Ernest Kilbourne, a Canadian, was the third North American founder of the Oriental Missionary Society (OMS).
(The other two North Americans were Lettie and Charles Cowman. The two Japanese founders were Juji Nakada and Tetsasubo Sassao.)
As the man who remained in the Far East for most of his missionary life, Kilbourne always struck me as the “unsung hero” of the OMS.
While Charles and Lettie Cowman traveled the world on deputation trips, Kilbourne remained at his desk in Tokyo.
While Juji Nakada went here, there, and everywhere preaching the Gospel, Kilbourne stayed in Japan.
He and Tetsusasuburo Sassao kept the Bible Training Institute and the OMS ministry on task in Tokyo.
He kept the Electric Telegraph Magazine going, did missionary work of his own, and raised children who shared the gospel for the rest of their lives.
Along with his wife, Julia, Ernest Kilbourne was the silent backbone in the beginning.
He also became the president when Charles Cowman died in 1925.
But who was Kilbourne to begin with?
Born into a religious family on March 13, 1865, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Kilbourne wanted to be a writer.
Like his colleague Charles Cowman, he became intrigued by the new communication technology of the age: telegraphy.
Quickly becoming a skilled operator as a teenager, he eventually left Canada to take a position with Western Union in the US.
But he really wanted to be a writer, and so in 1886, he decided to see the world and write about it. Ernest traveled around the globe, stopping in Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Sandwich Islands (Hawai’i).
Then, just as Mark Twain did twenty years before, he went to California’s gold rush country. Finding a telegraphy job in Virginia City, Nevada, he stayed long enough to meet Julia Pittinger, fall in love, and get married.
Even in rough-and-tumble Virginia City, Kilbourne didn’t find enough excitement, so he transferred to Chicago.
And there his life changed forever.
Kilbourne and Cowman
Upon arriving in Chicago, Ernest took one of two jobs as a divisional chief at Western Union.
The other divisional chief was Charles Cowman.
Between them, they supervised nearly 1000 telegraph operators.
The job paid well, and the men worked hard.
Shortly thereafter, first Lettie, then Charles Cowman were saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The morning after Cowman’s conversion, he presented the gospel to Ernest Kilbourne. Ernest knew the story well–his parents were devout–but he needed to think about Charles’ words.
He did so all night.
The next morning, he told his fellow supervisor that he had accepted Jesus as Lord.
They immediately began praying together for the men in their office. Eventually, they rented a room where they could preach together to even more telegraph operators. They called the group “The Telegraphers’ Mission Band.”
(“Band” in the sense of gathering together, not playing musical instruments!)
Ernest and Julia Kilbourne began studying the Bible and attending Grace Methodist Episcopal Church with the Cowmans, which is where they met Juji Nakada.
A Mission in Japan?
Prayer was always at the heart of the Oriental Missionary Society, and it began there in Chicago. As the two couples and their Japanese friend talked and prayed about the need for evangelism in Japan, they began to dream of setting up a Bible school.
About this time, Kilbourne received a revelation of unusual clarity and signficance. He saw a great highway arching across the Pacific Ocean to Japan.
From Japan, a span of the bridge reached Korea, and from Korea, a third link touched China.
From China, the great highway seemed to extend directly to heaven.
No Guarantee But God, p. 50 by Edward and Esther Erny.
After his conversion, Kilbourne realized he needed to confess all his sins and make things right before God. As a result, he promised God he would pay off a debt–he had used a free pass.
It took him nearly a year to pay back the money he owed. Once it cleared, the entire family left for Japan. That included Julia and Ernest, and their two children, Ila and Edwin. (Their third child, Ester, was born in 1904 in Japan.)
Faith?
The four Kilbournes set off for Japan with great assurance that this was the right path. Before they boarded the ship, however, they received word that the church that had pledged to sponsor the family in Japan needed to cancel.
That meant the Kilbournes had no “sending church” to cover their expenses in Japan.
Disappointed by the news, Kilbourne turned to prayer. He saw traveling so far without funds as a challenge to his faith.
“I am so certain God wants us in Japan,” he told Julia, “I could start walking on water.” (No Guarantee But God, p 51.)
As the Ernys recounted, “This unshakable confidence in God was ever the hallmark of Ernest Kilbourne. ‘Faith grows amid storms,’ he later wrote.
The family sailed on the Nippon Maru, a Japanese ship.
Ernest spent the trip witnessing to the crew.
When the family arrived in Japan in August 1902, the Cowmans were on the dock waiting for them.
Part II: The Far East and Ernest Kilbourne will appear next week.
One Mission Society (nee The Oriental Missionary Society) will celebrate its 125th anniversary in June 2026 at their Greenwood, Indiana headquarters.
Praise God for 125 years of spreading the gospel throughout the world!
Interested in learning more about OMS’s beginnings?
Consider Lettie Cowman’s biography, Overflowing Faith.
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?