Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region

The Friends Africa Industrial Mission began in 1903 in Kaimosi, now a town in Western Kenya. In the book Foreign mission work of American Friends; a brief history of their work from the beginning to the year 1912, by the American Friends Board of Foreign Missions, the mission was described as follows: The "Primary Object of the Friends' Africa Industrial Mission," as officially recorded in the outset and ever since emphasized by both the Board and the missionaries, "is the evangelization of the heathen. The industrial feature is introduced into the work for the purpose of exerting a continuous Christian influence on the natives employed, in the hope of obtaining the following results, viz. : to teach them habits of industry and ultimately to establish a self-supporting native Christian church." (p. 77) Although most of the collection pertains to the F.A.I.M., EFC-ER missionary work continues in Africa, and some materials related to more recent missionary activity.

From the guide to the Friends Foreign Mission Audio Visual Collection: Africa., 1901-1976, (Malone University, Everett L Cattell Library)

The first missionary presence of the Friends church in India was in 1892, when four missionaries, Esther Baird and Delia Fistler from the Ohio Yearly Meeting and Martha Barber and Mary Thomas of Tennessee arrived to begin their ministry under the Methodist Episcopal church. Four years later, Fistler, Baird and Barber opened a separate mission for the Friends church in Nowgong, located in the Bundelkhand District. The mission grew to include Friends missionaries from many different regions, including the North Carolina, Oregon, and New England Yearly Meetings. In 1900, a land lease was secured to allow the mission to move from a rented bungalow to a large property with several buildings, walls, and wells. In 1904, the mission expanded to Harpalpur, a nearby commercial and transit center. Building orphanages, schools and hospitals, the mission continued to grow, and in 1907, the India Mission Council was formed by order of the Friends Foreign Missionary Society of the Ohio Yearly Meeting (now Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region). In 1954, the India Mission Council chose to begin including Indians among their ranks in an advisory capacity, appointed by the Bundelkhand Masihi Mitra Samaj (BMMS) Yearly Meeting. Then, in 1961, the BMMS gained autonomy as a self-governing Yearly Meeting.

From the guide to the Friends Foreign Mission Audio Visual Collection: India., 1949-1966, (Malone University, Everett L Cattell Library)

The overseas missionary work of the Ohio Yearly Meeting (now Evangelical Friends Church-Eastern Region) began in 1887 with Esther Butler traveling to China. Foreign missionary work continues to the present day. This collection contains the personal records from different missionaries, both from their mission years and their personal lives before and after.

From the guide to the Friends Foreign Mission Collection: Missionary Collections, 1888-2012, (Malone University, Everett L Cattell Library)

The Friends missionary work in China began in 1887 with the arrival in Nanking of Esther Butler. She worked in the Philander Smith Hospital, learning the language and customs of the people, until 1890, at which time land was secured and a missionary home was built. The compound was closed and evacuated several times during its early years due to civil and political unrest, including the Nanking Incident of 1927, and the missionaries there endured great danger and hardship. Plans to form a mission center in Taiwan (Formosa) began in 1951 and the Formosa mission was established in 1952.

From the guide to the Friends Foreign Mission Audio Visual Collection: China and Taiwan, 1899-1989, (Malone University, Everett L Cattell Library)