Several new global mission organizations have sprung up in the Episcopal Church in the last decades, a development that enhances the profile of the church’s mission work. The new agencies have been established as freestanding nonprofit organizations, usually focused on mission companionship with people in particular places in the wider world.
This growth intensifies the diversification and democratization of mission initiative that began around 1970 with the Companion Diocese Movement, through which Anglican dioceses around the world, including many in the Episcopal Church, established links with dioceses in other Anglican provinces. That movement, in turn, was energized by the Partnership in Mission model of inter-diocesan mission promulgated by the Anglican Consultative Council beginning in 1973.
The newer agencies take their place alongside two older Episcopal agencies closely linked to the church’s central structure and familiar to all: the United Thank Offering, founded in 1889 at the Triennial Meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions; and Episcopal Relief and Development, founded in 1940 as the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief to assist refugees fleeing Europe in World War II and now engaged in many parts of the world.
The freestanding agencies tend to focus on building relationships, enhancing capacity, developing various types of infrastructure, and raising financial support with their companions abroad. Visits by individuals and teams are a major mode of interaction, with online contact prominent since the COVID pandemic. Sending longer-term missionaries continues to be the province of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, the central structure of the church, as it sends out Volunteers in Mission and Young Adult Service Corps members through the Office of Global Partnerships, which also coordinates other mission initiatives.
Many of the agencies, both old and new, have ties with the Global Episcopal Mission Network, itself founded in 1995, which brings together mission-activist dioceses, agencies, congregations, religious orders, seminaries, and individuals. Five new agencies were founded in 2005, the most in any single year. Here is a list of 28 organizations, in chronological order of their founding, and it is likely that there are others as well.
1979—El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza (Home of Love and Hope) supports education and a nurturing home for children living in vulnerable conditions near Tegucigalpa, Honduras. elhogar.org
1998—American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, based in Darien, Connecticut, serves vulnerable and displaced people in the Middle East through schools, hospitals, and centers for children with disabilities. afedj.org
1998—Born at that year’s Lambeth Conference and based in Vienna, Virginia, Five Talents helps families living in extreme poverty to save, invest, and develop small businesses, currently in Bolivia, Burundi, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. fivetalents.org
1998—Dominican Development Group provides a U.S. presence for the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, provides technical help and resources, and supports companion diocese relationships, with staff in both the DR and the United States. dominicandevelopmentgroup.org
2000—Compass Rose Society supports the programs and ministries of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Consultative Council through fundraising and global site visits. While U.S.-based, the society has chapters around the Anglican Communion. compassrosesociety.org
2000—Light from Light, based in Atlanta, supports programs in nutrition, healthcare, and women and children through its partner Haitian agency, Lepswa Timoun (“Hope for Children” in Haitian Creole). lightfromlight.me
2004—Global Birthing Home Foundation supports Maison de Naissance, a maternal center in Torbeck, Haiti. Based in Leawood, Kansas, it works with the Diocese of Haiti and is affiliated with the Diocese of West Missouri. globalbirthinghomefoundation.org
2005—American Friends of the Episcopal Churches of the Sudans focuses on the priorities of the Episcopal churches of South Sudan, works to advance peace in the Sudans, and amplifies the voices of Sudanese Christians. afrecs.org
2005—Haiti Nursing Foundation works to improve health in Haiti by supporting quality nursing education, primarily at the Faculté des Sciences Infirmières de l’Université Episcopale d’Haïti, located in Léogâne. haitinursing.org
2005—Health Tanzania, based in Crystal City, Virginia, partners with Tanzanian individuals and organizations to improve the health and education of poor Tanzanians in Dar es Salaam and isolated coastal villages. healthtanzania.org
2005—Partners in Ministry in Liberia, founded at St. Matthew’s Church in Westerville, Ohio, offers scholarships for children of economically challenged families, still recovering from the civil war of 1998. pimil.org
2005—Sudan Sunrise, based in Fairfax, Virginia, focuses on building schools that promote educational opportunity and religious reconciliation in Sudan and South Sudan. sudansunrise.org
2006—Warm Heart International, based at St. David’s Church in Austin, Texas, focuses on freshwater access and sanitation, medical care, orphan education, and youth-to-youth relationships with people in the Diocese of Southern Malawi. warmheartinternational.org
2006—Bridges to Pakistan, based at the Church of St. John the Divine in Houston, supports the Diocese of Peshawar in Pakistan with friendship, visits, and financial support for clergy and educational institutions. facebook.com/bridgestopakistan
2008—Haiti Companions sponsors clinics at three locations in the mountains of the Gressier region of Haiti. Partners include Christ Church in Norcross, Georgia; Holy Family Church in Jasper, Georgia; and St. John’s Church in Minneapolis. haiticompanions.org
2009—Caravan Arts, based in Winfield, Illinois, works to build bridges between people of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds through international exhibitions, tours, and creative engagement. oncaravan.org
2009—Education Equals Hope supports education for children, teens, and adults and communities in regions affected by poverty, crisis, and natural disaster. Based in South Carolina, E=H works in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Uganda. educationequalshope.org
