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From Militarized Mission to Global Solidarity: The Life and Work of Missionary and Humanitarian Charles D. Neff
In this 20th anniversary edition, Bolton expands upon his study of Charles D. Neff’s role in transforming the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), then a small Mormon sect centered in the Midwestern United States, into a worldwide denomination now called Community of Christ.
A World War II veteran, Neff’s early missionary work in Japan and South Korea was entwined with US military expansion in Asia. But encounter with local converts and skeptics challenged his sense of cultural superiority. Later work in the Philippines, India, Nigeria, Liberia, and Kenya confronted him with the horrors of poverty and armed conflict, but also alternative ways of understanding gender, sexuality and race. Deeply affected, he founded several humanitarian organizations, including Outreach International.
Neff's personal transformation increasingly put him at odds with the institution he helped transform, especially at church headquarters. His courage to resist structures of inequality led him to voice unpopular opinions on sexism, American imperialism and the nuclear arms race, critiquing the church’s own complicity. The result for Neff was alienation in his final years from the position of power he once enjoyed. But his strident call for global solidarity remains as important today as when he first voiced his prophetic challenge.
This edition’s new critical material, from the author and historians Barbara B. Walden and David J. Howlett, places Neff in the context of Community of Christ’s globalization, as well as broader struggles for decolonization, peace and social justice.
“Neff’s story challenges us to courageously confront the injustices of the world, tear down the walls that divide us, and become radically generous to those in need.” —Barbara B. Walden, from the Preface
“Neff was not merely an important church leader, he was an indefatigable humanitarian and campaigner for world peace. I was "blown away by the work." —Jan Shipps, author of Sojourner in the Promised Land
"An eminently readable and thought-provoking analysis of Charles Neff's remarkable career." —Richard Howard, from the Foreword
A World War II veteran, Neff’s early missionary work in Japan and South Korea was entwined with US military expansion in Asia. But encounter with local converts and skeptics challenged his sense of cultural superiority. Later work in the Philippines, India, Nigeria, Liberia, and Kenya confronted him with the horrors of poverty and armed conflict, but also alternative ways of understanding gender, sexuality and race. Deeply affected, he founded several humanitarian organizations, including Outreach International.
Neff's personal transformation increasingly put him at odds with the institution he helped transform, especially at church headquarters. His courage to resist structures of inequality led him to voice unpopular opinions on sexism, American imperialism and the nuclear arms race, critiquing the church’s own complicity. The result for Neff was alienation in his final years from the position of power he once enjoyed. But his strident call for global solidarity remains as important today as when he first voiced his prophetic challenge.
This edition’s new critical material, from the author and historians Barbara B. Walden and David J. Howlett, places Neff in the context of Community of Christ’s globalization, as well as broader struggles for decolonization, peace and social justice.
“Neff’s story challenges us to courageously confront the injustices of the world, tear down the walls that divide us, and become radically generous to those in need.” —Barbara B. Walden, from the Preface
“Neff was not merely an important church leader, he was an indefatigable humanitarian and campaigner for world peace. I was "blown away by the work." —Jan Shipps, author of Sojourner in the Promised Land
"An eminently readable and thought-provoking analysis of Charles Neff's remarkable career." —Richard Howard, from the Foreword
387 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 20, 2025
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