Haystack Prayer Meeting
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The Haystack Prayer Meeting, which was held in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States in August of 1806, is viewed by many scholars as the seminal event for the development of Protestant Missions in the subsequent decades and centuries.[1]
On a hot summer day, a few Williams College students gathered in a field to discuss the spiritual welfare of the people of Asia. When a thunderstorm developed over the field, the students took refuge in the lee of a large haystack and continued their prayer meeting. Hence the name, Haystack Prayer Meeting.[2] The meeting was led by Samuel John Mills.
Within four years of that gathering, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was established. In 1812 it sent forth its first missionaries.[3]
In 1906, the ABCFM held a centennial commemoration. Several commemorations took place during 2006, including one at the site of the first prayer gathering. Groups considered to be spiritual heirs of the HPM include Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Student Volunteer Movement-2 (SVM-2).
In preparation for the 200th Anniversary, Global Ministries offered resources on the Haystack Prayer Meeting and the study of mission, which are available at 200 Years of Mission: The Haystack Anniversary
In 2005 IVCF established the haystack06.org website, which includes history, commemoration and motivation centering on the Haystack Prayer Meeting and the movement that developed from it.
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[edit] Detailed History History of the Haystack Prayer Meeting
Five Williams College students met in the summer of 1806, in a grove of trees near the Hoosack River, then known as Sloan's Meadow, and debated the theology of missionary service. Their meeting was suddenly interrupted by a thunderstorm and the students: Samuel John Mills, James Richards, Francis L. Robbins, Harvey Loomis, and Byram Green took shelter under a haystack until the sky cleared. "The brevity of the shower, the strangeness of the place of refuge, and the peculiarity of their topic of prayer and conference all took hold of their imaginations and their memories."
In 1808 the Haystack Prayer group and other Williams students began a group called "The Brethren." This group was organized to "effect, in the persons of its members, a mission to" those who were not Christians. In 1812, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (created in 1810) sent its first missionaries - to the Indian subcontinent.
Samuel John Mills became the Haystack person with the greatest influence on the modern mission movement. He played a role in the founding of the American Bible Society and the United Foreign Missionary Society.
Through the work of Byram Green, a monument was erected in Mission Park in Williamstown, MA in 1867 to honor the five men involved in the Haystack prayer meeting. In 1906 a gathering took place in Mission Park at Williams College in Massachusetts to remember the prayer meeting of one hundred years before. In the summer of 2006, those committed to mission today will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Haystack prayer meeting
As well as being the first documented resolution ever made by Americans to begin foreign missionary work, the 1806 Haystack meeting has been credited with leading to the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). The ABCFM gave students an opportunity to go abroad and spread the teachings of Christianity.
In its first fifty years, the ABCFM sent out over 1250 missionaries. Most were from the smaller towns and farm villages of New England. Few were affluent, but many were trained in colleges where they received a classical education, which included Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. When they reached the mission field, they were able to translate the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into difficult and often previously unwritten languages. They built educational systems in their lands of ministry and were often called upon to advise foreign governments.
Missionary reports were printed in the Missionary Herald, the magazine of the American Board established in 1821. For many Christians in America, the Missionary Herald was their window to the world. Descriptions of native customs, history, economic activities, and geographical features were included along with accounts of the influence of the Gospel on these far off lands. In a day before TV, radio, or rapid communications, such missionary reports became prime information for many Americans about foreign lands.
The ABCFM saw to it that schools and hospitals were established in all the mission fields. Native leaders were trained to continue the work of the ministry.
In 1961 the American Board merged to form the United Church Board for World Missions (UCBWM). After 150 years, the American Board had sent out nearly 5000 missionaries to 34 different fields, and it all began with five young men praying in a haystack.
In 2000, the UCBWM evolved into Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ, which still exists today and is involved in mission around the world through [1], in partnership with the Division of Overseas Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
[edit] Timeline of Mission
A timeline of the history of mission from that first meeting in 1806 through today.
1806 Original Haystack Prayer Meeting at Sloan's Meadow by five Williams College students in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
1808 Samuel Mills forms The Brethren, dedicated to spreading the message about missionary service
1810 America's first foreign mission society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) is formed by Congregationalists in Massachusetts
1812 ABCFM sends its first group of five missionaries to India, (including Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice)
1819 ABCFM sends first missionaries to Near East, including Turkey and Palestine, ABCFM sends first missionaries to Hawaii (Sandwich Islands)
1821 The Missionary Herald, ABCFM's magazine of missionary reports is established
1830 ABCFM sends first missionaries to China, including Elijah Coleman Bridgman
1833 ABCFM sends first missionaries to Africa
1854 Byram Green returns to Williamstown, telling of the original meeting and pointing out the site of the haystack. Consequently, Sloan's Meadow is purchased and renamed Mission Park
1856 Semi-centennial of the Haystack Meeting is celebrated
1867 Marble monument is erected and dedicated on the site of the original meeting
1868 Woman's Boards of Missions established
1906 Centennial anniversary of the Haystack Meeting is celebrated in Williamstown
1931 Merger of Congregational and Christian churches, forming Congregational Christian Church, with the ABCFM
1934 Merger of the Evangelical Synod of North America and Reformed Church in the United States, forming the Evangelical and Reformed Church, with its Board of International Missions
1956 157th Annual Meeting of the ABCFM and Sesquicentennial of the Haystack Meeting celebrated in Williamstown
1957 United Church of Christ established by the merger of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church
1961 ABCFM merges with Board of International Missions to form the United Church Board for World Ministries (UCBWM)
1981 175th Anniversary of the Haystack Meeting celebrated in Williamstown
1995 Global Ministries is established as a partnership between the UCBWM of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Division of Overseas Ministries (DOM) of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
2000 UCBWM becomes Wider Church Ministries, one of four UCC covenanted ministries. Wider Church Ministries remains in partnership with DOM through Global Ministries
2006 200th anniversary celebration of the Haystack event in Williamstown, MA
