The second volume of Profiles in Mission is a smorgasbord of historical morsels picked from the history of the Atlantic Mission Society and its predecessors. Not a mere continuation from the first volume, it offers new and tasty bits of information from biographies, eulogies, poems, excerpts from The Presbyterian Message, letters from missionaries and other overseas workers, as well as reflections from past and present members of the AMS.
Founded in October 1876 as the Halifax Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, this organization became the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society in 1885, and the Woman’s Foreign and Home Missionary Society in 1905. Ten years later, the fellowship signalled its solidarity, but not its organizational unity, with the Woman’s Missionary Society (Western Division) by renaming itself the Woman’s Missionary Society (Eastern Division). While the former was a creation of the General Assembly, the latter had its origin in a relationship with the Foreign Mission Board (Eastern Division) and subsequently saw itself as a supporter of the General Board of Missions. In 1987, after prolonged and heated debate, the Eastern Division re – branded itself as inclusive of both genders and called itself the Atlantic Mission Society.
The strength of Profiles in Mission is the variety—even if eclectic—of its source materials. The first unit, for example, reproduces original documents on the pioneer mission in Trinidad including short biographies of Rev. John and Sarah Morton, a modern reflection on the mission in Trinidad, a report by the first teacher, an excerpt from a letter written some 20 years after the mission was founded, a 1921 article about the mission, and a biography of a daughter of the Mortons, who became president of the WMS. Subsequent sections proffer similar collections on mission in the Hebrides (today’s Vanuatu), British Guiana (today’s Guyana), and Korea, detailing the work of the missionaries, deaconesses, doctors and nurses who answered the Great Commission’s call.
Also of great value are lesser – known pieces on the union of 1925. When most of the staff of The Message moved to the United Church, loyalists revived their magazine as The Presbyterian Message. Similarly, a core of the eastern division retained its ties to the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Many nuggets of information also provide insight into the role of women in the church. Not surprisingly, several letters and articles lament the fact that women were shut out of church offices, leaving them to teach Sunday school and support missions. More subtle is a note from Prince Edward Island’s Knox Auxiliary. After having travelled by horse and buggy for meetings in a lady’s home, “it was not uncommon,” one member observed, “for the man of the house to take part by leading in prayer.” Also telling is how long the AMS referred to women by their husband’s name rather than their own first names.
What emerges from this wealth of raw information is the crucial role women played in keeping Christ’s Great Commission on the agendas of the men who ruled the church. Moreover, Profiles in Mission illustrates the absolutely essential support church women gave to those men and women who ventured overseas for the same great purpose.
