Series IX: Relationships with Other Organizations

In its ideal formulation the Student Volunteer Movement was important as a catalyst, not as an entity in itself. Its role was to accelerate a reaction among students through missionary education, conferences, correspondence and counseling. When the reaction was begun and a student decided to pursue a missionary vocation, the Movement's role was to direct him or her to the appropriate sending agency. The ideal recruit was one who passed rapidly through the hands of the Movement into the hands of another organization. As its leaders frequently reiterated, the Movement was not a rival of the churches and missionary agencies, but rather a tool for furthering their work. The usefulness of such a tool had been very clear in the early years of the Movement but the complexity of a new era in missions work brought with it the need for more complex and varied tools. As the organizations around it changed and developed, the Student Volunteer Movement was forced to re-evaluate and redesign itself in order to remain a useful tool.

The approximately ten linear feet of records in Series IX consist of correspondence, and typescript, duplicated and printed materials which document the relationships of the Student Volunteer Movement with other organizations. The documentation relates to a)rivals of the SVM such as the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship; b) organizations which the SVM sought to serve, such as denominational boards and missions agencies; c) cooperating bodies, such as the Home Missions Council and the World Student Christian Federation; and d) organizations into which the SVM was functionally or administratively integrated, such as the United Student Christian Council and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. The records are arranged alphabetically by organization with sub-categories as dictated by the quantity or importance of the material.