Remembering our history

Guarding the Church From Wolves

In 1893, early Free Church leaders established an association to affirm qualified preachers.

This month, we are celebrating the 140th anniversary of the October 1884 Free Church meeting, considered the founding of the Swedish Free Church, a precursor to the Evangelical Free Church of America.   

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In the late nineteenth century, there was still no training school for Free Church pastors. Few churches had their own pastor in those early years, and they often received visits from some who represented themselves as “free” pastors but lacked any kind of credential. Free churches had minimal communication to be aware of such traveling “wolves.” Sadly, they brought serious problems and disrepute to some of those early Swedish Free Churches.   

In May 1893, a meeting was held in Phelps County, Nebraska to consider how to address this problem. This was the first of several meetings discussing if a preacher's society would be necessary. The result was the formation of the Ministerial Association in May 1894 during the meeting of preachers in Boone, Iowa. 

Cursive writing on old sheets of yellow paper

For the Norwegian/Danish Free Churches it was almost two decades later before they formed a similar association. In 1950, when the Swedish and the Norwegian/Danish associations merged into the EFCA, the ministerial associations merged as well. In recent years, the EFCA Ministerial has been renamed the EFCA Network.  

From the beginning, the association helped ensure that pastors were qualified and faithful, while bringing connectedness among them. Training programs developed in conferences and events to help them grow in ministry. God has used this group over the years to encourage pastors, help with training, provide funding for those in need and aid local churches seeking quality pastors with placement help. We praise Him for the significant role of ministerial associations. 

Tom Cairns

Tom Cairns is the archivist for the EFCA. A physician who worked for 19 years in Congo, Tom later served as director of international ministries for the EFCA mission, now known as ReachGlobal. Since retirement, Tom enjoys sharing stories about the history of the EFCA, answering questions from our churches and helping the churches with their own stories. He also uploads our historical books, photos and documents to our archive website. Tom’s great desire is to bring glory to God as we celebrate the history we have in the EFCA.

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