ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSORS OF MISSIONS

The Association of Professors of Missions (APM) brings together the teachers of missions throughout the United States and Canada to promote the development of the field of mission studies and the personal growth of the members themselves. Organized in 1952 in Louisville, KY, the Association built on a previously established Fellowship of Professors of Missions from the Atlantic seaboard area. A similar Midwest Fellowship of Professors of Missions also developed at the same time. Both regional groups continue to meet annually.

From 1952 to 1972 the APM met biennially, normally at the same location and just after or prior to the meeting of the American Association of Theological Schools. Membership in the APM was initially open only to those professors of missions from institutions accredited with the American association of theological schools and to other qualified persons by invitation of the executive committee. In a growing effort to be more ecumenical, the reference to institutional relationship with the Association of Theological Schools was removed from the membership requirement in 1972. That same year at the time and place of the APM's biennial meeting (June 1972, in Nashville), the american society of missiology (ASM) came into being with the help of the Association. Since 1972 the two organizations meet at the same time and place, with the APM meetings focusing more sharply on issues related to the teaching of missions. The Proceedings of the biennial meetings of the Association of Professors of Missions were published from 1952 to 1974. The publication of the Proceedings was suspended when the ASM began in 1973 to publish the journal Missiology (135 North Oakland Street, Pasadena, CA 91101).

Bibliography: j. t. boberg, ed., Proceedings: Association of Professors of Missions (Chicago 1972 and 1974).

[j. t. boberg]