Draft:Arabian Mission

The Arabian Mission was an American protestant missionary organization, founded in 1889 by James Cantine and Samuel Zwemer, who were both graduates of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Jersey, USA.

They influenced many doctors, nurses, preachers and teachers to join them in their mission of bringing modern healthcare and education, along with the Christian message, or the gospel, to Southern Iraq and to the Arabian peninsula.

The locals of Arabia referred to the 'Arabian Mission' as the 'American Mission'. So, many of its institutions became known as the American Mission institutions.

The Arabian Mission was formally dissolved in 1973, but its successor institutions continue to exist in Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

Beginnings
In 1880s, John G. Lansing was a professor of Hebrew and Arabic at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary of the Dutch Reformed Church. Born in Damascus, Syria, and raised in Cairo, Egypt, Lansing's family had moved to the USA after his father's work as a missionary in the Middle East. On 31 October 1888, three of Lansing's students decided they would organize for mission work; the three, James Cantine, Philip T. Phelps, and Samuel M. Zwemer, referred to their group as the "Wheel"--they being the "Spokes" and Lansing being the "Hub'. This wheel with three spokes became the emblem of the Arabian Mission..

Lansing's influence can be understood from an article on his work, in a muslim journal, where it says:

"Almost two hundred people – missionaries, doctors and teachers – were sent by the Reformed Church in America within this period (1889 - 1973) for Arabia to invite Arabs and Muslims to 'consider Jesus'."

Stations
The 'Arabian Mission' worked mostly from what they considered as 'mission stations'. The mission workers - like doctors, nurses, teachers and preachers - were located at one of these stations for long periods of time, and were transferred to other stations, according to the changing needs. They usually stayed at 'mission houses' and worked from offices in the institutions they had established.

In his PhD thesis, The Arabian Mission’s Effect on Kuwait Society, 1910–1967 submitted to Indian University's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, the author Khaled Albateni wrote:

"'The Arabian mission worked to spread Christianity in Arabia by providing humanitarian and educational services to local communities. In 1889 they established a station in Basra, followed by stations in Bahrain (1893), Musqat (sic), and eventually Kuwait in 1910'."

From a compilation of letters, "Dear Folks at Home: Letters from Iraq 1922-1925" by George Gosselink, we can understand the way the Arabian mission stations connected in their work.

"'Although located in five stations, spread over a thousand miles from Amarah in Iraq to Muscat on the Gulf of Oman, the members of the Arabian Mission were an amazingly close and collegial group. They were held together by their common purpose and the weekly fast mail ship which ran from Bombay to Basrah with stops at Muscat, Bahrain and Kuwait'."



Basrah Station
James Cantine mainly worked in Southern Iraq region, and many sources state that his effort to start a mission station was fraught with much difficulty.

Abdal-Malik Khalat Tamīmī, in his Doctoral thesis, submitted to Durham University, in 1978 wrote: "The establishing of their station at Basrah, founded in 1891, for some time, met with determined opposition, and open hostility on the part of Turkish government, especially, in the matter of obtaining necessary buildings"

Bahrain Station
On 7 December 1892, Samuel Zwemer landed on the shores of Bahrain.

Kuwait Station
Kuwait Station was a result of

In 1912, medical work for women was started by Dr E E Calverley, MD, and in 1914, the men's hospital in Kuwait came into existence



Institutions
The workers of the Arabian mission started many organizations in Mesopotamia (in today's Southern Iraq), as well as in Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.

The doctors and nurses made many medical tours to Hejaz, Nejd, Qatif, in current day Saudi Arabia, to Qatar, and to the trucial states which are now called UAE, but their base stations were four: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Basra.

Over the years, the hospitals, schools, churches, orphanages, bookshops and other institutions they started were sometimes merged, split, or handed over to local government authorities.

Many institutions of the Mission closed down after the Arabian Gulf region became affluent in 1940s, following the discovery of Oil.

With local rulers or governments establishing hospitals, schools, orphanages and other facilities, the need for foreign mission organizations diminished and that led to its dissolution in 1970s.

Hospitals

 * Lansing Memorial Hospital, Basra,  Amarah, current day Iraq
 * School of High Hope for Boys Basra, current day Iraq


 * Mylrea Memorial Hospital for Men, Kuwait
 * Kate V S Olcott Memorial Hospital for Woman, Kuwait
 * Mason Memorial Hospital, Bahrain
 * Marion Wells Thoms Memorial Hospital for Women and Children, Bahrain
 * American Mission Hospital, Kuwait
 * American Mission Hospital, Bahrain
 * American Mission Hospital, Muttrah (later called Arrahma Hospital)
 * Sharon Thoms Memorial Hospital for Contagious Diseases

Schools

 * Al Raja School, Bahrain
 * School of High Hope for Boys, Basra, current day Iraq

Churches

 * National Evangelical Church, Bahrain
 * Protestant Church of Oman, Muttrah and Salalah
 * Protestant Church of Oman, Muttrah and Salalah

Others
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 * Beit Saeed Orphanage, Bahrain
 * Bible Bookshop, Basrah (It was started by Mr Dykstra in 1891)
 * Bilkert Memorial Library: It was built in 1930, after the death of Henry Bilkert
 * Al Amana Centre, Muscat
 * Family Bookshop, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman

Publications
The Arabian Mission's Field Reports, numbered 1 to 26 covering 1892 to 1898, and Quarterly Letters, numbered, 27 to 40, covering years 1898 to 1901 are available in Volume 1 of the 8-Volume, set titled Neglected Arabia / Arabia Calling - 1892-1962 published by Archive Editions in 1988

Impact
Several other impactful work can be observed