2009—South Florida Haiti Project is a coalition of Episcopal congregations, organizations, and individuals committed to partnership with the people of Bondeau in southwest Haiti in education, clean water, food, and healthcare. southfloridahaitiproject.org
2010—Texas Water Mission, affiliated with the Diocese of West Texas, provides safe drinking water and hygiene solutions to communities in Honduras and Navajo Nation. texaswatermission.org
2011—Jerusalem Peacebuilders, based in Wilmington, Vermont, and Houston, works with Israeli, Palestinian, and American youth and adults to foster future leaders for peace in the global community. jerusalempeacebuilders.org
2014—Haiti Rehabilitation Foundation supports university education in occupational and physical therapy at the Faculté des Sciences de Réhabilitation de l’Université Épiscopale d’Haïti, located in Léogâne. haitirehab.org
2015—Stand with Iraqi Christians offers friendship and financial assistance to Iraqi Christians and their communities as they work to restore peace, rebuild society, and secure a future for their children. swic.org
2015—Province IX Development Group supports sustainable development in the dioceses of the Dominican Republic, Ecuador Central, Ecuador Litoral, Honduras, and Venezuela. It is based in Tampa and in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
2016—Friends of the Episcopal Church in Cuba supports the ministries of the bishop and Diocese of Cuba. It is based in Connecticut and registered in New Hampshire. friendsofeccuba.org
2016—Love Must Act, based in Louisville, Kentucky, works with the Anglican Board of Education for Southern Africa to build partnerships for sustainable education. lovemustact.org
2016—Global Refugee Mission of New England provides humanitarian aid to Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. Founded at St. John’s Church in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, the network includes over 50 congregations of numerous denominations. sjcb.org/grmne
2023—Global Mission Advocates Network was formed by a 2022 General Convention resolution that urged bishops to appoint advocates to promote the Guiding Principles for World Mission crafted by the Standing Commission on World Mission. It is a free association, not an incorporated entity.
2024—American Friends of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf supports the diocese through education in the Episcopal Church and fundraising to support ministry in Bahrain, Cyprus, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. afdcg.org
Education is the most frequently cited major or ancillary focus among these agencies. Geographically, seven agencies are global, working in multiple countries around the world. Eleven are focused on the Caribbean and Latin America, the region most accessible to most Episcopalians, with six on Haiti alone. Six focus on specific parts of Africa, and four on the Middle East. Asia, with 59 percent of the world’s population, has just one agency focused there, though two of the multi-site agencies include Asian localities. The non-inclusion of Europe, where Christianity is in marked decline, reflects most mainline Christians’ impression that global mission today means not evangelization but addressing poverty and its associated deficits in health and education.
The recently founded organizations constitute a second wave of freestanding initiatives after an initial wave occurred in the last quarter of the 1900s in response to declining numbers of missionaries sent by the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. During the sexuality controversies of the early 2000s these first-wave organizations affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America and its mission network, called Anglican Global Mission Partners, though they are open to participation by Episcopalians.
Historically, the growth of freestanding mission agencies since 1975 represents a diversification of Episcopal world mission initiative. In the Church of England, world mission was carried out not by centralized structures but by independent agencies such as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (1701), the Church Missionary Society (1799), and many others. By contrast, centralization was the dominant mode in the Episcopal Church after the 1835 General Convention made the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society churchwide and stipulated that every Episcopalian was a member of DFMS.
The proliferation of freestanding Episcopal agencies has democratized and localized mission initiative as people with commitments in particular parts of the world solidify their work through establishing legal nonprofit entities. When the many global initiatives of dioceses are added to the picture, it becomes clear that world mission in the Episcopal Church includes both grassroots initiative and centralized structure.
The mission work of religious orders is another source of initiative, such as the Society of St. Margaret’s longstanding work in Haiti, the Order of the Holy Cross’s work in South Africa, and the Community of St. John the Baptist’s work in Cameroon. Seminaries have promoted global engagement through the Seminary Consultation on Mission grants to students, and Virginia Theological Seminary’s Center for Anglican Communion Studies is notable for catalyzing communion-wide involvement.
Companionship in mission is the prevailing ethos of all these missional groups, whether independent agencies, dioceses, religious orders, seminaries or the central DFMS. All seek to discard colonial mindsets and behavior patterns and, instead, develop relationships of mutual discovery, respect, and shared initiative. Asset-Based Community Development is promoted as an approach that prioritizes indigenous expertise and resources over external inputs.
“Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ,” the slogan of the 1963 Anglican Congress, set the tone for much of the mission thinking that has followed. Gaps continue between the companionship ideal and how mission is carried out, and more coordination among groups working in specific areas is often needed. Yet a widespread conviction that the mission is God’s, not ours, has nourished humility, a commitment to learn from mistakes, and an enduring commitment to participate in God’s global mission.
The Rev. Canon Titus Presler, Th.D., is executive director of the Global Episcopal Mission Network. Former president of the Seminary of the Southwest, he is a missiologist with long-term experience in India, Zimbabwe, and Pakistan. He is the author of Going Global with God: Reconciling Mission in a World of Difference, among many other publications.
