by TITUS L. PRESLER, June 2010
The year 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Episcopal Council for Global Mission, the Episcopal Church's broad-based network of organizations committed to advancing the cause of world mission. The network, continued through the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission, which was established in 2000, has made important contributions to the church's global mission. This essay reflects on major features and issues of networking for world mission as highlighted by the story of this network.
Centralized and Voluntary Approaches in Anglican Mission
Understanding the context in which the Episcopal Council on Global Mission (ECGM) was established in 1990, and its successor network, the Episcopal Partnership for Global Mission, in 2000, requires an understanding of the longer history of world mission in the Episcopal Church in relation to world mission in the Anglican Communion.
In 1835 the General Convention put the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (DFMS) on a church-wide footing, making mission a church-wide responsibility. Every member of the Episcopal Church was designated as being a member of the missionary society as well as a member of the Episcopal Church. Thus, DFMS was created to be a centralized mission sending society on behalf of the whole church, and mission, both global and domestic, was a mandate in which every member was to be concerned.
This centralized structure for mission work contrasted with the voluntary society principle in the Church of England, which, as a corporate whole, never sent any missionaries internationally. Instead, mission, whether foreign or domestic, was the province of societies of committed people who banded together to promote and implement it. A number of such groups were founded for world mission: the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1698, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1701, the Church Missionary Society in 1799, the South American Missionary Society in 1844, and a number of other agencies. It should be noted, however, that the voluntary principle also had two major expressions in ECUSA in the 19th century: the American Missionary Society, which did not survive, and the Episcopal Church Women and their United Thank Offering, which flourish to this day. To continue reading this history, please download the pdf here!