the correspondence is predominated by that of the individuals who held with the posts of president and secretary. Researchers should also consult the appended full list of IFMA's administrators and board members in order to determine the time period in which an individual's correspondence is most likely to appear. The nature of this correspondence is often routine but illustrates both the IFMA's responsibilities to its members as well as the ongoing developments as they relate to IFMA of the member missions.
Researchers should be prepared to encounter one frustration: letters may refer to attached documents, when in many cases they are no longer filed with the cover letter referring to them.
A comment in a memo attached to an 11/19/59 letter (folder 14-2, contained in stapled packet of correspondence covered by a 1/20/60 letter) from Arthur Glasser to J.O. Percy highlights a broad characteristic of the records which may also frustrate the researcher: the records, rather than documenting overseas work by member missions, deal much more with issues related to their United States-based administration. "...the purpose of IFMA appears to be largely to stimulate fellowship between the missions and missionaries of its membership and to share information on matters pertaining to the home end of the work. The field with its many problems, etc. is not part of the central interest of IFMA. ... The thrust of IFMA is in the direction of the home end of things, not the field." The response to this from IFMA was "We feel, therefore, that our basic activity is not on the field, but rather in the homeland where we seek to arouse the Christian public to the opportunities of the hour, and where we seek to cement the fellowship of our fundamental societies and to do all we can to further missions in the homeland."
The folders forming the earliest portion of this subseries are arranged alphabetically by letter, rather than by name of member mission, as is the case for the majority of the subseries. In some cases, documents were filed by name of individual, in others by name of organization, i.e., a letter from Walter C. Allen on behalf of the Soldiers and Gospel Mission might be located in the "A" file (folder 1-1) or the "S" file (folder 4-13). For this reason the researcher may need to review a number of files to construct a full series of correspondence on a topic. In most cases, the documents are arranged with the earliest document at the back of the file, the most recent at the front. Researchers should note that the 1934-1943 component of the subseries lacks the "T" through "Z" files, while the 1943-1945 portion does not begin until the "G" file.
Although this earliest portion is included under the "Member Missions" subseries, it contains a wider spectrum of material, some of it unrelated to member missions, such as that from individuals. The materials fall into two general categories: 1) correspondence with member missions and 2) orders for literature (both by members and individuals and churches); in some files, the later predominates, and these files may therefore appear to document only the most routine matters for the time period. However, this routine invoicing information about literature orders provides a glimpse into IFMA's role as a source of information about missionary work, not only to mission agencies but to individuals considering a missionary career; churches considering supporting a missionary with a particular agency; and Christian schools seeking to encourage missions involvement. These files also illustrate IFMA achieving its own goal to promote missions interest among the general Christian public. Through these records the researcher can get a glimpse of the extensive public IFMA was serving through its modest literature program.
However, as the following examples illustrate, this mixed portion of the files also contains material revealing the administrative developments in IFMA and its members.
Highlighted items:
The major portion of the Member Mission Correspondence commences with folder 5-4, each file documenting exchanges with a single mission. Unlike the previous portion, the correspondence in these files is limited to that with representatives of IFMA's membership. The general types of items located in these files are annual reports, special reports, press releases, completed questionnaires with general organizational information, and correspondence documenting the application process. However, the contents of these files is similar to that of the previous portion in that they contain documents discussing policy; invoices for literature, supplies or equipment to be sent to the mission field or used at the administrative headquarters; and notices for overdue membership dues. Although the time coverage of each file spans two calendar years, they are actually limited to a one year period from September through the following August.
Even though IFMA members united by common theological beliefs and agreed-upon standards, the Association was nonetheless a gathering of independent agencies with varying philosophies and methodologies. Understandably, therefore, various issues were debated throughout the membership. For example, in 1946 there was discussion of the EFMA's offer to affiliate with it, touching on the specific issues of the denominational and sometimes Pentecostal character of EFMA's membership, as well as the more general issue of cooperation among evangelicals and fundamentalists. The relationship with EFMA continued to be a topic of debate into the 1960s, when the two associations formed a joint committee, the Evangelical Committee on Latin America (ECLA). Aside from the relationship with EFMA, the whole topic of cooperation in general was a source of ongoing discussion. Attitudes to fundraising was another topic discussed, in 1942 in regard to Sudan Interior Mission's alleged deviation from the "faith principle" of fundraising practices (folder 1-14) and in the early 1950's over the issue of the "faith promise" form of soliciting financial support. The use of the term "faith missions" was also a topic of debate.
