Archibald McLean

Compiled by Mark Reeves for Maritime Christian College, 1988.

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In the fall of 1870, Archibald McLean went to Bethany Bible College in Bethany, West Virginia, in order to study for the ministry. Although for the past six years he trained and became an accomplished carriage maker, and thus had an excellent career lined up making carriages, he felt that he would rather become a minister and serve God. He really loved going to Bethany. He had a desire to learn as much as possible. He received teaching from men like W.K Pendleton, Robert Richardson, and C.L. Loos. C.L. Loos taught A, McLean Greek, and as a result, A. McLean made it a practice of reading at least one chapter a day from the Greek New Testament. He was an honour graduate when he graduated on June 21, 1874. He then was called to be the minister at Mt. Healthy, which is a suburb of Cincinnati.

He had a great deal of success there. Once he is reported as having a strong sermon on temperance. The next day, a certain man confronted him on the street and said, "'When I go to church I go to hear the gospel, not a tirade on temperance.' Mr. McLean's quick rejoinder was, 'My Friend, from what I hear of your habits you got the exact portion of the gospel last night that especially applies to you.'" (Warren 1923, Pp 79.)

Many churches sent callings to him, and even offered him twice the amount of money that Mt. Healthy was giving him. However he refused their offers, and stayed in Mt. Healthy. 

On October 21, 1875, at Louisville Kentucky, a group of influential men, (25-30 people.), organized the Foreign Christian Missionary society. They located their headquarters in Cincinnati. The two main leaders responsible for starting this organization were Isaac Errett, and W.T. Moore. One of the main reasons for starting this organization was because of a speech that was given at a convention in 1874. The speech was given by Joseph King. In his speech he condemned the’ Disciples for not being concerned about foreign missions.

In 1882, A. McLean was appointed as the secretary of the FCMS. However, for the next three years he continued to work as the minister at the Mt. Healthy Church. Eventually the work load became too much, and he had to make a choice between Mt. Healthy, and the FCMS. He in 1885 decided to dedicate his time and work fully to the FCMS, and thus resigned from being the minister at the Mt. Healthy church. He kept his home in Mt. Healthy though, because he loved, and valued the relationship he had with the people there.

One of the first things he did when he joined the FCMS, was to stress that the FCMS was not established in order to convert Protestants, which was the direction first taken by the society, but, instead the society was set up in order to send the gospel of Jesus Christ to foreign countries where the people there have never heard of Christ. McLean stressed going to these heathen lands.

Thanks to a donation from Timothy Coop of England, the society's first work was in Southhampton England in 1876. It also spread throughout other cities in England. By the year 1900, there were 2,400 members in 15 churches. Their efforts in France were not as successful as their efforts were in England. A mission that was started in Turkey in the year 1879, resulted in 434 members in 17 churches. They set up other missions too in Norway, Germany, and Mexico. All of these missions had modest results. However all these missions were set up in order to convert Protestants.

In 1880, the FCMS decided that it was time that they concentrated their efforts in order to reach the non-christian world with the gospel. J.H. Garrison, who was the editor of the "Christian Evangelist", and also a supporter of missions told the 1880 convention of the FCMS how his two sons, and another child saved up $1.13 with the request that it be spent on sending the gospel to children who never heard of Jesus. This story moved the FCMS, and as a result, they decided to ask that all Sunday schools donate an offering once every year to missions.

This practice became known as "Children's Day. It was very successful, and even doubled the income of the society one year. When the society began in 1875, it had $2,000. And by the year 1900, due partially to the help from Children's Day, the total amount received was $180,000. As a result of this money, the FCMS was able to do a great amount of work around the world.

A. McLean was a trustee for Bethany College for a number of years up till this point in his life. Shortly after the president of Bethany, W.K. Pendleton resigned, W.H. Woolery became the new president of the College. However he died of typhoid fever in the summer of 1889. The Trustees then asked A. McLean to be the next president of the College. He accepted it, but continued to carry on with his work with the FCMS. He worked very hard as the president, and felt a real love for the college. As president he often stressed the need for missionaries to the students, and the students apparently loved and respected him very much.

A. McLean was not satisfied with the college in the following areas. It needed to increase its teaching staff, increase salaries, improve college equipment in the college buildings, and to improve the library too. He was very disappointed at the lack of funds that were sent in to support the college. And as a result of this he decided to resign as the college president.

He was disappointed that the friends of the college had failed to provide the funds necessary for such advancement and was unwilling to be responsible for continuing on the basis of that time. He therefore presented his resignation. (Warren 1923, Pp 123.) The Trustees didn't want McLean to resign. They eventuality asked the vice-president Trible to become the new president. However, he died on September 24, of 1891. As a result of this, A. McLean took on the role as president once more.

Although the Trustees tried to convince him to stay the next spring, he stayed with his original decision, and left. His Friend Hugh McDiarmid, the then editor of the Christian Standard, took over as the new president of Bethany.

