Origin from 1701
On 16 June 1701, King William III granted a royal charter establishing the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Church of England's first sustained instrument for sending its own clergy and teachers overseas, fifty six years after the Interregnum suppressed Anglican worship in 1645, already recorded here. The Reverend Thomas Bray, who had already founded the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1698 to supply libraries and charity schools, drew bishops and laymen together to petition the crown after his own time as the Bishop of London's commissary in Maryland showed him colonial parishes going years without a resident minister. The charter empowered the Society to raise subscriptions and dispatch ordained missionaries, schoolmasters and books to instruct, in the charter's own language, English subjects overseas who wanted for the Word and Sacraments, and to bring the Gospel to enslaved Africans and Native Americans in Britain's American colonies. Through the eighteenth century the Society's missionaries worked chiefly across the Thirteen Colonies, extending after the American Revolution closed that field to Canada, the West Indies, and eventually Australia and West Africa; over three centuries it sent some fifteen thousand missionaries abroad before merging in 1965 with the Universities' Mission to Central Africa and, in 1968, with the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, becoming the United Society Partners in the Gospel that still operates today. Its founding gave the established Church of England a standing missionary arm eighty three years before the Episcopal Church, newly independent, separated from it in 1784, already recorded here.
Facts
Dates
StatusEstablished marks the 16 June 1701 royal charter founding the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Church of England's first sustained overseas missionary body, a specific dated milestone between the Interregnum suppressing Anglican worship in 1645 already recorded here and the Episcopal Church separating from the Church of England in 1784 also recorded here. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Canada directly: "Revolution closed that field to Canada, the West Indies, and eventually Australia and West Africa; over three centuries it sent some fifteen thousand missionaries abroad before merging in 1965 with..."
This source names Central Africa directly: "1965 with the Universities' Mission to Central Africa and, in 1968, with the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, becoming the United Society Partners in the Gospel that still operates today."
Delhi, Cities This source names Delhi directly: "in 1968, with the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, becoming the United Society Partners in the Gospel that still operates today."
This source names Maryland directly: "the Bishop of London's commissary in Maryland showed him colonial parishes going years without a resident minister."
This source names The Episcopal Church directly: "arm eighty three years before the Episcopal Church, newly independent, separated from it in 1784, already recorded here."
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a specific, dated milestone in Anglicanism's missionary history between the Interregnum suppressing Anglican worship in 1645 and the Episcopal Church separating from the Church of England in 1784, both already recorded here: King William III's 16 June 1701 royal charter founding the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Church of England's first sustained instrument for sending its own clergy and teachers overseas.
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