Repositioning Mission Agencies for the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

S ince the steady crescendo of expansion after World War II, American mission agencies have been awash in an 146 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH

The Visibility of Mission Agencies in General and USPG in Particular Among Recently Ordained Anglican Clergy: An Empirical Enquiry

“…During this period mission agencies too were undergoing radical change, influenced both by reconceptualization of their rationale and purpose, and by increasing financial constraints (Johnson & Clark, 2000;O'Connor, 2000;Ward, 1999;Ward & Stanley, 2000). As the tension between them waned during the 20th century, so the emphasis within the mission societies moved from sending European missionaries to work overseas to the notion of partnership.…”

“…During this period mission agencies too were undergoing radical change, influenced both by reconceptualisation of their rationale and purpose, and by increasing financial constraints (Johnson and Clark, 2000;O'Connor, 2000;Ward and Stanley, 2000;Ward, 1999). As this tension between them waned during the twentieth century, so the emphasis within the mission societies moved from sending European (Louden and Francis, 2003), Pentecostal pastors (Kay, 2000) and Methodist ministers (Haley and Francis, 2006) as well as Anglican clergy (Francis and Robbins, 1999;Village and Francis, 2009).…”