A Short History of Christian Missionary Fellowship The time was ripe for change. World War II was an era of new beginnings. Within a short span of time after the war, some 150 new mission agencies were started in the United States. Christians dreamed dreams and held great expectations. On the campus of Manhattan Bible College in Kansas, a group of students caught the vision for foreign missions, pondering the best ways to accomplish the task of world evangelization. Coming from a background in the Christian churches, they knew of two distinct methods of sending and supporting missionaries independently or cooperatively. They wondered about a middle ground, a new method for sending missionaries that captured the advantages of each mission approach while leaving behind the disadvantages. One student, O.D. Johnson, went to India in 1946 as a missionary and continued to think about alternate ways to approach the missionary relationships. Upon his return to the States in 1949, he shared his ideas and sought the advice of a number of Christian leaders around the country. They envisioned a missionary-sending arrangement where the message would be thoroughly biblical, and at the same time, organized to allow for cooperation, accountability, and efficiency. Out of the recommendation and support of these leaders, Christian Missionary Fellowship was incorporated in Kansas in 1949. The chartered purpose of this new mission agency was “to evangelize the non-Christian people of the world.” Evangelism and church planting are in the very DNA of CMF. CMF was formed to be a cooperative effort of churches and individuals voluntarily working together to accomplish the task of world evangelism. Early writings show clearly that intelligent prayer and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit would undergird every activity and mark every milestone of progress. CMF offered to the churches an option of supporting missionaries who were part of a team, whose purpose was cross-cultural evangelism and whose structure provided accountability. A carefully selected Board of Directors would set policy, affiliate missionaries, and approve budgets. Contributing churches and individual donors and missionaries would have the responsibility to elect the Board of Directors and vote upon the policies being formulated. Missionaries would serve as members of field teams, who would determine the appropriate mission strategies for their areas of ministry. CMF would combine teamwork continuity, and the shared strength of the entire group with its commitment to biblical evangelism. Those wishing to serve as missionaries would benefit in numerous ways. CMF would ensure that research into potential fields of service and the recruiting of new teammates would take place. Recruits desiring to serve would be examined according to carefully set spiritual, physical, and educational standards. They would receive assistance in raising prayer and financial support. Once on the field, these missionaries would be aided in bookkeeping and maintaining close contact with their church partners and supporters. Care for our missionaries and staff has become a hallmark of Christian Missionary Fellowship. Within the first year of existence, CMF missionaries were on the field in India to begin ministry at Jhansi. Another family soon followed. A third family began ministry in Tokyo, Japan, in the fall of 1955, and a fourth family pioneered work in Brazil in 1957. The decade of the 1960s proved to be pivotal in the growth of CMF. Our ministry in Brazil was geared to church planting and leadership training. The earliest ministries were among economically depressed people. In 1983, the transition began from CMF leadership to Brazilian leadership. The ministry in Brazil next began to focus on an emerging middle class and leadership training among the working class churches. In 1963, a family opened the new field of Ethiopia. They were the first of almost two dozen missionary families to serve in that country. Ministry began in the Wollega Province among the Oromo and Kazza (Gumuz) people. By the time CMF missionaries left Ethiopia due to the Marxist takeover in 1977, some 4,000 Ethiopian people had become Christians through their efforts. In 1992, a new team entered Ethiopia to resume ministry there among the Oromo and Gumuz, and also to begin church-planting and urban poor ministries in the capital city of Addis Ababa. Families are expanding the work among the Gumuz among the hidden and totally unreached people of that tribe. The 1970s and 1980s saw new fields opened in Kenya (Turkana, 1977; Maasai, 1978), Indonesia (1978), Mexico (1980), Tanzania (1984), Chile (1988), and England (1989). In the 1990s CMF entered Singapore (1990), Benin (1991), Thailand (1994), Ukraine (1994), and Ivory Coast (1998), in addition to other fields in Africa and Asia. In the 1990s we began our first intercultural ministry in the United States in response to the large numbers of cross-cultural groups within the USA, specifically the immigrant Hispanic-speaking population. A marketplace ministries division was established out of the concern of providing effective ministry in nations and among people that are closed to standard mission approaches because of religious, political, or social reasons. Workers offer job skills and experience with a commitment to evangelism that is appropriate to the culture. While sharing their expertise, these workers are salt and light to the workplace and their communities. The new century brought opportunities of ministering to university students in major cities across the globe. CMF-Globalscope entered Mexico City (2000) first to set-up a model to be duplicated in other cross-cultural campus ministries: Bangkok, Thailand (2002), Santiago, Chile (2002), Salamanca, Spain (2004), and Puebla, Mexico (2004). The goal is to draw university students into saving, meaningful relationships with God through Jesus Christ, then create a loving community that reaches out around the world. In 2007, a new campus ministry will begin outreach in Birmingham, England; then, in 2008, a team will enter Tuebingen, Germany. With the rise in globalization and burgeoning cities, we recognized the needs of the poor that goes beyond the lack of food and shelter to the very repression of the human spirit. Using Community Health Evangelism, CMF works with the urban poor in their communities by helping them to identify their needs, their God-given resources, and possible solutions to improve their situation. Spiritual teaching releases the power of Christ into those urban communities as people understand God’s purpose and vision for their lives. CMF partners with many mission efforts and churches around the world. A variety of ministries -- from staffing medical clinics to translation, church planting to teaching missionary children, working with street children to researching new fields -- are tools to help CMF missionaries toward taking the saving message of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. Currently, 161 CMF missionaries minister in Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Ethiopia, Germany, Great Britain, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mexico, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, USA, Northeast Africa, Asia.