Tag Archives: Mission

Index Cards of the Peruvian Inland Mission

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by Savannah Weiler

The Peruvian Inland Mission (PIM) was founded by Miss Annie G. Soper in 1930 and was active in the area around Lamas, northern Peru until 1948. Index cards form part of the large collection of records of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union (ref. CSWC 33/39/3), which took over operation of the Peruvian Inland Mission. Members of the mission had taken the care to note down on small cards the details of missionaries who came to work for the mission, people they met in Peru, new converts, as well as villages in the area where the mission had spread to. These cards give a quick overview of decades worth of missionary activity in this part of Peru and give a fascinating glimpse into the lives of those involved with the PIM.

There are cards for Lamas and other places in the north of Peru, such as Moyobamba and Iquitos, as well as for Lima. Each card details the activities of the mission in these areas, such as new buildings constructed, amount of converts through the mission, and sometimes the religions of those living in these areas. The card for Lamas (see figure 1), where the mission was based, shows that they built a school, hospital, a Bible School, and a Church. The area they operated in is quite expansive and is highlighted by these index cards. Reading through letters, meeting minutes and journal articles that form part of the PIM’s records, it becomes clear what difficulties individuals faced when travelling in this area, with travel between villages sometimes taking days due to poor infrastructure and frequent rainstorms. The cards tell us where each missionary was stationed and provide details about the important journeys they made, showing the determination of these individuals to carry out their work.

Figure 1, Some of the index cards giving information on missionaries in the field. Ca. 1930-1950.

CSWC 33/39/3, Archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh

Individual cards documenting Peruvians the missionaries met further show how far the mission spanned and the network the PIM formed with other missions and institutions. People travelled as far as the Costa Rica Bible Institute and the United Kingdom to further their education once they had completed their initial training at schools built by the mission. Martina is one of the girls who grew up in the mission (see figure 2). Her cards note that she travelled to Edinburgh and England to further her education and then returned to Lima, where she trained as a nurse. Details are given on her family and how far she travelled, and give a glimpse into what she was like, quoting her ‘rebellious spirit’ and ‘nursing gifts’. We also come to hear more unfortunate stories, such as when she lost nearly all her belongings to the disastrous 1940 Lima earthquake. The next card gives details of her brother, and through this we come to know an entire family.

Figure 2, Martina’s index card and the card for Lamas, giving details on the progress of the mission there and key people and dates involved.

CSWC 33/39/3, Archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh.

A photograph (see figure 3), taken at the Costa Rica Bible Institute shows Miss Soper and five of her students, who travelled with her from Lamas to Costa Rica to complete their missionary education there. The photo lists the names of these people, who also have their own index cards that give us details of their personalities, education, and life. This photo helps attach faces to names and gives an even more colourful idea of what life was like for those at the Lamas mission, and the impact the PIM had on various peoples’ lives.

Figure 3, Photograph taken at the Costa Rica Bible Institute showing Miss Soper, Senor V. Coral, Don Alejandro Castillo, Don Hildebrando Tello, Señora Hortensia de Pina and Señorita Rosa Portacarrero.

CSWC 33/39/3, Archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh.

These cards are a wonderful summary of documents that would take hours to read through to get the same detailed information. They show the dedication of many of the missionaries involved with the PIM, travelling long distances between various villages just to spend a few days in each, and facing other obstacles along the way too. The cards show the reach of the mission in Peru, and its wider networks in Latin America and Britain. Lastly, reading these cards gives an intimate view of what life was like for the people involved with the mission. We are granted insight into their personalities as well as a snapshot of the highs and lows they faced in life. The photograph of Miss Soper and her students adds even more colour to the stories of those we have got to know in the index cards.

The Life and Death of Eric Liddell and the Rebirth of Chinese Christianity

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Saturday 3rd February, 10am – 12:30pm
Playfair Library, Old College, University of Edinburgh EH8 9YL

Eric Liddell is best-known for his athletic achievements, particularly his gold medal in the 400 metres at the Paris Olympics in 1924. In association with the Eric Liddell Community’s celebration of the centenary of that victory, this event will focus on the other aspect of his life, which was perhaps even more important to him, namely his life and work as a Christian missionary and teacher in China.

In this half-day programme, three scholars of the University of Edinburgh will focus on Liddell’s life and work in China, his legacy there, and the subsequent history of Chinese Christianity, worldwide and in China itself.

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Book Launch: Andrew Walls’s The Missionary Movement from the West 

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On November 29, 2023, the Centre held a book launch for Andrew Walls’s posthumously authored book, The Missionary Movement from the West, published in 2023 through Eerdmans. Panelists included the editor, Brian Stanley, and three respondents, Ray Burbank, Ken Ross, and Emma Wild-Wood.

If you are unable to access the video above from YouTube, you can also try watching it from the University of Edinburgh’s Media Hopper service.

The Missionary Movement from the West

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We are very pleased to announce the posthumous publication of Andrew Walls’s forthcoming work, The Missionary Movement from the West (Eerdmans, October 2023), edited by Brian Stanley.

The history of the missions is complex and fraught. Though modern missions began with European colonialism, the outcome was a largely non-Western global Christianity. Highly esteemed scholar Andrew Walls explores every facet of the movement, including its history, theory, and future.

Walls locates the birth of the Protestant missionary movement in the West with the Puritans and Pietists and their efforts to convert the Native Americans they displaced. Tracing the movement into the twentieth century, Walls shows how colonialism and missionary work turned out to be essentially incompatible. Missionaries must live on another culture’s terms, and their goal—the establishment of churches of every nation—depends on accepting new, indigenous Christians as equals. Now that Christianity has become primarily an African, Latin American, and Asian religion rather than a European one, the dynamics of the church’s mission have transformed. Sensitive to this shift, Walls indicates new areas of listening to and learning from this new center of Christianity and speculates on the theological contributions from a truly global church.

Throughout his long and fruitful career, Walls told the story of missions as a dedicated Christian scholar, teacher, and mentor. Prior to his passing in 2021, he entrusted the editing of his lectures to his friends and students. The result of this labor of love, The Missionary Movement from the West is a must-read for scholars of missiology, world Christianity, and church history.