Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours; A Study of the Church in the Four Provinces - Softcover

Allen, Roland

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1614270376 ISBN 13: 9781614270379

Publisher: Martino Fine Books, 2011

Synopsis

2011 Reprint of 1912 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Roland Allen, a young English missionary, first in North China and later in East Africa, sought to change drastically the entire colonial and paternalistic system of mission governance. He became a leading missionary theorist and a controversial, prophetic challenger of the existing order. He believed that indigenous peoples should be given control of their own churches--including control of finances--and responsibility for supporting their own churches. Allen completely turned traditional missionary attitudes on their ear. In his emphasis on an immediate, intense, local experiencing of prayer and community, he lessened the need for hierarchical control of the institutional church.

About this title

About the Author:

Roland Allen (1868-1947) was an English missionary. He was born in Bristol, England, the son of an Anglican priest; but was orphaned early in life. He trained for ministry at Oxford and became a priest in 1893. Allen spent two periods in Northern China working for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The first from 1895 to 1900 ended due to the Boxer Rebellion, during which Allen was forced to flee to the British Legation in Beijing. He was chaplain to community throughout much of the siege. After a period back in England, he returned to North China in 1902, but was forced home due to illness. These early experiences led him to a radical reassessment of his own vocation and the theology and missionary methods of the Western churches. Allen became an early advocate of establishing churches which from the beginning would be self-supporting, self-propagating, and self-governing, adapted to local conditions and not merely imitations of Western Christianity. These views were confirmed by a trip to India in 1910 and by later research in Canada and East Africa. It is with this background that Allen wrote his book Missionary Methods which was first published in 1912. Allen's approach to Mission strategy for indigenous churches is based on the study of Saint Paul's missionary methods as he is convinced that in them can be found the solution to most of the difficulties of the day. He believed it was the recognition of the church as a local entity and trust in the Holy Spirit's indwelling within the converts and churches which was the mark of Paul's success. In contrast was Allen's belief that the people of his day were unable to entrust their converts to the Holy Spirit and instead relied in His work through them. His views became increasingly influential, though Allen himself became disillusioned with the established churches. He spent the last years of his life in Kenya, establishing a reclusive church of his own devising, centered on an idiosyncratic family rite. Allen died in Nairobi. His funeral was conducted by the Bishop of Mombasa and his gravestone can be found in Nairobi's City Park. A simple stone cross with the inscription on the pedestal reads: "ROLAND ALLEN, CLERK IN HOLY ORDERS, 1868-1947, I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE SAITH THE LORD"

Review:

"Many missionaries in later days have received a larger number of converts than St. Paul: [...] but none have so"

About this edition

• Publisher: Martino Fine Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1614270376
• ISBN 13: 9781614270379
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 260