American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions

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The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was an inter-denominational agency dedicated to missionary activity. The first national missionary organization established in the United States, the ABCFM had its origins in 1810 among students of a theological seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions incorporated in Massachusetts in 1812, "for the purpose of propagating the gospel in heathen lands, by supporting missionaries and diffusing a knowledge of the holy Scriptures." The first board of directors stated their object as "to propagate the gospel among unevangelized nations and communities, by means of preachers, catechists, schoolmasters, and the press." Although dominated by Congregationalists, the ABCFM strived to be non-denominational, working alongside Presbyterians and other groups.

Joseph Tracy, History of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1842), 24-5; Constitution, Laws and Regulations of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1835), 3, 6; Ronald G. Walters, American Reformers 1815-1860, rev. ed. (New York: Hill and Wang, 1997), 31, 34.