Missionary Principles: and Practice

by Roland Allen

First published in 1913, Missionary Principles is a classic textbook by genre, but in its controversial evaluation of the Church's missionary theories, it is by no means wholly traditional. At the centre of this discursive study, Allen asserts the distinction which needs to be made in missionary aims between the extension of the Church and the preaching of Jesus Christ. The book is divided into four major chapters, The Impulse, The Hope, The Means and The Reaction. The impulse, hope and means of missionary work can all be embodied by Jesus Christ, who is viewed as the source, the end and the worker. It is always with this objective in mind that Allen guides the reader through Christ's wishes as to how the Word should be spread. In the final chapter, Allen examines the results of believing in the Holy Spirit's inspiration and the effects this has on the missionary's understanding of moral purpose and motive of missions, both at home and overseas. "It is not the same thing to seek the manifestation of Christ in the growth of the Church, and [...] the effect of that upon all missionary work is most profound." Extract from Chapter Two

Paperback

First published August 24, 2006

About the author

(1868–1947) An Anglican missionary in North China whoworked with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.Later he worked for a number of years in collaboration withthe founders of World Dominion and the Survey ApplicationTrust, and finally retired to Kenya, Africa.

Reviews

[Ken Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this book was published in 1913, it couldn't be more relevant today! And though it's formatted like a textbook, it couldn't be more devotional in its content! I was both inspired and challenged by this book as Roland Allen persuasively turned my attention from material focuses in ministry to a reliance on the Holy Spirit in all missional pursuits. Allen's emphasis was that the Life we have in the Spirit is far more compelling to people we reach out to than our latest strategies. He acknowledges that the Spirit can certainly use material strategies and means in missions, but that if we want spiritual outcomes in people being saved, we need to depend on the Spirit as we set our strategies. This book left me as a new church planter in Canada with a strong desire to seek more of the Spirit, and to abide more in Jesus, than to simply sharpen up my methods.