Participation in the discussions was by invitation, and renewed efforts were made to obtain from the various sending societies all the possible names of available experienced missionaries.
This is the first generation in which any considerable group of experienced missionaries is to be found either temporarily or permanently in the homeland.
The mission movement in the United States was then, and still is, very young. We approached the first Conference of its kind with hope, and perhaps a little apprehension concering the quality of the product.
For this third Conference there was the same active canvassing for participants with experience in mission work.
The Institute of Mission Studies sponsored the 1956 Fordham University Conference of Mission Specialist with the hope that this Connference would measure up to the standard of its three predecessors.