Journal of the Evangelical Missiological Society

Looking Back to See the Future

2026-05-16T19:13:18+00:00

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.

Missionary Bishops

2026-05-17T12:38:43+00:00

While the Anglican church has been a missionary church, it is also a church led by bishops. At times, this episcopal structure has raised challenges for how missionary work in new fields ought to be approached. What comes first, a bishop or a church? Should missionaries and evangelists first plant churches and then later set apart bishops? Where is the authority for the church planting in the absence of a bishop? Anglicans have wrestled with this tension for centuries. When the Episcopal church’s Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society was reorganized in 1835, a new structure developed for sending missionaries to the American West. That year, Jackson Kemper (1789-1870) was set apart as the first missionary bishop—tasked with establishing Episcopal congregations in the western frontier states. In this article, I sketch out the mission practice and theology of Bishop Kemper in the American West and conclude by discussing the relevance of missionary bishops today.

The Rev. Roland Allen’s (1868–1947) Theology of Spirit & Order

2026-05-17T12:54:14+00:00

In this article, I will attempt to disclose the central planks of the apostolic principles that shaped Roland Allen’s missionary ecclesiology of Spirit and Order. Allen’s writings were shaped by St. Paul’s missionary practice, and it was this understanding that motivated Allen to proactively argue for implementing a Gospel method for Church growth. Allen disclosed his belief in the transcendence of the Holy Spirit’s work in the life of the Church and argued for a return to the proper apostolic emphasis—Spirit and Order. His integrated pneumatology and ecclesiology formed the basis for his church-planting missionary theology, which he was convinced encompassed true historic apostolicity and catholicity.

The Invisible Mitre

2026-05-17T13:09:31+00:00

This article seeks to examine whether Anglican orders function as a contextualized ecclesial practice or whether they are implicitly treated as context-transcendent structures. By placing Anglican theology of orders in dialogue with missiological theories of contextualization, the article argues that current Anglican practice reveals an unresolved contradiction: the church affirms contextualization in principle while exempting one of its most visible structures from contextual analysis. First, it clarifies contextualization as a theological method within Anglican and ecumenical missiology. Second, it examines Anglican holy orders as historically contingent yet theologically constrained practices. Finally, it considers how frontier mission to Muslims exposes the limits of current Anglican approaches and raises the possibility that the ordering of ministry itself may require renewed theological reflection. The aim is not resolution but clarity: to articulate the missiological stakes of Anglican orders in contexts where the church exists not as a public institution, but as a vulnerable and often hidden community.

“Diocese Planting” in Ethiopia

2026-05-17T15:12:13+00:00

In this article, I explore the growth of Anglicanism in the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia with a particular focus on planting new dioceses amid the phenomenon of church-planting movements.

Anglican Ecclesiology in the Japanese Context

2026-05-17T15:27:43+00:00

This paper will address the historic ecclesiology of the Nippon Seikōkai (NSKK) up to the present by reflecting on the historical Anglican missionary movements in Japan over the same time period. In particular, focus will be on Anglicanism’s initial forays into new territory compared with the developments toward a common Anglican identity, all while addressing the peculiar circumstances of Japan.

The Good Shepherd Church of India as an Ecclesiastical Framework for the Consideration of Majority World Christians

2026-05-17T15:33:38+00:00

This study examines the contextual, biblical, and theological contexts in which the Good Shepherd Church of India operates, cataloging the challenges faced by India and other nations within the Majority World when seeking an authentic expression of their Christian faith. This study showcases Good Shepherd’s origin as a parachurch organization, emergence as a church movement, and the embracing of a theology of dignity that shapes the work today, rooted in humanity’s creation in the Imago Dei, compelling cultures worldwide to embrace the living God in indigenously appropriate ways.

Witnessing an Emerging Diaconate Among Anglicans in Mexico

2026-05-17T15:37:36+00:00

This paper presents an examination of a renewed expression of the historic role of the diaconate on the leading edge of church expansion as it is emerging within the Anglican Diocese of the Southwest’s ministry in Mexico.