Looking Back to See the Future

How Nineteenth-Century Anglicans Evangelized the Globe while Maintaining Anglican Polity

Abstract

This article is one attempt—or perhaps I should say three—to find answers to that question. We will explore the three main nineteenth-century Anglican approaches to sharing the gospel and planting churches in places where one might think Anglican ecclesiology would limit success. The first is grassroots ministry, growing the church from the ground up, under the direction of a denominational missionary society. Second, we will explore the role of British chaplains who used their careers to gain access to unreached peoples. Finally, we will explore outreach approaches that began by sending missionary bishops who then allowed the church to expand into new territories. After this historical tour, we will explore the relative benefits and dangers of each approach as we consider how to move forward in reaching the more than 2 billion people considered to be “Frontier Peoples,” who currently have no sustained Christian missional presence.