World War I

U.S. Official Pictures of the World War, Washington, DC: Pictoral Bureau.

“World War I was a great evangelical crusade which forever changed the character of American Christianity. Where unity and cooperation had been a vision heretofore, after 1917-18 they were the only means of mission acceptable to progressive Christians. Even more importantly, the church came out of the war on a utopian, inevitably-upward trajectory. Recent successful experience demanded ‘a grand peacetime crusade which would unite all benevolent and missionary agencies of American Protestantism into a single campaign for money, men, and spiritual revival.’”

“Mohorter, NBA and the Disciples plunged enthusiastically into a great post-war crusade, the Interchurch World Movement. In this cooperative effort, the evangelical churches were ‘to survey unitedly their common tasks and simultaneously and together secure the necessary resources.’”

“Among the Disciples… almost monthly, the Central Board took some step on the heady road to uniting all the national and foreign work of the church. 1919 plans for the proposed United Christian Missionary Society were being considered. On September, 16, 1919, the NBA Central Board voted to recommend that the Association enter UCMS.” (Inasmuch, p75-76.)