E&R Church. Commission on World Service.

Collection

Identifier: E&R RG 2014.003

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Commission on World Service. World Service in the Evangelical and Reformed Church began as a war emergency program in 1940, continued through World War II and the post-war period as a separate agency in the denomination, and after the 1957 union, became the Service Division of the United Church Board for World Ministries. Records in this accession document the work of the years from 1940 to 1963, with some records through 1976. They were deposited in the archives at some time in the past with some files probably coming directly from the offices of the Commission in St. Louis, while others were apparently sent in 1985 by Dr. Helffrich's widow. To gather these various accessions together the records were reprocessed by the archives staff in 1996 and because of several significant additions since 1996 were again reprocessed in 2014. A group of Reginald Helffrich's (1905-1981) personal papers can be found in Manuscript Collection 006. The collection consists of the minutes of the War Emergency Relief Commission, 1940-1944 and its successor, the Commission on World Service, 1944-1963. Also included are financial records and the files of Rev. Henry Koch, Executive Secretary, 1945-1951 and Rev. Reginald Helffrich, Executive Secretary, 1951-1963. Koch and Helffirch's files contain correspondence and Helffrich's addresses, lectures, reports, and sermons. Also included in this collection are records of the Commission on Post War Service. This commission was authorized by the General Council during its September 1943 meeting. Its primary work focused on studying the anticipated post-war needs of Europe and the E & R Church's missions in Japan and China. Members of the commission included representatives from the General Council, the War Emergency Relief Commission (later called the Commission on World Service), the Commission on Christian Social Action and, after its first meeting of December 17, 1943, representatives from the Board of International Missions and the Board of National Missions. Although not appearing in the minutes of the General Council, this Commission seems to have been merged with the Commission on World Service in 1944 or 1945. Mailings and publicity, including resource materials for local churches, from 1941 through 1961, form another sub-series along with several newsletters. Reports to the regional synods and General Synod as well as travel reports on trips to the various projects world wide date from 1943 through 1969. The Commission, specifically Reginald Helffrich, was instrumental in initiating several projects including Heifer International, Meals for Millions, Share our Surplus (later called Share our Substance), and One Great Hour of Sharing. Minutes, correspondence and promotional materials make up a portion of this collection. Following World War II, the Commission became heavily involved in refugee resettlement, displace persons repatriation, and immigration which is reflected in the files in this collection. A significant portion of the collection consists of files on each country in which the Commission was involved with programs. These are arranged alphabetically by country. The final series consists of files of photographs of many of the projects in which the Commission was involved. Again, these are arranged alphabetically by country.

Dates

Creation: 0000 - 0000

Biographical / Historical

The Evangelical and Reformed Church General Synod meeting of June 1940, in response to a speech by President Louis W. Goebel about the suffering caused by the war in Europe, authorized the Administrative Committee of the General Council to create the War Emergency Relief Commission. Its purpose was to "devise and suggest to every congregation in the Evangelical and Reformed Church ways and means to cooperate with other denominations in relieving the terrible sufferings and answering the many needs throughout the world." The Commission, of which the Rev. George W. Richards was chairman and the Rev. David D. Baker was secretary, appealed for funds by means of letters to pastors, fliers distributed on order by the hundreds of thousands, personal presentations at meetings of the regional synods, designation of special offering days and seasons and distribution of offering envelopes. By February of 1944 almost $500,000 had been raised and was being used for food, clothing and relief through a variety of ecumenical agencies. In 1942 the Rev. Carl Kriete succeeded David Baker, who became editor of "The Messenger". In that same year the Bureau for Men in Service was established under the auspices of the Committee on Chaplaincy and the Camp[ Communities Committee. At the meeting of the General Synod in York, Pennsylvania in 1944, the Commission on World Service was authorized, merging the work of the War Emergency Relief Commission, the Bureau for Men in Service, the Christian Committee for Camp Communities, and the Commission on Post-War Planning. The Rev. Carl Kriete and Henry Koch shared the duties at first, but Kriete left to work in Japan in 1945 and Koch became executive secretary. Frank Fesperman, Loren Walters and Harold Wilke had specialized jobs in the Commission. The denomination put $2,000,000 in its budget for the Commission, and a campaign for $3,000,000 was undertaken for a speical fund for Relief, Restoration, and Expansion. In 1951 Koch resigned and returned to the pastorate. The Rev. Reginald H. Helffrich was appointed executive secretary in September, 1951 and continued in that position for twenty years, earning for himself the title of "Mr. World Service". From its inception, the program dispensed both funds and material aid and was ecumenical in nature, cooperating with the National Council of Churches through Church World Service, with the World Council of Churches, with CROP, the Heifer Project, Meals for Millions and other agencies. Refugee resettlement and emergency and disaster relief were a part of the operation as well. The Evangelical and Reformed Church was in the forefront of giving such aid with no strings attached and without expecting conversion to Christianity in return when the aid went to non-Christian nations. From the time of its beginning to 1959 the Commission, with the help of the Department of United Promotion, raised $10,569,359.28 in cash and gave away uncounted quantities of clothing and relief kits. The operating costs and the promotional costs were each kept under 4% of the total budget, thus ensuring that contributions were being used for the intended purposes.