About ABWE
The History of ABWE
The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) was founded in 1927. In its earliest years, the mission was called the Association of Baptists for Evangelism in the Orient (ABEO). A few concerned friends met at the Watch Hill, Rhode Island home of Marguerite Doane (daughter of hymn writer William Doane) in August of 1927. They sensed an urgent need to provide fundamental Baptist churches and individuals with a mission agency that stood true to the Word of God in both doctrine and method.
Among the friends gathered that summer day were Dr. & Mrs. Raphael Thomas and Mrs. Henry Peabody. Raphael Thomas was a medical doctor and a veteran Baptist missionary to the Philippine Islands. Lucy Peabody had served as the chairman of the Women's Foreign Missions Society of the American Baptist Convention, and was a veteran missionary herself to India in the late 1800s. The Thomases, along with three single ladies (among whom was Miss Ellen Martien), became ABWE's first missionaries, serving in the Philippines. Mrs. Peabody assumed the position of ABEO's president.
The fledgling mission grew slowly, but surely, in the years leading up to World War II. In 1935 Mrs. Peabody retired and Dr. Harold Commons became the new president of ABEO. In 1939 the country of Peru was entered and the mission's name was changed to ABWE.
When war engulfed the USA in December, 1941, over 20 ABWE missionaries were serving in the Philippines. When that country fell to the Japanese, these missionaries and their children became prisoners of war and suffered much hardship until liberation came in 1945.
The end of the war saw a tremendous revival of effort, on the part of churches in the USA, to send out missionaries around the world. From 1946 to 1970, ABWE's missionary force grew seven-fold and ten countries were added to ABWE's list of ministry fields.
In 1971, Dr. Commons retired and Dr. Wendell Kempton became ABWE's third president. During Dr. Kempton's leadership tenure, ABWE's family came to number over 1,000. At the time of Dr. Kempton's retirement in 2001, ABWE was serving in nearly 50 countries.
Dr. Michael Loftis served as the ABWE Executive Director of Central and Eastern Europe from 1990 - 2000. He came to the presidency of ABWE on March 1, 2001 with twelve years of experience as a missionary under the leadership of Wendell Kempton.
A more complete version of ABWE's history, "The Game Was Worth the Candle,"was published in the Spring 1997 issue of The Message Magazine. Also a video, "The Game Was Worth the Candle" was produced on the occasion of ABWE’s 75th anniversary.