This week in Christian history: Karl Barth born, American Tract Society, Missionary pamphlet

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, May 10, 2020

American Tract Society organized – May 11, 1825

The former New York headquarters of the American Tract Society, founded in 1825. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when the American Tract Society, a global distributor of Christian evangelism literature, was formally organized in New York.

The American Tract Society traces its lineage through earlier similar groups, including the New York Tract Society, founded in 1812; the New England Tract Society, founded in 1814; and the Religious Tract Society of London (founded in 1799).

According to its Constitution, the goal of the group was to “promote the interests of vital godliness and good morals, by the distribution of such Books and Tracts as may be calculated to receive the approbation of Christians of all denominations usually termed evangelical.”

In the present day, the American Tract Society is based in Garland, Texas, and boasts of having distributed around 1 billion tracts across the world in more than 100 languages.