Other issues dealt with were conferences, coordinating resources, IFMA representatives’ involvement in lobbying the U.S. Congress, implications of changes in the tax laws on charitable giving, and the review of applications for membership, etc. Some files contain the letters of acceptance when a mission initially joined the Association, along with a statement of responsibilities and rights. Various files document the intricacies of church state relationships in the issue of tax laws, and agencies' relationships with foreign governments. As might be expected, the files also document issues which were of importance within the life of a particular organization.
Up to the 1968-1969 portion of the subseries, minutes from committee and executive council meetings are filed in the form letter folders for each time period. Beginning with the 1968-1969 portion, they are filed in member mission folders.
The scope of the material available is vast and exceeds the possibility of detailed description. The examples which follow therefore underscore the wealth of material by illustration. Researchers should note that issues referred to in one folder may or may not be covered in the correspondence of other members during the particular time covered.
Highlighted items:
Sprinkled throughout the members correspondence subseries are files containing form letters, minutes, and information bulletins. All of these were duplicated items for general circulation among IFMA members. The form letters were duplicated letters sent to members from the IFMA office regarding matters of business, annual meetings, and the applications of organizations to join IFMA; interfiled among these are press releases. The minutes were those of the Association's Executive Committee, Trustees, Board, and committees, and in some cases contained financial statements of IFMA and the lists of the membership of all the Association's committees. Some correspondence relating to the meetings documented in the minutes is also intermingled in the files. Information bulletins were notices of services available to members' and their missionaries about equipment, postal rates, housing, speaking engagements, automobiles, travel fares, and other resources. A full set of these bulletins is located in folder 13-8. In 1963, these bulletins were retitled and modified as "IFMA Notes," containing a wider variety of pertinent information (tax laws, technical information on equipment, foreign laws affecting missionaries, etc.), as well as news items of general interest to the membership ("Books of Interest" and "Books Critical to Missions"). Together these files provide thorough coverage of administrative developments in IFMA and the decision process carried out by its members. Periodic reference is made to the relationship between IFMA and EFMA, and the minutes, form letters, etc., document the transition of the relationship between the two associations. Commencing with the 1968 form letter files, minutes from various committee meetings are no longer filed there, although the files do contain some meeting agendas; the minutes are instead found sprinkled throughout the member mission correspondence. Minutes for meetings are again included in the form letter files beginning with the 1976 file (folder 36-7) and continue through the 1980 file (folder 36-11).
Highlighted items - Several files from the concluding portion of the Member Mission Correspondence contain information of particular interest.
Subseries: Member Missions Files | Financial Statements
The folders in this subseries contain in various formats the financial reports sent to the IFMA office by its member missions. These reports range from abbreviated one-page summaries to more extensive accountants' audits; in most cases these consistently note receipts and disbursements. A full list of the member missions whose financial reports are available is found in the Box List of this guide. The researcher should be alert to the fact that the time coverage of these reports is varied.
In some cases, such as the Evangelical Union of South America, reports have been included for both the Canadian and United States divisions of the mission. Some of these files also contain duplicated statements of philosophy of fundraising and use of income. Researchers should also note that these files occasionally contain annual reports which include a financial report but also include reports on the work of the mission.
One item bears mentioning as it would otherwise remain hidden: the file on Far Eastern Gospel Crusade (folder 38-1) also contains an audit on Missionary Internship, an agency providing pre-field orientation in cross-cultural training, which was started by FEGC.
Additional financial statements can be found among the statistical reports for the years 1952 through 1956 in the subseries which follows (Member Missions: Statistics).
