The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Missions Building began as a centennial project of the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions (CWBM). In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address, CWBM leaders envisioned the construction of a missionary training facility.
In 1907, a groundbreaking ceremony marked the start of the fundraising campaign for the “Sarah Davis Deterding Missionary Training School,” a four-story brick building in Indianapolis. The building was named in honor of the mother of Maud D. Ferris, who contributed $25,000 to the construction project. Archibald McLean dedicated the building in 1910, and it housed the first graduate school of missions in the United States. The school offered two degrees: a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) and a Master of Arts (MA). The first classes were offered in 1911. Between 1910 and 1928, 410 students enrolled, 309 graduated, and 291 were commissioned as missionaries. Enrollment began to decline in the 1920s, and in 1927-1928, students from the mission school transferred to the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford Seminary.
The building also housed the administrative offices of various Disciples mission organizations. When these organizations merged into the United Christian Missionary Society, their offices were moved to St. Louis. However, when students vacated the Missions Building, the classrooms and dormitory rooms were converted to offices. The chapel that had served the school remained.
Over the years, three building additions were constructed – a west wing in the late 1940s, an east wing in the early 1950s (connecting the building to the old Butler University Library), and the Campbell Building in the late 1950s. These additions not only served the expanding mission programs and staff but also reflected the Disciples’ movement towards a centralized, denomination-like organizational structure. By the late 1950s, the administrative offices of the Board of Higher Education, Unified Promotion, the Council on Christian Unity, and the International Convention were housed in the Missions Building.
The Missions Building continued to serve as the Disciples’ headquarters throughout the era of Restructure and into the late 20th century. The building was closed in 1995 and sold and renovated into public housing in 1996.
Sources:
“Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)” in Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. https://indyencyclopedia.org/christian-church-disciples-of-christ/
Missions Building. Stone-Campbell Organizational Reference Files. Disciples of Christ Historical Society.
A Prophecy Fulfilled, 1910-1995: Missions Building Closing. 1995.Pamphlet Collection. Disciples of Christ Historical Society.
