About ABWE
Harold Commons
Harold Commons came from an ecumenical background. His father started out as a Quaker preacher in New England; changed to a Congregational ministry and then eventually espoused a Unitarian theology. Consequently, Dr. Commons never heard the gospel of Christ during his formative years. In 1923 he entered Williams College in Williamstown, MA. During his sophomore year, Dr. Commons visited an uncle on Easter vacation. His uncle was an earnest Christian who knew his Bible well. From his Bible, he showed the young Harold passages dealing with salvation and the need for personal faith in Jesus Christ. Then and there he accepted Christ as his personal savior.
When Dr. Commons returned to Williams College he became active in the Student Volunteer Movement with the desire to become a missionary to Africa. It was also at this time that he met Miss Corinth Tracy who eventually became his wife. In 1927, with the desire to acquire more theological training for the ministry, Dr. Commons entered Princeton Theological Seminary. It was during his second year at Princeton that the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy in the Presbyterian denomination came to a head on campus. Several noted conservative professors were either dropped or resigned from the faculty at Princeton and Dr. Commons decided he could not conscientiously return for his final year. The men who left Princeton decided to start a new seminary in Philadelphia, Westminster Theological Seminary, and it was here that Dr. Commons spent his final year, becoming part of the first graduating class of the new seminary.
By the time he graduated, Dr. Commons' perspective on his ministry had shifted. He was still vitally concerned with foreign missions, but realized that the cause of missions was irrevocably tied to the battle for the pulpits of churches in the homeland. The make-up of the missionary force is a cross-section of the churches at home. He decided he could best serve the cause of evangelical Christianity on the mission field by doing what he could to stem the tide of liberalism in the churches at home. Dr. and Mrs. Commons had become Baptists while in seminary and joined the Spruce St. Baptist Church in Philadelphia. It was there that they were baptized and Dr. Commons was ordained. In July of 1930, Dr. Commons became the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Atlantic City, NJ.
Dr. Commons' relationship to ABWE began in 1931 via his friendship with David O. Fuller, an ABWE board member. Dr. Commons attended one or two of the board meetings by special invitation since the meetings were held in nearby Ventnor, NJ at the fine facilities of Marguerite Doane's Society for Foreign Mission Welfare. Since the mission board's regular secretary was rarely able to attend the meetings, the president, Mrs. Peabody asked Dr. Commons if he could attend regularly and take the minutes. She explained that there was no room on the board, at the time, because the roster was full. The Executive Committee agreed that there was no reason why someone who was with them in interest and spirit could not attend the meetings and serve as secretary. From that time on, Dr. Commons became an active participant in the affairs of ABWE. He took over a good deal of the official correspondence between headquarters and the missionaries.
In 1933, Dr. Commons moved to Johnson City, NY where he became the pastor of the First Baptist Church and president of the Baptist Bible Seminary located there. His relationship with ABWE continued and he was elected as a board member and vice president in October of 1934. At the April, 1935 board meeting that was held in the First Baptist Church in Johnson City, Mrs. Peabody resigned and Dr. Commons was elected president with the understanding that he would give up the pastorate of the church and the presidency of the seminary to give full time to the mission.
Dr. Harold Commons guided ABWE through many difficult years, including the Great Depression and World War Two. God blessed his able leadership over a period of 35 years. When Dr. Commons assumed the office of president, ABWE was ministering in only one country (Philippines) with fewer than 40 missionaries. In 1971, when he retired, ABWE was ministering in 11 countries with over 300 missionaries.