Subseries: Member Missions Files | Statistical Reports
The folders in this subseries contain the forms annually completed by IFMA members, detailing personnel figures and in some cases areas of ministry. While the forms evolved over the time period documented, they consistently record:
The data on these forms is limited to numbers and does not include the names of individual workers. Later reports also record the following for personnel: career vs. short term classification, gender and marital status. There is a five-year break in this subseries, with the statistical reports from 1970 through 1974 files missing.
For the reporting years 1957 and 1958, member missions completed an additional form, detailing station activity, identifying such items as print shops, hospitals, leper settlements, Bible schools or seminaries and national workers, radio ministry, and magazines. All but the first file (1950) in the series contain summary documents totaling the data from the individual reports, with a cross-tabulation listing each of the missions working in a particular country. In all but the first several files, this summary is in the form of a duplicated statistical report. Many of the earlier files (1952 through 1956) also include financial statements for IFMA's members (described in the previous section).
Highlighted items: For several of the years, other documents appear in the statistics files which researchers should be aware of:
The following list, arranged alphabetically by member mission, identifies the folder numbers for each:
Series: General Files (folders 44-1 to 51-7, 76-1
The files in boxes 44 through 51 document various IFMA projects and associations. They relate to such diverse topics as: conferences hosted by or in which IFMA participated; coordination of medical services for missionaries of member missions; financial reports; and publications. The files are arranged in alphabetical order by folder title, and the titles are sufficiently specific indicate their contents to the researcher. However, some items bear more extended highlighting or explanation.
Highlighted items:
Series: Other Organizations Files (folders 44-1 to 51-7, 76-1
The files in this subseries document the communication IFMA had with numerous other Christian parachurch agencies which were not IFMA members, including those it was instrumental in establishing, such as the Association of Church Missions Committees (ACMC) and those applying to join IFMA. Many of these files contain not only correspondence between the IFMA and the respective office but promotional literature and financial reports as well. Several of these, like the Navigators file (folder 63 3) contain statistical reports like those filled out by IFMA member missions on the geographical distribution of its staff. While the files may not contain extensive series of correspondence, they usually do include background information on the particular or-ganization, such as "Your Questions Answered Concerning Operation Mobilization" or "The Financial Policy of 'Send the Light' and 'Operation Mobilization'" (folder 63 6). They also may include a copies of a statement of faith, operational procedures, prayer letters, news releases, financial reports, etc. The issues dealt with in these interchanges are as varied as are the organizations. However, there is a great deal of intersection between the topics discussed in the files and they also break out into several general subject areas: application for membership, financial accountability, and fundraising (folders 58-3,4).
This material does not tend to be in-depth administrative correspondence. Far more of it is the routine communication provided by organizations to keep other institutions aware of their current status.
Highlighted items - The following highlight a few items which might not be evident from the folder titles. These are examples, although not representative, of the wealth of data available in this subseries:
Series: Reference Files
This subseries consists of a series of booklets produced by the Assemblies of God Foreign Missions Department. Each booklet includes general background information on the country as well as an overview, in both statistical and narrative form, of the AOG's mission work in the country. The booklets are arranged alphabetically by the following titles:
IFMA's reference files also include a series of maps of South American, Central American, and Caribbean countries. These maps note in extensive detail various sites of ministry in numerous countries. Each map includes: provincial boundaries and populations; urban populations; a list of missions active in the country; and identification of organized churches, unorganized churches and other ministries. The researcher should consult the Box List of this guide for a complete list of those countries covered in this survey.
Series: Miscellaneous Correspondence Files
This concluding subseries consists of assorted correspondence, related to inquiries IFMA received for information, literature, subscription information for IFMA News, inquiries about employment openings overseas, IFMA orders of literature or publications for its resource library, inquiries about member and non-member missions, etc. This material is similar to the interspersed contents of the folders in the initial portion of Missions Members | Correspondence subseries. Divided into three sections (1971-1972, 1972-1973, and 1973-1976), a representative sample has been retained in the collection, with its majority being discarded at the request of the donor. The IFMA Executive Director also identified a few significant documents not retrieved in the sample, which are gathered in folder 75-10.
