Background
Archibald McLean was the son of Malcolm and Alexandra (McKay) McLean. He was born on September 6, 1849 on his father's farm near Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada. His immediate forebears were of Scotch stock of the island of Skye.
Education
McLean's early education was obtained at the near-by Graham's Road public school, which he attended until his fourteenth year. Thereafter he undertook to learn the carriage-builder's trade, first in the service of an uncle, then as apprentice for five years to William Tuplin, a skilful carriage maker of the village of Margate.
McLean had been baptized by Crawford in 1867 and since then had considered entering the Christian ministry. With this purpose in mind, in the autumn of 1870 he went to Bethany College, West Virginia, an institution founded by Alexander Campbell and conducted by the Disciples of Christ. Here he took the regular four-year classical course and graduated with honors, June 18, 1874.
Career
On June 21, 1874, McLean was ordained. He began his ministry with the Christian Church of Mount Healthy, near Cincinnati, where after two months he was formally installed. During this pastorate, which continued until 1885, he erected a new church building. In 1882, he was elected corresponding secretary of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society of the Disciples' brotherhood, and for three years carried on the duties of this office along with his pastorate. In 1885, however, he resigned his pulpit to give the Missionary Society his full time. In 1888, he began the publication of the Missionary Intelligencer, first as a quarterly, but soon as a monthly. He represented his Church at the ecumenical conference on foreign missions, held in London June 9-10, 1888. In 1889, he accepted the presidency of Bethany College, in addition to his work as a missionary executive. This office he resigned in 1891 although an emergency required the continuation of his administration through the autumn of that year and thereafter he devoted his entire time, in one capacity or another, to the work of the missionary society, keeping a connection with the college through a trusteeship. On July 24, 1895, he left Cincinnati his head-quarters for a year's tour through all the mission fields, save Africa, in which the Society was working: the Hawaiian Islands, Japan, China, India, Palestine, Turkey, Scandinavia, and England. His observations are admirably recorded in his book, A Circuit of the Globe (1897), published soon after his return. He was a delegate to the Ecumenical Missionary Conference held in New York City April 21-May 1, 1900, and in that year was elected president of his Society, in which office he served with distinction until the formation of the United Society in 1919. He served on the committee in charge of arrangements for the centennial of the Church, held in Pittsburgh, October 11-19, 1909. In 1910, he attended the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference as a delegate of his denomination. He died at Battle Creek Sanitarium, Michigan. His body was taken first to St. Louis at that time the headquarters of the United Society thence to Cincinnati, and finally to Bethany, W. Virginia, where it was interred in the Campbell Cemetery.
Religion
McLean had been reared in a strongly religious environment. John Geddie, a Presbyterian minister of New London, P. E. I, who became the first missionary sent abroad from any British colony, made a lasting impression on him, and he also felt the influence of Donald Crawford, a Baptist minister who identified himself with the "Campbellite" movement and founded in 1858 the Summer side Church of Christ.
Views
In 1905, McLean instituted the policy of missionary "rallies" throughout his denomination, in the interest of missionary education and of support for the missionary enterprise. As president of the former Foreign Society he had commissioned every missionary sent to non-Christian lands in the entire history of the organization.