Day 26
The Mind of a Missionary Devotional
Willing and Desirous to Go
The Student Volunteer Movement
“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.’” — Mark 16:15
It was a warm day in July 1886, and a group of young men sprawled on the grass underneath birch trees at the edge of the campus. Other students gathered outside the brick archway at Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts. Two hundred fifty-one delegates from eighty-nine universities and colleges throughout North America attended the month-long summer conference. Gospel messages and spirited challenges for global mission work stirred the students, who contemplated their unique roles in God’s redemptive plan.
The Mount Hermon meeting was only a small event within a far more meaningful movement in progress in which Dwight L. Moody was a key figure. His three-year mission in the British Isles beginning in 1873 planted the seeds of an unprecedented student response to foreign missions. Moody’s revival meetings drew thousands of curious people as Great Britain hovered on the cusp of a spiritual awakening.
Twelve years after Moody’s revival meetings, Christ’s missionary ethos arrested the hearts of seven British men who would shake the very foundations of England and Scotland. This group of influential elites became known as the Cambridge Seven. Their spectacular sailing to China in 1885 ignited a spark that spread like wildfire after they abandoned bright futures and social acclaim. A missionary zeal quickly spread from Great Britain to North America in their wake.
On the evening of July 16, Arthur T. Pierson, one of the leaders of the 1886 conference, gave a thrilling appeal to the students. “All should go,” his voice boomed, “and go to all!” The desperate spiritual needs of distant people groups called for radical commitment to Christ’s Great Commission command. The student response shocked Moody and the conference speakers. At the closing session, one hundred of the 251 students dedicated themselves to global missionary service.
Robert P. Wilder, the son of missionaries to India, drafted a declaration of purpose which read, “We, the undersigned, declare ourselves willing and desirous, God permitting, to go to the unevangelized portions of the world.” The meeting at Mount Hermon was the beginning of something momentous—more significant than the completion of the Statue of Liberty that same year.
Awed by the student response, Wilder traveled to 167 schools throughout America, challenging young people to join the call of Christ on foreign mission fields. Over 2,100 students volunteered for mission work as a result. This enthusiasm culminated in the formation of the Student Volunteer Movement (SVM) with its audacious watchword, “The Evangelization of the World in This Generation.”
The Cambridge Seven were the initial spark that catapulted the SVM; many others inspired goers with examples of daring faith. Ion Keith-Falconer, who died in Yemen in 1887, bolstered the movement. Thousands of young missionaries flooded to foreign fields in his stead. The lives of Adoniram and Ann Judson of Burma, David Livingstone of Africa, Henry Martyn of Persia, James Gilmour of Mongolia, and Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, thrust out scores of young people who followed in their footsteps. Between 1886 and 1920, the movement recruited an impressive 8,742 missionaries in the United States alone. By 1945, about 20,500 volunteers had reached the mission field.
However, the aftermath of World War I brought a wave of cultural skepticism. The once-optimistic goal of evangelizing the world in a single generation waned. The Roaring Twenties ushered in a tide of cynicism and secularism. The Great Depression further dampened spirits, leading many to question the feasibility of reaching the world in one generation. The cultural shifts of the 1930s and 1940s affected the Protestant view on global missions, leading to a more domesticated approach to evangelism.
However, the legacy of the SVM was far from over. God used the Cambridge Seven and SVM to catapult the worldwide missionary movement. In the following years, organizations like Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and Operation Mobilisation (OM) emerged, echoing the vision of mobilizing youth for global mission work. Urbana gatherings in the 1970s further kindled missionary zeal throughout North America.
More than a century has elapsed since the Mount Hermon meeting inspired a wave of overseas missions. Today, another spiritual awakening hovers on the horizon if we dare join our predecessors’ willing and desirous pledge to go to the unreached. The harvest is still plentiful, and the workers are few. May we become the answer to Jesus’ cry for more Kingdom workers.
– Personal Response –
Passage: He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15)
Point: God still calls willing hearts to join His global mission, and the time to respond is now.
Ponder: If thousands once pledged to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, what excuse do you have for staying silent or still today?
Prayer: Lord, ignite in me the same fire that moved generations before me. Make me willing, grow my boldness, and strengthen me to go wherever You send me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Proclamation: I will not wait for perfect conditions to respond to God’s call. I say yes to Jesus’ Great Commission today.
Practice: Start praying daily for an unreached people group, and ask God what your role is in reaching them.
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