History
In the late 1940s, executives of the Assemblies of God, staff in the Foreign Missions Department, and personnel in the Sunday School Department discussed the development of a missions education program for boys and girls 12 years of age and younger. There currently was a missions program for adults, and there was a missions program for the youth, called Speed the Light, but nothing for children. At the time, children who wanted to participate in missions giving had to become a part of one of these two programs.
Sometime in 1949, someone in the National Sunday School Department was reported to say "if children are to grow up to be adults concerned about missions, then they must be taught about missions in their formative years" and "that the not too distant future of our missionary work depends upon the vision of our children of this generation." Thus, the basis for a new children's missions education program—Boys and Girls Missionary Crusade—was established.
In October 1949, the BGMC program was launched to meet the need for literature distribution, translation work, and study material. Another need was for the disposal of the backdated literature in the . At the Seventh National Sunday School Convention held in Springfield, Missouri, these two needs were brought together, and BGMC was formed as the agent. The specific purpose BGMC was to raise money through the Sunday schools for the literature program. The first task undertaken by the new BGMC program was to raise funds for shipping these materials to the mission fields.
It was also decided that a child's training must be accompanied by an opportunity for him/her to personally invest in missions. The Division of Foreign Missions (now Assemblies of God World Missions) had indicated that the missionaries' current greatest need was for gospel literature. At the time, the Assemblies of God had printing plants in South Africa, Brazil, Peru, the Gold Coast, and other fields. Yet funds for translation and printing were limited. It was to be understood that all the money received by BGMC would be used entirely in the translation and production of gospel literature in the foreign fields.
BGMC was first introduced at the General Council meeting in Seattle, Washington, in September 1949. About the same time, a general letter was sent out to all churches. Immediately, 145 churches joined the BGMC program that same month. The number increased to 229 total charter members. Barrel banks were chosen as the collection containers since everything sent to the foreign field at that time was packed in sturdy wooden barrels. This evolved into "Buddy Barrel" becoming the mascot or symbol for BGMC. Buddy Barrel became the animated representation of the small barrel banks.
It was also decided that small wooden barrels would be given to all the Sunday schools, who wished to cooperate with the program, in sufficient quantity so that every boy and girl in the Sunday school would receive a barrel. The child was to take the barrel home and each day place a penny, nickel, dime or more in it. Once a month on the designated Sunday, each pupil would return his/her barrel to Sunday school.
In 2005, the program had raised 5.38 million dollars for the calendar year, for a grand total of 72.8 million dollars since the program's inception.
In 2007, BGMC is changing its name from Boys and Girls Missionary Crusade to Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge
Read more about this topic: Boys And Girls Missionary Crusade
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