America's first missionaries departed from this city 200 years ago.
That event will be celebrated tomorrow at Tabernacle Church, the same church where five young men were ordained and commissioned on Feb. 6, 1812, before leaving on ships from Derby Wharf bound for India.
The Rev. Liz Walker, the former news anchor on Channel 4 in Boston who is involved in mission projects around the world, is the featured speaker at the 10 a.m. service at the Washington Street church. The public is invited.
Tabernacle, which was founded in 1735, has a storied history, but few moments as significant as that 1812 service.
"They were the first missionaries who left this country to go to foreign lands," said Kay Piemonte, co-chairwoman of the anniversary celebration with Barbara Bowman.
"Now, there were missionaries who went out to help the Indians, and there were Catholic missionaries who were coming up the West Coast ... but these were actually the first people who went to another country ... and they wanted to bring the Gospel.
"Since then, there have always been missions in the churches in America, so we believe that was the beginning of the missionary movement ..."
The service at Tabernacle actually kicks off a number of services and events around the state marking the start of the mission movement. One event will take place Sunday, Feb. 19, at the First Baptist Church of Salem.
There is actually an interesting link between Tabernacle, a Congregational Church, and the First Baptist Church.
The most famous missionary in the group, Adoniram Judson, studied the Bible during the long sea voyage and concluded the only true baptism was through water immersion. When the boat reached India, Judson and his wife were baptized by Baptist missionaries from England.
Judson, who went on to establish many Baptist churches overseas, was, in a sense, his own first convert.
At tomorrow's service, the church will display the "missionary settee" upon which those first missionaries sat, and a "bass viol" or cello played at that service 200 years ago.
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