Our Heritage
From the Cape General Mission of 1889 to a global family of 4,000 workers — 130+ years of taking the gospel where it is least known.
Where It Began
"Murray always considered missions 'the chief end of the church.'"
SIM's story in southern Africa begins with men and women who believed that no community should be left without the gospel — and acted on that conviction at great personal cost. Their legacy is the mission we carry today.
Born on South African Soil
SIM's South African roots trace back to 1889 — when Andrew Murray, Martha Osborn, and Spencer Walton founded the Cape General Mission right here in the Cape Colony. South Africa was not just a base; it was the birthplace of a global movement.
Today, SIM South Africa sends missionaries to the nations while simultaneously serving communities across the Rainbow Nation — from Cape Town townships to refugee settlements in Gauteng.
The Cape General Mission (CGM) was founded by Martha Osborn, Spencer Walton, and Andrew Murray in 1889. Murray, a well-known author who founded a university and a seminary, always considered missions "the chief end of the church."
After Martha Osborn married George Howe, they formed the South East Africa General Mission (SEAGM) in 1891. CGM and SEAGM merged in 1894, forming the South Africa General Mission.
Canadians Walter Gowans, Roland Bingham, and American Thomas Kent had a vision to evangelise the 60 million unreached people of sub-Saharan Africa. Unable to interest established missions — most of which said reaching the Soudan was impossible — the three set out alone.
Malaria overtook all three. Gowans and Kent died of dysentery fever in 1894. Bingham returned to Canada, caught malaria on his second attempt, and was again forced home. Unable to return himself, Bingham sent out a third team.
The Ceylon and India General Mission (CIGM) was founded in 1892. A year later, they began work among Ceylon's Singhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus. Founded by Scottish businessman Benjamin Davidson, the mission expanded from Ceylon into South India and eventually to the Philippines.
Also in 1893, Charles F. Reeve and E.W. McGavin left Australia for India, influenced by J. Hudson Taylor. They answered the challenge and sailed under the name Poona and Indian Village Mission (PIVM).
In 1893, British Keswick evangelists visited South America and published "South America: The Neglected Continent." New Zealanders George Allan and Mary Stirling read it and felt God calling them. In 1907 they founded the Bolivian Indian Mission (BIM).
The newly-weds sailed to Bolivia to minister to the Quechua Indians. Allan's BIM grew to become the Andes Evangelical Mission (AEM) in 1965.
Bingham's third team successfully established a base 225 miles (364 km) inland at Patigi in 1902. From there, the work of SIM began in earnest in Africa — proving that what established missions called "impossible" was, with God, entirely possible.
Because their ministry had spread into other African countries, the South Africa General Mission changed its name to Africa Evangelical Fellowship (AEF) in 1965 — the same year the Andes Evangelical Mission (AEM) and International Christian Fellowship (ICF) were also formed from the Asian streams.
In 1968, CIGM and PIVM — both operating across India and Asia — merged to become the International Christian Fellowship (ICF), consolidating their Asia-Pacific mission presence under one name.
In the 1980s, AEM, ICF, and SIM joined forces to become SIM — which then stood for the "Society for International Ministries." Three separate mission streams, born from different continents and different centuries, discovered they shared the same passion and united under a single banner.
The Africa Evangelical Fellowship — whose roots trace back to Martha Osborn and Andrew Murray's Cape General Mission of 1889 — joined with SIM in 1998, strengthening the southern African presence and completing the reunion of mission streams that had served Africa since the 19th century.
SIM adopted the trade name "Serving In Mission" for English-speaking countries in 2000. Our official name around the world remains simply SIM. The initials have carried different meanings over 130 years — but the mission has always been the same: to take the gospel where it is least known.
Today, SIM is a global mission family of more than 4,000 people serving in more than 70 countries on every inhabited continent. Workers from around 70 nationalities work together across cultures and continents, sharing Jesus with diverse communities.
In South Africa, SIM's multi-cultural team partners with local churches to mobilise workers into communities where Christ is least known — both in South Africa and around the world. The harvest fields are wide. The workers are still needed.
Join the Mission"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Matthew 9:37–38