• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In

MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission Matters
          • Members Only Feed
          • Missions Podcast DirectoryNew
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
          • UkraineNew
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Bible Certificate
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Missions DataNew
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Evangelical Views on Women in Ministry & Marriage: Differences in Interpretation, Not Inspiration
            Fri May 20, 2022, 04:00 PM PDT
          • Webinar: An Introduction to the Theology and Practice of Cross-Cultural Risk
            Thu May 26 2022, 12:00pm EDT
          • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
            Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missions DataNew
          • Missiographics
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 Resources
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Evangelical Views on Women in Ministry & Marriage: Differences in Interpretation, Not Inspiration
    Fri May 20, 2022, 04:00 PM PDT
  • Webinar: An Introduction to the Theology and Practice of Cross-Cultural Risk
    Thu May 26 2022, 12:00pm EDT
  • Pocket Guide to Being a Missions Pastor: 5 Things Every Missions Pastor Needs to Know
    Wed Jun 1 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • From Harlem to the World - the Local Church Mobilized for Global Missions
    Wed Aug 3 2022, 01:00pm EDT
  • Innovation Leaders Discussion
    Mon Aug 8 2022, 01:00pm EDT

View all events »

Topics

author interview CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Disciple Making Discipleship Focus Future Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Member Care Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Podcast Presenter Pursuing Partnerships Series Research Risk Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached Weekly Roundup Women Women in Leadership

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

The Kingdom of Character: The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1886-1926

Posted on October 1, 2008 by Ted EslerOctober 1, 2008

by Michael Parker

Parker traces the history of the SVM by focusing on a variety of themes that shaped the movement’s birth and development.

William Carey Library, 1605 E. Elizabeth St., Pasadena, CA 91104, 2008, 304 pages, $24.99.

—Reviewed by Timothy R. Sisk, chair and professor, Department of World Missions & Evangelism, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois.

Youth movements have often been at the forefront in leading political, social, and even missiological revolutions. Michael Parker thoroughly captures the influential role that the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions (SVM) played in the dramatic surge in the number of Protestant missionaries at the turn of the twentieth century. SVM was founded in 1886 at a student conference presided over by Dwight L. Moody and held at Mount Hermon, Massachusetts. At this conference, one hundred students pledged to become missionaries and thus launched the most geographically far-reaching and successful missionary recruitment organization in Protestant missions.

Built upon the watchword “the evangelization of the world in this generation,” and led by young and energetic leaders such as John Mott, Robert Speer, Robert Wilder, Sherwood Eddy, and Ruth Rouse, SVM sent mobilizers to college campuses across the United States seeking to promote “missionary intelligence” through the distribution of literature and the establishment of missionary prayer bands and challenging students to pledge their lives for missionary service.

Parker traces the history of the SVM by focusing on a variety of themes that shaped the movement’s birth and development. Examples of themes covered in the book include: the masculinization of Christianity, the role of women in the missions movement, the global growth of SVM, and the methods by which SVM recruited students to action.

One particularly relevant chapter, given the renewed debate today in evangelical missiology concerning the role of gospel proclamation (prioritism vs. holism), is Parker’s chapter entitled “The Social Gospel and the Great War.” This chapter is extremely helpful in giving one a historical perspective of how, following World War I, social concerns overwhelmed and eventually replaced gospel proclamation as the central thrust of missions.

A helpful feature that Parker has included at the end of each chapter is a two to three paragraph summary of the chapter. For those readers who do not necessarily want all of the historical details, these summaries are handy in providing one with enough of an overview of the chapter so that one can still follow the flow of the book. Parker’s coverage of the most influential years of The Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions is thorough and insightful, and its reading will benefit missionaries, missiologists, and local church leaders who, instead of ignoring history, desire to learn beneficial lessons from it.

Check these titles:
Fortunak, Laurie, ed. 2008. The Evangelization of the World in This Generation. Wheaton, Ill.: Evangelism and Missions Information Service.

Hopkins, C. Howard. 1980. John R. Mott. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.

Robert, Dana Lee. 2003. Occupy Until I Come: A. T. Pierson and the Evangelization of the World. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans.

Shaw, Ryan. 2006. Waking the Giant. Pasadena, Calif.: William Carey Library.

….

Copyright © 2008 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 44 - Issue 4

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Home
  • Directories
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Join

  • Join
  • Benefits
  • Learn
  • Meet
  • Engage

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

About Us

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources
Missio Nexus Logo

© Missio Nexus. All rights reserved.
As an Amazon Associate Missio Nexus earns from qualifying purchases.


PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

Annual Sponsors

ECFA Logo Brotherhood Mutual Logo

Subscribe to our Mailing List

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks