The Christian Endeavor Collection II
By: Robert Danielson
This April, the B. L. Fisher Library Archives and Special Collections will welcome the donation of the Christian Endeavor Collection with an official opening. This collection of material from both the International Christian Endeavor and the World Christian Endeavor organizations will make Asbury Theological Seminary an international center for research on this important historic movement, which was pivotal to the development of Youth Ministry within the Church.
It is important to also recognize how rapidly the Christian Endeavor organization
An Early Photos of a Mother’s Society of Christian Endeavor
moved beyond simply being a youth movement. It spread quickly to include younger children in the Junior Endeavor Societies and the Intermediate Societies. From there mothers joined the movements to encourage their children and promote Christian values, and so Mother’s Societies were also formed.
Other related organizations also began to develop, such as the Floating Christian Endeavor for sailors in U.S. government ships, which began on the coast of Massachusetts in 1890, but soon spread into the Japanese, British, and German navies. Floating Christian Endeavor men were involved in action during the Spanish American War in the late 19th century. By 1901 there were some 6,000 members of this group in around 500 societies.
A Floating Christian Endeavor Society on the U.S.S. Vermont about 1908
A Prisoner Christian Endeavor movement also emerged beginning in 1890 in
Wisconsin, but soon found its strength in the leadership of Frederick A. Wallace of Lexington, Kentucky. By 1900 Kentucky boasted the largest Prison Christian Endeavor society in the Kentucky State Prison, with 500 members out of a total inmate population of 1,300. This was an example of an early movement in prison ministry.
In 1885, the Christian Endeavor movement spread across racial lines, with an African-American society in Lincoln Memorial Church in Washington D.C. Christian Endeavor would become an interracial ministry. As early as 1895, Bishop B. W. Arnett of the African Methodist episcopal Church and Bishop Alexander Walters of the African Methodist
A Silk Banner Sent from Chinese Christian Endeavorers about 1905
Episcopal Zion Church served on the Board of Trustees of the Christian Endeavor Society and spoke frequently at conventions. Booker T. Washington spoke at the 1901 convention in Cincinnati, Ohio on “The Power of a Noble Life.”
As early as 1886 Christian Endeavor had begun to spread internationally, with three societies in Ceylon, one in Hawaii, and two in Foochow, China reported that year. By 1899’s report there were over 10,000 societies spread over 49 nations including: Brazil, Burma, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, Persia, Syria, and Turkey. In 1899 there were 148 societies in China. A number of the native Christian Endeavors died during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, but the society itself continued to flourish and grow in China. Indeed, under today’s World Christian Endeavor societies continue to operate all over the globe.
The B. L. Fisher Library Archives and Special Collections are excited about this large collection and its potential for research on the global Church as well as the historical importance of this movement for understanding Youth Ministry. We would love to hear from any alumni involved in Christian Endeavor and about their memories of how this movement impacted their lives!
Grace Yoder, Archivist, B.L. Fisher Library
grace.yoder@asburyseminary.edu
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