PBA is proud to serve in ministry with the American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and serving as the hands and feet of Christ in local congregations and their surrounding communities.
Together with The American Baptist Churches, ABHMS seeks to:
- live out its call to Christian faith;
- transform local congregations and communities; and
- develops Christ-centered leaders, networks and programs committed to witness and evangelism, social justice, discipleship, and missions across the United States and Puerto Rico.
ABHMS was first established in 1832 as the American Baptist Home Mission Society (Home Mission Society) for the purpose of preaching the gospel, planting churches and ministering to local communities. Since then, American Baptists have established churches, schools, children’s homes, hospitals and nursing homes, won souls for Christ, and continue to speak out for justice.
In 1877, the Woman’s Baptist Home Mission Society (WBHMS) was founded. Over the next 100 years WBHMS missionaries helped to expand the American Baptist ministry. They establishmed of institutions for higher education, appointied missionaries for service in Michigan, New York, Puerto Rico, Alaska and Arizona; ministered with Japanese-Americans in internment camps during World War II; and worked with the Church World Service to offer new homes to refugees since World War II. In 1955, the Home Mission Society and the WBHMS merged and in 1972 they began serving in ministry as National Ministries (NM). By 2003, NM expanded its ministries to include discipleship, education and publishing, including Judson Press. In 2010, National Ministries reclaimed the organization’s historic name, the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
For additional information visit the ABHMS website: http://www.abhms.org