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The main correspondent from the LMS mission in Amboyna was Joseph Kam (1769-1833). Kam received his training at Rotterdam (Dutch Missionary Society), Zeist (Hernhutt) and Gosport (England). Having spent some time working with the native Christians at Surabaya in Batavia, he removed to Amboyna, arriving at Ambon on 3 Mar 1815. His importance lay in the rebuilding of the indigenous section of the Protestant Church, whose members inhabited an area stretching from N. Celebes to the South Eastern and South Western Islands. At Ambon, he established a printing press, founded a Bible Society, a training college for preachers and schoolmasters, and translated Dutch pietistic writings into Malay. Kam trained local Christians to become Christian teachers and stationed them around the South Moluccan islands. He was assisted by dozens of missionaries from the Netherlands. He toured the islands of the Banda Sea and went as far as East Timor on missionary journeys and school inspections, travelling either by courtesy of the Dutch governor or in a schooner he commissioned. He translated into the local language Christian writings including the Village Sermons of George Burder (LMS Foreign Secretary 1803-1827) and had them printed for distribution. Kam did not receive any pecuniary assistance from the Society, merely corresponding, and in 1828 the a resolution passed by the Directors ceased to recognise his connection with the Society as a missionary. However, he continued in the mission at Ambon after 1828, until his death in 1833, sending letters and reports to Mission House until 1831. Full reports of some of his island tours are translated into English by C F Grenier from the Dutch edition, which Kam had sent to the Netherlands Missionary Society.
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