Charles Karius and Ivan Champion crossed from the Sepik to the Fly River in 1928 stimulating students of the non-denominational Melbourne Bible Institute (MBI) to become interested in missionary work in the upper reaches of the Fly River and its tributaries. Their mission was planned under the auspices of the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC)and received support from Norman Lumsden who was Men’s Superintendent at the MBI and Australasian Secretary of the WEC. In 1931 the WEC Home Committee in London split, forming the Unevangelised Fields Mission. Almost all of the Australian Home Council and missionaries transferred to the UFM.
In early 1932 the directors of Papuan Industries gave the UFM their exhausted plantation at Madiri among the Kiwai people on the Fly River. Three UFM missionaries, Albert Drysdale, Theo Berger and Gordon Rodgers, attempted to establish a mission at Madiri and to resurrect the plantation, but failed due to lack of resources. The plantation was then leased to Mrs Janet Cowling while the UFM retained the bungalow and some other buildings as the Mission HQ. Drysdale extended the mission among Gogodala people, establishing a Mission station in the village of Balimo in February 1934. By 1935 there were four UFM missionaries at the head station of Madiri, three at Balimo, two at Awaba on the Arimia River, and by November another station at Wasua on the Fly River was being prepared.
In the late 1930s the Mission lost personnel and suffered other setbacks, but recovered after 1939 following the appointment of J.T. Storey as General Secretary of the Home Council in Melbourne, L.E. Buck as Chairman, and George Sexton as Field Leader. These three men retained their positions for 30 years, giving stability and direction to the Mission which in 1940 expanded into Gogodala territory and shifted its HQ to Wasua.
The Australian missionaries were evacuated in December 1941, leaving the mission stations in charge of evangelistic converts who consolidated Christianity among the Gogodala people. After the War the UFM established a Bible School and an indigenous pastorate. In 1954 a Gogodala district church council, consisting of senior pastors, was constituted, parallel to the missionaries’ own field council.
In 1947 the Mission purchased a diesel ketch, Marino II, to help establish new mission stations in the upper Fly, Alice and Strickland River areas. In 1949 the UFM established a mission station at Lake Kutubu and from there opened other stations in the Southern Highlands, including Tari which became the HQ of the Church and the Mission. The UFM churches officially constituted a national church, the Evangelical Church of Papua, in July 1966.
The UFM had three autonomous Home Councils. The UFM Governing Council for Australia and New Zealand, based in Melbourne, was responsible for the administration of the work in the fields of Papua and West New Guinea. The Governing Councils of North America and the United Kingdom were jointly responsible for the field work in Africa and Brazil. North America was solely responsible for the fields of Haiti, Dominica and British Guiana, and also assisted in the work in West New Guinea. (UFM, Principles and Practice of the Unevangelized Fields Mission, Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, UFM, 1962.)
In 1969 UFM, Australia and New Zealand Branch, independently changed its name to the Asia Pacific Christian Mission in order to facilitate extension of its activities in the Asia-Pacific region and went on to establish missions in West Papua (Irian Jaya), Indonesia, and the Philippines.
In 1998 the APCM and Pioneers USA formally merged, to form Pioneers International. APCM's former Director, Doug McConnell became the Pioneers International Director.
Notes above from Ross Weymouth, “The Unevangelised Fields Mission in Papua, 1931-1981”, Journal of Pacific History, 23:2, 1998, pp.175-190.
The UFM archives were arranged by J.R. Story in 1965. Mr Storey notes that, “No minute book dealing with the years 1923 to 1930 is in possession of the U.F.M. As the Mission was then the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade, presumably the minute book was delivered to the W.E.C. at the time of the formation of the U.F.M. The earliest correspondence in the U.F.M. files dates back to 1925 when Messrs Sharpe, Roberts & Symes proceeded to Brazil. The first U.F.M. Minutes are dated 5/9/31.” (1965)
The files were re-arranged for microfilming purposes by the PMB in 2007-2009 and item numbered using prefix ‘APCM’. Cross references to the earlier item numbers are given in the listing.
Reel 1-5: APCM 1-36. U.F.M. Australian Branch Council Minutes, 1931-1965 & APCM Minutes and Agendas.
Reel 6-7: APCM 37-48. UFM P.N.G. Field Council, agenda, minutes and meeting papers, Evangelical Church of Papua, Missionary Affairs Committee, minutes, APCM Irian Jaya Field committee minutes and reports, APCM Philippines Annual Field Conference and Field Committee minutes.
Reel 7-8: APCM 49-55. UFM NSW Council minutes, 1953-1999.
Reel 9: APCM 56-63. UFM/APCM Victorian and Queensland Council minutes and agenda, 1965-1999.
Reel 10: APCM 64-74. APCM Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia Council minutes, 1961-1999.
Reel 11: APCM 75-81. UFM/APCM New Zealand Council minutes, 1950-1997; copies of UFM London & Nth American minutes, 1952-1960.
Reel 12-13: APCM 83-95. UFM histories, 1946-1980.
Reel 13-16: APCM 96-124. UFM correspondence, 1930-1990.
Reel 17-19: APCM 125-138. UFM PNG and NSW circulars, 1958-1992.
Reel 20-24: APCM 139-140. APCM Missionary Prayer Letters, A-Z, 1978-1995.
Reel 24: APCM 141-145. UFM/APCM Annual Reports, 1953-1979, Diaries and reports, 1953-1990.
Reel 24-25: APCM 146-153. UFM /APCM Papua field and station reports, 1945-1988.
Reel 25-27: APCM 154-187. UFM/APCM West New Guinea (Irian Jaya) reports, minutes, press cuttings, prayer letters, etc., 1948-1999.
Reel 28: APCM 188-191. UFM/APCM Missions in Indonesia, minutes, reports and correspondence, 1951-1982.
Reel 28: APCM 192-198. UFM/APCM Ladies’ Auxillary, Victoria and South Australia, minute books, 1961-1988.
Reel 28-29: APCM 202-210. UFM International, copies of minutes, reports and other papers, 1931-1982.
Reel 29-30: APCM 211-212. Evangelical Church of Papua, constitution, minutes, reports and other papers, 1965-1989.
Reel 30: APCM 213-216. Other organisations – Evangelical Alliance of the South Pacific, Christian Broadcasting Service, Melanesian Council of Churches, Sudanese Missionary Fellowship, Woodlands Family Home 1959-1990.
Reel 30: APCM 217-224. Personnel, candidate material, statistics, 1964-1993
Reel 30-31: APCM 225-232. Education – Bokondini School, Awaba High School, Dauli Teachers College, Goroka High School, Tari “A” School, 1972-1989.
Reel 31-32: APCM 233-244. Subject files and sundry papers 1936-1989.
Reel 32-34: APCM 245-254. Documents microfilmed out of sequence and press cuttings.
See Finding aids for details.
