Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations Records

The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. was organized as a result of General Assembly (Old School) action in 1837. Its creation marked the culmination of a discussion covering a period of years as to whether missionary operations should be carried on by voluntary societies, or by the Church in its organized capacity. Like its immediate predecessor, the Western Foreign Missionary Society, the Board's purpose was "to convey the Gospel to whatever parts of the heathen and anti-Christian world, the Providence of God might enable the Society to extend its evangelical exertions." From 1837 until 1862, the Board was a benevolent society of the Presbyterian Church, thereby having no legal status. In 1862, the Board was incorporated by the state of New York.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the Board directed the foreign and domestic missionary activities of the PCUSA. Under the Board's administration, missions were established in Mexico, Central and South America, Africa, Syria, Persia, India, Siam, Laos, China, Japan, Korea, and to the Native American, Jewish, Chinese and Japanese populations throughout the U.S. Missions to the Native American and Jewish populations were transferred to the Board of Home Missions in 1893 and 1894 respectively. Oriental mission work was transferred to the Board of Home Missions in 1922.

The Board remained in existence until the early 1960s at which time its functions became a part of the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of the newly formed UPCUSA. In 1972, as a result of reorganization within the Church, the foreign mission activities were placed under the direction of the Program Agency.