1948-1955
The Arnold T. Ohrn Correspondence, part of the International Mission Board, SBC, Executive Office Records, are located at the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. The collection consists of approximately 125 letters by Arnold T. Ohrn written to staff of the Southern Baptist Convention Foreign Mission Board during Ohrn’s service as General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. FMB leaders with whom Ohrn corresponded during this time include Baker James Cauthen, Everett L. Deane, Mrs. Kenneth C. Dyer, Mary Lib Fuqua, Everett Gill, Jr., L. Howard Jenkins, Frank K. Means, Marjorie Moore, M. Theron Rankin, and George Sadler. The collection includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence. Some correspondence is to and from Ohrn’s secretary, Jessie R. Ford. Most of the letters are typed but some are handwritten. The letters cover the time period from March 4, 1948 to November 10, 1955. The letters describe the SBC Foreign Mission Board’s interest in activities of the Baptist World Alliance during this time. The collection is arranged in chronological order. The material is any word searchable.
Arnold Theodore Ohrn was born January 22, 1889, in Raymond, Wisconsin, to Jacob Anderson and Nellie Christensen Ohrn. In 1899, his father, a minister, took the entire family back to Norway, where Arnold Ohrn lived until he came to Washington, D. C., in the fall of 1948 as the Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. Ohrn earned his full education in Norway, receiving M.A. and M.Th. degrees from the University of Oslo. He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from several institutions. For about 30 years he taught in the Baptist Theological Seminary at Oslo. During the war years he became the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Norway. He remained in Norway during the five years of Nazi occupation. He was later elected as President of the Baptist Seminary, which position he held until he became General Secretary of the BWA on July 1, 1948. He served as BWA Secretary from 1948 to 1960. During his years as a leader of world Baptists, Ohrn directed planning of Baptist World Congress sessions in Cleveland, 1950; London, 1955; and Rio de Janeiro, 1960.
For many years, Ohrn served as President of the Baptist Union of Norway, President of the Norwegian Sunday School Union, President of the Free Church Council of Norway, and Secretary of Foreign Missions for Norwegian Baptists. He was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Baptist World Alliance at Berlin in 1934. In 1939, he preached the Congress sermon at the meeting in Atlanta. After his work with the BWA, he served as a lecturer on the faculties of the Berkely Baptist Divinity School and Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He authored The Gospel and the Sermon on the Mount, which has been published in Norwegian, Swedish, and English. Arnold and his wife Elin had four children. He died on July 31, 1963, in Oakland, California.
