Mission Research
&
Archives
OMF Mission Research publishes the Mission Round Table journal, organizes a mission research consultation every three years, interacts with field and sending centers about important missiological issues, networks with worldwide archives.
If you have questions for the Mission Research Department, please submit them using the contact form below.
Collecting our past today, preserving it for tomorrow
Mission Round Table
The OMF journal for Reflective Practitioners
Mission Round Table focuses on contemporary mission in Asia viewed from the perspective of reflective practitioners. Articles are designed to provide biblical, theological, and missiological foundations for thinking about mission and real-life examples that anchor the theory in practice.
Latest Issue
The cover image is a painting of trees by Benjamin Koh Chong Jin © 2017. To learn more about Ben, see page 10 . To see more of Ben’s artwork, visit https://www.facebook.com/BenKoh.ArtJourney/ or contact his father Harold at haroldkhkoh@gmail.com.
Vol. 15 no. 2 (May-Aug 2020)
“This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Ministry to, with, and by People with Disabilities
The Gospel of Matthew introduces the person and work of Jesus by summarizing his preaching and healing roles and how people came to be healed. Later, Jesus passed these ministries on to his apostles whom he charged to “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Matt 10:8). His ministry was to be duplicated in their ministries.
God’s servants have always reached out to others in word and deed. Indeed, God has used many who were sick and became well—like the man freed from demons who Jesus commanded to “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you” (Luke 8:39)—and others who served despite their sickness—like Paul, with his thorn in the flesh. Gospel ministry has always been to, with, and by people with various disabilities.
A remarkable case in point is one of the first recruits to the China Inland Mission. George Stott was a Scotsman who came to faith at 21 while recuperating from an operation to remove his leg. After working for several years as a teacher, Stott heard about the needs of China and determined to go. When asked how he could do this on one leg, he replied: “I do not see those with two legs going, so I must.” Stott was the first Protestant missionary to work in Wenzhou, a city that now traces its large, vibrant church to this one-legged saint.
Most of the articles in this issue follow in George Stott’s shadow by introducing us to missionaries who have been faithful in ministry despite their handicaps. The first article considers what makes a human a human. Arguing that the philosophical assumptions underlying many of these views inevitably dehumanize people with disabilities, the paper demonstrates that only a biblical understanding of humanity will bring justice for all.
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OMF Archives
Collecting our past today and preserving it for tomorrow
The materials preserved give insight into the past and provide historical information relating to the growth of Christ’s church in East Asia.
The archives hold many stories of what God has done. Telling the story gives God the glory.
CIM-OMF archive materials are held in various OMF centers as well as the institutions listed below.
Researchers who wish to access materials at the OMF International Center Archives can apply to do so by submitting the contact form below. The form must be received at least one month before a proposed visit.
We welcome donations of materials of historical interest related to CIM/OMF.
If you wish to donate materials, please tell us more about the items by submitting the contact form to our archives.
OMF International Archives, Singapore
The holdings at OMF International Archives include collections of CIM-OMF books, public and internal publications, audio-visual materials produced by CIM-OMF, and microfilm of CIM holdings in the Billy Graham Center. Documents held relate to CIM, most of which are post-1950 relating to the operations of OMF International Headquarters.
OMF UK Archives
The holdings at OMF UK include extensive collections of photos, books, periodicals, prayer letters, maps and other records, some dating from the foundation of CIM, and some relating to mission in China generally, pre-dating CIM. There is also an archive of individual CIM/OMF missionaries’ documents, both paper and electronic. There are also audio-visual materials relating to OMF.
OMF US Archives
The OMF USA archives is composed primarily of books and periodicals relating to the history and work of CIM/OMF in East Asia, as well as information relating to various American missionaries affiliated with the organization; material specific to the US offices (previously located in Pennsylvania); and post-1950s operations and administrative documentation.
Archives of CIM Publications
China Inland Mission published the first edition of its monthly magazine China’s Millions in London in July 1875. Publication of the North American and Australisian editions of China’s Millions began in 1893. Scanned copies of the British and North American editions of China’s Millions (1875-1935) can be downloaded from the Internet Archives and Yale University.
Other CIM publications, including books and reports are also available for download from the Internet Archives.
There are also archive holdings of CIM-OMF materials in:
SOAS Library, Archives & Special Collections, London
Billy Graham Center Archives at Wheaton College, USA
Hong Kong Baptist University Library, Hong Kong
SOAS University of London
The holdings are mainly pre-1950s: CIM-OMF records, including London Council minutes; CIM China Council minutes; James Hudson Taylor papers; personal and private papers of missionaries; records relating to Chefoo Schools; CIM photographs; CIM-OMF publications (directories of missionaries and mission stations, field bulletins, China Millions/East Asia Millions, etc).
Billy Graham Center
The holdings are mainly pre-1950s: correspondence, minutes, directories, newsletters, brochures, photographs, book manuscripts, slides, audio tapes, photo albums, and materials documenting the origins of the CIM North American branch; church planting, evangelistic, medical, educational and literature work in China up to 1951; CIM’s reorganization into OMF.
Hong Kong Baptist University
The holdings are microform materials from SOAS. Its section on Digitization Projects includes a “China Through the Eyes of CIM Missionaries” database that contains 225 lantern slide and glass plate negative images of portraits, landscapes, scenery and architecture in China as well as shots documenting the socio-economic activities of the Chinese from the 1900s to the 1930s.
