Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church. Board of World Missions.

See also AUG 24/2/1 Background.

As part of the Augustana Foreign Missionary Society, later known as the Augustana Association for Christian Missions, mission to create an interest in foreign mission work, it published The Missionary Calendar. Its first issue appeared in 1921 and according to the society's president G. Fred Andree, the reason for publishing a calendar was the need for such a publication for young people, and that the publication carried the message that the Gospel was the power of God to lead those who believed to salvation. This type of calendar was an annual publication, similar to an almanac that provided information pertaining to mission work, home and foreign. Each volume had poems, articles, photographs, maps, charts, reports of foreign mission work of various North American Lutheran Church bodies, including the Augustana Synod. The education committee of the Augustana Foreign Missionary Society edited its annual volumes and the Augustan Book Concern, Rock Island, Illinois, published the volumes.

The first few volumes were divided into two parts. The first part generally included the poems, reminiscences, and stories of mission experiences, while the second part contained reports related to mission fields, articles on specific topics, and historical sketches. Later volumes had articles divided by country or topic. Each volume also had a preface explaining the purpose of the publication, written by the society's president. Beginning with volume five, each is given a title that is the general theme of the publication. Volume nine included a redesign that structured the publication in such a way as to include educational programs for organizations interested in furthering the cause of missions: individual missionary societies, Luther Leagues, and others. It appears that depending on who was editing the publication, the layout and organization changed from year to year. Publication of the calendar stopped with volume ten in 1930. According to society minutes from January 22, 1931, a resolution was passed not to publish a volume in 1932. In addition, in minutes from the March 1932 meeting, arrangements were made with the book concern to sell remaining extra copies of the calendar.