Atlantic Mission Society
	The World For Christ

"AMS History"

The Atlantic Mission Society (AMS) began as a women's organization, when the official role of women in the church was severely limited--only men could be ministers and elders, and women were rarely put in other positions of authority.
Women did, however, wish to contribute actively to the work of the Church, so in 1876 they formed the Halifax Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of The Presbyterian Church in Canada (Eastern Section). At the time the Presbyterian Church in Canada had an Eastern and a Western mission board, and the Halifax Society related to the eastern board.
The first local groups, called auxiliaries, were formed in 1877, and the first presbyterials began in 1884 in Halifax and Pictou.
Name changes in subsequent years reflected changes in the focus of the work. In 1885 it became the Woman's Foreign MissionSociety of The Presbyterian Church in Canada (Eastern Division). In 1910 it was re-named the Woman's Foriegn and Home Mission Society of The Presbyterian Church in Canada (ED) and encompassed the Presbyterials of Truro (1887), PEI (1888),Sydney, Inverness and Saint John (1889), Wallace (1893), Miramichi (1896), and Lunenburg and Halifax (1899).
In 1915 the name changed again to the Woman's Missionary Society of The Presbyterian Church in Canada (ED). The most recent change,in 1986, to the Atlantic Mission Society. The Presbyterian Church in Canada (AMS) reflects the Society's welcoming of both men and women to membership. As the Presbyterian Church in Canada recognized in 1966 that there was no reason women should not be ordained as ministers and elders, so the Atlantic Mission Society recognized that its work was also of interest to both women and men.
While members of the Society tend to be older members of congregrations, the mission of the Church requires--as it always has--energetic and enthusiastic participation.

The AMS produces ten issues a year of the Presbyterian Message. It contains information on the Mission work of our church at home and internationally as well as news about the society and other interesting articles. This excellent magazine is concise, interesting and informative, and of interest to all Presbyterians.

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