John Raleigh Mott

John Raleigh Mott (May 25, 1865 – January 31, 1955) was a long-serving leader of the YMCA and the World Student Christian Federation(WSCF). He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 for his work in establishing and strengthening international Christian student organizations that worked to promote peace. From 1895 until 1920 Mott was the General Secretary of the WSCF. In 1910, Mott, an American Methodist layperson, presided at the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, which launched both the modern missions movement and the modern ecumenical movement. From 1920 until 1928 he was the Chairperson of the WSCF. For his labors in both missions and ecumenism, as well as for peace, some historians consider him to be "the most widely traveled and universally trusted Christian leader of his time" (Cracknell & White, 243). Intimately involved in the formation of the World Council of Churches in 1948, that body elected him as a life-long honorary President. His best-known book, The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, became a missionary slogan in the early 20th century (Cracknell & White, 233).

Education

Mott was born in Postville, Iowa. He attended Upper Iowa University, where he studied history and was an award-winning student debater. Iowa was a small school affiliated to the Methodist tradition. In 1885, he transferred to Cornell University, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1888. At the time, Mott was contemplating two possible career choices, either in law or in his father's timber business. However, on January 14 1886 he heard a lecture by John Kynaston Studd, the former English cricket star and co-founder of the Cambridge Mission to China. Studd spoke of the great need to present the gospel among students. Mott became active in the Cornell Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA), which he represented that summer at the first international and ecumenical youth conference. 100 young men met from 80 different Colleges and as a result of this conference, the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions was launched, which aimed to recriot the brightest and best of America's youth to serve Christ overseas, similar to the Cambridge University Mission. The motto was "The Evangelization of the World in this Generation" and a great deal of enthusiasm and confidence was generated. Before graduating from Cornell, Mott significantly increased the YMCA's membership and raised enough funds to construct a building near the campus.

Career

Certain that he would devote his energy to youth work and to mission, Mott became the National Secretary of the Intercollegiate YMCA, a post he held for 27 years. He soon assumed the chair of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Misisons' executive committee and played a pivotal role in the organization's developemnt. Over the next three decades, 13,000 young people would served as overseas missionaries under the agency's auspices. By 1900 there were more American missionarie in the field than British. The SVM funded schools, hospitals, orphanages as well as evangelical work and literature, with its own publishing company.

International Leadership

Given the strength of the SVM, Mott was ideally placed to move into a leading position within the emerging international ecumenical movement. When William Carey's "pleasing dream" of a world gathering of Protestant mission agencies became a reality at Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910, Mott was Chair of the conference and subsequently chaired the International Missionary Council established in London in 1921, which went on to organize meetings in Tambaram, India (1938) and in Ghana in 1958 before merging with the World Council of Churches in 1961.

In his post as Chair of the IMC, Mott was involved in conversations that led to the creation of the WCC. At a meeting in 1937, at which Mott was present, the decision was taken to establish a world inter-church body but the intervention of World War II delayed this until 1948. When the WCC was finally created, Mott was appointed a life honorary President. Together with George Bell, he can be credited as one of the WCC's founders. Now General-Secretary of the International YMCA, Mott was able to travel widely, visiting the Far East in 1912-13 as well as many European countries. During World War I, Mott was anxious to assist the war effor and volunteered to place the YMCA at the service of the nation. Franlin D. Roosevelt appointed Mott as head of the National War Work Council, having previosuly offered him a diplomatic post in China. Mott also served as a member of government missions to Mexico (1916) and to Russia (1917).

Honors and Awards

Mott received numerous national decorations froma round the world and honorary degrees from such leading Universities as Yale, Brown, Princeton and Edinburgh, in addition to a doctorate from the Russian Orthodox Church of Paris. In 1946, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his "

Mott married Leila Ada White in 1891 and had two sons and two daughters.

External links

• Nobel Committee information on 1946 Peace laureates
• Biography at Nobelprize.org
• World Student Christian Federation

Retrieved 5-7-07

Notes & References

• Cracknell, Kenneth and Susan J. White. An Introduction to World Methodism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• Fisher, Galen Merriam. John R. Mott: Architect of Cooperation and Unity. New York: Association Press, 1953.
• Hopkins, Charles Howard. John R. Mott, . Grand rapids, Michigan: William B Eerdmans, 1979. ISBN
• Mackie, Robert C. Layman Extraordinary: John R. Mott, . London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1965. OCLC:
• Matthews, Basil Joseph. John R. Mott: World Citizen. New York, Harper, 1934. OCLC:
• Mott, John Raleigh. The Evangelization of the World in This Generation. New York: Student volunteer movement for foreign missions, 1900.

Template:Nobel Peace Prize Laureates

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