World Gospel Mission uses the faith mission approach. Therefore, all missionaries (short-term or long-term) and volunteers with WGM are responsible for raising their own financial support with the help of the organization. Missionaries raise the funds needed to pay for salaries, housing, medical and life insurance, children’s educations, and retirement.
WGM’s areas of service include church ministries, children’s and youth ministries, educational ministries, medical ministries, support ministries, sports ministries, and humanitarian ministries.[4]
Along with mobilizing volunteers and missionaries, WGM provides a list of Projects, which are crowdfunded opportunities that correspond to needs in specific locations.[5]
History
At the instigation of Mrs. Iva May Durham Vennard (1871–1945), a Methodist evangelist and later founder and first president of the Chicago Evangelistic Institute (now Vennard College),[6] and the support of Holiness Association president, Rev. Charles J. Fowler, the Missionary Department of the National Association for the Promotion of Holiness was established at University Park, Iowa on 10 June 1910, with the specific purpose of "spreading scriptural holiness to the ends of the earth."[7] Rev. Cecil Warren Troxel and his wife, Ellen Armour Troxel (born 1875), and the Rev. Woodford Taylor and his wife, Mrs. Harriet Armour Taylor, members of the Free Methodist Church of North America, became the first missionaries in China with the Missionary Department of the National Association for the Promotion of Holiness, directly under the Christian Holiness Association (now Christian Holiness Partnership). WGM remained active primarily in China over the next decade, eventually expanding to other fields.[8]
By 1919 the headquarters was located at 825 Woodbine Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois. After a number of moves in the Chicago area, the headquarters relocated permanently to Marion, Indiana in a former YMCA building at Fifth and Boots Street.[9] In the same year, the first edition of WGM’s print magazine Call to Prayer (now The Call) was published as a bi-monthly subscription.[10]The Call is still produced and available for free in print or digital form.[11]
In 1926 the Mission became incorporated in Illinois as a separate legal entity from the National Holiness Association and was renamed as the Missionary Society for the Promotion of Holiness.[12] The name was changed to World Gospel Mission in 1954.[13]
By 1975, the headquarters had moved from downtown Marion to a newly built campus a few miles east, where it remains today.[14]
Programs
WGM offers short, mid, and long-term missions experiences.[15]
Short-term
Short-term trips typically last between 1–2 weeks. Volunteers may go on short-term trips as a team, or individuals can join pre-planned team trips designated for certain locations.[16]
Mid-term
Mid-term trips can last between 1–12 months. Volunteers choose a location of service based on need and their own ministry specialty.[17]
Long-term
Long-term missionaries are on the field for 2 or more years. Long-term opportunities require a longer application process and more involved training.[18]
Locations
World Gospel Mission missionaries and volunteers are active in over 25 locations.[19]
^Merne A. Harris, "An Elect Lady: Some Reflections Upon the Life and Ministry of Iva Durham Vennard", Holiness Digest 3:1 (Fall 1989):17–18; [1]; Mary Ella Bowie, Alabaster and Spikenard: The Life of Iva Durham Vennard, D.D. (Chicago, IL: Chicago Evangelistic Institute, 1947); Heart and Life (November 1945). [Memorial Number - Iva Durham Vennard]; Priscilla Pope-Levison, "Iva Durham Vennard 1871–1945", Prism (January–February 2006): 3, accessed on 28 July 2008: [2]; Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson,, p.804.
^Burnis H. Bushong, R.U.N. Reaching the Unreached Now: A Brief History of the World Gospel Mission (Marion, IN: World Gospel Mission, 1995): 7.
Bushong, Burnis H[arvey]. The Best of the Story: Miraculous Answers to Prayer. Marion, IN: World Gospel Mission, 1993.
Bushong, Burnis H[arvey]. R.U.N. Reaching the Unreached Now: A Brief History of World Gospel Mission. Marion, IN: World Gospel Mission, 1995.
Jones, Charles Edwin. The Wesleyan Holiness Movement: A Comprehensive Guide (ATLA Bibliography Series) 2 vols. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005. See pages 241–244 for bibliographic and prosographical details regarding WGM.
Troxel, Ellen Armour and Mrs. John Jacob Trachsel. Cecil Troxel – The Man and the Work: Missionary to China with the National Holiness Missionary Society from Its Inception. Chicago, IL: National Holiness Missionary Society, 1948.