Highlighted items:In the midst of the documentation of IFMA's routine administrative process, a few highlights stand out:
Custodial History
Accessions: 84-32, 84-106
December 11, 1989, revised
Provenance
Created and maintained by officers and staff of IFMA until the transfer of the documents to the Billy Graham Center Archives in February and August 1984.
- Aeronautics in missionary work.
- Africa Evangelical Fellowship.
- Africa Inland Mission.
- Anti-communist movements -- United States.
- Association of Church Missions Committees.
- Belgian Gospel Mission.
- Berean Mission.
- Bible colleges -- United States.
- Catholic Church -- Relations -- Protestant churches.
- Children of missionaries.
- China -- History -- 1937-1945.
- China Inland Mission.
- Christian education.
- Christian literature -- Publishing -- United States.
- Church -- Biblical teaching.
- Church and state -- Turkey.
- Church and state -- United States.
- Church development, New.
- College students in missionary work.
- Committee to Assist Missionary Education Overseas.
- Communication in organizations.
- Communism.
- Congo (Democratic Republic) -- History -- Civil War, 1960-1965.
- Consolidation and merger of corporations.
- Corporate reorganizations.
- Corporations, Religious -- Taxation -- United States.
- Counseling.
- Ecumenical movement.
- Evangelical Alliance Mission.
- Evangelical Committee on Latin America.
- Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies (2012-)
- Evangelical Literature Overseas.
- Evangelical missions quarterly.
- Evangelicalism.
- Evangelistic work -- Africa.
- Evangelistic work -- Asia.
- Evangelistic work -- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Evangelistic work -- Congresses.
- Evangelistic work -- Europe.
- Evangelistic work -- Philosophy.
- Far East Broadcasting Company.
- Frizen, E. L.
- Fund raising.
- Fundamentalism.
- Gospel Missionary Union.
- Graham, Billy, 1918-2018.
- Independent churches -- United States.
- Indigenous church administration.
- Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.
- InterAct Ministries.
- International relief.
- Interorganizational relations -- United States.
- Islam -- Relations -- Christianity.
- Jones, Bob, 1883-1968.
- Journalism, Religious.
- Latin America Mission.
- Management.
- Mexican Indian Mission.
- Mission Aviation Fellowship.
- Mission Training International.
- Missionaries -- Training of.
- Missionaries -- Appointment, call, and election.
- Missionaries -- Leaves and furloughs.
- Missionaries -- Salaries, etc.
- Missions -- Administration.
- Missions -- Africa.
- Missions -- Asia.
- Missions -- Biblical teaching.
- Missions -- Caribbean Area.
- Missions -- Central America.
- Missions -- Congresses.
- Missions -- Europe.
- Missions -- Finance.
- Missions -- Interdenominational cooperation.
- Missions -- Middle East.
- Missions -- North America.
- Missions -- Oceania.
- Missions -- Public relations.
- Missions -- South America.
- Missions -- Study and teaching.
- Missions -- Theory.
- Missions to Muslims.
- Modernist-fundamentalist controversy.
- New York World's Fair (1964-1965 : New York, N.Y.)
- OMF International.
- Orinoco River Mission.
- Pentecostalism.
- Percy, J. O. (John Ottley), 1908-
- Personnel management.
- Refugees -- Afghanistan.
- Refugees -- Ethiopia.
- Regions Beyond Missionary Union.
- Religious institutions.
- SEND International.
- Short Terms Abroad (Organization)
- Short-term missions.
- Slavic Gospel Association.
- South America Mission.
- Sudan Interior Mission.
- Theology -- Study and teaching -- Asia.
- Unevangelized Fields Mission (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- Wheaton '83: An International Evangelical Conference on the Nature and Mission of the Church.
- Wheaton College (Ill.)
- World Evangelical Fellowship.
- World Relief. (U.S.)
- Worldwide Christian Education Ministries.
Creator
- Title
- Collection 352 Records of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association (IFMA)
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Evangelism & Missions Archives Repository