It is very clear that the FCMS wished McLean to devote all of his time to the work of the FCMS. It was also very clear that the students at Bethany wished him to remain as president of the college. At the National Missionary Convention, in October 1891, A large number of students came to the conference (held in Pittsburg), with a two-fold purpose. First they wanted to show the Trustees how important it was to the students that A. McLean remain as president, and secondly they wanted to show McLean that they deeply wanted him back as their president. It was a hard decision for A. McLean to make. He loved both Bethany, and the FCMS. He felt that the Lord wanted him to stay with the FCMS, and so he did.

McLean worked very hard with the FCMS. He had a lot of responsibilities as the secretary. However, one thing that stood out about A. McLean was his concern and love for all the missionaries that the FCMS sent out. He prayed daily for them, and made it a practice of writing each of them at least once every month. A missionary in Japan preserved 129 Letters from him, that they received over a seven year period:

"His missionaries were his parishioners. He knew their problems, how they lived, and he shared their joys and sorrows... He realized the loneliness of a Christian worker in a pagan land, and he was always sending books and other unexpected gifts to help ease the burden. Each missionary was constantly reminded of his deep respect and solicitation. He would carry their bags to the railroad station. When they complained at this, he would say 'Would you do me out of the honour of escorting an ambassador?'" (Garrett 1983, Pp 554 - 555.)"

McLean voyaged around the world in order to meet the missionaries the FCMS supported. He tried to learn as much as he could about the people, places, and things he encountered along the way. He was always preaching to people through interpreters, and made it a practice to baptize those who who decided to become christian's himself. He took this around the world journey in 1895-1896. A record of his journey was recorded, and was assembled under the title, "A Circuit of the Globe". He impressed all he met while on his journey. Ten years after his visit, a missionary called on a Christian woman in a remote Hindu village where he found to his surprise a single picture on her wall. It was a picture of Archibald McLean. This woman highly cherished this picture, because Mr. McLean baptized her while she was still an orphan.

Although he had some degree of sickness on his journey, McLean didn't slow down one bit. He visited Hawaii, Japan, China, India, Australia, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and all of Scandinavia. He even stopped in the Holy Lands, Athens, and Rome. When he arrived back home he moved from Mt. Healthy to a new district of Cincinnati named Walnut Hills.

The FCMS stayed very active during his journey, and when he returned, the tails of his journeys helped to spark new interest in missions. On March 4, 1879, Dr. Harry N. Biddle, of Cincinnati left for the Congo. This was the first time the FCMS sent a missionary to Africa.

In 1887, McLean started the Foreign Missionary Rally, which helped to raise money for the FCMS. Following the Spanish-American war, there grew interest in sending missionaries to Cuba, and the Philippines. In 1898, McLean went to Cuba to look over the situation there, and as a result, a mission opened in Cuba in 1899.

In the fail of 1900, the FCMS celebrated its silver jubilee. At this time, Charles Louis Loos resigned as the president of the FCMS. A. McLean was the obvious choice for the next president. In a convention that year, he was unanimously elected as the new president of the FCMS.

McLean did much writing throughout his life. He published the "Missionary Intelligencer", for example, in order to combat the notion that there were too many heathens in the states to be bothered to send missionaries to other countries. He was also responsible for setting up many missionary rallies. In one year alone, he set up 21 rallies.

One thing that he always stressed was that foreign missions were important for establishing cooperation and unity among Christian's in reaching the heathens of the world. When he attended the World Missionary Conference in 1910, he observed that the one thing that all agreed on was the need for unity among all missionaries.

He did much work as president of the FCMS, and saw that the word of God was spread throughout the world. He is quoted as saying that "Wherever the beer keg can go the Bible must go." (Garrett 1983, Pp. 557.) He became known throughout the world as an excellent preacher, missionary, and author of many books. Myra Morrison of Summerside remembers meeting A. McLean, and hearing her parents talk about how he was such a "wonderful Preacher". He did an enormous amount of work throughout the world. His life was full of travel to foreign lands, and he brought many to know Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. He also led many people to become missionaries.

For a total of 39 years, he was considered to be the chief executive of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. For 19 of those years, he was the secretary, and for 20 years he was the president.

On October 1, 1920, the FCMS held its last convention in St. Louis. Here a new society was formed. The FCMS became the United Christian Missionary Society. This was not only the last convention of the FCMS, but was also the last convention of Archibald McLean. He died on December 15, 1920. He was buried in the Campbell Cemetery, Bethany West Virginia. On his monument it reads:

"Archibald McLean. Born in Prince Edward Island, Canada, September 6, 1849. Died December 15, 1920. Fourth President of Bethany College. For thirty-nine years Chief Executive of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. Every Missionary sent to Non-Christian Lands in the entire history of the society was commissioned by him. First vice president of the United Christian Missionary Society. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that he send forth laborers into his harvest. (Warren 1923, picture of monument between Pp 374-375.)"